Any question answered...

No reason to think it isnt flat, I assumed it would be, just looks a bit off. The smaller whorls look tilted in relation to the biggest two. To me anyway.

What’s flatness anyway except a social construct?

What’s flatness anyway except a social construct?

An emergent artefact in a world where only quantum entanglement is real.

X-posted from the working at home thread: any first-hand recommendations for a flipchart easel that's not too expensive, durable and can be raised fairly tall? I need one for some online workshops I'm running next week, but on putting up the one I bought, one of the legs tore out of the (melamine-faced) chipboard. Looking at the reviews on Amazon/eBay it seems to be a bit of a crapshoot as to what you get. As I'm only going to use it occasionally I'm not going to spend £hundreds on a posh one, and there doesn't seem to be any obvious quality difference between the £40 unbranded ones and anything under under £90 or so.

I think I’m missing a return spring in one of my shifters. Badly marked with red arrow on the right. Anyone any idea what that one is called and if I can get another one?

SRAM X0 9-speed right hand side. Can’t seem to find anything but I’m probably searching for the wrong thing.

1 Attachment

Anyone any idea what that one is called and if I can get another one?

I don't think you'll get one as a spare part

1 Attachment

Don’t know where to post this so I’ll stick it here.

What lube do people use on the chains of their turbo bikes? Mine always dries out and has now formed a disgusting thick coating.

I don’t want to have clean it regularly and it’s not exposed to any road dirt so something light should do it. Could I get away with GT85?

I wonder if it shares that part with another (cheaper) shifter. I have some X7 shifters which are also ‘Impulse’ that I’m going to have a look in. I’m just trying to find my brave pills before I open them, they’re complicated and quite spring loaded...

Gt85 should work OK as it leaves a Teflon coating but it will wear off quickly. I use some Finish Line dry stuff that's really thin.

I wonder if it shares that part with another (cheaper) shifter. I have some X7 shifters which are also ‘Impulse’ that I’m going to have a look in.

Answer to that is it's completely different. The ratchet mechanism is similar but that's pretty much where the similarity ends. I think I'm going to have to make one.

Excellent.
I really should have gone down the electric + headphones route - my neighbours just don't appreciate the subtle tones of a well tuned ukulele.

Hub gear question. I've noticed a few disc single speeds going for what seem like ok prices and thought a geared version would make a good dad bike.

1. What is needed to convert them to a hub gear?
   
2. Any challenges/potential pitfalls?
   
3. What's the go-to set up? Alfine 8? 11? What shifters (flat bar, but using Nitto Albatross bar end is an option)?
   
4. Is it worth building a rear wheel? or are OTP generally cheaper?
   
   

Cheers.

ps semi-related: is there a go-to 26" suspension corrected rigid fork? Anything lighter than this beast from Thorn?

When trying to shift from the inner to the outer ring, and the chain getting stuck between the derailleur and the outer ring, is a symptom of...?

Derailleur too low/too high?

Too high

ps semi-related: is there a go-to 26" suspension corrected rigid fork? Anything lighter than this beast from Thorn?

I don't know about go-to but I got one from here
https://www.carboncycles.cc/?s=0&t=0&rb=6&

Alfine 11

Made of cheese inside, avoid

Cheers.

I see they've also got 1".

Only thing is I want mudguard eyes, and ideally a rack mount, as it would be converting it from an mtb.

What would you go for?

(rohloff is out of the question)

How's the chain tensioned - horizontal dropouts, eccentric BB, chain tensioner? In principle you should be able to use the same method for an IGH without issues. There's a huge thread about Alfine fettling on the CTC forums; from memory the A8 is less temperamental/more reliable than the A11, and in UK all-weather use it will benefit from oil or semi-fluid grease lubrication rather than the factory setup. IIRC you'll need different no-turn washers for different dropout geometries - there will be a Shimano techdoc somewhere with the details. Depending on where you get the hub from, you may need to buy shifters/cable joints/dropout washers separately. I think Alfine only has rapidfire trigger shifters as standard; I don't know whether a Nexus 8 twist shifter has the same cable pull. Microshift make a bar-end Alfine shifter, but early versions were very temperamental; I think later versions are better. In any case Alfine hubs are very particular about cable setup and quite sensitive to cable adjustment, though once set up OK they're fine.

I had an Alfine 11 that broke after ~5000 easy city km. I replaced mine with a Rohloff which has been outstanding, but as I understand it the 8 speed Shimano hubs are much better than the 11.

Cheers.

Any challenges/potential pitfalls?

Check the OLN - Alfine needs 135mm.

Sheldon has an article on Shimano IGH and the Nexus 8 service manual. I run a Nexus 8 with an Alfine 8 rapidfire shifter that works just fine (same cable pull according to my research/another informed forumenger).

There aren't many major challenges that I could see as long as you're happy with which anti-rotation washers you'll need and how the cable will be routed (you can just use a continuous length of outer if you don't have cable-stops) and how th chain will be tensioned. However, I'm using rim brakes, if you want to use discs that may present a different set of problems. The main change is getting used to the gearing idiosyncrasies e.g., shifting only when not pedalling and uneven changes in ratio.

Bought a watch (fenix 5s plus) and it’s got quite a sharp edge to its anodised black bezel. Seems weird, but it appears to be just how they are. Am I right in thinking there’s no way of dulling the edge a little without removing the anodising?

Cheers all. Will do some reading.

I'm used to 3 speed SA on Bromptons, so aware of the difference with a hub.

I'm not going to be mtbing or anything, but it would be loaded with a tubby me and a pretty muscley toddler with a few fairly steep grassy hills, so it does need to be strong enough for that. A Rohloff would be lovely, but if I was prepared to spend that sort of money I wouldn't be looking at modding a SS bike to in the first place.