Keeping a 2006 Giant SCR 3 on the road - 9 speed to 11 speed?

I think your minimum refurb to bring the bike up to a good standard would be: new wheels; bottom bracket, chain, cassette and chain-rings; housings and cables (shift and brake); tires, brake pads, bar-tape; and a total, thorough cleaning and re-adjustment. This is assuming the derailleurs and shifters are actually working OK, and your LBS just means 'obsolete' when they say they are at 'end of life'.

That's a fairly big chunk of the bike, so you may want to go the whole way and upgrade the groupset. Personally I'd want at least 10 speed as an upgrade - Current Tiagra 4700 is 10 speed. Another option is looking for lightly used 105 5800 or Ultegra 6800 (or perhaps even R7000 or R8000) 11 speed components.

I'd look for a good set of lightly used wheels. As tech has moved to disc brakes and thru-axles you can probably find some really good light and strong rim/QR wheels for reasonable money.


Falcon Cycles is a British Cycle manufacturer that is still going to this day, although under different ownership

See Falcon Cycles on Wikipedia


Replacement brake pads for Tektro HD-R210

It's the most common Shimano-originated pad form factor type, which doesn't have any one agreed-upon name but is often listed as "M525/515", "Deore Mechanical", "M475/425" and others. The "A10.11" is the Tektro model for the pads you have, which are what they call a metallic ceramic compound. You could just keep it simple and get more of those, but all the aftermarket pad manufacturers plus Shimano have offerings for this type in both metallic and organic/resin. There are a lot of questions here about organic vs metallic. Shimano B01S is an extremely cheap but good quality resin pad that would work.

The noise/chatter you mentioned is most often related to inadequate bedding. Metallic pads make it worse and will give some noise even when things are going right.


Answering the question: To upgrade to 180mm from 160 you need a Post-Post 180mm adapter and a new disc. The adapters are widely available as 180 is probably the most common sized front disc on MTB's.

I think the question that should have been asked is "My front disc is not working as well as I think it should, how can I make it better". As many say, its not size that counts....   (I could be wrong, maybe you just want to do the bicycle equivalent of stuffing a sock down the front of your pants, in which case, go for it, no need to read on)

A bigger disc is a cheap way to make cheap crap brakes work better, but they are still cheap brakes, so manufacturers have sold us the idea that you need big disks because its cheaper to make big discs than good brakes. They then go on to sell the idea that by spending more money, for the same weight you get better brakes.

If you have cheap crap brakes a better (although more expensive) option than a bigger disk is upgrade to better brakes. If you have good brakes then something is wrong if they are not performing well and you should address the performance problem (poor bedding in, contaminated pads etc).


Shimano STEPS E8000 battery won't charge

It looks like you might have bypassed the charge controller on the pack and charged the cells directly? The smarter pack controllers do a form of coulomb counting and will see anomalous or unexpected pack voltages as a risk and premptively brick.

But before you get to that conclusion, I’d measure the individual cell voltages and make sure they are all within 0.1 volts of each other and that none are anomalously low. Balances often have a limited capacity for rebalancing and will brick a pack that is unbalanced too far.

Finally if you want to repair the pack, you may find a new / used pack controller part on eBay or you might be able to scavenge off an older pack. But be aware some controllers do brick themselves at end of life so you might be SOL anyway.

The worst case scenario is that you bricked the controller on the  pack and you can’t recover the controller. It’s not a huge loss. You can still break the pack apart and use the 18650 cells in other projects or sell them on eBay.


Apparently they were invented by a guy called Florian Wiesmann who called his brakes "Wies-brakes", which sounds a lot like "V brakes" to an English speaker.

In 1991 he made this brake:

Apart from the centred brake cable attachment, that's very much like a modern V brake. By 1996 he had something you'd look at and swear it was a slightly fancy-looking V brake clone, and that seems to be the year Shimano introduced the V brake.

In 1991 Ben Capron was also selling his Marinovative V brake that also looks just like a modern V brake. IRD also began selling their Widget brake. So "who invented the V brake" is a complex question and it may well have been a parallel discovery.

Mombat say on a link I got from Google cache because the page doesn't appear to exist now:

  [IRD] Developed the Widget brake, because they needed a brake that could mount to the rear swing arm. This and the Marinovative Brake are the progenitor to today's V-brakes.


What should I look for when buying tubes?

I've heard a few people say brand doesn't matter and they all come from the same factory / country. I've had bad experience with some tubes though (ok I'll mention them, BBB). They would bulge in places.
I've typically had no problems with tubes from the major tyre manufacturers like Michelin, Continental and Schwalbe.
Schwalbe marketing suggests their tubes hold pressure longer than other brands due to higher quality standards or possibly more butyl, and Michelin does too for their butyl tubes.  Lightweight or Latex tubes will not hold pressure as long and need to be pumped up more often.

I tend to think the large tire manufacturers know their rubber, they have better quality control and they care about their reputation. So I don't subscribe to the "they're all the same" philosophy.
At my LBS there is little price difference, if any, between say a standard Michelin tube and a BBB. The price difference you're seeing may be for specialist features such as very lightweight, puncture resistant, latex etc.


How to identify counterfeit Shimano parts?

If you are really interested you could contact Shimano directly, say that you bought them, that they do not have adjusting hole, and that you suspect they may be counterfeit, and if they could advise you how to check it. I suppose they would be happy to help you out since it is in their interest to find and fight counterfeits.

But you could be looking at the wrong instructions (like year of production). Parts could have originated from some new bike, that was upgraded in the shop with some higher spec parts, and originals got sold this way.


The sizes match, so according to the manufacturers you are on the safe side.
It’s not uncommon for tubes to be slightly too “long” (i.e. have a wider diameter). Maybe it’s because this tube also fits 635mm wheels and not just your 622mm.
Just try to “distribute” the excess length, so you don’t have one big kink in a single place. In your photo it’s also not fully inside the tyre.


Can a saddle clamp be upside down on a children's bike?

Ask yourself which is stronger.  In the correct orientation a downward force would need to sheer the bolt to come out the bottom.  In the incorrect orientation a downward force just needs squeeze through the gap (bend a relatively thin plate just a fraction).  It is not designed to take force in the that direction.

And you have to consider stand over. If you get the seat low enough then your stand over will go negative.  Even if flipping worked you are going to be close or into a negative stand over.

And need room in the seat to be flipped.

Have you even tried this?

Oh, this is for light child? Light child is not likely to break a seat clamp even in a compromised orientation. Kids are not disposable but they are hard to break. Even if (and that is a big if) the rail blew out one side it is not even likely a trip to the hospital. A blow out to the front tire is more likely and will have the same scraped knee and tears.


On the other side of the steerer (stem quill) you should have a bolt (most likely with Allen recess) - unscrew this bolt slightly to the wedge (the part that resides on the thread of the bolt) moves away from the steerer. They become more aligned allowing to drive them down the head tube (actually into the fork).

Then tighten the bolt making sure that the handlebars are perpendicular to the weel. The more you tighten the bolt the more the wedge gets stuck in the fork tube. To remove the quill you first unscrew the bolt and then give it a gently tap with a hammer to unseize the wedge.

See the cross-section:

All of this under the assumption that the diameters of the stem quill and the headset correspond with each other.


Why would one ever buy a 12-25 cassette when an 11-25 is available?

If you want to maximize your max. speed, go for an 11 tooth cog. If you want to maximize your average speed, unless you're a pro you probably are better off without it. Even cruising at 40km/h does not require and 11 tooth cog.

For example, take a look at this table, showing cruising1 speeds for a 11- 21 tooth cassette:

And compare to this table for a 12 - 25 tooth cassette:

You can see that the 11 tooth cog is only really useful for cruising speeds that riders at the professional level can maintain, or for short bursts. So, like I said, if you aren't trying to break your own max speed record, you may be better off with a 12 tooth cog.

(Tables screen captured from bikecalc.com. Check it out.)

I remember reading a while back about how most riders can't maintain a high enough wattage output to make an 11 tooth cog worthwhile, but I couldn't turn it up. Maybe another contributor will post it.

1 Cruising here means pedalling at 90 r.p.m.


Is it safe to install these V Brakes? Arms don't sit flush with bosses

This is a duplicate question but I couldn't find it.
It's fine. What you're looking at is the old brake pivots directly on the stud, but the new one mounts on the stud and has its own integral pivot. On the old one, you tighten the bolt very gently so you don't mushroom the post because the bolt is bottoming against the tip of the post. On the integral type, tighten it pretty good (8-10Nm). They both go on the same posts.


Which brake pads for these old cantilever brakes?

I suspect that the splitting triangle is the only MAFAC bit that were often used for that purpose. The Mafac 'Racer' brakes are quite different, look them up in a search engine. I remember them well from my teenage years' Peugeot.
These look like traditional cantilever brakes formerly used by crossers and on early MTB. However it seems that there is a bit missing in the locking mechanism for the pads, some wedge- or hemi-spherically shaped washer(s) that allow for the adjustment of the pads' parallelism to the rims.
Could it also be that the pivots on the fork and rear triangle are wonky from an impact?


Dura Ace 7700 rear derailleur will not fit into hanger

Practically all derailleur hanger bolts are M10x1.0mm, so it's strange that the derailleur bolt will not screw into the hanger.

Possible reasons:

The thread in the hanger is damaged
The bolt thread is damaged (but from the pic it looks OK)
It's a hanger for a Campagnolo derailleur which uses M10x25TPI - but that's very close to M10x1.0mm, you should at least be able to start the bolt in the thread.

Do you have another bike to try the derailleur bolt in?  Perhaps obtain a M10x1.0mm bolt from a hardware store and see if it fits the hanger.

Googling for 'replacement derailleur hanger' should get you some results. Currently Wheels Manufacturing offers a wide range of replacement hangers and provides a search by bike brand. Start here.


As I've mentioned in the comments, I've got mirrors on a couple of my bikes: a Zefal Spin on the tourer and a Busch & Müller Cyclestar on the hybrid.  Both are convex, and cover a wide area, and both mount on the end of the bars. They're very useful, though mainly for keeping up awareness of the situation. The B&M in particular sits quite far out and covers the lane I'm in as well as to the side where cars overtake (I'm in the UK where we ride on the left, but I'll try to make my description ambidextrous). On the rare occasions when I commute on my MTB, without a mirror, I really miss them.

But while there are cases when traffic can be coming up from behind on either side, such as when lanes split to go in different directions, you don't just need to see what's behind and to the side, you need to scan everywhere, and be seen to do so. I've also ridden in France, without moving my mirror across. I didn't find it very helpful at all having a mirror on the kerb side of my bike, even when there was traffic to that side. I'm not on an e-bike, but when I just need awareness of traffic on both sides, I'm often going faster than e-bikes legally can (here, under motor power).

Another reason: A mirror on the near (kerb) side isn't used nearly as much as on the offside; in fact they weren't required to be fitted to cars in the UK until much later. I don't ride a motorbike, but do drive a car, and there the main reason to use the mirror on the kerb side is to check before pulling in after overtaking someone, especially on a multi-lane road. You don't overtake very often on a bike, except other bikes, and everything is slower and closer together than when motor vehicles overtake each other - there's plenty of time to turn your head and check you've passed safely.


It sounds a little like you are shifting while pedaling. That's the opposite of how internal hubs work and will tend to cause the shift to happen delayed or never, and if done habitually for long enough is bad for the hub.
If you've got the yellow mark dialed and you're shifting only while coasting, and it's happening as you get into the slacker cable tension gears, it is possible there's a kink in the cable somewhere hidden by the housing, and it's causing friction that is making the shifting erratic.


There have been exceptions, like Dura Ace 10mm Track, but for the most part 1/2" chain pitch is totally universal. Pairing a heavily worn chain or chainring/cog with a new part can result in what you're seeing, though, because of the mismatch in pitch that develops as chains wear.


What does the number 77 mean on the Schrader valve?

A Schrader valve has an external width of 7.7mm per the specification. The number written on your valve refers to this fact.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schrader_valve#Dimensions


What does this warning symbol on my pannier bag mean?

It means "No tools" or "Use your hands."


I like stickers. Lots of stickers. Almost anything will do, promo stickers after often cheap and fairly easily available. First put reflective tape on the key areas of your bike, then cover as much of the rest of it as you can with stickers. They will inevitably fade and degrade, but you can help that along by spraying muddy water on them then over-spraying with dilute varnish once the water dries if you want (use acetone specifically to damage the printing if you can).

You can also often downgrade components cheaply - with drop bars hit the bargain bin and buy some cheap, thin bar tape and wrap that over your existing stuff. If you're lucky you'll be able to get two mismatched rolls :) And look out for wrecked bikes and swipe components off them. Rusty, bent seat clamp mounted reflectors, for example. The goal is obvious things that don't affect how the bike actually works.

You could also use packing tape to strap an old torch to the handlebars. Don't use it as a light, it's there because it's big and ugly.

All of that will come off fairly quickly using a plastic scraper and a craft knife, but it'll look convincingly ugly.
For security, I would use secure wheel and saddle attachments (like Pitlock) because that way you can use a grungy old lock around the frame like all the other beater bikes do. Spray paint them black before installing, and don't be too fussy about it. Then get a half decent chain lock (secure, heavy) or cable lock (lighter, not as secure) and thread an old inner tube over it. That way it looks cheap and awful.


Will the Garmin Edge Touring store an in progress ride if power is lost?

Yes

A comment below made me wonder could a planned turn off be different to a random turn off like my original answer below.

So a quick test this morning and...
if you turn it off through the button on the side when you turn it back on you will have the Discard and Save option.
Press home, navigate to the trip screen again and your ride is ready to resume, just press the start button again.

If the Garmin decides to turn itself off though the data stored before that is lost.

Old answer... Proved to be incorrect

Not without some manual steps

You will need to manually stop the ride by pressing the start/stop button, then save the ride from the options presented, before turning of the Garmin.

Then turn the Garmin back on before riding off.

You will then be able to stitch the GPS files together to make one continuous journey if you don't want your ride broken into multiple sections

If the power turns off mid ride that section of the ride is lost.

I know this because my Touring turned itself off a few weeks ago mid ride and I lost the first 5km of my ride.


On a bottom bracket, what does the numeric expression e.g. 1.37x24 mean?

It describes the thread of the bottom bracket.

1.37 stands for the thread diameter and is measured in inches. 24 stands for the pitch size (the distance of the thread in one turn). It's measured in TPI, threads per inch.

If the values differ, a bottom bracket won't fit to the frame.


Tips for cleaning old glue from a carbon tubular wheel

I wouldn't use any solvents because you have carbon rims.

Hot air is the best solution. Use the heat from a blow drier to gently soften the adhesive to where it will ball up with rubbing from your fingers.

If you only have a heat gun, you can use it but be careful as you can literally strip the paint off your rims with it (or cause your rims to deform/delaminate) - so I'd only use the heat gun very lowest setting.

A stiff pencil eraser can also help bring up the adhesive.


It sounds as through you loosened the compression nut inside your carbon steer tube, which you should not have done.  That bolt (the 5mm inside) should be tightened once during installation and is not touched for a headset adjustment (or than to perhaps check it is still tight).  When you loosened that bolt, you made it so that the top cap will simply pull the compression nut up, rather than pull the fork and compress the headset bearings.  Tighten the interior (the 5 mm inside) compression nut in place, then restart your headset adjustment process and hope that you haven't damaged the headset by riding it improperly adjusted.

By comparison, a fork with a metal steer tube will generally use a star nut.

These are hammered into place and will not move up.  The metal wings cut into the tube and allow the top cap to compress the headset.  This setup is inappropriate for a carbon steertube since it damages the carbon.


Does the saddle height need to be changed when the crank length changes?

Saddle height for new bike setup purposes should always be set relative to the pedal, not the BB center or any other reference point. So yes, crank length makes a difference.

Using the ground or BB center as a reference point is convenient for re-establishing a given height after the post has been moved, but not for setting up one bike to have the same leg extension as another.


Di2 front ring drop down when going uphill

The general reason it might drop when climbing but not the rest of the time is that one of the jobs done by the front derailleur is keeping the chain from falling off by having the inner cage positioned suitably close to restrain it. Flex in the frame, crank, and/or chainring can widen this distance. There are instances where secondary chain drop prevention devices need to be used to eliminate or minimize drop no matter how you adjust the derailleur. Note that none of the above is different between Di2 and any other front derailleur.

Presuming you're indicating the problem occurs when in the small ring, any of the installation and adjustment parameters except the high limit adjustment and trim adjustment could cause or exacerbate this. Depending on whether you've got a braze-on or band type model, these include the mounting height, support bolt engagement, clamp angle if applicable, and presence and/or correct positioning of the backup plate if applicable.

As far as this problem is concerned, the only differentiating factor with it being Di2 is that all Di2 front derailleurs have support bolts and only some non-Di2 ones do. The support bolt is partially responsible for setting the angle of the derailleur cage, which if incorrect will widen the gap between the cage and chain in the area adjacent to the chain when in the small ring, which in turn can be a cause of your problem. So that and the state of the backup plate (aka frame protector in Shimano parlance) is a good thing to check first. The plates can fall off, which is a very good thing to catch sooner than later, and which could also cause this problem to start all of a sudden.

Particularly if they're a band type or a braze-on type being used with an adapter, FDs with support bolts (and also trim adjustment in post-first-generation Di2's case) are more sensitive to being adjusted in a particular sequence than those without. The mounting angle and the support bolt engagement together determine the final angle of the cage, but there's a spec for how much the support bolt should be acting upon it. The inner limit needs to be adjusted after the correct angle has been established with the correct amount of support bolt engagement, and needs to be re-adjusted if either of the other parameters are changed, or if the height is changed. If your model has it, trim adjustment also needs to be re-adjusted after any and every mounting or cage angle position change.

With practice one learns their logic and can know whether, when, and how to go in and change just one parameter in isolation on these derailleurs, but until then it's much simpler to see them as procedurally adjusted and just follow the installation and adjustment steps in the dealer manual document for your model derailleur, which is available at si.shimano.com. When the sequence in the instructions is followed there's nothing too difficult about them, but if not it's easy to get lost. If that doesn't work, and there's nothing else like worn out drivetrain parts or poor chainline going on, then add a chain catcher.


Will increased weight make me go downhill faster?

The main thing you have to consider at speed is drag:
The force F on you+bike (mass m) is:

F = ma = mg sin Q - F_d - F_rr

where a is your acceleration, g is the acceleration due to gravity and Q is the hill angle to the horizontal. F_d is the drag force which doesn't scale with mass. Try dropping a balloon and a (soccer) football of the same size and you'll see this in action. F_rr is the rolling resistance.

Drag dominates rolling resistance at any decent speed for a well-set-up bike: More detail than you probably want or a nice graph so you should be able to neglect rolling resistance.

Weight will have a small effect on rolling resistance and (assuming it doesn't affect the cross-section) none on drag so it will make you accelerate faster but not by much.

You might want to experiment: start with some measured speeds with no extra load, then test the extra mass, and a dummy load of the same volume/shape/mounting made of polystyrene or cardboard.

The biggest effect you'll have is on the drag - so the first thing to try is a better tuck, not wearing flappy clothes, etc.

For really high speeds a fairing is the way to go - compare the hour record for a fully faired recumbant (~92km) with a UCI racing bike (~52km).  There are no stats I can find specifically for an upright with a fairing.


Can you replace bottom bracket without removing chain or front derailleur?

Yes, it will come off okay.  There is no need to remove the chain or FD to access any format of BB.

You can either drop the chain off the Right side of the big chainring with your hands and let it hang from the FD to the lower wheel, or you can shift to the smallest chainring/granny and then lift the chain so it rests around the BB housing.

The FD has to clear the large chainring in its normal positions regardless of gear choice, so won't collide.

Either way will work fine, but you will get dirty.

Just try it, you're overthinking possible problems.

The real bear comes in trying to undo BB cups, especially if they've been on for a while.  Or you have weird left/right threads and not sure which way to turn it.  The right tools help hugely here.

The only thing I can think of in the way would be a chainguard.  They generally have to be completely unscrewed/bolted to access the chainrings.


A cadence of 70 RPM while climbing is not unusually low, so switching to a lower gear may just encourage you to slow down instead of making you more efficient. But the only way to know for sure is to try it and measure the difference.

There isn't necessarily a right cadence. The article Technique - Pedal like a pro reports that seven pro cyclists (a small sample, I know) dropped their cadence from 80-100 RPM on the flats to 60-80 RPM on a 5% grade. Although Lance Armstrong is famous for climbing at 100+ RPM, this does not seem to be common.

I personally do better when I climb at around 70 RPM than I do at a higher cadence. The higher cadence just causes me to get out of breath faster. But this is different from person to person.

In the end, there's no harm in trying a different gear and seeing what works best for you.


What's a good replacement for a Deore LX 3x10 front derailleur?

Almost any Shimano 3x10 MTB Derailleur, but Deore FD-M6000 is a good match for what you have now.
Be careful that you match the clamp band type and that you get the correct down pull / top pull version to match your current one.
Down pull is where the cable rises from the bottom bracket.
https://bike.shimano.com/en-US/product/component/deore-m6000/FD-M6000-M.html
Or
https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/product/component/deore-m6000/FD-M6000-H.html


if your tires say '26 × 1.79' the you have '26 inch' wheels also know as ISO/ETRTO 599, i.e. the rim diameter is 599mm. the '1.79' is the nominal width of the tire in inches.

Mountain bikes all used to have this size wheel until '29 inch' appeared (ISO/ETRTO 622) and then the compromise '27.5 inch' (ISO/ETRTO 584) - hence the options you see on the website.

To fit your frame you need to make sure the crown to axle length of the new fork is the same as you current fork, otherwise you will raise or lower your headtube and change your head tube angle. If you are buying a fork with the same travel then I'm guessing the fork length will be about the same.


I'm only dimly aware of Thompson bottom brackets, but:

The visible thread on the spindle isn't a concern or a sign that something is wrong. My understanding is that, like Ashtabula/one-piece/American bottom bracket shells, the shell widths found on different Thompson shell bikes can have some variance due to either low tolerance or lack of real standardization, and the BBs have the threaded length to accomodate that.
It looks like the chainstays are in the 490-500mm range or perhaps longer. The front chainline being out by 5mm on a bike with chainstays this long is likely to be inconsequential. If there's no roughness or noise when pedaling, it will be fine.
This appears to be a coaster brake and/or internally geared hub. If so and if the cog has offset, make sure it's flipped out. If it's not offset and if it's the normal three-notch type, and if you wanted or needed to make the chainline better, getting an offset cog can buy you a few mm.


These are generally inserted in the location where the bar end plus would go. Most if not all of these levers have a rubber plug at the front that you remove to reveal a bolt that you will need to turn to tighten itself onto the inside of the handle bar.


Presta valve letting all the air out when I screw it back in

If you press down while screwing in, air will be released. The nut on the top of the Presta valve does not need any downward force to close.
If you are not pressing down while screwing in or find a lot of force is needed to turn the nut at the top of the tube, then your valve may be damaged. At that point, it is best to get a new inner tube/valve.


Most effective pedal position to jump start from still situation

When you are starting, most force comes from your weight on the front pedal. The highest leverage is available when the pedal is in the 3 o'clock position. But starting there would waste the (potential) energy from going from the 12 o'clock (no leverage but maximal potential energy) to the 3 o'clock position. Hence, it makes a lot of sense starting with pedals in the 1 o'clock position with leverage increasing towards 3 o'clock and decreasing towards 6 o'clock.

A physics student could come up with an analysis for the best starting point by also taking into account the inertia of the system but I can't and have to leave it to may hand-waving arguments above.


Leaning forward will help you go a bit faster, but not not because of lowering your center of gravity (more properly center of mass).

Leaning forward reduces your frontal area, which reduces air resistance which potentially enables you to go faster. However, there are many different factors that come into play that effect air resistance - style of bicycle and handlebars; hand, arm and head position etc.

Personally, I find that leaning forward reduces the power output I can produce, so adopting an aerodynmic position only makes sense on fast downhills where the aerodynamic benefits exceed the loss of pedaling power.


Is this damage on the bottom bracket shell concerning? Viking lugged steel frame

From here it's hard to tell if it's a crack through the steel or just in the paint. You need to take it all apart and bead- blast the area in order to clean and inspect it. It's probably too hard to tell otherwise, through the rust and paint. If you don't have a bead blaster, perhaps paint stripper and wire brushes might be sufficient. If that crack goes all the way through the steel then you will probably destroy it getting the BB apart.


The problem that will affect your bike is not directly heat, but UV radiation from sunlight, and that does not only happens when the sun shines directly on the bike, scattered light from the sky and nearby objects will also have an effect.

UV radiation degrades polymers, plastics, rubber, and similar, sort of toasting them, making them dull, less flexible. I mention polymers because most likely that is what the bike's paint is made of, so yes, leaving the bike out in the sun all the time will cause all sort of problems to bike, from cosmetic damage to deterioration of seals, rim brake pads, hoses, cracking of derailleur pulleys, evaporation of lubricants, etc.

My recomendation is that you find a way of building a small shelter for your bike where it can sit not only in shade but in a very dark shade, covered from direct and indirect light. What Im suggesting looks a lot like a big dog house, probably made of wood and sheet metal (probably even lined with some insulating material), it doesn't have to be fancy.

Second alternative is some soft cover, like the ones used for motorcycles, but it has to be a high or medium quality one, a cheap cover may actualy do more harm than benefit. In particular, a cover should let humidity shed out, because otherwise the vapour will suround the bike, later condensating and causing corrossion in the most hidden and unlikely places.

I don't think any maintenance will compensate for all day, every day exposure to heat (and UV radiation), because radiation may reach deeper into the material than any conditioner, which almost sure is applied as a liquid or as a paste, thus acting only at surface level. It is also very difficult to thoroughly cover all the affected parts, not to mention laborious and time consuming plus that it would be necessary to perform it in a regular basis. It is more time and cost effective to find shelter for the bike.


Significant difference between 28C and 32C tires?

They will make a significant difference, but the size of the tire alone won't make much of a difference to your speed. If your current tires have a substantial amount of tread on them, you may notice a speed difference since smaller tires tend to have less tread on average.  It's probably not going to be a substantial difference though, even if you have the knobbiest 38's on the market. Your biggest speed limitation is wind resistance, and while the narrower profile of the tires will knock that down a little, it's a small portion of the overall wind resistance that you experience.

Where you'll notice the biggest difference will be in how much harsher the ride will feel with skinnier tires. They run at higher pressures so you end up feeling every bump in the road more.

You'll also notice that the steering feels more nimble due to the lighter weight of the skinnier tires.

You'll also be more prone to pinch flats with skinnier tires. To what extent will depend on the tire pressure that you've been running and the tire pressure you're going to run.


Can you use non-UST tubeless ready tyres on a UST tubeless rim?

Yes, works fine, but you do need sealant. UST tires have an additional rubber layer in the tire to achieve airtightness; tubeless-ready tires do not and have porosity that necessitates sealant. The extra layer adds meaningful weight and reduces suppleness, which are several big reasons UST isn't popular.

The UST bead profile is a precisely defined form factor for both tire and rim. This is useful or necessary to achieve an airtight lock without sealant. Tubeless Ready tires and rims use physically and conceptually similar bead profiles that don't conform to any defined standardized form factor, or at least not one defined by a third party. (Each tire and rim company does tend to have their own name and profile design for their own tubeless system, if you want to call those standards). In practice, we've now reached a point where sealant-based Tubeless Ready tires and rims can be mixed and matched more or less freely with good results.

A side note is that some companies, WTB as the major example, make tires that adhere to the UST bead profile only, but are still only TR in the sense that they need sealant. There's arguably some potential advantage there, since in the abstract it would seem like defined standards is a better way of doing things than everyone just loosely copying each other like we mostly have now, but it's largely seen as irrelevant because the not-quite-standardized bead profiles of current tires and rims have gotten to the point of very high reliability and burp resistance anyway.


39-53t chainring on full suspension bike

The Giant Reign is a long travel 'enduro' bike that is designed to be ridden down steep technical trails, not pedalled down road/fire trail.

It's most likely that changing to a 39-53 will not work as the inner chainring will catch the chain stays, and even if it did work, it would compromise the bike in technical terrain, increasing the chances of 'grounding' the big ring on rocks etc.  You would also probably run into problems with the front derailleur as mtb derailleurs are not designed to work with such large rings, and the frame itself may not allow the derailleur to be mounted high enough to clear the 53t ring.

In addition, it would basically turn the bike into an 'uplift' only bike, as a 39t chainring would be much too large a gear for climbing off-road terrain.


New Cable Anchor Bolt for SunTour Accushift Edge

Your best bet is to go to your LBS or hardware shop and try a few bolts until you find one that fits.

I don't know if this derailleur came with a special washer to help hold the cable or not, but its not really important that you get an exact match on this part. So long as you find a bolt (and possibly washer) that fits and holds the cable under tension, its fine. If you go to your LBS, they should have something that works (it wouldn't surprise me too much if some random Shimano/SRAM bolt worked; Nathan in the comments notes that its probably M5x0.8).

[In fact, if there was a special washer, you're almost surely not going to find the exact same one aside from buying the same/similar derailleur (e.g. on eBay) and taking it off there, since the parts are over 20 years old. ]


Shimano 105 front derailleur has some “extra shift” after shifting to small cog

Ben, congratulations on your new bike!

Yes the behavior is normal. The large cog should have a similar setting, i.e. if you don't shift all the way to the small ring, but just click gently, it should move into an intermediate position as well.

This is called "trimming" and is important to allow the chain to access all rear cogs without scratching on the derailleur. The trim position which you access with the extra click is suitable if you are running a lower gear at the back.


How do I force my body to use triglycerides while training?

I'm studying professional nutrition and work in a clinic where the doctors get similar questions. One major tip is to eat more healthy fats and oils to get your body used to burning more fats.
Foods like nuts, avocados, olive oils, and fatty fish. Grapefruit is also highly recommended.
Link http://www.wikihow.com/Burn-Fat

Side Note: The muscles don't burn fat directly. They run on stored glycogen (condensed glucose) and blood glucose. When that runs out they call on the liver to convert it's stores of glycogen to glucose and send it via the bloodstream to to muscles. The liver then works to replenish its glycagen stores with the easiest energy source available (your last meal or two).
If you've been eating lots of healthy fats and oils the liver will adapt to being more efficient at burning those. Thus, when you do a lot of exericise the liver will use more body fats to make glucose for your muscles.

Reference: Principle of Anatomy and Physiology, by Gerard Totora and Bryan Derrickson.


Patched up my tire and still lost air again

As well as checking for debris in the tyres, applying the patch properly etc., you need to be careful not to give yourself a "pinch flat" when you put the tyre back on the rim. This is caused when you trap the tube between the tyre and the rim, putting a fresh hole in your recently repaired tube.


Minimum distance between holes in inner tube

If you can put a patch on without overlapping the existing one, it's fine. If the patches would overlap, I can't see any problem but I could have missed something.

Were the two punctures in rapid succession? If so, that and the similar location suggests that there's still debris in your tyre: check the area carefully for glass or similar pokng through the inside of the tyre.


I found this article about a slightly different bike:

This bike was manufactured by Cleveland Welding (CWC) for distribution
and sale by the Seiberling Rubber Company. It is essentially a
standard issue CWC bike using the second series post-war CWC 3-Gill
pattern frame and the serial number places the build date in 1947,
probably near the middle of that year. While the basic bike is common,
the Seiberling badging is one of the less common badges that were used
on these bikes.

Note that there is actually a Facebook group for these bicycles: "Cleveland Welding Company bicycle owners".  One post I find on the group suggests that the serial number is from 1945.


There are many factors that go into determining the performance of a tyre.  The material and thread count (TPI) of the carcass, the rubber compound, thickness and tread pattern.  Tubed vs tubeless, and many different varieties of puncture protection layers.

Unfortunately as a consumer (especially with lesser known brands) its virtually impossible to be sure of the exactly how the tyre will perform without trying it.  This is why bike forums are always full to the brim of threads about x/y/z tyres.

The average life of a tyre varies significantly, based both on the tyre construction, the weight and riding style of the rider, and the terrain being ridden.
A light rider riding tyre 'X' on flat smooth roads may get 4500km out of a tyre, but give the same tyre to a heavy rider in hilly terrain and a coarse surface and it may only last 1500km.

If you are looking at a tyre purely as a consumable item, and only care about how many km you can get out of them, then you probably want to look for tyres that are advertised as 'touring' tyres.  They typically have thicker rubber and a harder compound for durability, along with thick puncture protection layers which whilst designed to provide reliability in remote areas, also work superbly in urban environments


Is Marseille a safe place to ride a bicycle?

Marseille was voted worst French city for cyclist in 2013 (see here), but apparently they are trying to change that. Here are potentially useful links: maps of cycle lanes in the city, and a city bike rental scheme run by the city.

You should keep the following in mind also: Marseille gets very hot in the summer and is one of the worst French city for air pollution. You should also get a very good bike lock as theft is rife in some neighbourhoods.

Despite all this, I think it doesn't hurt to try it for a while using the bike rental scheme (first 30 minute is free apparently) and decide if it's for you or not.


PG-1130 11 speed cassette hub compatibility

That’s a roundabout way of saying that it fits on a Shimano style HG hub. I guess SRAM don’t like using the word Shimano. The NX groupset was designed as a good budget retrofit onto the most common freehub.

Yes you can use any (10 speed) rear wheel with a Shimano HG hub.

Recommendations are out of scope for this site sorry but any online store or even better your local bike store can help.


Washing a vintage bike—special considerations?

Cleaning a vintage bike isn't that much different than cleaning a new bike, with perhaps two caveats:

Vintage bikes are usually made of steel and the frame drain holes may be plugged or non-existent. I wouldn't use water directly (from a hose) directly on a vintage bike but instead only use wet rags and wipes. Don't spray (citrus-based) cleaner directly on the bike, spray it on the rag and then wipe the bike. While cleaning the bike, I'd see if there aren't drain holes at the bottom of the bottom bracket, chain stays, and front forks and make sure they're clear.
Vintage bikes usually have decals that might be easily accidentally removed or damaged. I'd be particularly careful cleaning around these decals. If you like how they look and don't care about restoration value, I'd protect the decals by spraying them with a decal-safe clearcoat (or putting an overlay of helicopter tape) - but be aware that this will destroy their value for a conservationist, so do it if the bike is emotionally valuable to you, but not particularly rare (such as say, a 1984 Trek).


As already said in the title of the Wikipedia page, these bikes are intended for motorpaced racing on track. The backwards fork allows the rider to stay closer to the derny motorcycle for more efficient drafting. Since the races take place on track, with single riders drafting motorcycles, the handling is not that much a problem, but people have indeed died in accidents in this form of racing.


Clicking noise from drivetrain under load

I've dealt with this quite recently.  It happens that the sound was coming from 2 sources, and I was hearing them together. At first it was a constant series of clicks, several per crank rotation.  My first step was to rebuild my pedals.  It was time anyway, so I figured it was a good time.  Rebuild complete, things much quieter, nice!  But not completely quiet-- instead of of the multiple clicks, I now had a single, quiet click.  That is from my crank.  I tightened the non-driveside (the only side that can be tightened on this type) and, voila! quiet.  Unfortunately, it seems that my particular crank has a known problem that requires this from time to time-- every couple hundred miles.  So, until I care enough to replace it, I'll be tightening it a little from time to time.


Please help identify this vintage SKIP bike. Thanks

I'd call it an 80s step-through frame, intended for a woman (denoted by the skirt guard on the rear wheel)
Three black cables show there are two brakes, and probably a 3 speed internal gear hub in the rear wheel.
Observation - there's a lot of seatpost and an awful lot of stem out of the bike - guessing this is a small frame and the current rider is quite tall.   Do check that the "minimum insertion" lines are not visible - if so then the stem/seatpost have to go down a bit.
I'd also guess that the bike had a stout front basket at some point.  That  upright stay on the front wheel is a lot more beefy than the other stay holding the rear of the front guard.  My suspicion is the basket clipped into the headlight holder and bolted to the small horizontal area over the front mudguard.
Can't put anything against the 35 25 stickers on the front fork - possibly some local registration scheme, or maybe an allocated bike park slot somewhere.
The tyres appear to have that reflective side strip, so they seem relatively recent, certainly not original rubber which would be tan on the side.


I push the pin to it's 100% correct position (similar to other pins) and 1/10 of a mm more. Assume blue pin on photo.

Then I remove the chain tool and do the following:

with my hands I bend the chain laterally (at the direction where it's not bending) mildly back and forth a couple of times. That is the red arrows on the photo.
I turn the link completelly to one side and to the other (at the direction that the chain is bending) to make sure that the movement is complete and safe. That is the green arrows on the photo.
I apply 2 drops of oil on the link that I've worked on.
redo step 3 once, check again
done

That ensures that the metals on the link (I don't know the exact terminology of the parts) do not remain "packed" together and the link is not stiff. If I don't do this I'm afraid that when it becomes "unstiff" and the metals are unpacked, the pin may not be in the 100% perfect position and this may cause a problem later on when pedaling hard. The worst problem could be that the chain would break while riding.


Why does cable routing utilize alternation of sections of shielded and unshielded cable?

It's not a given that the full-length housing is lower friction.  I suspect that a well-done exposed cable scheme is lower friction than a full housing.
Especially for indexed shifters, the cable housing changes effective length with tension and temperature changes.  The exposed cable scheme has much less flex and hence more precision shifting.
The full-length housing is ugly!

I haven't looked at new bikes much in about 5 years, but prior to that the full-length housing was almost exclusively seen on inexpensive bikes, while the exposed cable was common on the more expensive ones.  This strongly suggests that cost is not a reason for exposed cables.  (And reason also suggests this -- the housing is cheaper than the housing ends, eg.)

Of course, full-length housings are more compatible with suspension bikes, and probably have some advantages on true off-road bikes.  So you'll see full-length housings more and more on bikes in that spectrum.


Loud cracking/creaking sound only when cycling uphill

Strangely, I have a Canyon and suffered the same creaking / clicking which developed after a couple of years of ownership. It would appear when putting power down on ie. Hills. In every examination - the noise appeared to come from the front - the chainset - and only under harder effort on hills.

Firstly, you need to look at and consider the obvious.

pedals - smooth with no play?
bottom bracket - is it worn?
crank fastening bolt(s) - is the top hat on tightly? and the non drive side fastening bolts (for Shimano) tight?

Then consider the not so obvious.
And consider noise to be caused by the tiniest amount of movement between the cranks where the main force is being applied - all the way back to and through the rear axle.

So starting at the front end with the cranks...

chainring bolts. Make sure they are tight and have a decent amount of thread on them. 3rd party alloy chainring bolts often minimalise the amount of thread.
quick release levers. Are they on tight enough? Lightweight 3rd party skewers can be a little flimsy on the clamp and tiny movements on the axle can cause noise. Try using a Shimano one for instance - and see if the noise subsides.
cassette. Is it wobbling on the the freehub? If it is - check the lockring. If the lockring is tight - then your freehub might be worn.
rear derrailleur - is the rear mech fastened tightly to the frame?
rear derrailleur hanger - has this loosened over time?
(this happened to be my issue!)
The tiny allen key fastenings bolting the replaceable hanger to the frame can come loose. As was the case in my problem.
Amazingly, the tiny movements from the rear mech hanger - caused the noises at the front of my bike. It took me many months to work this out - and in this time I stripped down the chainset at least twice and needlessly replaced the bottom bracket.

Best of luck in your hunt.


is there an easy fix for worn down brakes?

The easy fix is getting new brake pads.  The hard fix will be when they are worn down to metal and start to dig into the aluminum brake track of the wheel. At which point you will be better off getting a new bike rather than paying to replace wheels and brakes on a BSO.


Cable stretch is mostly just things settling into place (ferrules into housing, housing into frame stops, housing compressing) rather than physical stretching of the cables, and after a week or so of installing new cables, you simply adjust them to the right tension. This is normal, as is periodic adjustments of cable tensions involved on your bicycle.

Replacing cables is done for a different reason than "cable stretch". A Bowden cable (see also here), such as the shift and brake cables used on a bicycle consists of an inner wire and housing. As the housing's lubrication wears away(*) or the cable rusts, the cable catches on the housing causing things like the brakes not releasing properly or sloppy shifting. Also, sometimes the cables (which are made of twisted wires) fray and break. If this happens on your brake cable, you don't have braking (which is bad!). Most shift cables fail safely by just forcing you to some extreme gear combination (rear is normally the smallest sprocket). Thus, it is advisable to replace your shift and brake cables periodically.

I have to replace my cables at least once every winter due to corrosion and road crud, for example, but I do have to do cable tension adjustments periodically when the cables are not replaced (such as indexing getting a bit sloppy or to account for my brake pads wearing down or something).

(*) Some people oil their cables. Most manufacturers now recommend against this.


Shimano 105 5800 rear shifter: intermittent downshift jam, clears when held upside down

Yeah, the little plate that make you shit to bigger cog had an issue on mine, the spring was not strong enough and failed to grip... so, the shift would not work. `
Funny enough, I put a rubber to hold it tight and it's working well. I don't know for how long though...


My guess is cords were damaged on the ride creating a weak spot. Threads held together long enough to get you home and a bit longer, then ripped apart. This kind of delayed and catastrophic failure is not uncommon. Heating vent might have softened them enough to make a difference, but the tire was damaged anyway (assuming warm, not very hot air).

More puncture resistant tires may help prevent it in the future, but you cannot prevent it completely.

The size of the hole in the tire, and the hole in the tube are irrelevant, its a symptom of the tire failure, not the cause. Once the tire fails, there is nothing stopping the air pressure inside the tube expanding - the tube cannot stop it, it gets pushed though the tire, making that hole bigger and blows up and pops just like a balloon, hence the bang. If you were listening closely, the bang was preceded by a short ripping sound.


How cities came to decision to allow bicycles and/or motorcycles to enter bus lanes?

This is not a definitive answer, but it's too long for a comment.

The primary purpose of bus lanes is to allow buses to move (more) quickly through peak hour traffic congestion. A bus carrying 50 people is using about the same road space as 3 cars when moving.

It's also a political statement to car users: take the bus to get there quicker.

If we allow other vehicles to use the bus lane then

The other vehicles must not slow the buses down.
The other vehicles must also make more efficient use of road space than cars.
And the message should be consistent.

In a traffic mix where motorcycles are less than about 3% of the traffic they will probably not impede the buses, by my guestimates. Another solution is to allow the motorcycles to filter through stationary traffic.

In a location where the buses average 20 kph then cyclists are not likely to delay buses unless there are many more cyclists than buses. This case would be rare, but possibly occurs in a few places in Western Europe. In these locations there would be no benefit in mixing cyclists and buses.

More common is the case where the buses average 40 kph and cyclists are rare enough that the buses can pass in reasonable safety. In this situation mixing cyclists and buses makes sense in policy terms, because the three principles mentioned above are supported. In practice the bus drivers need training to mix safely and consistently with bicycle traffic.

So it's about the relative frequencies of the vehicles in the traffic mix, and their relative speeds.


How to decrease belly fat while cycling?

You cannot outride (or outrun or out-any-other-exercise) a bad diet. On top of that, decades of research shows it's impossible to "spot-reduce".

Your options are:

Eat some combination of food that results in fewer calories in. Shoot for somewhere between 200-500 fewer calories for moderate weight loss.
Ride some combination of harder and longer while maintaining your current intake. Harder could be adding hill climbs and sprint intervals. Longer would be adding a 3-4 hour ride on the weekend or something. This is hard to because as soon as you start riding harder you will want to eat more. It takes strong self discipline. It also assumes your diet isn't horrible to begin with.
Do a combination of the first two.
Forget everything above and start saving for liposuction or any of the other modern body sculpting surgeries. Personally I'd rather spend that money on a nicer bike and continue to try to ride the belly off, but to each their own.

Outside general weight/fat loss, strength and endurance exercises targeting the area will tone the underlying muscles, but will have little to no effect on your spare tire.


Replacing rapid-fire shifters with 105 integrated shifters

Assuming your bike is specced out as per these pages: 9 speed Tiagra (which is presumably 4500 series), Shimano SL-R440 shifters, triple chainring, Tektro mini v-brake calipers.

Any Shimano 9 speed triple drop bar shifter/brake units will work with the 9 speed Tiagra derailleurs. 'Flight Deck' refers to Shimano's computer integration with buttons in the shifters and does not identify the units you have.

Mini V-brake calipers also work with road brake levers, unlike regular full length v-brake calipers.

Be aware that flat bar frames generally have a longer reach geometry than drop bar frames, as flat bars don't position the hands as far forward as drop bars. You'll need a short stem to compensate for that. A short stem will speed up the steering a bit as the bars need to move a smaller distance for a given angle of rotation of the fork and front wheel.

Replacing all the cables and housings is not technically necessary but you will be replacing a a big enough part of them that you might as well go head and replace everything. Retain old housings as you can use some of them to cut new sections to the proper length. There are plenty of good guides available such as this video from Park Tool. A special cutter is needed to cut housing and cable and alternative is a Dremel type tool with a metal cut-off wheel as this does not squash the housing (although it does melt the inner lining which need to be cleaned up).

Update based on additional info provided - OP has 105 shifters.

If you have the older pre 2006 5500 9 speed series I'd say it would be better to get something newer. Tiagra 4500 or Sora 3500.

If you have 5600 or 5700 series 10 speed triple shifters an option is to upgrade to a 10 speed cassette. The Tiagra 4500 derailleur will actually work in this setup as all Shimano road groups 10 speed and below used the same derailleur actuation ratio (ratio of cable length pulled to lateral cage movement).

If you have 11 speed shifters that trick will not work as the actuation ratio is different and most 11 speed cassettes will not fit on a 8/9/10 speed hub. If you determine the shifters are not compatible you can of course sell them on ebay to finance the purchase of an alternative.


Are these tires worn out or was it rather a manufacturing defect?

It looks like age/exposure related failure from what I can see. If it is a defect the shop where you purchased them may pro-rate them on new tires. If they do this it would be a good will gesture on their part. I worked in the retail automotive tire world and it is nearly impossible to get a defect related replacement from the manufacturer. They blame under /over inflation, road hazard, sun exposure etc.


Changing the rear wheel offset to allow space for freewheel

Random interference with the chainstays/seatstays/dropouts like this just happens sometimes. It's not really anyone's fault.

If you added 3mm of spacer to the drive side and took 3mm away from the non-drive side, the wheel will be out of dish. That's fixable, at the expense of increasing the left-to-right spoke tension disparity, creating less total tension and a weaker wheel. (A nice new handbuilt wheel with a modern rim will already have the drive-side spokes at the highest tension the rim can take without risking cracking at the spoke holes, so the only place you can go here is reducing tension on the left side, so less total tension). The chainline will be affected but it's not likely to matter. You'll also have increased the unsupported span of drive-side axle, which is already borderline too much for some riders on 7-speed freewheel hubs, although that depends on you and your style.

Adding an equal amount of spacer on both sides, putting in a longer axle, and spreading the frame is likely a better approach then re-dishing the wheel. It negates all of the above downsides other than the unsupported axle part. It's always technically possible for bad things to happen as a result of spreading the frame, but for the most part this fear is an invention of people who aren't aware of the level of cold-setting punishment steel bikes receive when they're built. In actual practice, steel frames can be spread and aligned with almost total impunity.

A lot of nice 7-speed freewheels were made with 12-tooth small cogs. If that bought you the clearance you need and you could also get the gearing you need, that route sounds like the best one to me. It does mean being reliant on vintage drivetrain parts, which isn't ideal, but old freewheel cogs kind of last forever anyway so I wouldn't sweat it here.

Crimping/indenting the stay can also be a totally reasonable solution depending on what part of it is interfering and how much you'd need to do it by. Many, many bikes are made with partially flattened stays to help with clearance.


So its a click once per wheel revolution.  That suggests its not bearing specific cos they rotate a lot more per wheel rotation.  I'm suspicious of race damage in the hub roughly even with the logo as you noticed, and a slightly loose bearing such that theres not enough preload on the bearings.

Some things to try

Does it click if you spin the wheel backward by hand?  This is hard to test while riding, but you could pull the wheel and install it flipped.  Be careful while riding in this state.
Can you find another wheel - borrow one off another bike or another person.  Just confirm that a different wheel doesn't click.  Confirmation is handy.
While the wheel is off, clean and examine the front dropouts and fork legs for damage, chips or cracks, Its pretty unlikely but the wheel is off anyway.
Next would be to open the wheel hub and remove the bearings.  If they're sealed cartridge bearings then play with them and see if you can feel a click at any point.

If they're loose balls in a cup/cone then clean out all the grease with a solvent and look hard at the race's track under a strong light.  Anything that looks bad, is bad.  Specifically spalling (where bits break off the running surface) smearing (where the bearings are dragging around not rolling) or galling means replacement time.

This is a car bearing but the concept is the same.  This example is terminal, but your bike may have the mearest hint of a lump or hole.

BTW: The click will be adding drag, but sound takes very little energy so its not enough to notice.


Schwinn Johnny Pro Stationary Loud Noise Near Sprocket

From your description it sounds like the 'bottom bracket' bearings have become damaged. These are the bearings that the crank axle runs in in the frame of the bicycle.

To confirm, turn the cranks by hand, if you feel an area of extra resistance, any 'grinding' or a 'notch' or 'clunk' that the cranks pass through the bearings need replacing.

I found a lo-res exploded drawing here of the Johnny Pro, it indicates that the design uses a 'three-piece' crank (two separate crank arms, axle and bearings in a cartridge type unit). The cranks typically fit onto a square taper or splined interface on the axle. If the bolts at the  base of the cranks are removed the  cranks do not come of the axle, a special crank puller-tool is needed for that. The cartridge axle and bearings thread into the frame but a special tool is needed to interface to them to unscrew them.

Here's a video that shows how these things come apart.

The bearing cartridges themselves are not very expensive. You'll have to make a determination if you want to try this on your own or get a bike repair store to help you.


What proportion of adults in Britain can ride a bike?

This may be the closest you're going to get.  It's not an exact match:

It's England not Britain
It's not how many can ride a bike, but how many do

Sport England's Active Lives survey says that 6 million adults in England cycled for leisure/sport and 3 million for travel at least twice in 28 days, over the year to November 2019.  Extrapolating from demographic data for England, there were about 43.6 millions adults in England in 2019, which means something like just 14--20% of English adults ride at least twice a month (13.6% assumes that all the "travel" riders also ride for fun, while 20.6% assumes that people only ride for one or the other, never both.  The latter is clearly unrealistic, so I'd assume closer to the lower figure.
This is in decent agreement with 2018 figures saying 11% rode at least once pre week (8% leisure, 6% travel). These 2018 figures are at leats partly based on an earlier version of the Active Lives study.
I think it would be reasonably accurate to assume the same proportions across the UK as in England.

Trying to figure out how many can ride is harder, but I'll have a go.  There are hints from recent data suggesting many people got back on their bikes in lockdown.  Figures from Scotland show that in some places recorded trips doubled, however that could just be the same riders going out more.  Cycling Industry News reports comparable figures.
A survey for HSBC/British Cycling (reported in BikeBiz) says that 19% of UK commuters are more likely to cycle to work post lockdown.  That strongly implies that at least 19% of commuters are capable of cycling.
Of course, when you consider whether someone can ride, you have to think about whether they can wobble along a deserted path, nip through traffic, or somewhere in between.  Crucially the context in which you ask someone will affect their answer - I'd expect a larger proportion of people to say they could ride if prompted by pictures of a nice peaceful path, compared to a rush-hour city.
Realistically, based on what I've quoted above and in the absence of hard figures, I'd estimate that a bit over 20% are capable of riding for practical purposes, while far more can handle a bike in ideal circumstances.


Bike chain worn to 1% according to indicator tool

I would replace the chain at such condition (if there are 3 or more places or if there are multiple links).
About the cassette it's another question, and if you can't decide yourself, it should be checked in LBS probably.


Chain is slipping relative to large chainring but not the small one

From looking up the specs I presume your crank is FC-M8000-2. If you're saying that the crank arms are moving while the big ring and chain remain stationary in space, and the rear cog didn't move, the only possible explanations are that either the interface between the spider and the right crank has failed, or the metal toothy part of the composite XT big ring is spinning relative to the fancy three dimensional carbon body of it. Do more marks and repeat your test to see which it is.
If it was the spider interface, the smaller chainring puts less torque on it so that could explain why it's not slipping on the small ring. But looking at pictures of the crank, it seems like the spider and the arm are contoured together such that the arm couldn't just spin free. So I'm guessing your chainring is all whirly.
If the chain is moving, the suspect becomes freehub slippage, which is about a million times more common.

Edit in response to picture and note that the chain is new etc:
Your chainring is worn out.


Crankset compatibility: Specialized Stout XC vs. SRAM GX 1000 GXP

The parameters involved are as follows:

Your frame’s bottom bracket shell, which is BSA threaded.
The spindle type, which is where you ran into trouble. Shimano specifies a 24mm diameter spindle. SRAM’s GXP is a 24mm spindle that tapers to 22mm on the left crank. I don’t know if there’s a substantive reason for this, or if it’s just to avoid any patents that Shimano had on its Hollowtech II system.

The FSA crank you linked appears to have a 24mm spindle, so this should fit as is. Some companies may make spacers to adapt a Shimano BB to a GXP axle, but I can’t remember who does off the top of my head.
BB30 is a different bottom bracket shell standard entirely. It is one of the press fit BB standards. Many press fit BBs are made to take 30mm axles, but 30mm axles are less common in threaded BBs (but it is possible, and BBs are made for that purpose).


I haven't had a poly roller for long, only a season but I've never had any issues with slippage, though I always use a trainer tire on it.

Wear and tear I can't note any difference after a season of use other than some dirt and marks from my tire. Nothing deeper than surface dirt. Hope it helps!


Have a look on the second hand market for 'Giant Trail' mountain bikes from a few years ago.  These had an unusual frame design with a lower top tube, wider, more stable bars and disc brakes. Giant Rincon Trail, Giant Boulder Trail were a couple of the affordable models I remember.


Phillips brand c1950? Please help me identify this awesome old frame!

There are numerous Vintage Bike Resource sites available. Old Roads.com, The Headbadge, are a couple I use. The Headbadge has a nearly complete list of Raleigh Catalogs for most years. It appears you have a frame at least similar to a Canadian Model 99 Gents circa 1954. It can be difficult to date a Raleigh bike visually as many models were made for decades with very few visual changes. The bolt-on chain stays aren't that unusual. I haven't found any definitive reason why they were used. Some feel it was just a hold over from the days of fully enclosed chain cases. It may also may have been to allow the chain to be removed without breaking the chain. For many owners a Raleigh was a once in a lifetime purchase. Hence the oiler port on the bottom bracket and wheel hubs.


Bike seems less stable when using handlebar bag

Yes, the bag can cause the instability. The physics is quite simple.

Ordinarily, a bike is self-stabilizing. If you turn the handlebars to the left, you steer to the left and the bike leans to the left. However, the turning gives a centrifugal force to the right, which causes the bike to want to lean to the right which, in turn, straightens it out.

With a bag on the handlebars, things change. With the bike perfectly upright, the weight of the bag acts completely downwards and does nothing to turn the handlebars. However, as the bike leans to the left, the bag can lower itself by turning the handlebars further to the left.  If the bag is heavy enough, this effect will overcome the self-righting stability of the bike and now you have a system that responds to a slight turn to the left by trying to turn more sharply (positive feedback) rather than the usual situation of responding to a slight turn to the left by trying to go straight again (negative feedback). This is the instability that you felt while riding.


Roads that look uphill feel flat and flat looking roads feel uphill. Possible causes?

Our sense of gravity/balance is not very precise on its own and it is combined in the brain with visual clues and other information. For example, it is really difficult to hang a picture straight on a large wall if you don't have a level tool or can align it parallel to the floor/ceiling. There are a few effects that can distort your sense of what is "horizontal".
The Ames room is an optical illusion where you think lines to be perpendicular where in reality they aren't. If the surrounding hills, trees etc. form lines at certain angles (e.g. a ridge on the horizon that your brain expects to be horizontal but that really slopes), you can get a similar effect in nature. Wikipedia explains it in relation to "magnetic mountains" or "gravity hills":

Ames' original design also contained a groove that was positioned such that a ball in it appears to roll uphill, against gravity. Richard Gregory regards this apparent "anti-gravity" effect as more amazing than the apparent size changes, although today it is often not shown when an Ames room is exhibited.
He speculates that "magnetic hills" (also known as "gravity hills") can be explained by this principle. For a magic mountain at an unnamed location in Scotland, he found that a row of trees form a background similar to the setting of an Ames room, making the water in a creek appear to flow uphill.

Also, your brain adjusts the sense of balance over time. You often get this when you cycle up a long steep hill followed by a less steep road with very little inclination. The flatter road may look like actually going downhills (even though it's still uphills) because on the steep climb your brain adjusts and your sense of what is "horizontal" gets tilted a bit. Often, its only when you turn around that you actually get a real sense of the inclination.


Thru Axle and Quick Release Fork/Frame Compatability?

Simply for your two points:

For a front wheel you can buy or machine a part that will allow you to run a smaller axle on the front than the hub is equipped with. This an adapter to run a 15mm TA hub in 9mm drop outs.

The rear is more difficult as hub sizes get wider with larger diameter thru axles. You couldn't make a 12x142 thru axle hub fit in a 10x135 QR dropout even if you shimmed the space at the end as the chain line would be off.

In terms of frame/ fork design, the design form for through axles offers no backwards compatibility with QR drop out design. I haven't seen and can find no evidence online of an adapter that allows you to run a 9mm hub in 15mm TA drop outs. That being said it could be possible to engineer something that created the required tension to hold the hub in place, but I wouldn't trust a home made solution.


Are there devices to moderate speed on mountain descents without braking?

There are two parts to your question, and two answers. The first part of your question is whether there are devices to moderate speed on descents. This is a common issue with tandem bikes (and occasionally with bikes designed for loaded touring). Many tandem-specific rear hubs have a threaded left side onto which can be mounted a "drag brake." Typically a drum brake, they can be adjusted for a slight amount of drag; the rim brakes are retained as the primary brake for stopping. The advantage of the drum brake is that it's away from the rim (since excessive heating at the rim can have dire consequences for tube or tire) and they have a high heat capacity. Although no longer manufactured, the venerable and venerated Arai Tandem Drum brake was an example of this.

Your second question is about how one would estimate the drag demand on a bicycle. This is a well-understood, though perhaps less well-known, problem, and is discussed in Section 2 of Wilson and Papadopoulos' Bicycling Science. As you surmised, the potential energy component has to be offset by drag elsewhere: either by aero drag, braking, or rolling resistance. Terminal velocity is achieved at the point where the potential energy loss exactly balances the drag forces generated elsewhere. The coefficient of rolling resistance (Crr) happens to scale exactly like slope, so a change in slope of 1% is exactly like a change in the Crr of .01. Sadly, for this purpose, you won't much be able to rely on Crr for appreciable extra drag -- commonly, Crr ranges from about .004 to perhaps .01. Thus, although in a theoretical sense you must take rolling resistance into account, in a practical sense it dissipates too little energy to matter. Deflating tires to increase Crr on a twisty descent is not just insufficient, it's a bad idea.

Aero drag is more easily manipulable but is also limited in efficacy. Drag area (typically denoted by the product of the frontal surface area, A, and the coefficient of aerodynamic drag, Cd) for a typical cyclist on a typical road bike will range from around .3 sq meters (roughly, 3 sq. ft) up to perhaps .5 sq meters or higher. Aerodynamic drag force varies with the square of airspeed (since the force varies with the square of airspeed, the power demanded to overcome that force varies with the cube of speed) so sitting up, unzipping a jacket, and widening your arms and legs can add some CdA; however, rarely more than ~ .2 sq meters.

That leaves braking, i.e., the conversion of potential energy via kinetic means into heat, and the place for a drag brake as described above.


From the picture that seems to be the brake lever clamp. The bolt can be removed, cleaned or replaced and reinstalled with no problems.

Make sure to note the position of the lever in case it moves or falls off when the bolt is removed. You can then position it properly when you re-install the bolt.


Is there any benefit to riders on the front of a paceline?

Yes, it's small but real.  Aerodynamic drag in cycling pelotons: New insights by CFD simulation and wind tunnel testing Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics
Volume 179, August 2018 is an interesting paper on the subject, with both theory and experiment.  The introduction is a nice summary of previous work, including simpler cases, but many of those papers are inacessible without a university login, unlike the one I've linked.

Figure 9 and Section 3.8 are most of interest, especially Fig. 9b which indicates that a reduction in drag of 4% on the lead rider is possible.  Figure 22a shows a simulation leading to an even greater reduction in drag for the front rider.

You can see from the figures in the paper that behind a single rider there's a low-pressure region. You can regard this as sucking the rider backwards. By partially filling this low pressure region with another rider, its effect is reduced.


What map / navigation / bike direction apps are available for the iphone for commuting / urban cycling

Have you tried "Get there by bike"?
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/get-there-by-bike-interactive/id457288250?mt=8

The few times i tried it i had good results.

Another alternative, but i have not used yet. http://www.bikemapsapp.com/


Sugru might be a workable fix, but would likely cost as much as new hoods in the first place.

Wrapping bar tape around the existing hoods may help, as long as it doesn't foul the movement of the levers.

Riding without hoods is a bad plan, because it increases the dust and water incursion into the brake mechanism.  Also you're able to pinch your skin  accidentally.

If the levers are absolutely fine, replacing the hoods seems wise.  If the levers are getting a bit worn and sloppy, then its not a lot more to replace the whole lever.

Remember these are not expensive items and as such are probably unserviceable.  If they were $150 Shimanos or $500 Campag levers then repair makes a lot of sense, but these are not worth spending a lot of time on.


I would recommend, as you stated you were already doing, that you give your driving mech a full cleaning. Run some hot water and a degreaser through all of your gears and your chain, (thoroughly). After that, (it helps if you have a repair stand for this), take some nice chain oil and run it on your chain real good, then shift through all of your gears and run that lube thoroughly through your gears. Personally, I do this two or three times to make sure everything is well lubed. Don't use too much, but dont be stingy with it either. Also, be sure you lube both sides of the chain.

I'm sure the mech itself is ok, but maybe it would be good to check and make sure your front and rear dérailleur are clean so that your shifting is smooth. Also check to make sure your gears are indexed correctly.

Hopefully something here helps you out. Good luck!


When carrying a lock on body, which statistical data and experiences to consider re: safety concerns

To be honest, from time to time I am even afraid of the keys in my pocket, should they take some funny stance on a fall and happily pierce through my leg/waist. But that's not what you asked...

I would take a look from the other side: assuming that there will be a hit, where would it be less dangerous?

I would say that a metal object hitting your abdominal area is not going to be funny: too many things that can get damaged: spleen, liver, kidneys, ribs, pick one. So, take out holding it around your torso.

Arms and legs are less dangerous, if you accept a broken bone or a concussion.

Probably safer is a backpack: the most plausible scenario in which you will hit your back is on a flip over, and in that case I hope you wear a helmet. The backpack itself might soften the blow.

I once happened to flip over (a branch got stuck in my front wheel) and luckily my backpack went between my face and the ground. But I just had water and food in it, not a metal object.


What kind of bike cleat is this with an arrowhead like logo?

Pretty sure Shimano SPD

Shimano SH56 SPD Cleats Multi Release

You need to match to pedals and it looks worn out


Based on the review, it simply sounds like the cross-section of the bar is different than a usual bar. So, if you want to attach tri-bars to the bike, you may need to get a new drop bar (which has the usual circular cross-section), and then attach the tri bars to that bar.

Of course, if the bike works well with the new drop bar and tri bars are all highly a function of you and the particular bike, which we can't really determine over the internet - You'll probably just have to try it or get advice from your LBS on it, since they can probably fit you in a tri-position.


The pic makes it unclear but I assume flopping the ring in to the middle position has been done and not helped.
First you need to decide whether 52-18 is what you want. It probably isn't. Your answer may inform which route is more economical, since buying a new ring will cost some notable percent of what a new crank would cost. Also, figure out whether the 52 will work in the chainline position you need it to. It very well may not.
If you want to make this crank work, measure your rear chainline and your front chainline. If you have a symmetrical BB spindle, multiply the difference by two and buy a new BB with a spindle that much longer. If asymmetrical, take its measurements and do the chainline/spacer math to arrive at the spindle length you need to simultaneously get the front chainline matched to the rear while also centering the cranks. The usual offset is 3mm but it's not universal.
If this a modern off the shelf track hub, if you drop in any modern track crank with its recommended spindle length it will basically work in terms of chainline. Meaningful exceptions to that are rare. As before, what may not work is frame clearance. You will have to get a sense of that up front before making your other decisions. In some cases that will drive gear size choices.
I'm pretty sure this won't have a French shell, but you should corroborate that before buying things.


If your chain is coming off of the single front sprocket, you probably need to tighten the chain or get a new chain.

Use a chain checker to see if your chain is stretched out and needs to be replaced. If not, some bike frames have a longer space instead of just a single hole where the back wheel can move a bit. Just loosen the back wheel and see if it can move back a bit and tighten it in place. But I'd doubt an e-bike would have that kind of variability.

If none of that works, you may need to ask the bike shop to look it over. There may be many other reasons this is happening.


Clicking noise in rear wheel that stops on load. Bearings?

Yes this was the bearing. The wheel was cheap, as was the bearing, and was slightly buckled. The bearing just got worn out.

I would not recommend this bike (Merida Speeder 10) as the quality is terrible.


The derailleur in the second picture does not look over extended. If the derailleur has some movement left in that position then it's OK. If it's up against the limits and is being bent then you will need to lengthen the chain.

Just for future reference, you should size a chain using a proper procedure: Thread the chain around largest sprocket and chainring (not through the derailleur), find shortest chain length with where inner and outer links, add one inner and outer link.


Using non-brand oil for cleaning brake pistons

Probably yes.
I am expecting them to have very different viscosity and boiling point, so I would rather not.

The idea is to have an homogeneous oil if some droplets are left over after the cleaning process (same oil in same oil).
However, it should be no problem if you use a different mineral oil. At worst, the different oil will hamper your braking effectiveness, at which point you will need to flush out all the oil from the brake circuit.


The bicycle is a deceptively simple machine.  The physics behind bicycles is actually quite complex, with multiple forces interacting to produce  self-stabilizing behaviour (i.e., ghost ride a regular bike then run along and strike it, the bike will deviate from its current trajectory and self right).  For a good rundown of the main physics principles behind this behaviour, see this short "MinutePhysics" video.

The take home is there isn't a single optimal bicycle handling archetype, but rather there are multiple optimal solutions that are "better" at different use cases.  To start to be able to answer which of your designs might be "better" we also need a clear use case and bicycle dynamics we wish to mimic.

To further confuse the matter the reason bicycles are a intuitive to ride as they are (after an initial training/learning phase) is that balance on a bike also co-ops neural pathways in our brain dedicated to walking (i.e., when we walk we step into the direction we are falling and in the same way we turn into a fall on a bike). Coming up with a functional design that is "intuitive" to the end user will be somewhat complicated, as we must also understand how people walk.

Taken together you may find an empirical approach (i.e., trial and error) may be the most effective. I would suggest creating a modular design that would allow you to easily switch between a single suspension beam  without any "feedback" coupling, or a design with suspension beams.  Ideally, you would also be able to dynamically adjust the level of feedback so you can vary it until it becomes more "natural."

Finally, you mentioned

  when making a turn the behavior will not be exactly the one of a normal bike as you need a stronger push to tilt the front part.

In this case you may want to consider a lower trail front end as it is my understanding that having less caster makes it is easier to initiate a lean.  Also a higher bottom bracket height may also assist in this department (think of balancing a broom on you hand, keeping the weight up high makes corrections easier). [NOTE: I am really outside my area of expertise in this last paragraph, if my understanding is wrong please feel free to add a correction in the comments.]


There are several different Bontrager evoke saddles.
A quick search turns up the Evoke RL, Evoke RXL, Evoke R, Evoke 1, Evoke 1.5, Evoke 3....
It is difficult to know what changes were introduced between models or exactly which model is on the bike.
According to trekbicyclesuperstore the Evoke RL is 138mm wide
According to sweetpetes.com the Evoke 1 OEM saddle is 138mm wide
It's been my experience that published numbers may or may not represent:

Reality
How I would have measured it
So a grain or so of salt may be needed.


Relationship between punctures and tube pressure

It's not going to be directly proportional. Leaving aside the quality of the tyre and what it will be rated for, the shape of the graph is likely to be a U shape:

at the lower pressures the tube will be susceptible to puncture because it cannot repel sharps adequately, in addition really low pressures might let you trap the tube between the road and the rim.
as the pressure increases, the tube and tyre will combine to actively repel sharps: the external object will need more and more pressure and exertion to break through, so becomes less and less likely to be able to do so
at some point, though, the tube's pressure becomes so high, that the risk of a blowout increases: flaws in the tyre, the tube, especially around the valve, are more likely to be exploited, also that collisions e.g. with potholes, will be harder to accommodate.

It's not going to be as simple as that, but might work as a general rule.


Where can I return a Gobee bike in Paris?

I asked Gobee via Facebook and I was told that the bikes can be returned to the banlieue proche (nearby suburbs). I asked for a map, but I got no response yet. I will try tonight to see if I can return it in Cachan and maybe later I also try other cities that I may visit around Paris then I give feedback.

EDIT:
Just locked one in downtown Cachan and it worked like a charm :-)

EDIT 2:
My impression about my first trip was fairly positive. During the trip there were no areas in the map that showed crosshashed, so I guess that the bikes can be dropped anywere in the Parisian region, which is an advantage over the Velib which is restricted to Paris and at most 1,5 km away from the city limits. Not necessarily you will be able to get a bike after you drop it in the middle of the suburbs since the one I dropped in Cachan never appeared in the map thereafter (someone got it quickly?). The bikes are light and the single speed is very low, which helps for uphill or for beginners, but in the flat or downhill for a fit male like me it is very slow. The saddle is just too low and can't be moved. The app seemed to be easy to use but the lock refused to move in the first try. I have to help the unlocking motor applying some force to the lock lever with my hand since the lock was stuck closed, but that was a simple fix. Yet using a smartphone to unlock the bike is not way as practical as using a contact card like the Velib. The bikes otherwise look in very decent condition since they are new, but I have to wait a few months to see if they are holding well after the winter. The Facebook chat was very responsive and the person in the other side appeared to be very well informed, but again the service is new now and probably I was serviced by a manager which must have very little work to do at this point. The price is a big downside over the Velib since it is paid after 1 minute while Velib is free for the first 30 minutes. If you find 5 minutes later that the bike is not good, you lost 0,5€ (unless the costumer service agrees to refund your balance, which still is a lot of trouble). I will keep using it since when I come back home there is no bus service in the evening and I had to walk 30 minutes from the closest Velib station to home while in the morning I take the bus and there are no plans in the foreseeable future to have a Velib station in Cachan (there are rumors, but none have a defined date). If this changes I will go back to Velib.

EDIT 3:
They also answered an e-mail that I sent before I contacted them via Facebook and I was informed that while they don't have a strict limit, they ask us to deliver the bikes within Paris or Lille metropolis or their "petite couronne" (nearby suburbs). This means that I could even pick a bike in Paris and return in Lille or the other way around :-). Still the second Gobee I returned Friday in Cachan was still sitting in the same spot Saturday afternoon and it did not show up in the map.


If there is a strong resistance. My guess is that you have a limit screw preventing the fron derailleur shifting to bigger chainring.

Check limit screw

Check if front derailleur can move freely (unscrew both limit screw and pull the cable to see if front derailleur move). Sometimes front derailleur corrodes to the point that it cannot be moved.


If you are not worried about cosmetics, these dents won't affect the frame at all.

I had a massive dent on top tube of my Ti trials bike from bad crash. And rode the bike for years after that. And nothing happened to the frame. Titanium is very good in for this. Dents won't affect the overall lifespan.


You're on the slippery slope of upgrades here - be leery of tipping money into parts for an old bike that might require other replacement parts.
In this case I think you'll be okay, assuming the parts are as-described.
6/7/8 speed cassettes all share the same spacing and cable pull, so if your brifters are really 7 speed, it should work with the drawback of the one extra click.  I suggest you tune it so the missing gear is higher than your top gear (ie, harder than the hardest gear with the smallest-tooth cog at the rear)  This will reduce the chance of you clicking into the ghost gear and sending the chain "over the top" into the wheel by accident.
To clarify - "friction" means that your gear levers can be set in any position, including between gears.  Brifters and indexed shifters have detents and stops and rests so that each click should put the chain in the right place.  Either is fine, some people prefer the "feel" of being able to adjust shifters precisely, others prefer the speed of press-click-change.  Raciers in the last 20 years have not used friction shifters, they were last used in the Tour in the 90s, and often just on the front derailleur.
I think you can do this.  Take your time and work through it. Pick a window when you don't need the bike immediately so if something crops up, you're not under pressure.
Lastly, save your old parts.  Clean them, oil, and dry-store them for some future day.  Decent retro parts are hard to find.


We can't give valuations - that's considered off-topic because they're highly region-specific, and go out of date fast.
The bike you're looking at is available here-and-now, and the seller is asking a token sum.  In these days of C19 and shaky supply lines, any bike is better than no bike.
If you need a bicycle, and this one fits your body, you find it comfortable, and the bike is mechanically sound then grab it.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/token%20payment says

Definition of token payment
: a very small payment made upon a debt and intended by the payer merely to acknowledge the existence of the obligation

If an item is given freely with no cost, then the receiver may not value it sufficiently.  By asking a nominal charge then the receiver is more likely to value the item, whatever it is.
I used to volunteer for a bike fixup, and there were a group of local kids.  Every 3 months they would come and ask for a replacement bike because they'd dropped their previous, or put it down and forgotten it, or left it outside and it was pinched.  A lack of cost and easy access to replacements meant they did not appreciate what they had.
Problem was solved by asking them for the old bike back so it could be handed onto the next user.
So 10 UKP is there to make the buyer value the item, but seller also feels they've got something out of the trade.  The actual cost is small (often about the cost of one person's lunch, or sometimes as little as $1)


I see a stepthrough frame dating from the 70s or earlier, based on the cottered cranks.

The rims have a dull sheen to them which suggests aluminium alloy not the period steel.  Test with a magnet, and check if the tyres are 27" / -635 size, or have been swapped for a more modern -622 size.

E.J. Korvettes was a department store in the US from 1953 to 1980, and Power King seems to be their house brand.

Do a google image search for "korvette bicycle" and browse a lot of results.

Here's a 1978 power king 10speed  http://oldtenspeedgallery.com/owner-submitted/john-hs-1978-e-j-korvette-power-king-10-speed/

The contrary point is the "made in taiwan" wording, which implies later than 1970.  Taiwan was only coming into its own as a manufacturer in the 80s.

You obviously have a bunch of bikes based on the background.  I'd suggest getting a cane or wicker front basket for the PK and use it as a shopping bike.

None of your other bikes have mudguards - this one has full-length guards and could be ideal as a rain bike with the internal hub and chain guard.

As you've noted, the bearings are working fine 30-40 years later, and it appears to be a great bike.   As they say "the correct number of bicycles to own is N+1"


Does an adapter for my 12x142mm thru axle frame exist to use QR hubs?

To convert your frame to QR you would need to replace your dropouts, which is problematic as they are either bonded or welded in place on the frame. This is basically a no go.

A much easier solution however is to replace your thru axle itself with another thru axle that gives ends that are compatible with older trainers.  These exist and are reasonably affordable (well affordable when compared to major frame reconstruction or or a frame swap).

A couple examples are pictured below:

Some creative internet searches should bring you to where these are available for purchase.  As Stack Exchange does not make product recommendations I have avoided direct links to the products.


What are some ways to keep biking when you have a car?

I guess you have two main tasks, and they involve preparing your "internal" (psychic, mostly) environment, and you external (domestic, mostly) environment.
About internal environment:

You have to convince yourself, or keep convinced, that you actually LIKE TO, WANT TO and SHOULD ride your bike;
You should think AND feel AND know that riding a lot is wiser than driving a lot. There are innumerable hard facts to support this point of view;
You have to look suspiciously to your car all the time. It is a temptation, and should be a last resort since it is all the time tempting you to succumb so that it can do its harm (this is somewhat metaphorical, but somewhat literal, too).
Resist any eventual harassment from family, friends and neigbours in favor of the so-called car culture. Watch these videos, they are awesome, and can help YOU to "harass" car-cultists!

About external environment:

Biking should be simple, not complicated. Leave your bike close to the exit, and your car keys far away from it. Keep your bike-related belongings close to the bike, and the bike always ready to be ridden.
Don't depend on special preparations for riding. Use fenders, "sofa" saddle and platform pedals if necessary, so that you can use regular clothes.
Have more than one bike if this will make you ride more, even if one of the bikes is just for errands.
Keep fit. The more you ride, the easier it is to take one more ride. The less you ride, the harder it is to be back in the saddle again after a "long" time.
When making long term decisions about your house, your work, and your new purchases, your habits, your schedules, etc., avoid the ones that will put you closer to your car and/or further from your bike.

I guess all this is essentially personal and subjective, but I think this is the general way to handle this issue.
Hope this helps


To directly answer your question, yes, the Crank Bros Premium Cleat is the one you want.

Per their webiste -  compatibility: eggbeater, candy, smarty, acid, mallet ( http://www.crankbrothers.com/accessories_premium_cleat.php )

Some good FAQ on these from Crank Bros:
http://www.crankbrothers.com/support/faq_candy.php


Can an untrue wheel cause up down jerks?

Yes.  It's possible.  Newly laced wheels often have "flat spots" where the rim is out of round.  Generally you round and dish the wheel before you start trueing it.  It's possible that the wheel has a flat spot that you are feeling.

However, there are another possibilities to include bad tyre mounting, improperly secured wheel (axle), bad tyre and assorted drive train issues.  It may be best to have a mechanic or experienced home maintainer check it out.


Fat tire vs regular mountain bike in mud

Mud is even difficult for experienced riders. And a fat tires is not always better at mud.  If you need to dig down to get to solid ground a more narrow tire can be better.

Sand is where a fat tire is nice.  But even soft deep sand is going to be a challenge on a fat tire.

I would look for a 29" mountain bike that will take up to 2.4" tires.
And there are are mud tires.  Mud tires does not just get better traction but they shed the mud better.