I've got my big ring back

DonDaddyD

I finally got my big ring back!

Basically I've spent 3 months spinning my heart out in the middle ring on the 3rd and 2nd smallest sprocket. I think the smallest sprocket is an 11T on an 8 speed bike.

What I've learned from spinny:

My cadence is up.

I have better rhythm to my cadence. I'm capable of maintaining a marginally higher speed for longer I find it easier to ride up a gear.

My bike: I love my bike shop

The work I had done:

My gears redialed New brake pads Cables and Cable outers

£71.98. Now I thought that a little steep, but the bike feels as good as new. Better than when I spent £125 in Jan and got the gears redialed, brake pads, cables, chain, cassette and a new big and middle ring from the same shop and that job made the bike feel as good as new.

Anyway work to be done - this is what I love about the shop - each and everytime I get the brakes and gear service they tell me something new is wrong with the bike but still manage to get it feeling like new so I never get the work done.

Anyway, I learned that I have an 8 speed chain on a 10 speed front crank. The bottom braket needs replacing and the £100 carbon seat post is creaking.

UndercoverElephant

Jeysus! £72 for cable outers and brake pads! :shock: That would cost me about £10 in parts and 15 minutes of time.

By the way, 8 speed chain/10 speed crank = just fine.
Squeaking seat post = re-assemble with a little grease.
Bottom bracket = 5 minute replacement, £15 part.

davis

Wow. I need to start a bike shop.

jonginge

Dude, you need to lube your post.


Seriously, though, gear fettling doesn't take that much effort...

itboffin

DDD I have some time on my hands and you clearly have money to burn, i'd have done it for £70

rolf_f

itboffin wrote:

DDD I have some time on my hands and you clearly have money to burn, i'd have done it for £70

£69.50 here

rjsterry

I think your Giant SCR has a square taper bottom bracket (if my colleague's FCR is anything to go by - Truvativ, I think), so a new BB is about £15. The seatpost creaking might be a problem with the post, but it may be down to the seat post-seat tube junction being dry, which is a lot easier to fix. I'm not up on the exact type of grease/anti-seize gloop for a CF post in an alloy tube, but there'll be something on Sheldon or Parktools. My quill stem starts creaking if I've neglected it through the wet winter months, and the top of your seat tube will get a lot more cack sprayed on it through the winter. Also, check the clamp bolt (and that at the saddle clamp just in case) with a torque wrench for tightness.

Anyway, good to hear you've got the big ring back.

Gazzaputt

Must have money to burn. :roll:

Fireblade96

Hold on a minute - you paid them £125 to fit new chainrings and index your gears, and they didn't do it right so you've been riding round unable to use the big ring ever since ?

And then you've just given them some more money ?

I'm going to start charging for all the gear fettling I do on friends' bikes.....

rjsterry

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Jeysus! £72 for cable outers and brake pads! :shock: That would cost me about £10 in parts and 15 minutes of time.

By the way, 8 speed chain/10 speed crank = just fine.
Squeaking seat post = re-assemble with a little grease.
Bottom bracket = 5 minute replacement, £15 part.

Pfft! I wouldn't even get two sets of pads for £10 - it's probably more like £25-30 of parts altogether. BB is only a 5 minute job if you have the right tools - if you don't it's near impossible. If DDD doesn't have much spare time, or space, but does have some spare cash then what's the problem (alpha male fettling prowess aside)?

redvee

Rolf F wrote:

itboffin wrote:

DDD I have some time on my hands and you clearly have money to burn, i'd have done it for £70

£69.50 here

£60 ?

rjsterry

Fireblade96 wrote:

Hold on a minute - you paid them £125 to fit new chainrings and index your gears, and they didn't do it right so you've been riding round unable to use the big ring ever since ?

And then you've just given them some more money ?

I'm going to start charging for all the gear fettling I do on friends' bikes.....

This is the bit I'm not quite sure of. I think the bike left the shop in working order the first time, but I'm not sure how it went so far out of whack as to render the new rings unusable within a few weeks.

BTW, I'm not convinced it's worth changing low-end chainrings. Replacement rings cost the same or more than a complete new chainset. Last time I checked, a pair of rings would account for a third to half of that £125.

SBezza

Don't grease a carbon seat post, use gripper paste instead.

itboffin

redvee wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

itboffin wrote:

DDD I have some time on my hands and you clearly have money to burn, i'd have done it for £70

£69.50 here

£60 ?

Cheapskate

UndercoverElephant

rjsterry wrote:

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Jeysus! £72 for cable outers and brake pads! :shock: That would cost me about £10 in parts and 15 minutes of time.

By the way, 8 speed chain/10 speed crank = just fine.
Squeaking seat post = re-assemble with a little grease.
Bottom bracket = 5 minute replacement, £15 part.

Pfft! I wouldn't even get two sets of pads for £10 - it's probably more like £25-30 of parts altogether. BB is only a 5 minute job if you have the right tools - if you don't it's near impossible. If DDD doesn't have much spare time, or space, but does have some spare cash then what's the problem (alpha male fettling prowess aside)?

It does depend where (and what) you buy...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-Pairs-8-Pads-Ro ... 732wt_1139

Yep, that's eight pads for £5.50. I have cartridge pads, though, so would buy that version. A couple of meters of gear outer and some inners? Not too much more.

DonDaddyD

rjsterry wrote:

Fireblade96 wrote:

Hold on a minute - you paid them £125 to fit new chainrings and index your gears, and they didn't do it right so you've been riding round unable to use the big ring ever since ?

And then you've just given them some more money ?

I'm going to start charging for all the gear fettling I do on friends' bikes.....

This is the bit I'm not quite sure of. I think the bike left the shop in working order the first time, but I'm not sure how it went so far out of whack as to render the new rings unusable within a few weeks.

BTW, I'm not convinced it's worth changing low-end chainrings. Replacement rings cost the same or more than a complete new chainset. Last time I checked, a pair of rings would account for a third to half of that £125.

About a week and I mean 5 days after paying £125 for the repair (I think it was more £150 - I made a thread about it) I decided to be impulsive and fettle at work. The chain of events is a little long winded but it resulted in me staying at work past 8pm with my front mech completely off the bike but stuck within the chain. It was all I could do to position the mech so that I could use the middle ring - I was incapable of setting it to shift beyond that.

So 3 months later - I actually liked spinning - and a completely worn set of brakes I sent it back to the bike shop. I thought aboutcomplaining about the repair in Jan but it was my fault and I'm not like that.

As for my own fettling, I will. I can do my own breaks, change the cassette, freehubs etc. But sometimes I like taking it to the bike shop, which is why I said the price was a little steep instead of ranting "damn expensive".

Seat post I'm not too bothered about. I know about the lube. This is a Giant SCR with a Bontrager XXX lite £100 seat post (sora/tiagra gears) and I'm not that light. I been meaning to buy a £15 seat post or a carbon wrapped one* for a few years now. May give the Bont away... As for the bottom bracket it's been an ongoing thing for a while - over 2 years - I replaced the original crank with an Ultegra triple to resolve it. I'm a little sacared to even look at the bracket area. A replacement and fitting will only cost £40 but I'm thinking of replacing the Ultegra crank with a Sora double...

I won't carbon wrapped because the carbon seatpost actually does absorb road vibration my current seatpost doubles the ride comfort.

jonginge

SBezza wrote:

Don't grease a carbon seat post, use gripper paste instead.

Indeed. This stuff works very well: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/tacx-carbon-ass ... pound-80g/

The creak could be the saddle rails moving slightly in their sockets. I've had that. Took a while to diagnose

rjsterry

UndercoverElephant wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Jeysus! £72 for cable outers and brake pads! :shock: That would cost me about £10 in parts and 15 minutes of time.

By the way, 8 speed chain/10 speed crank = just fine.
Squeaking seat post = re-assemble with a little grease.
Bottom bracket = 5 minute replacement, £15 part.

Pfft! I wouldn't even get two sets of pads for £10 - it's probably more like £25-30 of parts altogether. BB is only a 5 minute job if you have the right tools - if you don't it's near impossible. If DDD doesn't have much spare time, or space, but does have some spare cash then what's the problem (alpha male fettling prowess aside)?

It does depend where (and what) you buy...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-Pairs-8-Pads-Ro ... 732wt_1139

Yep, that's eight pads for £5.50. I have cartridge pads, though, so would buy that version. A couple of meters of gear outer and some inners? Not too much more.

Granted you can find stuff cheap on ebay, but I doubt the LBS sources its parts there. I'd steer clear if it did TBH.

Bassjunkieuk

Glad to hear you got your big ring back :-) I actually switched out of mine the other day (was dragging myself up a hill after chasing the old man so legs shoot to sh!t) and I was having problems getting back into it once I was back on the flat. I intially put it down to wear as I'd been riding in a specifc gear combination for so long I assumed it was complaining - eventually got it back on by spinning a bit slower. REALLY need to treat the bike to a clean......

Anyhow I digress, I'm also getting creaks sometimes from various places and it's usually fixed by a good clean/lube :-)

As for the BB, I think it must be a cost cutting part used by Giant as the one on mine (admittedly the previous years model) has also been replaced since getting the bike due to a almost complete failure.....

The Rookie

DonDaddyD wrote:

It was all I could do to position the mech so that I could use the middle ring - I was incapable of setting it to shift beyond that.

I see the DaddyD Zeta male is back on the forum.....come on it really isn't that hard, I guess you employ plumbers to change the washers in taps as well?

Simon

rjsterry

I'd say it's more a case of don't embark on a bit of unfamiliar fettling at 5pm in the office. It WILL turn out to be more complicated than you thought, and WILL require some part or tool that you don't have and can't get until the next morning at the earliest.

rolf_f

itboffin wrote:

redvee wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

itboffin wrote:

DDD I have some time on my hands and you clearly have money to burn, i'd have done it for £70

£69.50 here

£60 ?

Cheapskate

Yeah - there's fair competition and there's this. TBH, I reckon redvee cuts corners

DDDs price for the BB replacement doesn't seem too bad to me. I paid about £30 all in for the BB fitted to my old Dawes but that was a backstreet place in Leeds. £10 extra for a probably glossier place in London is probably as good as it will get. Mind, next time I will do it myself!

jzed

I'll do it for £50 but only because I know you'll bring it back in a week or two's time and be happy to pay me another £25.

EKE_38BPM

The Beginner wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

It was all I could do to position the mech so that I could use the middle ring - I was incapable of setting it to shift beyond that.

I see the DaddyD Zeta male is back on the forum.....come on it really isn't that hard, I guess you employ plumbers to change the washers in taps as well?

Simon

[patronising voice]
Simon, Simon, Simon,

Just because DDD lacks the skills to fettle his bike correctly and a proper space in which to learn (due to the flat being invaded by a mouse), that is no reason to attempt to detract from his alpha male status.
Some alphas take great pride in paying for services that they could do themselves.


Like their nails.
[/patronising voice]

DonDaddyD wrote:

...I love my bike shop...

At the prices they charge and for the frequent repeat business, I'm sure they love you too.

I'm beginning to think that DDD has been planted on here by bike shops to post about how an otherwise capable cyclist can feel good about handing over relatively large sums of money for simple tasks because the bike comes back feeling like new.

DonDaddyD: For repeatedly publicising (I was going to say bragging, but that is too strong a word) fails that are best kept private, I am removing the 'Don' from your name again for the rest of the working week.
No time off for good behaviour this time, and yes, I have taken your meritious dealing of the cycle courier situation into account which is why it is only 4.5 days and not the full 7.

DonDaddyD

EKE_38BPM

You had better be smiling at the generousity of the sentence!!!

CiB

itboffin wrote:

redvee wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

itboffin wrote:

DDD I have some time on my hands and you clearly have money to burn, i'd have done it for £70

£69.50 here

£60 ?

Cheapskate

Phah. You want a quality job doing. Gimme 200 notes and I'll do it, properly. You get what you pay for here.

I Mean, look at how good Stats is for the cost...

itboffin

Cough cough didn't see any kind of change request for the most recent stats UI upgrade :roll:

Specialized Needs

DonDaddyD wrote:

Better than when I spent £125 in Jan and got the gears redialed, brake pads, cables, chain, cassette and a new big and middle ring from the same shop and that job made the bike feel as good as new.

<...>

Anyway, I learned that I have an 8 speed chain on a 10 speed front crank. The bottom braket needs replacing and the £100 carbon seat post is creaking.

:?:

Did I miss something in the explanation? DDD doesn't strike me as someone who would have changed his chain after the original work.

EKE_38BPM

Specialized Needs wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

Better than when I spent £125 in Jan and got the gears redialed, brake pads, cables, chain, cassette and a new big and middle ring from the same shop and that job made the bike feel as good as new.

<...>

Anyway, I learned that I have an 8 speed chain on a 10 speed front crank. The bottom braket needs replacing and the £100 carbon seat post is creaking.

:?:

Did I miss something in the explanation? DD doesn't strike me as someone who would have changed his chain after the original work.

FTFY

lost_in_thought

Was he not losing the 'D' for his non-attendance at the Morpeth on Friday?