This biggest difference is the top (Kona) is a Dual Crown fork where as the bottom image has a Single Crown fork. Dual crowns are generally found on downhill mountain bikes. The style has been copied down to department store bikes as well, but don't let the look fool you those forks are still only as good as what you paid for them. For a while, there were some lesser travel dual crown forks made (old Specialized Enduros had them).

Both of these forks are most likely coil-sprung, meaning they rely on a spring to produce suspension and not air being compressed. Both also probably possess some degree of adjustment such as rebound or damping (or none at all).

As for use, the dual crown is meant to handle more rough terrain and jumps/drops as it is more stiff and tortionally rigid. The upper crown also helps to remove force from the steer tube. Single crowns are found in travel ranges of 80mm-170mm and can be meant for anything from XC to aggressive freeriding.


Strength training during structured sweet spot base phase training plan

Ultimately top end power comes from a combination of strength and muscle coordination (i.e., muscle recruitment patterns and mental focus). Strength training can be an important contributing component, helping develop your fast twitch (type II) muscle fibers which provide the required strength, but it will not guarantee top end power. You will also have to practice the coordination and mental focus required to produce high end power (i.e., > 1000 watts) on the bike (i.e., the specificity principle). The ability to focus and fire as many applicable muscle fibers as possible to complete a task is what often sets the pros apart from everyday riders (Martin et al. 2016).

In terms of weight training itself, form is probably far more important than weight lifted. Most will focus on the weight as it is an easy to compare metric, try to avoid this pitfall as it often leads to bad or less than ideal form (even if you avoid "outrageous" weights). Light weight does not mean less of a work out as you can make lighter weights “heavier” by focusing on explosive power/speed, which is however something that should only be done after first mastering the form which itself can take a considerable amount of time.

Squats, lunges and other such exercises need a healthy dose of glutes to be done correctly and on average cyclists have notoriously poor glute development.  Its too bad as the glutes are important muscles acting as an antagonist for the hip flexors.  Many cyclists suffer from chronically tight hip flexors, which can often be fixed with basic glute exercises. Glute recruitment during pedaling is also important for generating the big power you are looking for (high end power is not all quads).

Being that you are a cyclist and probably sit a lot (many of us are forced to with modern lifestyles) its probably a pretty safe bet that your glutes could probably first use some development before you even jump into things like squats.  If and when you feel that you are ready for squats (also consider other exercises like lunges, both straight on and lateral lunges - another huge weakness in cyclists), I would start with very light weight and focus on form and how your hips are functioning. The body is very adaptable and can find a way to "complete" a task using poor form.  This is where a good trainer is key, to ensure you are performing the task properly.  I would not simply go to a gym and start squatting weights with the hope of cranking out 1600 watts on the next club sprint. This is something honed over time.

If you start with poor form you will not only train muscle imbalances, but you will also be reinforcing poor muscle coordination often associated with poor form. This in turn will result in poor functioning, which can eventually lead to injury (e.g., lower back) and a long road to recovery as now you have to fix the injury,  retrain your muscle firing patterns, which is no small task in of itself, and then finally train the correct muscles and muscle firing patterns themselves.  So again it would be advisable to work with some professionals to ensure you start your program properly.

Also keeping the weight light and focusing on form (e.g., can you feel your glutes working, how are your hips functioning, what is your lower back doing, when do your quads kick in, how is your knee alignment, etc) you can also master when to work in strength training into your current routine.  You will likely need enough rest prior so that you can do the strength training well, you also likely need sufficient rest afterwards so that you can perform well on your next bike training session.  For example killing yourself strength training in the morning followed by a interval or sprint interval training in the afternoon probably isn't always a good combo - but could be depending on your abilities and goals.

Some people can handle a high back to back workload days, while others cannot.  It really depends on your fitness, genetics, age, diet, mental focus, personality... the list goes on.  If you have a power meter you can measure first hand how you respond to different work out structures, allowing you to fine tune your routine.  This is essentially the type of services a good coach should provide as part of the for pay service.


Trouble With Upper Tube Race Installation

I think you should use the "recommended" way to do that (even if that means using a home-made solution:

Find two plates (wood, metal) which you can drill a hole through;
Put each one of these (already drilled) plates on each end of the head tube, with the cups already positioned for insertion;
Insert a long bolt or threaded rod through it all;
Insert two nuts on each end, and press the system together, so that the cups are forced inside the frame in the proper position.

If you have a wise bench bench vise, you can do the same, but I would recommend using the plates too (not the raw jaws of the vise).


Will my road bike fit in the racks on a public transit bus now that I have put fenders on it?

Probably fine

I have a bike (Surly LHT) with 700c wheels, wide tires (35mm) and full fenders (I think same model, but next size up).  The local buses have 2 or 3 different types of rack, and it works on all of them. On some of the 3-bike racks it's difficult to get the arm over the tire in the middle rack, but the fender isn't really a problem; usually I can just move it to the front rack if it happens to be one of those busses.  I think this problem might have more to do with maintenance, since with otherwise identical racks some the arm pulls out far enough and some it doesn't.

One caveat: you have a choice between slowly damaging your fender by putting the arm over the fender, or possibly having a slightly less secure grip by putting it at the front tip of the fender.  On mine that bit of fender seems to be fine despite me smashing a bus rack arm on top of it frequently; worst case I could trim that off, since the bit of fender that sticks forward of the fork crown doesn't seem that essential.

Basically, the racks are designed to be able to handle the cruiser and commuter type bikes, and a road bike with fenders is a lot like that for these purposes.  There's a type of rack, but there's definitely some differences, so it's possible your bus bike racks are different somehow.


How do I reassemble the rear gearing after fitting new tyres?

Sounds like you're placing the tire back into the wrong gear to begin with. Always remember what gear you left off on as it can ruin your entire setup in a matter of seconds.


"Right" way to store energy from 2 dynamo hubs

This is going to be difficult. I assume you have a tadpole or delta and you're trying to drive the dynamos off the paired wheels - and not the single (drive) wheel.

Problem 1: Single-Sided Hubs

The problem is that the paired wheels often use single-sided (aka wheelchair) hubs and most dynamos are made with standard hubs that are designed to be supported on both sides. Schmidt SON are (apparently) the rare counterexample that have single-sided custom versions.

Problem 2: Dynamos have a "direction"

Furthermore, dynamos are often built to rotate in one direction. Rotating them the other direction will lead to fiddly bits falling out of them. That's a problem because almost all dynos have the wires coming out one of the sides (usually the drive side) - and that'll mean that for the right side wheel, the wires coming out the right side will be unsupported. So in practicality, having a right-side dyno might be very hard.

Problem 3: Double the Drag

Dynamos have drag even when non-powered. It varies from about 3-5 watts which is negligible especially on a commuter bike, but when you have two of them, you're doubling to 6-10 watts of constant drag, which is felt more on a trike.

Problem 4: Double the Electrical Inefficiency

While you'll have twice as much current, you'll also at least double the amount of power you're losing to inefficiencies. You can rectify both using bridge rectifiers to get DC from AC but you'll lose some voltage (and thus power) going through the bridges. The problem is going around corners or in a circle, one hub will be putting out a higher voltage than the other and the lower voltage one may not be operating at max efficiency depending on your circuitry. The bridge rectifiers will prevent backfeeding but you're increasing the inefficiency of the system.

Solution 1: Use buck-boost circuits to charge Lipos

On my commuter (bicycle), a front dynohub is constantly charging a LiPo whether the lights are on or off. This is because my cheap Sanyo hub has drag regardless of whether it's under load, so I might as well as use the drag. I rectify and then pass it through a buck-boost to charge up a LiPo which then I boost to charge my cellphone when connected. You'll want parallel buck-boost circuits to avoid the problem of unequal power output listed in Problem #4 above.

Solution 2: You're on a trike, forget dynos

You're on a trike and so weight is obviously not important to you (sorry, couldn't resist the dig). So just get a small 10,000 mAh battery pack and/or solar charger and use that. It's better than the constant drag you're imposing.

Solution 3: Get one really high quality dyno

Get just one really high quality Schmidt SON dynamo and put it on the left side paired wheel if possible. Why the left? If you’re in a country where you drive on the left (most the world except UK and Japan) then the road slightly slopes to the right for drainage. You're already needing to constantly turn a bit left to maintain a straight line and the unequal drag on the left will act as a slight trim and be felt less.

The Schmidt SON dynos have been measured to have the lowest amount of drag when unloaded. Peter White says they have a tadpole compatible Schmidt SON for special order. I have no affiliation with PW except for a single order I placed a decade ago.


Your own posted link says

  Brompton with the 10 degree brake levers with an open clevis should be
  replaced with either the 30 degree or new aluminium brake levers.

Sounds like the 10 degree ones risk the cable's mushroom falling out of the open clevis, rendering the brake inoperable.  That would be bad.

You should replace the levers with safer ones.


How to effectively hitch a bicycle with a scooter?

No, no, no. Just no.

Two kilometers is only a half-hour walk. That's hardly a big deal. Why risk injuring or even killing yourself to save what can't be more than 15 minutes by the time you've called your friend and they've come to get you.

Alternatively, fixing a puncture "in the wild" just needs a spare inner tube, tyre levers and a pump. That takes up very little space – you can get very small pumps, such as this one (random product link; not an endorsement). If you have a locker at school, you could leave the things there, rather than carrying them back and forth. This is what I carry around with me in case I puncture, with a ruler for scale. Total weight is 205g and that's with an aluminium pump instead of a weight-weenie carbon one. If your wheels aren't quick-release, you'll need a spanner/wrench, too.

Alternatively, take the wheel off your bike and use your friend's scooter to carry just the wheel to a place where you can repair it.


Can I run Campagnolo 10 speed chainrings on 11 speed crank arms?

If the hole-pattern matches, there is nothing technical why you shouldn't run those chain rings on your crank. The difference between 10s- and 11s-components is the outer width of the chain. It is a bit narrower to squeeze between the closer spaced sprockets on an 11s-cassette. Chains for 11-speed systems are around 5.4mm wide on the outside, vs. around 5.9mm wide for 10-speed ones. The inner width is the same (3/32 inches).

So your chain rings are effectively fully down- and upwards compatible with your crank, and your other 10s- and 11s-components.


Your tyre suggests 40-65 PSI, so that's a good start.

The lower pressures are much more likely to pinch-flat as the rim bottoms out on the ground, if you're riding over a rock or lump or kerb/curb.

For your weight, on a MTB on the road I'd aim for 50-55 PSI, and vary it by a little to see if it feels better or worse.

Generally the rear wheel is holding about 60-70% of your whole weight, so it makes sense to add 5 PSI more in the rear.  Again, try and see how it feels for you.


Keep riding.
It will take a little while to come back, but it will come back. Just don't push yourself too hard, as you will be tense and stiff and those things can lead to another accident. For all practical purposes your skill limit has decreased, so riding at your old limit is riding beyond your limit until you get past the mental block caused by the crash.
Try to analyze what happened in the crash and learn from it. Were you riding too fast for the trail or your skill level? Did you pick a bad line? Did you use your front brake at the wrong time? Replay it in slow motion in your head. Pick it apart and learn from the mistake. If you can find what the limiting factor was that caused the crash you can become a better rider because of it.
Once again, just take your time and ease your way back into riding at the level you were at prior to the crash. Eventually the fear will dissipate, and if you've learned from the incident you will be a more skillful rider than you were before.


That model of Giant Defy will have clearance for almost any 700×28 tyres and some 700×30 models, but not all. If you are after a commuter tyre for increased puncture resistance, a Schwalbe Durano plus in 700×28 will be as good as any of the wider commuter tyres and will perform just as well on any sealed surfaces. If you want to ride a bigger tyre for better grip on gravel and unsealed roads, then your options are very limited.


Bicycle shorts fit: do leg grippers stretch out?

The short answer is "sometimes". There are a few different styles of leg grippers.  Some are more likely to stretch than others.

Thick Silicone leg grippers, in my experience stretch the least and are the least comfortable. While they do a great job of not letting the pant leg slip, I find the level of discomfort not worth it.

My favorite kind have a slightly different material than the rest of the short, similar "strechiness" but only slightly tacky on the inside. These, I've found do stretch out over time but in similar fashion to the rest of the short's material.

There are some shorts that have the tackiness of the above type but bind a little more and can stretch over time.  I have a few pairs but the wider the band the more tolerant I am of the binding

There is another type that tends to stretch out which is, more or less, a cinched, folder over piece of the same material found in the rest of the short. As mentioned, they do tend to stretch out and don't often stay in place as well as the tacky kinds.
There are also grippers that have little silicone "dots" to help hold in place. I usually find that they're less binding but they can be put on any material so the stretch durability is hard to nail down


Marin Fairfax Alp 2011 - Can I fit a 11-32t Cassette

I think a disadvantage of the 11-32 cassette are the large gear steps. Also consider that switching from 25 to 28 already makes it 12% easier.

You could (additionally) install smaller chainrings, 52 is quite large and instead of 30 you could go down to 28 or 24.

You will need a new (longer) chain if you increase cog size, unless you decrease chainring size at the same time or the chain is currently a bit longer than necessary.  A worn chain will work badly on new cogs or chainrings though.


New chain is pre-lubricated, should I clean it before use?

The coating is generally a form of wax, which is an excellent chain lube, and less apt to attract dirt than most chain oils.  All you really should do is wipe off (with a dry cloth) any excess.

If the wax seems excessively heavy you can add a little solvent to the cloth, to just wipe off the outer coating.  You want to leave the lube on the inside of the chain, where it's really needed.


How to tell which freehub body is a compatible replacement for the one on an old Shimano FH-HG50 rear hub?

Most of the time, the problems you mention can be fixed by removing the freehub completely, pulling the seal in back (note orientation) and running some combination of degreaser/solvent/oil/air/etc through it, depending on its condition and what you have to work with. There are some symptoms that denote something is broken (crunching, truly erratic operation/sound/feel) and others that suggest things are whole and in place but the lubrication is gummed up and so the pawls are moving reluctantly in both directions, which is common and can cause what you describe.
The parameters are fit to the shell, length, and bearing cup profile.
Most 7/8/9/10 Shimano freehubs use the same fit to the shell. There are a few oddballs but not many. That part is easy and it's easy to find a freehub that will bolt on, either cannibalized or new.
7-speed freehub bodies are shorter, and so for a given OLD, the hubs they came on have more symmetrical bracing angles than an 8/9/10, or in other words the center to right flange number is bigger. Stick an 8/9/10 on and arrange the right side axle hardware on such that the new freehub body wants it to be (this you don't have a choice about, see below) and then when you go to put the left back together with the stock FH-HG50 hardware, you'll have a mutant that wants to be too long, 138mmish I believe. Take away spacer from the left to make it 135 again and what you are doing is creating a hub where the left flange is closer to the left dropout than an 8/9/10 hub would have put it. The reason they wouldn't put it there is it increases the bracing angle disparity between the left and right side spokes past what is generally considered good, such that the tension disparity between left and right side is too great, or in other words your left side spoke tension needs to get too low. Some amount of this effect is acceptable when hacking hubs, like nudging it around by a few percent. Spocalc.xls and some of the better online spoke calculators show you the change in tension ratios so you can play with it in the abstract before doing it. I believe that putting an 8/9/10 freehub on an HG50 shell will probably push it too far, but I would check first off measurements from the hub shell in front of me, so that's what I recommend you do. If it was the same shell that was also used on some 130mm 7spd hubs, it might be fine.
You always need to at least check your final spacing and dish when doing a hack type (non-stock) freehub replacement, and usually will need to make some adjustments to both. Don't try to piece together random advice from the internet about the left side spacer configuration you will wind up needing. It can only be done reliably by measuring.
I always do this by using whatever right side cone and axle hardware arrangement the new freehub body wants. That means I use its native dust shield and cone rather than screw around with transplating the old ones into it. Then use the center to right flange dimensions from its native stock hub to build out your right side spacer/locknut stack. In other words, if it's a 135mm hub and that dimension is 21mm, the outer locknut face needs to be (135/2-21) away from the right flange. There are probably some situations where it's fine to do it the other way and transplant the cone and dustshield in from the old hub, and the bearing cup profile is close enough to identical that it doesn't matter, but I don't do it that way so can't really advise either way. One reason I don't do it that way is most of the time it's a relatively recent 8/9/10 body and the cone is obtainable from either Wheels Mfg or Shimano, so it just feels simpler and more likely to work out well.


First you need to buy a hub which fits the axle type and dropout spacing of your bike. If you don't want to buy a new rim, you also need to buy a hub with the same number of spokes as your rim.
Once you have the hub, you need to measure the diameter of the spoke hole circles, and the flange spacings. You can try to get these dimensions from the hub documentation, but I always measure to be sure. You should be very skeptical of hub dimensions from unofficial sources or from online spoke length calculators. They are often wrong. You also need to know the "ERD" of your rim. You can measure or look it up.
Once you have the dimensions, you need to calculate what spoke length you need. You can use an online spoke length calculator, or use several and compare the results. You can buy custom spokes from many bike stores or on eBay.
Now with your new hub and spokes, you can disassemble the old wheel and build the new wheel, or you can have a bike shop do it.


Shimano SIS Rear derailleur fixing problem

What you need to do is ensure that the plate which the small bolt is attached to is located in the frame dropout. You should see one side of it is curved to match up to the drop out. You'll need either a Philips screwdriver or a 9mm wrench to tighten the bolt and hold your reach mech in place. I've attached a photo from Shimano's tech doc illustrating what I mean. Once the rear mech is back in place, tighten your wheel nut up and ensure the wheel is central in the frame, this type of design allows the wheel to occasionally slip to one side when you're tightening it, causing the rim/tyre to rub on the brake or frame. If you're using a torque wrench to tighten these parts then the mech bolt is 4nm and the rear wheel is around 32nm.

Hope this helps!


Trouble with spiral folding bike lock - jammed

Jiggle it, wiggle it, slap it around a little.  The latch part is probably not retracting when it should.   You can also blast the lock with a penetrating lubricant and repeat the jiggle/wiggle/tap.

You could try contacting Rock Bros at http://www.rockbrosbike.com/article-info.php?artid=6   for advice and possible replacement.

Its slightly disconcerting that their email addresses are given as
rockbrosbike@gmail.com and rockbrosbike@hotmail.com

Is your bike locked up somewhere else?   I'd recommend you go and add more locks to it until this one is removed.  If you give up, use a grinder to cut the lock completely and throw it away.


Chain falling when shifting from small to big chainring

Your front derailleur is 'undershifting', meaning that when you release the pressure on the lever, the FD moves a tiny bit inwards. This throws the chain off the big ring towards the small ring. If the chain is on a smaller rear sprocket you might notice that it is rubbing slightly against the outer plate of the FD.

You need to adjust the HI-screw on the FD. Give it a turn anti-clockwise and check if the chain stays on the ring.

As @Criggie justly points out, when a bike's settings are adjusted on a workstand things change a bit when it is ridden. Mainly due to the slight deformation of the frame when under the load of the rider.


Cranksets for tandem with internal gear hub

You can use whatever cranksets you like and have available.  But tandems need either an eccentric bottom bracket on the front, OR a chain tensioner in order to set the tension on the link/timimg chain.

1.1. If you are only pootling around on the flat then perhaps the loss of the front chainring is acceptable.  But any hills or a good stiff headwind and you'll be regretting the loss of lower gears.  You might be able to offset this with a large rear cassette, a 42 tooth megarange or similar.

Chain line is important - the timing chain is often a 1/8th inch chain because it doesn't need any side flex.  The rear chain is often a normal 3/32" bicycle chain so it can be used with a derailleur.  You could use either (or even a drive belt!) To line up the chainrings, I'd use a long steel ruler, and try to use a matched pair of  chainrings and bottom bracket axles.

2.1. Since you have no front derailers, you could possibly flip the chainrings to have the big one close to the frame, and teh timing chain on the outside.  Or you could even have both chainrings the same size.   Its also possible, (but uncommon) to have just one big long chain doing all the drive.

No - the rider's pedalling should be in phase at all times.  If one rider is ready for a corner, there's a non-zero chance of pedal strike for the other rider.  This is doubly bad on a tandem.

If you want one rider to have an easier time of it, look for different length cranks.  They'll still have to do the same cadence as the other rider.

Suggestions:

Get a matched pair of doubles or triple chainrings.  Set your timing chain on the big ring, and use the stoker's middle/smaller ring for the normal chain.  If its too low geared, swap the timing chain to the middle and put the rear wheel chain on the big chainring.

Once you've settled on a good combination, you could remove the chainrings you're not using.

If you're building this tandem from scratch, separate the IGH hub purchase from the build.


You don't necessarily need a new wheel. Some larger 11 speed cassettes can fit on a 10 speed road freehub body, as the larger sprockets allow a wider spider that can overhang the inboard end of the freehub body. A 105 GS derailleur max small sprocket is 34 teeth, but that can very likely be pushed to 36.

There should be no compatibility issues. On a 2007 bike you presumably have a threaded bottom bracket shell and external bearings. R7000 cranks still work with that. You'll have 130mm rear hub spacing, that's not a problem for chainline with R7000 cranks.

Here's the potential gotcha: cost relative to a whole new bike. Add up the cost of a 105 rim brake groupset bundle, new wheels, tires, all the miscellaneous bits you should replace at the same time (cables, housing, bar tape, tubes ...) and the special tools you'll need (BB tool, chain whip ...) and you may find that's a very significant part of the cost of a new 105 equipped, alloy framed bike. Remember with a new bike you get better comfort, modern geometry, ability to run wider tires etc.

That said though, it's worth looking at the used market for wheels. With the switch to disc brakes there are deals to be had on highish end rim brake wheels.


The 24" Traditional trikes use the 19" support bar. The 23" versions are for aftermarket longer seat posts. So if that is the original seat post, and your mother is not extremely tall, then you need the 19".

The 23" comes into play for taller riders so their knees are not smacking their chin and requires the use of a longer seat post than what comes with the trike.


I had a similar problem on my Pugsley, though it was under braking (discs) that I was kicking the wheel around in the dropouts.

After talking with the guys at my LBS, I learned that I wasn't putting enough force into the quick release.  They said that a good, tight, clamp should leave an imprint of the lever on your palm when you close it.  It will be difficult to open, but not horrible.  This measure of tightness has served me well so far.

I would also check to ensure that your clamping surfaces are clean (get rid of any excess lube which may have seeped in there).  You can also look at the skewer itself to ensure it is a high quality skewer.  The type of clamp (I don't know if the older style even exists anymore, but I do run into them from time to time) can make a difference as well as the roughness of the clamping surface.  For a while I was using a pair of Surly Tuggnuts which have a smooth surface facing the frame which made my problem even worse.


which multi-speed hub should I upgrade my trek district to

I would upgrade to at least a 5 speed.  3 speeds have been around for a hundred years now and it is time for you to have a technology upgrade.  Sturmey AW had production problems with the move to Taiwan but they may have worked that out.  5 and 7 speeds are mainstream.  That should be more than enough to get you over the Williamsburg, Manhattan, or Brooklyn Bridges or up any hill in Central Park, Harlem or the Bronx.

More gears that that Higher than that is more esoteric.  More LBS can service the Shimanos than the S-AWs.  I would go with what your LBS recommends unless you are comfortable repairing these in the unlikely event that something goes wrong.  My favorite shop is the one on Grand Street not far from the Williamsburg Bridge.  He's been there forever.

Then if you want to drop serious coin there's the Rohloff Speedhub 14 speed, but that's out of most people's league.

Sheldon Brown (RIP) has excellent resources that are dated but still relevant.  I'd search for those.  But mostly I'd stop reading your computer and just ride.


Does chamois creme affect the life of cycling shorts?

As a followup to my answer on "Picking Chamois Creme", BodyGlide hasn't affected the life of my shorts so far after 3 years of heavy use.  But it never completely washes out either.  My experience with other products is too limited to comment.


How do I get/check if carbon wheels are tubeless compatible

Tubular rims are never compatible with tubeless tires.
Tubular rims have a slightly concave bed that the tire sits on. Tubeless tires are a variation on clincher tires, and require sidewalls to retain the tire bead.


What are these tools in this bike maintenance toolkit?

the big wrench below the chain whip

Is for removing the cups on shimano hollowtech II bottom bracket.

http://www.madegood.org/bikes/repair/remove-a-shimano-hollowtech-bottom-bracket/

the thing in the upper right corner

Is for screwing in the preload cap on a shimano hollowtech II bottom bracket.  The preload crap is screwed in to the non drive side crank to keep everything together before the crank is tightened onto the spindle.

http://www.madegood.org/bikes/repair/fit-a-shimano-hollowtech-crankset/

the truncated triangle below the cassette tools

Is a spoke wrench - each of the 3 sides fit a different size of spoke as per the numbers on the corner.  You fit the side over the spoke nipple and the spoke can be tightened/loosened as required.

and the thing next to it.

That's a crank puller for removing cranks from an internal bottom bracket.  There's a cap you unscrew with a hex wrench and then that tool screws into the thread the cap was screwed into.  You then tighten the other end with a spanner which pushes the black bit through and pulls the cranks off.

https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/crank-removal-and-installation-three-piece

Also, the small wrench opposite to the chain tool has a 90 degree protrusion at each end.

This is for removing chain-ring bolts.

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/how-to-change-chainrings-video-42644/


Sticky/Not fully returning ultegra r8070 brake lever

The range of travel where it's having trouble sounds an awful lot like the same range of travel that makes up the difference between the minimum and maximum free stroke setting. I haven't seen this issue and my understanding of how the free stroke mechanism on these works isn't perfect, but the first thing I would look at is whether the free stroke hardware seems to be in order and how it responds to that adjustment.


Technique for self-adhesive puncture repair patches

This kind of failure is basically the reason sticker-type patches have a reputation for not being reliable.

Scrupulously sanding the area and getting it as clean as possible (ie, with alcohol or other residue-free solvent, cleaner than anyone can probably get it on the side of the road) wards off the problem but doesn't eliminate it.

Sticker type patches are essentially bad products. You can't trust the tube long-term, so you really should change it back out when you get home, because if you don't you'll likely get another flat sooner or later when it fails.

Vulcanizing patches are superior. The system of carrying a spare tube and a vulcanizing patch kit, using the patch kit only if you get multiple flats in the same ride (should be a very rare occurrence), and patching your punctured tube when you get home so it can become your spare is popular and time-honored because it works and is cheap. You almost never actually wind up using the vulcanizing kit on the side of the road, and when you do it's no big deal because you've developed good technique. Vulcanizing patches make the tube as reliable as new, so it's fine to leave the tube in there and forget about it.

Self-adhesive patches play to peoples' desire for a simple one-step solution, contrasted to how vulcanizing patches do require a degree of technique and care - keeping track of where the puncture is, applying a nice even patch of glue that's the right size and waiting long enough for the it to dry, comprehending at all that you let the glue dry and then apply the patch, handling things carefully so as not to contaminate the patch contact surface or the tube with skin oils, etc. A lot of people running around now just can't and won't jump through those hoops, and in that sense there is a place for self-adhesive patches, but what's unequivocally true about them is they don't save time or hassle once the need to change the tube out again later is factored in.


Cyclocross Rim Wearing with Rim Brakes and appropriate Solutions

Option 1: Mid-race bike change

Many cyclocross riders switch bikes mid-race due to build-up of mud and debris and the dirt emulsion which accumulates on braking surfaces. Ideally you would have an assistant to supervise your belongings in the pit/service area and rinse the bike you've returned to prepare it for another bike change later in the race.

Option 2: Thicker rim-walls

Some rims claim to have thicker braking surfaces. You may identify these based on the difference between the external rim width and the ETRTO bead width (e.g 622-17 indicates a 17mm bead width)

Option 3: Brake less

Improving your cornering at speed so you don't need to brake so much.


Which foot to put forward when coasting or track-standing?

Just trackstanding on a flat road, mountain bike or other regular situation, just use the foot you feel most comfortable with in the forward position. The real key to performing a good, solid trackstand is to find a balance of forward pressure with your front pedal and resistance with either your brakes or your rear pedal (if you're riding fixed gear).

Another key to help out that I've found particularly useful is to try to keep the balance of the bike so that you can turn your handlebars in the same direction as your lead foot. This helps equalize the forward/backward pressures. Additionally, it helps prevent a tumble due to toe overlap, which isn't as big a deal on mountain bikes as it is on track bikes and road bikes because the front wheel is further out in front of the bike.

If you're trackstanding on an actual track in track racing - like a match sprint race - you'll want to have your right foot forward and turn your bars to the right. This allows you to use the banking of the track as your reverse resistance and your lead (right) foot as your forward pressure. Doing the opposite will make it much harder to control as gravity will want to pull you down to the middle of the track.

This same school of thought can be applied to a hill or other grade when mountain biking.


Correct clamped quick release lever direction

There is only really one rule - position the lever such that it is protected from being opened by hitting or snagging on something.

Straight forward or down is not a good idea, obviously. A rear lever pointing straight back is not good either as a collision with the front wheel of a bike close behind could potentially open it.

Rear levers protected between chain and seat stays is probably OK, maybe more vertically behind the seat stay is better. Front levers angled back and up behind fork legs is probably good.

Otherwise position the levers wherever is convenient.


Did I damage my frame by removing a sticker?

The shine is likely the residue from the sticker adhesive. I would apply some rubbing alcohol on a soft cloth and see if it comes off. As you haven't damaged the actual finish, it will be fine. I had a similar finish on a Diamondback Response. After its' first wash I waxed it. I thought I had ruined the matte finish. When the wax wore off the original finish returned.


The equation for total aerodynamic drag force on a bicycle is well-understood and, you're right, air density has a role in it: the higher the density, the greater the drag. As you guessed, density decreases with increasing temperature so warm air is less dense than cold air. It's also probably no surprise that density decreases with pressure. However, evidently counter-intuitively, humid air is less dense than dry air. The simplest explanation is that water molecules contain two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom so they have a molecular mass of 18 g/mol, while dry air has a molecular mass of around 29 g/mol. You can check the wikipedia page on air density for more details.


Brake levers for riding in upright position

There are two sorts of brake lever that would suit this description - given mention an older ten speed you're probably remembering these:

Sometimes called Suicide Brakes, or secondary levers/safety levers or something similar.  They're not common any more because the braking effect is low, probably for mechanical advantage reasons.
Not recommended unless you're going for original-look.  I have one on my 80s bike and its just for show - I never use it.

The more-modern version is a Cyclocross interruptor brake lever like these.  Functionally they're similar, but pull the inner separately to the outer, they don't pull the existing brake lever for you.
These brake levers work fine, and function either in concert with dropbar brake/shifters  as pictured, or can be used as brake levers by themselves if you're on a flatbar bike.
Again, these are mostly cable-brake based, but there are also hydraulic versions of the interruptor brake.  Shimano's GRX groupset has them as an option.

Given you're looking for a new bike, this doesn't fit your need, but...
The third option is to either learn to brake with existing drop bar brakes, or look at upgrading to more modern brifters.  The difference there is that the whole hand position has improved over time, and now braking from the hoods position works much better than older dropbar brakes.
Compare these with the first photo and you can see how different the angles are.

See also Braking on a vintage road bike


Derailleur can't shift to 51-T sprocket. Deore CS-M5100 + RD-M5100

Turns out this derailleur needs a 'standard mount' derailleur pad/hanger. I have currently a direct mount.
The Canyon representative thought the SRAM hanger was for 10 speed.
To me, it is now clear that a 'SRAM' pad/hanger is the same as a Shimano 'standard mount'. So, I purchased the SRAM hanger (aka standard mount) from Canyon and it works!


Bearing cone and locknut won’t tighten. Easily fall off when taking wheel off. Has it snapped?

Yep, axle is broken.

Do not ride the bike with the broken axle! The axle is supposed to support the frame on the wheel, but you are now asking the quick release skewer, which has much less material and strength, to do that. If the skewer fails, the wheel will come straight out of the dropouts and a nasty crash will likely ensue.


Rear rotor drag when I shift my weight left

Setting up fixed pad BB-7s take some perfection for zero noise. For good brake feel you want the fixed pad to be very close to the rotor. This can result in noise. Is your lever feel good? If it is I would say you are fine.

If your fixed pad (inboard) is not close to the rotor you should look into the following.
Either your bearing pre-load is loose on your rear hub or your Quick release is loose in the frame.

edit: spoke tension would have no affect on brake rotor drag


How reliable is the "smart" brake detection on a $20 tail light?

The brake detection is based on an accelerometer, and is not a complicated feature.  I have had a similar feature on a Chinese front light and it worked ok from what I can see. So that's probably not a key reason to buy a branded light instead.

Amazon are often parasitical in these products - AliExpress charges $11 for a similar (same?) thing
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000239342283.html
Cheap lights, especially tail lights can post a risk of death, in that I have purchased cheap lights from Amazon (albeit originally from China, similar to this), and they went out with no warning (battery dead) on a high-speed road.  (Though apparently some or all of the lights you link to have a battery indicator feature)
The biggest problem with these lights tends to be:

small battery
excessive brightness draining said battery
lack of proper voltage-sensing battery indicator (about to die in 10 seconds is not good enough)

As a second light it would be ok, but I would not rely on it alone.
If you want a better product then a brand might well be better in several ways.
For example:

https://www.cateye.com/intl/products/safety_lights/TL-NW100K/
https://www.cateye.com/intl/products/safety_lights/TL-LD710K/
https://ride.lezyne.com/collections/alert-led-lights
https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/698001 - This is Garmin's actual radar light which gives you alerts for oncoming vehicles

The best quality light like you mention (and possibly the first) is made by Lupine:
https://www.lupine.de/products/tail-lights
The Rotlicht Max is 1680 mAh battery, the Rotlicht is 830 maAh
The AliX light is 420 mAh, the Cateye Sync is 500mAh and the cheaper model will be even less, and the Strip Drive Pro is 800 mAh.
Exposure are a similar quality brand to Lupine, and they have a 1500 mAh light
https://exposurelights.com/products/bike/rear-lights/blaze-mk3-reakt-peloton
and a 700 mAh light
https://exposurelights.com/products/bike/rear-lights/tracer-mk2-reakt-peloton
The Exposure & Lupine products are clearly much better than the AliX one, but they cost 10x as much, so they should be.
By paying for a brand you might get better build quality, better attachment mechanism, weather sealing , packaging, marketing, larger battery, better documentation, support videos, warranty and so on.
I don't think you could go too far wrong by buying one direct from China and then if it turns out to be inadequate then upgrading to a quality brand later. Or you could just go straight to quality now.


You got the wrong pads.

While it's possible to mix and match some pads, this is usually not the case. When replacing pads, keep track of:

Pad material and what your rotor is compatible of. Some rotors have a "resin pads only" etched on. Consult user manual or manufacturer website for this info.
Pad shape. Note the features, like "handles" shape, amount and location of holes and protrusions.

The pad you want has is called DBP-01.23R. It's a Shimano-compatible (B01S analogue), very wide spread model, you should be able to source a pair from any half-decent bike shop. The round pads are for Promax Render and Decipher and won't work with your Solve.


We don't give specific product recommendations here on Bicycles.SE. I will mention that because they are produced in smaller volumes, recumbents usually will be more expensive than conventional bikes with similar specifications.
Long-distance riding is not a great use case for electric bikes: you'll run it down before you get where you're going and will then be hauling the electric system as dead weight. Or if you use it intermittently, you'll be hauling it around as dead weight the rest of the time. And you'll need to arrange to recharge it where you're going. You would need to compare the prices of buying a bike with electric assist built in vs buying an aftermarket electrical system. I suspect the aftermarket system would be more expensive overall. It would not be as well integrated.
There are tandem recumbents, but you can't just stick a seat on the back of a single recumbent.

If you're new to long-distance riding, you need to acclimate to it, and some minor changes to your current setup may make it more comfortable.


Easiest way to remove a chain master link / masterlink

You have to remove the tension from the chain. One way is using a small piece of wire to slacken the chain such as this one made by Topeak:

which you hook in a few links to the left of the quick link and a few links to the right.

Another way is to use the rear derailleur. Then, just pinch them together and slide your fingers opposite ways.

If that still is too hard, you can use a tool like the Park Tool MLP-1.2 or a pair of needlenose pliers as a substitute.


I am hauling my bike a couple of thousand miles

When I've had bicycles shipped, its generally just been left empty (on a used bike), or had a little plastic plug in it (on a new bike). If you do want to plug it with something (say, you're storing it without the seatpost for some reason and don't want any critters in there), you could plug it with some news paper or something which you can easily remove or cover the hole with a bit of duct tape or something -- It's just a pipe.

I'm going to guess the question is really how to package a bicycle for moving and the easy answer is to use a cardboard bike box. Some directions are here, and most bike shops will package a bike for a small fee and even ship it for you. Normally, you remove the seatpost, the wheels, take off the handlebars, pedals, and then just arrange them in the box (without disconnecting the cables). Then, put all the things back together when you get home (note that the left hand pedal is opposite threaded).


Strange long squeal sound when I pedal hard - how to track this down?

This sounds like a bottom bracket bearing.

Check for looseness in bottom bracket by wriggling your pedals. Do they move in ways that they should not?

When the bearing housing fails, you both lose the glide of the bearing and also introduce bits of 'shrapnel' into the bottom bracket which rub and squeal with each crank, as the bracket deteriorates further, the noise and friction will increase. However, at some point, you'll grind all the shrapnel into shavings and will have scored the interior of the bottom bracket such that there will be more room and it will become easier to pedal and quieter, though it will still be far more difficult than a working set of bearings.
Bottom brackets are easy to inspect and replace.
Good luck with the repair.


Need Hidden nut for SRAM Force 1 chainring

The official Sram part number is 11.6918.000.001 , those are said to work on the RED and FORCE models. That is the number for the hidden bolt set anyway. I also read that someone spoke to Quarq and they advised him to pop it out of the old ring and use it for his new ring which he also stated worked just fine, so you may save yourself $20.


Is there a way to share a tight staircase/steps with pedestrians?

I've had to commute routes where I need to use a narrow staircase to go up and down a pedestrian bridge over a highway.
For starters, any place where you have to share narrow space with pedestrian, the polite way to do so is to dismount.
I shoulder the bike or walk it. The bike always goes to the far side ( If there is  a fence or wall, the bike goes towards that fence or wall or guard rail. ) so there is less chance to hit another person with a protruding pedal or handlebar.
While going down stairs, I sometimes roll the bike on its rear wheel, holding the handlebar up and using the brake to control it. That way my combined bike+rider width is minimal and that will let another pedestrian pass, even if they are also carrying a bulky load.
Consider that even if you believe to have good control over the bike, there might be something out of your sight that may cause you to temporarily lose control or may need you to perform an unexpected maneuver (e.g. a piece of garbage you ride over and it makes you lose traction). If that happens at the wrong time, you may hit another staircase user. Better to play it safe and dismount.
I've ridden in a city where there are shared bridges (pedestrian/alternative transport) but it is mandatory to get off your bike, skateboard, or whatever you are riding. You mount again on the other side where there is a wider and dedicated cycle path and a walking lane.


Help needed identifying mystery screws on 1940s tandem

It's hard to tell from your picture because they're out of focus, but they look a bit like grease nipples:

i.e. like the ones in the top left of the picture.  Do they have the little ball bearing in the middle?


When the the caliper brakes are applied, the pads barely move at all

The inner break spring could also be stucked by rust. In both case, you should remove it, clean it off, then lube it.

In the worst case you'll have to change it.


What's typically wrong with cheap mountain bikes?

A fully for 700€ will be horrible. Bad suspension, heavy, few gears, bad wheels, bad tires …

At least get a hardtail where 700€ will buy you a halfway decent front suspension (where the lock-out actually works) and okay-ish weight. With wide, tubeless tires and good riding skills you’ll barely notice the absence of a (bad) rear suspension.


Shifters/brakes won't fit on bullhorn bars

I would advise against the grinding idea.  You might be okay if there's enough meat left on the ring, but these are part of your braking system, you really don't want that to fail.  Imagine an emergency situation, or even an intersection at the bottom of a big hill.  You squeeze the levers hard and the mounting rings break, your brake cables go slack and you can't slow down or stop.  Even assuming only one ring were to break, you'd have maybe half of your stopping ability remaining which could easily lead to injury (or worse).  The breaking of the ring could also startle you enough that you lose your grip on the handle bars.  Not worth it.


Incorrect number of clicks on SRAM MRX gear shifter

You should only hear 6 clicks: 1->2 , 2->3, 3->4, 4->5, 5->6, 6->7 when shifting up on a 7 speed system, and reverse the arrows when shifting down.

If you can't shift through all the gears, check that the derailleur is not bent, you have adequate cable tension, the low and high limits are set correctly (these should be a set once and forget it thing) and then play with the indexing adjustment (the barrel adjuster at the derailleur). See this link for more details. If your cables are old and rusted or kinked, you may need a new shift cable as well.

If you just purchased the bike from a shop, they should adjust it for you for free if it was recent.

Note that these are cheap shifters, so if there is indeed something wrong with the shifter (e.g. you meant to say you were only hearing 5 clicks), you're going to have to throw it out and buy another one for around 15 dollars.


The 'noodle' (the curved silver tube the brake cable passes through) has slipped through  the holder on the right-hand (in your picture) brake caliper. The noodle is designed to come out of the holder to spread the calipers to enable the wheel to be taken out.

The proper configuration looks like this:

Squeeze the calipers together and free the noodle from the holder. Pull the dust boot off the end of the noodle, you should see a little flange on the end - that fits into the end of the holder. Before you attempt to fit the noodle in the holder, slide the cable housing into the other end of the noddle, and also make sure the housing is inserted in the brake lever body on the handlebar. Squeeze the calipers together to fit the end of the noodle in the housing. When the noodle is back in the holder you can push the boot back on.

if that's not clear, here's a video on assembling v-brakes at a point where it shows how the noodle fits in the holder.

Updates based on futher info:

The flange has come off the end of the noodle. Normally the flange is permanently fixed to the noodle and it should not come off. You can probably shove the flange through the boot with the noodle, then slip it back on the end of the noodle, and re-assemble the brake as in the Park tool video. That will get the brake working. The real solution of course is to get a new noodle. A local bike shop will have one, they can also be found on Amazon or any of the the on-line bike stores.


Torpedo duomatic stuck in one gear because of too much grease. How to lubricate correctly?

A couple of months ago I did this exact overhaul and it has been running super smooth ever since. Can't comment on the longevity yet but here is the logic:

Bearings: standard bearing grease, oil is too thin and will result in increased bearing wear.

Brakes: "Bremsmantelfett" (brake grease) from Hanseline. Here you can probably get away with normal grease, but if you do a lot of braking (eg. hilly area) the grease can heat up and harden, so the more heat resistant the better. Don't grease the braking surfaces of course.

Gears: oil, this area is well contained so no chance of the oil running away and oil makes the gears change smoother.

Pawls: oil, you can also use grease or a mixture but be careful not to apply too much grease underneath them or they can stick down. Give them a good test before and make sure they are really springy.

Other mechanisms: grease oil mix, oil can run away and get places you don't want (brakes) but grease can be prone to hardening. A sticky oil can also work here.

Not sure about the plastic ring you mention but if it rubs against something wipe a bit of grease on it. In general anything that should slide should have some sort of grease or oil on it and choose oil vs grease based on how well it needs to stay put.


I'm not sure what you're comparing the effort to, but typically the front derailleur requires more cable pull to actuate, in comparison to shifting in the rear.

Adjusting Shimano Front Derailleurs

Adjusting Shimano Rear Derailleurs

It could be that you need a bit of slack removed from the cable, but without photos, it's hard to say.

Front shifting explained


New wheels for my Specialized Allez Expert Z2

Per the FAQ, we don't recommend specific products as they tend to become obsolete quite fast. We also don't really discuss product valuation. It's likely that the folks on Bikeforums, where you cross-posted, may offer some discussion on those aspects. However, general upgrade considerations can be a productive avenue for discussion here.
You have, with all respect, a lower-end rim brake road bike. Past a certain point, it's not really worth upgrading lower-end bikes. Bike manufacturers get favorable component (including drivetrain and wheel) pricing from manufacturers, because they buy in bulk. So, past a certain point, it's probably more cost-effective it to sell your bike to someone who wants an entry-level bike, and buy a new complete bike or a used bike.
Another thing to consider is that modern road bikes are increasingly shifting to disc brakes. If you had a disc brake bike and you bought a nice set of wheels, you might consider taking those wheels with you if and when you upgraded the whole bike (although you'd still want to consider the OEM pricing phenomenon discussed in the paragraph above). However, you have a rim brake bike. For performance road bikes, rim brakes may be a bit of a technological dead end. Many newer performance bikes don't have rim brake versions. Wheel and rim manufacturers might cease developing higher-end rims for rim brakes. That said, if you were willing to shop used, you might consider getting a used pair of nice wheels.
Discussing possible upgrades in my perceived order of cost-effectiveness:

Upgrade to ultralight butyl tubes (you can keep the older butyl tubes as spares). These should reduce rolling resistance. You might even consider TPU tubes (currently, Tubolito is the only manufacturer, and they're very expensive) or latex tubes (they will lower rolling resistance even more than light butyl or TPU, and they may even be more durable, but they require daily inflation and can be tricky to install). Some independent parties have actually tested rolling resistance for inner tubes. Aerocoach published estimates for light butyl, TPU, and latex tubes. Bicycle Rolling Resistance did similarly, but I believe they also included some good standard butyl tubes.

Upgrade to a high-performance road tire. Again, Bicycle Rolling Resistance and Aerocoach have published some estimates. Take note that Aerocoach focused on racing tires, and both outfits include time trial tires in their tests; those tires are very, very thin and not durable. High-performance tires like the Continental Grand Prix 5000, Specialized Turbo Cotton, or their equivalents from other manufacturers are good choices to consider here.

Those upgrades deal with consumable items anyway, and you could dismount the tires and move them if you decided to get a new bike. They will make a noticeable difference to the ride and to your perceived (and actual!!!) speed.
Upgrading your entire wheelset is trickier. You have a lower-end alloy-rimmed wheelset. I haven't been able to find exact specifications for your current set. However, you could get a used or new set of higher-end alloy wheels in your price range. The hubs might be more durable, and they would be lighter. Based on appearances, any changes in aerodynamics would be marginal. You have to make massive weight changes to see any meaningful differences in cycling performance.
You could consider getting a set of used carbon aerodynamic wheels instead. Those would make a noticeable difference. I haven't personally checked, but the used rim brake wheel market is likely to be soft, because the industry is shifting to disc brakes. However, carbon rims require special pads (emphasized because you will damage your rims and have poor braking otherwise), and braking will always be inferior to alloy rims. Moreover, if you ever did a ride with long descents, carbon rims are sensitive to heat, and can be destroyed if you drag your brakes too long (Google for carbon resins and glass transition temperatures if you're interested). I don't see this as a good idea for a lower-end rim brake bike, and I think this is out of your price range anyway.


What are the disadvantages of having an old, worn cogset?

As a chain wears out, the distance between links gets bigger (this is what chain wear tools measure). As this is happening, the chain will grind the cogs to match the worn chain (distance between teeth increases). This is why your gears might not feel so bad, but then they get much worse when you put on a new chain. The new chain's links do not line up with the teeth on the cogs. This will be noticeable in a few ways depending on how worn the cogs are.

First is the noise coming the drivetrain and no amount of lube will silence it. The next one will be shifting performance as you find the chain getting stuck on a cog more often. If the cogs are extremely worn, you'll then get slippage as the chain slides forward over the cog (staying on the same cog,  not shifting) when you put pressure on the pedals. This last one can actually be a safety hazard as you might fall if you are out of the saddle pushing, then suddenly the drivetrain lets go (it feels similar to a broken chain when it happens).

Based on this, you might think that it's a good idea to keep the worn chain on for as long as possible, but that will lead to much faster wear on other components as well. Chainrings and jockey wheels rarely need replacing on a well-maintained drivetrain, but if the chain is too worn, then it will grind into these just like the cogs, making it a much more expensive replacement. Many people replace their cassette and chain at the same time once the chain length is 1% longer than when new. This ensures that you won't put excessive wear on the chainrings and jockey wheels.

I prefer to replace my chain at 0.75% which allows me to keep the cassette for about 5-6 chains. This is cheaper for me since I use Dura Ace and Ultegra cassettes, but if you're using more entry level gear, then it's usuallly cheaper to wear them out together and replace them both at once.


How does a bike absorb all the energy in landing from a big drop?

Physics!
Landing big jumps is all about dissipating the inertia that pesky old gravity has created on your trip back to earth. The better you dissipate that inertia, the better the chance that you wont kill yourself. There are several factors in play here:

The Transition of the Landing.The landing is almost always sloped downwards. Combine forward momentum with a downslope and you've got a significantly softer landing than you would landing on flat ground. That's one of the major reasons you see riders get hurt when they overshoot a landing transition.

Suspension.A little bit of suspension goes a long way, and a lot of suspension goes even further. The amount of impact damping that even an inch of give will provide is enormous. Think about it in terms of what it feels like to fall backwards onto a mattress vs falling backwards into tall grass or snow, distance being equal. The give of the soft surfaces decreases your velocity and dissipates your inertia which is what keeps you from cracking your head open as you would on concrete. Big-hit bikes can have 8 or 10 inches (or more) of suspension travel. That's a lot of travel to dissipate an impact. Even the tires provide a little bit of squish which is especially important for BMX riders (and it's also why rigid mountain bike riders tend to run larger volume tires).
Proper Landing (how you leverage your bike and the bike's suspension)Notice how most riders will land rear wheel down first, especially on flatter landings which are common in trials and street BMX. This further reduces impact because the rider can, in a way, leverage the give of the front and rear of the bike in succession. This is effective for both rigid and suspended bikes. By landing on the rear wheel first, you can use the bike as a lever of sorts - absorbing part of the impact and decreasing your body's velocity before the front wheel lands. This is achieved if your weight is balanced correctly by bracing against the pedals and handlebars. The effect is even greater for a bike with suspension. As the rear wheel hits, the rear shock soaks up what it can, then the front wheel comes down and the fork soaks up even more. Compare this to landing totally flat (both wheels at the same time) where the bike will provide roughly only as much suspension as the averaged travel of the combination of the front and rear shocks, or for a rigid bike, only as much as the tires would give (ouch!). Landing rear wheel first doesn't mean you get double the travel, but it certainly gives the bike more time to dissipate the force of the landing.
Knees and Elbows (even more suspension)Really, this includes most of your joints - any part of the body that can flex and move to soak up the impact. You don't see riders taking big jumps and landing seated. That's because they're using their arms and legs to take up as much of the impact as they can that the bike couldn't.

When you combine all of these elements in harmony you've got a really substantial amount of movement, and although it only takes a fraction of a second to land a big jump, it's enough time to slow down a rider's mass and keep them from becoming a grease spot at the bottom of The Tooney Drop.


Choosing mudguards for carrying a bicycle in a small lift

You could try something with slightly less coverage like the sks raceblades. However, the sks commuter fenders have less clearance in the back. It still might be too much though.  Clip on fenders like the portland design work soda pop fenders may be an option for you as well, but they provide less coverage overall.

Fenders are one of those things that are pretty easy to hack yourself if you have some small tools.  I trim off some material from the fender to make it fit.

I would bolt it on to the fender mounts on your rear dropouts and then measure the distance from the actual end of the fender to where you would like the fender to end. Then, on the other side of the fender, where you secure it near the cranks, I would mark the fender and trim that much material off from the end.  You could do this with a coping saw or a dremel tool pretty easily on plastic fenders. You'll need to re-drill a mounting hole.

You might not be able to trim the fender in a straight line, you may have to cut it in a similar pattern to the bottom of the existing fender, depending on the fender's width. Skinny fenders may need little to no tapering at the bottom, while large fenders may need to be thinned down a lot. Really, just make it look like the end you're chopping off and it should be fine.  You could trace the shape on to some paper, cut it out, and trace that on the fender before making your cuts.

You might also want to put some washers on either side of the new hole for extra reinforcement.


Recommendation for trainer tire 28 x 1 5/8 x 1 3/8

The rim you have is a 700c (ISO 622) rim. You can use any 700c trainer tire on it (the tires will be labeled as ETRTO __-622 or 700x__ possibly with a "c" somewhere). The tire you commute on is a 700x35/37c tire and the trainer tire you have selected is one correctly sized trainer tire for this wheel.

It's probably best to refer to the wheel as a 700c wheel, since that will be the terminology most people will be familiar with. Tire sizing is a mess due to different standards, so I suggest you refer to the wheel and tires you need in the forms above. Most people are not familiar with the inches+fractions system of tire sizing (which is not interchangeable with inches+decimals), and it can lead to confusion. The French system (700c) or ISO/ETRTO systems (ISO/ETRTO 622) specifications are much more common (with the tire sizes specified above).

We don't do product recommendation here, but if you're regularly switching between trainer tires and road tires, you should consider getting a second wheel set which you can mount tires just for training (well, if you're using a trainer, just a rear wheel). This is a decent strategy if you do tire swaps regularly. The wheel doesn't have to be expensive, just compatible with your drive train.

Also, see our various questions on difficult to mount tires, such as this one. Some tire and rim combos are difficult.


Check if there is any mud in brake pads.
Try cleaning the rims with alcohol :)
Read this http://www.bikeforums.net/mountain-biking/45251-cleaning-rims-alcohol-benzine-solvent.html


Slow lever return after shortening brake line and bleeding

There are three possible things that could be causing this:

Too little mineral oil remaining in the system, did you top up the brakes after shortening them?. This would create a vacuum in the system and would prevent the lever from returning fully. *--EDIT on reflection I think this is unlikely with a Shimano brake as after oil falls below a certain level air would enter the system and the lever wouldn't work.
A blockage caused by grease in the needle creating a slow vacuum.
A broken spring in the lever. There isn't enough negative pressure in the system to force the lever to return so this is aided by a spring in the lever which also creates suction at the piston. Did you check the brakes prior to shortening the hose? This is a known failure for Shimano brakes.

My trouble shooting would be:

Check mineral oil level
Check the needle for a blockage
Take it to a LBS for some professional help


Are upright conventional bicycle more comfortable than a recumbent trike over forest trails?

Comfortable is very subjective. I hate to use a car metaphor, but someone in a trike might find it more like steering a station wagon than a bike when it comes to tight turning. So in one concern, you're replaced an uncomfortable upright posture with a possibly stressful steering style.

I would search for recumbent videos and see how many you can find that show riders sliding sideways and flipping. Three wheels is more stable for an object at rest, but what a trike lacks that a bicycle relies on is the inherent meta stability provided by counter steering. Consider on a bicycle, your front wheel is constantly steering, even if subtly. This gives it remarkable "technical" navigation skill, which MTB riders must rely on.

The length of your wheel base also has an effect. A tadpole trike, with longer wheel base, might make pitch sway over bumps less pronounced. However, you get more roll swap left and right than on an upright, because you have two wheels on the side that are hitting roots at different times.

Trikes have different clearances for obstacles than bicycles. The tadpole recumbent trikes that I'm picturing only have about three inches of clearance under the seat. This is often due to smaller wheels and a road riding design.

The diameter of the wheels affects bounce and shake as well. A 29er will ride a trail more smoothly than a 20 inch kids bike for obvious reasons. If you are looking for comfort, you want a trike with large wheels. This also has an effect on pedaling style - recumbents want a faster cadence to make up for a lack of standing-weight pedaling power. If you are going uphill over roots, you might feel like you are pedaling a lot faster and possibly going slower.

I like riding my Rans Tailwind, it is comfortable, but I notice it's a lot jouncier on gravel paths because it's got 20 inch wheels. I don't get neck strain, but I really don't like hitting roots or potholes with it. If I'm on an upright bike navigating roots, I tend to be looking down and not out at the horizon anyhow, so I don't feel neck discomfort in those situations.

Comfort is subjective. Your setting and riding style has a lot to do with what equipment you want to use.

Update
(As per Mac's point) In my experience, which excludes recumbent trikes but includes small wheel recumbent bikes, you are very unlikely to pitch forward if you hit a bump or root badly, so a recumbent orientation is much safer in that respect. The frame sag is noticeable to me, when I strike a root or pothole on my Rans, I notice that I slow down, possibly slide forward in my seat a bit, and my whole body jounces up and down. That also tends to make my steering wobble because I hold onto my (over the seat) handlebars tighter. I presume on a trike, you would feel a roll as one of the outter wheels hit a bump, possibly turning your vehicle towards the direction of the bump as the opposite side was now travelling faster, you might want to practice "steering out" of strikes. If you are riding a delta, you would want to be cautious of forward flipping when striking one rear wheel on a downhill, I suspect, you couldn't lean back to compensate. A one wheel strike on a tadpole could be compensated better by leaning forward towards the strike. (Please tell me to hush if I'm putting my foot in my mouth.)

Is it more comfortable? It sounds to me like it could be but takes different steering techniques. I guess it depends on how much suspension you have for each wheel on your trike, too.


Which is the safest side to place a foldable rack-attaching bike basket?

I'm speaking from personal experience here.  Looking at the bicycle from the back.  The drive train is on the right side, and when you use the kickstand it leans to the left.

When I commute to work, I tend to put my messenger bag with rear rack attachments on the left side.  Mostly because the bike is already leaning that way.  Once, when I was getting ready to leave work. I placed the bag on the right, and proceed to begin to tie my pants so they wouldn't get caught in the chain.  The whole bike, bag and all, fell right on top of me.  The incline of that particular part of the parking lot and the weight of the bag were enough to throw the whole bike of balance and rendered the kickstand useless.

Since then, I've always put my bag on the left side.  The idea of my bike falling on the right side and bending or breaking a derailleur just freaks me out since I've yet to learn how to fix them or adjust them.


Chain skip on new chain. Cassette has only 3200 km on it

I suggest you change your cassette now, before you get accelerated wear on your chain.  At 1% chain stretch, the cassette was as worn as the chain.

Have a very close look at the cassette with your chain in the gear that skips the most.  I suspect that if you add tension by pressing lightly on the pedal by hand, that only one link is making good contact with cassette teeth, and there may even be light visible "under" the chain.

Of course this is based on rule of thumb.


Why replace brake cartridge when grooves wear off

This is a good question. The short answer is that the design of modern rim brake pads is greedy and cynical.

This is a Mathauser pad, and is representative of how a lot of old brake pads were, and some still are.

The design differences with modern pads are obvious. You get a huge simple block of rubber with no grooves. Nothing about the design of the pad is coaxing you to replace it any time before the metal part starts contacting the rim, a point that most riders will be able to see coming and all but the least observant will hear about the second it starts actually happening, before any serious damage is done.

Pads like these are cheap to produce and last a very, very long time. I'm a heavy rider, and I have a set of these I got NOS on a bike that gets moderate use in all conditions that I've had for maybe 8 years now and the pads are about 1/3 worn. There are some theoretical arguments why grooves might help braking or prolong rim life, but I can endo the brake just fine and my rims aren't getting trashed. Many millions of pads of this design have given totally satisfactory performance.

The reason brake pad design moved away from being cheap, thick blocks of rubber is 100% that you can't make any but the most trivial amount of money producing and selling them. They last too long and are too effective for how cheap they are. Only the most hardcore of cyclists become repeat buyers.

Modern cartridge inserts are dainty and full of conservatively sized wear grooves because it creates a situation that gets more pads sold. Nothing bad happens if you wear them all that way down as long as you stop before you get to the holder, at least as long as you can be bothered to keep the brake adjusted along with the pad wear, and watch out for the worn pad overhanging the brake track. The compound doesn't change, the geometry of the brake doesn't change substantively in most cases, and the grooves don't do anything of note in either direction to braking power or rim wear.

A core question about grooves is whether their presence helps or hinders the pad to clear water and debris from the rim, potentially increasing braking power even as they inherently decrease contact area. Personally I think they don't and because they in effect feed water in to the pad/rim contact area they probably are a detriment when it's wet out, but I don't have any data. I believe the contrary idea would be that as the pad touches down on the wet rim, the leading edge has the job of squeegeeing off water to get more friction between the pad and the brake track, and having grooves essentially gives you another leading edge, getting more area clear of water faster after the pad touches down.


How much hop is correctable, and beyond which point should a rim be replaced?

The answer depends on the reason for the "hop" and your desire for perfection.

A wheel which is out of round due to incorrect spoke tension, rather than impact damage to the rim, will have no trouble being repaired, even with far greater than 3-4mm of deviation by detensioning all the spokes, and re-tensioning them evenly, essentially re-building the wheel.

A wheel which is out of round due to impact can be made round with that much deviation, or more, but it requires having the spoke tension be unbalanced. If the spoke tension on a wheel is unbalanced by more than a few percentage points, then the wheel will not remain true and round. It may, however, remain safe to ride, and only require more maintenance than normal to keep it straight and round, or it may not be safe at all.

That is something only a skilled mechanic or wheel builder can tell you, and only after re-tensioning the wheel.

Since it is a factory built wheel, I assume either that you tried to true and tension it yourself, or that there is impact damage, because it should be round from the factory.

I hope that helps.


Shredded bits of material under my trainer

Yes, its tyre rubber.
People typically use either old/worn, cheap hard compound or dedicated turbo tyres for this reason with wheel on style trainers.
The bad news is that more typically sprays off backwards than down on the mat where you see it, so there's a good chance the rest of your room has a light coating of rubber particles too!


What is the purpose of landing on the rear tire?

Landing on the rear wheel is a safe bet when you are not sure about the landing zone.

For example a small tree root would be catastrophic if you are landing with both wheel. What happens is that since the downwards force from the fall is applied to both wheels, it is much harder to roll over the obstacle. If the front wheel cannot roll over, you basically flipped.

But it is ok for the rear wheel to struggle to roll over an obstacle, as you can always drop the front wheel, balance the weight and roll easily over.
After the initial landing, there is always a bounce-back where all the tyre and spokes compression/tension is released.

It is better not to lose traction on the front wheel upon landing and thus landing on both wheel is also not a good idea.

What actually happens is 1) they are not exactly landing on rear wheel, it is an initial touch-down to reduce the falling momentum, 2) the body still continue to fall but decelerates thanks to the rear, 3) critical step to distribute the remaining falling momentum onto two wheels: too much on rear you will break something (minor) or even worse it will pump all your weight to the front wheel (see video at 34:54), too much on the front you will either flip or lose traction as previously discussed.

Having said all the above, what is important, perhaps a lot more important than whether you land on rear first or front first or both at the same time, is that you can extend the duration of impact as much as possible. This reduce the bounce-back as discussed in 2. Landing rear first is one way to prolong the impact and is also safer than landing front first.


If you have access to a compressor, compressed air works well – use the hole in the end of the grip to blow in air while covering the other end of the bars with your hand (or something). The air escaping around the grip opens it up enough that it is easy to slide on.

Rubbing alcohol can be used as a lubricant. It will evaporate leaving the grips snug on the bars. Be wary of a lube that won't evaporate as the grips may tend to spin. Some people glue grips on, but that can make them pretty hard to get off without cutting.


To what extent am I responsible for stones flicked by my tires?

There are three parties involved:

A. You (the bicyclist)

B. The driver

C. The local/city/state/federal agency responsible for road maintenance

If the road was in good condition and the car was following too closely to you, then the car might be at fault. That being said, in the USA, many states require that windshields be covered under the 'no-fault' portion of the insurance, so the driver will have it replaced by their own insurance company.

If you were riding in a manner either negligently or deliberately that might kick up rocks, then you might be responsible.

If the road was poorly maintained and you and the driver were both acting responsibly, then the city/state/local agency may be responsible - although many times they have immunity.

Which party is responsible is determined by the situation as well as the traffic laws of your country.  Ultimately, a jury or administrative judge would figure out where to find fault if it came to that.

In the case of a building, since it obviously can't move, you might be the responsible party unless you can blame the city/state for the poor conditions of the road (an argument which would be weakened if you commuted regularly on that section and thus knew that the conditions there were poor). Whether you are liable and for how much again depends on the laws of your country.

Note that you don't ask how to avoid this, but here are some thoughts:

Increase or decreases tire pressure. There's a sweet spot in which tires pling rocks. Either increasing or decreasing your tire pressure may put you out of the plinging zone.
Get wider or thinner tires. Same as above.
Slow down or speed up.
Avoid that section.


Brooks B-17 isn't breaking in, how to accelerate the process?

Wouldn't the simplest answer be to switch the saddles between the bikes?  You'd probably end up using the less used bike more and the less broken in saddle more too.


Front Derailleur 10T Capacity (XT FD-M8025)

I don't know the severity because I rarely encounter recent mountain FDs and hacky setups for them even less, but what will happen is the contact it makes with the chain when shifting off of the small ring will be suboptimal. That kind of problem will vary with what cog the chain is on in back, i.e. better in the lower gears. There can also be problems with the chain wanting to drag on the cage in some small/small combinations.
You'll probably get a better performing setup by running a wider cassette and cheating the RD total capacity. Shifting will be largely unaffected and you'll only be down the ability to use some small/small combos, which will be compromised anyway if you do what you propose.


2003 Klein Attitude comp bottom bracket change type

I googled a few pics of the frame - looks like it has a standard 'English' threaded bottom bracket shell - 1.375" x 24 tpi. Cartridge square taper BBs are readily available for this shell.

You'll need to measure the width of the shell, it should be 68 or 73mm. You'll need a BB unit compatible with that width.

The tricky part is figuring out what axle length you need to get the chainline right for your bike with the crank you have. I don't have any direct experience for that but there are at least a few questions and answers on this site on that topic.

You'll also need to check the square taper type of the crank. I think the JIS type is the most common. More info here.


Ross Piranha 1986

This is my best option based on the standing platform the fork and chain stays.

http://bmxmuseum.com/bikes/ross/89509


Shimano Tourney Front Derailleur Cable Question

Assuming you didn't change anything except the cabling, that is a bottom-pull system, because the cable comes up from below.  The other system is a top-pull, and is less common.
When the derailleur is at rest, the internal spring is pulling the cage toward the middle of the bike, making it a "low-normal" which is again most common.
Upshot - there is an arm on the derailleur that will move down as you manually pull the chain-cage out to the right.  Your inner cable needs to pull that arm down.
I would try like this:

It is possible to put the cable the other way around the pinch bolt, which may help with angles, but that little step-lip is probably to help define the pivot point.
Front derailleurs are fiddly things to set up perfectly.  If you haven't moved it on the frame, and have not changed the limit screws, then that makes it a bit easier.   Good luck!


To add to Michael's comment if it's your property you can't be forbid to bring a bicycle into your apartment, unless it's somehow unlawful to be in possession of said bicycle. Would you be forbid to bring a crank set or a pair of wheels or a bar set into your apartment? Why would you be forbid to bring those things assembled in a certain way into your apartment?

Read your lease very carefully, or get a lawyer and ask him or her about your situation considering your lease. If you can meet the building owner or property manager and ask, indirectly, about bicycles, do so and get a feel for their attitude about it. If you can tell they are going to be giving you a hard time about it don't even bother, look elsewhere. Having a bad landlord and/or building owner is a whole other problem in and of itself.


What kind of pump/attachment do I need for this? (picture)

This is a regular Schrader valve like you will find on many car tires.
Your pump (if it is a bike pump) should have something to pump this up.

If in doubt, head to your local service station and try their car pump.
Alternatively, hit up a bike store, they should be able to get air in that for you!


Hole positions for Keo and Delta are exactly the same. I've switched over 3 years ago and the shoes didn't cause any problem.Even Shimano cleats of the 3-hole type have exactly the same pattern for the holes. And with the adapter Speedplay cleats will fit too.


They are likely freezing because water is getting into the space between cable outer (cable housing) and the cable inner (the wire brake cable). Water expands as it freezes, in doing so it takes up more space than is available in an otherwise the restricted system.  Because the cable housing is relatively inflexible to expansion (it needs to be otherwise your brakes would be mushy) this ends up binding the inner brake cable causing your brakes to metaphorically and literally freeze.

About the only way to fix the freezing is to prevent water from getting into that space.  Adding oil or grease will likely not be enough to displace all the water, and as the remaining water expands when turning into ice you are left with the same problem.

As a quick fix you can bring your bike into someplace above freezing and hang it so that the water can drain out of the cable housing.

A more permanent fix depends on whether or not you can fully seal the system against water ingress. This depends on the type of brakes you have and how the brake cable is routed. I have only ever experienced freezing of brakes in sub-zero conditions on a bikes that were using full length brake housing, with the rear mechanical disc brake was mounted on the lower chain stay with no real seal between the brake housing and the disc caliper.  Rain water would slowly drip into the cable housing from the open end at the caliper and pool somewhere mid-chain stay.  Then when the weather dropped below freezing the rear brake would freeze solid.

The only to prevent this is to have some sort of seal that prevents water ingress into the housing from happening (e.g., see below)

If you have another type of brake system or a different cable routing from what is pictured above I would need to see a picture to try and diagnose how water is entering and remaining in your brake housing.

UPDATE

From your picture your cable boot on the rear brake appears to be dislodged. This will allow water to enter the system, where it will pool in the cable housing just after the brake noodle (see figure below).


If you haven't already or if they didn't come like this, the first thing to do in this scenario is switch the thicker pad spacers to be between the pad and the brake arm.

The optimal geometry is such that at the point in the arms' movement where the pads contact the rim, if you were to draw a triangle between the center of the brake pivots and the cable anchor as the points, you'd get either a right triangle or a slightly obtuse angle.

The reason is that the pad faces move in an arch. If you set up the brake like you have it, the pad is hitting the rim only once it's in the downwards part of that arch. This causes a squirmy, indeterminate brake feel, squirming noises, and the tendency for pads to dive off the rim. So you either want more like a rectangle than an A shape, or a slight V shape to give some room for pad wear before you're in the down part of the arch.

Pad spacers are your main tool to correct this. Put the thicker spacers inside and the thin ones outside. You can't always make it perfect, depending on if the post spacing is too wide or the rim too narrow.


Cause and diagnosis of wobbling crankset/chainring

For me, that clicking sound nails the diagnosis - the only thing I have ever seen that causes that is an issue with your bottom bearing - either it isn't tightened up enough, or the bearings are worn and can slip. As you put maximum torque on a pedal, a loose fit on your bearing allows the crank to force movement in the bearings outside the bearing race. They can then click back in as pressure is released.

This matches up with having a "wobble" in your chain ring.

Tightening things back up can very easily have solved your issue - although be aware of any future problems, as the time you spent with the clicking noise would have induced more wear. I had this problem many years ago, and ignored it (I know...) and by the time I got round to looking at it I had to replace a number of components that were damaged...


To buy time, I'd attempt a patch.  Since the damage looks bigger than a commercial patch, I'd cut a larger piece from an old inner tube, and make one.  Downside, any other part of this  old tube could fail in the same way.  Changing tube with a load-on is challenging.
When you do find a supplier, buy at least three tubes, two for trailer, one for spare and any more to store at home.
My searching shows they are available, but 1.75 is rare and 2.125 is more common.  You could stuff this larger tube in your existing tyres, and they would be a little more robust due to less stretch, but harder to mount without pinching.   So consider your existing tyres and whether its time to replace them with 16" x 2.125", or more.  3" seems to be a common size too.
Which leads to - Have you ever weighed your loaded trailer?  Get a bathroom scale and in turn put it under each wheel and the drawbar.  Sum the three weights, and that's your total.  Guessing you carry 50-80 kg in there, so a wider/stronger tyre will help.   The recommended max for my trailer is 55 pounds/25 kilograms, but I've carried 100 kg of UPSs successfully.  More-robust tyres certainly help !


How do I avoid becoming complacent during my commute after riding the same route for a couple of weeks?

My mind also wanders on too-familar routes, so here are a few things that I consider helpful or have been told about.

Having some (even minor) alternative routes may help; you may want a system for choosing which one to take based on which roads are busy.  Taking this to extremes you can map out your city (thanks Criggie; also see if openstreetmap can use the data, or play with veloviewer tiles)
Some goals to compete with yourself might also help -- they help you to concentrate on the riding even if not the traffic.  I tend to slow down as I lose concentration, so thinking about being quick helps.  The sheer physical effort of some of these helps to leave the thoughts behind. Some goals could be:

Total time
Time between 2 points (Strava segments, for example)
Maximum speed on a particular stretch
Getting up the big hill without stopping/in a particular gear.
Trying to keep your cadence (pedalling rate) up is a good one - choose a lower gear than you might by instinct.

A particularly good goal if your roads are rough is to minimise the number of potholes you hit.  This requires you to know whether it's safe to swerve thus to know what's coming up behind.
Combined with this, you can practice bunny-hopping over damaged bits of road, or lifting the front wheel over even the tiniest cracks.
Alternatively you might try keeping count of how many bikes overtake you vs. how many you overtake.
This isn't one for me but making words/phrases out of the letters of the numberplates of cars that overtake you can help keep your eyes on the cars themselves.
I found my handlebar mirror helps -- once I got used to having one, glancing in it became a habit (and in fact with it I can see cars coming up behind out of the corner of my eye).  In turn, knowing that someone is approaching makes me keep up my awareness.
I assume you don't have headphones on (that would be a bad idea). Practice using your rearview ears -- try to work out what's going to pass you next and how wide/fast from sound alone.  Some people like bone conduction headphones which at least don't cover your ears.
Count +1 for each car you pass and -1 for each car that passes you and you win when you get to +10. -10 means pay more attention to the road (thanks Criggie)


These cartridges are intended to inflate a tire in an emergency situation, like during a race, or for example during a ride on the country-side, far away from gas stations ;o)

(or, by the way, just to save your arm muscles from inflating a skinny tire up to a very high pressure)

When they say "up to 130 PSI", I think the manufacturers want the potential customers to be sure that the product actually might achieve 130 PSI if needed. For, say, 700x20 tires (very skinny ones), that would be a very reasonable pressure.

To use the cartridge, it must be attached to an inflator, which allows you to control how much pressure you desire. The key issue is: since there is not a pressure gauge, the only way to know the right point is to know beforehand what the right pressure "feels like" with your current tire, and then trying to replicate that after you fix the tire, for example:

Thumb-checking the tire so that it is "hard enough";
Grabbing the seat or the handlebars and hitting the wheel against the floor so that it is "hard enough";
Riding the bike while looking at the bulge around the ground-contact area, so that it "looks right";
Riding the bike while hitting small irregularities on the ground, so that it "feels right".

(unfortunately the gauge from my floor pump broke, and I am becoming expert on "sensitive" tire inflation methods :o(

As a bottom line, if your tire is designed for 110 PSI max., that doesn't mean (at all!) that it will instantly explode as soon as it reaches anything beyond that pressure, because that is the maximum pressure recommended to BE RIDDEN. If you get, say, 130 PSI with the cartridge, you'll probably feel it is too much, so you can deflate it a bit before riding. In the end, between too hard and too soft, there is a lot of room for personal taste, specially if you just want to go on riding, after a flat.

Just as an example: I had (have?) a lot of friends who ride mountain bikes with knobby tires up to 80 PSI (it's crazy, I know), just because the bike "rides much better on asphalt". So far, no explosion happened (except one with a very low quality tire targeted at 40 PSI max... The girl literally hugged the road, but she was ok...)


Shimano prides itself on seamless shifting and it's specs are quite conservative to preserve that reputation. With a little sensible caution and a chain catcher you should be able to replace the 26 with a 22. 22/36 is a big drop. If you are just going to replace a single chainring, I'd suggest a 24 rather than 22. When cogs are that small, even 2 teeth is a much smaller gear. 48/36/24 is a very standard touring triple ring config.

If you've got a bit more coin to spend I would highly recommend going to a Deore XT 10 speed triple, it comes with 24/32/42 and can easily be swapped out for your crank and a 22t replacement works just fine. It will work fine with your current 9spd drive train and provide a more reasonable set of gears. I did this with my 2017 Haanjo Exp which has very similar specs.

https://www.ebay.com/p/Shimano-XT-M780-10-Speed-Triple-175mm-24-32-42t-Crankset-With-Bottom-Bracket-MTB/1200053828?iid=192866758545

That price is kind of high IMHO, you should be able to find it cheaper.

Another change you might consider is switching to a 12-36 9 speed cluster in the rear. This will work just fine with your components and provide more usable gears in the middle and high chainrings. The difference between 26/32 and 26/36 will be significant. You'll need to learn what the "B" adjustment is on a derailleur to get this cluster working properly.

https://www.jensonusa.com/Shimano-CS-HG400-9-Speed-Cassette-12-36T?pt_source=googleads&pt_medium=cpc&pt_campaign=shopping_us&pt_keyword=&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjJOfr-Sd4gIVjbxkCh26UAvIEAQYASABEgLmy_D_BwE

That price is about the same as a 22t chainring and probably the cheapest way to get lower gears on that bike.

With a Wolftooth Roadlink, you can even go as big as 40t in the back with a 9 speed Deore derailluer. Finding a 9 speed cluster with a 40t isn't cheap, but it is possible.

While it's getting better, standard gearing that comes with most bikes makes very little sense for the novice rider. 48/11 is a huge gear and if you've got steep/long hills 26/32 is not low enough to climb w/o going into the red zone. Especially on a touring bike that is meant to carry loads.

There is a point where the gearing gets too low to ride. It depends a lot on the terrain and rider, I found that 22/40 was too low for me even on steep dirt. But having a 24/40 works for me for long fire roads at altitude.

There is a lot to learn and you may outgrow your gears, but the best investment you can make in gear starting out is gears that work for YOU!, not tour de france racers.


What direction of rotation should I mount my tyre?

I don't own these tyres but looking at the knobs I think it's obvious which direction would have more traction for climbing - with the "sharp" edge pointing backwards and thus prevening the wheel to slide back - and the other way round for better braking and less rolling resistance.

From what I've read, some people recommend using "less rolling resistance" setting for the front wheel and "better climbing traction" for the rear - seems quite natural. But the choice is yours.


That is an unusual tire size, and it's true you don't have a lot of options.

As Ross points out, Schwalbe does make the Marathon tire (which is very robust) in that size.
You could keep your current tires and put some tire-liner strips inside them. You'd need to cut them to fit.
You could add sealant to your innertubes (you might need to swap tubes). This won't prevent the punctures, it would just mean they're less trouble.

Good luck.