how long does it take to break in a brooks saddle (b17)

By breaking in your Brooks B17 etc. leather saddle, you create the "valleys" in the leather for your sitbones and the crotch area of the pelvis bone.

Therefore you need enough time for the leather to deform at these three areas. There is various information on the net. My experience is that about 500km of riding (so about 25h at 20 km/h) gives a good enough break-in.

SITBONE

However, I agree with "Fred the MagicWonder Do", if it is not roughly comfortable on day 1, i.e. roughly the width is not good enough, it never will be.

So from these, the biggest deciding factor of saddle comfort is total effective sitbone width. This is measured in cm, and the width you need depends on two things:

Base width = width of your sitbones (in cm, typically 10-14 cm)
Plus additional width required for your riding position (in cm, typically 0-4 cm)

triathlon +0cm
sporty +1cm
trekking +2 cm
city +3 cm
fully upright +4 cm

If in doubt, go for wider. Narrower causes pain.

You can measure your sitbone length with cardboard paper (like an amazon shipping box).
See the info at SQ Lab for the measurement (you don't need the special device, you can do it on a simple chair).

SQ Lab saddle width measurement

In theory, if the B17 is wide enough for you, after break in, it will be even more comfortable. If it is not wide enough, try Brooks B67.

If I remember well, the max effective sitting width of a Brooks B17 saddle is 12 - 12.5 cm, but you need to check. If your total effective width is above that, you will find it uncomfortable after break in, because your sitbones will be over the metal part of the saddle, where it cannot deform. So what counts for leather saddles is not the total width, but the parts that can deform, inside the metal U-frame. Also, for other saddle brands, this is what you need to check.

The big part of men find comfortable a Brooks B17 width, and these people write in the reviews how comfortable it is. Those who complain, probably have more distance between the sitbones, and/or ride more upright, and the B17 is not wide enough for them.

I have a wider than average sitbone width (12.5 cm), and I ride in a trekking position (14.5 - 15.5 cm), and no surprise, the B17 was uncomfortable for me. The B67 was better. In the end, I decided on a 15 cm SQ Lab 604 saddle, as it is water proof, and I often bike in rain/cold(wet). I don't like that when it rains, I stop, stand on my feet, the leather takes up water, and keeps me wet the whole day.

CROTCH

The other deciding factor is crotch depth - whether there is room for the crotch part of the pelvis bone, or the bone and genitals hit hard plastic/metal.

Anatomic, or leather saddles have/create room for the crotch.
This part of the comfort you cannot feel on the first ride on a leather saddle, only after break in.
It is independent from saddle size.
For 1-2 hour rides, or triathlon positions ("sitting on the legs"), the crotch comfort doesn't matter that much. It matters usually after 50-60 km of ride. When my crotch hurts, I simply cannot ride more. When the saddle is right, my buttocks are tired, but don't hurt, and I can do 100+ km.

As there is less weight on the crotch, and when it hurts, unconsciously you will stand more on your legs, it takes more time for the "crotch-valley" to form in the saddle, maybe double time. At the beginning it hurts, and as time goes by, and as the leather deforms slowly, it will be better and better.

An anatomic saddle, which has the valley for the crotch built-in, only needs some play with angle of the saddle, otherwise it should not hurt from day one.

Note that if you change the angle of the leather saddle after break-in, it can be the the crotch-valley is not deep enough, and it hurts again, until it deforms according to your new position.

Otherwise, here's a link for saddle break in:
Breaking in a Leather Saddle

This is the most imformative page I've found about Brooks saddles:
Leather Saddles - SWHS.home.xs4all.nl


Can a carbon fiber bike have rack eyelets?

I have a 2011 Jamis Xenith Endura 2. It is a carbon frame with rack mounts embedded in the frame. I have been commuting with this bike for 5 years, maybe twice a week, most of the year. I also run errands and take recreational with it. I use Ortleib Panniers and often have them loaded up. So far no problems.


Road front hubs are 100 mm and 8-10 speed rear hubs are 130 mm.

In the case of the Trek 1.1, it's always been spec'd with a 8 speed rear hub, so those wheels should fit on the bike.


Your frame as a steel frame made from a high quality chromium molybdenum steel is generally quite tolerant of torque. Thus, it's not as important to have precisely the recommended torque as it is for e.g. aluminum alloy frames.
As far as I know, the only parts screwed to the frame that are essential to riding the bicycle are:

Bottom bracket: you will find the recommended torque given by the bottom bracket manufacturer, but 40 Nm is a good guess.
Thru-axles for wheels if not equipped with QR: many thru axles have the torque written on them, if not 10 Nm is a good guess. However, your frame does not use thru-axles.
Brakes (disc or rim): you will find the recommended torque given by the brake manufacturer. For caliper brakes (like what the Steamroller uses) about 8-9 Nm is a good starting point.

Then there are obviously components screwed to frame threads that are unnecessary for general riding, such as water bottle cages, fenders, pannier rack, etc. For a good guess for these, you can use any generic bolt calculator. Of these non-essentials, the only that  you have to get absolutely right is the pannier rack if you're carrying a lot of cargo, as it is a load bearing component. 5 newton meters for the pannier rack is a good guess. You are unlikely to damage a quality steel frame with 5 newton meters. The others (fenders, bottle cages) can be left slightly undertightened as they are unlikely to vibrate loose unless left very loose.
For any other component, it isn't attached to the frame threads so you won't find the torque spec given by the frame manufacturer but rather the component manufacturer.


When turning a corner my rear wheel touches the brake pad, is this normal?

You should check the wheel hubs. They may have too much free play. Take out the wheel and wiggle the axle. See Sheldon Brown's page here: http://sheldonbrown.com/cone-adjustment.html
The new brake pads may be closer to the rims than the old ones so that the fault showed up.


Changing my rear wheel tyre from 26 x 2.1 to 26 x 2.0: what's the difference?

I am reasonably assured the larger tire will fit. As has been stated here before, bicycle tire width sizes aren't an exact standard. Maker A's tire size 2.0 inch may in fact be larger than Maker B's 2.1. The best information comes from user reviews about a specific model. Just to be sure look at your current tire. Does it barely fit between the frame stays? When on the smallest front sprocket how close is the front derailleur from hitting the tire. If the tolerances are very close the larger tire may not fit. Tire design also comes into play. A full knobby tire ( WTB velociraptor)  may hit while a microknob  (Geax AKA) may have enough clearance.


Apart from the size, is there any difference between chains for derailleurs or for single-speed / internally geared hubs?

I see a few different sizes of chain, broken down as follows

1/8 inch wide chain

 Single Speed / Internal Hub only, don't use with a standard derailleur.
 Can fit on 1/8 inch or 3/32 inch chainrings and cassettes. It will have some play when installed with a 3/32 chainring or cassette, but it's usable. So, if you accidentally buy an 1/8 in chain and have smaller chainrings, you can still use the 1/8 inch wide chain.

3/32 inch wide chain

Used for single speed or derailleur bikes.
Speced to be used for specific number of gears on the rear cassette, 6/7/8 speed, 9 speed, and 10 speed are most common sizes.  You typically want this number to match the chain (it matters more on 9, 10, or 11 speed clusters since the chainrings tend to vary slightly in width and tooth shape so they work better with the narrower spacing on the rear cassette and require more lateral flexibility.
I typically use 6/7/8 speed chains for my bikes that have single speed, fixed gear, or internally geared hubs that have 3/32 cogs since they tend to be cheaper than the 9, 10, or 11 speed chains since they don't need to be as flexible and will usually have a pretty straight chainline.
1/8 inch cogs/chainrings will not fit a smaller 3/32 chain.


If  I want to get it "Concours d'elegance" clean, I use dish washing detergent.

Unlike a car, a bicycle has no issue with stripping off the wax polish that protects the paint work (I don't know anyone that polishes their bike), and the dirt is mostly muddy organic materials that needs a mild soap/detergent. (Spots of oil from a over oiled chain or hub are dealt with using a concentrated dish wash liquid/water solution).

Main thing to do is keep any contamination off the disk brakes, hence the need for plain cleaners. You can go to the bike shop and buy bike specific cleaners in small, bike wash sized bottles, but I prefer to buy a gallon of basic cleaner and spend the change on things that matter, like a good coffee :)

Cleaning to me means removing the grindy stuff from around the moving bits and lubrication of the moving bits. Normally my only focus for "Shiny clean" is the shock and fork stanchions, after all, its a mountain bike -a bit of dirt gives you street cred and makes the bike legitimate...


Pads in contact with disk when idle on my SLX L675 disk brakes

Does the rear brake lever has spongy feel to it or longer throw? If not, you might want to manually rectract the caliper pistons:

Remove the wheel.
Remove brake pads.
Use something with flat non-sharp surface to slightly push both pistons (two white ceramic cylinders behind pads) inside caliper body. I usually use an allen key long arm.
Assemble everything back in reverse order and try it out.

If it didn't help and pads are still too close, it can be the case of too much mineral oil in the system. I had the similar issue when I overbled M615 brakes. In this case you'll need to open bleeding port (black bolt to the left of "SLX" print on lever from second photo) prior to step 3 and wrap with some cloth to catch extra mineral oil. After you're done pushing the pistons, screw the bolt back in and try the brake again.

As a side note, keep disc rotor and pads away from mineral oil.


What is an equivalent or compatible chainring for this Deore XT "24-AM" chainring?

Yep, that inner ring has go some nice shark-fin teeth. I predict your photo will be used in future questions about chain ring wear :-) The outer ring looks well- worn too.

An XT equipped bike from 2012 will have the M780 XT series crank which has four symmetrical bolts. The newer XT M8000 series has asymmetrical bolts.

I'm not sure if actual M780 rings are available but there are good aftermarket options for chainrings in general. All you need to know is the bolt-circle diameter (BCD) for the inner ring, which is easily measurable. You should be able to find a replacement with a symmetrical 4 bolt pattern in the tooth count you want at any of the larger online bike component stores.


These days there is a range of drop bar 'road' bikes with a spectrum of capabilities. Using some of Specialized's current range to illustrate:

You can ride a 'race' bike such as the Tarmac with narrow, slick 23mm tires on a gravel or poorly paved surface, but it's not much fun, and you risk puncturing of damaging the wheels.

The Diverge with it's 30mm tire does better, but don't expect to crash it over large potholes without consequence.

The Sequoia with 27.5" wheels and 42mm tires is in mountain bike wheel territory and obviously deals with rough surfaces much better.

Basically bigger tires means better rough surface capability, but at the expense of heavier, harder to accelerate wheels.

For the C&O Canal towpath - a trail I'm very familiar with (fairly smooth crushed gravel, a few ruts and potholes) - a tire 28-35mm with some tread will probably work.

Update:

I ran my new bike with 28mm slick tires on the Fairfax County Connector Trail which is far rougher than the C&O Canal towpath trail this weekend with no issues. 28mm on the C&O will be fine, although I still recommend a tire with some tread.


At a guess, you suffered chain suck where the chain got stuck between the smaller chain-ring and the frame, or you dropped the chain between the rear cassette and spokes. The forces you then used have possibly been more than the QR skewers could handle and the rear wheel slipped in its mount. The weird force is the tire rubbing the frame.

My real concern is the "However hard I tried....." - you may have done significant damage to drive train components. Never put pressure on a jammed drive train - a modern bike is actually a very highly tuned, lightweight and fragile piece of machinery. Forces it is not designed to take will break it.

You do not say how you went from jammed and not moving to moving and not driving - was there a bang/crack/snap involved?

There are a few things that can be wrong, and based on what you said, you probably now have more than one fault.  You need to isolate parts to find out what it is. Most of the of these checks can be done almost instantly without removing anything.  The chain will get in the way - you won't need to remove it though.

Remove the wheel from the bike and check the freewheel. It should be
moving freely in one direction and locked up in the other
Check the rear derailleur  - is the chain running freely though it.
If not, check the chain line and make sure the small sprockets are
free spinning.
Check the chain line though the front end. Is the chain clear of the
derailleur and sitting properly on the chain ring.
Spin the pedals and check the bottom bracket is not jammed up
somehow. check the pedals and cranks are properly aligned and
attached to the bottom bracket.


When I decided to get back in biking around 2 years ago (After not being in a bike since I was a teen) this was around the same amount of distance I had to pedal. My bike was a Schwinn Ridge Al mountain frame with slick tires and during the first week I couldn't complete the commute for more than 2 days in a row. After the second week it became a lot easier and since then I commute by bike almost everywhere within 20Km. 7Km is quite a small distance but depending on your current fitness you may need to bike only 3 out of 7 days the first week (With resting in between). After that it will became really easy for you.

I checked your route using the Google Streetview and found there are a lot of bicycle taxis out there, which suggests these roads are plenty used by bikes and you should have no problem with traffic speed, but be very careful with the basic cycling safety measures. Sticking to the same traffic patterns should help to make things safe enough, but you may want to ask fellow cyclists for tips.

If you already own a bike, give it a try on any free day! That will let you have a better understanding of what will be required.


What kind of brake pads for Dia Compe centre pull brakes

You can use V-brake pads, but they tend to be longer and can create clearance issues. On the bike I currently have set up with those pads on Dia-Compe centerpulls, the shoes hit the fork when the brake is open, making wheel removal difficult.

edit:

As ojs notes below, road caliper pads are probably your best bet. They also tend to be on shorter posts, so they don't limit tire clearance as much as V-brake pads.


How do I remove my bicycle handlebars that are connected by a single rusted bolt?

Sounds like you have a Quill Stem, which has a single large long bolt going down into the steerer tube, which is part of the fork.

Here's a cutaway showing what's inside.

Generally speaking they're fairly corroded over time.  The thing labelled Clamp in the diagram is more normally known as a wedge or expander.

So you need to get some penetrating oil into the threads in the wedge.  This is not possible from above.

Remove your bike's front wheel and put it aside.
Flip your bike over, and identify the dark hole in between the fork legs.   You may need to remove any mudguard or fender too.
Squirt some penetrating oil down this hole and let it sit overnight.  Probably a good idea to put some rags, paper or basin down to catch any oil that comes through.  Some will sneak around the sides.
After a day of sitting, try and undo the bolt.

If the bolt moves, undo it about 2 full turns and then give a gentle tap with a hammer downward.  This will knock the wedge loose.  If you remove the whole long bolt, the wedge will be left behind.

The reason heat didn't help is because the head of the bolt is a long way from the threads, and the heat won't carry that far.  Applying heat to the outside of the bike won't really help either.


Can I glue this crack as a temporary solution?

No.

The consequences of fork failure are likely to be severe and painful. This may only be a secondary fork crown but it's still structural. The fact that it's such a wide crack means something is already deformed and weakened. Any glue joint would be under huge stress and aluminium doesn't glue well. If this happened out on the trail it might be possible to ride back to civilisation at walking pace on a fire road, but I'd probably rather scoot the bike standing on one pedal. As your picture indicates it's indoors, you need a new fork before riding it anywhere.

I wouldn't even ride it to a bike shop.

More generally (thanks to cmaster): Never ride a bike where there's so much as a crack in a) the front axle, b) any part of the fork, including the steering tube, c) the stem, or d) the handlebar. There is zero backup for any of these parts, and failure usually means immediate loss of control and consequently unmitigated crash.


Can someone help identify my bike frame?

I think it's a 1980 Sekai 2400 model, all the hardware is upgraded and it's been painted for sure due to no decals.
I have one similar and still trying to date it. but serial is very much the same


This is completely normal for folding tires. They will settle into round shape when they are mounted and inflated for a while.

When installing the tires with kinks, they do slip away from rims more often than perfectly round tires. One way to avoid it is to keep the part that is already on the rim tight. There's no need to align the kinks to something, or anything like that.


What is the easiest to upgrade my chainrings from a double to a triple?

You have a couple different options. I think the cheapest would be to switch to a compact crankset which would change the front chainrings from 52-39 to 50-34.  I'm pretty sure you could do this while still using the same shifter. Changing the front shifter is required if you want to go from a double to a triple, as is changing the front derailleur.  If you switch to a compact I'm pretty sure you can keep the same derailleur and shifter.

Another thing you'll want to look out for is the rear derailleur.  You currently have a short cage derailleur, and you may need a medium or long cage derailleur when you go with a compact crankset.

I don't think a triple should really be necessary on a 10 speed system.  I have triple, but I have an 8 speed cassette. I find in that case the triple is nice because you can still get lots of gear range while still keeping the gears close together, However, on a 10 or 11 speed cassette, this isn't really necessary.  I think that switch to a compact crankset is a much better option.

Also, according to This post, the maximum cog size of a short cage Shimano short cage is 27 and the total drivetrain capacity is 29.  To use a larger cassette, you would have to switch out the rear derailleur. If you used a compact crankset, you should be probably also replace your rear derailler for a medium cage, as your total capacity would be (50-34) + (27-12) = 31.  However, if you changed the cassette to a 12-25, you could get away with not replacing the rear derailleur and still getting a little bit lower gearing, although possibly not enough for your needs.


Shifter cable running beneath the bottom bracket without a sheath

Ghost shifting is generally caused by the frame flexing, not by friction in the cables.
Other causes can be a poorly fitting or too short cable housing. Something is causing the length of the cable between the stops to change.

Cleaning the cable run and using a teflon coated shift cable won't hurt and might alleviate the problem if it's a combo of bottom bracket flex and sticky guide. When this
is the cause the problem tends to be very intermittent and only occurs when standing
on the pedals to climb. However, as Daniel R Hicks suggests, check the frame carefully for cracks. An aluminum alloy frame of that age that has seen a lot of miles is at the end of it's usable life.

If you can't find any cracks, examine the cable housing runs carefully. The cable housing ends should not move at all in the stops when shifting or turning the handlebars. Check the derailleur hanger to make sure it's not loose.

The part you are looking at is called a Bottom Bracket Cable Guide, but your's looks
just fine. They rarely wear out, shift cables aren't under much tension, so a plastic slider is plenty slippery enough. On an old enough bike, they are made of metal.


How should I select front and rear gears?

Having more than one chainring (one of the front gears) expands the total gearing range available to you. Having multiple chainrings gives you a higher high gear for cruising at high speed as well as a lower low gear for spinning up hills.
The difference in the number of teeth between chainrings is much larger than the difference between sprockets in the rear. You can think of chainrings as being for major adjustments and sprockets for minor adjustments. You don't need to change gears in front nearly as often as in back.
The simplest gear changing strategy is to adjust the rear gears as needed and then change the front gears whenever you start to cross-chain. Cross-chaining is using the big chainring with a big sprocket or the small chainring with a small sprocket. It accelerates drivetrain wear and sometimes produces noise and grinding feeling.


Leave a bicycle in the rain for a day - is it safe?

It's no problem, but there are a few things to consider:

Keep all the moving parts well oiled. Note that even if you only ride on roads there will be more dirt getting on it, so you'll need to give the chain a good clean, let it dry, and oil it.  This should stop the mechanicals getting too rusty, some screw heads will rust but not too badly.
Wet rims don't brake as well, especially if the wet isn't pure, so after riding off the first stop may take longer (and be noisy). If the rain has stop it may be worth applying the brakes (carefully) once or twice right after starting your ride, to get the rims dry.
Get a waterproof saddle cover, then take it off when you want to ride - so much more comfortable than a wet saddle, especially if the saddle has stitching which lets the water in.  This is better than a plastic bag, because you can leave it on, and only remove it if it's wet. Alternatively, get a saddle with a plastic surface, then you can just wipe off the rain.
If you're expecting really heavy rain, your lights might not take it (as I found out recently) so you might want to take them with you (of course you might want to anyway so they don't get stolen). This is for removable lights; if you have lights that are meant to be installed permanently (for dynamo use), they will gererally be watertight.

If you ride in the rain, then keep the bike in a shed on a damp day, it won't dry out properly for hours anyway, so the actual outside storage isn't much extra punishment on top of the ride (assuming of course that it's wet all day)


Assuming you mean the bottom bracket bolt cover (per wikipedia) there are two horrid types, and no good ones I'm aware of.

The expensive ones are metal and exactly match the thread of the crank so they shield it and keep it clean. They're also fragile and easy to damage as they're not strong enough to take much force but they have a large thread contact area so become quite solidly stuck over time. They're also expensive (did I say that already?).

The cheap plastic ones don't look as nice, but are lighter and easy to replace. They're also easy to damage when removing them and often the little plastic tabs break off even if you're very careful. The flip side is that you can buy a packet of 10 for about $5. But not online, by the look of it. eBay has single caps at about $1 each, which is IMO unreasonable, and no-one's selling larger quantities. I think you'll have to pay whatever your LBS charges, unfortunately, or buy a box of 1000 from China. Classic small part problem - you're paying $1 for the LBS to handle the product which is most of the cost.


When winter arrives and brings shorter days, I add additional lights.  As you say, this is just more urban lights, but a bike light--especially if it is blinking--does make you more visible.  I prefer a light with an erratic blink pattern, such as Planet Bike's BLAZE with superflash mode (http://ecom1.planetbike.com/3047.html).  This erratic pattern forces you to the forefront of attention.

Lights and reflectors are essential but are not the whole answer.  I ride at night to be right where the motorists can see me.  It is always important to do this, but more so at night.  When there is no bike lane and no wide shoulder, I take the MIDDLE of the lane.  This is particularly important in an urban setting like Oakland or Sacramento, CA--where I ride.  Traffic in the city is heavy and often not much faster than I am.  Often cars are maxxing out at 25mph whereas I'm riding at around 15-18mph.  I can ride in the middle of the lane and if they're anxious, they can pass me.  The downside of this is that I hear a few drivers sounding their horns in protest.  The upside is that no one is surprised by me.

No driver wants to damage their $20,000+ automobile by hitting a cyclist.  I'm a big guy, too--I'd damage their car.  So I ride right where they see me.

Most places where I ride are urban city streets--usually with two lanes in each direction, sometimes a left-turn lane.  I use all of these just as a motorist would--and California state law supports me in doing this.  My goal and the goal of the law here are to be visible and predictable.  I ride like I belong there--without trying to be a jerk about it.  The motorists have a passing lane to get around me--and if they don't, I let them pass whenever it's safe and with easily-recognizable hand signals.  If they're right behind you, after all, you have their attention.

Be both visible AND predictable.

Have good situational awareness--know what's going on all around--and react to motorists who may not be doing the same.

Have a safe ride!


I believe you will have to remove the reflector to get to the screws and there doesn't seem to be a non-destructive way. The mounts for the reflectors look like they are designed as one-way plugs. You could drill holes into the reflector to get to the screws without removing the reflector - which would be difficult to put back on. Even if you get this screwed back together, this is not going to last: the plastic is too weak to withstand the forces exercised from the metal plate when you stand on it.

I'm not sure this is worth the trouble. These are cheap pedals for which you can buy replacements on Ebay for under $€£ 10 from China including shipping.


Unfortunately chainring compatibility can be a bit more complicated than number of bolts, BCD and pattern.

Higher end cranks such as Shimano Dura Ace or Ultegra have rings that are shaped to blend into the crank body. Those cranks are only compatible with the rings specifically made for them.

Some cranks may also require rings where the mounting points are offset laterally from the plane of the circle of teeth.


What to do with the white plastic tube in Dahon city vybe c7a?

The seat clamp prevents the seat from sliding down. Not a plastic tube of any kind.

My hunch is that it's meant to be taken away. It's there only for some packaging purpose.


Yes the wheel should fit assuming you have a 'normal' road bike fork installed. I've built maybe a 200 bikes and never had the front wheel spacing be an issue (only axle diameter was an issue when trying to install solid 10mm axle wheels into quick release forks (the solid 10mm axle won't fit in them).

If the spacing does differ a tiny bit you should be able to get away with it by bending the fork legs outwards a bit whilst installing the wheel (keep in mind this might be approx 1mm difference, so it's elastic deformation aka non-permanent bending).

The 2mm difference between your measured spacing and Sheldon brown's suggested standard size shouldn't be an issue. If the wheel is a tiny bit too wide you bend out the fork 2mm (elastic deformation once again), if it's a tiny bit too narrow you can clamp it down using the quick release or nut (if using solid axle).

Even with carbon forks this amount of flexing (when installing the wheel), shouldn't be an issue.

Regarding what model/year bike this is. I wouldn't know but it shouldn't matter if your question is only about front wheel compatibility. Some older bikes use 27 inch wheels but assuming you have the original fork installed on the bike (since the rear wheel you currently have installed is 28" and appears to align just fine with the brake pads of your current calipers) any 28" front wheel should be compatible whilst keeping your original brakes. You might need to adjust your brake pads a bit (their height) after installing the new wheel.


I believe there can be an issue with play in GXP cranks. The play in the bearings is taken up by the non drive side crank arm sliding up along the splined taper as the bolt is done up and compressing the wave washer in the drive side. The bolt can be tightened up to the correct torque but there is still lateral play.

Definitely check you have the spacers and wave washer installed correctly. You may need an additional shim to take up the play.


What type chain lube should you use in a sand and salt water enviroment?

There's not much you can do against the evil trifecta of salt, water, and sand. You can use a teflon, graphite, or moly based dry lube but inevitably sand particles are going to gouge the metal and salt+water is going to start corrosion.

The problem with chain wear due to sand is that the chains themselves can look good (i.e., not rusty on the outside), but will in fact be considerably worn internally. This can lead to considerable chainring and sprocket wear before you catch it. As other commentators note, one option if you want to keep your current bikes is to buy a chain tool and chain in bulk, and  replace the chains on a regular basis.

That being said, if you haven't bucked the trend of every other rental place and decided to get the absolute cheapest bikes possible, then you might want to look into belt-drive bicycles. You'll solve at least the problem of chain rusting and sprocket damage from the sand and salt. Your customers will also be impressed with belt-drives as they are silky smooth.

This doesn't solve the problem of salt+water+sand getting in other places (bottom bracket; headset) but the chain is the one part that customers will really notice poor maintenance on.

However, whether buying a nicer bike is worth it depends on your business model: how much you expect to spend on maintenance and how long you amortize each bicycle given also abuse and theft levels.


Should I restore my old mt-bike for winter commuting (and for wife to ride with me) or throw it away?

Two questions here - restore an old bike and what bike for your wife.

Lets deal with the easy one - an old Specialised will be a better bike than a department store one. If you need much more gear to be replaced, consider looking for a donor.  Add another $100 to you list for things that might need doing - like new cluster and chain rings, brake pads etc. Strip and repack wheel bearings and headset and you are probably good to go. From the sound of it though, a second hand bike might be a better option, as the deterioration that requires those parts replaced almost certainly means other parts are on their last legs. Cannot tell for sure without seeing it.

Next one - What bike should your wife ride - that depends on your relationship.
I see this all the time- Fit, active strong guy out on the trials riding a multi-thousand dollar ultra efficient lightweight bike miles ahead of his partner who clearly does not live breath and dream cycling like he does and is nowhere near as fit. She is struggling on an old beater her partner would not be seen dead riding, miles behind, exhausted and close to tears.......

If you don't like your wife, and/or want to be sent our riding on your own with her blessing, give her the beater.

If you like your wife, and/or would like her to like you, enjoy riding and spend quality cycling time with you, give her the nicest bike and ride the beater. If she gets to like riding, you can buy her a nice bike that fits her properly. Play you cards right, you can buy her a better bike than yours, and when you go out solo - ride that......

(Presumption I have made is that the bikes fit both riders.  My wife and me fit the same frame size. I have two seat posts and seats for "her" bike - one set up for for her, one for me.....)


How do different types of handlebar tape do in the rain?

There is very little actual cork in most cork tapes. The plastic foam absorbs some water and may become slightly slippery, but it doesn't deteriorate or anything.


Ok, so I got this sorted!
Thanks to everyone for input. Posting the solution here in case someone else is facing the same problem.
The answer is inspired by @Nathan Knutson 's post.
@Nathan mentioned a transparent scuff washer... And I did not remember seeing one when taking the crankset off. So I took it all apart again and specifically looked for it. There is indeed a transparent plastic (or nylon?) washer that was tightly pressed into a small groove on the inner side of the NDS crank arm. It was flush with the surface and did not come off when I was cleaning the crank so I assumed it is part of the crank arm and not removable.
Now I removed that washer and it freed about 0.3mm for the wave washer to expand. Asessembled, torqued to recommended setting, crank spinning well and I can clearly see that the wave washer is no longer flat - it now serves its purpose and preloads the bearing as intended.
There is a slight concern that removing the scuff washer will make the wave washer rub against the crank arm and scuff it over time but for me this is a minor concern as this crankset is cheap and I was close to replacing it with Shimano or SRAM dub or anything else with adjustable preload... Now it will serve a little bit longer before being discarded.
For all those who assumed misalignment of the BB shell - this is a valid assumption but wasn't my case.


Ivanhoe ladies with wooden rims, wooden rear fender, wooden chain guard

It's an Ivanhoe ladies bike made by the Indiana Bicycle Company between 1898 and 1900.
The company was founded by Albert Augustus Pope in 1898 and changed to the American Bicycle Company in 1900
Yours might be the ladies version of the Ivanhoe Special.
Check below the head badge and see if the lower badge use to be there

thread from The Cabe
The Indiana Bicycle Company also made the Waverly Belle which bears a strong resemblance to the Ivanhoe.

bicyclearts.com


MIG Welds vs Brazing for simple bike hacks

The reason that brazing is traditionally used on steel bikes is so that the temper of the chromoly tubes won't be wrecked.  (The high temperatures associated with conventional welding would seriously damage the tubing.)

However, Cannondale, in their push to develop good aluminum bikes, invented the technique of rapid welding (since aluminum can't be brazed, and traditional welding worked poorly).  This technique was transferred to the manufacturer of steel bikes, which is why most modern steel bikes are welded (without lugs) rather than lugged and brazed.

The question is, can you do your MIG welding rapidly enough to not destroy the temper of the tubing?


Can´t remove BMX stem top cap bolt (won´t loosen)

It could be that either the star fangled nut itself is spinning or the inserted threads in the nut are spinning.  If you take off the front wheel and look up the steerer tube can you see the nut?  Is it spinning?  It it is spinning just stick a long screw driver up there to hold it in place while you take out the top cap bolt.  You can hammer in a new star fangled nut on top of the old broken one.


Which the function of this "thing" (photo) in Shimano XTR SL-M952 rear shifter?

There was a remote shifter available for ST-M952 and SL-M952 and some others of the era, so you could shift from your bar end. It actuated the main shifter via cables and housings. This is a stop for the housing.


How to secure a fully carbon (aero) bike when washing/repairing on a stand?

The seatpost is a fairly sturdy carbon tube, as it has to withstand the mass of the rider on one and of it and some significant bending forces.

Also, the seatpost has to be clamped by the frame, so it can take some clamping force.

For cleaning, you should not have to clamp the seatpost particularly hard, just enough to support the bike.

I note that Simon Richardson of GCN clamps a Ridley bike on its carbon seatpost in this video.


Can a Garmin Touring charging port be repaired

As long as the unit is not fully sealed and the port is accessible then yes, the port can be changed. Changing the port is not a job just anybody can do, as in a lot of cases these days just like with mobile phone repairs experience in micro-soldering may be required especially where the ports contacts are soldered to the PCB.

Hot air stations are normally used on this sort of job as the port is usually soldered to a PCB ground plane which makes removal with an iron alone virtually impossible.

A mobile phone repair specialist will likely be able to replace the port for you.


Can I replace only the smallest cog on my rear cassette?

You can replace the smallest cogs on cassette.
For example see Sheldon Brown's Building custom cassette page.

  For example, Shimano doesn't make any true "corncob" (one-tooth-jump)
  cassettes for time-trialists or flatland riders. In 7 speed, the
  closest is the J (13/14/15/16/17/19/21).

  If you remove the 21-tooth sprocket from a J, you can make it into a
  13-19 corncob by buying an 18 to put between the 17 and the 19.
  Alternately, you could make it into a 12-18 by removing the 19 and the
  21, and adding a 12 and an 18.

There is also about MTB & Road compatibility:

  "Road" vs "Mountain" Hubs There is no interchangeability issue between
  "Road" vs "Mountain" cassettes and hubs as long as the number of
  sprockets matches. Although "Road" and "Mountain" hubs are no
  different as far as cassette fitting is concerned, they are different
  in terms of overall spacing. "Road" hubs generally use 130 mm spacing,
  while "mountain" hubs are 135 mm.

  "Mountain" hubs will likely be slightly better sealed against dirt and
  mud than "road" hubs, but this is rarely an issue in practice. The
  wider 135 mm spacing will generally result in a slightly stronger
  wheel due to reduced dishing of the spokes.


Does anyone know how to take apart this hub to do a single speed conversion

Assuming this is a standard freewheel hub there should be no need to disassemble it, since you can simply remove the freewheel and install a single-speed freewheel made for this replacement process.
To remove the old freewheel you generally need a freewheel tool that matches the existing freewheel's design.  There are a half-dozen different schemes for this, depending mostly on the brand of the freewheel, so you may need to visit a bike shop to get an exact match.
If you really want to disassemble the hub itself you do it one nut at a time, starting from the outermost nuts and working inward.


Why were press fit bottom brackets invented?

Carbon is the dominant frame material in performance bicycles. You can't thread carbon. There are two ways to get bottom bracket cups into a carbon frame: bond (industrial-strength glue) an alloy sleeve into the shell, or use a press-fit system. You are potentially adding several manufacturing steps by adding a threaded sleeve to a carbon frame, and the sleeve could be considered redundant material compared to a press fit interface.
It's commonly been stated that press fit BBs are cheaper for the bike manufacturers to produce, and this is consistent with the argument above. However, economic theory would suggest that in a competitive marketplace, consumers should see those savings. Also consider that we use press fit for headsets, and these have generally been trouble-free. That redundant interface might take up space that we might trade for enlarged (and thus more durable) bearings. Last, while I've repeatedly said that small amounts of weight make little difference in cycling performance, the fact is that weight is easily measured, and there are many weight weenies among performance cyclists. Purchasers have been sensitive to bike weights, and press fit systems are lighter because they use fewer parts.
(The argument above draws from the Youtube vids of Raoul Luescher, who has extensive experience in aerospace carbon manufacture and repairing, and who examines and repairs carbon bikes.)
The trouble with press fit
In practice, the main issue with press fit is the tolerances, i.e. some of them are oversized, and BB cups fit loosely, and they creak.
All components on bicycles have a specified dimension, and they have a variance around that dimension, e.g. PF30 shells from manufacturer X may have a mean diameter of (these are imaginary example numbers) 45.95 millimeters, with a variance of 0.5 millimeters. Tolerance may more properly refer to a set of engineering standards, which state the intended dimension and the allowed variance around this dimension. Refer to the below engineering diagram from FSA describing a BB 386EVO shell from this BikeRadar article (which is naturally about creaky press fit BBs):

Continuing with the example above, I think the diagram says that this shell has a nominal width of 46.00mm, with an allowed tolerance of 0.05mm smaller and 0.00mm larger. (Recall that if the shell is slightly small, you can just press the cup harder into the shell and the material will deform slightly, but if the shell is too big, you get creaks.) I am not familiar with industrial quality control, but I would expect that both the factory and the bike company probably check (or perhaps they should be checking) the dimensions on a sample of frames in each batch. I supposed they would scrap individual frames that aren't in spec, and they may scrap the whole batch if there are enough out of spec frames. If the bike company is the one finding this issue, I would expect that they'd place some irate calls to the factory.
Whatever they should be doing, not all frame manufacturers have been able to maintain all their frames within the engineering tolerances. Recall that carbon frames are laid up by hand - workers lay several hundred sheets of pre-glued carbon fiber together in a mold, then the mold gets heated under pressure. This process may be inherently more variable than, for example, forging or CNC machining metal parts. This has led many to be skeptical of press fit in general. I am willing to take Luescher's argument that press fit is theoretically better than threaded, but he does acknowledge that in practice it is not.
One other possible issue with press fit BBs is that you often have to replace the bearings. It is not ideal to repeatedly press in and press out the cups from the frame, as this will wear the surface. We do not have this issue with headsets, because we very rarely remove and reinstall them. In contrast, BBs are subject to much greater forces than headset bearings. BBs are probably subject to more contamination, not least because they are lower and in the path of spray from wet roads. In some BBs, you can remove the bearings independent of the cups, or the bearings may be designed to have their seals removed and replaced (e.g. Chris King designs a little gap in their seals and they explicitly instruct annual regreasing). You can't do this with all BBs, and you would need to replace the entire unit, cups and all. On some press fit designs, this is compounded by the fact that the design places greater stress on the bearings, thus shortening their expected lifetime. For example, PF30 has relatively narrow spaced bearings.
There are post-hoc fixes, and they are unsatisfactory
The thread-together type of BB the OP described is a partial solution to BBs that creak because they fit too loosely (i.e. the shell is too big). Another partial fix has been to add retaining compound when installing the BB. These fundamentally won't fit a BB shell that's too far out of spec.
For press fit to work, the factories need to achieve better tolerances. I would guess that this is possible, but these should raise the prices of the frames. I suspect the increases might not be very large, but I don't have industry experience, and it might be more complicated than that. Also, consumers may be price sensitive enough that even a small increase would dissuade them from buying a bike.
Regardless, if you read between the lines of this Cyclingtips review of the Factor Ostro VAM and the comments, you'll see some statements from Rob Gitelis, the owner of Factor. Factor actually owns its factories in Taiwan, and makes bikes for other companies as well. Gitelis seems to imply that he could achieve the necessary tolerances with press fit, but Factor chose to use a variant of an existing threaded standard (discussed below) due to market pressure. Gitelis claims the threaded interface adds 30g of weight to the frame.
The rise of threaded BBs
For readers who are generally interested in the topic of alternative BB specifications, this Cyclingtips podcast interviews some of the framebuilders who proposed the T47 oversized threaded BB standard. It is mainly used by small framebuilders, but Trek appears to be moving its lineup of carbon bikes to T47 BBs. Factor did this with its latest bike, linked above. Specialized appears to be moving to a threaded standard, which I believe is actually the reliable old BSA standard (NB: you can fit a crank with a 30mm spindle in a BSA shell, and BBs are increasingly available). An interesting side note: a metal PF30 frame can be threaded to the T47 standard, although this task is likely to be beyond the capabilities of an average bike shop. Although T47 shares many of PF30s dimensions, PF30 bearings sit inside the frame, but T47 bearings are placed outside the shell. Thus, they are more widely spaced than PF30 bearings.
Side note: Facing frames
This article by James Raison on Lavelocita.cc discusses the practice of facing carbon frames - that is, removing excess material on the surfaces that interface with other components so that they're in spec, e.g. making the disc brake mounts totally flat, enlarging a BB that is much to small, or aligning the BB and headset surfaces if they are misaligned. If the surfaces were out of spec, this can cause reduced bearing life or brake noise. Note that if the issue is that the BB shell was made too big, facing won't do a thing, because a bike store can't simply add material to the shell.
Because I have already digressed, here's another article by the same author on the practice of facing metal frames - yes, their bottom brackets could also creak, although in that case you could face the shells more easily than on carbon, or you could chase the threads if you damaged them. In general, facing is a very labor-intensive process that requires specialized tools, and few shops do it. However, many frames come out from the factory slightly out of spec, so it would be ideal to have your frame faced. The shop Raison interviewed stated that both expensive and cheap frames seemed equally vulnerable to being out of spec (i.e. about the same proportion came in out of spec).


Should I put a downtube guard on my aluminium enduro bike?

Carbon frames are strong, but when struck hard, they can crack, which is quite nasty. Aluminium frames just dent and rarely crack. Depending on how you ride and where you ride, a downtube protector may be something to consider. It's not necessarily for protecting the structural integrity of your frame since, you would probably need a rock the size of a small boulder to really ireversibly damage your frame. However, a downtube protector may be benificial for you to protect your paint from rock chips and scratches as a result of trail debris. Hope this helped!


Is there a more sophisticated tool than Rohloff HG-Check

I bought one too - on the same idea of having a better way to check for chain/cassette wear.   Its pretty useless to be honest.

The best tool for knowing how much mileage is on a chain/cassette is a set of accurate records.   Cars have mileometers/odometers and stationary engines have hour meters.  Sadly bikes don't have the same hardware.

So I record every ride on Strava, and religiously use the "My Gear"* options to note when things were changed.  Works for me

* For clarity, that's "gear" in the sense of "equipment", rather than specifically gears as in cogs.

But records don't help where you have a bike with unknown provenance.  For those you have to fire up the eye-crometer and make an educated guess.   And ride it, if feasible.  You can find more faults quicker in a 30 second ride than any other way.


As I stated in my comment,you need to rearrange your limit settings after switching the cassette, you can have a look at this video, if the limits are not set correctly the chain could either fall off the cassette or not being able to reach the smaller/bigger cog.


Is it possible to change a Shimano FC131 crankset's chainrings?

No, you can't.

The lowest Shimano level crankset with replacable chainrings is in the Acera group.

In any case, most replacement chainrings cost about as much as a Tourney (or even Acera) crankset, so it doesn't make much sense to replace the chainrings on those anyway.

As mentioned in the answer to your other question, theres a very good chance your bike won't be able to clear a 48t ring if it was originally spec'd with a 42t ring.


RockShox Tora TK mountings for Hope Mini M4

What you need to know is the type of mounting you have on your fork and on your brakes to know what adaptor you need to get. There are IS (so-called international standard, used by Hope and Formula, among others), Post (used by Rockshox, Marzocchi for forks and Avid, Hayes for brakes, among others) and some manufacturer and/or fork specific mounts.

According to the link you provided, the fork has Post mounts. (From the description: Lower tubes: Magnesium, Post-disc mount). Hope uses IS mounts.

So you need a Front IS to Post adaptor.

See this for an example

The size of your disc is another important thing to know, since you might need a bigger adaptor for it.


Assuming the new rim is about the same width as the bent one, then the tyre and tube should transfer over okay.
You need to check the valve hole in the rim - there are two common sizes, and the wrong one won't fit or risks punctures at the base of the valve.
I suggest you fit the tyre, and inflate it to a relatively high pressure, whatever's maximum on the sidewall.  Then leave it overnight and check again in the morning.  If it holds air and hasn't blown off the rim then deflate a little to riding pressure, and go for a test ride


My v-brake lever (just one) is stiff. What's wrong?

Sounds like the cable is not routed properly. Unhook the outer going into the brake level and slide it way from the brake lever - the lever should be free. If not, pull the cable and see that its moving freely all the way to the the brakes.


Brakes contacting wheel after reattaching

With some bikes the wheel is not self-centering.  This is especially true on less expensive bikes with a separate derailer hanger vs one that is integrated into the frame.  If you look you can see that the left and right dropouts are not symmetrical.

In such cases you must manually center the wheel when you remount it.  The best way to do this is to install the wheel, place the bike on the ground with the quick-release loose, hook your hand under the rim near the brakes, and move the rim left-right until the wheel is centered between the brakes.  Then, while holding the rim, tighten the QR.  If the brakes do not self-center well enough to serve as a reference point you may need to sight between the tire and the two seat stays (rods from seat to rear hub) to center the wheel.

If, on the other hand, you have a bike that should be self-centering then either the axle is not all the way seated in the dropouts or you've somehow messed things up while installing the hitch.  Did the installation require disassembling the quick release?

The rubbing you describe is a sign of a misaligned wheel.  No wheel is perfect, but if its enough for you to notice the wheel probably should be aligned in a bike shop.  (If you recently bought the bike the shop should give you a "touch up" alignment for free.)


Chain is choking and pedals fly forwards when going up hill or standing on the bike pedals

Sounds like the problem might be that your freewheel isn't freewheeling.


Do you need to ride gentler with a dynamo hub?

I have never owned the cheap and nasty dyno hubs you're looking at as alternatives, only the SON hub.

My experience of the SON is that it has not been necessary to ride gently, and observation of other owners suggests they don't do that either. I've owned mine for more than 10 years, and done enough distance that I felt it necessary to have the bearings replaced. I've toured on it and used it on load bikes as well as commuted, and the touring was done on short wheelbase recumbents where more than half the weight is on the front wheel. Suspension doesn't matter much because the hub isn't suspended.

I managed to break a spoke in a 36 spoke, ISO 406 wheel with a deep section rim, and I have no idea how that happened... but the hub was fine.

My issues have been more with the wiring, those silly push-through plugs don't work for me, as someone else mentioned in this answer to "Pedal-powered head/tail lights". They work ok, in good conditions, but when they fail it's impossible to fix on the side of the road. And they do fail, eventually. So I have soldered better connectors on, and I use much thicker wires with heat shrink at key points. I'd rather carry 50 grams of extra cable and plug, but have lights that work for 20,000km or more without servicing, than shave a few grams and have lights that "usually work". I didn't pay the price of a hub dynamo to get "usually works".

Edit in response to question in comments: In my experience the hubs don't fail - it's not just that my one hasn't failed, it's that the bike shop that services it said that a car crash was the only time they'd seen one fail, other than the stories of people who open them up and wreck them. Don't do that.

By "usually work" I mean in the broader sense of "over the next five years". Having to sit down every year and cut the end off the cable, put on new heat shrink, re-strip the ends and re-install it... that's annoying. But it's better than having to do that at some random point during the year, on the side of the road. By "usually work" I mean the latter... you buy it, it works 100% until randomly it stops. Or becomes intermittent. That's not acceptable. I don't care if I'm riding in half a metre of seawater, I want my lights to work (I have done this and they did - some Australian bike paths don't deal well with flooding).

My approach was to look at the connectors, and the wire, and decide that I did not like them. So I put better ones on. They cost probably 10x as much as the supplied ones, but they work. And the soldered, heat-shrink-covered join on the old connectors seems to work too.


Whether a bike has a kickstand is really a personal decision, but what the frame is made of is important. If you're not concerned with scratching the frame, and the frame is reasonable sturdy, then get yourself a kickstand; it'll make the bike more usable, and that's what's important. (I wouldn't attach a kickstand to, say, a carbon frame or a bike with a nice paint job I wanted to keep intact, but most of my bikes have them.)

When your LBS told you that "kickstands don't stay on well", what that means to me is that they're either using bad kickstands, or they don't attach them well. However, there are some bikes that won't fit well with a kickstand (such as many folding bikes and racing bikes). However, a commuter bike that won't take a kickstand isn't nearly as useable as one that will.

I don't have kickstands on my touring bikes, because one is a folding bike and the other is a diamond-frame touring bike. The latter will take a kickstand, but I removed it because a bike with a full touring load won't really stay put with a kickstand. I ended up getting a gadget called a click-stand that's essentially a tentpole with a thing on the end that hooks onto the frame, and also comes with a pair of brake bands (they do just what you'd think). Unfortunately, it takes a minute to deploy and isn't suitable for everyday use, but it perfect for touring.

A bike without a kickstand can be parked by leaning it against a railing, or the end of a bike rack, or even lying it on its side on the ground if you're not locking it up. You can use cable locks combined with a sturdy lock such as a U-lock (or even a bungee cord combined with a lock) to keep the bike steady. My kickstand-less bikes have bungee cords that live on the rear racks for this purpose.

If you want a kickstand, do a little research and order one and attach it. If you're concerned about scratching the paint (you will), you can cut up an old tube and use it to protect the frame. Don't tighten it so much that you crush the frame, but check it every so often and make certain it's reasonably tight.


Special hub requirements for an 11-speed group

Shimano/SRAM 11 speed cassettes are wider than 8/9/10 speed ones.  So yes, you need a new, wider freehub body, unless your old one was not very old and used a spacer to fit a 10-speed cassette.

People with non-Shimano brand hubs are less likely to find replacement freehub bodies, it seems, leading to replacement of the whole hub, or even the whole wheel if the old rim isn't worth relacing.

For more on this, read the last question and answer here: http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/09/bikes-and-tech/technical-faq/technical-faq-drivetrain-compatibility-for-10-and-11-speed_301392

There's also a compatibility chart here: http://www.slowtwitch.com/Tech/Cassette_Spacers_2013_3978.html

Campagnolo cassettes are the same width for 9, 10, and 11 speeds, so you don't need to do anything in most cases.


New innertube won't inflate when in the tyre

Since you say the track pump's gauge reads 100 PSI, that suggests the air is pressurising inside the hose.  I'd bet that it only takes a couple of pumps to get there too.

This means the valve is not opening to admit air into the tube, AND that the pump head is forming an airtight seal with the valve.

If its a Presta valve, make sure you back off the acorn nut on the tip of the valve.

If its a schrader valve, try depressing the pin in the middle.  It could be that the valve seat is not moving when in the rim, though that's unlikely.  Its also possible that some sealant has got the valve stuck closed, which would explain your difficulty in deflating the tube.
In this case, try to unscrew the valve core out of the valve, clean it, and then reinstall.

The valve core  itself looks something like this:

and the tool to remove it needs to engage the two flats on the left side.  You might be able to unscrew it with needle nosed pliers, but the proper tool looks something like this:

  The new tube valve is shorter than the old one.

Could be that the valve stem is retreating inside the rim as you try to clamp the pump's head on.  I feel this is not your problem, but adding for completeness.

If its Presta, fit the locknut.   If its Schrader, then press a thumb hard into the tread of the tyre, outside of where the valve is, to stop it squashing into the rim.
 Once the tube's air pressure gets above ~10 PSI it should be plenty to hold the valve in the right place.

Another solution is to use an air pump with a thread-on head not a clamp-on one, if you have access to one.   In the same vein, a CO2 based inflater can help, but they're expensive and only worth using if time is of the essence (like in a race or group ride.)


The standard for what "true" means varies by mechanic and the intended use of the wheel.

A perfectly true wheel, in the mechanical sense, may not be attainable. Roundness and lateral runout are measurable to .001 millimeters using commonly available shop tools. Most mechanics do not consider that tolerance necessary, but as that is the limit of the tools, that is what I would consider perfectly true. However it requires 4 things:

Perfect roundness, measured by placing a gauge under the edge of the rim, and spinning the wheel.
Perfect lateral runout, or rather a lack of runout. This is measured by placing a gauge at the brake track of the wheel, and rotating the wheel to track the runout.
Perfect Dish.  Dish refers to the centering of the rim on the axle, or in some cases between the dropouts of the frame. This is measured using a truing stand or a dishing tool.
Perfectly even and balanced spoke tension. Measure using a tensiometer, the value here will vary significantly based on the type of spoke, the size of the rim, the material of the spoke nipple.  But the constant here is that all the spokes should have exactly equal tension.

I am well aware that the description here is of a mechanically perfect wheel, and that such a thing does not exist. It would require a perfectly formed rim, a perfectly machined hub, which perfectly drilled and finished spoke holes, and that each spoke be drawn from a perfectly pure metal at exactly equal and even dimensions.

The beauty and simplicity of the bicycle wheel is that while our manufacturing tolerances are not up to that standard, the design of a spoked wheel allow you to offset the tolerances in one area with spoke tension. If a rim is not perfectly true and round, more or less spoke tension can be used to pull it true and round.

So a "perfectly" true wheel might not exist, but a functionally true wheel is relatively easy. And "perfectly" true isn't necessary.


You most likely need digital hall sensors (instead of analog versions). Most bldc motors use digital hall sensors. You should check your controller specs to see what type of hall sensors it supports but most likely you will need digital.

have you tried testing the hall sensors with either a multimeter or controller tester to see if they  switch on and off when rotating the wheel? Are you sure your hall sensor leads are correctly connected to the controller? Is there voltage on to the GND and +5V wires going to the hall sensors? (Measure voltage across these two wires when the controller is turned on, the motor doesn't have to be moving for this.
Are you sure you didn't damage your hall sensors during installation?

Is there any other text/marking(brand perhaps) on the original hall sensors? Could you attach a/some photo(s) of the original hall sensors for reference?


Using a 9 speed cassette with a 11 speed shifter

Nope.

Above 6 (or 7, can't remember which) speeds the spacing of the sprockets gets narrower as the number of sprockets increases. So, you can't use a cassette with a mismatched number of sprockets - at least not for the full range of the cassette. A 10 speed cassette would work slightly better.

If you want to minimise cost of the extra wheel, find the cheapest used 10 speed rear wheel you can and an 11 speed cassette that will fit on a 10 speed freehub body.


Does the BB axle (spindle) lengths 1:1 compare for square taper and octalink?

No. And not only that, if you were to stay with square taper cranks you would find that the BB length for one crank does not necessarily match the BB length for another crank.

In other words, if you use a 103mm square spindle bottom bracket A with crank B, it does not mean you would use a 103mm bottom bracket C with crank D, regardless of whether bottom bracket C is square or octalink.


How do I fix my front wheel that’s hitting my brakes?

The return spring on the right hand caliper (from the point of view of sitting on the bike) has come out of its stop in the caliper. The spring in the left hand caliper is pulling both calipers to the left.

You can see the return spring sticking horizontally out of the right hand caliper. It looks like about 10cm of stiff wire. The spring wire should be on the inside of a peg or flange near the top of the caliper arm. In several of your pictures you can see the spring wire correctly seated on the left hand caliper arm.

Re-seat the spring and the calipers will return to center.


Will Deore M6000 SGS derailleur work with 42t cassette in 1x10 configuration?

I talked to Shimano this morning and got the final word. The reason the long cage  is designated as having a shorter reach than the medium cage is because the long cages is designed to be used with the triple crankset.  The Shimano  representative  I spoke with confirmed that the long cage is indeed only designed to wrap around 36T cog.
The bottom line is the medium cage m6000 derailleur  is the only 10 speed derailleur designed to work with the 11-42t cassette out of the box.


In order to understand how your gears work, it's probably useful to do a little experimenting own your own.  Since you have a hub gear, switching between gears is very easy. Just move the lever while not pedalling. This is a lot simpler than a derailleur bike which requires you to pedal and takes time for the chain to move between gears.

It will probably be easiest to assess how your gears work if you just stick to a flat surface or a quiet road with a slight incline.

Put the bike in first gear and pedal for a known distance, such as between two sign posts.  Count the number of pedal revolutions required to get between the two points without any coasting. Now try the same in gear 2 and again in gear 3.

Gear 1 should take more pedal revolutions than gear 2 to go the same distance, and similarly gear 2 should take more than gear 3 to go the same distance.

If you don't find the above to be the case, then you should take your bike back to the store you bought it to ensure the gears are indeed working properly.

Gear 1 is the easiest gear and should be used when going up hills. Gear 2 is usually for flat roads, and gear 3 is for if you want to pedal going down hills. As you become a stronger rider you may want to use 3 for flat roads  an may find that 2 is easy enough for some gentle hills.  If you are new to riding, hills will often seem very hard no matter what gear the bike is in. But the more you ride, the easier the hills will be.

Physics does play a huge role is how easy or how hard it is to propel a bike.  Assuming you have relatively smooth tires, even a slight downhill can indeed make pedalling extremely effortless, and almost pointless as the bike will often roll faster than you can spin your feet anyway.  A flat asphalt road can be travelled at 20 km/h at almost the same effort as walking.  An uphill section that doesn't seem much trouble to walk can actually create quite a bit of resistance.  A 5% grade road probably wouldn't trouble most reasonably fit people to walk up, and most car drivers wouldn't even recognize as a hill at all would actually be reasonably difficult for a new cyclist.


Online bought bike left brake lever doesnt do anything

When you pull your brake lever, it in turn pulls a cable that ultimately squeezes your brake pads - forcing them to make contact with your rim (see image below). You should first ensure the cable exists and is properly attached. Sometimes, the attachment bolt comes loose and the cable slides freely (your symptoms indicate such)

When you release your brake lever, springs on the brake itself pulls back on the cable, causing your lever to return to its position.

If you disconnect the cable shown in the image and squeeze your brake by hand (at the pads), it should return to its open position when released. If you pull on the cable with one hand and squeeze the brake lever with the other, you should feel the cable being pulled out of your hand holding it. Pulling on the cable should return the brake lever to its original (non squeezed) position.

You can disconnect the working break to verify what 'good' feels like. Armed with this knowledge and a little bit of curiosity, you should be able to get to the root of your problem.


I've heard of loose connections between the shifters and their cables causing this sort of issue. In one case in particular, the connector didn't latch properly and the bar tape pulled it out, so it would seem OK when tested but not when riding.

In general if you've got battery and part of the system works, the connections are one of the first things to check - the front derailleur connector as well as the shifter connector. Here the lack of an LED on the controller suggests the shifter cable is at fault.


Depends how the limiter works.  If it knows about RPM of the motor/wheel then the increase in diameter will effectively raise the top speed.
Example - if the motor's limiter is at 18 mph on the 20" wheel, then that's
63 inches circumference.
18 mph is 19008 inches/minute.
That works out at 301 RPM on the motor.
So reverse that, 301 RPM on a 29" wheel (which is 91 inch circumference)
is 27,391 inches/minute is 25.9 mph.
However there's always a tradeoff.  In this, the cost is in torque/acceleration.  Your bike would take much longer to accelerate, and would "stall out" sooner as the grade increases.
Additionally, some locals have legal restrictions about the top speed a pedal-assist motor can provide.  25 mph may be faster than your local laws permit.  While you're very unlikely to be pinged for the bike, if there was an accident you may be legally "at-fault" even if its not your fault in a road-rules sense.
More practically, your wiring may not be long enough for a larger frame.


Why do only downhill mountain bikers wear full face helmets?

I think there will be a significant subjective element to answering this question, but pressing on:

Full face helmets are relatively heavy
Full face helmets offer less ventilation that standard helmets
Full face helmets are less aerodynamic that standard helmets
Riders don't want to look silly or weird
Full face helmets are not marketed to cross country MTB, road or casual cyclists.

However, given that a few decades ago cycle helmets were rarely worn, but are now common; it seems plausible that in the future lighter, more ventilated helmets will be developed and become generally acceptable for less extreme forms of riding.


Generally, parts are somewhat standardized. For example, bottom brackets only come in a few types and different size.

Given its a recent department store bike, you likely have a standard square taper bottom bracket with ISO threading. You can take the relevant measurements (spindle length, shell width, etc.), but the easiest way for bottom brackets is either read them off the existing bottom bracket (usually labeled) or take it to a bike shop so they can measure it quickly and give you a new one.

As for other parts, you can usually identify them by what family of parts they belong to if they're in the drivetrain (# of speeds and manufacturer), or measure them for things like seatposts or handlebars (which are also standardized, e.g. road bikes use some sizes, mountain others).


What is considered a good "safe biking distance" to bike to work?

A good safe biking distance is the distance that one can enjoy the bike ride to work, get there a few minutes early to clean up or shower and after work enjoy another bike ride home and still spare some time to spend with family/ loved ones/have a life besides work and the commute.

I limit my bike commute to about an hour each way.


What is the length of the Hope XC internal spacer from freehub to bearing?

According to Hope's exploded view for the XC and Mono hubs, the spacer is 14mm.


Perhaps you'll have more luck with answers on specialised trials forums, like http://www.trials-forum.co.uk/. However, I'll try to address your questions briefly.

Risk to damage the fork/frame? Yes, absolutely. But all depend on what you are doing and what bike it is. I've snapped a few frames doing trials and stunts. But chances of damaging are less if you are using trials frame.
Wheel size is a great debate in a trials world. There are 26", 24" and 20" (19") wheels. All down to the preference and rider level. I'd start with 26" and then once you know what you want/need, decide on the sizes. If you are very keen on trials and have finance, definitely get a trials bike. Many times while learning I found my bike stopping my progress.
Good quality parts... get a good chain and good freewheel. Because if freewheel slips while doing gaps - you are going down. And that can lead to an injury. Also get a great rear tyre with good brake. A lot depends on that. Other parts are essential, but these are high priority.
Breaks are another point of debate in trials world. Magura HS33 - hydraulic rim brakes used to be very popular 10 years ago. Now I'm not quite sure about the trends. Certainly I'd put some cash in for a good rear break - that is a vital part of the bike.

A lot of your questions are down to experience. You'll know when you need a better rear break and what other parts to change. And you'll slowly assemble a great bike, going along with your skill level.

And good luck!


Properly sizing a frameset online (Ritchey Road Logic)?

I happen to be the exact same size, so I'll answer. I have a custom built road bike with 55cm c-t height and 57cm top tube. I'm using a 120mm horizontal stem and classic drop bars that have more reach than so-called ergo shape at the drops. If I for some reason wanted to have a stem with rise and ergo bars, I'd need even longer and lower frame. The 55cm Ritchey is a bit shorter and has a bit taller head tube but isn't that far off.
So, if you absolutely have to buy Ritchey, 55cm is probably the correct one unless know that your current frame fits perfectly and you want to change as little as possible.


Tires explode way under rated pressure limit

You say that you have a large gash in the inner tube. And you say that the tire was thrown off the rim. I assume that the thrown off tire was the cause, not the result of the explosion.

The point is that it's only the tire that is expected to counteract the force of the pressurized air, not the inner tube. The inner tube is for sealing only. Thus, when the bead of the tire jumps out of the rim, this will instantly kill the inner tube: it's simply not designed to withstand the resulting forces. So, the question is: How can the tire jump out of the rim?

You say that you are refurbishing an old 70s bike. Afaik, there have been different ways that tires attach to the rim. I think I recall reading something about rims which were flat on the insides of their sides. Such rims would require tires with very strong beads. There also was a system where the bead was somehow clamped into the rim.

Thus, I would suggest to check the form of the rim. I may be wrong, but if you don't find a small bulge on the inside of the rims edges that holds the bead in place, that's most likely your problem.


When going up hills, my gears drop 2 to 3 slots. Is this my cable tension?

Others have commented this and it is the likely cause.

With friction shifters the position of the lever is held by the screw that holds the lever in. When pressure is exerted on the drivetrain the chain tries to drop down the cassette, only being prevented from doing so by the rear deraileur which in turn is held by the cable tension of its shifter. If the shifter screw has loosened a bit the force from the chain will overcome the deraileur, pulling on the shifter cable, and shift down by itself.

It's simply a case of tightening the shifter screw to a degree that it's still comfortable to shift but won't be pulled out of position. It should feel pretty stiff when you shift but not so much that have to put much effort in.

On my old peugeot racer I found myself tightening the screws every month or so.


What is the widest range 9 speed cassette?

If you are looking to go faster on the flats you can find multiple cassette models with a range of 11-34. If you are looking for more "granny" on the hills, 12-36 is the best you are going to find out of the box without swapping out the low ring. (Sheldon Brown)

That said, on most 9-speed cassettes I have seen, the smallest ring or two are not riveted to the body, so you could easily swap the 12 out for an 11 to get that much more range.


When turning cranks backwards, cassette locks up

Edit: Assuming a standard bike, but take clues for internal gears or ebikes.
The rear derailleur keeps tension on the chain when you pedal backwards via a spring on the two jockey wheels.  If there is resistance that exceeds the force this spring exerts then the jockey wheels will shift forward, slackening the chain, instead of the system working smoothly.
This can happen from a number of causes:

Your jockey wheels have a ton of crud in them and need cleaning.  This is the most likely cause, particularly if you don't take good care of your chain.  Have a good look at them, and try to spin them by hand if you can get the chain off easily.
Your freehub is blocked up somewhere.  Try spinning it backwards while holding the chain clear with your other hand.  If it doesn't spin smoothly then you need to take it to your LBS to have it cleaned/greased/fixed.
Your bearings on the jockey wheels are shot.  Sort of the same as #1, but needs a new part.
Your chain is rubbing somewhere with a lot of friction.  I'm guessing you'd notice this, but I thought I'd include it for completion.
Something else is causing more friction than the derailleur spring can compensate for.  You should be able to find it by looking at where the chain is stuck?

Hope that helps some!


How to remove a seized & snapped bolt and extractor from a welded titanium cage boss

The first thing I would do is assess the question of what happens if your efforts result in the eyelet threads getting wrecked. Is the eyelet and its welded connection chunky enough to fix it by helicoiling? Look at a helicoil tap chart. Does it have enough meat to handle a 6.145mm hole in it?

Then look around a little at the ti framebuilding suppliers to get an idea how big the hole in the frame is. Is the eyelet basically this thing, 10mm flanged top and 6.5mm shank dia?:

(6.5-6.145)/2 is not much but it's not nothing. Is the bead placed in a way where it's going to shore things up at all, or is it only connecting to the top flange? Ideal would be if the helicoil threads get at least 6mm worth of chunky material to reside in between what the flange and joint give, so the 3.55/2 part isn't being asked to do anything structurally. 5mm would probably fine, and less than that I don't love.
If you can helicoil, life is easier. You can try and brain surgery your way through and keep helicoiling as a backup plan, or you can skip that part and obliterate everything and just helicoil it, that's up to you. Proceeding in a way where the threads remain intact at all costs is more perilous and time-consuming.
Broken extractors can be a big problem because they're made of such hard steel. There's a hierarchy of tool hardnesses in industry and extractors are around the top of it because they're intended to be able to bite into fasteners that themselves are made of hard stuff, like stainless or grade 8 bolts.
This is what I would do if I had to tackle it:

This kind of Dremel bit, a round carbide burr (probably some other names too) is the most effective thing I've found that can cut into the broken stub without wandering around. The challenge in situations where you ultimately want or need to save the frame threads is you have no forgiveness for the tool wandering, and this is the safest way I've found of addressing that. (You have to be very careful, go slow, hold it firm but don't force it, and all the other usual precautions). You could try to go the whole way with it, or just establish a hole/divot to start a drill. For a drill to follow it, you need something made for drilling hardened steel, i.e. proper fancy carbide bits.
So you can use the round carbide burr and, optionally, your carbide drill bits to gradually get through the broken extractor. Once that's out you're back to where you started. What I would do is take advantage of the relative high hardness of ti by switching to a drill hardness that will be effective against the aluminum but bounce off the ti, like say a wood-oriented bit, making it easier to get through without hurting the threads. Cut out as much of the aluminum as possible with this succession of drill bits. If you nail it up front with your perfectly placed pilot hole, which the round dremel burrs can help create, you can use your series of larger drills to clear away enough al to have the peaks of the frame threads poke through.

We see that transition happens at about 4.134mm. So looking at a drill bit size conversion chart, we see from an imperial set it's between 5/32 not quite taking you there and 11/64 being big enough it starts eating frame, but there are some other sizes that do take you right to the cusp if you're willing to order fancy drills from the internet:

In other words, 11/64 takes you there but also works against you if you're trying to save the frame threads. A maximum case attempt at saving them would probably involve getting a 4.1mm bit.
Once you're there, looking at the remains of the bolt and the peaks of the threads poking through neatly, I would try to dig in with a stainless steel scriber on the top, trying to clear away enough that you can begin to get a tap started into the threads. You can be aggressive since the ti will be harder than the stainless. One of the things working in your favor if you take it this far is that the sections of thread that aren't corroded in place will start falling away.  It may be easier to use a bottoming/plug type M5 tap, which is a good reason to have them around. Once you get it started into the frame threads, you should be able to use it to clear out material the rest of the way down. Understand that the whole trick to this stage is that you're trying to get a tap started into the frame threads. You're not trying to just jam a tap into a seized-together mass of frame thread and broken bolt. If you do, you may start cutting new threads overlaying the frame threads, which will tend to ruin them. The suggestion of a bottoming tap is because it's not tapered, so it may be easier to start with confidence. When it's an aluminum bolt, this part will tend to be easier, because any tap should clear it out easily.
Another thing you could consider is going to an M4 helicoil, if it's dubious whether you have the material for an M5. A steel M4 bolt is sufficient for a bottle cage, and this way you're not flirting with taking away too much material. It won't look like new though. To make this work you would be creating a new set of threads that overlay the old ones and hoping it would be strong enough, so it's last-ditch, but may be something to try as a bailout plan if you reach a point where the threads are ruined and you don't think there's enough material to enlarge the hole.
Note also that everywhere above where I talk about an M5 helicoil, you could substitute the plan of going to an M6 thread, since the hole size is close to the same. It's actually a little bit smaller, so perhaps there's a scenario where M6ing it is a better call. I kind of hate doing this to bikes, especially nice ones, but there may be a scenario where it's appropriate.


Missing a part from an internally threaded steer tube

I think you're after one of these.

Does the same job as a top cap and star nut but has a hole you can run the front brake line down.


What are the thicknesses of different two-bolt bike shoe cleats?

SPDs can be clear of the ground, depending on your shoes.

I use SPDs with Specialized Cadet (discontinued) and Giro Rumble shoes, which are fully recessed.  I walk a few km a day in them, and have been known to run in them.  On a perfectly flat surface the cleats don't touch the ground when walking on either of them, but they often find bits of grit or uneveness in the ground, which can make them sound like tap-dancing shoes. The only time the cleat is even close to a problem for grip is on tactile paving, especially if running.

Dirty cleats will always risk dirtying carpet; after oiling the clipless mechanism of my pedals I'm very careful to avoid wearing my SPDs on carpet.

With the M424 pedals I use, I've had to file a bit of the plastic cage off; if you had similar pedals and thinner cleats you might need to remove more (though the Cranks Brothers Mallets seem to have grubscrew studs you could remove).

Here's a picture of the cleats on my Giro Rumbles, showing the 2 mm that the cleats are clear of the ground, and just how much rubber would have to wear away to reduce this


"Bore" or "bearing bore" are the words I know for it. Yes, you're right to worry about this, especially if it's actually more or less loose in there and not just a slip fit. One possible negative consequence of the fit being loose is the bore could get deformed and/or ovalized until there's knocking or play you can feel while riding as a result. It could also creak. It probably also doesn't help bearing life, and I'm sure there are other problems that could result from this depending on the factors at work. If it's more like a slip fit, where it's somewhat snug but can be pushed in and out by hand, that's fairly common and while not ideal, it's unlikely to do much more than creak, although having it develop into something worse isn't impossible.

The common fix for this is to use Loctite 609 or equivalent, which is designed for this kind of application. It expands to create a tight fit, but generally not so much you'll hate life too much when you have to get it apart. I wouldn't be optimistic about the medium-strength threadlockers like 243 being strong enough here.


A general explanation of rim, tire and tube specifications

700CX14GX36H means it's a:

700c rim (actually ISO 622mm diameter, as the Sheldon Brown page linked by Brad describes)
taking 14 gauge spokes
with 36 spoke holes

So, you need to know the 700c bit if you're buying tyres or tubes, you need to know the 14g bit if you're replacing spokes, and you need to know the 36H bit if you're re-lacing the rim to a new hub (which will need to have 36 spoke holes to match).

Some Context

700c and 14 gauge spokes is standard for road bike wheels.
36 is a fairly high spoke count, meaning it should be durable and relatively easy to repair and re-true. On the other hand, lower spoke-count wheels may be lighter and more aerodynamic (at the possible cost of being more fragile and harder to repair).

  Can someone provide an explanation of what general tire and tube size specifications mean?

700x23 means a tyre fitting a 700c rim, with approximate inflated cross-sectional diameter of 23mm. 700x32 is a fatter (32mm vs. 23mm) tyre for the same diameter rim. Note that even for the "correct" diameter, different tyres fit more or less easily on different rims.

A tube described as 700x18-23 would fit the first (700x23) tyre, but would be likely to burst before filling the greater volume of the fatter 700x32 tyre.

As for a general explanation ... Sheldon's table is probably the best you're going to get.


If you don't want to spend lots of money you can still get the most relevant characteristics in a pair of safety glasses.

You can find these at just about any hardware store and they:

wrap around,
are impact resistant,
block UV,
don't look half bad
come in clear and tinted (and are cheap enough to get one of each usually)


Your frame seems to have a non-standard head tube diameter or you mis-measured it.
Here you can see a list of headset standards: https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/headset-standards
There is no headset standard where head tube internal diameter would be 31mm.
For 1+1/8" forks and bicycles with external headset cups, the inner diameter of head tube should be 33.8-33.9 mm.
Only if you can find a headset that is compatible both with your frame and with the 1+1/8" fork, you can install it.
I would measure the head tube internal diameter again. The external pressed-in headset cups might be affecting your measurement.
Do note that 1" fork has 1" = 25.4mm outer diameter. The inner diameter is 22.2mm
A 1+1/8" fork has 28.6mm outer diameter and 25.4mm inner diameter.
So if your fork had 25.4mm inner diameter, it's a 1+1/8" fork.


Is it possible to repair a dent on frame?

it could be fixed cosmetically, but not structurally.

but it's not recommended to fix it, bending it over and over will cause more and more Metal fatigue. and it's a hassle to do so.

about safety, most named brand is "ok to ride" under this condition, but there is luck involved. so it's a good idea to replace that.

why I say luck - all frame are slightly diffrent, even they look the same. some will break faster, some will hold on like it was nothing, and each rider's style will change the parameter. so no one can precisely predict the outcome.


My bike is slipping only in highest gear

The smaller sprockets can wear quickly because they have so few teeth. You can try getting single replacement sprockets, but generally you’d replace the whole cassette. Be aware that you’ll probably also have to replace your chain because you should only use a somewhat new chain on a new cassette.
For the future you should:

Get bigger chainrings if possible so you don’t have to ride on the smaller sprockets all the time. Also gives you harder gears, since you seem to like them and have few hills.
Replace the chain early enough. A badly worn chain will speed up wear of the cassette and chainrings. Get a chain wear gauge (they are cheap) and replace the chain at ~0.75% elongation.
Increase your cadence. Riding in hard gears at low cadence can tire your muscles quicker and can be bad for your knees.


Need some advice about purchasing a used Cannondale

Are you physically near the seller?  The single best thing you can do is go see it, inspect it closely, and then get a leg over the bike.

Test Ride  That way you'll know instantly if its a "no-way" fit bit sitting over the bike.  A good  seller will let you take it for a ride too.  Ideally an hour, with some mixed surfaces, and a small climb/descent to get an idea how it goes.   Its common to leave something behind, like your drivers licence or similar ID as collateral, or sometimes the seller might come for the ride with you.

Components by buying used you're going to get an older groupset. And it will likely have some wear in it.   9 speed parts are available, but you might not find high end duraace or ultegra level.   105 is a perfectly good workhorse generation and even tiagra and sora and claris are useable.   I might think twice about spending money on non-branded stuff, or tourney groupset.

Brakes Most modern bikes will have dual pivot rim brake calipers.  These are superior to single pivot calipers.   But expect to replace brake pads basically straight away.

Wheels Start by looking at the brake track.  Ideally it should be straight and not scalloped/curved.  Some scalloping will be evident on most wheels, but too much and the wheel is worn out.   The rims should run true, and all spokes should be present.  Bonus if you get some spares with the bike - they can be pricy on these low spoke count wheels.

Transmission triple chainsets work okay, and are a necessity for some of us.  There are snooty road riders who look down on triples as being for "bad climbers".  In the same vein there are 1x users who do the same to double-chainring riders.   In terms of hills a triple generally gives you more grannie gears at the low end for going up big long grades.  If your commute has hundreds of metres of climbing, you'll appreciate it.  For flat use, you're likely to stay in the big chainring all the time and only change gears at the rear.

It should change gears smoothly and reliably.  A little bit of clatter means it needs a tune.  A lot of pressure required to change means it needs new cables.  Can be a bargaining point.

Tyre clearance Modern trend is toward wider tyres at lower pressure.  That this bike has 23mm tyres means only that it will fit 23 and smaller.  You might find that a 25mm won't fit safely.

Tyres are kind of irrelevant.  As long as it has some, and they're not dry rotted you'll be okay.  These are consumable items, so when you start riding more you'll figure out if they're suitable, or if the next ones should be larger, or a different tread.

Commuter features The yellow colour is good - there are too many black bikes that blend into the background, which is a bad thing.
Depending on your climate and commitment level, items like mudguards/fenders, rack, lights, and reflectors will be required. I doubt that bike has mounts for full mudguards, nor space under the brake caliper for the guards.  But then if you live in a dry place or if you have a wet-weather option, then this may not bother you.
A Rack is for carrying stuff to/from work.  You might prefer a backpack, its up to you.
Night riding will ABSOLUTELY require lights and reflectors, of which this bike has none.
Security too - even though its 18 years old, its still stealable.  You'll need to park and secure it safely, or bring it inside at work.

I personally own a `90s aluminium cannondale road frame, and the tyre widths is probably the worst point, followed by road buzz.   I can only fit 25mm on the front and have to do naughty things to get a 28mm on the back wheel.  Even then it risks rubbing and wearing the inside of the chainstay.

The road buzz comes from our road surface, which is chipseal (small sharp pebbles embedded in tar) and it can make one's hands go numb.  My handlebar gopro goes poorly, and worse at night because of the vertical shake.  On other bikes it works much better on the same roads.

Is it worth $xxx ?  Well you need to look for other bikes in your area and see what they're priced at, and compare that to the cost of a comparable new bike.

The new cost of that bike is irrelevant - its a nice bike, but its not a super highend race bike, while also not being a BSO from the supermarket.

Personally I think horizontal-top tube bikes look "normal" and the modern slopey-frames look like a dog scootching over the carpet.  But that's my opinion.  If it were taller I'd ride it.   And remember any bike beats walking.


Has anyone else experienced the Topeak MTX DXP bag getting stuck in the rack?

The Topeak rack systems all fit pretty well, I have sold a few in my time and not encountered any problems. I don't believe there are any bolts for fitting that could be potentially put in wrong to compromise the rail/fit, but the fit on them has to be snug because you would not want it rattling away. You do have a compatible bag/rack combo b.t.w.

I am not sure you will find anyone on here able to confirm the same problems you are having, and these things are subjective anyway - some people just put up with a problem like this. What I suggest is that you try your bag on a different rack. You can go into a bike shop for this or you can scout around the bike racks and see if there is another rack you can borrow. Topeak are usually very good on warranty issues, so if you do find a problem then it will most likely be sorted by them.


Are freewheels really that prone and susceptible to bent axles?

It almost certainly won't happen with a cassette hub. It can happen on standard axle cassette hubs, but it takes a lot, and there's basically always a dropout alignment problem at work in addition to heavy loads over time when it does.
Eight and nine speed standard axle (M10 or 3/8") freewheel hubs are the definition of a cynical design. They work terribly and exist only because hubs are fairly reliably overlooked by buyers of entry-level bikes. They're an utterly crass means for product managers to jam more bullet point type features into a given price point. They are that bad. Light riders are spared some of the pain, but what you're dealing with is common for heavier riders who wind up with them.
Five and six speed standard axle freewheel hubs put much less leverage on the axle where it protrudes from the locknut, and have a pretty minor version of the problem, even for a somewhat heavy rider. Seven is kind of in the middle but is not that problematic for most.
You could put in a solid Wheels Mfg chromoly axle, which means switching to nuts instead of QR, and it will mitigate the issues a lot. It's unfortunate if you haven't had that presented to you as an option. I don't necessarily recommend it though, compared to just putting the money towards a new wheel and cassette.


Choosing a saddle that fits you is very important. The wrong saddle can lead to numbness and pain in the crotch area, and in the long run serious health issues. The right saddle for you should fit comfortably regardless of what type of riding you do and will depend mainly on the width of your pelvic. Ideally you should get a professional fit. If one is not available to you, you should try a few saddles of different sizes to determine what fits you before you purchase.