First ride out in years with my new voodoo :)

Danieljephcott

First day out today. Draycote water in Warwickshire. A great place but quite flat but it's good for fitness before I hit a trial.

My new voodoo hoodoo was picked up earlier today. Most things were loose but after reading a few guides I had it all tightened up. Only two issues I've had, well not sure one is an issue.

So the one I'm not sure is an issue. My back brake doesn't seem to be that sharp. I was expecting them to be better. They certainly work but I was expecting to be able to skid the rear wheels quite easily, even though I don't want to skid but hopefully you get what I mean.

Second issue is the gears need a little tweaking. Some gears are taking a little to long to change and if I'm in between 7-8 the chain is slightly hitting the front deraileir. Not the sides but the bottom of it. Not sure if it's due to the chain being a little to loose so it's bouncing on the deraileir.

Apart from this is a great bike, might add 5psi or so to the rear wheel but it's soooo much better than the old shed I had.

Anyway 15k on my first run went well . I leave you with a slightly embarrassing picture and one of the chain. All the gear absolutely no idea.

JBA

You should bed the brakes in to get the best from them.
Ride at a walking pace and slam the brakes on. Repeat 10 times.
Now ride at a decent speed and slam the brakes on without skidding. Repeat 10 times.

The chain is dragging as it looks like you are on the 'granny ring' (smallest chainring) and shifting to the higher gears (smaller sprockets) at the rear. You shouldn't really do this. When on the granny ring only use the largest 4 or 5 sprockets. If you need a higher gear change to the middle chain ring.

Danieljephcott

Will bed them in tomorrow see what happens.

Hmmm well I wouldn't normally use the granny ring as you have said but I was running the bike through all gears. Shouldn't all gears be perfect. Apart from a bit of adjustment as they don't change as smooth as I'd like they shouldn't really hit anything should they?

cooldad

No you should get all the cogs on the middle ring, but don't use the extremes on the big or small rings.

Read Parktools for any adjusting or maintenance stuff.

scoi

http://www.bicyclechainrings.com/crosschaining.html

Hopefully the brakes improve with some bedding in, if not Halfords will sort them during the first free service. Get as many easy ks in during the 6 week service time unless you bought the annual service pack.

As for pressure, you'll probably change when you get onto something more technical. I ride at 60 when going round the lake with the better half and drop for the woods. A lot depends on the rider weight too. Snake bite punctures are a dead give away of being too soft.

Danieljephcott

thanks for the info and the link, it completely makes sense.

the idea is to hopefully learn enough that i dont need to take it back to halfords, id rather learn how to setup and maintain the bike so i can keep it tip top.

I think once the brakes have bedding in i will asses the situation again, might need a bleed which ive been reading up on. once question i have is can i tighten the brake lever so it doesnt press as much? i have to use two fingers as if i use one then the lever crushes my other fingers.

Regarding the gears i think i just need to have a slight adjustment so it runs between gears better.

once my frame stand arrives ill get on it

scoi

Your brakes could be to do with the position across the bars. A typical position is so that your first finger lines up with the bend of the brake lever. You should only need one finger, some prefer the security of 2 to begin with. I had to swap the brake and gear shifters around on my handlebar to get everything in a decent place.

http://m.vitalmtb.com/videos/features/H ... /sspomer,2

Danieljephcott

Ah ok, those diagrams make perfect sense. my gear and brake bracket is right up against my grip so i could do with moving it across more so its easier to use 1 finger. basically my brake lever goes across 3 of my fingers. ive got the angle right after some adjustments yesterday just need to push it back a bit great stuff nice and easy.

compuwiz_uk

my latest purchase had a woeful rear brake when i got it ( some difference front to back is to be expected - all my bikes have less grunt at the back ( or feel like they do ) but all will lock the rear wheel easily if applied in a hamfisted mannor ) but like you the last bike i got worked but it was dire compared with the front & even with a good angry fistful of lever it just steadily dropped speed instead of locking up the wheel.

1st things to check - undo the rear quick release & make sure the rear wheel is fully inplace & square in the frame ( halfords very rarely do this as the bikes come with the rear wheel inplace & they just add the front & sort the gears/brake if needed etc. )

i swapped the tyres on my new bike straight away as i wanted much more knobbly numbers on there & thus i had both front & rear wheels out after 1st ride home with it.

when refitting the rear wheel the brake alignment was suddenly horrific even though it had been set instore to a suitable alignment for the disk at the time to stop them rubbing etc ( watched it being built & adjusted )

reset both front & rear calipers ( front went OK even though it was not needed if honest after straightening the rotor a smidge to stop a rub per rotation issue ) but the rear caliper was a swine to align right & took many attempts using various methods ( the pistons did not exert enough pressure to hold the caliper firm as i was doing up the bolts & thus the caliper would twist a little throwing off the alignment - in the end it was a combo method of 3 hands ( one holding the lever on firm while the other 2 held firm the caliper while tightening the bolts bit by bit alternately so the caliper did not move )

now the back brake can lock up easily with a good handful of lever even though the tyres are soggy ( 8psi ) 4" wide & have around 15 stone sat directly above it.

( if the rear wheel is out like mine was ever so slightly it may also help with the gearing issue you have too - well the taking a little long to do the change one at least - the rubbing may be as mentioned above, ur not meant to go to the extremes ( small to small / big to big etc so avoid the last few at the back when in the small at the front & top rings at the back when big ring at the front - if memory of my voodoo manual serves me right its in the donts list as crosschaining

another thing with the gearing being a tad sluggish at times may just be the cables starting to stretch ( this is mostly what they adjust at the 6 week service ) & just needs a quick adjustment ( either at the rear mech barrel adjuster where the cable meets the mech or a similar barrel adjuster where the cable comes out of the gear shifters - it does not need much adjustment usually to take up the slack ( can be done as you ride if the adjusters are at the shifters )

FishFish

Don't worry about the embarassing photo but do worry about the embarassing car ! Well done sir you look really pleased and with good reason too. Hope you enjoy the summer biking and get fit for even mor fun in the winter. Good choice of bike though and the advice you get here (except mine) is really good. Let us know how you get on.

Danieljephcott

Thank you compuwiz some great advice. Will give this some tweeking now and see how I get on.

Fishfish which car are you talking about. 500x is the wife's . Of course your not talking about my focus. I'm not sure I would get anything else that could do 30k a year with no hassle giving me 50mpg while plundering down the m40. And I know your not talking about my little gem hidden in the back of the picture

Again all thank you very much for the advice. Has to be the most helpful forum I've been on

compuwiz_uk

plenty of helpful guides on tweaking the gears on youtube - well pretty much a guide for anything cycle service wise can be found on there ( stick to the bigger names in cycling media / tool suppliers etc unless you have no other choice for the best video's/advice is always a good rule of thumb )

Hurricane Warrior

Great photos and lovely looking bike, most of all enjoy the rides

I'm a roadie for want of a better word and have just purchased a MTB to so like you getting back into it, lots of good advice on here

Angus Young

Danieljephcott wrote:

the idea is to hopefully learn enough that i dont need to take it back to halfords, id rather learn how to setup and maintain the bike so i can keep it tip top.

Although it's the right idea to learn to sort your own bike, the Halfords tune up is free so you might as well take advantage while you're still in your learning phase. And keeping a bike running smooth is going to be easier for a beginner than trying to get one into tune from a possible low base.