Mechanics and Fixing Any Questions Answered

in theory very helpful (esp. the Finnish stuff), but I've already ordered some road cruisers for 15€ each, can't really beat that for something that mainly has to be cheap.

Got a 46T to experiment with, probably on the Mason which has a hippy special compact up front (34/46).

118 link chain works with Wolftooth and 42T (maybe removing 1 link). Wanna take a stab at what length I'd need for 46T cassette? What's the longest 11s chain you can get?

124? (e-bike specific?)
https://www.bike24.com/p2380870.html
https://www.certini.co.uk/components/gears-drivetrain/wippermann-11se-chain-124-links--silver__83503

You were right and it was just more leverage required. I don’t have washers easily to hand but read somewhere you could use a headset cap, no idea where author finds his headset caps but all mine had holes too small so I improvised with a piece of plastic that had a hole in. Then got tired of waiting the 2 days for post so took both my headset cone spanners and duct taped them together for more sturdiness, and stood on the end - much success. The LBS had indeed greased the threads so it came out without too much fuss. And when I say “it” I mean this disaster..

Thanks so much everyone for the advice - this forum is one of my favourite places on the Internet.

Have now put it all back together (and stepped on the wrenches to tighten the BB) after a brief cross threading scare (my BB DS shell seemed to have two 1mm deep notches across perpendicular to the threads for some odd reason) and the bike has survived a three mile journey so far with no creaks or squeaks from the BB. Now wondering if it would be worth bringing it in to a shop somewhere to get everything properly tightened..? Don’t trust how tight I’ve been able to get the cranks on with just my hex keys and am slightly paranoid that I might be riding around with a loose BB and everything is going to catastrophically fail on me on a long ride.

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Since you asked:

https://www.cjperformancecycles.com/components/gears-drivetrain/kmc-e11-ept-11-speed-50m-chain-w40-link-in-silver__62100

Haha. I didn't think of that. I'd previously pondered spending big on a huge bundle of chain because I go through so many but I couldn't bring myself to fork out for the bulk roll.

You’d get better value from bulk boxes than you would from a single roll, providing the required chain length isn’t an abnormal size.

That's not a UN55 doesn't look like a UN300 either.

Yeh it’s a UN300 with the NDS side absolutely disintegrated. What in earth will I use when this current 55 I’ve put in dies..?

Did I not say that? ;)

What in earth will I use when this current 55 I’ve put in dies..?

It probably won't TBH.

I've not had too much bad luck with the 300s, but they're obviously not as good as the 55s and I guess I'm fitting less of them these days.

Fingers crossed it doesn’t - what are the risks of riding a BB with cups potentially not torqued to the required Nm? I’ve stood on the wrench so if I had to bet I know where I’m putting my money, but the odds are fairly even I think - would rather know what dangers I’m choosing to face! Also the previous BB had a recessed NDS shell and I just realised I wasn’t meticulous with cleaning off the BB face when installing, so am now worried there was some gunk on the surface that may have gotten in the way of tightening the cup down..? Not usually paranoid but the previous failure has left me fairly cautious when it comes to BBs..

If you weigh more than 20kg and the lever you used was longer than 10cm, then you have definitely applied enough torque. If anything, too much and next time you have to replace the BB it will be this whole shenanigans all over again. Same goes for the cranks. If you have a standard size allen key, then the correct torque is less than 'as hard as you can pull before the allen key tears through your skin' Nm.
Did you at least apply some kind of grease or anti-seize to the threads?

They are a lot lighter at least. I don't think I've actually had to remove a bb-un300 yet, though I've fitted plenty. Could be wrong of course!

The rolls really aren't worth it, even in a shop environment (except for cargo bikes etc, so we use them for that).

You shouldn't need to stand on owt to reach 40Nm unless you're tightening it with a multitool or matchstick. As said, with a regular sized tool it's about as hard as you can without really fucking going for it.

That's what I need to find out with this 46T cassette. If it needs more than 118, I don't want to be joining chains.

Reassuring to hear, cheers! Every page I’ve come across when googling “can you assemble a bb without a torque wrench” said “no you’re going to end up using too little force” so I just figured how difficult it was to get the damn things off in the first place and applied an equivalent amount of strength the other way.. I did grease both threads and spindle (just a smidge) but so did my LBS the last time round so looking forward to taking it out the next time around. Presumably I shouldn’t go back and loosen the things?

Heavy is good, heavy is a sign of quality!

Presumably I shouldn’t go back and loosen the things?

No. But when your big spanner arrives I would use that to check how tight you’ve done it. No standing on it!

Obv depends on how weedy you are! When I was building up a few bikes with Campagnolo 11s I had to hit 50 Nm (42-60 Nm) on the Ultra Torque bolts. I had the nice big Park Tool TW-6.2, but still had to make a funny face to hit the 50Nm (and sometime I would shake a little bit).

Is there a thread on here about building your own racks?
(My search skills are rubbish)
I have a mini pipe bender and a mapp gas torch and I’m raring to go.
(I might actually have a mate braze it because I have no idea what I’m doing)

Not exactly, but...
https://www.lfgss.com/comments/16768703/

This is quite in line with what I've read on every other forum page I've been looking this up on - and that tool looks like way more leverage than the 1ft my headset cone spanners would get me. Seems like I should just leave the BB be and trust I haven't over-torqued it.. Also used one of them multitools/decathlon hex keys which isn't much over 20cm long on the cranks so I'm assuming I can't have overtightened the bolt with those.

Thanks Hippy.
I’ll peruse that thread later.
Looks like my kind of stuff.