Education We Like to Ride Bicycles

Pedals - off in a trice
Cranks - off in a trice
Rear cassette - off in a trice
Bottom bracket - galvanic corrosion between the aluminium frame and the steel drive side cup = I'M NOT EVER COMING OUT EVER EVER EVER

Tried clamping the bottom bracket tool - broke the clamp!

Enlisted help of my cycling neighbour - he held the removal tool while I tried to rotate the wrench - kept slipping out (fnaar fnaar innuendo innuendo ........ in me where-o??)

Turned bike on it's side, got a tubular extension for the wrench, neighbour stood on tool to adequately seat the removal tool while I pulled as hard as I could - bent the 1/2 inch steel wrench!

Have given up, squirted a load of GT85 down the seat tube to try and penetrate the threads and I'll have a go tomorrow again......

Oh and the plastic non-drive side cup died after a couple of tries to loosen it - having checked and checked and re-checked the thread direction so in addition to the stuck drive side, i have bits of plastic in the non-drive side and pretty much no idea how to remove them!

arse arse arse f*ck and arse!

 

Don't envy you at all. Sorting out BBs and seatposts stuck like that isn't fun.

Keep at it, penetrating fluid and a long bar on the tool is the way forward.

 

Not sure how much mileage you'll get but... I had a seriously stubborn BB on my alu jacflash frame a few years back - negligence on my part i'm sure. However having tried pretty much every tool I had, I manage to break it free using one of these: Boa Jar openers



I'd pretty much KO'd the BB with various tools before hand but this little gem saved the day

Glad you managed to sort the new BB out... I'm currently saving up for a house so I'm trying very hard not to give in to the temptation of building up the play bike for the summer again. Must... resist...

 

Boa's are great little devices. From memory penetrating fluid will do jack to aluminium corrosion bar make it slippery you may need something amino is based but im not sure how it'll react with the steel.

 

GT85 did nowt, has gone to the LBS where I showed the guy what had happened to my BB tool and breaker bar.

He in turn showed me his rather funky Shimano square taper bracket removal tool - has a handy thread that goes into the tapers and holds the tool in place while you heave on the hardened steel handle - even that had been bent at some time in the distant past by a recalcitrant stuck bottom bracket!

He did quite honestly advise that if he couldn't get it to move then the frame would be a write off

Still at least it gives me an excuse to go for another frame - liking the look of this one .....

Cube limited pro 20"

But ultimately I do hope it comes out - my wife will lose patience with me otherwise ....

 

Im sure something Amonia based will shift it ive read a few articles where its been used, hopefully Malvolio is about to assist on that.

Came home from work at about 5, still warm and bright so lobbed on the new brakes. they look so much better and seem to bite better may be me imagining it though. Dirty great front Moto style mud guards gone replaced with a muckynutz XL, rear guards not on as i take it off when the bike goes on the workstand, new rear tyre which clears mud more easily and gives me more confidence. Front brake cables a touch too long so needs shortening. All thats left for now is to paint the pedals black and get some black grips. May add some more red bits though.

 

Pics of fubar'd breaker bar





Pics of finished cranks after a wonderful bike mechanic by the name of Brian Hoppe went to work on the stuck bracket - his assessment was "it's was f**king stuck in there tight!"





They went on in around 15 mins after I got back from the bike shop - took longer to de-grease the bottom bracket shell and re-grease it!

Had the proper tools all ready, laid out and a clear cut plan to get everything done in the right order, just foiled by the chemical reaction between aluminium and steel

 

Was staying out of it as teacherboy had already done most of what I would have recommended - aside from bolt on the removal tool and use a long snipe. Beyond just anchoring the frame in place with several burly dudes hanging off it and giving it a good reefing, there sometimes isn't much one can do with a stuck bottom bracket if solvents, cleaners, anti-corrosion agents and their ilk haven't shifted it. Though fire is always an option...

Glad to see it sorted though!

 

I like fire, fire is good

But yeah glad its come off teacherboy thats going to have saved you a fair bit of money id imagine

 

Cheers guys - I had done my research and being a physics teacher I know about the thermal expansivity of different metals and the use of heat to remove stuck bolts/jar lids etc etc.

Actually tried freshly boiled water poured over the bottle bracket shell a couple of times and did seriously consider the heat gun I have in my tool stash (AKA the under-stairs man cave) but on balance thought it would be cheaper and easier to get a pro on the case (even if he was eleventy hundred gazillion years old and retiring in a few months - he could do what 2 burly blokes could not do and I'll deffo use his services again while they are still there to be used).

Had a quick spin up and down my road to re-index the gears/check chain wasn't knackered from my hand-fisted installation and all is good - am expecting to knock at least 60 seconds off my record lap of the town tomorrow

On the plus side - my wife who usually ignores this sort of thing walked in to inspect the freshly finished article and remarked on how lovely it looked with the new cranks (and she's not given to saying things like that to please me as she mostly doesn't give a care about bikes/tech)

Pleased the new stuff is on - now to solve the rotor drag on front and rear wheels ...... although it's my birthday soon and I think new custom handmade wheels would be a perfect gift from my wife/daughter/family/friends.

Then new brakes (although I rather like my 4 pots front and rear - just need to bake the pads and clean the discs as I seem to have some contamination on them - pads are sintered btw so no issue in sticking them a blue flame from a gas hob )

upgraditis of the bike has struck

 

Looking good teacherboy!

I've managed to get out there on my steer as well today, remarkably. I've got it set up sweet as a nut now, so the urgency on my planned drivetrain refresh has dropped - what I really want is a saddle that won't utterly destroy my arse (to put it delicately). The one it has at the moment is very thinly padded, and quite a sharp shape, so it really punishes your gluteus after more than about half an hour on a rough track.

 

I know that feeling to Krikkit, need a softer saddle for sure

 

I have found since I have got out on the bikes 2 - 3 times a week, saddle doesn't really bother me no more.

 

Today's maintenance was releasing 4 stuck pistons (out of 8) on my callipers, cleaning the gunk off them and making sure they are advancing and retracting properly, decontaminating my sintered pads ( by using some pliers and the conveniently hot gas hob in the kitchen ) and decontaminating the discs with muc-off bike cleaner of all things! Read the label and it states quite clearly that it is suitable for this purpose! ....... that in turn leads to the revelation that my previously adequate rear brake has either a large amount of air in it/lack of mineral oil/both of the previous and the front needs a bleed/top up as well.

Luckily I have a bleed kit and oil here on standby as I was going to bleed them anyway when I'd done the drivetrain. So that'll be tomorrows job - along with final adjustments to riding position, oh and fixing teh rotor drag that has suddenly manifested itself on the front wheel, that might be due to me being lazy with the qr and not tightening it fully though so could be a quick fix

On the plus side - drivetrain is fully stealth and almost totally silent, gears change quickly and easily in both directions (might still replace all the gear outers though with some xtr/equivalent spec one's) and it made my 10 mile lap of the town 2.5 minutes quicker!

Well chuffed with my efforts

 

Just a quick tip for when you're bleeding your brakes (if you didn't already know), remove the wheel (as the rotor is attached), remove the pads and wedge something in the caliper to stop the pistons moving. At work I have sever plastic wedges which come fitted with new brakes to stop the pistons from popping out during carriage / storage etc if the lever is accidentally pulled.

Then bleed your brakes, doing the above will remove any chance of contaminating your rotor and pads, undoing all today's work in the process.

Once finished, don't forget to degrease the caliper and lever.

 

Am planning on making some wooden bleed bocks to do just this - want brakes that'll stand me alone on my nose with a single finger so when I load my daughter into whatever seat I decide to get (rear for ease of pedalling or front for weight balance and being able to talk to her but at the expense of efficient pedalling) I absolutely have faith that should I need to stop fast then it'll happen with no drama's or fuss.

Have found that working on the bike is far more fun than it used to be when it was my only form of transport at the latter end of my teenage years - it's very therapeutic to diagnose and then fix a problem but also make something that through your choices of parts is unique to you..... probably why computers and bikes sit very well with me and in their own ways please me immensely.

Am happy to say that I'm back into cycling permanently and although this one is only plodding around a lap of the town atm - it will eventually go places it was designed and built to go (might even be a little sneaky and ride the walking trails over the road at nine-springs park in Yeovil as I've never seen a sign that says you can't..... )

 

Personally I try and steer clear of all bike mounted child seats, it's only my opinion of course, there is nothing to say I'm right.

At work we try to only sell rack mounted child seats if that's what the customer wants, racks have more fixing points and are a lot more secure than the seat tube mounted ones (I have seen these incorrectly fitted to the seat post too). If you go for a rack mount be sure to get one that's compatible with your bike, because you have discs, you will need one which is spaced differently at the bottom of the legs so they avoid the caliper. The bad point about rear seats is they view of your sweaty ass for your kid.

Front mounted seats use the clamp similar to the seat tube mounted ones making them quite springy, plus if there was a crash I'd rather hit the car / lamppost than have my kid get squashed between the object and myself.

For us at work trailers are the way to go, more stable (kids seat shifts the center of gravity higher), you can to a point crash the bike and still have the trailer sit relatively flat on the ground (usually connected to the bike via a sprung joint), they are covered in, protecting the child from wind, rain etc.

I also get what you mean about getting your hands dirty, guess that's why I love my job in the shop. Wait till you try and take the next step in the level of parts fitted to your bike though, the money jumps up drastically. I hope to get some pictures up next week of my new XC bike.

 

Great advice - I'd considered a trailer but space is at a premium in a victorian terrace house with a small garden so it was a non-starter really - kids seats are something of a minefield and even the mention of them on the bikeradar forums causes server meltdown with the amount of opinions that get flung around

More research to do but there is plenty of time till the summer hols when all this will happen - will be good to go on adventures with Daisy - she already says she wants to ride daddies bike!

+rep to you btw

 

Big thing to remember here before I go into more depth: front seats are massively dependant upon child's weight. This should be your first consideration.

Beyond this there is also the fact that the top of the child's seat oft will interact with your sternum in less than comfortable ways on all but the most upright of bicycles. For an idea as to how this works, see the picture below:



Note that I am sitting on a quite upright bike, but yet should I bend my arms too much I will have a chest full of child. It is for this reason that I would urge you to test fit a seat well before purchasing one - preferably with your child in.

With that out of the way I can attest to the stories of a very large number of people that have used both front and rear mounted seats, and that by a rather large margin front mounted is the way to go. Reason? Interaction, simple as. While sat behind you the child is faced with a view of the back side of you, some slight glimpses of the world passing by and little to no interaction with you. In such a situation most children tend just to fall asleep in their chair, negating most of any positive experience they may have had with you. Conversely a front-sat child will be able to view everything ahead with ample opportunity to interact with you directly. There is also the subjective feeling of "holding" your child in a perceptively-safe cocoon, an effect produced by the fact that your arms are wrapped around the child in their seat, with the rest of your body close by, as opposed to just having them plonked down behind you in a bit of lifeless plastic.

Fun fact for you: I've heard far more stories of trailers being run over by inattentive traffic whom didn't see the little, low-to-the-ground buggy than I have cases of crashes with a child in a seat, and I've sold several times over more seats than trailers. Thankfully there was never a child in one of these crushed trailers, but the story is always the same: the motorist sees the cyclist cross the street and just goes on their way, oblivious to the presence of a trailer. This physically cannot happen when the child is bolted to the bike directly rather than towed behind you.

There is another thing to consider in that a trailer will not just be heavier, but due to weight distribution, pivots, hitch designs, and two extra tyres to deal with will cause some quite unique handling differences. With little exception I would rather have twice the weight of a trailer on my bike over towing a trailer, simply because the handling is made so much worse with the addition of a trailer. While something like this is forgiveable when it is merely cargo we are discussing (so what if you crash?), but with a child in the back I will absolutely take predictable, secure handling every time. To best demonstrate this load up an axle-mounted trailer with weight and descend a hill with a turn in. You will feel the bike push out away from the trailer while turning, and if done with sufficient speed or insufficient skill this will cause a crash. Conversely if the ground is wet and one is in the same situation one can experience the trailer actually physically pushing the rear tyre out sideways - a rather disconcerting thing to happen with child in tow.

Shift the weight onto the bike however and the same situation results in marginally modified leaning characteristics which will come naturally to even the most novice rider - even if the weight is mounted up high (remember: ALL the significant weight on a bike is mounted up high, because you are the weight).

Another rather obvious argument for seat verses trailer is exhaustion factor, because while even the most extravagant child's seat will weigh in at ten pounds, even the lightest trailer will still tip the scales at twenty five or more. You cannot tell me that such a reduction will not benefit you, which could very well mean a longer ride altogether, or more regular rides. Even if this was my only argument, it is a strong enough one to stand on it's own.

I also just want to add that idiots on the pathways with trailers that don't know how wide they are should just be shot. Though I shouldn't be forced to jump off the pathway to make room for your entitled little lump of mistakenly-combined DNA, it is a situation I find myself in far too often due to Mr. and Ms. Ditzy cycling down the middle of the pathway with trailer in tow. And double-wides should just be outlawed on principle.

This is because opinions are like ***holes: everybody has one, but not everybody decides to speak from them.

It's a rare thing to find somebody with experience cycling with both heavy loads on and behind the bicycle, but when you do they are the ones I would recommend you listen to.


Incidentally I do agree with almost everything Cookie has said about the seats: stay away from the "beam" style rear models because they tend to shift and flex quite a bit, plus are exceptionally easy to mount incorrectly (the beam style one in the picture above is a great example: I used it on that bike to double as a clamp for the seatpost because I am insane). Front seats are not all created equal either, and you should absolutely view how the mount fits and what it looks like with the seat removed, because certain models will have dangerous protrusions or edges with the seat off, proving rather dangerous in a crash. Rear seats are a little easier, coming in many different mounting flavours, but keep in mind that certain rack-mounted types do not fit on all racks, and that the rack itself needs to be able to handle the weight of your child plus the weight of the seat (pro-tip: most racks on the market currently do NOT fall into this category). So this is where I will tell you to completely ignore what I said earlier in this paragraph should your child weigh more than 40kg, because the beam-style is the only one that will work.

 

I ended up with a frame mounted one, a Hamax Limo I think, my son loves it and gets a little over excited when we're going somewhere.

I've ridden some very heavily laden bikes including a couple of cargo bikes, trailers and a captained a Hase Pino for a day with a man playing the guitar on the front. Why is this relevant you're asking, as Mal mentioned above trailers have funny handling characteristics, when you hit a speed bump the trailer momentarily slows then surges forward. With 25kg of child and trailer its not a big deal, with 80kg of stones its very disconcerting.

The biggest difference between 20kg of child and 20kg of luggage is the child gets a little more excitable, leaning round a corner when the coxwane decides to start swaying randomly is also a little disconcerting! I couldn't ride with a front mounted seat my knees were too splayed and it was uncomfortable for more than a couple of miles but I think mine has only slept twice on the bike and shouts loudly enough for us to communicate or at least for me to know what he is wanting...

I don't trust trailers in the city, too many inattentive drivers rear enders are too common. One incident I was witness too reassured me (a little) about child seats but swore me off trailers. Thankfully the seat was empty, the rider was ok after a while but there is as much chance a trailer would have gone under the van as there is it would have gone over the bonnet.

SMIDSY by steveo_mcg, on Flickr