Education We Like to Ride Bicycles

Once you get your fork out, you can measure the steerer tube.

Also with most new headsets you will get new cups you need to press in, so I just drifted my old ones out, measured the diameter of the hole the bearing sits in, ordered one off the internet, and then with the squeakiest arse imaginable, I pressed in the cups. I improvised a press from a big 6" g clamp and some bits of wood. All whilst balancing the frame up as I dont have a stand.

Needless to say, measure twice, get high blood pressure, fit once. Works like a dream.

Also, take a picture for us, we can easily help out once we know what we are looking at.

 

Just a quick follow up question about replacing a headset, if I may....

I'm 99.9% certain that my existing headset is an FSA No 10, so I've gone ahead and bought a new one. It certainly looks pretty identical to my existing headset, albeit I've not taken the fork out yet so I've not had a chance to measure everything up. I'm hoping that I'll only need to replace the bearings and I'll be able to retain the existing races/cups, but won't know until I get time to take the fork out at the weekend.

My question is this: if it turns out that the races/cups are shot and need to be replaced, am I right in thinking that in order to push out the old cups, I'll also need to remove the existing star fangled nut? If so, are these not a right pain in the hoop to remove? Any tips?

 

Star Fangled Nut (SFN) goes into the fork steerer, once it's in a fork, it generally stays there for the lifetime of the fork. You don't need to remove it or change it when changing the headset, one SFN is as good as another.

 

Oh, doh! I'm a real tit sometimes Feel free to point at me and laugh

 

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Yeah, I'm more worried about getting the new cups pressed in than getting the old ones out, but with any luck I might just get away with replacing the bearings and not the cups. We'll see at the weekend when I have time to do things properly...

 

Yeah when you pull it out, if the bearings are seized to the cups and they are badly pitted, its just easier to pull out the old cups and press in new ones.

I did mine with a screw driver, and a hammer. As ever with any delicate adjustment, don't go full retard on the tappy tap tap action.

Getting the new ones in just require a big clamp, some delicacy and a 3rd arm to hold all the **** you are trying to get in square.

 

#Edit, nevermind, all gone now.

 

Had my front derailer cable snap on me yesterday, luckily within a mile of my home so I wasn't stuck pedalling umpteen to the dozen and hardly moving for 5-6 miles.

Replaced the cable really easily which surprised as I thought it had the potential to be more complicated.

Made sure the front shifter was on one and pulled the cable to firm but not tight tension, tightened up the clamp and tried the gears, all worked well.

Now the tinkerer in me got to thinking, are the gears setup properly so I started to follow a you tube video and now my inline barrel adjuster is stuck so I can't follow the guys instructions fully.

I have the gears all working so that's okay but I feel I have to much chain rub on when using the middle front sprocket as I can only use 3 gears without any rubbing occurring(maybe that's how its supposed to be not sure).

So first question how many cogs at the back should I be able to use in relation to which sprocket at the front is engaged and secondly what can I do about the barrel adjuster.

This is shimano tourney gears.

 

Front derailleur?!

There's your problem, right there - go 1x man, I did it with a normal 9 speed cassette years ago (before it become a thing) and it made me a better, fitter, faster rider and made the whole bike look a lot cleaner (and a bit lighter).

EDIT:

Just saw Tourney, disregard wot i sed if you on a road bike!

 

In theory you should be able to get them all, in practice its more complicated an usually ends up as a compromise.
Main issue you will have is the front mech position on the frame which im assuming is unchanged. If its wrong in terms of height an twist it can cause selection issues. Mainly twist as height itll either work or not (usually you aim for 2mm clearance on the top ring).

If that's all set up correctly then you need to make sure the screws are wound back an that the mech is physically back all the way there could be gunk under the low screw pushing the mech out slightly so worth a good clean to ensure no issues from there.

Sometimes you do have to compromise usually at extremes when cross chaining (little big or big little) otherwise it should be ok

 

Took the bike for an hours ride afterwards (in heavy mist oh joy) and all worked lovely, no grinding in the normal range of gears I use.

Chain half came off once really oddly at the bottom of the front sprocket.

I followed the guys video and as you suggested I made sure the twist and height were correct which they seemed to be.

@Wakka, I'm 47 with bad knees and sciatica in my left leg so I really need my gears, my knees I believe are caused from riding my Original Raleigh Criterion to work for years with a dual front sprocket and a 12 tooth to 17 tooth cassette and I predominantly stayed on the 12 tooth.

Next question after seeing another video, Ive made the mistake of greasing my chain, so what's a fairly decent but cheap clean and lube solution?

I'm going to buy 2 nail brush's and press them together and spin the chain as I saw again on you tube to thoroughly clean the chain.

 

Just go to Halfords and buy a bottle of whichever chain lube you can get for about a fiver. I've always found it's more important to use the chain lube than stick to specific brands, plus they're all fairly clean as long as you don't go mad applying them.

 

I use dishsoap in warm water to degrease/clean, then rinse with plenty of water. If its really caked on in the chain goes into the dishwasher and I clean me sprockets with the previous and a small brush.

I make sure I dry everything as much as I can before relubing with everything back on the bike, winding the back wheel and going up/down the gears. GMBN do a good video set on hacks/bodges and cycle maintenance.

I've recently gone from a 3 x 9(?) setup to a 1x11 setup and I couldn't be happier. Admittedly it is a lot shorter (less speed) than my older bike but tbh, it makes me enjoy my commute more as I'm forced to look around me more and take in my surroundings instead of pounding it out. I find myself going up and down the gears also as I've got quite a few knee injuries and my bike is the only way I can do cardio.

 

Degreaser you can get big ol bottles from most places, I've used loads or random things to, Paraffin works well chain off leave it to soak for a while shake brush an drain off the good stuff (the grease will sink to the bottom)
Lubricant you can put up all sorts again, winter I would use a wet lubricant itll last much longer, summer you can switch to a dry one. I have two inexpensive ones cost me about £9 for the pair a few years back, still using them now!

 

I use Muc-Off degreaser (the pink stuff), it's pretty effective and quite cheap if you buy the concentrated stuff and dilute it yourself (and that gives you the bonus of being able to make up stronger or weaker solutions for different degrees of mankiness!).

I used to use a dry lube (Muc-Off again) but although it was pretty effective initially, it needed to be reapplied every 50-100 miles, which was a pain in the hoop. I now use Morgan Race Oil which is a lot thicker but lasts for ages. Of course, it's a toss-up between a dry lube which may not last very long but doesn't attract dirt, or a wet lube which lasts longer but picks up dirt like no-one's business.

 

White rims were very annoying to keep clean, so I have probably just made them ten times harder!

 

My Ultra Burner project is nearly at the end. I have been hunting/buying parts for weeks, have done a couple of mods so that it takes a modern seat post etc. I won't divulge what it cost me to do. What I will say is that looking around I got off pretty lightly, especially considering it is a proper Ultra Burner. Any way as you groovers probably noticed I have a thing about BMX bikes. I own 4 now. Three SE Racing (a 2007 Quad cromo, a 24" Quad and a Mike Buff PK Ripper) and now the Burner. However, I have always fancied a "new school" BMX just to give it a go. They are lighter than old bikes, stronger than old bikes and have some really cool things like the cassette/micro drive and etc.

Me being me though of course I only really liked the very expensive ones. 99% of new school BMX are just black with black parts and MEH. So boring ! However, I always fancied me a Sunday. Firstly most of the parts are Odyssey (whose parts have been great since the late 80s) but they are also fully sealed (wheels, cranks, headset) with the internal headset etc. They also have proper Odyssey wheels (Hydrant rims and sealed 36h hubs) so yeah, very high end bikes. My fave is the "Funday Watermelon picnic"



If you look closely (you can't see it in that pic) there are little bugs crawling on it as well as watermelon seeds and a picnic seat. This is in stark contrast to most new school BMXs. I also like the "Orange Soda" one based on Fanta.



And the limited edition grape version.



But they are fetching lots of money. They were quite limited then, now they are becoming rare. So that was out. I managed to find a 2013 model of the Gary Young EX



That's basically a fire engine, but they had sold out (stock error). I paid £300 for that.. Any way, they phoned and after a lot of haggling and moaning I got this for £269.



Which is a bargain. That is about half of what they cost new, and the wheels and tyres would have cost me more. So yeah, my first new school bike.

 

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The Shredder DLX (deluxe) was my first foray back into BMX in 1996. It was a warm summer and I was up late watching channel 5 and I saw the X games for the first time. I hadn't rode a BMX since about 1992 and I was amazed it was still around. Took me quite a while to find a BMX, but eventually found out that Evans in Croydon had some BMXs. I wasn't that well off at the time, so I bought the Shredder. IIRC it was a 95 model, so I got a nice discount (about £180). I was hooked. Just completely hooked. Yeah, it was a heavy old lump of pig iron but man, you could really ride the snot out of it and it would last and come back fighting. Compared to a thin, easy to snap 80s bike it was night and day. I was also fully developed as an adult, so could do things unimaginable to a 4ft skinny kid.

I rode until '99 and my favourite party piece of choice was gaps. Walls, fire escapes, train bridge stairs etc. I used to love heaving my bike up onto a 8/9ft high wall and then flying off of it (not on a Haro Shredder, mind. I had a Standard 500 STA for that !) I am amazed I am still here. No helmet, no protection, just pure adrenaline. When I met my first wife she wasn't happy about me doing it and so I promised her I would buy a race bike and just ride.. Turns out that was rather ironic. I was absolutely flying up her street on my PK Ripper and ended up going over the bars and landing full smack on my elbow, tearing it apart. It literally scalped me down to the bone. Took three months to heal and had to have two operations ffs. I quit riding then. I got back into it last year. I haven't been out a whole lot but I have been out a few times on each bike. It's kinda hard when you are alone, but now that all of the townies have buggered off and the beach paths are desolate is just about the right time for me

I loved that Haro though. I had it over a year. Best thing about it were the tyres (Multisurface 3 2.2" like big fat cushions )