Education We Like to Ride Bicycles

nope, there was a backlog and it would've taken a while

So it's just a case of checking the alignment?

 

Yep, pretty much.
Lube it a little too.

 

You've probably got L and H adjusters on the derailleur. L and H adjust the alignment with the biggest and smallest sprocket respectively. Make sure the guide jockey lines up at either end of the cassette - adjust using the screws. it's pretty much as easy as that

 

I got a mate to give me a hand in the end.

Barely did 40 miles on the thing and a sprocket completely snapped in half so I took it back to Halfords, changed in 10 mins!

So I'm cycling to work tomorrow! YAY! Only 10.5miles each way

 

... what bike did you buy?

 

^ Wish I had long ride to work, but it's only accessible from one route, and is only 4 miles, I just try to get there as fast as I can, can't seam to get any better than 9-10mins. The hills I really really go for to try and max out my legs either side of work. 10.5 would be ideal really.

 

My ride to work is about 3 miles. Nice little set of hills that I purposefully go up (then down and then back up again) but only on the way back from work. I really don't like turning up to work with a sweat.

 

that's a pretty solid commute. long enough to actually be a real ride, long enough to wake you up, but short enough not to hurt. although, if you're anything like me in the mornings, it might still hurt. i used to have a commute about that long, i started the summer allowing for 45min to get to work, and by the end of the summer i was waking up 20min before i was supposed to start. that hurt.

 

Did you live at the top of a hill or something?

 

When I started my new job I was living on the far NE part of edmonton, and my job was in the far central west bit. By car it's a 20mile (32Km) trip one way, taking about 45minutes. Generally it took me about an hour on my 50lbs cruiser, averaging about 30Kph.

For the month I was doing this, it was fun. Only problem I ran into was that I burned so many calories in a day that I had issues eating enough to keep up with it, so I ended up burning out towards the end of the week; though it doesn't help that I'm generally rather active at work as well (either moving tanks that weigh upwards of 500lbs (just did one last week that was 1300lbs) or 90lbs bags of salt). But now I live about five blocks from work, and just walk it everyday, taking one of my RC trucks with me to extend the walk out to about a half hour each way.

 

A Halfords apollo bike, guy reckons that it's what I need. I'll get a better one come next year probably, but so far the "gel" seat which is meant to make it more comfortable really aches after a while. Especially since the road conditions are poor to say the least, gotta love country roads for that joy of joys!

 

Don't get me started on road surfaces

 

You'll never, ever get used to potholes and crappy roads.
However, nothing compares to riding on a temporary surface, that is one hell of an effective wrist pulveriser.

 

I think I did gain RSI in my wrists. But I'm getting used to it. The roads round here have cycle "paths" which is basically a white line instead of a yellow one, doesn't appear to be very useful since I still get cars overtaking me on blind corners and forcing me into the shrubbery! I'll never cycle with shorts again.

Also, there's some cycle paths round here which are severely overgrown, does anyone know who takes responsibility for the maintenance? Is it the council?

 

Cycle paths are crap, just go on the road.

 

Maybe where you live, but we have some pretty good ones down here minus idiot walkers.

 

Possibly. Where I live they're covered in glass, nearly all of them are shared, most have overgrown bushes on them and all save one are very periodic and end for a few yeards then start again, which makes it a pain to get on.
I'd much rather be on the road where I can get to places easier and go faster without worrying about my safety.

 

^ Precisely, avoid cycle paths, they're more dangerous than the road. I always try and ride within 18 inches of the kerb/just next to the cycle path line to force people to hesitate before trying to overtake within the narrowest inch (I still get some ******s who almost brush me trying to squeeze between me and an oncoming vehicle), It also gives me a wider field of view on large bends and blind corners, and helps me avoid drainage systems, potholes, and strewn litter. They are useful for squeezing between traffic though.

 

My bike is now about 3 months or so old and gets ridden to work and back every weekday and sometimes around the surrounding countryside footpaths and so on at weekends/holidays .

Has taken some getting used to, as i hadn't ridden a bike in approx 10 years before i got this

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/felt/q920-2008-mountain-bike-ec000558

Anyway, i have two minor niggly problems i'd like to ask about before i mention it to Evan's and potentially sound like an idiot because i have little clue about bikes apart from the basics

1 - I get a metallic 'rattling' noise from the mid-rear of the bike when travelling at speed, unaffected whether pedalling or coasting at the time... doesn't seem to matter what gear the bike is in, just what speed it's going at. (ie. the speed you'd be at when going down a large hill)
Sounds like someone holding a few metal slinky springs together at one end and shaking them, any ideas what would cause it?

As it only happens at speed, it's hard to even narrow down where exactly the noise is coming from, as it's downright dangerous to try to point your head towards the rear wheels when hurtling along at great speed

2- brakes have been awesome, but in the past two weeks the rear disc brakes have had a noticeable drop in persormance and now squeak a fair bit.
Front ones are still insane, i keep nearly throwing myself by accidentally locking the front wheel completely, the forks compressing, and the bike trying to launch me over the handlebars

 

cyrilthefish, it's your rear brake thats causing the rattling. I'll almost guarantee it. More than likely your rotor is too close to a pad, and at speed the vibration from your tires causes your disk to slap against your pad, causing the sound you're hearing. It's rather common.

Another option would be a loose cassette, which would cause major issues with shifting. Still, feel about the cassette, see if anything feels loose. Aside from that, could be a bearing in the hub that's broken/come loose, a loose skewer, maybe a chinese immigrant stuck inside your frame from the boat ride, still holding the wrench he used to assemble your bike, banging to try and get out. Check these couple things, and see.

As for the poor performance of your rear disk brake, I'm guessing it's out of line, which may be the cause of issue number one (above). If the pads don't connect right, then you'll not have enough contact or pressure to do much stopping. Plus as you've noticed it'll cause a bit of squealing. Although ALL disk brakes squeal. It's just what they do. I'm sorry, I don't know what you were told, but this is the truth. Anybody who says otherwise doesn't use disk brakes.

You can try different compounds as far as the pad goes, but realise that they will still occasionally squeal.

Although saying all that, your pads may have become contaminated at some point (grease, finger grime, oil, ect), and will need to be replaced if thats the case. If not, than just a realign will be enough to fix your braking woes.

Hope that helps.