Any question answered...

Riddle me this:

Ultegra chain, Ultegra mech, Ultegra shifters, Campag block- a combination that I’ve done thousands of faultless Km on.

This morning said setup on Girlfiends bike will go up the block but not down. Yesterday it worked perfectly. Indexing is spot on.

You can shift down by hitting down twice then up once, but this doesn’t work in the highest gear as you can’t go past it.

What gives?

@Dammit

When you say 'down' do you mean into a higher or lower gear?

Assuming mechanical?

Does pulling the cable (at the downtube say) without the shifter change properly?

If it's not going into higher gears, it's not releasing cable so something is sticking - either shifter or the cable.

Any reviews on Omnium CXC? Couldn't find any consistent review in english.
On this forum someone said about it "Be aware the track geometry though. " What does it mean? Toe overlap or handling?

Down the block, into a higher gear. Cable is hanging slack, jockey wheel in correct position below highest gear, chain won’t release second highest gear sprocket.

The cable tightens to go from highest to second highest gear. So if the cable is hanging slack, the shifter isn't pulling the cable and so it won't move from highest to second highest.

Sounds like you need to tighten the cable or the cable is lose/broken in the shifter.

Oh, hang on you mean it won't go from second highest to highest, even though the cable is slack? Have you tried opening up the H limit screw? Sometimes it can get close but not close enough to complete the shift.

Also, eyeball or tighten the cassette to make sure the cassette cogs all have the same gap and it's not loose.

jockey wheel in correct position below highest gear, chain won’t release second highest gear sprocket

B-tension issue? If the pulley is too close to to the sprocket, the chain can be reluctant to climb off the larger sprocket

If it was working though, I've never had to 'readjust' it, unless I've changed cassette or derailler, obviously, but guess anything is possible.

Chilled/insulated bidons for keeping water cool on hot rides. Do they work well or am I better just chucking a load of ice cubes in a normal bottle at the start of the ride?

I can tell you Camelbak ones are completely ineffective. I do this when I can be arsed:

Assuming a morning ride, stick one bottle in the freezer the night before. When you wake up, take it out and swap another in for an hour.

This gives you one chilled but not frozen bottle for the first half of the ride, and another, once defrosted, for the second half.

^ this. Ice cubes or freezer are way(s) to go.

Camelbak ones were a ridiculous way of making an expensive, but ok, bottle more expensive and less good.

I would pre-freeze my bottles in Oz.

Would give me at least, at least!, 10min before both bottles were like drinking tea...

Worth a bash, I was wondering if chain age might be a factor? It’s possible that the chain is very old.

Was anything changed recently?

Could be.

I have also had similar issues where the spring at the mech hangar (b -tension spring) had got clogged/dirty and so was sticking and not springing back properly.

Cheers, freezer/fridge shenanigans it is then!

What 30mm (or 29.8mm) bolt up silver seat clamp that isn't Thomson or Hope? Salsa would be ideal but I can't find one in stock anywhere other than Germany with 75% postage.

?

Bit too ££ and doesn't have a floating bolt (or w/e the #testerapproved system is properly called)

Oh I have seen bottles with one of those blue freezable ice pack things integrated inside somehow. They probably work pretty well.

This one plus some oven cleaner and elbow grease

Pffft bit spendy

Is there a system that allows a disc brake and a fixed/free cog to be mounted at the same time, on a 135mm rear hub?

I have seen Hubs that claim fixed/free via a kind of rotary switch, while having a disc brake tab on the other side, are they any good or to be avoided?

Yup, Surly does:

https://activesport.co/epages/80c85f8f-7a95-4b1c-9c30-e64b314f3f2e.mobile/?Locale=en_GB&ObjectPath=/Shops/80c85f8f-7a95-4b1c-9c30-e64b314f3f2e/Products/HUSURDXK&ViewAction=ViewProductViaPortal&gclid=CjwKCAjwiurXBRAnEiwAk2GFZu__7yJrh8fQhVzbG2IaBF_l5XMZuoUtgGgT_zSQ8qIMxgmL4ONIfxoCU3kQAvD_BwE

Yes, thanks.

But my question was also regarding the "switching" hubs. Any info on them?