A.R.S.E.

I thought it would be a good idea for those of us getting into maintaining our own bikes to have a list of good resources. I lifted most of these from ACF.

Manuals for all sorts of things, and loads of them : http://www.bike-components.de/content/c ... on-manuals

Shimano (English) : http://techdocs.shimano.com/techdocs/in ... ID=iJkQtf2

Repair Help: http://bicycletutor.com/

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

Sheldon Brown Articles: http://sheldonbrown.com/articles.html

Sheldon Brown Glossary: http://sheldonbrown.com/glossary.html

Bikes, Parts, Accessories Info & Specs : http://bikepedia.com/

Bikes, Parts, Accessories Info & Specs: http://www.togoparts.com/items/list_categories.php

Bikes, Parts, Accessories Info & Specs: http://velospec.com/

Cycling Manufacturer Links: http://www.birota.ru/links/cyclemanufacturer.php

Heaps of old Bicycle Catalogues: http://www.birota.ru/catalogues/index.php

Manuals: http://manualer.happymtb.org/



Add more to the list as you find them.

I use or been to most of those site.

What about a pic of your tools of the trade..



A pic of my tools of the trade.

[youtube] [/youtube]

This came for me today reviews seem not too bad.
Having just replaced my crankset with a compact, i noticed that my bottom bracket didn't seem to spin as freely i would expect it to, so this will be the replacement

CLP wrote:Having just replaced my crankset with a compact, i noticed that my bottom bracket didn't seem to spin as freely i would expect it to, so this will be the replacement

Nice BB there CLP. But have your cranks ever spin freely?
I only ask as many frames built in the factory never have thier BB shells shaved parrellel prior to BB installation & this may actually be the cause rather than old worn bearings. Check this out to see what I'm talking about;

[youtube] [/youtube]

Many other great SRAM Road & MTB maintenance & intall videos here: http://www.youtube.com/sramtech" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Flinty72 wrote:

CLP wrote:Having just replaced my crankset with a compact, i noticed that my bottom bracket didn't seem to spin as freely i would expect it to, so this will be the replacement

Nice BB there CLP. But have your cranks ever spin freely?
I only ask as many frames built in the factory never have thier BB shells shaved parrellel prior to BB installation & this may actually be the cause rather than old worn bearings.

valid question.. and the answer would be "i think so"
I'm pretty sure that it used to spin much more freely. problem is that i can't honestly remember so it seemed like a good excuse for buying anodized parts

edit.. hmm.. just looked at that video and the amount my cranks spin isn't too dissimilar to what is shown at the end.. maybe it is fine.. but i might as well replace it with the pretty new red one

Fwoar! That's a goldmine of links.

Thanks a bunch norbs!

Hows the cassette wear?

Where norbs?

3rd, 4th and 5th cog mainly. Looks like some slight shark toothing on a few of them. Will try and take a better photo over the weekend.

norbs wrote:3rd, 4th and 5th cog mainly. Looks like some slight shark toothing on a few of them. Will try and take a better photo over the weekend.

Doesn't look too bad to me.. remember that some teeth on the cluster are shaped to give better shifting performance.

CLP

umm, not sure I see that it's that bad tbh.
Remember some teeth have different shapes to improve shifting performance.
The real test is when you put on a new chain that it seats in the teeth hollow's correctly but more importantly that it doesn't jump under high pedalling load when riding.

Flinty72 wrote:umm, not sure I see that it's that bad tbh.
Remember some teeth have different shapes to improve shifting performance.
The real test is when you put on a new chain that it seats in the teeth hollow's correctly but more importantly that it doesn't jump under high pedalling load when riding.

Ok, thanks gents. I am buying a new rear cassette anyways, on special for $18. Will give me some time to learn how to swap it out.

CLP wrote: edit.. hmm.. just looked at that video and the amount my cranks spin isn't too dissimilar to what is shown at the end.. maybe it is fine.. but i might as well replace it with the pretty new red one

quoting myself.. oh well..
Had a bit of time so i thought i would have a crack at installing my shiny new bottom bracket last night only to find that the old one is pretty stuck in place Might have to get some wd40 or similar onto it and see if i can loosen it up.. or failing that, get a bike shop to take care of it. Suspect there wasn't enough grease applied to the threads when the bike was put together.

Interestingly the old bottom bracket appears to have loosened up a bit.

norbs wrote:

Flinty72 wrote:umm, not sure I see that it's that bad tbh.
Remember some teeth have different shapes to improve shifting performance.
The real test is when you put on a new chain that it seats in the teeth hollow's correctly but more importantly that it doesn't jump under high pedalling load when riding.

Ok, thanks gents. I am buying a new rear cassette anyways, on special for $18. Will give me some time to learn how to swap it out.

lol.. that's fair enough. same ratios? or trying something different?
Cassette change is pretty straight forward.

CLP

CLP wrote: lol.. that's fair enough. same ratios? or trying something different?
Cassette change is pretty straight forward.

CLP

Same. Was going to go for a 34 tooth instead of the 32, but it was an extra $13 for what ever reason.

Never having done a cassette before, I was wondering if you can just swap out individual cogs.

This will help...

http://bicycletutor.com/replace-cassette-cluster/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

norbs wrote:
Same. Was going to go for a 34 tooth instead of the 32, but it was an extra $13 for what ever reason.

Never having done a cassette before, I was wondering if you can just swap out individual cogs.

Sort of... but realistically you're better off just changing the whole thing out. The largest 3 are all together, and the rest are seperate (with spacers in between) So in theory you can change out individual cogs. Finding somewhere to sell individual cogs might be a different story! The older Uniglide system i think was set up so that you could swap individual cog and mix and match a bit.

Cheers,
CLP

norbs, unless you have a chain whip & cassette removal tool don't try getting it off yourself, at best you'll get frustrated & at worst you'll do an injury like ripping a few fingers off.
http://www.probikekit.com/display.php?c ... el%20Tools" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Forget about swapping individual cogs, even if you could buy them seperately 3 or 4 of them would porbably would cost the same as a whole cluster.
Just keep the old cluster as spare. $18 I wish, I'm up for a minimum of $50 but usually close to $70 for mine and that's buying one from OS.

CLP wrote:

CLP wrote: edit.. hmm.. just looked at that video and the amount my cranks spin isn't too dissimilar to what is shown at the end.. maybe it is fine.. but i might as well replace it with the pretty new red one

quoting myself.. oh well..
Had a bit of time so i thought i would have a crack at installing my shiny new bottom bracket last night only to find that the old one is pretty stuck in place Might have to get some wd40 or similar onto it and see if i can loosen it up.. or failing that, get a bike shop to take care of it. Suspect there wasn't enough grease applied to the threads when the bike was put together.

Interestingly the old bottom bracket appears to have loosened up a bit.

Umm if it has never been removed from the factory fit it doesn't surprise me that its stuck, best to take to a bike shop probably.
I generally remove my BB every 6 months, it usualy needs replacing by then anyway but it allows me to inpect for abnormal wear and relube to prevent this issue.
by the way I usually do a full tear-down & rebuild every 6 months, I do it at the start of Winter & end of Spring for obvious reasons
However I generally replace all cables 12 monthly if they last that long to begin with.

Flinty72 wrote:norbs, unless you have a chain whip & cassette removal tool don't try getting it off yourself, at best you'll get frustrated & at worst you'll do an injury like ripping a few fingers off.
http://www.probikekit.com/display.php?c ... el%20Tools" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Forget about swapping individual cogs, even if you could buy them seperately 3 or 4 of them would porbably would cost the same as a whole cluster.
Just keep the old cluster as spare. $18 I wish, I'm up for a minimum of $50 but usually close to $70 for mine and that's buying one from OS.

I'm all over it. I got the Lifu Cluster Chain Whip for $8.50 and a Park Tool FR-5 Cassette Lockring Remover for $5.95 off eBay. Add to that teh $4.95 postage and it should all be here next week.

At the LBS it would have cost over $65. And they wonder why I don't get many things from them.

Flinty72 wrote: Umm if it has never been removed from the factory fit it doesn't surprise me that its stuck, best to take to a bike shop probably.
I generally remove my BB every 6 months, it usualy needs replacing by then anyway but it allows me to inpect for abnormal wear and relube to prevent this issue.
by the way I usually do a full tear-down & rebuild every 6 months, I do it at the start of Winter & end of Spring for obvious reasons
However I generally replace all cables 12 monthly if they last that long to begin with.

I do reasonably regular tear down and clean.. but on the whole i think i'm pretty light on with my gear and so i've not needed to replace any cables/bearings as yet (in about 5 years!)

tempted to go and get the thing serviced and checked over, though i think i've done reasonably well maintenance-wise
Heading into a bike shop on saturday to drop off Miss V's bike to fix something that occurred after a service.. might enquire about it then.

Cheers,
CLP

these arrived for me yesterday

Is that derailer bling Carl?


Swapped the rear cassette today. Oh the fun.

All the gurus said it was relatively easy, and after watching some online videos, I agreed.

Got my Park lockring remover and chain whip out, and off I went. Well, the lockring remover wouldnt slide into the lockring on the cassette. I tried different angles, I put some chain oil on it hoping it would slide on easier. Nothing. I watched another video, I tried again. It wouldn't go in. I had a good look at the rear cassette. This is what I saw.



No wonder. It was off centre. Ah, this was when the fun started. I thought I would loosen the axle nuts off a bit. Undid them a turn, and it was the same, still off centre. Another turn, still out of whack. Ah bugger it, away I went with the shifter. Next thing I know the axle dropped out and I heard this ting ting ting noise. What the hell. I looked down to see ball bearings rolling around in the sawdust on the garage floor. Ok, so my rear hubs aren't sealed bearings. Good to know.

It has been a few hours of swearing and carrying on, and with out cone spanners I am slightly stuffed, as it looks like I might have wound the cones too far in on one side when I did it all back up and I can't undo them with out a cone spanner.

The new cassette is on, now, but when the wheel is on, the disc brake rubs against the pad on one side. Feck it! Ah well, lesson learnt. Off to the LBS on Monday.

As you can see in the photo above, that is when the new cassette is on, and unless you hold it when tightening, it goes out of whack. I suspect a slightly bent axle. I don't know enough to be sure, but the LBS will be able to help I hope.

It is persisting down here, so I am not missing out.

norbs wrote:Is that derailer bling Carl?

certainly is some rather nice Token jockey wheels. not ceramic bearings, but pretty nice all the same have them installed now and they are silky smooth.

norbs wrote: Swapped the rear cassette today. Oh the fun.

As you can see in the photo above, that is when the new cassette is on, and unless you hold it when tightening, it goes out of whack. I suspect a slightly bent axle. I don't know enough to be sure, but the LBS will be able to help I hope.

that's a pretty good effort.. though, i couldn't help but laughing at you discovering that you don't have sealed bearings sorry.. i'm sure we've all been there though.. your turn to laugh at the next person

must have been a pretty big hit on that wheel though. assuming even reasonable quality wheels, rear axles are pretty tough!

might be worth picking up something like this tool kit
then you can have a collection of cone spanners etc

CLP wrote:

norbs wrote:Is that derailer bling Carl?

certainly is some rather nice Token jockey wheels. not ceramic bearings, but pretty nice all the same have them installed now and they are silky smooth.

norbs wrote: Swapped the rear cassette today. Oh the fun.

As you can see in the photo above, that is when the new cassette is on, and unless you hold it when tightening, it goes out of whack. I suspect a slightly bent axle. I don't know enough to be sure, but the LBS will be able to help I hope.

that's a pretty good effort.. though, i couldn't help but laughing at you discovering that you don't have sealed bearings sorry.. i'm sure we've all been there though.. your turn to laugh at the next person

must have been a pretty big hit on that wheel though. assuming even reasonable quality wheels, rear axles are pretty tough!

might be worth picking up something like this tool kit
then you can have a collection of cone spanners etc

Thanks for the link. I have bought one to save me the cost at the LBS.