How to improve this bike (Cheaply)

beduffrich

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12797953

Hi everyone, I've got a Hybrid for commuting, but would like to improve my old Roadie for long distance rides (linky). No-one seems to want to buy it so I may as well upgrade it. I'm looking for some advice as to how to improve this as I have no idea. Could you please recommend what I could do and a list of priority order as I'll be upgrading on a budget. obviously i'll be looking to make the biggest improvements at the start to get the best results.

Thanks all Rich

rolf_f

Does anything actually need changing? Are the wheels reasonably light and true? Is the saddle comfortable? Are the gears set up nicely?

I'd probably do something quickly about that ramshackle collection of spacers though before someone else notices - that headset is looking a bit scary! :shock:

merak

Replace anything that's worn - eg chain, casette, maybe rings. Sort out the click. Check wheel bearings are free and have no excessive play and sort as appropriate. Ditto BB. Put on a new set of cables and enjoy. Nothing fundamentally wrong with this bike and no reason why you shouldn't use it for anything from local TTs to audax to club runs. Maintenance rather than upgrade would be my advice.

beduffrich

Cheers Boys, You mention the spacers, are there different height spacers available? If not how do I sort them?

i'll definitely replace the cables, It seems that the click may be coming from the pedals after reading on here that it's a common problem.

The bike just doesn't feel as solid/powerful as my 2011 Boardman Hybrid. Is that just because it's older?

merak

Didn't notice the spacers but now I look closely the whole head looks weird. Could it be a conventional quil type headset somehow modified to take an Aheadset stem?

Is it that the hybrid is rigid and this bike has some life in the frame? How do they compare for speed (say time with same effort over same distance/conditions)?

beduffrich

I'm a newbie so have no idea what that stuff about the headset means?

The Hybrid is slightly quicker and at the moment I feel it's slightly easier over the same distance. Not sure if I'm putting more effort in, but I'm definitely getting home quicker since having the Hybrid.

Keith1983

I had an old virtuoso and spent £65 getting it serviced. It transformed the bike. Get it serviced would be my recommendation. The spec on the bike isn't bad and should ride nicely if it's all set up right.

merak

The old fashioned headsets were adjusted by screwing the top race down onto a pressed in cup and locking it with a lockring and that's alittle what it looks like on the bottom of your stack of spacers. The stem then slides down inside the steerer tube and is fixed by screwing the top bolt on the stem to expand the quill in the steerer tube. Height of stem can be adjusted within limits without spacers.

The Aheadset adjusts for play by pulling the stem and steerer tube together with the bolt on top of the stem and then locking the whole thing with the bolts that lock the stem onto the steerer tube. You can only adjust height with spacers. Proper spacers slide snuggly down over the steerer tube so are not all over the place like yours.

I can imagine someone trying to convert a screw in headset to work with an Aheadset stem would look something like this. Of course I might be wrong and it might be a normal aheadset with a shamble of spacers. You'll have to take it apart to find out.

Do the maintenance work on the bike and then see how it feels and goes compared to the hybrid.

rolf_f

merak wrote:

Didn't notice the spacers but now I look closely the whole head looks weird. Could it be a conventional quil type headset somehow modified to take an Aheadset stem?

I was thinking the same but the obvious way that might happen is if you put a new fork in - but that one looks like it belongs. You wouldn't have the fork steerer sticking up like that so maybe someone has welded(or glued ) a steerer extension to the original forks. This would be narrower than the real steerer so would result in a misaligned mess of spacers. But, subject to the joint in the steerer being sound, the result should be OK I guess......

It definitely needs to be pulled apart to check.......

beduffrich

Guys I don't think I have the know how to be pulling it apart, so it's going to be staying a mystery. I may put it in for a full service and see how it performs after this?

rolf_f

TBH, it is superficially a bodge job. Underneath it might be sound but I wouldn't presume to trust the engineering skills of someone who would finish things off like that without looking at it. It could be lethal. It probably isn't but a check on that is essential IMO.

merak

You could make an extension by cutting the horizontal part off a quillstem or creating a quill with a bit of tubing that you cut lengthways to create an expanding section and run an long expander bolt through. You then fit the aheadset stem to this tube with an appropriate set of spacers. Hmm, you also need something to make the extension the right OD at the top to fit the stem as it will be too narrow if it fits inside the steerer. Split ring like a seat clamp?

I've just made this up and why anyone would want to do it is beyond me, but it could be done.

No way of telling without taking it apart but I'd love to see photos when the OP does dismantle it.

merak

Rolf F wrote:

TBH, it is superficially a bodge job. Underneath it might be sound but I wouldn't presume to trust the engineering skills of someone who would finish things off like that without looking at it. It could be lethal. It probably isn't but a check on that is essential IMO.

+1; you don't want to think about what happens when you're steerer shears off on a 40mph descent or you pull your bars out in a sprint. If you don't want to look at it make sure someone who knows does before too long.

beduffrich

The guy that did it is a senior engineer at Jaguar. I bought the bike from him when he upgraded. I'm sure what he has done is sound as he wouldn't risk his own life would he 8) Stay cool.

If I were take it apart I really wouldn't know what I was looking at. If anyone is in the West Mids and wants to have a fettle for me then please let me know.

merak

beduffrich wrote:

The guy that did it is a senior engineer at Jaguar. .

:shock:

I'm sure what he has done is sound as he wouldn't risk his own life would he

Perhaps, perhaps not, but it is superficially an absolute shambles that I would be ashamed to have on any bike of mine never mind sell to my mate. Get it checked.

beduffrich

It has been into my local cycle shop since i've owned it and he was happy with it.

merak

BTW looks like the bar is packed out to fit the stem (which if it's done with something like innertube which it looks like will give a very soft rubbery feel to bars) so my guess is that this stem is definitely not original.

thecrofter

beduffrich wrote:

Guys I don't think I have the know how to be pulling it apart, so it's going to be staying a mystery. I may put it in for a full service and see how it performs after this?

This is your opportunity to start to learn how to maintain your bike, look on it as a project. You will make mistakes, but you will learn and in the long run you'll be a better cyclist, because you'll understand how the machine you're using works, so you'll get the best out of it AND you'll end up being able to save yourself fortunes by not running to the LBS every time you bike needs some TLC.

Worth a go...

merak

beduffrich wrote:

It has been into my local cycle shop since i've owned it and he was happy with it.

Did you ask him specificaly about it? When you get the overhaul done then my advice would be to ask him specifically to check it out for you.

Still, your bike, your choice.

term1te

A couple of years back I foolishly swapped a set of threaded forks into an Ahead set up. Worked fine for about 6 months, untill pulling away at a roundabout the steer tube snapped, detaching the bars and stem from the bike. I went over the top landing on the brocken steerer (mm from my mandhood) before hitting the road. Very fortunate that all the cars managed to stop. The steer tube had failed on the treaded section, which was clearly not designed to take those sort of forces. I'm sure the Jag engineer did a good job, but double check.

beduffrich

Right, seeing as i'm not using it at the moment and probably won't until spring. I may as well keep this bike, take it apart, clean and rebuild as best I can. I will Check out the head and see what's going on. I may even take some picatures if I remember. Thanks for the advice everyone.

Duffer65

I think the original headset/stem set up may have looked like this in these pictures:

http://www.morcmtb.org/forums/showthrea ... e-For-Sale

http://www.bikepedia.com/quickbike/Bike ... &Type=bike

So it looks like the original stem has been removed and 'spacers' added to make the new stem the same height as the original.

merak

So that's a screw-in headset as I suspected, but more needs to be done to fit the stem that's on the bike now than just fitting spacers as it's an aheadset stem and the steerer tube will finish in the headtube (assuming original forks which they look like).

rolf_f

I once rebuilt a low mileage Peugeot road bike from about 1990. The lower crown race was cracked. It probably wouldn't have got worse but, if it had cracked again, it could theoretically have caused the steering to lock which would result in an instantaneous crash. And this was a bike that was low mileage, unmolested and as the factory intended. The crack might even have been there from new - I put a whole new headset in. If there is a part of a bike not to 'stay cool' about, this is it!