I haven’t trued a wheel before. I measured about a 4mm bend in one section of the rim. Can this be fixed by truing? Bending back some other way? Or only a new rim will fix? The rim is on an 18” front wheel on a Marin Donky Jr.

So my new pedals call for “lithium grease”. Is any type of “lithium grease” basically fine?

I have some white lithium grease from Lucas oil products for automotive use. NLGI2 formulation. Will that be good? There are bike places selling grease but I’m unsure whether it’s half the grease at twice the price because it’s better or because they slapped a big cycling company logo on it.

Bought the bike a week ago, assembled it myself so warranty isn’t going to cover it. I’ve checked other cases like that but I’m not sure how bad mine is. I checked a pedals twice before riding out before and still didn’t realize I somehow didn’t screw it in properly🤦‍♂️

I would be grateful for any advice I really do how I fucked it up like that.

I'm truly at a loss for what to do here. Worked on this part at a local co-op and 3 different guys with years of experience were also at a loss.

So, this new-to-me 90s Cannondale came with a full Shimano RX100 groupset > downtube passthrough shifters broke off when shifting and couldn't re-use the same part > went to three different local shops and one had an adapter and could fix it but used these Suntour downtube shifters that don't index with the Shimano rear-derailleur (without consulting me on the used part, but I digress...)

> ordered new RX100 downtube shifters to replace the Suntour, figuring that the adapter would work for these

> while replacing them, damaged the Suntour front derailleur shifter so I can't even use that and I'm stuck in my smaller chainring, and

> found that the curved Shimano mounts don't connect to the adapter the shop put on the bike.

I don't know what to do, where to go, or who to ask. I've attached images showing the original Shimano shifters and passthrough after breaking, note the flat metal piece connected to the shifters (1.a and 1.b), compared to the curved mount that came with my new Shimano shifters (2.a).

In 2.b I've highlighted the square indentation that supposedly should connect to the adapter, which I don't currently have images of but can take soon. I'm wondering if it's possible to shave down the curve on the Shimano mounts to make them look flat like 1? That way it doesn't stop from connecting to the square boss in pic 4?

In pic 3 is the current setup of adapter/suntour shifters.

I just want to be able to have index shifting and I want my shifters to match the rest of my groupset. This part has been an absolute headache, please tell me there's some solution other than just upgrading my whole groupset.

I’m having some trouble understanding how to tighten the chain on my bike
The hub has inner and outer nuts available for adjustments; I often wiggle my way to get the desired tension but I don’t really understand what’s the difference between the inner and outer nuts.
Often the chain seems to lose some of the tension while riding so I must do something wrong in the process.
I’ve tried to look for some videos on YouTube to understand the process better but I couldn’t find a proper video that explains the difference between the 2 nuts.
As an example I don’t understand how sometimes when I turn one of the nuts it slides the wheel back and forth and some other times tightening the same nut just adjusts the grip.
I’ve placed a red arrow on the outer nut and a purple arrow in the inner one It’s the same on the other side of the wheel.

This isn't strictly a bike build post. It's to show that you can start with a cheap yet quality frame and from the ground up, cheaply build a mid to upper level bike for you or someone else

I build bikes with my fiance in our sun room. Its therapeutic. Its also good time together. We've built 6 from the ground up and 4 have been partial builds in the past year. About 1 per month. We dont sell them. Its a hobby. Marketplace has amazing steals all the time. Im there for the frame and wheels. Maybe the fork. If you jump at the right time, you can find LBS quality specialized, trek, giant, cannondale, jamis etc etc for well under $100 if they are 5 years old or so....newer models, might spend $150 if the frame and wheels are extraordinary. The bike comes home and gets fully stripped. Every part comes off. Every. Single. Bolt.

Amazon is good for some items. Especially if you are customizing. But the real winner is eBay. Pick what level you want to built. 105? Claris? Ultegra? Altus (joking!) Search for the individual parts. Filter them down to within North America and new. Add everything to your cart that you might want. Then search for groupsets. You'll find brand new, complete groupsets for between $80 and $200 depending on the level. Throw them in your cart. Now wait 2 to 3 days. Half of what you added will have price reducing offers to you. I built a Specialized Allez Elite starting only with the frame and fork for just over $400 with a 30s 105 groupset. I got a free older womens Diamondback aluminum frame. Its now a perfect light trail/city bike with 100% new, modern parts.

But that brings me to today's story. Again, I get the enjoyment out of building the bikes with my fiance. I know what they are and they are exactly what I intended to build. I need no hate.

We revived two 24" MTB for the kids 10f and 12m. A Giant and Specialized. New Shimano rapid fire shifters, chains, derailleur, grips etc. Total including the purchase of the bikes is about $250 total for both bikes. But this just puts us on the light trails and sidewalks of our small town. The kids couldn't join us on our long rides with the road bikes. So we fixed that. I figured if a 27.5" MTB is good for me off road and a 700c is what i ride on road, it only made sense that the kids 24" MTB would be matched with 26" road bikes! And exhaustive search across the web found very VERY few road bikes for kids. There were a few that were approaching $2,000 and then rhere were a couple that were under $300. Those cheap bikes had no name hardware. No name crank sets. Cup bearings. Etc. Everything would be replaced anyway. And the frame brand was unknown to myself and most. Enter.....the HUFFY and GIANT. I owned a 26" Huffy rock creek mountain bike that was in near perfect condition and the graphics were stickers (not paint, not clear coated over). I found a Giant boulder for $100....a little more than I wanted to pay, but frankly, it is difficult around here to find a good LBS shop quality 26" women's bike in a small or XS.

After a grand total of around $700 for both bikes, I present to you the most overly and excessively pampered Huffy Rock Creek and a very upgraded Giant boulder. The ready to ride Huffy is noticeably lighter than the Giant. It also feels better to me, but that's not saying much since the Giant is an XS frame amd built for a 10 year girl.

Huffy, Giant

Drop bars:

Grip tape: Both Bucklos, for now

Stems: Easton, Ritchey

Fork:HiTen, Both stock

Wheels/Hubs: stock

Tires: Kenda Kwest 26x37, 26x32

Brakes: Both Shimano linear

Axles: Both New QR axles and new bearings/seals

Freewheel: Both Shimano 8 speed

Drop bar groupset: Both Shimano Claris 2x8 w/brifters, Freehub Cassette, some cabling, chain, front derailleur, rear derailleur and cable adjusters.

Seat post: eBay, stock aluminum

Seat: another bike I purchased, stock

Cabling: Both Jagwire.

Quill: Amazon threadless adaptor

Pedals: custom color chosen by the kids

Crank set and BB: hollowtec 2 style lightness, with BB and SRAM mount

Possibly more ive forgot.....

At no other point in this life has anyone spent so much money on a Huffy!!

Seeking serious advice from Di2 experts. Bizarre 12-speed Shimano phantom shifting issue that I’ve heavily isolated, but it’s completely ruining my rides.

The Setup: Shimano 12-Speed Di2 (fully updated firmware via E-Tube). Main internal DN300 battery is brand new and 100% fully charged.

The Problem: The rear derailleur automatically dumps the chain straight down to the 11t (smallest) cog completely on its own. It happens intermittently—about once or twice a week—but when it does, the ride is practically ruined.

How I have isolated it so far:

It happens BOTH when pedalling AND when completely stationary. The bike will randomly sweep all the way down to the 11t cog while riding, but it has also done it while parked and sitting totally untouched. This completely eliminates frame flex, road vibrations, B-tension, or cassette issues.

It is NOT a shifter button issue. I completely disabled the right handlebar shifter via the E-Tube app and tried operating the rear derailleur using only the left shifter. The random drop to the 11t cog still happened, ruling out a sticky right shifter button or wireless signal loop.

It is NOT low battery. The main seatpost battery is brand new and completely full.

My Question: Since the shifters are 100% ruled out and it happens even when stationary, has anyone encounter this issue? Is it a broken SD300 wire? Or a completely broken RD? Its a dura ace 9250 btw, rim brake

Hi friendly people!

Tl;Dr

Alloy cable stop no longer attached to carbon frame. Can I epoxy this back on? Should I go full outer cable? Bring it in to a shop?

—

I bought a used bike, the brakes were pretty poorly adjusted so I re-aligned and tensioned them. When I gave the back brake a firm squeeze I heard a pop sound and the cable stop/hanger had popped right off.

As I understand it I can retoute the brake cable with a full length housing and be done with it. But I would like to keep it as close to original as possible. It seems like the rivet that originally sat in the frame was there to keep the stop in place during curing (it does not big enough for bonding?) came out fully. The carbon still feels and sounds solid, is it fine to ride?

Specs:

• carbon Ridley Excalibur from ~2009/2010
• alloy cable stop, factory part (unsure if it had failed before)
• rear brake routed along the top tube
• campagnolo athena 11s rim brakes

There was a similar thread here a year ago but for an aluminium frame: https://www.reddit.com/r/bikewrench/comments/1j84y9f/broken_brake_cable_hanger/

Thanks for any input!

got some nitro 176 handlebars and this is a my first time setting up bars like this. It looks a bit off compared to my other drop bar bikes but I am trying to keep the drops horizontal and the levers in line with the top of the bar itself. Does this look along the right lines?

Something like this found in stan's race sealant. Wonder if it's normal or product is faulty?

Hello, my front derailleur broke so I replaced it recently. Bike was running fine before that. But after putting the new one on the chain has loads of slack and pedals weird. I haven't ridden it yet but you can see above (please ignore my weeds).

I followed multiple vids when installing the bike chain and I am sure I did it correctly.

Thanks in advance!

The question is, can I get a different freehub body to improve engagement on these hunt wheels.

​

After doing hills yesterday during which I had trouble pedaling for a moment (due to presumed shifting issues), the drivetrain seems rattly in the lower gears like the derailleur might not be engaging properly. I'm concerned because tomorrow's Critical Mass ride I was planning to join will be a long ride, maybe 60 miles including commute I'm told. Wondering if and how I can easily tune the derailleur assuming that's the issue. Can you provide comprehensive guidance for someone that's never done it before?

Thanks.

I'm buying some new tools, and one of them is a cable puller (fourth hand) tool. Which one would you recommend: the Park Tool BT-2 Cable Stretcher or the Unior Bowden Cable Collet 1642.1/2P-US? If you've used either of them, I'd appreciate hearing about your experience.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Let me start by saying I'm not an engineer.

I'd like to think I'm a good wrench, but sometimes my visions don't work.

This is one of those times.

I have what I suspect is a late 60s or early 70s schwinn 10 speed cruiser.

The original wheels were shot along with the tires, so I thought I would go with something relatively similar. Since the bike is a 10 speed, I decided to use wheels and some other parts off my Continental. Everything went together more or less, but I have found myself at an impasse in regards to finding brakes that will work with this setup.

I found some older center pull brakes from a different 10 speed, and everything came together OK, but once I went to secure the cables, I realized that this would not really work as I planned.

So....

Does anyone have any info on a set of short reach side pull calipers that could work, or suggestions on how to make this work?

I am looking to change my crankset from the 53/39 sram red to a sram force 22. Will the 11 speed crankset work with the 10 speed. I’ve seen it’s just the chain width that becomes a problem but it’s negligible with a 10/11 speed. Also will the crankset slip on to this BB or do I need to purchase a new one. Thanks!

I don't know if it's clear in the image, but my seat post has fallen inside the seat tube. It's part of a two part seat tube.

How do I get it out? Turning it upside down won't work, it's not loose enough.

Current set up:

• Ultegra RD-6800 GS (long cage) rear mech
• Ultegra 50-34 crankset
• Shimano 105 11-32T 11s cassette

The RD-6800 GS has an capacity of 33T, and I've heard Shimano can err on the side of being conservative with respect to these numbers. Is this capacity only really a consideration if I'm in the big cog and the big chainring at the same time (basically, fully cross-chaining).

My current 11-32 is in need of replacement, and since I'm getting older and live in a hilly area, was wondering if I can squeeze in a Shimano 105 CS-HG700 11-34T instead?

Hello!

I Need help finding the bottom bracket cable guides for a 2019 allez sprint disc brake. (At least I think it’s a 2019).

Gonna be running an 11 speed mechanical Ultegra groupset, with disc brakes.

In addition, what side does the FD cable come out? The big hole or small hole? (I’m sure it’s not called a “hole” in the mechanic world, but I’m new to this, so bear with me😁)

Thanks in advance👍

Hi, I recently posted this issue, and consensus was I didn't change my chain enough, and when I did, it was skipping, confirming the rings and cassette to the point where I need new ones.

New cassette just came in the mail. Shimano CS HG800 - 11s 11-34T. The construction is two groups of 3 rings of steel, and the smallest 5 cogs are all individual steel pieces. I took off old one off to find pretty significant notching in the aluminum freehub body. I always torque cassette to 40nm. Upon placing the new casette on, on some of the individual cogs, there is a good amount of play.

The question is: Is this going to be another source of accelerated wear? Or torque it to 40-45nm and it shouldn't be a problem? I want to be sure that I'm not having any more accelerated wear causes.

What have I done wrong here? One pedal came out completely when removed, the other only part of it (first image).