I'm a champion bike mechanic...

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geoffs
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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby geoffs » Tue Sep 04, 2012 12:41 am

A recent bit of fun that I had was trying to undo the bolt that holds a campagnolo Super Record crankset together. All of these bolts for Ultra-Torque cranksets have a conventional thread Except for the cranks that have a ring of red writing around the axle hollow. These ones have a titanium bolt with left hand thread and they cost $110 wholesale.
I thought who ever had assembled this crank must have used a threadlock 622 loctite. When I leant on the bolt a bit to hard it broke. When I phoned the wholesaler to order a new one they said they had broken the first bolt they did as well. Thanks for letting me know guys!

doggatas
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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby doggatas » Thu Sep 06, 2012 7:37 am

Campagnolo say that bolt needs to be torqued to 42-66nm, even 42nm is quite a lot and always scares me when tightening that Ti bolt.

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Xplora
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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby Xplora » Fri Sep 13, 2013 8:34 pm

Go team :) I swapped a stronglight 36 chainring onto my crank tonight, torqued it up and everything :cool: I need a better quality T25 wrench though :shock: I don't think I worked out that the wrench fit the chainring bolts until I got the torque wrench onto it (better bits on that one :P)

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Duck!
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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby Duck! » Fri Sep 13, 2013 8:52 pm

Xplora wrote:Go team :) I swapped a stronglight 36 chainring onto my crank tonight, torqued it up and everything :cool: I need a better quality T25 wrench though :shock: I don't think I worked out that the wrench fit the chainring bolts until I got the torque wrench onto it (better bits on that one :P)
Curious, all the Torx chainring bolts I've met have been T30.
I had a thought, but it got run over as it crossed my mind.

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trailgumby
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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby trailgumby » Fri Sep 13, 2013 9:59 pm

Duck! wrote:
Xplora wrote:Go team :) I swapped a stronglight 36 chainring onto my crank tonight, torqued it up and everything :cool: I need a better quality T25 wrench though :shock: I don't think I worked out that the wrench fit the chainring bolts until I got the torque wrench onto it (better bits on that one :P)
Curious, all the Torx chainring bolts I've met have been T30.
+1

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trailgumby
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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby trailgumby » Fri Sep 13, 2013 10:00 pm

Oh, and nice thread dredge :lol:

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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby lobstermash » Fri Sep 13, 2013 11:06 pm

Very proud of myself for fitting an old 8 speed 105 brifter to a mate's 80s roadie (Spokesman). We left the old Suntour shifter on the FD to retain some of the heritage (it had received a 7-speed cassette and Deore RD at some stage already). Had the old beast fitted and tuned up in no time!
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hudnut
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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby hudnut » Fri Sep 13, 2013 11:10 pm

I had a creaking noise coming from the bottom bracket.

Now, I live on some acreage, and the back shed where I work on the bikes is a bit of a way from the driveway, where I test them.

So, I tighten the chainring bolts.
Carry the bike and the bike shoes to the driveway, so my speed plays don't get gummed up with dirt.
Put on socks, shoes.
Test bike.
Creak still there. Fair enough.

Take off shoes,socks.
Carry bike back to shed.
Find out bb tool has been borrowed.
That's slightly inconvenient.

Go next door and borrow bb tool.
Discover bearing puller doesn't suit new crank.
Drive 40 minutes to buy bearing puller.
Damn. This is really annoying.

Pull crank
Unscrew cups.
Wipe out all grease.
Degrease bearings, cups etc.
Retorque cups.
Put crank in.
Retorque crank arm bolt.
Discover I didn't skewer chain when putting crank back in.
Obviously can't get chain on.
Can't believe I did that.
Deep breaths. Count slowly. 1, 2, 3, 4......

I don't have a missing link or a spare chain pin.
Pull crank.
Reset grease how I want it.
Skewer chain and replace crank.
Retorque crank arm bolt.

Carry bike back to driveway.
Put on socks, shoes.
Ride 2 metres.
Flat tyre.
Throw bidon into the side of the house.

Take off shoes, socks.
Trudge with bike to shed.
Change tube.
Trudge back with bike to driveway.
Put on socks, shoes.
Test ride.
Creaking noise still there.
Sit quietly thinking Zen thoughts for 10 minutes. "That which does not kill us etc etc"

Take off shoes, socks.
Carry bike yada yada.

TIGHTEN THE CRANK BOLT I #$&% WELL MISSED THE FIRST TIME 3 $&% HOURS AFTER I STARTED.

Carry bike, shoes etc etc ad infinitum.

No creak.

Should have been a 40 second job.
I do usually know what I'm doing.
No, really.

Weep silently while putting tools away.
Go get beer.

Forecast is for rain tomorrow.
Will take fixie instead.

:-)

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trailgumby
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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby trailgumby » Sat Sep 14, 2013 9:54 am

^^^ We have a winner :lol:

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rebilda
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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby rebilda » Sat Sep 14, 2013 10:48 am

Gee......all I have to offer is when I installed my Campy brake pads back to front.

On the 1st test run down the driveway, applied the brakes and shot the rubber brake shoe inserts straight out of the alloy holders. :oops:
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Xplora
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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby Xplora » Sat Sep 14, 2013 5:05 pm

Champion efforts do not assume failure, but rather success... of meagre proportions.

I'm concerned about my crank bolts all of a sudden with this T30 talk (no play on words intended). Would explain why my alloy crank bolts don't look so flash now :P

Followed up yesterday's effort with a flat, and then couldn't get the bike going with a spare tube and a repair kit. NOT IMPRESSED.

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g-boaf
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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby g-boaf » Sat Sep 14, 2013 5:09 pm

trailgumby wrote:^^^ We have a winner :lol:
Hilarious! :lol: Only laughing because I've spat the dummy in annoyance trying to tune manual gears (until I learned the tricks).

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il padrone
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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby il padrone » Sat Sep 14, 2013 6:26 pm

While checking over the wife's bike, discovered the connector for the Rohloff torque arm was not connected at all. She'd only been riding the bike like that for the past 6-8 weeks at least :shock: Axle skewer tension was evidently keeping the hub in position :?
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ldrcycles
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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby ldrcycles » Sat Sep 14, 2013 7:43 pm

trailgumby wrote:^^^ We have a winner :lol:
+1, I feel your pain hudnut :lol: .

One of my best purchases would have to be my 10mm ratchet spanner, only a little thing but it makes installing brakes that little bit easier.
"I must be rather keen on cycling"- Sir Hubert Opperman.

Road Record Association of Australia

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Cheesewheel
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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby Cheesewheel » Sat Sep 14, 2013 8:19 pm

Go!Run!GAH!

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winstonw
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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby winstonw » Sat Sep 14, 2013 9:00 pm

trailgumby wrote:^^^ We have a winner :lol:
hmmm....love my loctite and torque wrenches.

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il padrone
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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby il padrone » Sat Sep 14, 2013 9:16 pm

"My pump got caught in my trouser-leg and my sandwiches were badly crushed......"

Mandatory helmet law?
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Xplora
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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby Xplora » Sat Sep 14, 2013 9:43 pm

You probably would go a banana and cheese sandwich. Weirdo. :grin:

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biker jk
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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby biker jk » Sun Sep 15, 2013 4:53 pm

Rear shifting problem which I isolate to the shifter. Discover that cable is frayed in the shifter. Thinking how on earth am I going to get the frayed cable out without doing any damage. End up using a large sewing needle to push the cable out. Snip the end off, unravel loose frayed wires and manage to get it out. Spent today installing new cables (inners and outers). Shifting sorted and test ride says all ok. I think almost 18,000km is probably too long before changing cables. :lol:

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Re: Cyclist hit by car challenges police over fine - Fairfax

Postby Le Mong » Mon Sep 16, 2013 9:44 pm

Spent 2h trying to work out why my shifting was shot after installing Praxis rings last night. Then it hit me on the way to work this morning. I put the inner ring on inside out.. 1mm difference in spacing. Cue another hour stripping re fitting and re adjusting the 9000FD this evening and tada. Mind you that's an art in itself and worth every cent a mechanic charges to set it up.

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il padrone
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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby il padrone » Mon Sep 16, 2013 10:09 pm

Oh for a Rohloff. So trouble-free and low maintenance. I set mine up, had it built into the wheel, fitted the wheel and ran the cables. Checking the external gear box and had to unscrew the fastenings to the hub axle-plate to reposition the EX box. In this process a small cog fell out. I put it back in place.

Connected the cables and suddenly.... the cable adjusters have been left out :o I now had to release the cables (supposedly they cannot be re-used once taken out). Luckily, amazingly, I was able to refit the cable ends into the very small anchor bolt holes.

Now to check out the shifting. Twist...... won't move. The shifter simply is too tight to rotate. I re-read the manual, ran through the whole process. I took the EX box off to check the direct shift with a spanner. The gears do shift, but put the EX box back on and the twist-shifter will not move. I mull over this problem for an hour or two and posted questions on the Thorn Forum about the Rohloff. Turns out the spanner-shift should be very easy.... mine takes some leverage effort. Umm, something wrong inside the gearhub ?? That funny cog :?

I pull off the wheel, remove axle-plate's five hex-bolts and pull out the cog. The small one in the middle here:

Image

It's asymmetrical. I flip it over and refit the axle-plate, mount the wheel, connect the EX box....... and the gears are shifting nicely. D'oh!!

:oops: :oops: :roll:
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ldrcycles
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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby ldrcycles » Tue Sep 17, 2013 5:13 am

I found out last night that there is more than one diameter of cottered crank axle, the british size which fits Raleigh cranks, and the ISO size which is, get this, only 2 tenths of a millimetre larger. I have Raleigh cranks so guess which size axle I have? :evil:
"I must be rather keen on cycling"- Sir Hubert Opperman.

Road Record Association of Australia

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FuzzyDropbear
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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby FuzzyDropbear » Wed Sep 18, 2013 10:07 am

Had to replace a mate's freewheel while at work one day, we'd never taken one of these things off (I've only had freehubs up till this point). So we whip the wheel off, put the freewheel removal tool in and apply a liberal serve of elbow grease... No joy... As it's been on for quite a few years, we decided that it's probably a bit stuck and in need of more torque to remove it... So down to the workshop we trot to get out a bigger breaker bar..... and a bit of heave-ho and guess what? No joy.... Puzzled, we decided to mount it in the large vice and try to spin the rim, rather than trying with an even larger breaker bar...... Once the spokes started making noises we decided to stop.... lol..... and then a stroke of genius caught us... and yep, try the wheel the opposite way we were turning it and bam, off it comes with no effort.... :oops:

Moral of the story, always double check which way you're trying to spin something.... lol.

jasonc
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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby jasonc » Wed Sep 18, 2013 11:39 am

I did a worksmates chain at work, no problems yesterday
Go to do my own last night, yep, put it on the wrong way

Thankfully I had a spare chain, just just broke the chain (in a different spot), flipped it around and installed the new pin. Now to buy a spare chain pin or two.

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WyvernRH
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Re: I'm a champion bike mechanic...

Postby WyvernRH » Wed Sep 18, 2013 1:03 pm

ldrcycles wrote:I found out last night that there is more than one diameter of cottered crank axle, the british size which fits Raleigh cranks, and the ISO size which is, get this, only 2 tenths of a millimetre larger. I have Raleigh cranks so guess which size axle I have? :evil:
Hate to depress you even more but there were more than a few differing diameters of cottered axle made over the years. look out for older continental and Japanese stuff. :wink:
Not even going to mention cotter pin sizes....
Cheers
Richard

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