Soldato
Few things are as dangerous as the curiosity of a naive but enthusiastic tinkerer, especially when access to the internet makes them feel like they have all the knowledge they need at their fingertips...
So I've got some questions about stuff I found that I think is wrong, but I also thought I'd jot down my ramblings as I know there are a few other people on here just discovering these self-powered half-cars...
Questions:
1) My front shifter cable is fraying, can I replace with any old gear cable, or does it need to be something specific to my bike?
2) I think my front sprockets are warped or bent. When I rotate the pedals, there's approx 2mm of lateral change in the position of the chain relative to the derailleur. Made adjusting it a right challenge as I don't have much clearance to the pedals! I'm assuming that level of wobble is not deemed acceptable? There is no play in the BB.
Findings...
1) A 5mm allen key, torx driver, and a pair of pliers is pretty much all you need for doing this stuff. Rubber gloves, kitchen roll, GT85 and IPA/degreaser are handy too.
2) Rear-wheel-only bike stands may be cheap, but they're really not ideal for maintenance. I'm going to build/buy my own proper stand ASAP
3) Having a laptop with all the various sites already open in different tabs is a massive help. (pro tip - put clingfilm over the keyboard)
What I ended up doing...
- Realigned brakes and adjusted tension with the clamping bolt and then barrel adjusters. Dead simple.
- Checked rear derailleur for clean and crisp shifts - no issues
- Front derailleur. Boy did I open a can of worms here. Shifting up to the larger cog wasn't always that clean, so I thought I'd have a go at tweaking the FD. Height, rotation, limits, tension. I ended up playing with this for an hour, and came to a few conclusions.
1) The logic of this is actually very simple
2) If you put too much cable tension in then it won't shift down again. Really frustrating when you think you've got it sorted and then find that out!
3) I have hardly any clearance between the FD being in place to allow big sprocket and smallest rear gear and then pedal hitting the FD. Not sure if it's a problem from the components I have, but it's bloody annoying
4) My front sprocket wobbles (see question bit above)
5) Pedalling on a rear-wheel-only stand is a fiddly endeavour
Got to say though, enjoyed myself! Thanks to the guys who pointed me at various resources online.
So I've got some questions about stuff I found that I think is wrong, but I also thought I'd jot down my ramblings as I know there are a few other people on here just discovering these self-powered half-cars...
Questions:
1) My front shifter cable is fraying, can I replace with any old gear cable, or does it need to be something specific to my bike?
2) I think my front sprockets are warped or bent. When I rotate the pedals, there's approx 2mm of lateral change in the position of the chain relative to the derailleur. Made adjusting it a right challenge as I don't have much clearance to the pedals! I'm assuming that level of wobble is not deemed acceptable? There is no play in the BB.
Findings...
1) A 5mm allen key, torx driver, and a pair of pliers is pretty much all you need for doing this stuff. Rubber gloves, kitchen roll, GT85 and IPA/degreaser are handy too.
2) Rear-wheel-only bike stands may be cheap, but they're really not ideal for maintenance. I'm going to build/buy my own proper stand ASAP
3) Having a laptop with all the various sites already open in different tabs is a massive help. (pro tip - put clingfilm over the keyboard)
What I ended up doing...
- Realigned brakes and adjusted tension with the clamping bolt and then barrel adjusters. Dead simple.
- Checked rear derailleur for clean and crisp shifts - no issues
- Front derailleur. Boy did I open a can of worms here. Shifting up to the larger cog wasn't always that clean, so I thought I'd have a go at tweaking the FD. Height, rotation, limits, tension. I ended up playing with this for an hour, and came to a few conclusions.
1) The logic of this is actually very simple
2) If you put too much cable tension in then it won't shift down again. Really frustrating when you think you've got it sorted and then find that out!
3) I have hardly any clearance between the FD being in place to allow big sprocket and smallest rear gear and then pedal hitting the FD. Not sure if it's a problem from the components I have, but it's bloody annoying
4) My front sprocket wobbles (see question bit above)
5) Pedalling on a rear-wheel-only stand is a fiddly endeavour
Got to say though, enjoyed myself! Thanks to the guys who pointed me at various resources online.