Zero cylinders...

[guest27]

Took boys and Mrs Rog out for a cycle today - my bike is becoming a real dog but that is another story - should see the twitch in the rear wheel - mmmm

Anyway - what causes the cracking sound from the bottom bracket when you put pressure on the pedals.  I thought it was badly adjusted bearings but a few years back I put in a sealed cassette type bearing.

Any thoughts from those of you who know?

R

[Steve Lake]

whenever i've had that, it has either been the cassette wearing out or the crank having slight movement on its shaft.....presumably we're not talking about cotter pins  ?, so draw the crank off its taper or spline (do both cranks, move them 90deg on the shaft, grease and tighten up.
oh....on one occasion it was the frame starting to break up round the bottom bracket!

[guest7]

Yeah, sounds right to me, either cranks or a crack. Have you got a modern type of crank puller? I've got most of those sort of tools here if you need a lend, I've also got the tool for getting the BB shells in/out.

GC

[guest27]

Thanks Guys - I have a puller and will try rotating the cranks 90° and checking for cracks.

Ta

R

[guest18]

Funny you should mention no cylinders.. to console myself after the outfits refusal this morning I've been sitting around the back garden in the sunshine sorting my mountain bike and rebuilding a commuting hack in the hope it will get me back cycling to work and losing some of the beer residue round my belly 


Old Trek MTB, repainted and rebuilt (well 80% done anyway!). has mud tyres as I'm supposed to be leading SWMBO's Guides on a gentle rumble rounds the foothills of the Pentland Hills in a week or two and SWMBO gaily said "oh you could finish that bike your fixing and Xxxx could ride it so there'd be another leader.." No pressure to sort it out then 


My "proper" mountain bike. Slowly being upgraded with ever nicer componentry it is now awaiting a re-frame with the "Charge Duster Prestige" frameset I have on order... for those who dont pedal, it's like a Harris/Spondon/Etc re-frame... very, very Gucci and nice   

edited to add: pics are a bit meaninglessly(?!) small, full size can be found on my Flikr page here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/69593709@N00/

[guest526]

Took boys and Mrs Rog out for a cycle today - my bike is becoming a real dog but that is another story - should see the twitch in the rear wheel - mmmm

Anyway - what causes the cracking sound from the bottom bracket when you put pressure on the pedals.  I thought it was badly adjusted bearings but a few years back I put in a sealed cassette type bearing.

Any thoughts from those of you who know?

R

I have to 'fess up to owning a bike shop ,and this is a very common job in our workshop.

assuming you've checked the pedals are tight in the cranks and the cranks are tight on the axle,the most likely culprit is your sealed bottom bracket coming slightly loose in the frame.Even the slightest movement here, causes that horrible cracking noise as the sealed unit moves in the threads of the frame.

The cure is to remove bottom bracket,and smear copper grease on the threads,then refit tightly (45lbs/in).

Mind you after all that it could just be your knees

[guest7]

I've been building a new road bicycle over the last few months (acquiring bits and pieces as and when they turn up).

It's a very light rigid MTB frame (free). I have some cyclocross forks here that will fit (free) they are for a 700c wheel and have canti lugs. For the rear I have bought a brake converter plate to move the brake position so I can fit a 700c rear wheel instead of a 26" 'un. I have used these plates in the past and despite the weight penalty they work well enough.

The groupset is a mixture of bits and pieces but basically it's running a double ring up front and a seven speed cassette at the rear. I have a set of nice racing 'bars and some STI brake/gear levers. The wheels are an old set off my last racer/hack and comprise some ancient Shimano RS (I think) hubs laced into Mavic rims with D/B spokes and different colour aluminium nipples (why?  ).

The seat post is my old faithful USE with a suitable diameter collar. The saddle is a Brooks leather job. I have tried all the other options over the years and the Brooks is the one I get on best with.

This bike is to get me back into training rides because my sooperdooper one-off tourer (Tange Prestige Team Marin frame and lots of lovely kit) isn't really for hacking about on, it's a bit heavy and expensive.

The only big cost will be a new pair of SPuD pedals and some decent tyres. Hopefully it will get me back out there and I can build my fitness back. I was never a great cyclist because my asthma prevented me from sprinting and hard climbing, but I had good endurance and used to cycle the 20 miles to work without thinking about it.

The one bike that I would like to have back again was my old Ross recumbent. It looked like this (but mine was purple):

I had some real fun on my recumbent and I only sold it in a moment of weakness and stupidity.

GC

[Steve H]

I have a pair of SPD pedal you can have, nothing fancy but will do the job.

[guest7]

That would be great, cheers 

Woohoo! Watch out Andy Duncan, your blagging crown is being challenged 

GC

[robG]

I had some real fun on my recumbent and I only sold it in a moment of weakness and stupidity.

Sorry ,I have clearly missed the point here

I think you had a moment of absolute clarity . It looks like someone used to assembling shopping trolleys at Tescos put this together in a darkened room and finished it off with a plastic school seat stolen from assembly.
Do these things not come with instructions ?

Very Heath Robinson

Rob .

[guest7]

A recumbent bicycle presents about half the frontal area as a normal bicycle. Anyone can cycle up to about 14 mph, but after that it's the wind resistance that you're fighting against and each subsequent mph takes an increasingly higher amount of effort to achieve.

One solution is to adopt an exteme riding position (think of the time-triallists in the Tour-de-France), with the rider bent very low over the handlebars. This means that:
a) you're not looking where you're going
b) you're sometimes in bloody agony

With a recumbent you are sat in a comfy chair with your head up and yet you are still making a smaller hole in the air than the contortionist on the traditional bicycle.

This isn't conjecture or eccentricity, I owned a 'bent and it really was faster and more comfortable than a traditional diamond-frame bike. I guess they are not more popular because they are expensive and you need a thick skin to ride one in public.

A recumbent is, however, a nightmare to ride when you're pissed... the going is okay, it's just the getting your feet down when you stop bit that causes the trouble. damhikijkok. 

GC

[guest27]

Mmmm I fancy a bent.

Can vouch for the sillyness of the racing regs stopping bikes developing ( bit like fairings on road bikes are like they are cos of racing regs not because they are the best design) having done my share of miles crunched down on aerobars in Tris - the position squashes your lungs so you cannot breath effectivly - on a bent you are open chested and thus in better shape.

So GC blags some spuds, anyone got a set of Look peds they no longer want?    Have Looks on my road bike and would like a match for the MB so I can wear same shoes on each etc.

R

[guest18]

Hmmmmm if we're having a blagging frenzy, anyone got a set of shimano or juicy hydraulic discs they don't want..?
No? Thought not.. never mind! 

[robG]

Graham , try as you might you will never convince me .

I have no doubt that this was put together by someone who wandered into the spares department at his local bike shop following his works do . They then proceded to nail together whatever came to hand , and decided to try and sell one as a bet .

Look what happened . 

Rob .

[guest18]

Recumbents look pretty fun, but too low for traffic (and no I won't have a flag on a pole, just gives the buggers something to look at and wonder about as they swipe you) and definately no good off road!
Mind you, once the oil runs out all but the rich might find ourselves pedalling more