Key points to ensure that a trainer is compatible with bicycle?

Generally, not much. You need to look at the manufacturer's wheel size ratings and the hub widths allowed, along with the type of the axle (e.g. if you have a maxle, you'll need a special replacement maxle). If you're still not sure, contact the manufacturer.

If you have a standard width hub (130 to 135 mm, which you have), and 26 or 700c wheels (which you have) and a standard quick release hub (which you have), you're pretty much good to go with nearly all trainers on the market.

Kurt Kinetic has a page describing their compatibility here. If you're still not sure, either go to your LBS and try one, or contact Kurt Kinetic themselves.


You can see in the first picture that a snap ring is out of place. I’m not familiar with these brakes but I’d have to assume there is something very wrong that must be dealt with by a qualified mechanic or the manufacturer. You don’t want to mess around with brakes, especially on a downhill bike.

As it’s a new bike, take it straight back to where you purchased it and get it fixed or replaced under warranty.

as


I can't add a comment yet so I provide this as an answer. The guy was bedding or burning-in the brakes. It makes sure the pads are seated and wiped of factory oil, grease, and other contaminants.

Disc brake break-in?

Sounds like he was doing it wrong. Unless the fact that the brakes weren't working after he did it indicates that the process uncovered a problem.


More speed or more distance for weight loss?

Most important - Well done in losing weight, what you are experiencing is very normal, don't let it put you off.

A word of warning - despite the common perceptions, most people do not lose weight exercising. Their appetite increases to compensate for the the increased calorie demands, this could be what's happening to you.

Personally I think focusing on weight is at the expense of overall health and well being detracts from the progress most people make and demoralizes them needlessly. Take the weight loss as a part of the equation, but focus more on your fitness and progress.  When you started, how far and fast, how often were you riding, how does that compare to now? Are you happier now? Focus on the wins.

Exercise builds muscle, which is heavier (and healthier) than fat - if the weight loss has leveled out because you are building muscle, keep doing what your doing. It may be too late, but measurement is a better guide to progress than weight - did you measure yourself before starting? If not, are your cloths looser, are they still getting looser?  Are you feeling less flabby?

To continue to make progress you may need to mix it up a bit. Adding resistance exercises would help - I am a fan of body weight exercises - pushups, pull ups, squats, burpees etc will balance out the cycling. No need for expensive gym memberships and machines, the only thing most people are missing at home is a pullups bar.

As far as cycling, you can also mix it up - instead of training all the time at once pace, you need to have sessions of slow, long distance and sessions that are short, high effort. Also look at doing sprints after a good warmup, - 30seconds at absolute maximum effort, 30-60 seconds to recover, repeat 5 -10 times then cool down. Do these in a short session (if you do this properly, it will be short)

A good guide will be 3 - 4 sessions a week, one will be half you weekly distance at a steady, comfortable pace. One will be short and fast.

Have a look on the internet for suggest training program - they will look something like this:

Day 1 - 50% of weekly distance at slow steady pace
Day 2 - rest
Day 3 - 20%  weekly distance at max effort
Day 4 - rest
Day 5 - rest
Day 6 - 30% weekly distance at 'race' pace
Day 7 - rest

One of my favorites - "You don't get fit exercising, you get get fit recovering from exercise."

Hopefully this is enough to get you started - there is a lot of information out there, some will not agree with what I believe. We are all different, sift though it and work out what's right for you. If what you doing does not work, or stops working, no matter who says it, change something.


Non-drive bottom bracket cup loose/wobbly - what options are there?

Is this the same bike as Bottom bracket lockring keeps loosening up  ?   Colour looks the same.

It is time for a new BB cartridge I think, and if that doesn't fix it, then the BB threads are damaged and the frame is scrap.


Would the seating position of a road bike cause issues with prescription glasses

Yes, in most cases normal prescription glasses sit too low on the nose for the purpose of shielding the eyes in road bike position. And as the speed increases, the need for effective eye protection grows, too. Consider either:

Getting contact lenses, and then you can wear bike specific glasses
Getting bike glasses with prescription lens inserts. In my experience, they are somewhat awkward to handle and not all optometrists will undertake fitting the lenses to what they perceive as nonstandard frames.


Does the Shimano Tourney TX rear derailleur support an 8 speed cassette?

Any Shimano 7-9 speed rear derailleur will work with any 7-9 speed Shimano shifter. To upgrade to 8 speed, you need an 8 speed Shimano-compatible cassette or freewheel which works with your rear wheel, 8 speed shimano shifters, a 7-9 speed Shimano rear derailleur and a Shimano road front derailleur if you have road shifters or a Shimano mountain front derailleur if you have mountain shifters.

The rear derailleur needs to have appropriate capacity and sprocket size tolerances for the gearing you want to run, and the front derailleur has to be matched to the number of chainrings, size of the jumps between chainrings and chainring sizes. Both have to have apppropriate mounting as well, obviously (tourney comes with a claw adapter in some cases; most modern frames don't need it).

So, yes, you can use a Tourney rear derailleur with a Shimano 8 speed shifter, but you have to make sure the rest of the components work. That being said, upgrading from 6 or 7 speeds to 8 speeds usually doesn't improve anything (esp. with low quality parts like Tourney).


Useful and accurate mapping websites: United Kingdom

CycleStreets
CycleStreets is a UK-wide cycle journey planner system, which lets you plan routes from A to B by bike. It is designed by cyclists, for cyclists, and caters for the needs of both confident and less confident cyclists.
The service looks to be free, however, funding issues are causing the site's development to be slow, and they accept donations.
The site is currently in beta, and has gaps in coverage. There's an iPhone app for the site, and an Android app was in development last year.
The most useful feature, the Journey planner provides information you would normally get from any free mapping service, turn-by-turn directions, journey time and distance.
It also gauges the quietness of the route based on how much of the journey is based on cycle paths and roads, provides an elevation profile and the ability to import your journey to Google Earth or export it to a GPS device


I think this is fine, especially if you are using the outer sprockets most of the time.


What is the benefit of a larger disc rotor?

Simply put a bigger rotor provided better braking, and a four pot caliper provides better braking - better meaning more, and more control (Everything else being equal).

For the same force between the disc and pads, a bigger rotor generates more torque on the wheel - i.e. more stopping force. It is running though the pads faster, generating more friction for the same pressure, more stopping power, and as it has bigger surface area, is dissipating more of the generated heat, meaning the disc and pads run colder. So, for the same caliper and brake pad, a bigger rotor generates more braking for the same pressure or the same amount of braking for less pressure.

The disadvantage of a bigger rotor is weight and as its larger, more prone to warping and distortion.

This applies to all disc brakes from bicycles to aircraft......

For a bicycle, there comes a time where you have "enough", and quickly get to "too much" - with high quality equipment its a surprisingly small disk for most people. Big disks a more prone to warping and damage, which is a good reason not install them unless you need to.

Heat buildup is not normally a problem but low end pads can suffer fad. Small rotors don't typically over heat on bikes (Tandems and loaded tourers might manage it). The main advantage is more breaking for less pressure - so you get more control and feel, and your braking hand tires less (If you have ever done a 1000ft vertical descent in technical tracks on crap brakes you know the feeling)

A 4 pot caliper provides advantages of more and more even pressure, meaning better braking. Also as there are usually larger pads - more heat dissipation can be achieved.

Note: A 29'er would usually need a bigger disc than a 26" wheel for the same stopping power.

Don't forget the pad and disk material - these can make a bigger difference than size, but its not as visible. Do not go to big discs and 4 pots unless you are already at the higher end of the quality spectrum.

Edit: I recently saw some discussion regard discs on road bikes, and some basic physics indicate over heating is a major problem with hydraulic disc brakes and descending large heights (100's of meters vertical) causing the fluid to boil. Extra cooling from a larger rotor would help, but is likely to be just a small part of the answer.


How can I reach upto Olympic level competitions?

There's no way we can answer this question for you. The people who reach elite-level competition in cycling have extraordinary natural gifts, dedicate enormous time and effort to training (20+ hours per week), and are incredibly motivated (to train intensively for 20+ hours per week, etc).
If there's a local cycling club you can ride with, do that. If there are any races in your area, enter some races. See how you like racing, and see how you do. Start reading up on training methods and learn what you can. Usually the people who have those exceptional gifts rise to the top pretty quickly, but even if you don't, don't let that discourage you from having fun with racing at a local level.


Running 1x9 is a great idea. I have done it with relatively good success. There were always times on big rides i wish i had a granny.I also intially had issues on chain drop. Because the 9 speed rear, bumpy and rocky terrain can knock the chain off when the derailleur would slap.

To prevent chain drop on the front, you can run a bash guard, and an N-gear jump stop on the inside.


Changing a cassette and adjustments after

If you can change to biggest sprocket on the small chainring, sounds like the chain is too short. If it's new you can add a link in (if you have the left over links), otherwise you'll need to replace and resize the chain.

You should probably also check that your rear derailleur can take a 34 tooth max cassette sprocket, and you have not exceeded the derailleur total capacity (difference in chainring tooth counts plus difference between largest and smallest sprocket tooth counts).


Is there a work around to a presta valve not engaging a tire inflater pin?

You're using the wrong inflator valve on your compressor.

You're likely using this type of inflator valve (aka chuck). It requires the inner pin of the schrader valve of the tire to depress the inner pin of the chuck for the chuck to release air:

Instead you need one of these types of inflator valves which have a manually activated release mechanism (the lever or trigger). The advantage of these types is that they often have a built-in pressure gauge, such as the model on the right. The gauges are not very accurate but are sufficient for eyeballing pressure.

If the valve on your compressor is not replaceable (because it's not your compressor, for example) then you can fill up a portable air tank with the compressor (these tanks have schrader valves) and then hook up your manual-style shrader valve inflator to them. This is also a way to use a tiny little 12VDC electric tire inflator (such as in emergency kits) to build up enough pressure and air reserves to set tubeless tires. It might take an hour to build up 5 gallons at 135psi (and you might burn out a tiny compressor, so you'd take it in chunks) but
you'd have enough air to certainly set even a car tire.

[

Note that this tank has the type of schrader valve outlet that you don't want, but you can easily swap it out.


how do i put my bottom bracket back together

Here's a link to a comprehensive description of what goes where along with bearing sizes.
Quick summary
- Long side of the spindle goes to the crank side, right
- Fixed cup goes on the crank side, right
- Bearings - see chart at link (after re-reading the chart I don't think it applies. Can someone else help?)
http://bikeraceinfo.com/tech/cranks-cottered.html
Do you have a lock ring for the adjustable side?


The source of the whooshing sound is contact between tires and road. The sound is present with all road bikes, but much quieter with aluminum rims and tires with thick sidewalls.

What makes carbon wheels loud is that they resonate like acoustic instrument's sound box at the tire noise frequency range and the larger surface is more efficient at transmitting the sound. You can hear the resonant frequencies if you just tap the wheel with your finger nail, a carbon wheel will have a lower pitched and much louder sound.


SiS tourney A050 thumb 1x7 to either a 1x10 or 2x7

It's unclear whether you have drop bars or a flat bar. Normally 'roadbike' would strongly imply drop style handlebars, but you talk about 'horizontal' bars and are thinking about upgrading to Deore which is a mountain bike groupset. 'Integrated shifters' would normally mean shifters for a drop bar as mountain bikes have moved to separate shifter and brake units. However, the answer is the same.

If you have a 7 speed cluster of sprockets on the rear wheel, you either have an old-style 7 speed freewheel or a 7 speed freehub and cassette. See here for a description of the difference. In either case you will not be able to upgrade to 10 sprockets on the hub. Freewheels only go up to 7 speeds; the freehub body for 7 speeds is slightly shorter that those used for 8, 9 and 10 speeds and cannot accomodate a 10 speed cassette. To get 10 speeds in the rear you would need a new rear wheel with a 10 speed compatible freehub. You would then be able to fit a 10 speed road or mountain groupset. However, at this point you are looking at replacing more than half the bike, so it probably makes more economic sense to look for a used bike with a 1x10 or 2x10 drivetrain.

If you are prepared to stay at 7 speeds in the rear things are a bit easier. the Shimano Tourney line has 3x7 speed shifters for flat bars, Microshift makes Shimano compatible  3x7 road bike integrated shifters/brakes I believe. You could use derailleurs from Shimano's lines above Tourney as 7, 8 and 9 speed derailleurs all use the same actuation ratio.

Obviously for 10 speed you'd need a 10 speed compatible chain, but if you stick with 7 speed I'd replace the freewheel or cassette and chain as well so you have a complete new drivetrain.


Why does a 28 1/3 tyre fit, when a 27 1/4 tyre is too big?

European ISO 622mm (AKA 700c) tires are often labeled as 28" tires.  Confusingly, the very rare 635mm tire is also labeled 28".  This is unfortunate and leads to much confusion.  The common 27" tires are ISO 630mm, which means that you will almost always find that tires labeled as 28" are actually smaller in diameter than those labeled as 27".

The sizing system for bicycle tires is a confusing mixture of "standards" from different companies and nations.  The definitive Sheldon Brown tire sizing article has more detail than you'll likely ever need.

If your 27" (630mm) tire is slightly too big for your rim, it's likely that the rim is 622mm.  It's probably worthwhile to visit your LBS; there are lots of standards and when it comes to tires you definitely want to make sure they are properly fitted.  Having a tire come off the rim while riding is an unpleasant experience.

As commented above, the difference in sizes between the wheels is probably because the wheelset didn't originate as a pair and came from different sources.


Replace my 28 x 1-5/8 x 1-3/8 tires with beefier ones for flat gravel trails

Tire sizing is a very funny thing. The size you list could be on one of two different rim sizes, either 622 or 635 (https://www.sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html). The tire should have another marking on it after the size you listed, something like 622-32. That tells you the actual rim size. Hopefully it's 622 as that is much more common. You may be able to fit a wider tire, but that depends on the design of the bike frame. You can look to see the spots on the frame where the tire comes closest to rubbing. If there is extra room, you should be able to fit a wider tire.


A trick that I found is used by NFL players to keep their face warm :
"A jar of Vaseline is an old trick from veteran players to block out the wind"
source: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/14525394/seven-ways-nfl-players-stay-warm-frigid-conditions-nfl

BONUS: If you get too hot with the vaseline on you can use the excess to lubricate your drivetrain.

I think some skiing/snowboard goggles with a clear lense will also help in keeping your face warm.
Something like this:
https://mx-deals.nl/oakley-crossbril-o-frame-jet-black-clear-lens.html?gclid=CjwKCAiAluLvBRASEiwAAbX3GU82TCnNSiATDbKyg5txyfgQ22RLn0RFJsY-fwpcHCIu53Mn8MTdwxoCEVkQAvD_BwE

A balaclava looks like it would keep you warm,

you might draw unwanted attention though.

This might be a more subtle but similar alternative:

There are even versions of balaclavas which have heating elements inside:

https://www.thewarmingstore.com/heated-balaclava.html

A full face helmet will definitely also help in keeping you warm, but it's not the most practical solution. I've done a quick search regarding heated motorcycle helmets and could not find much so I assume it will not be needed even in cold conditions.
One comment I found on a forum thread regarding heated motorcycle helmets (to illustrate their effectiveness at keeping your head warm): "Are you serious? Why would you actually need that? A helmet acts like a thermos for your head because of the EPS liner. Keeps you warm in the winter and cool in the summer."
source: https://advrider.com/f/threads/heated-cooled-helmet.639790/

There are heated face shields for full face helmets but I believe their main purpose is to prevent frosting/condensation on the face shield itself, not so much to keep your head warm. They look like this:


For a nice pic, see http://www.re-cycle.com/images/Peugeot/1989_French/1989_27.jpg

For the specs see http://www.re-cycle.com/images/Peugeot/1989_French/1989_28.jpg

Unless you read French, you'll need to translate the terms.

(I see it says the tires are 700c, and on my reading it doesn't mention frame material).


Is this a real Concorde or just a replica?

I have a 1990s Concorde Americas that has Tange tubing. I bought it when it was just a couple of years old.


Bike too big or just fine ? modification required ? Need pro advice

The odds of your "parts" hitting the top tube is directly proportional to your riding skill and difficulty of the terrain. Off road or trail riding can mean different things to people of different skill levels. A very competent rider can ride a too large bike over terrain a lesser skilled rider may find impassable. So it is difficult to say if a particular frame is too large for you without fully understanding the terrain and your level of comfort riding in that terrain. When I introduce someone to off trail riding I generally try to borrow a bike that is a little on the small side until they get comfortable. Novice riders seem to feel they have more control on a slightly too small frame. It seems to lessen the fear of impacting the top tube or their feet not hitting the ground. My point is that the bike may feel large now but as you gain confidence and skill you may find it doesn't quite feel so large anymore.


Why are people with full suspension bikes concerned about 'Stiffness' added by thru axles?

Thru axles not only keep the wheel in place, they also strongly join the right and left dropouts together. This structurally reinforces the component either being it a fork or a rigid/suspended rear triangle.

This simply makes the bike able to handle greater forces before failure, because it distributes forces between both sides of the structure. It also avoids twisting of the parts. For example, if one arm of a fork twists, it means it may loose alignment relative to the other, thus meaning the wheel is not pointing in the direction the handlebar tells the rider, this leads to a bad feedback and imprecise ride feel. A thru axle keeps both sides of the fork aligned, eliminating (or reducing) this issue. It also keeps the lower ends (bottles) better aligned with the upper parts (stanchions), allowing for a smoother operation and longer  life of seals and bushings.

For suspended rear triangles it also makes the structure stiffer, this allows better distribution of forces through the stays, so those forces reach the shock absorber with better alignment, also allowing for smoother operation and longer component life. It also keeps the pivots aligned, thus giving them a longer life for both bearing type or bushing type pivots.

The bottom line is that a stiffer structure is more efficient and gives better feedback to the rider, allowing for a more confident and precise ride. It also allows a lighter bike to handle greater forces.


Is there a master link for single speed chain that will fit in Shimano chain tensioner?

Assuming you have a new KMC chain (pic of the connector is KMC).

KMC definitely makes 1/8" chain connectors of the 'Missing Link' style without the extra side plate clip that is presumably causing problems.

See here: http://kmcchain.us/connectortype/single-speed-ml/

and here: http://www.kmcchain.eu/connector-bmx_track_fixie

Can't tell you if those are readily available in Russia or where the best place to buy them is.


What may be the cause of a loud noise when riding?

My suspicion turns to the spokes. You've said they're a little loose, and one looser than the rest could easily make a noise only when there's weight on the bike, but with no need to pedal. A slight tighten of all the spokes on that wheel might sort it out, while keeping the wheel true. You may also be able to feel/hear a loose spoke by plucking, and confirm by putting something like tissue paper between that spoke and the ones it touches. An unusally tight spoke may also be the cause.


Can an imperfect hub make a disc rotor rub?

It could be a number of issues but I doubt you got a bad hub. Check to make sure your wheel is seated correctly in the fork. You could also try tightening/loosening the skewer to see if that may help align things. If all that doesn't work then you can try to realign the caliper if necessary. I wouldn't worry much if its just a little rub.


What causes the noise that race wheels make when you are not pedaling?

Most bikes have 'freehubs', a design Shimano came up with that is brilliant because it places the wheel bearing outboard of the sprockets rather than inboard, as per the 'freewheel' design that preceded it. Inboard bearings place a shear force on the spindle when going over bumps that can break the spindle.

Anyway, Shimano patented the freehub, and rightly so. Their freehubs run reasonably quiet, (with a lower 'note' on the ones with cheap steel sprockets attached to them).

Other manufacturers are not able to licence the freehub design or are unwilling to pay whatever licence fees Shimano charge. As a result they have their own technical workarounds.

The pawls of a Shimano freehub are placed deep inside the freehub body, the noise they make when freewheeling is therefore insulated, i.e. quiet. Other makes place the pawls inside the hub (Campagnolo) or else they use ratchets instead of pawls inside the freehub body (DT/Swiss). Hence the different noise characteristics of these up-market, high-end freehubs.

Here is the freehub body from a typical, recent Zipp wheel. As you can see they have not used the original (and totally excellent) Shimano design, the pawls are placed in the wheel, not the freehub-body. Coupled with the aforementioned 'guitar case' of the disc wheel a loud racket is made.


I am guessing you're thinking of similar shaft-driven bicycles when you say "chainless", and those are indeed rare (although CeramicSpeed is working on a shaft-driven concept).  However, if you're looking for anything that doesn't have a chain, belt drive bikes are by far the most popular option, and are widely available from many different manufacturers including Specialized, Cannondale, and (previously, at least) Trek.  Ask at your local bike shop and the odds are very high that they'll either have at least one belt drive option in stock or will be able to order one for you fairly easily.


Chain skipping with new chain and freewheel

You don't say what derailleur and shifter you have, but if they are an indexed Campagnolo system the spacing they're designed for is different in the middle of the cassette to the ends. I had exactly these symptoms with a 10-speed Campagnolo cassette on a SRAM bike.

You will have an array of problems if the mech and shifter's idea of cable pull do not match, particularly with an indexed system.

You will have exactly this problem trying to use any non-7-speed shifter/mech with a 7-speed system.

You can also get these symptoms if the B screw of the derailleur doesn't leave enough clearance between the top jockey wheel and the sprocket on the cassette, but it is more usual for this to affect the easy gears.


Cross-chaining on a 3x6 system -- how bad for wear?

I would not be concerned in the short term, say 6 months to a year. There are several things in your favor. A six speed chain is wider than a modern 10 speed chain. Wider equals more material equals longer wear. On a MTBSO parts are used that are cheap. Cheap means steel instead of lighter alloys. So I think you will see some wear but it will be minimum.


I've used a bike cover with great success in the past. Something like this Topeak Cover from REI is great. It covers the bike well and has a self contained pocket that it folds into for easy storage when not in use. There are several similar products that range in price if you're looking for something more cost effective. You will still need to do routine maintenance throughout the winter like lubing your chain, but this will keep a majority of the snow and ice off of your bike while it's being stored outside.

Don't forget to lock your bike while it's out there. If you live on a 3rd+ floor it's less of an issue but I've had friends and fellow bike commuters have their bikes stolen off 2nd floor balconies many times.


How wide of tires can I run on a Victory Vision road bicycle?

What tire width can be safely used it mostly determined by the width between the bead seats in the rim.  This can be measured and is often listed in the specifications for your rims.

Then I use Sheldon's Tire sizing chart to figure out which tires will work.  That link is to a long article on tire sizes, the rim vs tire width chart is red & green and is near the bottom of the article

Edit

Near the top of the linked article is a nice picture showing where to measure inner rim width.  This determines if the tire will stay put on the rim.  Both too wide a tire on too narrow of a rim and too narrow of a tire on too wide of a rime will not seat correctly.

As freiheit points out you also need to check for clearance issues around chainstays, seatstays brakes etc.


Removing the return spring of a rear derailleur

It is called the return spring.  Without that spring you don't have return.

Without a return you would need a push / pull (stiff) activator.

Looks like commercial electronic use a cable (pull) activator.


Are v-brakes universal in size (kids vs adults)?

They are universal except for a very few models called mini V brakes, which use short pull brake levers as opposed to long pull. These stand out as having very short arms compared to most.
Shimano and Tektro make a lot of the good economical repair v-brakes. The model numbers change over time.
Reworking splayed out noodle cradles is a pretty common repair. It usually happens more from people getting frustrated and being rough with them than any kind of material weakness, so it's not likely to do the same thing again. I do it using either a slip joint plier or a Knipex plier-wrench. Of course I could imagine it being mangled enough that replacement is more prudent.


What are the benefits of a carbon seatpost?

In general, you've hit the high points yourself.

The benefits (and issues) will vary by post model, manufacturer, and design. Carbon fiber is a very versatile material engineering wise.

Storck makes 2 carbon posts, which are externally identical. But one is a comfort post, which focuses solely on smoothing out your ride, and the other focuses on being light and stiff.

While there were issues with catastrophic failures, especially in early models, carbon component design is no longer in its infancy, and you are extremely unlikely to have failure issues if you choose your components and ride in a manner appropriate to the style of bike you own.


What BMX bicycle to buy for both urban and rough riding?

Rarely do you see people riding 'stock' BMX bikes - the bikes are as individual as the riders. Typically 'mummy' buys a 'stock' BMX and over time it gets more evolved, e.g. a frame with a longer top tube and fancy, bespoke parts.

In the UK 'Mongoose' branded bikes are probably the best stocked and even then it is rare to find a bike shop with more than a few of the models, chosen to meet price points rather than due to the virtues of the bikes. Invariably you get tyres for the riding you describe with soft rubber rather than chunky tyres of a harder compound for the dirt track.

Coming from a cycling background you might find it hard to be on a bike that has just the one fairly weak rear U-brake or sidepull (or no brakes at all). Therefore you may want to have a look at the almost-mainstream models that come with both brakes. These come with a 'rotor' in the headset so the bars can be turned 360. These bikes usually come with 'stump pegs' and typically weigh several metric tonnes. You can obviously take the 'stump pegs' off as well as the brake/rotor to get the weight down.

Only the department store BMX bikes come with wheels that are less than robust. Most BMX come with 36 spoke wheels and that is a lot of spokes on a 20" wheel.

The chainring size is something to look out for. Most of today's BMX bikes have a ridiculously small chainring. The sprocket is also absurdly small so the gearing is the same as normal. You save weight and have higher clearance with the small/small gearing. Stay away from older models with the big chainring.

As for where you are now, you can go the traditional route of getting an available bike, such as a Mongoose freestyle model, to pimp it over time to suit your riding style. Alternatively you can buy a frame/bike of beauty such as a bike by 'We The People' and, even if you don't take up riding it too often, you will have a beautiful bike to look at.

As with all things cycling it is the rider and not the bike. Some of those bikes that get thrown around in a gravity defying way by the experts are unbelievably heavy, probably heavier than a typical MTB or a fully equipped hybrid. Bear this in mind when you go to a LBS that stocks BMX or get something online.


Fox Talas FIT RLC 32 - broken lock and problem with the right leg

The service said that there is a rubber seal in the right stanchion, which needs to hold oil for the lock, that was damaged, and because of this my lock knob was not working.
After servicing, the travel was a little bit sluggish :( It does not get back to full travel, only if I raised the front wheel a little bit.

The little play ha developed, and after a few more rides, became way worst. NOW is at the Official FOX service at my country, hope the cost of the service won't be unreasonable high.


Really hard to say without knowing what hub you're running. Most likely the pawls failed inside the cassette body. The pawls and springs are the mechanism which allow cassette to spin freely independent of the wheel (like when you coast or spin the cranks backward). When forward pressure is applied to the cassette the pawls and springs engage and thus move the rear wheel. Fixing them can be a very simple process involving nothing more than a couple of allen wrenches or a rather more involved process requiring replacement of the cassette body. Really depends on the specific hub involved.


Start with the easier things before busting out the spanners!

Check the bike over. Low pressure tyres are very hard to ride, so add air with a pump.
Look for anything wrong, that's anything rubbing or otherwise out of line.
Walk the bike around and make sure it coasts okay.
Rotate the pedal crank while lifting the rear wheel off the ground and make sure it looks right with no bad noises/feelings.

If it is the back wheel not spinning freely even when off the ground, sounds like your brake may be the cause.  A teardown can be a complex and messy thing, how's your mechanical skills?

Final point - if there is only one brake and its not working right, don't ride the bike till its fixed.  Many locations require two separate braking subsystems.  Where's your front brake gone ?  Also, riding it in the current state may worsen a repair into a replacement.


Can I swap front & back brake levers on Shimano ST-RS685? (hydraulic road disk brakes)

Yes, you absolutely can swap the lines between front/rear, that holds true for all road hydro groups. Out of the box ST-RS685 used to come without quick release connectors, so you'll have to do something along these steps:

Undo bar tape wrap from stem to levers.
Unscrew hose furniture from levers.
Screw hose furniture into the opposite levers.
Wrap the tape back, check the brakes.

That said, step #3 might go wrong in many ways. It's usually not recommended to reuse hose furniture, especially between different levers because connection might leak, in which case you'd have to cut hoses, install new furniture and assemble everything again.

If some oil leaks, you'd have to bleed the brakes.

The hose length might also be insufficient, in which case you'll have to install new hoses (both BH-59 and BH-90 work with ST-RS685) and furniture (brake olive kit) and do a complete bleed.

With mineral oil, things might get very messy, so I suggest to at least remove brake pads and wheels in order to prevent contamination. Try no to work brake levers without pads/disc.

If you feel uncomfortable doing maintenance on hydraulic brakes, I suggest to ask a local bike shop for help. Even after numerous brake services, I still dread anything that has to do with brake fluid.


Is it legal to ride on sidewalks in Georgia?

Okay, I decided to look this up.  It appears that cycling on the sidewalk is not legal in Georgia.

http://www.intownbicycles.com/bicycle-faqs/bicycle-rules-of-the-road

http://www.gahighwaysafety.org/docs/gabicyclelawenforcementguide.pdf

https://georgiabikes.org/index.php/resources/35/76-ga-bicycle-laws

GA Code 40-6-144


Short Answer

I believe the short answer to your question is no. The first three requirements that you list put you in the 'deeply customized' bicycle neighborhood. This is in direct opposition to your fourth requirement--custom bikes are very expensive. Additionally, without providing information about the climate where you live, local cycling infrastructure (bike paths/lanes/etc.), or your budget, this question is nearly impossible to answer.

Possible Solutions

Nothing makes me happier than people deciding to be healthier by way of bicycle commuting, so I'd like to offer you some ideas about how to get your mother on a bike!

Jumping into commuting can be difficult! I'm not sure how long it's been since your mother was on a bicycle, but it seems like her expectations are divorced from the reality of bike commuting. Does she ride regularly? Can you ride with her on the weekends to build up her experience with modern bicycles and her confidence on the road? I believe that she the following benefits from just getting out on the road:

Strength (no electric assist)
Balance (regular two wheels?)
Familiarity with route, weather, and mechanics of modern bicyles
Confidence

If it isn't possible to ride with her, encourage her to join a local cycling club (if available) and ride with the older group. Once she finds out whether this is something she can commit to (or not), you can start making plans to set her up with a commuting rig!

Other tips:

Buy used! (this will keep the cost of gear down)
Use a rain suit in the rain


Mechanism to draw rear wheel back and tighten chain stuck; oil not helping, what's next?

I'm a little puzzled by the threads that look like they should draw the hub's axle back to tension the chain. They don't appear like they can move, but it also doesn't look like there is a nut on them to pull the axel back. Do you know if they thread into the frame, or are they free to slide?

That said, it appears that the load on the mechanism would tend to misalign the threaded part where it passes through the frame. This is very likely to cause it to jam. I think you could try very gently prying up on the loop where the axle attaches or perhaps tapping down gently on the top of the loop. It shouldn't take much force at all. I'm assuming that the frame is not threaded and that the adjuster should slide freely.


Schrader tubes in Presta configured Rims?

In case you really want to drill, the only thing you need is a 10mm drill bit, and a sandpaper to give a smooth finish.

It is true that the rim gets weaker, and very narrow rims should not be drilled, but I have performed this enlargement a couple of times and rode the wheels some honest hundreds of km in every kind of terrain, with no problem.

I did this because I like the ease to get at any gas pump to top tire pressure after trails, and also because schraeder tubes are more avaliable and less expensive where I live.


Front derailleur cable hits path of pedal

Depending on the issue and excess length you might bend the cable out of the way, you might shorten it, or you might release and reattach it.

In this case the cable could be released and pulled down more, behind the clamping plate there is a little groove that the cable is not currently sitting in, see the extract below from the dealer's manual for R3000 derailleurs, showing the cable path.

If then it still hits something you could shorten it a touch (if you have the means to re-crimp the end). The blue coating is a friction reducing coating, it doesn't do anything at this end of the system so that doesn't matter.

You want to shift down into the lowest setting on the derailleur before releasing the cable. You can check if the derailleur is lined up correctly in height and angle and that the support screw is engaged. You can refer to the sections in the dealer's manual below, and/or online guides.

I wouldn't bother to mark the bolt before releasing, you'll need to release it as far as necessary and after reattaching it could be in a different position when it is fastened tightly enough. With the cable tucked underneath properly it will probably allow the bolt to screw in further before tight.

Any barrel adjuster should be easily visible along the housing. If you don't have one that is a little more challenging, you'll have to pull some tension on the cable as you attach it. One hack is to tighten the low limit screw by a known amount (like one turn) before attaching the cable. then when cable is secure, releasing the low limit screw by the same known amount, allowing the cable to tighten.

https://si.shimano.com/pdfs/dm/DM-RBFD001-01-ENG.pdf


That particular Shimano freehub can be disassembled, but it is quite a job to get it back together afterward. There are around 80 2mm bearings in two different locations in the freehub, and a skilled and practiced mechanic has roughly a 60% chance of opening without losing parts, and successfully getting it back together.

The good news is, there is a tool to lubricate the inside of a freehub, without disassembling it. It's called a Freehub Buddy.

The photo shows the Freehub buddy, next to a freehub with a cutaway so you can see the rows of bearings I mentioned earlier, a tube of soup lube, and 2 new reusable seals.

It's made by Morningstar tools, and works very well. You will also need the proper lubricant, and new exterior seals for the freehub. Both can be purchased from Morningstar tools as well.

The other option is to simply replace the freehub, which should be readily available at your LBS, for about $20.

I hope that helps.


Clicking in a certain gear with SRAM drive train

The chain on a twelve gear cassette is very thin and the tolerances are close. Move the chain onto another ring and look directly at the cog as somebody turns the pedals. Look to see if the tooth is very slightly bent towards the larger ring by comparing to those next to it. Failing that, see if it is a machining fault, is the tooth chamfered in the same way as those around it. Note: some teeth are deliberately different to help the chain move across the cassette, but all should be slightly chamfered at the tip.


Cycling on snow in extreme freezing conditions: will my bike break?

-20C is -4F, cold enough to be uncomfortable for humans, but not particularly cold for mechanical equipment.  You will notice that lubricants get stiffer, but generally they warm up rapidly when you ride and the stiffness will be gone in a minute or two.  Hydraulic fluids, et al, should be good to -35C or below, though they will stiffen before that, noticeably increasing the response time of the brakes.

Steel and aluminum do get more brittle at colder temps, but not to a noticeable degree above -50C or so.  Plastics and composites, on the other hand, are a bit more unpredictable -- most plastics get noticeably more brittle below about -25C, though no doubt there is a wide variation depending on the specific materials involved.

You will notice that the tires get stiffer, and people have reported difficulty with the tires becoming rock hard and spinning on the rims at low temps (eg, -20F).  Also, of course, rubber brake pads get harder, and rim brakes become much less effective.

There's really nothing in a bike that isn't in a car, and cars can handle -35 or -40C.  And the places where you have trouble with cars is mostly the battery and fuel system, components you don't have on a bike.


What model of bike does Jock use in the film Young Offenders

There are some moving clips  at

             but blurring detracts from the details

The red bike seems to be too small for the rider - which may be because he's just stolen it and has not adjusted to fit his height.  Noted it has a front suspension and a disk brake.

Also, most of the bikes used in the film look like BSO MTBs with front suspension - that is they're hard tails.  Also noted that only a couple of them have disk brakes - rim brakes being a mark of a BSO.  That's odd because one might presume a bike thief would steal the nicest bike they could, which would have a higher resale value.

The masks are an excellent idea for hiding the face of stunt riders, but riding in a rubber hood would be horrible in practice, due to sweat and limited visibility.

Specific to the Yellow town bike "It's a girls bike - its got the fanny dip thing"   from

                It also has a 3 speed nexus internally geared hub at 68 seconds.

There's a brown mixte frame in the back of one shot - that looks like an 80s bike.

All in all, it looks like the bikes have been chosen to be representative of a low-income area, where old bikes live for years, and nobody would own an expensive bike.


Handlebar-mounted "turn indicator" that can pair with a smartphone for turn-by-turn GPS navigation

I've had a phone in a bumper case come off the handlebars several times without damage. But my handlebar mount kept getting broken in the bike shed at work so I  switched to a top tube bag (which also holds a tube and basic tools). The low light readability is still an issue, but you're over the top of it a bit more which helps. Where I put tools you could put an extra battery. The bag is firmly attached to the bike so won't come off, and the location means it's highly unlikely to hit anything. They're cheap so it's worth a try. This way there are no worries about device/phone/app compatibility.


In the UK you can buy OEM R/H only:

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/shimano/ef60-v-brake-8-speed-r-h-shifter-oe--ec028391?utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=froogle&utm_campaign=froogle

(That is the 8 speed that will work fine on 7).

Here is the tech.doc:

http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/EV/bikecomponents/ST/EV-ST-EF60-2A-2744_v1_m56577569830630796.pdf

The part number is ST-EF60-7 - ask your LBS to order the part in for you, off the top of his/her head the sales staff may not know this can be ordered, but it almost certainly can, and definitely can in the UK.


Truvativ 1x front chainguide - what's wrong with this?

Looks like the chainguard is of the type that mounts with a number of bolts that screw into the frame. You can see the slots in the mounting plate the screws go through to allow setting the chainguard angle. Presumably those bolts just need tightening?

I'd pull the crank and guard off and clean everything up as there may be dirt behind the guard plate. Looks like you will be doing this anyway if the BB is toast.

GMBN has a video on fitting this type of chainguard:


How to exchange a seat stray on a 2013 Cube AMS 150 Super HPC Race carbon bike?

I basically did it myself, i needed neither any special tools nor brute force.


You need a 3/8"x26tpi (threads per inch) axle nut. For decades they've all had 15mm wrench flats. (I believe that is something where you can find other examples in very old American, British, and probably other inch country bikes, but that is here nor there.) Bike shops have them.

3/8x24 is usually only for internally geared and coaster brake axles. Mismatching 24 and 26 tpi in either direction tends to go on with force but is likely to damage the axle threads and/or not hold well.

As for how it came to be that one of the most common types of axle nut has imperial threads and metric flats, there are a lot of other examples with bikes of the same thing. I don't know the story in this case and I wonder if anyone alive knows definitively, but factors can include costs for changing tooling at factories, consideration to what tools are in use where. For whatever reason, 15mm has been the nearly universal standard for axle nut wrench flats for a very long time, and that sort of thing has a way of being self-perpetuating because everyone's tooled for it. Meanwhile there's always clearly been some kind of economic draw to the big Asian producers of strictly OEM-level hubs staying with 3/8 axles and not switching to M10x1, a very functionally similar size that many higher quality hubs use. I don't know exactly what that is on the micro level, but on the macro you can bet it's just another example of the bike industry always running under-capitalized and barely in the black if at all. Regardless of what created the initial circumstances, if it's not causing huge problems and it's not going to be a selling point, there's not much impetus to change things just for rationality's sake.


Brisbane - Logan cycle route question / How to find/ask about good cycle routes in certain areas

V1 is "Velocity 1 Pacific Motorway" which is a dedicated cycleway running between Lower River Terrace, South Brisbane and Eight Mile Plains. The 17km cycleway provides a safe and efficient route for people travelling by bike.  source: https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/projects/Veloway-1-Pacific-Motorway
It is incomplete as of posting, with work progressing.  The parts that are done look functional, not exactly scenic or healthy when hard-beside the motorway.
I couldn't find a good map for the path, so assuming a start point in the middle of Daisy Hill, working with google maps suggests these two dreadful routes:
26.9 km straight up Logan Road to the "start" of V1
30.4 km doing a dogleg along Compton Rd and then north on Persse Rd.  Compton is a 70 km/h dual carriage way with no shoulder and Persse is narrow too.  Not recommended

So here's two routes for starters.

Starting at Daisy Hill Road and Chatswood Road (its where "Daisy Hill" label shows )
Head North on Daisy Hill Road
Follow onto Springwood Road
Turn right onto a series of residential side roads

Elysium Road
Minerva Street
North onto Donna Ave then Sultan St
West onto Greenview Ave
Do a right onto 30 then immediate left into Roseland Ave
Right into Anna Marie St
Left into Rothon Drive

Then I'd cross into School Road and push hard all the way to Miles Platting Rd, and then turn left onto 56. this is the worst part and frankly it looks awful.
Finally you're at the V1 and from there it looks okay from there onward.

** This route starts okay, but at the end there is a long stretch of badness.  The advantage is its more direct and 3 km shorter. **

Route #2

West on Chatswood
Southwest on Paradise Rd - the footpath here is marked as shared use, so use it
Turn into the Slacks Creek Corridor  which goes NW through Ken May Memorial Park.
West on Reserve Road
North on Kingston to Smith Street
West on Smith Street to Ewing
North on Ewing to Compton
East on Compton, then North on 95 for a total of 1.25 km of awful
Left onto pathway
Brookvale Drive
pathway
North on Pioneer Drive
North on Stiller Drive
Left into Underwood
North on Levington
then ride the hard shoulder on 95 again until you get to start of the V1 at intersection of "Gateway Motorway" and 95.

This route is more windy and has three separate pieces of badness, (curiously all on different pieces of 95) while also including several pathways which may be paved or unpaved.  Its also longer

Lastly if it was me, I'd be tempted to put several daytime rear lights on the bike, and blatt up 95 all the way to the start of V1.  I'd also ride with a rear-view mirror to keep an eye on what's coming up from behind, and I'd also be turning my head to look back frequently and make eye contact with things coming up behind.

Aside, I did locate "the world's most confusing bike path" at

              which may be relevant.
Finally - consider getting involved in Advocacy to ensure that V1's later stages don't slip or get cancelled.  This doens't mean street protests and placards, but writing supportive letters to the council and to Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads would certainly help.


The 'bolt' you can see in the picture (nice clear picture by the way, thanks,) is the outer locknut of the axle. If your tool won't go over it, you'll have to take it off. This is fairly simple: one spanner over the nut on this end and another over the nut at the other and unscrew. Either the nut comes off this end (together with spacers), in which case you got it easy, or the nut comes off the other end and you have to pull the axle through the hub. No biggie, just don't lose the bearings, keep everything clean and don't disturb the spacing at the other end - it will make sure the alignment's right when you put it back together again (with some fresh grease).


Partially disassembling Sticky Shimano STI shifter for service

So, after studying the tech doc I took the plunge. It is actually not difficult and the only tools you need are some hex keys. I managed to successfully remove the lever assembly from the shifter for cleaning. Just don't try to disassemble any further than the doc instructs.

The bad news was that even after a thorough soaking in degreaser (which turned black from the grime) and relube, shifting performance has hardly improved, suggesting some mechanical issue. I think some new shifters are in order.

Reassembly for almost as easy, the only slightly tricky bit was getting the return spring in the right place without the official tool. A bit of poking with a pointy implement solved it though.

Conclusion: definitely a viable and effective way to clean shifters - if grease and grime buildup is the cause of stickiness.


Campagnolo 11 speed crank with 10 speed running gear

No, Anonymous Donor is wrong, I am afraid - you will find that the chainrings on the 11s cranks are effectively closer together and you may well get issues with the chain touching the outer ring when you are on the inner ring and the smallest 2 or possibly even 3 sprockets (depends on the frame geometry). Sometimes this just causes noise and it's an irritation only, other times the lift pins on the inside of the outer ring will pick the bottom run of chain up & you will get a chain-suck type effect that can do a lot of damage.

Front mech set up is also sightly more difficult although that can be persuaded to work - it won't work as well, though, as a full 10s system and you may get chainn-drop issues going from big to small ring, and "float" issues coming back up from small to big ring.

Compact is available in 10s, in the current range with Veloce and there are still quite a few vendors advertising Centaur 10s if you want a lighter, carbon chainset.


Kona Mahuna 2013 headset change question.

The best place to find what headset you need is the Crane Creek headset finder.

Unfortunately in your particular case I thought the Mahuna has a straight 1 1/8 head tube and if so (correct me if I'm wrong) and therefore won't be able to take the tapered fork (easily, people have tried different things). Tapered steerers fit in tapered and 1.5 straight (with a reducing top headset) head tubes.


Name of colour of paint on Kink Volte BMX

Sadly serial numbers are useless - they're not a VIN like cars have and only mean something to the manufacturer, who may have encoded info in the number, or may not even have kept track of the numbers.

If you have a sample of the paint you want, take it to an automotive paint specialist and ask for a colour match.  Not your local big-box store, somewhere that just does car paint.  Explain what you're painting, and whether the sample is fresh or faded, which will give the mixers extra info.   You can generally get the paint installed in a spray can.

If you don't have a sample, try and get a good photo of a suitable bike.  Ideally a photo taken in sunlight would help.

Don't bother matching colours.  Just pick a shade that you like and go from there.  Consider what decals you have and get a contrasting or tonal matching colour for the labels.

Either way - get clear coats as well to protect the paint and decals/stickers.

Try a powder coating company - this is a baked on plastic-like finish that is super hard wearing.  You may be limited in the colour selection to the powders that are on hand.  This stuff doesn't need a clear coat, but you will have to clean and prep the frame perfectly including blocking all machined surfaces and threads etc.

Try contacting Kink directly at  https://kinkbmx.com/  though this may get ignored.  Doesn't hurt to try.

Your bike is your bike, build it how you want it to be.


Fix / clean or throw away tire with 30+ thorn punctures?

When you remove all the thorns very carefully you could keep using the tire. Unfortunately this might be some hassle with 30+ thorns and you can not be a 100% sure that you really have removed all of them. Also some may have broken off in a way that you see the remains from neither inside nor outside but the remains may be pushed further inside after some time of usage causing a new flat.

Therefore my advice would be: If you can afford it you're better off with a new tire.

If you want to save the money, try to very carefully remove all the thorns you see or feel. Especially on the inside you should check the tire with your fingers if there's something sticking through. Even then you will have to look out for a higher puncture probability that means you should be prepared to deal with it, i.e. carry an extra spare tube and a repair kit if you don't do this already.


The first issue with carbon rail seat posts is the lack of a standard for rail diameters.  This often leads to the seat post clamp being improperly sized when compared to the saddle rail.

Due to the stress riser of a seat post clamp on carbon, an ill fitting seat post clamp can contribute un-necessary stress to the carbon rails.

Carbon is much more likely to develop stress fractures due to over tension of a seat post clamp\stem clamp\etc than aluminum or steel.  Because of this, and the above situation, proper tension of the seat post clamp (along with an anti friction paste) is paramount.

Personally I don't think standard carbon rail seat posts are worth the hassle (of fitting them propertly, tensioning them properly, etc) of saving 20-40 grams.  Double so if you are doing any type of off road riding (like cross) where the external forces at play are magnified.


Preventing staining of clothes when carrying bike

It might be a facetious answer on the face, but seriously - why are you carrying your bike at all?
Do carry a working mini-tube, pump, two tyre levers and whatever you need to get the wheel completely off if its not a QR (ring spanner, perhaps allen key, maybe special tool for IGHs etc)   Some people like disposable gloves for the hand protection.   Replace the tube, clear the cause, and ride on.  Remember to patch the tube at home, or replace it if its dead.

If you truely have to walk it is to simply wheel it.  Take extra care rolling over kerbs/curbs or any other edges.  The sidewalls of your tyre will be okay for a bit as long as you're not riding it.  Any road bike under 15 kg with clincher tyres will be okay rolling on the tyre for 5 km.

You've done something where it just won't roll.  If its the front, haul the front wheel off the ground in a vertical wheelie and roll it on the rear.  Hold the handlebars and use the rear brake if you need to.
3b. If its the rear that is wedged (and this is much more likely) then slip right hand fingers through the top of the wheel and carry it just off the ground.  Use your left hand for steering or put your left hand on the saddle and push it with "no-hands" steering   You're on the bike's left away from the chain.

Both wheels are buggered, and it won't roll at all?  Cyclocross carry, which is either like this:

or with the shoulder further back in the triangle, and the right hand on the fork or wheel rim or through to the bars.  These ones needs shoulder padding pretty quick, so whip out something cloth or a newspaper.

Note all carrying should be done from the non-drive side of the bike.  If you get sore, swap sides but spin the bike as well so you're still on the non-drive side and now the bike is facing backward.


How to adjust the handlebar alignment with front wheel?

If you are saying the handlebars are angled to the right of being straight. You will want to loosen the two screws that are going horizontal across the steering tube. then you can straighten the handlebar/stem combo and re-tighten. Be careful there are sometime torque spec on the Stem to make sure you don't strip it.


Pulley for 10 Gear Derailleur for 9 Gear Chain

Changing your pulley/jockey wheel to a higher/lower tooth count will not change the shift indexing of your derailleur, it'll only change the tension of the chain. (if you replace an 11 tooth jockey wheel with a 16 tooth, you might wanna add a few links on your chain)

Changing jockey wheels shouldn't matter for as long it has no conflict with the cage of the derailleur (the plate thing holding the jockey wheels), either being too large to fit or having incompatible axle-bearing contact/diameter (very rare though).

I'd recommend having narrow-wide jockey wheels especially if your derailleur doesn't have a clutch. There's a reason why SRAM adds it on their derailleurs and roadies/CX riders like it.

Also, no need for sealed-bearing wheels. Jockey wheels with bushings are sufficient especially if you plan to replace them every 6 months.


After bump, bicycle feel as though tyre is flat (it is not)

One possibility is brinelling of the bearing race, a good impact in just the right orientation could cause brinelling.

From Wiki:

  Brinelling /ˈbrɪnəlɪŋ/ is the permanent indentation of a hard surface. It is named after the Brinell scale of hardness, in which a small ball is pushed against a hard surface at a preset level of force, and the depth and diameter of the mark indicates the Brinell hardness of the surface.

Generally this occurs in old bearings that have been heavily used, but a hard impact could have helped it on the way, and now your bearings are settling in the indentation causing the resistance you are describing.

If this is indeed the case, replacing the headset, or at very least the bearings and races, should remedy the situation.


Is there a difference between a Shimano 10-speed MTB small chainring between double and triple cranksets?

I have a list of 9-12 speed Shimano chainsets here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HdcNgmQKFA-lAqQJ3lXQ8SwA4tblAKiOXe9XYJJHYN8/edit#gid=375920416
Refer to the 10-speed MTB tab.
There is considerable overlap between double and triple small chainrings for MTB (none for road).
E.g. SLX FC-M677 is either 38/24 or 36/22, meanwhile SLX FC-M672 is 40/30/22.
Recall that the large ring has aids to pick up from the smaller

but the small ring needs no assistance to have the chain fall off the larger.
So the larger ring matches with a specific smaller
The 10-speed 40-30-22 triple is referred to by Shimano as 'AN', hence a 30t AN means a 30t 10-speed picking up from a 22t. https://si.shimano.com/api/publish/storage/pdf/en/ev/FC-M672/EV-FC-M672-3588.pdf
Since it is confusing to buy the right large/middle ring, Shimano over time would tend to differentiate things that perhaps are not different.
If we look at the M677 double, then it is
https://si.shimano.com/api/publish/storage/pdf/en/ev/FC-M677/EV-FC-M677-3911.pdf

Y1KF22000 Chainring 22T-AA/AC/AY
Y1NA24000 Chainring 24T-AM/AZ
Y1RM98010 Chainring 36T-AY
Y1RM98020 Chainring 38T-AZ

I.e. the 36t is AY picking up from 22t, which could in fact be 'AA', 'AC' or 'AY' (the same identical ring), and likewise 38t AZ is picking up from 24t which could be AM or AZ
Looking at the 22t part number
https://bike.shimano.com/en-AU/product/service-upgradeparts/slx-m670/Y1KF22000.html
it turns out that the identical chainring is used not only on double 10-speed chainsets but also on both double and triple 9-speed chainsets
The 'AA' pattern refers to a 9-speed 44/32/22 triple https://si.shimano.com/api/publish/storage/pdf/en/ev/FC-M970/EV-FC-M970-2592.pdf
And 'AC' appears to be an alternate (to AY) name for a 36/22 double
https://si.shimano.com/pdfs/ev/EV-FC-M3000-B2-4286.pdf
So the answer is that the inner chainrings are the same, and very tolerant of differences, while middle/outer rings are less so. The 2x and 3x checkboxes should be to help with identification - since there are three envelopes:

22t-30t

32t-42t

44t-53t

In this context, '36t' is clearly highly ambiguous, so by saying '2x' or '3x', we can distinguish between a 36t middle ring and a 36t outer ring. This turns out to still be ambiguous in some cases, as there are 36t rings from 24t and 36t from 22t, but it at least helps. The exact part number or two letter code is the way to fully resolve whether it is the correct chainring
However for inner rings (and for 1x drivetrains), these are provably the same part number across a wide range of cranksets, including, in some cases, the same inner chainring used for triple and double cranksets.


Bike attached to TACX flux smart trainer makes a clunking house and chain feels like skipping

I had the same thing. It's the screw on spacer on the axle (cassette side coming loose. Screw it back in again and solved. For me anyway.
Use the spacer on the non-drive side to get the internal distance between your rear stays just right before clamping down the quick release. Mine works loose from time to time and the bike becomes loose. Check it before you ride - it's never worked loose in a single training session for me.
It's not your cassette if the sprockets don't wiggle when you try to move them. It's not the chain unless it's skipping over the sprockets - almost (not entirely) impossible.
I'm disappointed with my Tacx. Blood noise, squeaky, creaky and comes loose.


Options for replacing a 7 speed Shimano cassette / chain

You don't need to buy NOS. 7 speed cassettes are still manufactured, we stock them and they start at $20 all the way up to $36 for a Shimano HG50 which comes in 12-28. Go with a matching Shimano HG50 chain.

Unless you buy a new rear wheel, you cannot go above 7 speed. 7 speed freehub bodies are shorter than 8+ speed freehub bodies. An 8+ speed cassette is too wide to fit your freehub.


The threaded design is good enough. Sure it is heavier than necessary, flexy, has the single point of failure, the stem can seize in head tube, it is more expensive to manufacture and requires special wrenches to adjust, but none of these problems is exactly a showstopper. On the other hand, it has the benefit that the height can be easily adjusted until the stem is stuck.

For a long time there was no strong incentive to invent a different system, but when threadless headsets were invented, they quickly took over the market.


Yes, you can, but it leaves the chain weaker on that link.

The SRAM chains are designed to work with a master link. If you use that one, it's not reusable, but it comes in a pack of 4, so you can open and close it a few times for cleaning.


On fitting 700C rims to a dynamo hub rated for up to 20"

Generator hubs for small wheels will output less and produce less drag at a given speed when built to a 700, because they'll be operating at fewer RPMs than expected.

AFAIK all the non-sondelux Schmidts still have output suitable for halogen, including XS-M. You should double check when you order the hub. If so it will pair fine with LED in a larger wheel.


What does an expensive wheel have over a cheap wheel?

The difference in price could be made up of a number of factors:

Brand name
Materials (bearing / axle quality and rim material in particular)
Complexity (double butted spokes to save weight, rim construction)
Hand made (cheaper wheels are machine made automatically)

Wheels vary greatly because there are so many different styles of riding.

Cheap wheels are mass produced from softer materials with heavy spokes and axles and relatively soft bearings. They should be straight but they usually aren't very strong so they buckle out of shape when you hit obstacles (pot holes).

Expensive wheels are produced by hand using tougher materials that have been specially machined for the purpose, weight is trimmed from all components, bearings are hardened and usually sealed against dirt and water. This produces strong wheels which are much better able to deal with abuse. The weight savings go a long way to making you ride faster and turn easier because every time you accelerate you have to give the wheels rotational motion and inertia. The less they (and tyres) weight, the easier that motion is to generate and the less the inertia is (inertia tends to keep the wheel straight on course when you try to turn it).


What trigger shifters would be compatible with my Nexus-8 internal gear hub?

Shimano internal gear hubs require their own shifters. They are not compatible with derailleur shifters.

According to the 2017-18 line up chart, the SL-S503 trigger or SL-C6000-8 'gripshifters' are your only choices.


Unused puncture repair patch - what's its useful shelf life?

It depends very much on how the patches are stored. I have a box of strips of patches that lasted about 10 years before the patches became unusable. But that was a whole box, in a plastic bag, in a cold dark place (a box of bike stuff in the garage). On the shop counter that same box would probably age out within 3-12 months depending on how often it got direct sunlight. What matters is heat, how well sealed the container is, and light (probably in that order). I think you're doing the right thing by inspecting the patch and deciding whether to use it.

That's not too useful if you're really asking "how often should I buy a new patch kit". In my experience at least two years, normally more like five. Again, I store my patches in a patch kit (plastic box), in a plastic bag with some tools, in my pannier. It's pretty cold and dark in there too. I find that the glue tube gets really gummy and useless before the patches wear out. But since I wear my tyres pretty much down to the canvas I go through a few patches most years, so that's not normally an issue. (I run the tyres until I get a puncture that seems to be attributable to tyre wear).


Ambidextrous backup downtube shifter for touring?

We need to see what is under the cable stops. My guess is that is is probably a standard squared off shifter boss, but you never know. If it looks like this

Then any friction downtube shifter should work as a backup. You want to get
one that is not indexed if at all possible since that way you can use it for
either front or back derailleurs. Bar end shifters use the same mount, so if you have some of those handy you can see if they fit. The cheapest solution is probably to buy a cheap pair of Sunrace Clamp-on stem friction shifters.

While the levers are different, they can be interchanged. You should probably test this in case there are clearance problems and you need to trim the lever
a bit.

As to whether this is worth the cost and weight, I'd say it depends on the remoteness of the tour. If you're within a day's ride of a bike shop for the
entire tour, then it's probably not worth it. A credit card makes a handy backup
for a lot of parts.


Does having machined brake surface on rims matter?

Rim walls are machined, if not for aesthetical or marketing reasons, to give the braking surface of rims most regular shape possible, removing small irregularities which could cause "hard spots" while braking, specially around the seam (spot where both ends of the rim are connected together during manufacturing).

Also, it seems to me that the residual grooved pattern improves braking power, most probably due to increased contact surface and possibly dirt clearance issues, without noticeable increase in pad wear, but I have no objective data to support this impression except a positive personal experience with a handful of machined-wall rims with v-brakes.

Hope this helps.


What could cause a tyre to deform in this way?

The casing is giving way underneath the tread. The casing is made up of woven threads that give the tire its shape and strength. Don't ride it this way as it can get worse or fail catastrophically (blow out). You need a new tire.


I see the rotor hitting the caliper near the mounting area. The caliper has been moved all the way over on its slots, but the pictures don't make it clear why.
Without other information, the first thing to try is loosen the mounting bolts, reset the pistons, and re-adjust the caliper mounting with the rotor centered between the pistons in their fully reset state. Then actuate the brake a few times and make whatever small correction is needed to dial the centering in. That's how it works when things go right and there's no positioning issue weirdness happening.
If the caliper was moved over this far because it was the only way to get the inboard pad to clear the rotor, that will make the outboard piston live its life fully extended and the inboard one almost not extended at all. Having so much asymmetry tends to make the pads wear unevenly and can cause other issues with the piston function down the line, in addition to making the brake frustrating to adjust. Luckily, rotor shims are able to solve that problem. In an extreme case you can also just use M5 washers when you actually need that much thickness, but it's important they're all the same.


what is the ideal presta tube valve stem length

I think the valve should be as short as possible while still allowing comfortable inflation of the tire.

On the other hand, a longer valve usually "won't hurt", specially if you have more than one bike or your group of fellows use to lend spare tubes to one another during rides (happens a lot to me, but in shcraeder-equiped mountainbikes).

Hope this helps!


When Installing chainrings which are pinned, how should I orient the chain drop prevention pin?

The pin should line up with the inside of the crankarm.


The switch to an IGH is never as simple as it looks. There are a couple of things to consider:

Wheel: Yes you will need to have a new wheel built replacing the hub with a IGH hub. You can reuse the rim (if spoke count matches) but will also require new spokes.
Dropouts: The Globe Works 3 has a semi horizontal rear dropout while the Globe Works 2 has a vertical dropout and hanger. Derailleur bikes rely on the RD to tension the chain, IGH relies on placement of the rear hub in relation to the crank, this is where horizontal dropouts work well as you can slide the wheel to the right place. Without these you need a separate chain tensioning device.
Chain Tensioner: Without horizontal dropouts you need to find a way to ensure chain tension. The most simplest and effective is an eccentric bottom bracket which allows the crank to be reposition slightly to achieve chain tension. Other devices hang in place of the derailleur but add moving and noisy parts.
Crankset: IGH work with a single crankset and fixed chainline. You would need to modify your current crankset to a single ring (if possible), keep the multiple rings only using one or buy a new crankset.
Shifters: IGH use different shifters to derailleurs so you will need to also purchase new shifters.


Replacing 30 yr old tires; the new ones don't fit

You can find 27x1 1/8 tires pretty readily. You may want to try that smaller size. The height of the tires can vary a bit by the manufacturer.


This is normally specified by the brake manufacturer, not the fork manufacturer. A summarizing table of common torque values provided by Park Tool is here.

For Shimano, they recommend 70-85 inch-pounds, 90 inch pounds for Campagnolo and 68-72 inch pounds for Cane Creek.

However, it wouldn't hurt to check with the fork manufacturer and the brake manufacturer's documentation.


Do forged alloy crank arms suffer from age-related fatigue?

Aluminum has no fatigue limit and thus it is impossible to make an aluminum bike part that won't fail with enough use.
Fatigue accumulates with load, not time.
Good forged cranks with designs that avoid stress risers in the spider area tend to be pretty good at resisting fatigue failures more or less indefinitely in practice. Weight weenie designs and bad spider transitions do cause exceptions to this. Some riders are also just plain good at breaking cranks, i.e. by being strong and favoring a low cadence.
Heavily used 40 year old aluminum do cause you to make a decision about the risk. If they're lightly used, there is no cause for concern.


Loading training plans on to Elemnt Bolt for free

As per @andyP's comment:

  It's not currently officially supported, but I found some info you might find useful here: ergdb.org/load-workouts-onto-your-wahoo-elemnt-on-a-mac Kept as a comment rather than an answer as I think wahoo will improve support and outdate it rather quickly

This worked fine, the file transfer app on the mac is a bit flakey, but I got my workout on there just fine.


Using a Tiagra/105 front derailleur with R3000 shifters

You can get the Shimano specs and compatibility info here (expand Technical Documents on left hand side).

The front drivetrain compatibility chart says the ST-R3000 lever is only compatible with the FD-R3000 front derailleur.

If you study the compatibility chart you'll see there tends to be a lot of compatibility between drivetrains that match in number of speeds, but not between speeds. For instance 2x10 Ultegra 6700, 105 5700 and Tiagra 4700/4600 are all compatible with each other but not 2x9 or 2x8 group components.

Update:

I recalled a question where the asker had a Trek bike with a Sora drivetrain and 105 front derailleur. Obviously Trek thinks this works and Shimano are known to be conservative in their specifications and compatibility recommendations.


Why are disc wheels not used in the front on professional track sprint races?

Because it's not permitted under UCI regulations.

Rule 1.3.018 applies, which includes this section:

  In track competition, including motor-pacing, the use of a front disc wheel is only permitted in the specialities against the clock.

Disc wheels are commonly used in the sprint qualifying round (i.e. the flying 200 metre TT).


Larger cassette options on a compact set up?

This ships with a Tiagra SS.

Derailleurs come in 3 lengths: SS (narrow range) , GS (medium range), SGS (wide range).

If you want to move past 30t, you need to switch to a SGS derailleur, likely from the Shimano mountain range (e.g. Deore M591) - its 9 speed so the cable pulls are the same between the 9 speed deore and 9 speed Tiagra. This is what I'd likely do if i wanted a bigger cassette.


I second @SteveLoughran's advice to try skinnier tires (tyres), but maybe you also need more training.  Personally I'm either older, fatter, or both compared to the people in my weekly riding group, and I've always just been plain slow; I already have a road bike with skinny tires, so my only remedy is to put in the kilometers.  If I read your post correctly you're riding distances of 30 km, which isn't all that far.  If you do some longer training rides, of say 50 km, then 30 km will seem considerably easier.

Also consider interval training, which is a great way to get faster.  The basic idea is to go flat-out for short intervals during a normal training ride, with easy effort intervals in between to recover.  Perhaps three periods of maximum effort for three minutes each, with three-minute recovery intervals in between.  Articles about interval training abound on the web.  Intervals hurt, but they work.

Lastly, if you're lugging a few extra kilograms, it can't hurt to lose some.


It looks like at least one company makes a headset that will allow you to fit a tapered steerer in some straight 1⅛" head tubes, but pulling the old headset and installing a new one will be an added expense.
The brake's actuation method doesn't really matter, but you want to find a fork with the right mounting points for your brake. Your existing brakes use a "post mount". The other mounting systems are flat mount and IS mount. You can get adapters to fit a post-mount brake on either of these. The Condor fork you linked to has an IS mount.
Your current fork is built for a wheel with a regular quick release. Many disk-brake forks today will be built for through axles. The Condor fork you linked to would work in this respect.
An important factor to consider is the fork's dimensions, especially the rake and the distance from the axle to the top of the crown--if this is different on the replacement fork, your bike will effectively lean forward or backward a small amount, changing the handling. You'll need to contact Genesis to ask for the fork-blade length. According to the company's description, the rake (offset) is 50 mm. The Condor fork has a rake of 45 mm, so probably close enough, but that will change the handling slightly. It's conceivable that a fork with different blade length and rake would wind up producing the same trail, which is a better gauge of how it will handle, but that would be a fantastic coincidence.


If its brand new and under warranty, don't mess around with it... take it back.

Your freehub should have pretty much no discernible play, and adding a cassette on top just makes it look worse.

As for fixing the freehub yourself, I don't know because I've not yet had one that needs repair.


Can’t find name of a product used in carbon fiber repairs

I found the video, and it turns out my memory was off. It’s a graphite powder mixed with epoxy. He doesn’t explain why he used graphite, but that layer of resin was only to prevent air leakage from inside the tubing during the vacuum stage, and probably also to help the carbon sheets lay flat. Perhaps the graphite was added to make the resin more sandable? In any case, it wasn’t a carbon mixture, and it does not provide strength to the repair.

I would be interested in hearing if anyone has knowledge of such a product.


It's a little bit wrong in that it has zero upside and one potential downside, but that downside is unlikely to ever be relevant.

Trailing spokes straighten a little temporarily under drive load, and this causes the spokes to essentially be pushing on each other a little at the cross. On a wheel laced like this (there's no agreed upon term for it but let's call it "asymmetric"), the idea exists that the forces from the spokes pushing on each other in this way add together and can cause the rim to get pulled over to one side slightly in use, whereas with mirror-image lacing the forces would cancel each other out, or come closer to it.

This is probably a real thing that happens, but it doesn't really make any difference I've ever seen, and we're talking about a very small amount of movement in the rim. If there were consequences, it would probably be on a bike with tight tire clearance. Some wheel manufacturers make all their wheels this way, because it can save steps and/or simplify their procedures.

The more potentially consequential side to rebuilding a wheel this way is that double-grooving the flanges increases the risk of flange failure and increases the amount of work you have to do to get the spokes bedded into the flanges. So barring situations where you're forced to use a different lacing pattern on the same hub, or where you're switching to a rim of different "handedness" than the old one (only really something you'll see if vintage parts are involved AFAIK), there is zero reason to not re-use the existing grooves. (Note that this is not to say that flange failure is at all likely from double-grooving a tangentially laced wheel, just that the odds of it happening go up.) If the wheel was built asymmetrically originally, it should usually be re-laced this way.


Almost certainly the gear shift cable has slipped through the pinch bolt that holds it onto the derailleur, so there is too much slack in the cable, and the shifter cannot pull the derailleur onto the larger (lower gear) sprockets. This is pretty easy to fix:

Note which side of the pinch bolt on the derailleur the cable goes. Undo the cable pinch bolt and remove from the derailleur.
Make sure the cable and housing are seated correctly in the shifter and frame stops.
Check cable and shifter by shifting gears while keeping tension on the cable - the shifter should pull and release the cable as you shift.
Shift to highest gear number, pull cable taught, screw the barrel adjuster on the derailleur all the way in, then back out a turn, do the same for the adjuster on the gear shifter. Attach cable back to the derailleur. Now the shifter should be able to pull the derailleur onto the largest sprockets.

Now you can adjust the limits and indexing so the derailleur places the chain onto each sprocket properly. It's hard to describe how to do that briefly in an answer here so check see this Park Tool page which explains how it works and walks you through the process.


Can a cyclometer be used with any bicycle?

The cyclometers I have owned counted wheelrevolutions by impulse of a circular lever on the cyclometer itself, most often mounted on the front fork. The impulse was from a solid peg mounted to a wheel spoke.

I have not seen such a cyclometer in the past 25 years.  Bike computers perform the similar functions, as well as others, depending on specific models.  Most bike computers operate from magnetic sensors which can be mounted or adapted to almost any cycle. Some feed the data from the sensor to a head unit mounted were it can be seen by a wire. In a few cases the supplied wire is too short to reach from a sensor (generally for pedal revolutions) to the head unit or alternative smart phone or watch read out unit.


How do I know what is the right bottom bracket for my old road bike?

In general, BB lengths follow the specification of the crank. Thus if you have a look at this site, it will state the BB length for this particular crank
http://velobase.com/ViewComponent.aspx?ID=5d1f43ed-82ec-48d0-b6e2-65f92ecdfcbe

If your crank specifications are not available, then i'd start by measuring the current chainline as per Sheldon Brown (genuflect now)
http://sheldonbrown.com/chainline.html

Then measure your BB spindle length and adjust accordingly.

Also a good start is to know what crank you are using. If its Shimano, its likely using British ISO type BB. If its an Italian or French branded crank.. and depending on its age etc.. it could be using more 'exotic' BBs

You can do a search for Sheldon Brown Bottom bracket for info on that.


Help finding correct headset for Focus Izalco Max Disc

This listing has it down as an Orbit C33 SL ACB.

I can't read German beyond getting the gist, but that looks to confirm your suspicions.

I believe the SL and ACB are just the materials / tier of product and C33 is size.


Aluminium "white rust" on roadbike. How bad is my situation?

It’s not bad, it’s cosmetic only. It’s just surface corrosion that’s got under the clear coat. Do you live in area where salt is used on the roads? Perhaps the previous owner was not good about cleaning under the bottom bracket shell.
You can halt this by making sure to thoroughly clean the bike regularly and use something like WD40 in vulnerable area to displace water and provide a protective film.


What Cannondale bikes compare to a Specialized Crosstail or Hardrock?

Comparing bike brands is exceedingly difficult. A small number of bicycle factories produce the bicycles for many different brands.

Cannondale used to be made in the U.S.A. which made them different from other brands. Now they are mostly made in Asia along with other bike brands.

Here's a quote from about 5 years ago to illustrate the complicated world of bicycle factories:

  Here is a short circumnavigation of the world of wheels. Starting in the old country, Europe, there is the German factory of Villiger/Diamant producing bikes for Trek. Italy's Dedacciai factory does some bikes for Kona. Some Bianchi bikes are still made in Italy too. The Ideal bicycle company has one of its factories in Poland producing bikes for Scott. China boasts the biggest factories with romantic names such as Boan, A-Pro, Sunrise, Kenstone, Kinesis, Ming Kao, Ideal and Giant. These places produce bikes for us under the labels of Norco, Rocky Mountain, Marin, Iron Horse, and Brodie. Taiwan, although not as large of a producer in numbers as China, is a technological leader. The Taiwanese factories of Merida, Fairly and Hodaka produce bikes for Specialized, Kona, and Fuji. There are new frontiers for manufacturing being explored in Thailand as Bangkok Cycle is building some Norco bikes and the Pt. Insera Sena factory in Indonesia creates product for Scott

I'd recommend going to your local bike store and talking to the staff there. If they are friendly, helpful and offer good service buy a bike from them that fits you, is comfortable to ride, and fits within your budget.

If they don't offer good service go elsewhere and find a shop that does.


Can you step over the top tube without doing extreme acrobatics?-- if so, the height shouldn't be a problem; The length of the top tube (i.e. how long the bike frame is rather than how tall) is the more pertinent question. I can't say either "yes" or "no" to "is this frame too big?" in this regard because people's dimensions vary widely anyway: I'm also 180cm and supposedly have relatively long legs according to some "professional bike fitting charts" (but I doubt that my legs are in fact longer than most — see e.g. a sizing chart from ebicycles) for someone my height and most 55-56cm top-tubed frames fit me more or less okay but your legs may be shorter or longer than mine, meaning you'd need a shorter or longer frame length to accommodate it.

If you can't get (unbiased) professional fitting advice, try doing some "real" riding the bike and see if the posture is comfortable, especially when doing turns (both leaning-style turns and turns using the handlebars): If it fits reasonably well and the price is good enough, you can easily tweak the dimensions using handlebar and saddle adjustments and/or replacements.


Yes, floor pumps can condense water in them. The water is from atmospheric water vapor. When the pump walls are colder than the surrounding air, the vapor can condense just like dew forms on leaves in the morning. Temperature swings assist in the formation of dew and this is made worse by leaving it on concrete, which is not only often much colder than the surrounding air, but also retains moisture.

After a while, the moisture in the pump will build up to the point where it has to get blown out the next time you use it. Especially, pumps like the Lezyne (which I also have) which are single-action designs, the top of the pump is open to atmospheric air and so the moisture can easily condense on the inner walls above the piston and trickle down into the main chamber.

How to get rid of it:

1) Easy way: Dry pump a few times (i.e., pump it a few times with nothing attached) until nothing comes out. If you can do this outside in the sun, even better.

2) Slightly harder way: Do #1 first, then disassemble the top of the pump so that it's open to air. Take the piston out. Let everything air dry or dry on top of a radiator. While you have it apart, grease the piston seal slightly with the vendor approved lubricant -- usually any light silicon grease that is safe for teflon/rubber/leather.

How to prevent it from happening

Don't store your pump in a basement or garage where there is cool/damp air. Keep the pump off concrete. Store it somewhere where there is cool/dry air (best) or warm/dry air (second best).

If that's not an option, you could also hang the pump upside down (with the handle in the stored configuration) so that any condensate that forms in the piston or on the handle will drip down. Keeping it away from the concrete floor would be an added bonus.

Bonus

Finally, here's a youtube video made by Lezyne showing how to overhaul their pump:


This is complicated, because bikes steer by turning the fork and by leaning. At very low speeds, we steer mostly by turning, not leaning.

Wikipedia gives the formula for figuring this out, although you need to transpose some terms, you need to know the bike's dimensions, and you need to decide the radius of your turn.

Based on that formula, and assuming a bike with a head angle of 72°, a wheelbase of 1000 mm, and a desired turning radius of 5 meters, you get about 37°. A longer wheelbase will increase that angle slightly; a steeper head angle will increase that angle more; a tighter turning radius will increase it yet again.


Canyon Spectral:ON different wheel size (29''/27.5'')

No matter what the reviews say.
No matter what anyone tells you.
You need to ride this bike and decide for yourself if this bike does what you need it to do.

According to Canyon's Spectral:ON spec sheet they are running:

27.5 X 2.5,  63-584
29 X 2.6,  66-622

From bikccalc.com
Rear:
Rim:650b/27.5 Tire:2.50 inch Rim (iso):584 Tire:63.50 Wheel diameter:711.00

Front:
Rim:700c/29er Tire:2.60 inch Rim(iso):622 Tire:66.04 Wheel:754.08 (rim diameter plus 2 x tire)

754-711=43mm difference in diameter.
The chain stay runs the radius of the wheel so it is theoretically possible for the chain stay to be 21.5mm shorter than it would have been with the same size wheel.
Can you feel 21.5mm on a full suspension electric bike?
Only you can say for sure.

Smaller rear wheel has been done before, more than once, on a mountain bike.
Here's a picture of a 1988 Cannondale SM 600 with a 24" rear wheel and a 26" front wheel.

(I know it's not the same thing as a full suspension electric mountain bike)

I use to ride with a guy who had a bike like this. He didn't love it enough to keep it longer than a year.

The 2009 Trek 69er 3x9 had a 26" rear wheel with a 29" front.

Here is an interesting discussion on bikes with different wheel sizes on the Bicycle Stack Exchange.


How do I adjust V-brakes as the pads wear?

The rim brakes on my last bike had a barrel adjuster that did what you ask.  My new bike has disk brakes and they self-adjust.

The barrel adjuster here is the black cylinder on the right-side.  The brake housing/cable pass through the middle.  To bring the pads closer to the rim, rotate the barrel adjuster so it comes out from the lever's body by a turn or two, and then tighten the thinner lock ring in the opposite direction against the body.  Check the rim still rotates freely between the pads.


Disassembling Shimano integrated gear shifters (brifters)

It took me 4 hours but I managed to disassemble the shifter and fix the problem. The cause was a broken spring inside the shifter. I replaced the spring, put it all back together and now its working fine.

Here's a rough description on how to disassemble the shifter:

Release the brake cable
Release the gear cable
Stick a 5mm allen wrench under the rubber cover on the outside of the shifter. You'll find a screw there. Unscrew it and pull the shifter back to remove it
Remove the brake cable pivot pin inside the shifter
Pulling the brake will reveal the screws inside the shifter. Unscrew them one by one
At this point you should be able to remove the plastic housing
Unscrew the big screw at the center of the shifter (it is the screw that holds the whole cog/lever system together)
Don't make the same mistake as me and make sure to hold the shifter together while you undo the screw, otherwise the whole thing will explode into a lot of small cogs, springs etc on your floor.

As other people here said, the hard part is putting it back together so try to do your best to memorize where each thing goes as you take them off one by one. Also try the method described by mattnz first, if it works you'll be saved a lot of hassle.

Hope this will be of some help to somebody.


Building a city/trail bike with a CX frame, what should I consider?

FWIW, Fixed gear off roading is possible if more difficult than needed. This site has lots of useful info.

http://63xc.com/

I ran my Surly Cross Check as a fixed gear scorcher for season or two and it's way to make easy trails hard. It's definitely not for everybody and the downhills can be brutal.

I'd encourage you to go for disk brakes on the front if at all possible and you definitely want a front brake. I also found it very useful to have a back brake as well. Getting any kind of "modulation" in braking with a fixed gear was beyond my skill set, skidding on dirt is a really great way to crash.

Also, an eccentric rear hub will allow you to use a fixed gear wheel with just about any dropouts. White Industries ENO hub has worked well for me.


Advice needed: cleaning / restoring parts on a vintage Peugeot

For just wiping down the frame, dilute dishwashing detergent in water is fine.

For tougher caked on grease, I find that any citrus based cleaner that you find in your local bike shop or auto parts store tends to work well. The only caution is that it shouldn't attack rubber tires - but anything in a bike shop or auto parts store usually won't.

The usual cautions about not spraying the cleaning fluid directly into axles or bottom brackets apply. Best to spray it onto a rag first and then wipe.

If it's too powerful, it might take off some decals so you can also dilute the cleaner.

For polishing chrome and steel, I like Barkeeper's Friend after degreasing. It's not too abrasive and does the shiny.