Education We Like to Ride Bicycles

my bike is running me absolutely nuts. Something in somewhere makes a squeaking (not really sure if that's the word, hard enough to describe in Finnish) noise and I just can't understand where it's coming from! It tends to stop for a while if I remove and re-install the seapost Doesn't seem to matter how tight the clamp is, after a while it starts again.

Any ideas? I've been about to buy a dropper for a while, but having an SDG i-beam saddle means I'd also have to find a new saddle... ARGH!

 

@ legoman & Lance thx for the info guys.Will pay my LBS a visit to see what they have and just have a nosy at the bikes too


yours wecrookie

 

Got a torque wrench?

Start at your handle bars and work in a V shape like:

Handlebars, downtube screws, BB screws, seattube screw, saddle, seatstay screws.

Its often your bottle cages...

 

I tried removing the seat post and bunnyhopping around with the bare frame w/o seat post and there was no noise.. But just how on earth can saddle make the noise is beyond me. And I should definitely borrow someone's seat post+saddle-combo to test if replacing the combo will help.

 

Is it the saddle or the seatrail? Mine clicks and creaks unless i add a touch of chain lube to the clamping points every now an again. Thats on a conventional rail principle should be the same though. Id add some teflon grease to the clamping bolt and a bad of chain lube to either side of the clamping rail see if that sorts it at all.

 

I suppose that's an easy thing to try. Adding grease to something that is supposed to stay still just seems so counter-intuitive I've somehow skipped this.

On my way back from work it started again and I pulled both brakes so hard I almost went over the bars. It just really drives me nuts.

 

Often can be counter intuitive what can see wrong is sometimes the best thing to do. Hopefully that'll solve it though.

New bars an stem appeared today the original one I could'nt get to grips with the drop was really shallow.

Roll on some carbon pron. spun some tape around one side quickly. In my head the tape sounded good when I bought it, now not so sure. What do you guys think?

 

I saw a locking fastener system that required grease on the threads to lock better than if it was dry. Bloody weird.

 

Grease has odd uses: on my SRAM hollow bottom bracket, my non-driveside crank arm would loosen up after a hundred kms, and I couldn't tighten too much fearing it would damage the bearings; SRAM solution: add more grease inside the screwing system, and it works... I don't get why, it makes no sense to me, but it hasn't moved for the last 600km...

Grease every fastener on your bike, particulary steel fasteners in contact with alloy parts. You need to make sure that you torque everything enough, but failing to put grease will result in less issues down the line as greased fastener don't tend to seize as easely.
It also allows a very slight amount of play which will remove clicks and creaks and is negligeable mechanically. I had a creak I couldn't trace for a month, and turned out to be my chainring bolts and the contact points of my chainring to my cranks, regreased the lot and it's been fine since.
And last but not least, grease protects steel fastener and alloys parts from rusting or corrosion.

It's odd, but it will make your life much easier in the long run.

 

Aye, when I have call to remove bolts next I'll be adding a tiny dab of grease if they are tough buggers.

Did bang on 80km yesterday and today. Not feeling too sore or anything really. Ate a bunch of frusli and emptied my water on the 50 today and stopped halfway for a ciabatta and a pint of coke. Got up the awkward hill without dabbing and went down the other side at a peak of 46.1km/h (on a 29er MTB on road) which felt bloody fantastic after the ascent with the granny ring... (roots and bricks in the soil and much steeper generally - 11% says Strava... I live in flatland so that's huge for me).

I think I know what I'm doing next weekend... 100... not all at once though. Hopefully I'll have time to get down the LBS to see about some basic maintenance as it's only really had the one checkup that the shop I bought it from gave me for free (which was great as the shifting was all out from stretch!)

 

I just installed the stem extender that I ordered last week. My back is thanking me right now

Before


After

 

At that point I'd start considering whether the frame was undersized, personally...

 

I'm also a tad oversized at 6''4 : / Moreover, I wanted to ride it like a dutch cruiser bike.

 

...

 

After nearly 3 months on a boat my specialised epic comp will be with me this evening. I can barely wait.

 

I think I see a seatpost extender as well.

Honestly look into a bigger frame lots of places do them now in all styles.

 

So my new bike rolled up, with quite new Shimano SPD pedals on one side and normal push pedals on the other.

What do I do?

Also I am suffering from an unadjusted chain, anyone in the London area with a chain tool which could help?

 

What should it have come with? Ping them an email asking for the correct missing one. Cant help on the chain tool im a bit far out.

 

Its a second hand bike, I was looking for suggestions along the lines of :-

- Buy some of those wobbly SPD shoes
- Change them out for some normal pedals
etc..

Also I tried various methods to drift one of the link pins out to no avail, I really need one of those tools don't I?


*EDIT*
Just bought one to just save me lots of swearing and cut fingers.

 

Might be worth using the pedals from your old bike for a while if you've still got them?

SPDs are definitely the answer for road bikes, specifically this type http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/...gclid=CNL76d7DjMcCFTDLtAodTy8D7w&gclsrc=aw.ds
Just bear in mind between those and shoes outlay is high, if you're relatively new to cycling stick to some normal pedals.