Cycling 2019 (incorporating your own bike chat)

[jobotic]

Yeah i hope things improve for you Gilbert.

At least while you're not cycling you won't have a chance of getting killed by the prick in the personalised number plated BMW who bombed passed me, missing me by about a millimetre, which could have easily sent me over the railings into the Medway, who then got out of his car further along when I cycled by and looked at him to shout "come on then you fucking cunt" to the amusement of those around him.

[gilbertharding]

That's shit. Let me guess - the new bridge to Peters Village? That kind of thing happened to me about every third time I went out, somewhere or other. Mostly if I went to Medway.

I'll never ride a bike again, basically.

[jobotic]

Along the Esplanade heading to Rochester bridge.

That's shit Gilbert. I'm sorry.

[gilbertharding]

Cheers.

I mean - I could physically ride a bike. Probably could now, if I had to.

But I don't know if I will ever want to. Not in the sense of 'ride to Canterbury and back as fast as I can', anyway. Perhaps eventually I'll get a hybrid to potter about on while wearing normal clothes.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Just noticed I've bent a couple of spokes on my bike. My pannier rack basically fell apart and allowed the bag to swing, so I think it's fastener must've swung into them as the wheel was turning. The wheel rotates pretty true still so I don't think it's impact.

Is it worth attempting to replace them? Should I ask a bike shop to do it for me? It's it worth it for xp21's? It's the integrity of the wheel now compromised so much I need to stop riding it until it's sorted?

[Brigadier Pompous]

If the wheel is still fairly true (ie doesn't have a massive wobble in it) then it should be ok to ride, can usually get away with 1 or 2 completely snapped spokes (temporarily).
Definitely worth getting them replaced, it's not difficult to do it yourself but maybe safer to get a shop to do it if you haven't attempted it before.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Great ta. I'll probably take it to a bike shop. I was worried that it's one of those fiddly jobs you can do yourself (but I'm not good at as I'm not good at fine precision and get frustrated which makes me worse) but also would cost a lot in time to get done at a shop.

[Al Tha Funkee Homosapien]

Great ta. I'll probably take it to a bike shop. I was worried that it's one of those fiddly jobs you can do yourself (but I'm not good at as I'm not good at fine precision and get frustrated which makes me worse) but also would cost a lot in time to get done at a shop.

Fairly easy job to yourself if:

You have the right length spoke (easy to find online)
Have a spoke key
The spoke nipples aren't seized to fuck
You might need to replace the rim tape if it's a bit knackered

Bike shop would do it pretty cheaply, or just carry on riding it until/if they snap

[jobotic]

Yeah I'd get a bike shop to do it, but I'm dreadful. Just spend £150 on a service on mine but it does ride so much better.

A spoke of mine snapped earlier in the year and instantly the wheel was visibly bending. Cacked me up a bit as I had a way to go.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Another option is to take it to this place that rents a stand with the tools so I can get shown and get help if I start to fuck it up. I'd need to ask if they carried new spokes. They break bikes down so they do have used spares but I'd probably want to put new ones in.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Yeah I'd get a bike shop to do it, but I'm dreadful. Just spend £150 on a service on mine but it does ride so much better.

A spoke of mine snapped earlier in the year and instantly the wheel was visibly bending. Cacked me up a bit as I had a way to go.

Bloke at work that cycled 9 miles a day each way had his mech snap off and wipe out a couple of spokes after about 3 years daily use. He managed to borrow a chain breaker off someone and bodge it into a single speed to get him home.

He reckoned that by 3 years most parts that moved had been replaced or needed to, for the distances he was doing he reckoned the most frugal approach was 2 years use and sell getting most of the value back and buying a new bike.

[kalowski]

I just had three spokes on my lad's bike replaced for £25. In fact £22.50 as I got 10% off for being a member of the local cycling club.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I think it's 2-3 are kinked. That seems quite reasonable, may as well get it sorted for that.

As I said the wheel runs reasonably true, no worse than it did before, presumably an actual straightening would be thrown in.

[jobotic]

Anyone been watching the Giro?

I'm no fan of Sky and their incarnations but it was quite something and brilliant that it was won by a man who would never have expected to. And all that after a great Tour.

[BlodwynPig]

Another Brit in contention for the Vuelta. I wish the French riders could be so consistent.

[Gamma Ray]

Do you mean Dan Martin? Isn't he Irish?

The Giro was pretty entertaining. Rohan Dennis was immense.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

More Giros in October pls

[jobotic]

Do you mean Dan Martin? Isn't he Irish?

The Giro was pretty entertaining. Rohan Dennis was immense.

Carthy innit?

[Neomod]

Another option is to take it to this place that rents a stand with the tools so I can get shown and get help if I start to fuck it up. I'd need to ask if they carried new spokes. They break bikes down so they do have used spares but I'd probably want to put new ones in.

I had to replace a few spokes on my rear wheel and it's pretty easy. Spoke key and a few spokes is cheap as chips.

This week I've found out the worst part to replace/sort is the bottom bracket/crank. It requires so many one-use-only specialist tools to disassemble. Luckily it's only the bearings that need replacing but I needed to buy £25's worth of tools to do it. 

[Sebastian Cobb]

The bottom bracket on mine fell to bits taking the end caps out in the process. I'm glad I took that to the place mentioned, as we had to try several different removal tools as some were just not gripping what was left, and it was so sized it required two people heaving on a breaker bar and one person holding the stand. I'd have never been able to have got it off on my own.

The bike had been left outside though and where the bracket sat seemed to have been full with sludge

[buzby]

The bottom bracket on mine fell to bits taking the end caps out in the process. I'm glad I took that to the place mentioned, as we had to try several different removal tools as some were just not gripping what was left, and it was so sized it required two people heaving on a breaker bar and one person holding the stand. I'd have never been able to have got it off on my own.

The bike had been left outside though and where the bracket sat seemed to have been full with sludge

Was it an aluminium frame? The BB should have been installed with anti-seize/copper grease on the theads to stop the galvanic corrosion that happens between steel and allly. I've had to get a cartridge BB out of an ally frame in the past and it was a nightmare (not helped the the crank extractor pulling the threads out of the crank to start with). The sludge will have been corrosion that had been washed down the seat tube by the rain if it was left outside.

One advantage of external BB systems like Shimano Hollowtech is that it's far easier to take the crank and the cups out to replace the bearings. You only need an allen key and one specialist tool too, which can be had for about a tenner.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Was it an aluminium frame? The BB should have been installed with anti-seize/copper grease on the theads to stop the galvanic corrosion that happens between steel and allly. I've had to get a cartridge BB out of an ally frame in the past and it was a nightmare (not helped the the crank extractor pulling the threads out of the crank to start with). The sludge will have been corrosion that had been washed down the seat tube by the rain if it was left outside.

One advantage of external BB systems like Shimano Hollowtech is that it's far easier to take the crank and the cups out to replace the bearings. You only need an allen key and one specialist tool too, which can be had for about a tenner.

According to this it was hi-tensile steel, with a nico cartridge: https://www.fixedgearfrenzy.com/products/create-bikes-silver-single-speed-fixed-gear-bike-2012-48cm-frame.

It was really bad for filling up with water if it had been left outside, if you lifted the handlebars (like I did when trying to load it into a van when moving house) it would piss rusty water out near the dropouts.

[buzby]

According to this it was hi-tensile steel, with a nico cartridge: https://www.fixedgearfrenzy.com/products/create-bikes-silver-single-speed-fixed-gear-bike-2012-48cm-frame.

It was really bad for filling up with water if it had been left outside, if you lifted the handlebars (like I did when trying to load it into a van when moving house) it would piss rusty water out near the dropouts.

Oh, steel on steel is no better for corrosion than aluminium, especially where water is concerned. Anti-seize would have still helped, but then so would not leaving it out in the rain!