Mechanics and Fixing Any Questions Answered

Yes. The difference between 11 and 10 speed cranks is microscopic to non-existent. The teeth are the same width.

My stepson's just got his stolen bike back (a Giant ATX 1), with a couple of parts missing, firstly the front brake caliper (no problem, I'll just get a Clarks mechanical disc caliper, cheap n cheerful), secondly, the front derailleur? Original spec was Shimano Tourney, it's 3x8, top pull, but there seems to be several models of 3x Tourney f/d, which do I go for?
Cheers
Jon

There's a lot of different ones. You need the correct speeds and chainline, top or bottom swing.
You have also to check the big ring some are for smaller MTB gearing, others for big hybrid triples.
Most should "work" with a bit of fettling but if you choose the right one will be a lot better.
Here you can find the technical specs
https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/product/component/tourney.html

Ta, lbs are sorting one out for me.

I have a bit of a gap between the dust cap (silver bit on the pic) and the hub shell of my front hub. There's a grub screw but how do you tighten the cap itself?

Take out the skewer and see if the hollow axle has edges for an Allen key. If not, loosen the grub screw and try to loosen by hand, and if it turns but doesn’t Unscrew anything then it’s a press fit that you can pull off by sliding a thin shim between it and the hub.

Yes it does feel like press fit, I haven't tried to force it yet. @broken_777 I see you lurking on the forum atm, I guess you'd know (you built the wheels)?

Have you lubed it? Take out the grub screw, set the hub so the hole is as 12 o’clock, put some wd40 in the hole, let it penetrate for a while. Whatever way you take it off, this won’t do any harm and will probably help.

My guess is theyre both press fit, but slightly seized on.

Not meaning to teach you to suck eggs, just going into detail for others who might find info useful.

I got quoted £75 by The Bike Taylor in Brighton to cut and fit a set of carbon forks the other week ended up paying £15 at Rhythm and Bikes in Brighton then few days later they fitted bottom bracket and crank set for £10. Best to get a price first before you take the bike in.
This was in response to paying £50 to fit headset

£75 for fitting the fork may look like a lot but maybe they need to remove the crown race from old to new and chop and reroute a hydro brake hose, then a quick bleed to remove any air.
If it's only chopping it and bolting it £15 is fair.
50£ for the headset install it's mad, takes minutes.

basically only had to cut and fit forks as new frame so nothing to remove, having laugh trying to charge that but I guess there are people out there that will pay those sort of prices.

On a full carbon fork the crown race can be a real pain to fit, and cutting a carbon steerer is a bit more involved and expensive than cutting an alu steerer. So £15-25 would be a reasonable price range. Installing a headset on carbon frame and fork is also a bit trickier, but same price range.

Seems they were either taking the mickey or they didn’t want to do the service.

No. None of it is complicated. They were fobbing him of.

I have the same Novatec front hub and the dust caps sit the same (slight gap). Never tried adjusting them, just assumed that’s how they were designed.

Thanks in advance for any advice. Having a tough time finding a replacement suspension pivot bolt for a friend’s 2019 Trek Top Fuel 8 mountain bike:
https://www.vitalmtb.com/product/guide/Bikes,3/Trek/Top-Fuel-8,25725
Part is circled in red. XL frame if it makes any difference. Anyone know a way to source or have this part made? Trek UK couldn’t help, Triton sell it but don’t have stock currently.
Cheers in advance for any help- much appreciated!

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I have the same Novatec front hub and the dust caps sit the same (slight gap)

Same here @Lolo

Trek UK couldn’t help

Sounds like a bunch of c***s. You’d have thought a major brand like that would have a system in place for spares, a product that’s barely two years old ffs!

Sorry I can’t help with your issue but have some internet sympathy.

TBF everything is sold out everywhere with everyone.

Noob question
Can I run a 10 speed chainset on a 8 speed drive chain?

Yes you can but will not be optimal. Better than running a 10 speed chain on an 8 speed chainset.

so the chain is rubbing slightly on the front mech ( on the inboard side ) mainly when i'm cross chaining ( big ring to largest cogs ) but it is rubbing and i need to adjust it, need to move the arm inboard by only a millimetre or two

shimano xt front mech .... and yeah i know the chain is a disgrace, but it has been very wet and there are drops of oil in the links, but ran out before i could properly douse the chain

which of these two screws and in which direction do i need to twist ?

Stick it in smallest cog at the back, big at front, tighten the high limit screw, probably the bottom one in the bottom pic, but the mech should move when you tighten it assuming the amount of cable tension you have is pushing the mech to it's limit. Tighten until it rubs slightly then back it off until it doesn't, if it still rubs in the big cogs don't use those gears, or deal with a bit of rub in the smallest by tightening the screw a bit more, but shifting might be shitter.

On most mechs you can squint underneath and see the points of the screws. The one that’s touching or almost touching something is the one you need to adjust.

You should also check whether it’s an indexing problem by pulling on the gear cable. If it’s able to move past it’s current position then it’s not a limit screw problem, and you need to twiddle the knob on the shifter.

Hi everyone, new here and also quite new to bicycle maintenance! I bought a 2nd hand bike last summer and recently decided to try and learn how to maintain and repair some things myself.

It has these quite old (and temperamental) cantilever brakes. Recently they've become ineffective so I'm going to try and adjust them, and thought I'd replace the pads while I was at it.

Because of lockdown I've been trying to find suitable replacement pads online, but I've struggled to identify ones which would work with these brakes. I bought a pair of threaded post pads (which is the type I think I need), but the post itself seems too short to fit onto the levers. In the attached photo, I've placed the old pads at the bottom and the new pads at the top. The post runs through a connecting arm, which then is fixed to the lever (see other attached photos). The connecting arm is so thick that when placed on the post of the new pads, there is not space to fit all of the washers and it doesn't tighten securely.

So, apologies if this is a stupid question, but was wondering what your suggestions would be? I've tried to find other cantilever pads online, but it's hard to tell whether the post is long enough by looking at a picture, and most don't seem to have dimensions listed. Alternatively, I suppose I could just try and replace the pads themselves, and use the old post to connect it to the lever? Again I've found it difficult to judge online whether the pads I've seen will be compatible with the post from the old pads. As I say, apologies if this is a silly problem, but any advice would be really appreciated! (If helpful, the old pads are Shimano, just under 55mm wide, and the width of the post is about 5mm).

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Can I convert an 11 speed cassette into a 10 speed by removing 1 cog and adding a spacer?
The hub is 11 speed.