trunolimit

This is an updated picture of my bike. So from what I gather I am driving a miata when I need a SUV?

my bike route is very hilly, I ride from the World Trade Center to Long Island city. It's about a 7 or 8 mile ride with about 50% of the ride being up hill both ways. It sort of sucks because I don't get a break coming or going, the term "uphill both ways" is a literall fact in this case.

I don't like hitting potholes but it happens when I'm going through a street I'm familiar with and all of a sudden it decided to grow a pothole over night. It happens. Jumping curbs I have to admit I do often so I will be more proactive on that part.

i pushed my handle bars up so I could ride upright, Being hunched over hurts my back.

My my first bike in the city was stolen, then I quickly learned why New York City has it's own designated level when it comes to locks and chains. My next bike was a folding bike, I can't remember the model but those tires on that bike where stolen several times before I realized I couldn't get lazy about looking up every part of the bike. When finally did that bike in was that I locked it up overnight and came back to see my wheels had Ben crushed. I have pictures somewhere, it just amazed me how someone could be so senseless.

i then moved to a felt with carbon fork and carbon stays. That bike was a beauty. I rode it for a good 2 years before I realized it was just too big for me. I couldn't reach the floor even with the seat post all the way down. I traded that felt for this OCR which is smaller and sturdier since it doesn't have carbon fiber parts.

I really don't think my tune ups are bad because if they were then the bike would ride like crap from the get. However after I get my bike tuned it rides amazing for about 2 to 3 months before the chain starts to make noise because it is hitting the front derail thing. I think it is me, I'm about 200 pounds and carry abut 20 pounds of crap to work.

i don't mind putting in the wrench time. Keeping tabs of things that feel funny while I ride and should look at later is a great idea though.

Jeff Neese

First, as others have said, your bicycle maintenance should be an ongoing process, not a "once every how often". You ride, you feel, you listen, you clean, you lube, you adjust, all in a continuous cycle depending on the amount and type of riding you do. I generally put my bike on the stand about every three or four rides, and of course immediately if there's something out of whack. You need a stand.

In a broader sense though, unlike recreational riders, bicycling seems to be an integral part of your daily life (commuting) and as others have pointed out also, you need to "own" your bike by knowing every inch of it and how it works, and being able to perform all routine maintenance and most repairs. You may need a shop to work on the bottom bracket or true your wheels (I do) but for keeping things generally in tune and running smoothly, you need to be able to work on your own bike. It's not rocket science. A well-built and trued wheel should stay that way for a long time, unless you're really banging them up.

I have to wonder - since functionality and reliability are so important, why are you screwing around with things like folding bikes? Those are the things you throw on the back of an RV so you can pedal around the campground, or take out to the cottage for a weekend, certainly not suitable for an urban commuting bike.

Whether your current bike is suitable is a matter of opinion, and your specific route. I ride a Trek 930 lugged steel mountain bike and I'm quite sure it could handle your environment with ease and I might hit the bumps and potholes on purpose, just for fun. But it's built for that - yours is not. If you think your bike has the bones to handle it, you should at least look at the tires. Larger tires may help a lot if they'll fit.

Do some Googling or search within this forum for "urban commuting bicycle".

trunolimit

It was a dahon matrix, that bike was amazing.although I hated the disc breaks because I would constantly have to make sure I put the quick release wheels back perfectly when I took the tires off. And the latching mechanism broke constantly so I use to keep the bike from folding while I ride with Velcro. I know it sounds crazy but it worked. I put some really nice wheels on them when the original ones were stolen. Then the front wheel was stolen because I only locked up the back wheel while going into a best buy for 10 minutes. Here are the pictures of her demise.









Now I ask you, what possible reason could anyone have for doing this to my bike?

Delmarva

Doesn't really matter now. That's a risk of living in the big city. Washington, DC has the same ongoing problem as does Amsterdam and every other urban area. What does matter is fixing what ever problems your bike has and considering getting a heavier duty bike for daily commuting. And learning to watch the road ahead as much as the traffic around you.

jyl

Awful that someone did that to your Dahon.

Jeff Neese

That is always shocking - when someone does damage just for the sake of vandalism. At least theft you can understand. If the wheels were the only thing damaged, certainly they could be rebuilt. People break or bend rims all the time (OK, maybe not all the time, but it happens) and you just have a new wheel built. In your case, two.

I still say a folding bike is not an appropriately serious bicycle for someone that commutes the miles you do every day, and your current ride seems to be questionable too, based on what you're telling us. The right bike for the job makes all the difference.

trunolimit

I hear yah. I'm going to stick it out on this bike though, I like how it rides. I did my first attempt at a wheel truing today with some success. I managed to get the wobble down to a minimum and actually was able to ride with my back breaks engaged. And the problems I was having with shifting went away. Now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense. to compensate for the wheel wobble I mounted the wheel at an angle so that the wheel would not hit the break pads, doing so put the cogs at an angle also so of course my shifting was all messed up. I purchased a wheel stand for truing and I've already showed off my new bike stand. So I am on my way to becoming my own mechanic.

I have one question about the wheel stand. There is a hook thing on it. What is it for?



I also purchased a spoke tension meter because going by the break pads and then the knobs on the stand was driving me crazy. I'm picking it up tomorrow so tonight will be spent on looking at guides to using spoke tension meters.

bjtesch

A good bike with quality components can go a long time without needing much attention. The wheels that I built 25 years ago are still going strong and in good condition. The bike that they were on I bought used in 1991 and it was going strong until a Toyota killed it 4 years ago. I rarely had to worry about adjusting brakes or gears. Once a year I would clean and lube the chain. Every couple of years I would grease the wheel bearings. The most work I had to put into it was to give it tires, tubes and handlebar tape. The bike was a Tesch 101 custom frame. I could wash it and it would like new, the brakes and gears always worked well. It rode as well on its last day as it ever did.

If you have problems with the gears, then that is the time to tune them up. If you detect that the wheels are out of true and the brakes are rubbing, then have the wheels trued. Otherwise just ride it.


I have an older version of that stand and it doesn't have the hook. I wonder if the hook is there simply to help hang the stand on the wall when you aren't using it.

The spoke tension meter is fun to play with. I bought the park model a few years ago and used it to help build my latest set of wheels. I checked the wheels that I built 25 years ago and found that they still tight and fairly evenly tensioned. I also checked the set of wheels that I bought used 23 years ago and found that they weren't as tight overall and the tensions varied a lot from spoke to spoke. But the thing was that those wheels I also rode a lot over the past 20 years.

trunolimit

could you give me a general run down of what to do and what not to do with the meter? I also got the park tools one. Building wheels sounds intimidating and daunting.

jyl

I think it is great that you are learning to work on your bike and acquiring the tools to do so.

trunolimit

Well you guys have made it seem pretty doable so I figure why not. It's just in the past I have not had a great experience tweaking my bikes.

Booger1

Wheels first huh?....Brave soul.....

Sorry but......You still need to use the knobs on the truing stand to check for side to side and up and down movement on the rim.

The tension meter will give you a number that corresponds with a given amount of tension in the book, Different rims like different tension settings (you can look them up)

For starters,just work on getting each side of the wheels spokes even and get the rim running true.....All at the same time!....

Tension will probably/should be even from side to side on the front wheel.....On the back,tension will be UNEVEN from side to side....This is normal! Just get the back wheels spokes even on each side.

That should keep you busy for a bit....

trunolimit

Why why isn't all that in the book? All the idiots guide told me about Truing is to tighten the opposite side you want to move. So if the wheel is too close to the drive side you want to tighten the non drive side. Or something along those lines. Can't wait to give it a shot tomorrow. Park even has a web app where you plug in your numbers. One thing I did mess up on today was I didn't deflate my tires like the book said to do.

cny-bikeman

It appears that you pushed your handlebars up AND pushed your seat way down. You seat height should be such that you still have a slight bend in your leg when at the bottom of the stroke. Don't expect to reach the ground from the saddle unless well up on the balls of your feet. The proper way to stop is to dismount from the saddle. Because of the angle I can't tell what you did to raise the stem, but it's important to remember that one adjusts the reach (distance forward) of the stem before height.

trunolimit

I think my sitting position is ok. I read in the guide that you want your leg straight when the heel of your feet is on the pedal.

cny-bikeman

Yes, that works also.

bjtesch

You can read my other thread about building wheels. You want the wheels to be tensioned to be within the desired range but the range can be hard to find. You also want the tensions to be fairly even from spoke to spoke. The exception will be in the rear wheel where the dish in the wheel requires the spokes on the righthand (derailleur) side to be tighter than the spokes on the opposite side.

https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-me...e-tension.html

Building wheels is not out of the question for someone with some mechanical ability, the ability to read and follow directions, and a lot of patience. It's not like making a sandwich though- you have to be careful selecting components, it is a little bit complicated to just lace the spokes, and then there is a lot of trial and error in the truing process.

trunolimit

I think I will dive into your thread, today was my first time using the parktool and after 6 hours of trying I have a completely usless wheel to show for it. What's so frustrating is I adjust the spokes 1 by 1 then when I get to the first spoke its off from what I adjusted it too. It hit me a little too late that changes made to other spokes changes the tension on every spoke. I'm glad I did not touch my rear wheel.

There has to be some meathod to this. If spoke a gets adjusted it affects spoke x, something like that.

On another note these wheels do need to be replaced, I found a few spokes are slightly bent. Maybe I can take these apart and re spoke them just to get some experience. Needless to say im in the market for new wheels.

trunolimit

I broke down and bought these

https://www.amazon.com/ZeroLite-Road-..._cd_al_qh_dp_i

ZeroLite road Comp wheelset. Did I make a good choice?

Wheever

I agree whole-heartedly, and about pretty much EVERYTHING I own. It's just part of my character that I need to be able to fix and service whatever thing I might have in my life, and so learn enough about it to do so.

But on topic: just recently my FD started making a lot of noise--shifting fine, but the chain seemed to only miss the guide on the middle two rear cogs on both chainrings. BUmmer. Trimming seemed to help sometimes, sure, but also sometimes disappeared. This being a new bike, I took it into the LBS where purchased and had them do a tune-up, letting them know about the FD. It was a little better when I got it back, but still maddening. So I found the Shimano adjustment guide online and read some pages on adjusting FDs...ten minutes later I had it properly silent and trimmable. Should have just done it myself in the first place! (Oh, ten minutes and I'm a TOTAL NOOB at derailleirs.)

My point: yes, OP, learn to fix your own stuff! You'll be so much happier in the long run, and so glad you did!

jyl

I'd say no. Low spoke count (26?) wheels, meant to be aero and racy rather than tough and pothole-resistant.

For the money, you could have had the existing wheels retrued. They look like high spoke count wheels better suited to NYC conditions.

Best yet would be to true and tension your existing wheels on your own. Did you give up after just one try? It isn't hard, but it is if you abandon so quickly.

Still, you have them, so put them on and ride light, when they go out of true, use your tools and fix them yourself.

trunolimit

Man I didn't notice that they had those bladed spokes. I hate those. My felt had them and my spokes came off a few times. Tomorrow I'm dedicating a whole day to replacing the bent spokes on my mavic cxp 21.

jyl

When truing wheels, I go gradually. Turn the wheel to a spot where it is out of true (rim rubs against the truing stand indicators), make at a 1/4 turn (in the appropriate direction) in the nipples at that location, then - whether the rim is true or not - move to the next trouble spot. Keep going around and around. Little by little, get the rim true. Eventually go to 1/8 turns.

Also, I try to spread the larger adjustments over a few spokes. Not just tighten this one spoke, but also loosen the neighboring spokes on the other side, a little. That helps avoid creating low spots .

If you're willing to find "The Bicycle Wheel", it explains all of this in a clear, short book .

trunolimit

this book? https://www.amazon.com/The-Bicycle-Wh...+Bicycle+Wheel

I have been at it for literally 4 hours and I finally got the hang of it. I managed to get the wheel spinning straight. I was missing 1 huge concept. You have to find the apex of the bend in the rim and tweak from there out. Once I got that concept everything else fell into place. I replaced about 5 spokes but those a-holes at the bike shop gave me a thicker gauge spoke. They gave me a 2.0 spoke when the wheel has 1.8 spokes.

while I got the left and right variance corrected, I have made an oval out of my wheel. so I've got to address that now. Park Tool Co. has an awesome web app to help out with this.

The guy at the bike shop told me to put paint on the end of the spoke to keep the nipples from spinning. has anyone else heard of that?

I'm going to eat something before I collapse since I've been so engrossed in this that I have yet to eat.

bjtesch

This is the kind of thing that isn't explained very well anywhere that I've read, and I do have "the book" too. I discovered while building my set of wheels that 1/4 turns worked pretty well for side to side truing. For radial truing I could go more each time, but this can also throw off the tension if you aren't careful.

When using the truing stand, spin the wheel and while it is turning adjust the knobs until they barely touch the rim on both sides. Now spin the wheel and try to determine which side of the wheel deviates the most from the average position and start there. Turn the wheel slowly and note at which spoke the rim first touches and for how many spokes after that it touches. You will want to pick an even number of spokes and you will make a slight adjustment to that group. This won't change the lateral position much. Spin the wheel again, adjust the knob until it touches, and pick another grouping of spokes to adjust. Once that high point is worked down a little bit then you might go to another spot, maybe on the other side of the wheel. Going 1/4 turn at a time with the nipples will adjust thing gradually and by identifying high points on both sides and working on them one by one, you will gradually get the wheels true.

When I built my wheels I first screwed each spoke on a set number of turns, the same number for every spoke. Then I went around the wheel and tightened each spoke by one turn. Then I did it again. At some point the wheel seemed to be getting close to the proper tightness. It wasn't very true though. I did some rough truing and got that fairly good, then I started checking tensions with the gauge and concentrated on that for awhile. I went around the wheel 3 or 4 times evening up tensions until I got them in the range that I wanted. Then I only needed slight truing to get the wheels straight.

Many years ago I watched someone in a shop build a set of wheels. He built 2 wheels in about an hour. I may have spent 5 hours fooling with mine. If a person doesn't enjoy working on their own stuff and doesn't enjoy using something that they built, they are better off buying wheels and using that time to do something else.