Need advise with headset, hubs and bottom bracket

[Dannihilator]

I knew that someone would take offense to it, wasn't my intention, but it's true. As for working at Scrod's shop, Yeah there are things I'm not going to touch because I simply don't have the experience and/or patience to deal with them just the same as anyone else any more. But rebuilding a hydraulic fork, how much more difficult is that than rebuilding an automobile brake system master cylinder or drum wheel cylinders. Let's see, I've rebuilt carbs on cars & motorcycles. Rebuilt starters and alternators. I think owning an MGB and a couple of Fiats from the 70's that I've done my share of shade tree mechanics to get a car running again & home. Replaced McPherson strut cartridges on cars & motorcycles. Replaced steering components on recirculating ball steering systems (do they even make cars with that any more). Tie rods and steering linkage. I've even torn apart 4, 6 & 8 cylinder engines and rebuilt those from my HS days. One of the first cars I ever owned, the engine wasn't even in the car and was fully disassembled. Came in a box and read a Haynes Maintenance & Repair manual to put it back together. And so I'll take credit for also rebuilding the cylinder heads with those cars too. Then there are the CV joints and transmission seals on FWD 5 speed gearboxes. Replaced an AC system, compressor and vacuuated and recharged the system. Then there are the clutch systems I've dismantled and replaced. As for frame straightening, well you haven't really tried your hand at it until you've used a pulley cable winch and attached it to a tree and used the car to pull the frame back into position. Particularly proud of that one, a 72 MGB that was in a front end collision, the front end aligned and camber & caster, toe in & out aligned properly after the frame was straightened.

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/2-Ton-3-Hooks-Come-Long-Winch-Hoist-Cable-Pulley-Puller-Lever-Hoist-Tools-/00/s/NjAwWDYwMA==/$%28KGrHqJ,!iYE6ZWtPfm0BOtHcen!3!~~60_3.JPG

I mean when Scrod himself tells you he doesn't install loose bearings to avoid dealing with them, tells me a sealed system is a disposable and replaceable component.

Then talk us through how to rebuild a hydraulic fork. Also, make sure to point out the following.
1: Air Sprung or Coil Sprung
2: Closed or open system
3: Travel Adjustment
4: Presoaking the o-rings or not and how long they have to soak in fork oil for if they are to be soaked.
5: Determining what weight spring is in the fork in the case it's coil sprung.
6: Torque settings on the top caps and on the fixing bolts on the bottom of the fork legs.
7: If one should or should not check the lowers at where the seals press in for cracks
8: How to diagnose if a fork needs new bushings or not.
9: Repairing a scratched stanchion.

[linus]

That for 99% of most wrenching on a bike I'd hardly call anyone a mechanic. Installing a star nut is hardly rocket science. Not in the sense of what you'd take your car in to a mechanic for.

Wow.....just wow.....

[fuji86]

Your ignorance astounds me.

I'm sure you can install a star nut and change a tire but can you rebuild a hydraulic fork or properly re-align a bent frame? How about threading a fork? Do you own the tools to face/chase a BB shell? I'd like to see you work at my shop for one week.

I guess schools like Barnett Bicycle Institute are just a farce. I mean, they're not even really teaching anything, right? What about shops who will only hire certified bike mechanics? What a crock!

BTW, I gave plenty of credit calling out frame builders & wheel builders. So telling me about an institute that trains individuals to repair bikes for something such as that really shouldn't be something that astonishes you for ignorance that is non-existent. Facing the parts that are machined, chasing boogered threads are all done with the right tools. It's basically the same concept of ensuring there is no gap between machined parts. Take a cylinder head, that has to be perfectly flat. Even when putting new pistons & connecting rods in a car's engine, those have to be knurled to tolerances. And you'd certainly want to make sure the bearing shells are properly fitted for a cam, wouldn't want to spin bearings and have those lock up on a few thousand dollars worth of engine rebuild ?

I will tell you that I've worked for General Electric Co., Sparton Electronics, FL, Inc. and Boston Whaler Inc, from the mid 80's to early 90's in their R&D & Production Engineering departments. 2 years with GE, DoD Contractor projects included MCOFT & F16 DRLMS simulators. 2 years at Sparton, that was DoD contracting for both active & passive sonobouy manufacturing (anti-submarine warfare detection devices). The 2 years at Boston Whaler, I developed & maintained their Engineering Bill of Materials for their entire product line from 9-31' boats. That was Central FL. In Jacksonville, FL, I worked at CDI Marine Company and a couple of Logistics companies that you may have heard of GATX & CSX (the RR industry). And the last decade or so, worked for a couple of Healthcare plans. Currently a Microsoft SQL Server developer. That's pretty much the resume.

[Scrodzilla]

Dude, enough. No one really cares how loudly you can toot your horn.

[fuji86]

Another tl;dr courtesy of fuji86.

I guess I'll close my shop because there's no such thing as a "bike mechanic" and it's not like I actually do anything anyway.

LOL, oh the drama, such the martyr.

[Shaku]

I really just started talking on this forum, and it really seems like these topics don't stay on topic so long :S Ionno who has a quarrel with who, or who stepped on who's toes in the past, but would it be possible to stay on topic?

[renton20]

I think that I would love to see fuji try and work in a shop for a week. The amount of knowledge and expertise required for an good experienced mechanic is astounding. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that changing a flat is the hardest thing in the world but it's also probably the least difficult part of my days. Stuff like creak tracking, facing and chasing, truing old wheels, building wheels, etc is more difficult than one would imagine. Even simple stuff such a adjusting brakes can be more difficult than one would think. With bicycles, there is very often a way to make things work, at least temporarily, versus doing things correctly so that they will continue to work for a long time. Maybe you have never met an experienced mechanic but just dealt with kids at performance, I don't know. But just because you don't understand the work and expertise involved in a profession does not mean that there is no skill involved.

Also, if you can't achieve correct chain tension without a tensioner, you probably should not talk about working on bikes being easy.

[linus]

BTW, I gave plenty of credit calling out frame builders & wheel builders. So telling me about an institute that trains individuals to repair bikes for something such as that really shouldn't be something that astonishes you for ignorance that is non-existent. Facing the parts that are machined, chasing boogered threads are all done with the right tools. It's basically the same concept of ensuring there is no gap between machined parts. Take a cylinder head, that has to be perfectly flat. Even when putting new pistons & connecting rods in a car's engine, those have to be knurled to tolerances. And you'd certainly want to make sure the bearing shells are properly fitted for a cam, wouldn't want to spin bearings and have those lock up on a few thousand dollars worth of engine rebuild ?

I will tell you that I've worked for General Electric Co., Sparton Electronics, FL, Inc. and Boston Whaler Inc, from the mid 80's to early 90's in their R&D & Production Engineering departments. 2 years with GE, DoD Contractor projects included MCOFT & F16 DRLMS simulators. 2 years at Sparton, that was DoD contracting for both active & passive sonobouy manufacturing (anti-submarine warfare detection devices). The 2 years at Boston Whaler, I developed & maintained their Engineering Bill of Materials for their entire product line from 9-31' boats. That was Central FL. In Jacksonville, FL, I worked at CDI Marine Company and a couple of Logistics companies that you may have heard of GATX & CSX (the RR industry). And the last decade or so, worked for a couple of Healthcare plans. Currently a Microsoft SQL Server developer. That's pretty much the resume.

I don't think you understand what the word "Mechanic" is.

[fuji86]

Go ahead and mark all that down under "who gives a ****."

ETA: I'd just like to go ahead and retract that earlier comment up there because I just got done reading this thread.

Now that my stomach hurts from laughing, what I want to say instead is:

That's a lot of text for someone who couldn't figure out why track nuts are appropriate hardware for a fixed gear bicycle. Rebuilding an 8-cyclinder engine ain't got **** on mounting a wheel on a bicycle, apparently.

Don't confuse a thread that was started to resolve an issue on an inexpensive bike that the rear wheel kept coming loose and having excessive chain slack. I solved that just fine. Easier to see who knew of what was available and use the community as a resource. Who wants to wait a week on $ 8 worth of parts only to be disastisfied with a product ? You'd be surprised how many told me I didn't need them at all, Like they were standing over the problem and doing the adjustments themselves. See, I have to live with & ride what doesn't go together properly on bad advices. Some told me I didn't need it, others told me only needed it on one side and since they come in pairs, why not put them on both sides and make the adjustment a slam dunk.

[fuji86]

I think that I would love to see fuji try and work in a shop for a week. The amount of knowledge and expertise required for an good experienced mechanic is astounding. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that changing a flat is the hardest thing in the world but it's also probably the least difficult part of my days. Stuff like creak tracking, facing and chasing, truing old wheels, building wheels, etc is more difficult than one would imagine. Even simple stuff such a adjusting brakes can be more difficult than one would think. With bicycles, there is very often a way to make things work, at least temporarily, versus doing things correctly so that they will continue to work for a long time. Maybe you have never met an experienced mechanic but just dealt with kids at performance, I don't know. But just because you don't understand the work and expertise involved in a profession does not mean that there is no skill involved.

Also, if you can't achieve correct chain tension without a tensioner, you probably should not talk about working on bikes being easy.

Sometimes you have to overcome an inexpensive frame that wasn't 100% right to begin with. That particular bike needed a new fork when it was delivered too. I had a general idea of the bike that I was buying wasn't going to be a hand made Italian frame, but I didn't quite expect it to be something I'd have to get creative with. Bike is true to this day, reliable & rides pretty nice too.

[Spoonrobot]

You seem to misunderstand why it's such a damning thread. Your bike had the wrong parts, when this was discovered and the right parts were recommended you balked at the idea. The stock axle nuts were not bad, they were the wrong part. Those type of nuts belong on bicycles with horizontal drop-outs. When tightened on track ends they caused the wheel to move. Which you found out. With proper track nuts when the nut is tightened the floating washer rotates and the wheel stays in place. Allowing you to walk into the correct tension. Which I bet you still don't understand. Which makes pretty much everything you post from now on a lol-fest that just can't be taken seriously.

High comedy indeed.

Not nuts and separate lock washers, but nuts with built in floating washers that permit you to tighten the nut without grinding it against the dropout. From Harris Cyclery:

Nuts


Track Nuts $3.95/each

Track Nuts Standard
Serrated Flange Nuts

Proper track nuts have integral washers. They permit easier adjustment of chain tension, and hold the wheel in place better.

Those are what are on there now. the 3rd one to the left.

you should have tried new nuts.

Considering the nuts pictured from others were $ 3.95 each, that's $ 8 & change. I paid $ 8.95 for the new chain tensionser(s) and considering the pics I posted in # 24 of this thread of the cheap chain tensioner(s) that were scrap metal that were bent, this was not an issue of bad axle nuts. Those tighten down just fine.

Bolded text for effect.

[Dannihilator]

Ok, with this the thread is closed.