Bike Maintenance.

[Duke]

I've transitioned to using CeramicSpeed Molten Speed Wax which I get from Adam.
Tried my own concoction using Refined Wax & Teflon powder but found it was nowhere near as good as CSW, just didn't last as long & was noticeably more noisy.
Also the 11sp YBN chains Adam sells are imho superior especially for waxing compared to Shimano & Whipperman chains I have waxed.
The YBN finish is of much higher quality which seem to take the wax better so it stays on longer & runs quieter overall.

Must say I can't believe I never knew of or tried waxing till this year.
It is so much nicer than dealing with petroleum based lubes being so easy to clean & re-wax the chain while the bike stays free of drivetrain grit.

[norbs]

Adam K has made a nice little business with ZFC and he's really nice bloke too. Though from a science standpoint, i do take minor issue with the term "zero friction" in relation to drivetrains :P

I didnt put my thoughts down, but yes, the perpetual motion machine is here!

[CLP]

Also the 11sp YBN chains Adam sells are imho superior especially for waxing compared to Shimano & Whipperman chains I have waxed.

between V and myself, we have won 3 of those YBN chains, already prepared by ZFC

[CLP]

Blerg... one that was of my own making.
Leaned my bike up to take a photo, bike fell over (on the drive side naturally! ) and bent the derailleur hanger. At least, i'm hoping that's all i've done, otherwise this is becoming an expensive photo.

I'm surprised how easy it bent given the almost inconsequential nature of the "event", compared to the multiple (actual) crashes on the CX bike with not even a hiccup :/ Obviously that's the purpose of the hanger, to save the frame, but it seems like it's gone above and beyond in this case.

Hopefully the new one i have coming will be made of slightly stonger cheese than the pinarello one :/ Not that i'm actually planning to drop the bike again to test it :/

[CLP]

Slowly getting the CX bike back up and running.

New rear derailleur installed. Derailleur hanger was a right pain. I don't think it was machined quite right and so the axle wasn't sitting correctly in the drop out. A bit of filing solved that. The microshift derailleur looks pretty good IMHO, and is a pretty good spec for the money (CNC machined, bearings on both pulleys).

20210218_150624_0800.jpg

[CLP]

Gather 'round kids and see how you too can waste an obscene amount of time..

Took the extra days off work between Easter and Anzac, intending to take care of an ever increasing list of bike maintenance tasks.

First cab of the rank, swap in some new tubeless tyres on my CX bike in prep for the new CX season starting on Anzac day. Budgeted about 30 min - 1 hr each wheel including removing the old tyres. Basically swapping like for like tyres. so not really expecting too much trouble.

Tyre removal was no problem, as you'd kind of expect. Did all the usual tubeless prep, mounted tyres and inflated to check that they were holding air. all seemed okay. Deflated, added sealant and reinflated. And thus we have the start of my 1 week tubeless adventure.

Stupid tyres now just wouldn't seal up. They would hold air *just* enough to give some hope.. but then I'd come back a few hours later to a deflated tyre and a puddle of sealant. :/ repeat this process for nearly a full week.

I think the front tyre is finally sealed, but the rear tyre just refused to play ball no matter what I tried. So i gave up on that and decided to just run a tube for the CX race.

I hope you don't think that's the end of the story .. because, of course it isn't :P

The tube i was going to use didn't have a valve long enough for the rims on my CX bike, so i couldn't inflate it. Probably would have been better to find this out prior to installing the tyre. So I scrounged around in my "to-be-patched" collection of tubes and found a suitable candidate. Added sealant.. patched it up, installed and inflated. A couple of hours later I return to check .. and it's flat. Because, of course it is.

Added more sealant to the tube as a last ditch effort, which seems to have held up for the race.

So. number of tasks achieved.. zero. maybe 0.5 if we're generous and giving credit for the front wheel..

I did manage to get on the start line today.. so i guess that is a win in itself. Can't say that my mood was, or has been, the best as a result of all this pissing about.

[norbs]

I watched 2 Culburra Beach boys try and seal 2 new tyres for what seemed like hours. They refused to try the milKit Booster I have. 2 weeks later they ask me to bring it around and pop, both tyres on in minutes.

I dont know why some tyres are a massive pain in the arse. I have seen a few of the MTB boys struggling with tubeless. If you havent seen it.....(
The new valve cores are awesome as well. )

[DarrenM]

My floor pump is pretty strong so I haven't had an issue so far, but that looks like a good alternative to the bulky pumps with attached booster canisters.

[CLP]

i typically use my air compressor to seat the tyres. From there, it's usually plain sailing. As long as the bead has sealed against the rim, I can use my track pump.

I don't quite understand what's gone on on this particular tyre (the front seems to have sealed up and is holding.. at least for now). Sounded like everything was popping into place pretty nicely. Almost wondering if the tyre itself is faulty.

Next race is in about 3 weeks, so i'll try to look at it again if i get the motivation.

Those valves look pretty epic :o and apparently available at Pushys ...

[CLP]

So, in the continuing adventures of CLP's tubeless set up, I grabbed a Milkit tubeless conversion kit....

- Put the tape on (though i left the old tubeless tape on.. suspect this might be an error, long term ... we shall see )
- Fancy Milkit valves in. Tyre inflated and seated with the air compressor.
- Could hear some leaks, but that's to be expected.
- Added some sealant which seems to have sorted much of the air loss.
- sprayed with soapy water and there's bubbles everywhere. :/

so while it seems better, i'm suspecting it'll be a fail. I'm starting to lean heavily towards the tyre sidewalls being faulty and leaking like a sieve. That said, i'm surprised the sealant doesn't just take care of it... because that's kind of it's job :/

2x National CX rounds coming up next weekend, so if this doesn't work i'll have to jump back to a tube again.. not sure i really need the stress :P

[norbs]

Wow, talk about a bad run.

I dont use my bike anywhere near as often as you do, but mine have been faultless thus far. I am looking at some less aggressive tyres soon, so that will be fun if I get the same issues.

[DarrenM]

- Could hear some leaks, but that's to be expected.
- Added some sealant which seems to have sorted much of the air loss.
- sprayed with soapy water and there's bubbles everywhere. :/

Hearing air leaks is surely not expected. Is it leaking through the side walls or out between the bead and rim?

I've had some thin casing tyres leak sealant through the sidewalls but it would just look like a drop of water coming out, not air. The only one I have that doesn't hold air well is fairly worn and is showing thread on the sidewall from where the tyre has been flexing.

[CLP]

Hearing air leaks is surely not expected. Is it leaking through the side walls or out between the bead and rim?

i'd expect slow leaks (prior to adding sealant) from the tyre/rim interface. Depends on the tightness of fit and tolerances of both the rim and tyre bead. As long as it inflates and holds air at that stage, no problem in my book.

likewise, i've seem some tyres leak a bit of sealant over time from the sidewall (usually around the moulding spikey things).

This is .. different... Check out the photo. hopefully you can make out the diagonal lines of bubbles on the tyre. There's also another patch on the tyre elsewhere where it's leaking. looks almost like the rubber has been scraped. Even so, given the small size of these (despite the stupid number) I'm surprised the sealant hasn't just dealt with them. The other tyre i did seems to have worked just fine.

20220529_182610_0800.jpg

[norbs]

Kevlar belts or something? I did read some tyres with kevlar in them dont like some sealants. Not sure how much truth is in that rumour.

[CLP]

Kevlar belts or something? I did read some tyres with kevlar in them dont like some sealants. Not sure how much truth is in that rumour.

Casing is listed as "Nylon" on the Pushys page.
https://www.pushys.com.au/challenge-gri ... black.html

That said, i've had these brand/model before a couple of times and they were okay. Front tyre from this batch is also fine. Have tried 2 different types of sealant (Stans and Milkit) on this tyre, though not sure of the exact differences between them, both failed.

As annoying as this process has been, I'm feeling better about it. I don't think this is a problem with my process, but rather a tyre problem. After this weekend i'll swap a tyre out with V and try again. Assuming there hasn't been a batch of bad tyres, I'm hopeful that this will solve it for me. V doesn't run tubeless, so these tyres won't trouble her..

[norbs]

Any luck in asking for a return?

[CLP]

Any luck in asking for a return?

haven't tried, though it did cross my mind.
i had these sitting around for ages (multiple months) waiting for a good time to install them, so i wonder how much success i would have, especially now that i've used them (with tubes). <shrugs>

[Duke]

I presume everyone has heard the news, what a cluster... Shimano Voluntary Recall - Ultegra & DA 11sp Cranksets
I really feel sorry for anyone who had this issue & already threw out the old set, no refund or replacement for them when this issue has been known for years.

Shimano has launched a voluntary inspection and replacement program for some bonded 11-speed HOLLOWTECH II road cranksets produced before July 2019 for a possible bonding separation issue.

I have a set of 6800 Ultegra on the Wilier that is part of the recall, no signs of any issues with them after +18,000 kms of use.
I'll get mine inspected & if needing to be returned grab the replacement from Shimano, then see how they look & decide if I go buy another brand crankset & try flog the replacements off.

[CLP]

that crank design has been a clusterfuck in general. Aside from the failures, it's been a nightmare for attaching a power meter (see GP Lama and DC Rainmaker vids).

I don't understand why they didn't just stick with the tried and tested (and better looking IMHO) 5 arm design.

[nutty]

Yeah wow mines affected too..

[CLP]

We're currently in the middle of a warranty process for V's Assioma power meter.

a couple of weeks ago it started dropping out on every ride, and (seemingly) put itself into travel mode. So you'd need to use the charger to wake it back up. Not great, not useful.

The support request/process/comms from Favero to this point have been really good. At this point, they are going to send out a full new pedal (not just the spindle), with us to pay for the shipping. Seems fair.

[CLP]

Update on the Assioma pedal warranty process. V's new pedal arrived today from Italy, delivered via FedEx in about 4 days. Shipping cost us $70, which felt a *bit* steep, but still much cheaper than paying for a replacement pedal ourselves.

I would be hard pressed to fault their warranty process aside from that.