[shipnil]

My drive train is making constant noise and judging from the direction it is coming from, I suspect it is somewhere in the cranks or bottom bracket.

@Doc, other Pune cyclists, can you recommend any good bicycle mechanic who can overhaul the BB/cranks? I would prefer if it is near PCMC but if not, I am okay to visit Phadke Haud too.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by shipnil

My drive train is making constant noise and judging from the direction it is coming from, I suspect it is somewhere in the cranks or bottom bracket.

@Doc, other Pune cyclists, can you recommend any good bicycle mechanic who can overhaul the BB/cranks? I would prefer if it is near PCMC but if not, I am okay to visit Phadke Haud too.

@AutoIndian is the PCMC king. You guys should definitely sync up.

Cheers, Doc

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by ebonho

@AutoIndian is the PCMC king. You guys should definitely sync up.

Cheers, Doc

BTW, Doc which mechanic do you go to? Could you please share name and location?

[amol4184]

I recently bought a pressure washer. Since then I clean the chain and drive gears with petrol+diesel mixture (long story) and then give it a thorough wash with pressure washer. Earlier I used some dish washing liquid too but now I skip it.
Trust me, I have never had such squeaky clean chain before! Afterwards I blow it dry with vacuum cleaner and keep it outside in the sun. And then Squirt application.
Though as doc said, will try two coats next time I wash the bike.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by shipnil

BTW, Doc which mechanic do you go to? Could you please share name and location?

No place specific as such. In the current environment, wherever the parts are available and the timing and distance convenient.

But if you are in Chinchwad, then most of these places would be like me riding to Talegaon. Literally. 30-40 km one way easy. And you would need to arrange for transport back, because you need to leave your bike there as they would always have a number of jobs lined up in queue. As well as then to return an pick up your bike at whatever time they call you depending on the work and the workload before you.

More often than not you would be spending more on your to and fro transport than the job itself (that regularly happens to me since if there's anything wrong, I don't ride the bike but load it into my Safari and take it for repairs, so invariably I will spend more on diesel than parts and labor ... but really I cannot ride a bike with a potentially damaged or malfunctioning part).

In my experience, unless you are really desperate and don't have any store around you, such long distance servicing arrangements are a real pain.

Pro Bike in Kothrud is good.

Cyclotech in Undri is good.

Pro Bike in Viman Nagar is good.

D Byk Store on Nagar Road is good.

These are the ones I have tried personally.

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Doc

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by ebonho

No place specific as such. In the current environment, wherever the parts are available and the timing and distance convenient.

Thanks Doc for the detailed feedback! Unfortunately, as you rightly assumed, I don't have the luxury of a big, butch SUV to carry the bicycle to far flung repair shops. The only way is to ride there and get it fixed on priority but as you said, they might have other bicycles to attend to and hence will have to leave it.

This is the reason I had learned to DIY most of the stuff. Barring the BB and head tube, I have worked on rest of the issues that crop up frequently. Unfortunately the latest issue is related to BB only hence need to visit a good mechanic.

[ebonho]

Replaced the chain finally on my CAAD today after 2 years and 2 months (November 15, 2019), and 11, 700 kms.

The old KMC Z8.1





The new KMC Z8.3





The new chain mounted on the trainer for the week ahead



Cheers, Doc

[IP_Man]

A video that test various bicycle chain lube and Muc Off dry lube is winner of the lot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbFNrnQ4QUo

But dry lube has limited retention compared to wet lube and rusting is also a problem.

Do you think simple sewing machine lube is sufficient for MTB?

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by IP_Man

Do you think simple sewing machine lube is sufficient for MTB?

No. It is too thin. And makes a hell of a mess.

Why don't you try coconut oil instead. An ex racer I know swears by it. He uses it even on the chain of his Pinarello Dogma ...

Cheers, Doc

[VishJ]

Originally Posted by ebonho

No. It is too thin. And makes a hell of a mess.

Why don't you try coconut oil instead. An ex racer I know swears by it. He uses it even on the chain of his Pinarello Dogma ...

Cheers, Doc

Have tried (rather experimented) coconut oil for chain lube after your suggestion in my Toronto H30 Hybrid bike. I find the ride very similar to ride quality obtained with normal cycling lube sir. No gain or loss in smoothness. Only thing is it needs regular cleaning at least once in two days by using a rag to wipe the chain. Hope all will go well

[Crankpin]

Tried using Park tool chain oil on my new Sweep 3. Not very satisfied with it and I felt it dries out pretty fast.
So I will go back to using Squirt which I have been using for awhile on my 15 year old fully-rebuilt FireFox target

[Junaid42465]

Hi fellow cyclists, I'm no expert just a normal guy who loves to ride. I've been immersion waxing my chain with normal paraffin (candle) wax, but then, there is too much flaking. What additives can be used to reduce the same?

Anyone uses any other additives like PTFE etc? If using, what are the benifits and where to procure the same?

[amol4184]

Just wanted to share something that made me feel like I was living under a rock. May be it will help someone else.

Here goes.

My Cannondale's 105 front derailleur frustrated me to no end when I bought the bike.

The problem was this. As I changed rear gears, and moved closer to biggest or smallest wheel on the rear sprocket, chain would start rubbing against the metal housing of front derailleur.

If I adjusted front derailleur to take care of chain rub, then it won't shift properly. Same for rear mechanism.

If I'm on small chainring on the front and smallest cog on the rear then chain would rub against the outer part of the front derailleur housing. If I was on large chainring and largest cog on the rear then chain would rub on the inner part of the housing.

If I adjusted anything then shifts won't happen on lowest and highest cog.

After a trial and error for many hours over many days I finally got it up to what I can say 95% of what I wanted but it was still not perfect. Drove me crazy.

I must have watched about 6-7 videos in full length on YouTube and nothing helped until one day one of guys talked about "trim" function or "half shift" of front shifters.

It works like this. Let's say you are on big chainring up front and highest gear on the rear, then you nudge the front shifter just a tiny bit (not full shift) towards big chainring (even if you are already on it) this causes the derailleur to make more space for chain.
Ditto for reverse scenario. If you notice rubbing while on small chainring at the front, nudge or half click the front shifter towards small chainring.

Holy moly, this fixed all my problems and bike is PERFECT now. No rubbing, no grinding just pure buttery rotations. How did I not know this?

Many of you probably know this already but if you didn't, try it. Works on all Shimano group sets minus the Di-1 and Di-2 mechanisms. Also possibly on SRAM and Campy.
Also only for brake-shifter combinations. It didn't work on my wife's flat bar bike with rapid thumb shifters with three chain rings up front.

[itisravi]

Originally Posted by amol4184

I must have watched about 6-7 videos in full length on YouTube and nothing helped until one day one of guys talked about "trim" function or "half shift" of front shifters.

For me it was the other way around. My bike has a claris groupset which isn't the best when it comes to shifting performance.I always used to do this 'half assed shift' to avoid chain rub in the cross-chain combinations and later found that it was a 'feature' called trim . Another feature that is not so well known is the brake reach adjustment that can be done on via a screw on the shifters to move the lever closer or father from your fingers when you're on the drops.

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by itisravi

Another feature that is not so well known is the brake reach adjustment that can be done on via a screw on the shifters to move the lever closer or father from your fingers when you're on the drops.

Is it present on Claris brifters?

As for trim, I can understand it being used on front derailleur. But how do you use it on rear derailleur when it os on smallest cog? The spring already reached its outer limit. I think screw adjustment is the only thing you can do.