Mechanics and Fixing Any Questions Answered

We ride at dawn

Fuck that, I'm not getting up early.

Hi, I'm looking to buy this from someone, I can't see the frame in person. It's a surly ice cream frame. If it would be just some scratches, I would not be worried, but on the photo it looks like it's a bit deeper than just a surface scratch, so I'm not sure and would like reassurance if it's ok to buy, or I'll be getting a museum piece. Thank you for your suggestion

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Looks ugly but not catastrophic. A gouged arc from a chainring would be more concerning - that's how you can really lose material - but that hasn't happened in this case. This looks like heavy scuffing from many dropped chains.

I would ask for more up-close photos of the damage, personally.

Look like there's a hole in the lower part of the chainstay

Transfer has the same insertion length as the Bontrager Line for a 150mm drop. You would gain 20mm with a Oneup V2. Bear in mind, you can also often twist the actuator on the bottom to an angle which might give you a few extra mm. Just don't go unscrewing anything without reading the manual or you'll end up like this guy

Looks like it could be black base coat?

Way back when I did my cytec they taught us to be very careful about just that to avoid death, and even if you think it's empty, don't undo anything with it pointing at you.

What’s the inside of the stay like, is it dimpled for tyre clearance?

That’s a common place for frames to develop cracks, I’ve fixed quite a few. The fix is usually a full new chainstay as patching over it is a temporary fix at best. Have also done yokes and half yokes etc.

I’d say that the frames I’ve worked on have either been quite corroded or had heavy dimpling in that area.

TLDR: if the stays are heavily dimpled I’d say that adding in that gouging is asking for trouble, if they are not dimpled on the inside then it’s probably ok.

In my world, rims are not worn out until they actually crack in half.

I like to get full value from my stuff. Please be aware I also have decent medical cover... :D

Treat every gun (or suspension component) like it's loaded, whether you know it is or not.

Got a slice of rim in my calf in about 2002 from a rear rim explosion, was one of most painful things ever, especially as I couldn't get off the bike as it was inside my leg.

Rim brakes are death. Went to disc for MTB after that and will never return to rims, not in the UK, too wet and gritty.

I would like to say the same thing but I have too much rim brake stuff that isn't worth selling on and still works. I will continue to wear rims down to the DeathZone™ though. It's all I can do to feel alive...

Hydro and the di2 into the frame can go at the end as the default routing seems to be via the stem. I ran some cotton through for both the di2 cables without much drama but I'll be damned if I can get a brake cable through there once I tie it to the cotton, even with a pull on the end of the thread it comes out the stem.

Any tips before I lose my shit?

Edit - the challenge, I think, is around the bolts for the garmin mount as I think it's quite a narrow gap

Gear or brake inner.

Feed it in from one end then the hose from the other.

The cable should fit in the hose with no issues and act as a guide, I've never had to pull the cable to get the hose going.

Done both S-Works and Windspace this way.

It's not the brake hoses, they'll be easy (I think), push straight through as literally everything with any rigidity is heading out via the stem without much effort. Threading from the bar end junction to the opposite side shifter is the thing that is making me want to throw the lot onto the fire.

These are winspace integrated bars BTW

Ah I see.

Possibly could try using Schwalbe blue rim tape and a gear inner?

It's pretty sticky and should hold on place when being fed through.

I figured it out. The problem was mostly in my expectations on routing inside the bars. I assumed there was a route from side to side and one to the stem. Once I worked out I was an idiot and everything needed to pass at least partly by the stem it was pretty trivial.

Di2 is done, going to work out the steerer length before I start on the hoses.

Sram rival 1x is skipping only in biggest cog, rest of the gears work lovely.
Chain is approx .75 stretch, cable tension seems ok, was previously set up right so limit screws are fine and mech hanger seems straight.
Is it just the chain stretch causing the skipping?
Need to sort this asap before I crush my nuts on the stem!

At that degree of chain wear you need to replace chain, cassette and probably chainring too

Cable friction could be the issue. If you haven't replaced cables in the last 9-12 months then there's a good chance they are not granting you full shifts. You can test this by oiling cables with a very light oil (I like GT85 or Tri-Flow) but this oil will not last.

Also check how much lateral play you have in your upper jockey wheel. There should be some but occasionally this can mess up your shifting if they are knackered.

Your chain wear will not be helping the situation. Maybe just buy a chain and some cables in one basket and then you're done?

Cassette might not be at all dead at 0.75% ! It depends!

Chainring likely fine. Need some photos to get a better idea. Obv the only way to know is to fit a new chain and see if it plays nice.

Yeah, cassette is probably fine if it's the first chain it's seen, although it is time for a new chain if you want to not need a new cassette soon, if it was a chain wear issue it'd likely be at the other end of the cassette. Check the hanger properly, make sure you've got enough cable tension, check the limit screws and especially b-adjust in case they weren't quite right, check the jockey wheels and whole mech for play (the cheap SRAM MTB ones are awful for having so much play from new that setting them up is impossible, but rival should be fine) then look at cables, then get shimano anyway.

Yeah jockey wheel play is a pain on cheap mechs. I was once fixing up a cheap old MTB while in Africa with no access to spares. Terrible shifting. So I made a washer out of very thin plastic (takeaway food pot) to shim out the internals of the upper jockey wheel, reducing sideways play to very little. Huge improvement! No idea if it would last years, but something else on that bike will probably die first.

The play in the cheap SRAM ones is the mech itself, joints are as baggy as a ten year old acera.

Some SRAM jockey wheels are £80/pair! Just regular bearing ones.