Mechanics and Fixing Any Questions Answered

Didn't some motorbikes have the brake on left lever,

The left hand lever on a motorbike is normally the clutch.
I've seen an ancient bike (I think it was a Harley) which had a left hand twist grip controlling the advance and retard. Indians were probably the same.

As to push bike braking, I am convinced that there's no real difference between one side or the other, but it's best to stick to whatever you are used to.

Looking at old racing photos (eg. But et Club) from before the time Mafac became almost universal, it seems there was no preference for one side or the other. These riders were the 'giants of the road' and I'm inclined to think they knew what they were doing.

As for little me, I've done getting on for a quarter of a million miles with my front brake on the left/ rear on the right and I'm certainly not going to change now.

hello.
i'm looking for options on cranks for my singlespeed.
135mm rear spacing, 47ish mm chainline, 68mm threaded BB.
i'd like to move away from square taper and go external bearing BB.
any recommendations that have readily available chainrings for when i want a change of gear ratio? (i.e. not shimano asymetric 4 arm)

Headset query here. Tried fitting my 1" threaded headset at the weekend and found that, once I'd pressed the cup into place, it just slid right back out when I loosened the press. Turns out there's 0.3mm difference between the diameter of the old cups (30.1mm) and the new (29.8mm). That's clearly not enough for the headset to be the wrong size (i.e. it's not a 1 1/8 inch instead), but obviously it's not ideal. What can I do? Loctite?

For reference, the frame is an old Ciocc San Cristobal. I've heard the issue might be due to a slight difference between ISO and JIS, but given I'm even asking that question, it should tell you how little I know about this.

Cheers.

The left hand lever on a motorbike is normally the clutch.
I've seen an ancient bike (I think it was a Harley) which had a left hand twist grip controlling the advance and retard. Indians were probably the same.

As to push bike braking, I am convinced that there's no real difference between one side or the other, but it's best to stick to whatever you are used to.

But motorbike brake setup surely hasn't influenced cycle brake setup as cycles predate motorbikes? Which way were rod cycle brakes setup is the question?!

Loctite 638 might do the job, but finding a correct size headset would be the better option.

but finding a correct size headset would be the better option.

Presumably 1" JIS as that appears to be marginally bigger, right? Seems odd that an old Italian frame would take a JIS headset, but I'm no longer surprised at the idiosyncracies of bicycle parts.

A quick check of Sheldon Brown says:

1 Attachment

Weird. So the headset I have is a Campagnolo Chorus 1" threaded and according to that table it should be 30.2mm but it is in fact 29.8mm. Does. Not. Compute.

Not heard about the US Indian police bike. Have read it on forums that was a thing in ww1.

But similar to cars pedals being clutch, brake then accelerator. There was no standard for quite a while.

I think it was a Moto-Guzzi but can’t find anything to back this up

But motorbike brake setup surely hasn't influenced cycle brake setup as cycles predate motorbikes?

No, I wasn't suggesting it had - I was just responding to an earlier post which suggested some motorbikes had the back brake on the left hand lever.

Rod brakes

I have read that it was Raleigh who were responsible for the right hand / front brake convention - from about 1930 onwards. I don't think there was any standardisation before that, and I'm pretty sure that my Mum's rod braked bike ('Dragonfly' 1933, a cheap non Raleigh brand) had its rear brake on the right hand.

Headsets

This seems to be a common problem. At the moment my partner's son is searching for a set that would fit his old British frame. It seems to me there are more than two possible sizes - at a guess I suspect faulty conversion between imperial and metric.

What to do? If it's the crown race loose on the steerer (common) one crude solution is to take a chisel to the steerer and hope that the race will be held in place by the burrs you have created.

A better method is to put some brass or silver solder onto the steerer and then turn (or file) it down until you get a tight fit. This will probably burn some of the paint on the fork crown and care must be taken not to damage the brazing which holds the steerer into the crown.

Third method - Use metal loaded epoxy glue to take up the slack. This will work in the short term, but doesn't last for ever.

Of course the best way is to find the correct headset, but that's easier said than done.

BITD we smacked a centre punch all around the fork, the raised metal seemed to keep it in place, maybe combine that with epoxy...

As said finding the correct size top trumps :)

I’ve mixed and matched bearings, cups and crown races amongst jis and iso headsets to get something that fits.

If the crown race seat really is undersized then I’d go with @midlife suggestion of centre punching around it.

Adding some silver sounds like a good idea but I reckon you’ll struggle to get a very even application and cutting a decent seat into an uneven surface is not easy.

I’d strongly recommend against adding any brass to a fork that has any kind of crown lug as you’ll be taking it up to a temperature that will melt out the silver from the original construction.

Road crankset with the ring on the outside should be fine.

What rear hub? Cassette or freewheel?

Concerning loose headsets, I've actually had good results with sticky tape. The slightly yellow clear stuff that seems similar to packing tape goes alright, if you're careful and methodical and stretch it tight.

It takes some trial and error to get the amount right; start with too much and remove a layer at a time until it's a press fit without smooshing the tape away. If you can get x number of complete layers (rather than x.x) to be compressed without being pushed out of place, you should be golden. This is surprisingly durable if you do a good enough job.

If you have some aluminium tape, that's even better because only the adhesive will compress. I've used it to build up the inner surface of the HG splines on a cheap billet cassette to eliminate about 3/4mm of slop, and it worked a treat. Also built up the outside edge of integrated headset bearings so they could bear on the vertical surface and wouldn't rock in damaged carbon tapers, another surprise success.

Forethought and patience, and possibly trimming the excess with a knife depending on the situation, can make this kludgy business fly.

cheers.
it's a screw on freewheel on a single speed disc hub.

Stuck 1" stem advice please. Turns out the bike I've been given isn't quite the bargain I thought.
Wedge is loose, the bolt is undone and I've smacked it hard down. Wedge has not fallen down though. Have hit stem hard with a hammer, have put it in vice and twisted it. Have unscrewed headset and moved it up to expose more steerer, then had at it with a blowtorch. Have left it soaking with Plusgas and will try again next week when I have time.

Anything else I can try? I don't need the stem, but would rather not go down the chemical route of dissolving stuff, if poss.

This also doesn't bode well for the seatpost. The clamp binder bolt is seized into itself, hoping the seatpost isn't permanently stuck in the frame

what frame is it, and is it worth investing your time into, especially if the post and stem are stuck?
what about the BB?

Cannondale R700, in a matching paintjob to my custom painted SS Evo, so yeah I'm quite keen on fixing it and without damaging the paint

Should work.

Alfine crankset was my favourite option, used to come with a BB supplied, don't know if it is still the case.

Does anyone know a good supplier of the Silca 323 (or equivalent) Impero pump chuck gasket?

Silca obviously sell one, but it's just a piece of rubber so I don't imagine it needs to be Silca branded.

hmm. not sure there's much more you can do apart from applying more force/leverage.
maybe a scaff bar over the end of the stem with the fork legs in a vice? always the chance that the forks will break before the stem let's go though.
I'd deffo check the other parts move as well before investing too much time. hope you didn't pay a lot for it? 😐

ah yes, Alfine is a good shout. I was thinking either that or track cranks, but not sure what's out there. omniums maybe?