Your intuition is correct those pads are not right.

The long part of the pad should follow the rim, like this:
(not exactly the same brake but the pad alignment is similar)

You can:
- take it back and let them straighten the pad.
- Use a 10mm wrench, loosen the nut, turn the pad and set it to the correct height and tighten the nut.

If they did this wrong it would make me nervous that there are other things they missed.


First you have to identify the type of headset. As you said its a external cup headset, but threaded or threadless?
Measuring the outer diameter of the steerer and the inside diameter of the head tube are also a good starting point. But try to measure as acurate as possible. +/- 0.1 mm - 28.6 mm (1 1/8") is pretty standard on the steerer nowadays, so 29 mm seems to be a weird or wrong value.
Replacing only the bearings would be a headache to figure out.
Manufacturers have a standard description of headsets called SHIS (Standardized Headset Identification System).
This park tools page should help you a lot to identify the required headset.
You have to figure out the measurements and fit the code together like in the example of the page: ZS44/28.6 | ZS44/30 - you can easily search for this code and find the fitting headset.
Good Luck.


How does one wear leg warmers without them sliding down?

So I would suggest a good pair of leg warmers with a nice grip on the top, however this still doesn't mean that they wont slip.

Shaved legs where they are connecting to is a good way, but a good pair of bib shorts with a grip on the bottom helps.

I found my Merino leg warmers would slip even though I had them under my bib shorts, so I made sure I didn't have them pulled too tight, and they were a good few centimeters under my shorts.


I have a 13 mile commute, and I'm looking to buy a new bike

Used. You can find some decent used bikes in that range.  A hybrid might be a good choice.  You find people that paid $800 - $900 for bike they never used and it will sell used as low as $300.  Be patient and low ball.  Learn how to inspect a bike.  If you are on a budget you need to learn how to maintain a bike.


How do I figure out what rear axle to purchase for new wheel?

UPDATE: Halo like a number of other manufacturers make conversion kits  for converting between the different rear axle standards on a bike.

That is a 12mm thru axle rear wheel, which has become the new 'standard' for heavy duty mountain bike disciplines, like what the Halo Vortex has been designed for. I couldn't see any suitable adapters on the Halo website that allows you to convert the wheel, so I'd return the wheel and get something that fits.

Unfortunately the days where everything was 26" in diameter, 135mm wide and QR compatible are gone. The things that you need to check would be:

wheel diameter
axle type (QR or 12mm thru axle)
rear wheel spacing (135, 142, or 148)
you may also need to note down rim width depending on the width of tires that you're using


Mounting long reach center pull brake on Marrakesh (or similar disc-braky) frame?

As Sheldon Brown notes, 650B rims are 19mm further away from the brakes than an equivalent 700c. Given that your frames were designed for disc brakes in the first place, you will have some difficulty in finding rim brakes with enough reach. You might need an unsafe hack -- especially if you are using fenders.

Furthermore, your brake cabling is set up for disc brakes so you'll need to get new braze on guides or use ugly zip ties.

Most people would wonder why you'd go to such lengths to have worse brake performances and worse looks in order to keep your hubs. There are a number of great looking disc brake hubs now available. If you found one with the same spoke count, you could keep your rims.


Freehub pawl system vs star ratchet system

Hope hubs are a very refined, reliable execution of the pawl design. They don't do much to illustrate the disadvantages of the concept that designs like the star ratchet are trying to address.

One potential downfall of pawl systems like Hope uses is that when things go wrong with them, either the pawls or the part inside the hub shell that the pawls engage, which I'll heretofore call the "drive ring" as it's named by some manufacturers, can become damaged. Typically the drive ring is a hardened steel piece threaded into the shell. Some potential scenarios:

If the pawl mechanism is underlubricated, contaminated, underpowered and/or imprecise, partial engagement between the pawls and the drive ring can occur. In this situation the pawls haven't sufficiently sprung up into the mating teeth of the drive ring at the moment the rider applies drive force. Instead the tips of pawls and the drive ring teeth ram into one another and may slip, potentially causing damage to either or both. Pawl-based drive systems can all do this under the right circumstances, it always has some destructive potential. It's also possible for issues with unequal spring tension, damaged or displaced springs, or other imprecisions to create a situation where some pawls get overloaded and become damaged or fail. Avoiding any such issue is one of the main goals of systems like the star ratchet.
There can be hardening problems with the pawls or drive ring. Sadly I've seen this on the drive ring once or twice on well-known, expensive, small production hubs, which were at least able to be warrantied. Issues of this sort are of course possible with other designs, but see below why it's painful with drive rings.

In either case, the teeth of either the pawls or drive ring can become chipped and deformed. At that point the problem can begin to build on itself. The teeth have to be sharp for the system to work as intended.

One thing about drive rings is that few manufacturers make them easy to replace if something does go wrong. When it is possible, either you need a new one plus a weird, expensive, proprietary tool that goes in and mates with the teeth, or in some cases you need to send your wheel in to the manufacturer. High-end aftermarket hubs and some wheelsets will typically give you one of those two options. Beyond that, neither option usually exists. You can find some high-dollar wheelsets where once the warranty period has elapsed, addressing a drive ring problem is difficult or impossible.

So while the drive ring is not technically a dynamic surface that's integral to the hub, in practice it might as well be in many cases, and my experience is they can be a little more damage-prone than people realize. Pawls and their hardware are typically more available, although sometimes they can only be replaced along with a new freehub body. And for older, lower end, or OEM hubs, they may be unobtainable.

More aggressive sealing and spring force are both design weapons against engagement issues on a pawl hub ever occurring. (Hope hubs take both pretty far). Reliability is increased at the expense of marginally increasing drag while coasting, the funny thing about coasting drag of course being that to a point, it's not a great concern in most riding disciplines where it's reasonable to split hairs about performance.

Systems like DT Star Ratchet and King Ring Drive, which I'm going to arbitrarily call "drive plate" designs, are trying to make partial engagement closer to being physically impossible, even with contamination and poor lubrication. Contact area is increased at every step of the torque transfer, and it's between two unified pieces, rather than separate pawls that are only as good at engaging all at once as their spring tensions are equal. Extant examples of drive plate hubs make all parts fairly easy to replace but very seldom need it, due to their efficacy at distributing load over more area. This quality is of heightened value in a hub one invests in with the intention of re-using indefinitely as rims wear out.

Pawl systems have an advantage at each approximate price point in the rate of engagement numbers they can obtain while still being reliable overall. At the high end, Industry 9 is a poster child, with ROE numbers down to 0.52°. Plate type systems have in contrast seemed to find their limit at 5-6° for a King or 240, presumably because their torque-transferring parts are smaller by necessity and so making the toothed/splined parts any smaller would sacrifice too much strength or otherwise become impractical.

Another way of looking at is that pawl and drive ring systems, and especially the highest performing ones, need to push everything to the limit in terms of materials, hardening, machining precision, matched spring tension, etc. The best ones are only the best because of how close they fly to the sun. Plate systems don't have that dynamic, but at least as far as what exists to date, they take a little hit on rate of engagement potential.

I personally feel that between the Pro 4 and 350 freehub, both are reliable but the star ratchet design gets there in a way that's more elegant and robust. But, the 8° ROE on the Pro 4 versus 18° for a stock 350 would be a reasonable deciding point. Different riders value ROE very differently, and for good reason.


Axle flex under load normal for freewheel hub?

As @Batman says, 2mm is VERY little clearance on a bike. It is more likely to be the frame flexing (more so the chain and seat stays) causing the tyre to move around a bit. I would see if there is a way to mount the stand a little further forward on its bracket. You want to create as much distance as you can between your stand and the tyre as possible.

Video example of a frame flexing to show what is meant by flex


Little bit of water under plastic cover on my shimano shifters

You don't need to worry about that.

There are nearly no components on your bike -- except for the hub and bottom bracket bearings -- that are sealed to be more or less waterproof. Most of the components are totally fine with water on or in them.

Especially for your shifters: their internals are mostly made out of plastic so no need to worry. As they are built in some half-closed way, there may be some water condensation in some corners, which is no real problem. The water may disappear as soon as the weather is warm enough and the bike stands in the sun for some time. It also may reappear, but as said, it's not a real problem, just some matter of optics.


Does it matter which cassette I get for downtube friction shifters?

Unfortunately, your 1974 Campagnolo 5-speed hubs are likely to be 120mm spaced - you can see them in the 1974 Campagnolo catalog.  You're going to have a difficult time finding even old road hubs to fit that spacing.

I'm extremely doubtful that you have a 1974 Raleigh International in aluminum, since they were originally built with Reynolds 531 steel and Raleigh didn't list any aluminum frames in their 1974 catalog.  A quick test with a magnet should confirm for you.

Fundamentally, you're left with a limited number of options for the rear wheel, most of which have been hashed out above:

Continue using the current tubular wheelset. Simple, but you'll have to get more practice working with tubular tires.
Re-space the rear triangle. It's steel so, with caution, it should be straightforward. You'd need to add 6mm just to get to old 6-7spd hubs, and 10mm to get to a modern road cassette hub. If you're clever with moving spacers and wheel dishing you might be able to eke out another couple mm in there. A big disadvantage here is that you'd need to re-space the frame back if you wish to restore it to the stock hubs.
Find a NOS, used, or expensive Phil Wood 120mm freewheel hub and build it up with a clincher rim. The only limitation there is that of eBay and the fact that 90% of 120mm hubs you'll come across are modern single-speed track hubs, unsuited to your intended goal. Also a disadvantage, you'll still only get up to 6, maybe 7 gears total.  That said, building it up around a very similar wheelset to the one on there now except for clinchers is probably a good option - you might pay a bit of a premium for identical Campagnolo hubs of the same vintage, but you'll keep the aesthetics.


Change chainring on Canyon Inflite CF SL7

It looks like your bike has a Quarq Prime alloy crank. The picture below is a shot of the crankset from behind the drive-side arm, where the spider attaches to it.

This appears to be a crank that takes a separate spider, which mounts to a splined interface by the crank arm. The pic above is a shot of the reverse side of the drive-side Prime crank arm. The question is, does that spider have a standard bolt circle diameter, e.g. 110mm?

If you currently have a standard 110mm spider, then you can actually buy the chainring you linked in your comments, mount it on the crank ... and then lengthen your chain, which will probably require you to get a new chain. (Presumably, your bike didn't come with the excess chain length.)

You can certainly install a different brand of crankset if you want, but you will likely need a different bottom bracket. I think yours takes a PF 86 BB, and you will need to get a BB that accepts the type of axle you intend to use (e.g. 30mm axle used by Rotor, Easton, many others, SRAM DUB 29mm axle, Shimano-style 24mm axle, etc). I don't really see the point if all you want to do is get a 48t chainring on there.

It may be worth mentioning that going to a 48t chainring will get you very high gearing. I think it will be unsuitable for cyclocross or gravel riding. I'm pretty sure this will give you the gearing of a 1x road bike. I think that Aqua Blue, which was a professional road team running 1x gearing, may have maintained a unique chain for each front chainring they used on the road; if you are thinking of swapping back and forth between CX and road gearing, this might be worth pursuing.

Last, some terminology. I think I've mostly heard "direct mount" in the context of chainrings that are made in one piece with the spider, and that mount directly to a splined interface on the crank axle. For example, with Easton or Rotor cranks, you usually would buy the arms. With the Easton, you then get a direct mount 1x chainring, or direct mount 2x rings, and the same with Rotor. Again, those are made such that the chainring is integrated with the spider.

Direct mount would not be my first choice of vocabulary to describe your crankset, or a crankset in general. I think it applies mainly to the chainring + spider combination. You have a detachable spider mounted to this crank. Confusingly, it seems like the Easton can also take a detachable spider, and then you can bolt individual rings to that spider. The TA Carmina crankset only takes a detachable spider (and you can select a 110mm or 130mm BCD spider). You can detach the spider from your Quarq crank and mount a Quarq power meter spider to it, or you can take an Easton or Rotor crank and equip them with a Power2max unit (or, in Rotor's case, one of their own units).

Anyway, contrast direct mount chainring/spiders with the usual practice (seen in Campagnolo and Shimano cranks) of making the crankarms and spider in one unit, then bolting the chainrings to the spider.


Is front suspension remote lockout worth it?

First off many forks have a remote lock out as an add on. Fox and rock shox especially. If it has a lock out, a remote lock out is likely available.

Secondly, a nice fork that is set up properly for your weight shouldn't need to be locked out all that often. I have had a variety of great fox and rock shox forks that i only lock on long, steep, grueling climbs where I am standing and pumping. This was more needed on a single speed. If you plan to sit and spin up a hill you dont need the lock out at all.

Out of the last 5 forks i have had, all had a lockout, but only one with the remote. While the remote is convenient, I have never found it difficult to reach down and lock out on the fork while riding.


M5 is used far on far heavier luggage too, like rear racks. You don't want too many sizes to keep in your spare parts (I carry a couple of M5 and a couple of M6 screws on the bike in my toolkit, plus nuts, and have used them).
Standardisation is useful even when you've got more room for spares and don't care about the weight - the vast majority of the screws in my optics lab are M4 or M6, though I've used everything from M1 to M10 there when necessary, and not just in my own designs.This holds at manufacturers too - they don't want a massive parts inventory, even of cheap parts.  Similarly on bikes, other sizes are used if necessary:there are M3 and perhaps smaller screws in gear assemblies; I think  I've seen M2.5 holding covers on housings, but axles are big.
We should assume they're screwed into aluminium, where fatigue on the mating thread is an issue, and, we should also assume they're taken in and out a few times, torqued quite hard each time, as you would fitting a luggage rack. A challenge for you is to try stripping a range of threads in aluminium, all with the same depth engaged - perhaps drill and tap into 3mm aluminium plate. Maybe a thought experiment would do, though I have the tools to try it here. With a few mm of engagement, M3 will strip with some effort, M4 possibly, M5 unlikely and M6 only with a cheater bar. But each time they're done up the aluminium gets weaker. That will soon make up for the thicker plate you'd have in reality - as would using a screw that's a little short.
One  way to get round the limit of threads stripping is to specify a maximum torque - and that's what we do  on bike stuff.  Typical engagement calculations don't treat this as a variable. Engagement length is reduced with bolt size, but the number of turns remains roughly constant.  Note that the usual calculations for minimum engagement length are based on the screw breaking before the thread strips.  That's only one failure mode and in many applications there simply isn't that much material.  This table starts at M6 but expects over 12mm into aluminium alloy, 6mm into steel.  You'd be lucky to get that much on disc brake mounts.   At that point the larger threads should allow more holding force in the same depth, up to a point.  The deeper threads of larger sizes mean far more material which will deform less.
Another factor, common on steel into aluminium, is the threads seizing (grease helps avoid this). Then you want a big enough hex socket head to avoid stripping the thread. A big head means a big thread. Bike bolts, especially for accessories, are often button head, which normally uses a smaller hex key than cap head (disc brake attachment bolts are often cap head). on bikes, special button head screws with bigger sockets than you'd expect from other fields are common. It's quite easy to round out the head in a normal M4 button head, far, far harder in a typical M5 on a bike.
Another reason is tolerancing.  Going from M5 to M4 wouldn't be too much of  an issue, but going to M3 would. Those bottle cage screws don't line up perfectly between bikes; there's a reason cages have slots.  You'd need unusual wide heads to give as much freedom.  Washers would provide a bit, but not as much and add hassle.  This is also very true when parts are being modified in a workshop, where M5-M6 threads are at a sweet spot: easy to cut the thread, not too easy to break the tap, and taps are cheap.  This would apply in traditional frame building as well.
Rust makes much o  this worse, but it holds for stainless fasteners too.


Front wheel is not aligned and touching the brake line

First thing to do is loosen the quick release and make sure the wheel axles are seated all the way in the dropouts. If the left axle was not all the way in it would pull the top of the wheel to the left.
If the wheel is in the dropouts properly I have to conclude the wheel is built incorrectly, with the rim offset to the left. The hub does not seem shifted left and the disc rotor is aligned with the caliper. If the hub were shifted left as far as the rim you would not be able to adjust the caliper properly.


You probably didn't remove material when you cross-threaded the bottom bracket shell in.
If it's a steel frame, you can cut new (correct) threads with the correct taps. The taps are quite expensive, (they have to line up, and one is upside down, find a shop or local framebuilder who has one.

Baring that you should chase the threads : grab old steel bb shells, cut two triangular grooves in them. You want a perpendicular cut on the trailing side of the thread. (Ask the internet for images of a thread chaser). Fill the grooves with thick grease, thread them in and out wipe it down and you're done.

You can wrap some teflon tape around the threads to make them tighter as well.

Either way you probably shouldn't "invest" money on this frame anymore, maintain it and once you've ridden it through, turn it into a shop stool.


How does stiffness in carbon frames increase speed?

General rule of thumb, a stiffer frame will absorb less of the input energy and transfer more energy - hence more power from you legs means more power to the wheel.

But....

The bikes have different designs, so the aerodynamics of the bikes and the rider on them will be different which will result in different speeds.

And then...

A stiff frame will transmit the road imperfections into the rider causing fatigue and causing the rider to expend more energy because the bike/rider is being lifted up by road imperfections where as the more flexible bike will absorb them meaning the bulk of the mass is moving forwards.

An ideal bike is stiff where it needs to transmit peddling force, but has shock absorbent qualities to absorb bumps and road imperfections while being aerodynamic for both bike and rider.


Shift lever and rear derailleur compatibility

Yes, you can use any Shimano 8 speed shifter with a Shimano 8 speed derailleur and cassette.
Generally Shimano (and SRAM) used the same sprocket spacing for all cassettes with the same number of sprockets (more sprockets means narrower spacing though). All MTB shifters up to 9 speed use the same cable actuation ratio (ratio of cable pulled to cage movement), and all shifters pull the right amount of cable per shift for the number of speeds they are for.


How to install a Hollowtech II crankset if it does not fit the top hat?

update: It is also possible that you did not need the spacer/cap in the first space. You state you have a Rotor BB. Didn't you try to use a cap that allows using thinner cranks? For example allows an GPX crank with a Hollowtech II BB. In that case the cap would just be something in the way when using a Hollowtech II crank and so no wonder it would be forcibly and destructively pushed out. The link in the text below show another possibility. A cap that allows Hollowtech II cranks in a wider BB.

Maybe you just must be more careful when installing the crank. I cannot think of any special trick that would have to be done to avoid damaging the caps. If there is any significant resistance, stop and try to fit the crank better. At the and one may need a few hits by a mallet, but that us usually when it already sticks out, just not fully.

I originally thought it was part of the sleeve present in Shimano bottom brackets because the question said "Hollowtech II".

These parts of a Hollowtech II bottom bracket are integral parts of the BB. They connect the opposite bearing cups and separate the bearing from the spindle. You fix them when you screw the left side bearing cup. Then when inserting the crank there should not be any potential to damage it if it was installed correctly. The spindle should go inside reasonably smoothly.

One option for an incorrect install might be using the incorrect spacer in between. E.g. using a 73 mm spacer for a 68 mm bb shell and then screwing  the left cup (the force it generates is big). It would then bulge and partially block the way for the spindle. The final damage would be done when forcefully inserting the crank.

Make sure using the correct spacers for your bottom bracket shell on your frame as shown in Difference between Road/Mountain Hollowtech II Bottom Brackets?

There are some spare pieces sold, but not widely available. For example https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shimano-hollowtech-ii-central-sleeve/rp-prod7428 (this piece is the big one between the cups) and https://www.kineticbikebearings.com/kbbb9037.html (thanks to Swifty for the name). There is usually no need for them so they are not so common in the e-shops. The links are only illustrational. I do not know about your local bike shop, but it is worth asking. You may need a whole new BB.


How can I properly replace the hose on this older Schwinn pump?

I think that the size of that thread is called, "1/16 pipe thread" Find local places that make custom hydraulic hoses and verify the thread.  Then ask whether they have a fitting that is 1/16 male thread by hose barb.  Then you could eliminate all of the 30-year-old hose.


Are the Truvativ powerspline BBs reliable?

The TruVative power spline BB is a decent, if inexpensive design, and is unlikely to have failed through a design fault.

All bikes, regardless of price or quality level, require periodic maintenance.

One of the most common issues on a relatively new bike is the crank arms "seating" on the BB spindle, and needing the fixing bolts to be re-torqued.  This will happen on every BB and crank design, with varying time frames between occurrences.

The Octalink BBs are known for loosing fixing bolts, actually. :)

This is not "bad luck". But neither is it a design flaw. It is missed maintenance.  They should be checked every few weeks until you get a feel for how often you need to do the maintenance. FYI, every bolt on your bike can have similar issues, and should be re-torqued periodically.

Unfortunately, as you discovered, a crank arm ridden while loose will damage the crank, and often the BB spindle, and it can be an expensive repair.


How do I remove old hockey tape from drop bars

A razor blade/knife/x-acto knife should cut it. Hockey shops have special knifes for cutting through hockey tape if you want a specialized device. This shouldn't be a problem for non-carbon bars though, if you're careful.

The residue can be removed with rubbing alcohol or soapy water or mineral spirits (again, for carbon, I'm not sure what you'd do).


Pedals feel like they’re clicking while pedaling

Most shop offer a free tune-up after 30 days. There is a reason for this. It can take that long for the cables to get their initial stretch. The result is the shifters need a little tweek to return to optimal performance. It is also possible that something has come loose so it worth bringing it in to the shop you purchased it from for a once over.


That washer is a part of the "seal" system for the hub.  If you look at the hub there is a lightweight metal cap pressed into the hub over the area of the bearing race, and that washer (which is plastic) fairly snugly fit into the hole in that cap.

This doesn't create a water-tight seal, but it's tight enough to keep out a lot of the dust.

I've never studied closely how the washer is placed there.  I would assume that the cone is made of two pieces that are swaged together during manufacturing, but I can't say for sure.


How do I know which spokes to get for my wheel?

There are two ways to determine spoke length:

Measure against a broken or existing spoke and because this is cycling there is a special tool for it - the spoke ruler! Most LBS have them for correctly measuring spokes. If you are measuring with a standard ruler measure from the center of the J bend to the end of the spoke.

Use a spoke calculator. There are a number online such as ProWheelBuilder that already have a number of standard rims and hubs built in and selectable. Otherwise you need to make a number of accurate measures of your rim and hub (or search them out online).


The situation you describe is critical, but when conditions allow, I would suggest you a technique I developed exactely for that.

The secret is to "ride the wall" as you were in the tilted section of a velodrome, that is, making a curve with your bike.

Most falls I have seen or heard, or even almost had myself, are caused by making a curve to the left while trying to climb the ramp sloped towards the other side. That makes the front tire skid if the step is steep, or if the surface is somewhat slippery.

Then, the trick is:

Go as far as you can from the main road, on the side lane;
Turn left (assuming a right-sided traffic) and start getting closer to the road edge;
About half-way, straighten the bike and START TO TURN RIGHT, in an "S" shaped trajectory;
When you climb the road edge, you will be turning right, then you "ride the wall" and by the end of the turn you'll be already up the road shoulder, going parallel to it.

The "centrifugal force", and the leaning of the bike, will prevent your tire from slipping. Of course this depends on actual conditions (rain, traffic, road height) at the moment.

Hope this helps!


Shimano: what's the difference between medium cage and long cage?

A long cage is used for drivetrains with a wide range. A wide range would be a typical triple front crank or a wide ratio cassette (11-46 tooth) with a double crank. To determine what you need you need to determine the tooth capacity of the derailleur (check Shimano web site for tech information). Add the difference of the cassette tooth count (42-11=31) crankset(36-26=10) for a total tooth count of 41. You may be thinking that a long cage would always be a better choice for the flexibility of range. However the long cage can be an issue for a mountain bike where logs, rocks and such love the big target of the long cage. This is especially important with 26" wheels where everything is lower to the ground.


You shouldn't count on it, no. Low-end and touring forks may not have the parts available at all. With medium-to-high end MTB forks, the parts may be available but it often requires exchanging most of the innards, making it a much too costly proposition. It in not just a matter of adding a lever to the top.


Let's assume that the state of your brakes, discs, and pads is good. When braking hard, the frictions between the disc and the pads cause a lot of heat. After this heat reaches a certain level, the structure of the disc and pads material gets looser and the friction between them gets reduced, also making that awful noise. Make sure you always keep the disc and the pads clean and avoid long-time braking, even if it's not powerful. Better brake for a shorter time with more power, so your brakes will get some time to cool off before your next braking. Have fun out there!


Despite removing and greasing it, my pedal still won't rotate - I can't figure out why

If it is a 10th ride on a new bike, I would take it to the bike shop. This might be some problem that is covered by the warranty.

Otherwise:
If you oiled the threads, it should not help much. Those threads just keep the pedal on the crank. There will also be other internal threads inside, but they keep the pedal together.
You have to disassemble the pedal, if it is at all possible, and inspect the bearings. Hopefully it will be enough to clean them and grease them. Better with a grease, not oil.
Penetrating oil, especially stuff like WD40, might get it released inside, but might also dissolve the grease.


You also need to consider how people use the handlebars. e.g. covering the brakes -- could someone with small hands reach the brakes easily with an optimal-for-the-average-person diameter (I suspect not, especially with the brakes of many years ago when standards were set).  Also if pure grip comfort were the issue, drop bars wouldn't have happened; instead they are optimised for a range of positions for different situations and to allow the rider to vary their body position for several reasons.

It's easier to take a thin bar and make it thicker by double wrapping or padded gloves, but if your bars were too thick (small hands) they would have to be replaced, reducing the market for standard bikes.

Flat bar bikes tend to have grips with some thickness to them, taking them closer to the optimal while still allowing the rider to cover/use the brakes for long periods without contortions or spoiling the grip you'd need over rough terrain.

The exact numbers are a matter of convention, which may derive from imperial measurements, a round number minus a fixed thickness, or a combination of the 2 -- this is well documented for tyre sizing as a comparison.

This was a comment before I expanded and formatted it.


You may be able to use a two-pin adjustable BB tool. That search pulls up a lot of images of the tool I'm thinking of, and they're available right down to $5 or so

(from my comment since we haven't got a better answer)


How to carry a large backpack on a bike rack?

I too had this problem and found a somewhat unique solution. I explored using a pannier, but since I carry a laptop daily, I was worried about what would happen if the bike slipped on the ice and crushed my laptop bag (something that actually happened to me as a teenager)

Like you stated, baskets are too tall and cumbersome, so instead I found a 19 by 13 inch metal serving tray and mounted it with heavy duty rubber straps. It even matches the color of my bike panniers so I think it's a good solution. It's very freeing to be able to carry so much on my bike without the constant weight on my shoulders.

Since the laptop sits at the bottom of the backpack, I feel like the metal walls of the tray should absorb the shock of a slip or fall and protect it inside. So far I've received multiple compliments on this design. It's been over a year now on my bike and has held up well.


Assuming you mean a fast cyclist, your best long-term plan is to find ways to enjoy or otherwise remain motivated to train year-round so that you can be consistent for the next many years. Starting from 0, assuming you are consistent, you can hope to be a a fast guy in about 3 years and among the elite (in your age/weight class) in 6.

There are many opinions about the actual training content and how it should vary over the course of a year. And mostly, the just that - opinions. There is very little good scientific research on long term training plans, because controlled double-blind studies would take a really long time, have difficulty recruiting participants, and it would be difficult to gain funding because there is no industry interest, not to mention it would be really difficult to design a blind study involving hard physical training.

Still, unscientific as it is, you should consider picking up a good book on the subject, as they tent to model the way professional riders train per tradition, and which seems to be working for them. Two of the more popular ones are "The Cyclists Training Bible" and "Training and Racing with a Power Meter". There are also good free resources online. In short, the books will tell you to do the kind of riding you want to be good/fast at, with some variations. Simply riding your bike a lot will probably do wonders for you as well.

If you want more specific advice, post more details about your goals. Do you want to win the sprints, be fastest up the hills, be the breakaway hero or win a 24h race?


Stud Tyres - fixing the spikes on new tyres

I just bought these tires for Scottish winter, will chuck them on pretty soon. I think the idea for this 40km is to break the studs-in, to settle them into the tyre.
So I would run them on medium pressure: the tyres are not overinflated, but also not on low pressure, sot the studs are engaged, but not 100%.


Having converted two 70-something Motobecans, take to your best local shop to figure out what fits your bottom bracket.

As Mikes asked Is the issue the French bottom bracket? Or reverse threads?

As a last resort, Velo Orange has a bracket that will work. DO get rid go the cottered cranks!


1972 Schwinn 10 speed missing chain need to know how many links

There are two different techniques used to size a chain for a multi-speed, derailleur bike.  The specific one to use is based on the number of teeth the largest cog of the freewheel has. One method is used if the large cog has 27 teeth or less, the other method when the large, rear cog has more than 27 teeth.  On a bike like you describe, with a five speed freewheel, the largest cog will have 28 teeth or less.

First method for bicycle with a rear cog having >27 teeth: WITHOUT going through the rear derailleur, wrap your new chain around the large front chainwheel and back and around the large rear cog bringing the two ends of the chain together.  Essentially you've now wrapped the chain around the large-large combo, eliminating the rear derailleur. The chain ends will come together and you should note an overlap of a few links.  The properly sized chain will be +2 links (that would be 1 inner link and 1 outer ink of the chain) past the point where the slackless, wrapped chain comes together.

The second method should be used if you're sizing the chain when the large rear cog's teeth number 27 or less.  In this instance, you'll wrap the chain around the larger chainwheel and around the SMALL rear cog.  You must thread the chain through both derailleurs so it's necessary to have them (and therefore the shifters) in the correct position (large front: the inner shift cable will be under tension, and small rear, where the rear's inner cable is under little to no tension).  With the chain wrapped as described, you will bring the ends of the chain together (note that you'll be pulling one side of the chain against the spring tension of the rear derailleur which will create movement of the derailleur's cage/pulley wheels).  Continue to bring the ends together and overlap until the the rear derailleur's cage is straight up and down.  More properly stated, the correct chain length is achieved when a line drawn through the center of the upper guide pulley wheel and lower pulley wheel is 90 degrees to horizontal.  Please refer to the diagram on page 28 of the following link:

Shimano General Operations.
Page 28 deals with chain sizing on road bicycles having two front chainwheels and multiple rear cogs.  Keep in mind that your connecting link is an outter link and that you'll eventually join your sized chain where each end is an inner link.


Sharing bike trainer between 11spd and 8spd bikes

The 11 speed shifter, derailleur and chain will not shift properly with the 8 speed cassette.

As the number of sprockets in cassettes increased, the spacing was made progressively narrower, and chains were made progressively also. Your 11 speed shifter/derailleur combination will not move the chain far enough to shift properly on an 8 speed cassette.

If you leave the shifter in a single gear it will run, but you'll have to mess with the indexing to get it correct on the sprocket. You'll then have to re-adjust the indexing when you go back to the 11 speed cassette.


If you can find some ball bearings that just fit into the allen key sockets, then you lube them up with thick grease, it's quite difficult to remove them. Use a magnet to get them out.  Although I imagine a good bike thief would carry a magnet because this trick is quite common.  You can also replace your quick release skewers with allen key skewers.  They wouldn't be the most secure solution, but they would work better than quick release skewers.

If you use nutted wheels, you can pick up some security nuts for a lot cheaper than you can buy security skewers. Check you local professional tool supply store and you can probably buy them by the piece for a couple bucks each.

They also sell security skewers which are cheaper than pitlock. The disadvantage over pitlock is that they all use the same specialized tool to remove whereas pitlock has 256 differently shaped pits available.  So they would be safer than quick release, allen key or hex nut, but less so that pitlock.  And almost definitely safer than the bike next to yours.


How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, Practice, Practice. There is no magic bullet for dealing with this problem ( it's the same problem you'll have adjusting cones on a hub. ) Knowing just how loose to leave it so it's tightened correctly when you're done is something that comes with experience.

This tweaking required to get it just right is one of the reasons threadless headsets were invented. They take far less labor and effort to install.

One trick I've tried is to slightly overtighten and then use the lower wrench to tighten up against the locknut. Either way it helps if you keep pressure on both wrenches rather than trying to keep one still while tightening the other.


It wears fast because there are fewer teeth in contact with the chain, but that might not be the cause. Here are some other possibilities:

A stiff chain link is most noticeable with a small sprocket. It's also more annoying if not more noticeable when under load. This tends to cause an even rhythm under steady pedalling, about one every 3 pedal strokes depending on your chain length and chain ring.
The high limit screw needs a tweak for some reason and the chain is trying to change gear. Even the chain tension is a possibility.
The derailleur has taken a slight knock and isn't quite straight.

The first two of these are best checked on a stand, turning the pedals by hand and watching the rear mech.


The main thing to watch out for is the brakes, if the comes with V-Brakes or Cantilever brakes, you should be able to run wider tires and fenders.

Typical CX tires are 32-35mm and typical road from 23-28.

The caliper style brakes found on many road bikes will not accommodate the wider CX tires. There are many options under 2-3K, You could even look at cyclocross bikes as many are under the 2-3K in the US. Visit your local bike shop and look at a few options.

A buddy bought a Kona "Jake The Snake" last year and is a very nice bike and under the 2-3K.


Converted to drop bar and dual brake/shift levers and problems with front derailleur

You’re right on. The road shifters have different pull ratio, so you need to use a road front DR. A Sora triple front DR will likely work.


Anything wrong with using MTB saddle on hybrid bike

This is fine. There is not really any hard "Hybrid" and "MTB" saddle categories. The  cycling gods will not smite you down for committing bicycle components miscegenation.


Frame clearance can be a problem, especially if the mud is sticky and the tire too close - it can clog up quite badly if you go too wide. If you have V brakes, these can also, however my experience has been worst case is new brake pads.

29" Mountain bike tires are 700C. (As Always - http://sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html has the answer), so you now have a wide range of tires to choose from. The web page also has a great chart for tire width vs Rim Width compatibility. With a bit of luck you will not need new rims, just tires.

If in doubt, take the bike to the guys at the LBS and have a chat with them. They will put you right on local conditions and will hopefully know the route you are riding and give good suggestions.


Old French bike parts have different size standards than Italian ones. See http://www.sheldonbrown.com/velos.html for list. Probably the easiest part to measure is the bottom bracket width, which is 70mm for Italian and 68mm for French bikes.


Which combination of single chainring and crankset goes with 6 speed?

It makes sense if it makes sense for you. As you use the same rear cassette/freehweel, you'll need to stick to using same 6-speed chains as before.
I assume your current setup has a triple front chainring. If there are no issues with exclusively using the middle front chainring with all 6 rear cogs, neither from the drivetrain (no rub/noise/ chain jumping etc) nor from the rider, then I'd say the triple can be replaced with a single chainring put in the middle position.
You should look out for the chainstay-teeth clearance; the middle ring sits closer to the frame than the biggest ring, and as so it has to be relatively smaller to clear the frame. Unless you plan to go with something crazy however (48 teeth might be the case), I am sure you'll be fine.
6-speed chains are a bit wider than 9/10/11 speed ones, which narrow-wide chainrings are designed around. Also, your derailleur won't have a clutch to maintain chain tension. This means that chain retention will be less than it could be, but for the hybrid bicycle usage cases, I do not think you will notice that.


Winter|Snow riding - Interior Alaska.
   Extended winter riding season (usually September/October through April).  Low overall snowfall meaning rides are rarely "snowed out".  Consistently low temperatures lead to trails that stay and don't melt.  High "other" traffic (snow machines, dog sleds, skijorers, cross country skiers) and large volume of trails means there is always somewhere to ride.  High population of winter bike riders for size (Alaska is arguably the birthplace of snow bike racing).


Can I use adapter to adjust Q-Factor like curved cranks?

The picture makes it appear you stuck a BB386EVO crank into a BB30/PF30 bottom bracket without BB386 adapters:


Kid bike tyres tend to be on the cheaper-end of materials and wear quite fast.  Most kids bikes end up where the rider out-grows the bike, so a long-life tyre is less important.  I suspect the newer purple bike has slightly lower-grade rubber in the tyre than the older bike.
A child's bike would likely does less than a hundred miles in its entire life.
Riding on a low pressure can also accelerate wear on the tread.
Another cause for rear tyres to wear is when the rider is a little hoon and does M4D SK1DZ which wear flat spots.  Do that enough and the tyre simply wears down in the middle.
However, I can still see tread blocks on both tyres - there's a complete carcass to wear through before that tyre needs replacing.   Also, the more-worn tread will be smoother and more comfortable for the child to ride due to its lack of knobs.  And it'll be faster/less effort required.
I see no need to replace that tyre, unless its getting a lot of punctures, or its cracking/crumbling.


what are the widest 700c available(with kevlar)?

Yes, it is generally possible to install wider tires that those which came with a bike.

The limiting factors are the clearance available in the forks and frame. The chainstays/bottom bracket area is usually the most constricted area.

The rims will also have a maximum size of tire they can support, but the frame clearance is likely a more limiting factor.

If you have 38mm tires now, you can probably step up to 40 or 42mm.


Anxious about riding in traffic after 20 year absence from cycling

Good to hear that you are back on a bike!

From what you are saying about struggling to maintain balance, I suspect that you are riding slowly, and pedaling slowly. The part about feeling like you'll fall over when turning is consistent with that too.

Maintaining control when riding slowly is actually one of the hardest skills to master. So I recommend going somewhere with no traffic and practicing the things you're having difficulty with. Try riding in a figure 8, in as small space as you can, like two car parking spaces end to end, and then in one parking space, without crossing the lines. Aim to do the figure 8 ten times. You'll find you need to pedal and brake at the same time to get the figure 8 really small.

The next skill to learn is to look back without wobbling. Even if you get a mirror for your bike, this is still worth practicing. There are many times when you just have to turn your head and look. So again, where there is no traffic, try riding along a line and turn your head to look back. It's extremely hard to not wobble at all, but try to get the wobble down to, say, 15cm (6 in). You'll find it easier to do if you ride faster, and in a lower gear, so that you are pedaling much faster.

And the next skill leads from that: learn to pedal much faster. Try to pedal as fast as you can count. You're aiming for at least 60 pedal strokes (with each leg) per minute. If this sounds fast, then I should point out that this is the slowest you should pedal. Eventually you should be pedaling at 80 or 90 rpm, or even faster. By pedaling quickly, you will put much less effort into each pedal stroke, and this will reduce the amount of wobble.

The last skill I recommend is to be able to make confident hand signals without wobbling, so that you can do it, and to tell the drivers around you what you intend to do. Practice in the same way as looking back.

When you feel confident to go back to traffic, remember to look ahead and plan your path, so that you can ride in smooth, straight lines. This helps you maintain speed, helps the drivers predict where you will go next, and avoids wobbling at low speed if you have to carefully go around some obstacle, such as a pothole or parked car.

Remember that the drivers are not actually trying to run you over. They are just not bike riders and have no idea how much room you need. You have to take 100% responsibility, because they don't know what they're doing.

So, improve those skills, so that you can ride more confidently when you return to the traffic. Regularly practice new skills. I wrote a list here.

Enjoy!


Risks of pedaling with outward pointing knee

I think this usually happens when people have the saddle extremely low. Having the saddle too low is bad for knees and power output.

According to my bike fitter a bit of sideways movement in the knees is not bad and mostly a matter of training (if your fit and shoes are otherwise okay). However, keeping it to a minimal is desirable and apparently some professional cyclists train this by strapping styrofoam to the sides of their frames.


Should Max Heart Rate be sport dependant in cycling?

Firstly, it should be said that every reputable source recommends obtaining max HR under medical supervision only, due to inherent risks.

That is why many sites discuss various ways of estimating max HR.

From my understanding of the literature (sorry, no references to hand, I hope to add some later in the weekend), the max HR obtained from different sports ranges (from highest to lowest)

aerobics
running
cycling
swimming

Like all generalisations, there can be exceptions, as shown by the comment from Rider_X.

Having obtained your max HR, by measurement or estimation, you would use it calculate your training zones.

The main risk of using a max HR figure that's too high is that you can over train. You could potentially damage your heart doing this.

The main risk of using a max HR figure that's too low is that you'll get less benefit from your training.

So, to answer your question, there is no benefit in using a max HR figure for cycling that was obtained from another sport.


Spending $30 / month at your LBS seems perfectly reasonable. Your LBS is grateful you buy from them instead of from Amazon.

If you sometimes go to your bike store just to talk, that probably OK, as long as you are not distracting any staff from real work or keeping them from serving customers who are paying. Either they actually like chatting with you or are willing to humor you to keep your $30 /month, possible larger custom in the future and to maintain their reputation as a friendly, helpful store.

The example you gave about putting disk brakes on a 90's Hardrock frame - yeah, they were absolutely correct about that! They were not just trying to sell you a new bike.


Choosing a road pedal system - Focus on durability

I'm a hugely biased exponent of speedplay pedals. The cleats are metal and I would say reasonably durable. I just walk around in mine for short distances like cafe stops, to/from the bike racks at work, but you can also get little covers for them. Or they make a walkable cleat (although I have no experience of these).

They have plenty of float with adjustment for heel in/out right the way down to no float at all. The pedals are double sided so clicking in doesn't require you to rotate the pedal to find the right side.

You do need to grease them though, there's a little screw on the side that you have to undo and squeeze grease in through every month or so - depending on your mileage and riding conditions. I've ridden several pairs into the ground before buying the grease gun to do it with, but my current pair are coming up to three years old.


Identifying extra triggers in a speedometer

The problem went away after a firmware update. The most likely interpretation is that the reed switch is generating two pulses for each pass of the magnet, but now each double-pulse is interpreted in software as a single pulse. It's not ideal (hardware with one defect has a higher chance of also having other issues), but it's accurate.


Grip shifter difficult to move in one direction

This is almost always caused by friction coming from the cable housings. The reason is that in one direction the shifter is pulling the cable through the housing and must overcome any friction, which could be caused by contamination, corrosion, tight angles, and/or fraying. In the other direction it's releasing cable and does not have these forces to overcome.

You can test whether this is the case. On most bikes this is done by shifting into the lowest gear, then, while not riding or turning the cranks, shift the right shifter into the highest position. This creates slack in the rear derailleur cable. Grab the rear housing loop and pull it out of the housing stop on the chainstay. Do the same with any other housing stops you can. Then try working the shifter back and forth to see whether the friction is gone. While you're doing this you can do a simple clean and lube of the cable, which there are many guides to here, and depending on the cable layout you may be able to visually inspect for issues. Afterwards you can use the above steps in reverse to put it back together.

If the test revealed the problem to be cable friction, but cleaning and lubrication doesn't fix it, replacing the cable and housing is needed.


As a general rule, we don't go shopping on bicycles.SE, since that information goes out of date quickly.

The first problem with building your own bike is fit. If you don't know what measurements you already need from the frame and stem and handlebars and saddle a priori, its going to be hard to gauge which size is right for you. Your LBS may be able to help you in this area, or if you have a similar type of bike as to the one desired, you may be able to move the measurements to some other part set get close to whats right for you. Picking parts is hard enough as it is when things are approximately known already!

The second problem is part selection - brands, budget, functional differences and if they go together (e.g. do you want a wheel with a flip flop hub, or just a fixed gear? What gear ratio should you pick? Do I shell out for the Chris King headset instead of the cheaper Cane Creek one? Will my crank go together with the bottom bracket I selected? etc.) For example, if you have a bottom bracket which is too narrow, you may get some knee pain. Specific to the case of fixies, Sheldon has some advice on selecting gearing and converting old frames to fixies. Also, your frame should have horizontal dropouts.

Finally, theres the problem of putting things together. You may need some help here, as you may not have all the tools on hand for it and the investment in these specialized tools may not be worth it. For example, you may need a bottom bracket tool, cassette tool, chain whip, cable housing cutters (If you run a brake, you can get away with rougher cutting than for shifter cable housing (which fixies don't have), but its still a PITA to cut without the proper tools) etc. Also, if you need to cut your fork at home, its a lot nicer when done by the bike shop instead of pulling out a hacksaw at your house since they typically have nice guides for cutting the fork (with a hacksaw). Sometimes you can borrow these tools from a bike shop or a bike co-op and save yourself some of the expense. Also, you need some expertise to put the bike together in the first place (i.e. some knowledge on how the parts go together and how to adjust them properly, such as chain tension, which is critical on a fixie). Also, you'll make some mistakes (hopefully not forgetting to grease some thing or cross threading things), so you also need to allot time to deal with that. Even once you get the parts put in, you have to tune it to your riding style, so it could be a decent amount of time to put the thing together.

If you are interested in doing this still (instead of buying a bike which you essentially like, and tweaking it, or having a conversion of an old frame done by your LBS), I suggest you go to your LBS, talk to them about what you want to do, take a bike which is similar to what you want, and get them to help you select which parts work for you (and you can have them install things which you don't want to buy the tools for or don't have access to, and have them check the wheel tensioning and stuff). The amount of time it takes you depends generally on mechanical aptitude, access to tools and luck in how close you get to getting something close to right in the first place.

Sheldon Brown's site is useful if you want to do this, as is the Park Tool site (Park Tool makes some excellent bicycle specific tools, but if you're purchasing tools, you may want to go with a cheaper set since they do not need to be so long lasting). There are also various books, such as "The Bicycling Guide to Complete Bicycle Maintenance and Repair" by Todd Downs, "Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair" by Park Tool and "Sutherland's Handbook for Bicycle Mechanics" among others which may be of use (the last one is designed pretty much for shop mechanics though).

Finally, a note on money: If you want to do this, note that you'll probably end up paying more than a similar bike on the market due to the fact that you're buying 1 of each part rather than a ton of each part like a complete manufacturer does. And you have the cost of your labor or LBS labor in putting it together.

Finally, a note on safety: Despite it not being "cool", I firmly believe fixie should have front and rear brakes (or at least a front brake at the least).


Restoring the bike is a great way understand the bike.

My history is similar to yours. Gave up bikes around 10. Wife want to me ride with her.

I got a top of the line bike on CG for peanuts. of course, it was top of the line around the 90s :)

cleaning

start by REALLY cleaning the bike. simple green and brushes. don't be afraid to wet the bike. just avoid the seat if it's leather. and no water inside the tubes.

shifters

I'd start replacing the shifters for indexed ones. getting the same brands will usually work. but will require a lot of research to match them with the rear derraileurs (the gear shifting thing on the back).

Another option is to just keep the ones you have (friction shifters) and feel the gears changing. Even with modern bikes, this is still the norm with the front gears, so no harm on going that route also. Plus, restoring and fine tunning the bike your self will make you 'know' how to feel the gears better.

UPDATE: i take that back. i kept my friction ones on my bike and rode the wife's bike with cheap indexed ones a few times. the friction are way better. also when the freewheel needed replacement i can get any number of gears i feel like and don't worry :). Indexed ones are better for changing on a whim. but are either freaking expensive or will require constant fiddling. friction are just install and forget. love them. unless you go expensive indexed. but i'm a cheap bastard.

Wheels

if it has Sealed bearings in the middle of the wheel you are fine. Those last a life time. It's that axle on each wheel. just turn them. if they keep rotating without ratling noises, you are fine. if they just turn a couple times after you roll them with your hand. you need new ones.

also, if they wooble when you turn them. they need truing. that's the only skill that does not pay off to learn your self.  $15 at a bike shop and the wooble is gone.

If they rattle, dont' spin, wooble. just get new wheels.

cables

inspect them all. pull them with your hand via each housing. if there's any drag. try to fix it (i did fix my rear derraileur cable by cutting one broken thread that was pointing outwards and so dragging in the housing. good as new now). If it's a brake cable, spew out the $7 and get a new one with new housings.

WD-40 into all cable paths also help.

brakes

Begin by checking that they still have plent of rubber.

Also check your wheel rims for damages.

you have to loose them and tighten them as close as possible to the rim. in a way that they are slightly curved against the wheel, with the BACK of the brake touching the wheel. the front of the brake is the front of the bike. it should look like: \ || /
you should be able to touch the rim with some <15% of travel of the brake. the rest of the travel should be extra pressure for breaking power. Play around a lot with this. there's several places where you can adjust your brake.

Second step is to adjust them in a way that when you press the brakes, both sides touch the wheel at the same time! there's usually a screw on the side to control that.

make sure that NO other cable housing goes UNDER the front brakes cable.

And I can't stress this enough: test drive the bike on a straight run EVERY time you adjust them. mostly now that you are getting to know things.

bearings

bike has serviceable bearings in the cranks and in the freewheel (the thing that rotates the back wheel when you are not pedaling). usually your freewheel will be dry, cranks are almost always fine. check it by rotating the wheel and leaving the cranks still. if the chain is dragged to the front at slow rotating speeds, you have to grease/change the freehweel. I'd only change if the cogs are worn out.

you will need a spanner tool to open those.

derraileurs

You will hear about them a lot. it's the pair of gears on the back that change the drive gear on the rear wheel, and the guide on the front that change the drive gear on the cranks.

It the easiest part to restore and adjust. If they do not move sideways when you press with your hands, open them up, clean, and grease the hell out of them. It's easy. was what took less time for me. but everyone will say the opposite.

when they are moving easily when you press them, read the parktool's article on how to adjust it. http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/rear-derailler-adjustments-derailleur

more

There's probably more than I can remember now... but all in all it took me around a week and a half. And around $50 in tools/greases/new chains. I didn't have to replace any component or cable yet. And now i love to ride. I go to work every day riding.

now, to fully understand what you are doing, read:

http://sheldonbrown.com/

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help

The last link will point you to several expensive tools. I only need them to work on the cranks and remove the freewheel (you don't have to remove the freewheel unless you will replace it, i didn't know it back then). I got the tools asking around at work, one guy had a nice kit i could borrow.


I’m assuming you have a square taper bottom bracket + crank arms?

See this answer: Square taper crankset develops play after changing bottom bracket

If you’ve been repeatedly riding with a loose crank arm it could be that it’s now damaged.

You could try tightening with lots of torque, grease on the square taper and threadlocker (e.g. blue Loctite, but in a pinch any kind of glue works) on the threads. A retaining compound (e.g. LOCTITE® 648) on the square taper is even better than grease.

If that doesn’t help, the easiest, surest solution is to replace the bottom bracket and crankset. A completely new Octalink crankset (which doesn’t have this problem) can be had for less than 30€ (+ bottom bracket for <10€).


Day-trip bike for hefty 40-year-old woman?

Any standard non-racing bike can handle 250 pounds.
If you can handle those maintenance items you're better than the average cyclist.
There's no extra maintenance required for a steel vs aluminum frame -- it takes decades for rust to damage a steel frame even if left outside most of the time.  An aluminum frame, being a softer metal, is somewhat more easily damaged (though the difference is probably negligible in normal conditions).  But aluminum may be 2-3 pounds lighter.
If you're having trouble keeping up with your hubby you probably want something with a few more gears.  An internal gear hub likely is a step in the wrong direction.

I think basically you just want a good quality "hybrid".  The Cannondale Quick 3, for instance, would meet most of your requirements, though there are no doubt a dozen others.  The only real problem with the Quick 3 is that it's got 700C wheels and, depending on your height, you might be better off with a 26" wheel.  Unfortunately, good women's bikes in smaller sizes are a rarity.


What road hub makes the least amount of noise

In my experience, the most silent combination has been Shimano freehub and cheap cassette with pinned together cogs. The one I have is XT, but road hubs below Dura-Ace have similar mechanism. A cassette with loose cogs can vibrate more freely and is louder.

Other brands that I have been riding myself or have had the joy of listening on group rides include Campagnolo/Fulcrum, Chris King, Mavic, DT Swiss and so on. All of these have their own distinctive rackets.

As described in comment, completely silent roller clutch hubs have been produced. They have other, more serious problems.


What is the name of this type of bolt for the front crank on my bike?

They're called simply chainring bolts. The tool to hold the other part while tightening is chainring bolt wrench.


Would rotating or flipping disc brake rotors make any sense?

Flipping is not feasible as rotors are directional in design.  You could rotate between wheels ensuring they are in the correct orientation. But I am not sure what you gain, eventually you will need to replace both at once rather than one at a time.  Replacing one at a time could make it easier to spread costs out.

While most cable actuated disc brakes move only one moving piston (note there are some dual sided designs out there, e.g., TRP Spyre) the majority of braking (and friction = wear) happens when the moving piston pushes the rotor to come in contact with the stationary side.  At this point the friction is pretty even on both side.  If you are noticing different wear rates of pads this is likely happening when the brake is not engaged (i.e., rubbing).  As such this is more of a set-up issue rather than an issue with not being able to flip the rotor orientation.

If you are worried about rotor life, you should be using organic pads rather than sintered pads, as these use a softer compound. But I am not sure that this would save you money as you will be replacing the organic pads more frequently.

That all said, rotors typically take a very long time to wear especially if the use isn't extreme (e.g., commuting/causual riding versus sessioning a world cup downhill run).  If you want to minimized maintenance costs there are other consumables to best focus ones attention on.


MTB Hardtail preventing flipping backwards on steep gradients

Here's the actual climb in question, according to OP.

So if you are out of the saddle, clipped into pedals, and have your hips to the stem and are bending forward at the waist, then there's little more you can do to balance the bike.

Consider not wearing a backpack.

You might be able to vary your track on the path by zigzagging, or taking a slightly less head-on approach.

Try the climb again, while recording on strava.  Then use the Compare function, or a link like this https://www.strava.com/segments/4354748/compare/MzU0NzM3Nzc4NSwxNTgzODc4OTU0NA==
   to compare your best segment effort to someone else's. The top time was  only doing 1.4 km/h on the really steep bit at 0.7 km into the segment.

Generally the answer is momentum, and lots of it.  And if you stop, you're stuck.

If you're there, try and watch other people ride the same track.   See how they approach the same sections and where they push hard.


Ortlieb used to make two camera-specific bags that you could probably keep inside their handlebar bag, the Aqua Zoom and the Aqua Zoom Plus. These are now discontinued but you can still find them for sale.

However, the Ortlieb Ultimate is a great handlebar bag that snaps on and off the handlebars, and also has a camera insert. I highly recommend the Ultimate, although the mounting is a little tricky to install.


Help decoding a J.C. Higgins frame number on a vintage cruiser

4656 is the model number.  It's also the order number in the catalog.  There are books for sale on Ebay that show the bicycle pages from the Sears catalogs that cover Elgin, JC Higgins, and Sears bikes from the early 30's through the mid 60's.  Each page tells the year from which the pages are taken. Match the number on the bike to the cataolg number and you can figure out the year and style.  The 502 is Murray Bicycle's code for the bikes they built for Sears.  The last six numbers are the bikes individual unique serial number.


Derailleur installation adjustment method

For B tension screw I suggest you to just have look at this video
 B tension adjustment
Steps to adjust your rear derailleur

Drop the chain to the smallest cog of your cassette.
Tighten the cable.
Loose the cable tention by turning the cable tention screw.
Align the upper pulley just benith the cog and slightly inward using the H high limit screw.


I don't know if this helps, but I lost keys to krypto lock (in 2010) and was offered free of charge replacement keys by the manufacturer, sent to me inclusive of postage..../ maybe they could fix at the factory and give you a new key set for minimal cost while extracting the faulty key??


What can I wear in the cold weather to be able to bike to work (where I don't have a shower)

The general consensus I've seen is that you should expect to be cold for the first twenty minutes of cycling in the winter. If you're dressed warmly enough that you're not cold for the first twenty minutes, you'll swelter.

If your ride is under twenty minutes (this is just ballpark), you can simply dress warmly and remove clothes once you arrive at work. However, I suspect your ride is around twenty minutes long (given your description of a few miles). This gives you the unfortunate choice of 1) be warm initially but sweat towards the end of the ride, or 2) be cold initially but reach a comfort temperature right as you arrive at work.

I'm not sure there's a good solution if your ride happens to be right around this long. You might try dressing lightly enough that you're comfortable by the time you reach work, but try to get your temperature up before leaving by sitting next to a fire or a heater vent.


Replacing the handlebar grips with ergonomic ones?

It is a little hard to tell from your photos, but do you have grip shifters?

For setups with grip shifters, the grips are generally much shorter / narrower, as part of the "grip surface" is the shifter itself.

If you do indeed have grip shifters, you can do as ojs suggested & move the shifters / brakes in towards the stem, or, you could return the grips you purchased & get something sized properly to work with grip shifters.

Notice the difference in width of these grips:

The ones on the left are made to work with trigger shifters, while the  ones on the right are made to work with grip shifters. For reference, some examples of grips meant for use with grip shifters can be found here.

(Edit: I'd avoid the thread spool idea. Go over an unexpected bump while resting on the bar ends & they pop off because they were secured with a thread spool... loose control & crash!!)


What type of brake pads should I run on my Shimano RS80 C24 wheels?

Standard brake pads would be ones for aluminium rims.  If your carbon rims have an aluminium/ shiny-metal brake track then this is what you want.

"Carbon Fibre specific" brake pads tend to be made of cork and cost a lot more than normal brake pads.  The braking surface has no trace of metal, and has a clearly visible carbon-fibre weave visible.  (after all you paid a lot for that rim - got to make it known!)

The group consensus seems to be that koolstop in Salmon or Black are an excellent brake pad choice.

Your last resort options are to ask the Previous Owner, find an owner's manual for your rims/bike, or to take the bike to a LBS for a visual confirmation.


Rohloff twist shifter is too slippery when sweating

Cycling gloves are designed for comfort and to improve grip by absorbing sweat and providing a contact material that provides grip even when damp or wet.  Typically, hands do not sweat much so most cycling gloves will help in this regards.


How do I find a replacement Seat Post Binder screw for CAAD8

The thread is almost certainly M5x0.8, which is the most common small fastener size on bikes, and common on many other things. Any bike shop and fastener/industrial supply stores as well as any hardware store with metric bolts should have it. Seatpost clamps usually take a hex cap bolt but they different in what length they need and sometimes are particular about the fit of the shoulder. The simple thing in your position would be to use a flat screwdriver or a pick to work the snapped bolt out and just bring the rest of the clamp in when you go get a new one.

Model year type data for something like this isn't really how it's done on bikes.


The smallest size spoke wrench I can find is 15(.127" / 3.23mm) and it's too big. Where can I find one that fits?

Unfortunately this is almost certainly resulting from a ring-type spoke wrench that's loose-fitting and not very well made, of which there are sadly a lot of in the world, despite there being nothing wrong with the core design in this way. (I believe the way it works is that cheaper ones have the wrench slots forged in and nicer ones have them machined in and then are hardened). So your options are either get a tighter fitting multi-size wrench or a one-size, which don't tend to have problems like this.

It wouldn't surprise me if there were all sorts of nipple sizes smaller than 15g in the long history of bikes, but they're pretty rarely encountered now if so, and never on remotely recent conventional nipples.


disc brakes start squealing after just a bit of use

A couple things to look at:

Perhaps try Brake Clean to clean the rotor and spray on a rag then wipe the pad surface. I successfully use it on rim brakes when they occasionally squeal and it is not due to the toe angle of the pads. However be careful with it as it is stronger than rubbing alcohol so do not get it all over the place.
It could be possible the rotor is out of true. In which case, you should go the shop you got the bike at to get that addressed.
You could possibly have a bubble in the brake line which is causing a lack of pressure to close the caliper and that in turn is causing vibrations as you slow along with the loss of braking power. Again the shop that you got the bike at should be able to address that for you pretty quickly.

Hope that helps.


How to adjust cable tension on Dura-Ace 7700 shifter

Jagwire along with others manufacture in-line barrel adjusters. As the name implies they are installed between two sections of outer cable housing. They are generally installed 6-10 inches from where the cable exits the shifter. You want it close enough to the bars to be able to make adjustments while riding.


Compatibility issues with upgrading a 1991 1400a Miyata Road Bike

The Miyata 1400a is made of aluminum. A  7 speed Shimano 105 system uses a rear spacing of 126 mm, which is smaller than the 130 mm needed for a modern 8-10 speed system. For a steel frame, its no problem to stretching the frame and get the wheel in. On an aluminum frame, you really shouldn't.

That being said, people have done this at their own risk, by either fidgeting with lock nuts or spacers or whatever. I wouldn't recommend it though.

The reasonable thing to do is keep the bike as is, maybe with a different cassette if you need different gearing. You can use the 9 speed chainrings in a 7 speed drivetrain. You can also put 7 speed brifters if you want to feel more modern (you'll end up shifting more often).


The answer to your question is that 12V is not the standard for bicycle lights. 6V is. There are a lot of very good 6V cycle lights designed for dynamo power (I don't know enough about the Yamaha/Giant wiring to know how they connect to lights). Or you can get a separate battery powered light (again, lots of very good options available).


Compatible tyre widths for 622 × 17 rims?

If you don't have a specific reason to change size, get the same.

This kind of combination is common, but over the last years there has been some fuss about too narrow rims, in some part because people with limited riding experience like to repeat what they have heard and in part because manufacturers are pushing wider rims.


Does the extra cage on SPD pedals help riding with normal shoes?

I usually ride on M424s, which are similar but with more grip on the cage.  I'd recommend those or the alloy-cage equivalent if you're thinking along these lines.  They're definitely OK with normal shoes.

I didn't want SPD one-side/platform the other: as an SPD novice I was going to be fiddling about enough without getting the pedal the right way up, but I also wanted to be able to jump on the bike in trainers/sandals for short distances -- maybe slower, maybe not very comfortable, but without my feet sliding off.  These pedals do all that.  They're fine in reasonably thick-soled normal shoes though you can feel the cleat.

I wanted to be able to walk in my riding shoes which restricted my choice of shoes, and meant I had to file off a grippy bit of the pedal (I now also ride platforms in my SPD shoes as part of a bike-train-bike commute).

Also I avoid clipping in when I'm carrying my daughter in a toddler seat (or I  unclip well in advance of anything that might make me put my foot down).  By being able to pedal unclipped even in SPD shoes (axle under the arch of my foot, so not exactly efficient) I can drop her off then carry on riding.

It was a real bonus having them recently.  I did a long ride (for me: 48 miles/4 hours including stops) and being able to unclip and still pedal lightly helped when cramp was threatening.

But for family holidays, when I don't even take the SPD shoes, and have my daughter on the back more often than not, I swap to platform pedals.


stop air leak when disconnecting inflator from presta valve

In my experience there is always some air loss when you remove the pump from a Presta valve, but that air is lost from the pump side of the valve.

It's easier to see with a floor pump, since there's the hose to hold air. In a floor pump there's a check valve is at the pump end of that hose, and that will hold the air in the hose at high pressure even after you let go of the pump handle. That high pressure air escapes when you release the valve.

With a handheld pump there should be much less air released when you pull it off, because there's probably no check valve - the path from the pump chamber to the tyre is so short it's not necessary. Because it's so short there's not a lot of volume to hold high pressure air. Even if you release the pump from the valve while holding the pump handle in, you'll hear a little "phut" as the air escapes rather than the long "pssshhh" from a floor pump. But usually you let go of the handle, it gets pushed out a little until there's not enough air pressure to push it further, and when you pop the handheld pump off the valve you don't hear anything.


Will I notice the benefits of changing wheels?

I think probably swapping your wheels out is just about the single biggest improvement you can make to a bike in terms of performance.

I did this last year and love the new wheels. I too was riding Aksiums (I think) and bought some Fast Forwards. Qualitatively I am very impressed (but then I should be, if you boil everything down to money the FFwds cost 5x a set of Aksiums). Quantitatively, its difficult to say how noticeable the change is. I didn't see my average speeds jump or anything, at least not enough to notice. (I certainly notice being blown across the road sometimes (6cm rims), but that I'm not sure that counts!)

But now the caveat.....it all depends what you swap them for. I have no experience of Fulcrums so can't say how good that particular swap would be. Possibly someone else could help there. All I would note is that they're still toward the lower end of the price range (when you think you could spent thousands on wheels), so possibly they might not make as much difference as you'd hope. But as I say that's based on a hunch rather than direct knowledge.

One other point: not so long ago I had a spoke go on the Ffwds. Was a real pain in the ass to get a replacement (they were fancy bladed DT Swiss spokes and you're always recommended to change like for like). Nobody in the UK could sell me just a handful of spokes, only a box of them at about £100. In the end I found a place in the US who would sell them singly, just for a dollar or two, but it cost in terms of delivery and duty. I'm just saying, whatever wheelset you get it might be worth making sure you can source spares for it easily.


I have carried a laptop on my commute bike for closing in on 15 years now. Mainly in panniers (saddle bags). For a little while in a courier bag when when I was young and dumb. For what it is worth (aka the dangers of anecdotal evidence) I didn't have any laptop failures directly related to a bike trip.  I even toured with a 17inch laptop across 800 km of mixed terrain (road and dirt) in Norway with out incident (riding to a workshop and conference).  That laptop is still going strong 5 years later.

Waterproof pannier.  Water is the enemy of most electronics. So is dust.  It pays to be able to keep things very well sealed.
Well padded case. I used to use a well padded sleeve to house the computer and moved to a pannier with a built in padding.
Strong mounting. Not all bags are created equal.  Get ones that have rigid re-inforced back plate and strong mounting system. You don't want the bag flopping around.  Cheap panniers can sometimes twist into the spokes which will likely result in damage to your laptop during the ensuing carnage.
Strong pannier rack.  As a corollary to (3) if you have a cheap flexible rack this could also cause problems, but I haven't personally had any problems across a variety of rack types. Some racks also support panniers against twisting better than other racks.
Back it up just in case...  This is really good advice regardless of transportation method.  I always keep at least two backups going, one in the office and one at home (offsite).  I once came into my office to observe my desk under water.  If I had left my laptop there I would have lost it and the backup sitting on the desk.

Other Deep thoughts...

I have always wondered about the impact of vibration, but so far I haven't seen any clear indication (warning anecdotal evidence).   I had one hard drive die spontaneously while working on a report. Perhaps vibration shortened its life?  It it was also very hot that day and I was without air conditioning and I was running some simulations so the temperature could have fried it too.

I have also had a lust for well built laptops, which may have stood up better.  I am a hipster poser so you can guess which brand of computer I have continually purchased.


My brake lever is coming loose from my handle bars; how can I tighten it?

Be removing the cap from the front of the lever, a hex socket is revealed through a small opening, which can be tightened to snug the lever to the handle bar:


It is dangerous to bike with 5/36 spokes broken?

Definitely not recommended to ride a wheel with broken spokes. Even if the wheel does not catastrophically break and result in injury, the bike could leave you stranded.

If the bike is old and has not been maintained, you should get it inspected for other safety issues, especially proper functioning of the brakes.

There are a few questions on here about inspecting a bike for safety issues. Here's one I found after a quick search: Safety check for a used bike


How can one prevent a tube from sticking to the inside of a tire?

Baby powder works great and is very inexpensive.


There's this horizontal pin on the brake lever next to the hoods. It's meant to open the brakes for easier wheel changes as Campy brakes don't have release levers on the calipers. It seems be in the 'released' position. Pull the lever and push the pin from the side that's sticking out. See if it resolves your problem.
If yours brake pads are already very close to the rims you will probably have to adjust the cable.


Chainring and chain compatibility for Suntour chainring

Apparently Suntour only makes/sells derailleur cranks. So I’d guess the narrower 3/32" single speed chain should fit.


I would not ride that frame as-is.
Whether it is repairable or not needs a hands-on inspection by a competent carbon fibre frame repairer in person.  So you need to strip everything else off the bike and send/take the bare frame to someone who can advise professionally.


Mystery solved today. I took it back to the shop and a second mechanic had a look. He suspected that the crown race wasn't seated quite right - it turns out the first mechanic hadn't faced the bottom of the steerer tube and there was a bit of paint there. The crown race looked quite beaten up so he had probably forced it on. The new mech prepared the steerer, re-seated the crown race, and its looking great now. Thanks for all the input.


Since post mount became the norm, most long travel/gravity forks have a minimum rotor size based on what post mount length standard they're built with. Here is how Fox communicates it on the product page for their 40 series forks for example:

So putting the caliper directly on the post without any adapter sets it up for a 203, and the fork can't take anything smaller. If you had a fork with 180mm post mounts and you wanted to run a 200mm rotor, you would use a +20mm adapter, and you would not be able to run 160. If it's not specified anywhere, which is often the case, usually that means 160 front, 160 rear for mountain and hybrid/urban and 160 front, 140 rear for road.

Sometimes manufacturers make it difficult to track down the number. SRAM/Rockshox only sticks it in their giant tech spec pdfs as far as I know.

This is the answer as it applies to current forks. In the past there were more forks that needed model-specific adapters, and various IS-only calipers based on specific rotor sizes. So in the scheme of things, there are also all sorts of older forks and brakes where the minimum or maximum rotor size was limited in those ways. In the more common case of a fork with standard IS mounts, the minimum is always 160.


What front derailleur is this? Want to replace/upgrade

Its called a "braze-on" front derailleur.

The matching opposite format is a "band-on" or "band clamp" and goes around the seat tube.

Be careful when torquing the single bolt in your braze-on fitting.  Too loose and it will move while shifting.  Too tight and it will strip the thread and move while shifting.

Separately - the cable is disappearing downward, so it can be described as "Bottom Pull" or "Bottom Normal"

I can only see one other chainring, so this seems to be on a bike with a double chainring.

Answer Its a braze-on bottom-pull front double mech.

If your question is about groupset - look closely for engraved or embossed model numbers.  I can't recognise it.

The front derailleur is not a critical part and given its more about brute force than finesse you can get away with a very low groupset front mech perfectly well.   Sora and Tiagra will work fine with a 105 or ultegra rest-of-system, with some minor variance based on chainring separation distance.


does anyone know any forks i can fit on my specialized pitch XC bike

A bit more info on the year, make, model and size of your bike would be helpful. Assuming you're talking about a suspension fork, you'll want to make sure to get one with matching wheel diameter and axle type and width and brake type, and that the axle-to-crown distance is similar so the front doesn't tilt to far up or down compared with your current fork. As mattnz pointed out, you will also need to make sure that the steerer tube is the same type (straight or tapered) and the same outer diameter as your current one.


Can I upgrade brakes despite interface difference

In my experience, the gap there isn't a problem.  Usually those "long" spring ends go all the way through the brake mounting plate and a bit out the back side anyways, so there isn't an issue if they are a little shorter.  As for the gap on the v-brake mount on the bike, too short is an issue.  Too long usually isn't.  As Criggie says in the comments, fantastic job on the photos showing the exact issue.  But as long as the Shimano brake's spring end goes through the hole in the mounting plate(and doesn't back out of it) and the brake moves freely with the mounting screw tightened, you should be good to go.


Chainring rubbing frame after tightening cranks. What should I change?

The first thing to do if you haven't yet is confirm that the taper bore on the drive side crank is still in good condition. Take it off, hold it up against a light, and look for any deformation. The squares formed by the two ends of the bore should be in perfect alignment. Because square taper cranks are a press fit, there is nearly no tolerance for deformation here before the crank has issues with coming loose or falling off.

What you're experiencing here is one reason, really the biggest, why I don't like to grease tapers. You get unpredictable things happening with how far the crank sinks on, and it seems like it makes it more likely to be an issue over time. Some hold the theory that the combination of greasing spindles and re-tightening the bolt can contribute to or cause the cranks failing outright over time, which is a rabbit hole of a topic, but google Jobst Brandt's writing on this if you want to understand that argument.

If the bores are still in good condition, and the chainline was right before and now it's too far in in front, then getting a new BB that puts the chainline correct again is a fine solution, barring any issues with tight clearance between the ring and the frame. Usually I don't really see anything less than around 3mm between the frame and any part of the crank as acceptable, although it's a line I'd be okay pushing on my own bikes.

The cheap and simple solution if it works is to put a 2mm or so spacer under the shoulder of the drive side bottom bracket cup. This will make the cranks asymmetrical by that much, but most people wouldn't notice. The reason this doesn't always work is that many left side cartridge BB cups have a lip on the end of the threaded section that will keep them from being able to sink into the BB shell to correctly secure the cartridge once the spacer is in place. (Usually the end of the threaded section pokes out just a little bit, with the spacer it will need to be below level of the shell face just a little bit.) Spacers such as this are a common bike shop item. Using a single 2.5mm Hollowtech 2 BB spacer is a likely thing to be able to find, or a freehub body spacer, or a cog spacer off a used cassette, or a 1.8mm 10->11 speed spacer, or a 1.8mm Shimano cassette spacer for Mavic road wheels, etc.

If the left cup does have that lip, you may be able to grind it off without weakening the cup too much.


I don't think you can. It looks to me like the anodized surface layer has worn off, exposing the plain aluminum.


Can any MTB rear derailleur be mounted to a Scott type 1 MTB derailleur hanger?

The thread on a derailleur fixing bolt is typically 10mm x 1mm thread pitch.  For almost any standard derailleur, that will be correct.

There are a few very new designs on the market which might not fit, namely Shimano's new direct mount derailleur system, but that would be a special order in most shops at this stage.

Anything on the market for 9 speed mountain should fit a 10 x 1 thread.

So to answer your question:

Technically, no, not any derailleur will mount to your Scott derailleur hanger.

As a practical matter, yes, you are pretty safe ordering any 9 speed MTB derailleur, and it will work.  And if it looks like the same mount, it will be.

That said, it sounds like you may have cross threaded your derailleur hanger when you tried to change it the first time, so you may also want to pick up a spare derailleur hanger.


Locktite blue (also known as 243), or other similar thread lock liquids may eliminate the bottom bracket threads coming loose.

Another method to stop creaks between the BB and the frame is to use plumbers teflon tape. Just one or two wraps on the BB threads before installation will keep the bottom bracket from backing out and fill voids to eliminate movement and creaking.

Many times simply cleaning and greasing the BB and frame threads will also fix the problem.

If the problem disappears for a while after disassembling and reassembling, the bottom bracket and cranks then the BB/shell interface likely is the source of the problem...

-BUT-

Creaks can come from many sources yet they will sound like they are coming from the bottom bracket.  Some other common sources to check:

Cassette: Tighten down the lockring. I've had this happen to me a couple times.

Seat rails were sliding where they went inside the saddle.  The creaking disappeared when I stood.

Handlebars creaking inside the stem. Fix by lubing the bars and reinstalling.

Stem to steer creaking. Disassemble, clean, grease, reassemble.

Chainrings on crankset: Loosen and retighten the chainring bolts.

My recommendation is to fix one item, see if the creak persists and if so move on to the next.


Why does my floor pump only fill a presta valve tire after a pop sound?

What I find helps, is: tap the valve post a bit to let out a small blast of air (after loosening the captive nut all the way, of course). That helps unstick things and lowers the pressure inside a bit to make it easier to start pumping air in. Just takes a quick tap. If you don't do that, you may need to pump slightly past the pressure of the tire to actually start pumping air in.

A Schrader valve is a spring-loaded valve that the pump head opens up by pushing down on a pin. That means that once the head is engaged, pressure is equalized between the pump hose and the inner tube of the tire. When you engage the head, some air comes out of the tube into the pump head and hose, and when you work the pump, you're immediately pumping air into the tube/tire.

A Presta valve doesn't have a spring. The valve is kept closed with air pressure, and the captive nut helps ensure nothing bumps the valve open. The pump head generally does not press down to force the valve open, and instead the valve is opened by increasing the pressure in the hose past the pressure inside the tube/tire. You generally have to pump until the pressure in the pump/hose/head matches what's in the tube before any air actually flows into the tube/tire, and sometimes a bit past that.

I suspect that the "pop" you're hearing is when external (hose) pressure overcomes the Presta valve, it opens up, and pressure equalizes suddenly between the pump hose and the tube.


Protecting gadgets against rain during touring

The main compartment of most handlebar bags waterproof when closed. Better models have pockets to keep passports dry. There are also plenty of models on the market that have padding for cameras and lenses.

The brand most synonymous with waterproofing is Ortlieb. They make handlebar bags and camera kit inserts for them. There are plenty of other makes on the market, one feature to look out for is the Klickfix bracket that lets you quickly remove the bag for when you are off bike.

As for the computer, the best range of bags can be found in High Street computer shops. For light weight get a neoprene cover with no fancy handles or extra pockets. You can then put your neoprene sleeved computer in a pannier.


Exercises to Counter act muscluar imbalances

Patellofemoral pain syndrome is a fairly common complaint from cyclists.  You really should consult with a medically-trained therapist, but straight leg lifts, oddly, are a good place to start.  (Lay on back, hold leg straight, lift without bending knee.)


What is the maximum and average power that can be produced by 175 mm crank length

The crank does not generate power. A human does.

As such, crank length is only a part of equation to get power (in Watts): P = F×l×ω, where F is the force one applies (Newtons), l is the distance between axle and pedal (meters) and ω is angular speed (radians per second). The higher the force and rotation frequency, the more the power.

Certain crank lengths may be more comfortable for a given human, thus allowing to achieve higher resulting power. I assume the optimal crank length depends more on legs' geometry, but I doubt that there is a ready equation for that. And do not forget clearance issues — if you take a crank that is too long, it will start interfering with frame or even ground.

The only way a crank could be able to limit power is if it would be possible to break it by applied force. That would require an inhuman strength.

So it is not the crank or even not a bike, it is human. Cranks and bicycles are literally levers in mechanical sense, and the golden rule of mechanics states that no advantage in power can be achieved with a lever.