Mechanics and Fixing Any Questions Answered

I meant an inner change for the same reason.

Thanks for this. Sorry, but what's the difference in connections between straight and banjo? I've got hoses but not fitted them yet so could always get other hoses if better brakes would be better

I'll change the inner tomorrow. It's fairly new though so I'll be surprised if it's frayed, but I won't know until I take it out.

I think it might be the cable

It is. New inner and outer will fix it.

Straight goes directly into the caliper like on all the road/gravel brakes, banjo has a fitting at the end that goes into the the caliper at a rotatable 90° angle, often on MTBs there's more stuff to fuck about with and it's beneficial to be able to adjust where the hose is coming from.

More of a care than a fixing question: How do you take care of your carbon fibre frames after a rough ride (e.g. gravel, mtb)? With my road bike, I normally use some Muc-Off Bike Spray or similar, as a polish post-cleaning.

I've fixed my shifting.

It wasn't the inner. It was Teflon cable liner, which I'd put on the internally routed section, in the down tube. It had moved and was up at the top of the downtube and preventing the cable from moving freely.

Ripped it out and it all worked fine again.

I won't use cable liner again!

If I fit a locking stem spacer (see image) once I’ve set the preload can I remove the spacer stack and just run the stem ‘floating? It’s a carbon/alloy fork, on this one, I’ve done it on a steel fork in the past and not died.
Ta

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can I remove the spacer stack and just run the stem ‘floating?

You can, but without the preload bolt holding everything down there is a tendency for stuff to walk up the steerer. That's mostly a stem problem as the off axis loads are large, but steerer flex under suspension and braking loads also shortens the effective steerer length between the bearings, which pushes the retaining clamp upwards. You may find yourself making more frequent bearing adjuistments.

Perfect thank you 👍

Something tells me there'll be more flex between the bars and frame too

For context this is for when I knock my bike down to go in a bag to travel. It’s good to know when I almost certainly lose the little bag with the top cap and spacers in (again) I can still safely ride on arrival.

Campy cassette body - I think it’s a pre-exa drive with the equal splines all round. I believe these also fit the 8 speed exa drive cassette.

I’ve been looking and it appears that Campy did a 9 speed exa drive cassette.

I’m just wondering, will these 9 speed cassettes fit on the freehub pictured?

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9 speed exa drive pic

Surely this wont fit..?

I basically want to fit a 9 speed system onto the wheel pictured.

Are the freehubs exchangeable with more modern wheels?

I may just end up using an 8 speed cassette with 9 speed spacers and perhaps lose a sprocket.

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My understanding of Campagnolo compatibility, which is a bit rusty, is that the change from 8 speed to 9 speed required a new freehub body. Basically you could run anything up to 8 speed on the old freehub, but if you wanted to run 9 speed (or 10 and 11 speed) you needed a new freehub with a different spline pattern.

Might be worth asking in the Campagnolo thread for confirmation of this though.

Was doing a cassette replacement and found this weird metal thing which I soon realised was the bitex freehub 'bite guard' which has clearly come out.
I'm minded to try and superglue it back in but equally also minded to just chuck it away and assume it'll be OK without it.

Any strong opinions?

Have also emailed the wheelbuilder for their opinion.

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minded to just chuck it away and assume it'll be OK without it.

Judging by the state of your splines, it hasn't been doing anything for a while. They will get worse, but they're already fucked.

Glue it back in. The freehub looks like it could do with a bite guard

Yeah i've had this wheel for a while and it's done some heavy rides. I should probably have specced a hope one to be honest.

I've also just noticed some damage to the spoke that would have been caused when my derailleur was dragged into the wheel. So will try to get that swapped out soon

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I should probably have specced a hope one to be honest

Nah just a Bitex with steel freehub!

Or a cassette on an alu spider

Well the bearings for the end caps also clearly need a service too, feeling pretty rough when turned by hand 🥲

And tighten your lockrings to spec.

the state of your splines

How much damage is acceptable for an ultralight one? I'm not sure I've ever had one which doesn't get bitten. They're made of cheese.

Shimano designed those splines to be done in steel; they doubled the height of them the one time they did them in ally. I think you can nearly get away with it if it's forged ally, but it's best if either the hub uses those little steel strips, or you use a billet cassette.

Billet cassettes are spendy, but steel ones aren't heavy, and chains are much cheaper - swap them out early and you also preserve chainrings which can cost a bomb too.

So if your wheel came with an alloy Shimano-style body, you would swap it for a steel one as preventive maintenance? (My cassette is Sram Red, described as high grade tool steel.)