Education We Like to Ride Bicycles

I'm going to Malham (cove) tomorrow with some friends, they are going walking, I thought I might ditch them and do some cycling, does anyone know any good routes? Better yet, a route map I can download and stick on my phone?

 

I'm a big fan of the Schwalbe Nobby Nic on the front, i've not had it step out on a root or a rock yet, pity they cost almost as much as my car tyres to replace

 

Well the cycle shop manager was dead kind to me, I didn't realise that CF forks would snap or return to their normal shape so he just tightened up some bolts and told me a couple of general maintenance tips. Didn't charge me either, so I spent £100 on stuff

 

As some of you may have read, im going to be off my bikes for a bit so i'm thinking of selling my Giant STP (see below) would any of you have an idea of what you would expect to pay for such a bike?

Frame: Giant STP Zero,
Forks: Rock Shox Argyle 318's (coil, 20mm bolt thru),
Bar / Stem / Grips: NC17 Big D Pro / NC17 Toro Pro / NC17 Lock on's,
Wheels / Tyres: AlexRim DP24's I think 13T sprocket, though I also have a pair of Spank Subrosa Rims in matching green (just need building onto some hubs) / 26 x 2.35 Kenda Small Block Eight's,
Cranks / Sprocket / Chain / Pedals: Premium Products Cranks / Federal 30t Sprocket / Gusset Half Link/ NC17 Magnesium,
Seat / Post: Brown Charge Spoon / Generic Micro Adjust Post,
Brake: Hope Mono M4 with 160mm floating rotor (rear only with enough cable for 1 x 360 bar spin)
Other: Hope Seat Clamp / Hope Head Dr / Hope Headset Spacers

I'd say that most cycle shops are like that mate, I try to be as a happy customer will usually tell a friend and come back, though an unhappy customer will tell everyone. Sometimes gets a bit hard though when people buy from the net and expect shops to fit it for free, even the other day we had a lady come in to bought to child seats by accident and wanted us to buy it off her so she didn't have to send it back. The cheek of some people, doubt she will be back as the boss went at her big style.

 

Yeah I suspected that, they'll definitely be getting reccomendations off me.

I also spent this morning cleaning my chain, how long should I leave it before I re-apply wet lube? I used a citrus based degreaser

 

Leave it until it's dry otherwise it'll just eat any lube you put on it.

 

I've noticed that my rear sprockets don't sit right with the chain, when I pedal the chain moves up the gears then falls back to where it should be. I've got three screws on the rear deraulier (if that's its official name), shimano make.

 

The 2 philips screws (stop screws) next to each other should be marked H (high) and L (low) they stop the chain going off the top into the spokes or off the bottom and getting stuck between the gears and the frame.

I'm guessing the 3rd screw is located behind the bolt which fixes the mech to the frame, this adjusts the distance (cage position) between the top jockey wheel (2 cogs within the mech) and your gears.

I'd say don't touch these, you probably want to adjust the cable as the boss on the mech where the black outer ends. Stood behind the bike and twisting this clockwise will slacked the cable and should fix the problem (only adjust this a little bit at a time).

If you get to the point where your changing gear but the chain just won't jump into the gear though it's trying you want to adjust it anti-clockwise.

Make sense?

 

I tried to adjust the cable but I fix one gear and another at the opposite end does the same thing :s

 

I'm not an expert, but it sounds like the H/L needs adjusting as Cookie hinted at. If I hadn't just thrown out the manual for my bike I'd type out the paragraph about how to adjust the rear derailleur to sort it, twas really useful when I needed to do mine after a bit of cable stretch.

I could be totally wrong of course!

 

Doug,
There a video on yuose tubes here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0Xt_QCHD1U

that has a quick show-me.

john

 

I thought the H & L prevented it from going off the sprocket? I'm referring to say gear 7 starts to slip down to gear 6 then goes back to gear 7.

John: The video refers to all the gears being out of line this is just one or two, I'll spend some time tomorrow after work fiddling with it when my housemate is here, it's just hard to do on my own with no bike mount

 

I know what you mean Doug, it's pretty tricky to set up right, took me ages before I managed and I still probably did it wrong.

 

If your bike is 7 speed and by 7th you mean the biggest then its stop screws. If your bike has 8 or 9 gears then its cable related. When adjusting the cable turn it a 1/4 at a time if its still not working it could be a sticky cable.

Pull the inner out the outer and clean any rust off and spray lube down the outer (use the straw all bike lubes come with) and re-fit.

If this doesn't fix it, it could be a sticky mech, lube the pivots on this too.

 

9 gears so I'll check the cables, rust sounds probable really

 

When you clean the cables leave it connected to the shifter and pull the other end tight, if you have one you can rub over it with a wire brush and / or spray lube onto a cloth, hold on the palm of your hand, lay the cable through it then make a fist round the cable and give it a good rub if you know my meaning!

 

If it's shifting and running fine through some, but not all, then it is your hanger that is out of line. You'll need to take it to a shop to get it straightened out (very quick and easy with a dag tool).

But if it is the cable. then just remember: if the chain skips up to a taller gear, then the cable is too tight, but if it slips down to a smaller gear, then it's not tight enough.

Simple as.

And limiter screws do exactly as their name says, they limit the extreme ranges of the derailleur. That is all.

The third screw is to set the position of the derailleur body vertically in relation to the cassette.


[EDIT] As an aside from your woes, and just to make you lot jelious: I just bought a Pazzaz SP-971 post for my Langster ($200, aerodynamic TT post) at the amazing price of: thirty bucks. Yay, Will post pics of the bike soonish, done lots to it since you bunch last seen it.

 

Nice one - turning into a real fakenger there. Come to London and be loved.

 

Hey, I figure that if I'm going to be riding a poser-style bike, I might as well go full poser (but keep the brakes and freewheel just to piss people off). Thus far I've gotten new tires (Rubino's in red), axel nuts (Halo anodized-red nuts), chain, front ring (48t rather than 42t), freewheel (broke old one), seapost as stated in last post, and a Sigma computer.

Makes a few guys at work jealous, as it's lighter than (and at the moment, worth less) then their bikes.

Will be fun, especially when I start painting bolts to get it colour-coordinated.

[EDIT]Plus I was a courier (for two weeks, until I was in an accident), and know a good few of the couriers around town here.

 

So a small improvement, I managed to get the chain to stop slipping gears, but it seems to stick to the upper derailleur sprocket, I presume it's just because it needs a HUGE clean. Job for the weekend.