Bike Issues - Page 2

Skunks · 02-16-2003, 02:38 AM

*bump*

What do I do about bent derailler cage, if that's what it is?

Griff · 02-16-2003, 06:59 AM

You won't find the cage to be terribly flexible. I've never had to bend one but if I was going to I'd hold the top pulley securely maybe in a vise and slip a pipe over the other end. The pipe would give you a lot of mechanical advantage so be gentle. I hope you're still having fun with it bro.

Skunks · 02-19-2003, 02:43 PM

I'm feeling pretty good about the bent-ness. I think I can get it to a reasonably working angle with a little work.

I picked up a new cable, 'cause the old one was frayed and badly de-twisted twards the end. (I needed pliars to pull it through the housing.)

I'm not having much luck threading the new one into the shifter, though. I have a gripshift, and the angle it has to take from the little clamp hole to get out through the bit where the adjuster is is pretty sharp. Any tips? There're no further parts I can take it apart, and it seems to be threading through a different path most of the time--I can put a good 6" of cable into it without seeing it at the other hole, which is only 2" or so away from it.

Skunks · 02-19-2003, 04:15 PM

Er, actually. I made some progress, in that I figured out how I can pull it apart and actually maybe thread it. I'm still not clear on the path the cable should take, though.

Griff · 02-19-2003, 04:28 PM

I've never had grip shift on any of my bikes so I'm not too familiar with the cable run. Some setups allow you to make the cable run first then you connect the cable end. That way you are not crimping the cable. I don't know what your setup looks like though.

Skunks · 02-19-2003, 09:55 PM

Hmm.. I don't think that would have been possible. The Parent seems to have threaded it while I was sleeping, however.

Skunks · 02-19-2003, 11:52 PM

I'm feeling pretty good about the rear alignment. It doesn't squeak while actually in any of the gears, shifts smoothly, and only squeals a little when it's slow going from gear to gear.

Redid breaks, too. I think they'll be pretty good, as well. The real test will be when I go down my street tomorrow morning. There's a fairly sharp turn at the bottom, if I intend to avoid hitting houses/cars.

Griff · 02-20-2003, 03:01 PM

Ride fast, take chances. [lawyertalk]not to be taken as authorization to be stupid, griffcorp takes no responsibility for anything[/lawyertalk]

Skunks · 02-20-2003, 03:19 PM

It's been raining pretty hard all day, and I'm lazy. I figure I'll try it before class on Monday, but I'd rather do it when I can actually see if the breaks are okay, and not just guess based on surrounding water.

But, yeah. The thing I like about this town are all the hills. Particularly, going down them.

Skunks · 02-20-2003, 04:41 PM

I watched the last half or so of Mad Max on FX, which filled me with a desire to do stupid things at high speeds. And it wasn't raining that much, and I don't really need to stop at the bottom of my hill, so long as nobody's driving past...

Shifters are 100% perfecto++ gold. Brakes _work_, but squeak. Feh. Maybe I should oil them.

I think I'll realign them (again), but keep the toe-in spacer rubberbands on a little longer. I'm pretty sure the pads are flat against the rim, which could maybe explain the intermittent squeaking...?

russotto · 02-21-2003, 12:30 PM

Bikes squeak. They make noise. They squeal. You try to fix one thing, and another breaks. You keep trying to fiddle the same piece, and metal fatigue sets in and it snaps. Eventually you give up and get used to the idiosyncracies.

Like the bike I rode at college. I got tired of constantly replacing bent wheels so I just opened up the brakes so the bent wheels went through and stopped it by dragging my feet.

There's a reason bicycles aren't a cost-effective alternative to cars, and its not weather, traffic, sweat, or any of those other disadvantages -- it's that including maintenence costs, cost of ownership is about the same for a bike and a car.

Thus endeth my rant.

Skunks · 02-21-2003, 12:48 PM

I find that hard to believe. Thousands have gone into the ancient Volvo my sister drives (it was ancient when we got it; my mother's not so skilled at the 'buying cars' gig), vs the...$11 I've put into fixing my bike (rear brakepads + shifter cable). Well, another $15-20 for headlight/rear blinker, and I could _use_ a rear tire, but that's a fair sight less than the equivalent parts for a car.

Also, you don't have to pay for gas. Or as much oil.

As far as the squeaking goes, I'm a perfectionist. And it's loud, damnit.

Griff · 02-21-2003, 02:52 PM

Yep, toe those brake pads in Skunk.

You usually get what you pay for R.

Skunks · 02-22-2003, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Griff
Yep, toe those brake pads in Skunk.

Consider them toed. The literature on the subject that I found initially suggested using a rubber band to get the alignment right; it probably worked, but I removed the rubber band before squeezing the lever, so they ended up flat and, thus, squeaky as hell.

This time, I had them both rubberbanded and aligned before seating them, and it worked perfectly. Despite my best efforts, I could not get them to squeak _once_, regardless of how many hills I went down.

Of course, the real test will be going down <a href="http://skunko.damnsw.net/photos/16th.jpg">16th Street</a> after class on Monday.

Griff · 02-24-2003, 06:33 AM

I think you need to go to Cornell or Ithaca College. This topo should explain why.

02-19-2003, 04:28 PM	#20
Griff still says videotape Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 26,813	I've never had grip shift on any of my bikes so I'm not too familiar with the cable run. Some setups allow you to make the cable run first then you connect the cable end. That way you are not crimping the cable. I don't know what your setup looks like though. __________________ If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis D. Brandeis

02-20-2003, 03:01 PM	#23
Griff still says videotape Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 26,813	Ride fast, take chances. [lawyertalk]not to be taken as authorization to be stupid, griffcorp takes no responsibility for anything[/lawyertalk] __________________ If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis D. Brandeis

02-21-2003, 12:30 PM	#26
russotto Professor Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 1,788	Bikes suck Bikes squeak. They make noise. They squeal. You try to fix one thing, and another breaks. You keep trying to fiddle the same piece, and metal fatigue sets in and it snaps. Eventually you give up and get used to the idiosyncracies. Like the bike I rode at college. I got tired of constantly replacing bent wheels so I just opened up the brakes so the bent wheels went through and stopped it by dragging my feet. There's a reason bicycles aren't a cost-effective alternative to cars, and its not weather, traffic, sweat, or any of those other disadvantages -- it's that including maintenence costs, cost of ownership is about the same for a bike and a car. Thus endeth my rant.

02-21-2003, 02:52 PM	#28
Griff still says videotape Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 26,813	Yep, toe those brake pads in Skunk. You usually get what you pay for R. __________________ If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis D. Brandeis

02-24-2003, 06:33 AM	#30
Griff still says videotape Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 26,813	I think you need to go to Cornell or Ithaca College. This topo should explain why. __________________ If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis D. Brandeis

02-16-2003, 02:38 AM	#16
Skunks I thought I changed this. Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: western nowhere, ny Posts: 412	bump What do I do about bent derailler cage, if that's what it is?

02-16-2003, 06:59 AM	#17
Griff still says videotape Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 26,813	You won't find the cage to be terribly flexible. I've never had to bend one but if I was going to I'd hold the top pulley securely maybe in a vise and slip a pipe over the other end. The pipe would give you a lot of mechanical advantage so be gentle. I hope you're still having fun with it bro.

02-19-2003, 02:43 PM	#18
Skunks I thought I changed this. Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: western nowhere, ny Posts: 412	I'm feeling pretty good about the bent-ness. I think I can get it to a reasonably working angle with a little work. I picked up a new cable, 'cause the old one was frayed and badly de-twisted twards the end. (I needed pliars to pull it through the housing.) I'm not having much luck threading the new one into the shifter, though. I have a gripshift, and the angle it has to take from the little clamp hole to get out through the bit where the adjuster is is pretty sharp. Any tips? There're no further parts I can take it apart, and it seems to be threading through a different path most of the time--I can put a good 6" of cable into it without seeing it at the other hole, which is only 2" or so away from it.

02-19-2003, 04:15 PM	#19
Skunks I thought I changed this. Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: western nowhere, ny Posts: 412	Er, actually. I made some progress, in that I figured out how I can pull it apart and actually maybe thread it. I'm still not clear on the path the cable should take, though.

02-19-2003, 09:55 PM	#21
Skunks I thought I changed this. Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: western nowhere, ny Posts: 412	Hmm.. I don't think that would have been possible. The Parent seems to have threaded it while I was sleeping, however.

02-19-2003, 11:52 PM	#22
Skunks I thought I changed this. Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: western nowhere, ny Posts: 412	I'm feeling pretty good about the rear alignment. It doesn't squeak while actually in any of the gears, shifts smoothly, and only squeals a little when it's slow going from gear to gear. Redid breaks, too. I think they'll be pretty good, as well. The real test will be when I go down my street tomorrow morning. There's a fairly sharp turn at the bottom, if I intend to avoid hitting houses/cars.

02-20-2003, 03:19 PM	#24
Skunks I thought I changed this. Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: western nowhere, ny Posts: 412	It's been raining pretty hard all day, and I'm lazy. I figure I'll try it before class on Monday, but I'd rather do it when I can actually see if the breaks are okay, and not just guess based on surrounding water. But, yeah. The thing I like about this town are all the hills. Particularly, going down them.

02-20-2003, 04:41 PM	#25
Skunks I thought I changed this. Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: western nowhere, ny Posts: 412	I watched the last half or so of Mad Max on FX, which filled me with a desire to do stupid things at high speeds. And it wasn't raining that much, and I don't really need to stop at the bottom of my hill, so long as nobody's driving past... Shifters are 100% perfecto++ gold. Brakes _work_, but squeak. Feh. Maybe I should oil them. I think I'll realign them (again), but keep the toe-in spacer rubberbands on a little longer. I'm pretty sure the pads are flat against the rim, which could maybe explain the intermittent squeaking...?

02-21-2003, 12:48 PM	#27
Skunks I thought I changed this. Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: western nowhere, ny Posts: 412	I find that hard to believe. Thousands have gone into the ancient Volvo my sister drives (it was ancient when we got it; my mother's not so skilled at the 'buying cars' gig), vs the...$11 I've put into fixing my bike (rear brakepads + shifter cable). Well, another $15-20 for headlight/rear blinker, and I could _use_ a rear tire, but that's a fair sight less than the equivalent parts for a car. Also, you don't have to pay for gas. Or as much oil. As far as the squeaking goes, I'm a perfectionist. And it's loud, damnit.

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