Things that go wrong with my bike... (CDWP = 60)
Comments
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As much as I'd like to add another example to the ongoing list of things that Evans do wrong I'm afraid I'll have to come clean and say no, they called me before the wheel was due to be rebuilt by Specialized.0
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Thu 23 Oct 2008: Called Evans to double check wheel had arrived back from rebuilding and the manager said yes, so I'm planning to pick it up on the way home tonight, ride to work on it tomorrow and then change everything over onto the new wheel at the weekend.0
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Fri 24 Oct 2008: Successful journey both ways using the old wheel, although that ticking sound can still be heard from the BB. Will be working on the bike tomorrow so will see if it needs tightening then. Gonna swap to the new wheel this weekend so let's hope the cross-four pattern doesn't break straight away. Or maybe I should hope that it does so I can just send it back and get it cross-three'd. Dunno.0
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Glad to see some green again in this thread!0
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Hehe, cheers.
I've posted some photos of the cross-four spoke lacing on my new wheel over in the Road Gear forum. Here's the link to the thread:
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... 1#15020831
Please do take a look and let me know your thoughts.0 -
Jamey I am no expert on wheels so I will leave others to comment on that. I am pleased you have a working wheel and have had a successful ride.
One piece of advice for what it is worth - I would not be overly concerned about your ticking sound for now. Ride yur bike for a few days and weeks and see what happens to it. There are a multitude of causes for ticking noises like that, especially on a new bike as tensions bed in etc. By all means ensure everything is tight and safe, but don't obsess about it.
I expect most of us on the forum would say we strive towards a perfectly silent bike. Sadly in the real world this doesn't always happen and I challenge anyone to say their bike is silent every day! Just enjoy riding for a bit 8) Have a good weekend.<a>road</a>0 -
el_presidente wrote:I expect most of us on the forum would say we strive towards a perfectly silent bike. Sadly in the real world this doesn't always happen.
If I had a perfectly silent bike you'd hear my bones creaking instead. Sometimes creaks are good at warning peds you're approaching (as are squealing brakes).Steve C0 -
sc999cs wrote:el_presidente wrote:I expect most of us on the forum would say we strive towards a perfectly silent bike. Sadly in the real world this doesn't always happen.
If I had a perfectly silent bike you'd hear my bones creaking instead. Sometimes creaks are good at warning peds you're approaching (as are squealing brakes).
+1 my bike has a pretty much silent freewheel and I have taken a few coutry walkers by surprise with a cheery hello!Emerging from under a big black cloud. All help welcome0 -
Was this diary supposed to be hilarious?......................'cos it's very very funny
.................................I think youv'e been very unlucky I have a tricross (2 yrs now) which gets absolutely hammered on a daily basis and besides the brakes and about 7 million punctures to date it's been bullet proof, I love the beast. I bought mine from an edinburgh bike shop and ref to presidente post I guess they give a shit about what they do.....Perhaps you should adopt an attitude of subtle but barely suppressed violence next time you deal with evans? Especially as it sound like their attitude stinks, if they had a good attitude they would have replaced your wheel and returned the faulty one themselves which would've been no skin off their nose ( all decisions for returns replacements in retail are subjective and depend entirely on wether the manager is a twat or not) Seriously these bikes aint cheap so good luck mate...........Oh and some nice pics too..........I'm off out now for another afternoons CDWP 
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riklydon wrote:Was this diary supposed to be hilarious?......................'cos it's very very funny
Heh. Yeah, I know, it's certainly turning out that way.riklydon wrote:Oh and some nice pics too..........I'm off out now for another afternoons CDWP
Lol, cheers
Right, here's today's update...
Sat 25 Oct 2008: Worked on the bike most of today and it's potentially running the best it ever has, as long as the rear wheel behaves. Was meant to be changing over to the new wheel but have decided to send it back after all the advice from you guys. Ticking sound has gone away for now, I think it was the cranks. When I checked them they were tight, but not super-tight. So I super-tightened them (60Nm).0 -
Jamey,
You sure seem to have more than your share of problems with bikes. Its good to know how to work on your own bike but if you screw it up it just costs more money and frustration so keep practicing and learning.
If you want to learn how to work on bikes and build wheels get some books and READ them then READ them AGAIN and AGAIN. Learn to listen to the adivse you ask for then weigh the advise, look at your books and see if the adivce you were given makes sense before proceeding. Then I would recommend you find an old junk bike to practice on. This will give you extra parts to learn your mistakes on before pouring your money down the drain replacing the things you F. U.
Then maybe you will get a response of way to go rather than thanks for the comedy.0 -
I've had my Tricross Sport since may - I've ridden it pretty much every day including from edinburgh to thurso. The only (and I mean ONLY) problem was the gears not being quite meshed after a month, due to cable stretch etc, and my free service fixed that right up. Oh, and the tyres it came with got their first puncture last week, which is pretty good!
From edinburgh bike, who put it together (though they did put a toe clip on upside down)0 -
Sun 12 Oct 2008: Did not ride. Although I did help the chap from the downstairs flat inflate his rear tyre (he didn't have a pump). Oddly enough my track pump wouldn't even grip onto his valve but my mini pump worked fine. Hope this doesn't mean my track pump's broken or I'll have to reset its CDWP tally 0
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Mon 27 Oct 2008: Someone's nicked my rear light, on the first day after the clocks went back. Bloody typical. Anyway the bike itself was fine, at least. CDWP = 20
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...............................lolzzzJamey wrote:[ Hope this doesn't mean my track pump's broken or I'll have to reset its CDWP tally .....Good to see your'e keeping your sense of humour mate......................Been keeping up with your log and wishing you luck so sorry to hear about your light....................... 0 -
Cheers. Not sure whether to replace it like-for-like (it was a Blackburn Mars 3.0) or the the Mars 4.0 instead... Or maybe the Smart 1/2 Watt, but the run times on that don't look as good.
Mind you, that means I get to use my lovely battery charger more often.0 -
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You seem to get an awful lot of problems...All three of my bikes have been very reliable - only issues are punctures and when I blew the forks up on my MTB (took me half a day to re-build them!).
I do an hours maint a month (oil, clean, check play in gear/brake cables and so on) - nothing goes wrong, ever....None of my bikes go near a bike shop either and I built all three of them (The Boardman came in a box and needed simply bolting together - but the other 2 are built from scratch).0 -
I think you've answered your own question (not that you asked one, but still...) there. You built the bikes yourself, hence they were built by someone who (a) knew what they were doing and (b) cared about what they were doing.
That's the difference. Although I'm doing my best to learn fast.
Oh, and the other difference is that I'm probably a lot fatter than you 0 -
Yep. Learn, learn learn is the way!
Using my car as an example:
Two days ago my other half told me my reverse lights weren't working
Yesterday I checked the bulbs and fuses, and consulted the internet. The lights seem to work sometimes, meaning it's a switch on the gearbox that's dodgy
Today I found the switch, but I can't get it off
Tomorrow I'll look for a socket wrench, and see if I can repair the switch
Thus the saga continues.... 8)0 -
I've got the same problem with the reverse lights on my car too. Wanna teach me? 0
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Me? Teach car repair? Oh dearie me!
My tutorial will be a little bit limited by the fact that I don't know anything about your car (mine's a '97 Astra) and that I know very, very little about cars. Really. I had to stare at pictures on the internet to work out which bit under the bonnet was the gearbox. But if you're still interested...
Step 1: Check the bulbs and fuses. My reversing lights are on the same circuit as the (working) lighter socket, so it wasn't the fuse. If these are both fine, then it's likely the switch.
Step 2: The switch attaches onto the gearbox, and gets pressed when the car goes into reverse. Then there'll be two trailing wires that go off into the ether of the car's electronics. Take the wires' plug off, and the switch should probably come off with the help of a socket wrench or similar.
Step 3: Either clean dirty contacts, open and refurbish the switch, or buy a new one and fit it. I've found some for my car priced at £7 on eBay, including shipping.
Step 4: Reconnect the wires, otherwise you'll look very silly when you realise why it's not working.0 -
My car's a '99 Vectra so probably quite similar. Might give that a try or, more likely, get the garage to do it next time it's in for something else.0
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Buy a Hanes manual for your car!
Also, with mine the manuals have pretty comprehensive instructions on changing the lightbulbs.0 -
I might do that after learning bike stuff. My brainium will probably fall over if I try to do both.0
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Shockingly, my reversing lights now work again. I've just come back from taking the missus to work, and the lights came on every time I shifted into reverse. Seems that dis/reconnecting the lead did the trick for me. Odd, it didn't look gunked up when I took it off earlier.
As to Haynes, I've had a look at their stuff but found it a little intimidating and obfuscated. Give me an O'Rilley textbook or an IBM service manual any day!
Miscellaneous fact for the day: Apparently cars don't need a working reverse light to pass an MOT test. Further, if you disconnect all the lights properly and only drive your car during the day, you can still pass an MOT test!0 -
I can confirm that cars are able to pass MOTs without working reverse lights as that's exactly what mine has just done.
Today's update:
Thu 30 Oct 2008: Both journeys fine. The bike has served me well today, especially on the journey in which was very disjointed due to having to go via the hospital for a check-up on my arms. Could this be my first full week of green since getting the bike (I laugh in the face of tempting fate)? CDWP = 50 -
Jamey wrote:I think you've answered your own question (not that you asked one, but still...) there. You built the bikes yourself, hence they were built by someone who (a) knew what they were doing and (b) cared about what they were doing.
That's the difference. Although I'm doing my best to learn fast.
Oh, and the other difference is that I'm probably a lot fatter than you
Just a thought really - why not just have a go at stripping your bike down and rebuilding it - some great books out there - good socket set and allen keys gets you a long way. I did it purely off my own bat and learned by some terrible mistakes (luckily I have an angle grinder and welding kit - usefull when changing a bb shell). Must admit that I have always been fixing cars and motorbikes since I was a teenager - so, it is kinda second nature. Neither of my cars goes to a garage for problems or servicing (BMW 318i Estate 1999 and an Audi 80 2.8 1992) - dead easy to just fix them and keep them maintained myself and both cars have done well over 100k without any tricky issues. Must admit that when I had *nice* cars (before kids and dog came along) they always went to a dealer as have all my decent motorbikes....but the rubbish stuff I self maintain!! Tip of the evenining - coppaslip (copper grease) every nut and bolt and where metal meets metal (stops corrosion and rusted in seatpost/bolts!)0 -
Yeah, the bike maintenance course I did a few weeks back involved stripping my own bike down to the frame and rebuilding it, so I'm happy with that. The only gaps in my knowledge are wheelbuilding and hub servicing, both of which will be (at least partially) filled in shortly thanks to a kindly forum member who took pity on me and a soon-to-be-spare hub that I can afford to f**k up if need be.
I need to get some Copaslip, yeah. Only thing I'd take issue with is using it on square taper cranks. I've been told that the interface between those and the (aluminium) cranks should always be left dry.0
