Forum: Bicycle Mechanics

Curious: anything I have to look out for?

Hi I'm a newb. I was wondering when retailers are selling a 52cm bike i.e., are they referring to the top tube?

I have a 105 front braze-on derailleur and a bike that needs a 28.6 clamp on FD. I know that there are adapters for braze-on to clamp-on. How well do they work? Is there one brand that works better then another? Any issues on mounting that I should know about? Or should I just buy a clamp on FD?

Hello everyone, I have a cheap bike with 27 x 1 1/4 tires. My front tire had been giving me issues for some time, I'd pump it to about 90 psi (it can take upto 105) and it'd be flat in a couple of hours. Got a new tube and well, rideable pressure lasts for a day max. Changed the valve set...

I wasn't sure if I should post this in classic bikes or here. I found a classic Ralleigh 3-speed bike. It is a kid's bike with 24" wheels. I can fit on it, maybe a couple more inches of seat post would help. But the cranks are quite short, making for a difficult ride. The cranks appear to be...

I have a Formula rear track hub that I respaced to about 135mm (from the usual 120mm) to fit a singlespeed cyclocross frame. I then installed an ACS bmx freewheel. Now I'd like to take the freewheel off, but my Park FR-6 removal tool can't fit over the outer locknut (my spacers are between the...

I will freely admit I'm not the best wheel builder. I just haven't built enough of them yet. Tonight I almost gave myself an ulcer trying to get my back wheel built after the shop closed. I'm using Velocity Blunt 650b rims and Shimano XT 756 disc hubs. The spoke holes on the rims are...

I have an old mountain bike I am converting for touring. I want to use bar-end shifters but most of these that I have seen are for 8 or 9-speed cassettes, even 10. My bike has a 7-speed cassette and I have seen that bar-end shifters can be run in friction mode, but if I wanted indexed shifting,...

Hi i'm new here all the way from New Zealand and have joined to get your help with my front deraillerur (sorry if the spelling it incorrect) problem Ok so i ride a Haro Flightline Comp 08 and i love the bike i spend the whole day practicing my wheelies and bunny hops. But the bike has always had...

Putting together some wheels and I am wondering about spoke tension. All the books and manuals say to use the rim specifications to determine desired/maximum spoke tension. I have Mavic A319 rims, but the Mavic site doesn't mention spoke tension. It has nipple length, tire sizes, and some other...

I have a 27" rear wheel just built around 800 miles ago... makes too much noise with spokes rubbing where they cross. Had it looked at today.. drive side is very tight... non drive side is too loose. More or less was told that releasing all the tension on the spokes would cause the rim to go out...

I put on some egg beaters on a bike a few months ago, but today when I wanted to take them off I realized the nut was round and my brake wrench is for the normal shape. How did I get them on? How do I get them off?

Does anyone know a shop that can tap a French threaded bottom bracket? I'm in Albuquerque but will ship the frame for the procedure if it's reasonable. A while back I came into a 70's French frame, Vitus 888 tubing, which I intended to build up and ride. For a while I've been collecting pieces...

We've all seen them, the quill convertors that allow you to install a threadless stem on a threaded fork. I have an old Burley tandem that will be a compromise between two height extremes. I figured it was probably better for me to be raised up higher and extended out front a little, than the...

I haven't worked on threadless headsets that much and just put on a new stem with a threadless setup. I snugged the compression bolt/cap. I then tightened up the two bolts on the stem itself, securing it to the fork. This is a Campagnolo Chorus headset & a Thomson stem. My question: when I...

So, I just noticed that my LEFT pedal is going into the crank arm at sort of a weird angle. I don't recall it being that way before. After removing it with a wrench, and trying for close to 1 hour to ease it in straight, I'm close to giving up. It only goes in at that same weird angle. ...

I have a perfectly serviceable 9 speed Campy Record rear hub (approx. 1998 vintage based on appearance and Exadrive Mk2 cassette). I wish to install an 11 speed cassette on this hub. The spline pattern on the two seem to match. The 11 speed cassette fits with only 2 issues: i) smallest cog is...