Genesis Flyer v Kona Band Wagon

[djb1971]

There are 2 bolts. Tension the drive side then tension the non drive side and centre the wheel in the frame. Once the tension is okay tighten your nuts

Tightening the bolts moves the wheel backwards by pushing on the axle.

Lovely bike

 

[ror3h]

Thanks for the reply ror3h

Looks good mate, and mudguards look good on it too.

If you don't mind me asking, what guards are they?

I went and bought a White Selle Italia Max Flite Gel Flow Saddle, so I will need to percervere with the white bar tape

Did you have too mess about with the stem or bar height?

Cheers for the tip on the steering, I will take this into account when I get out on the bike.

Getting delivered this afternoon

Cheers! The mudguards are crud roadracers, they're the only full guards you'll get on this bike as the tyre clearances are very tight, especially at the rear brake.
I've been playing about with fitting a 120mm stem and slamming it, but that's just cos I wanted to try a racier position than I have on my other bike.

I also have the rattling brake levers, they are rather annoying at first but I don't notice them anymore. I am thinking about getting some new levers though as the position on the hoods isn't so comfortable on long rides.

 

[mcb2080]

Cheers! The mudguards are crud roadracers, they're the only full guards you'll get on this bike as the tyre clearances are very tight, especially at the rear brake.
I've been playing about with fitting a 120mm stem and slamming it, but that's just cos I wanted to try a racier position than I have on my other bike.

I also have the rattling brake levers, they are rather annoying at first but I don't notice them anymore. I am thinking about getting some new levers though as the position on the hoods isn't so comfortable on long rides.

Cheers for the mudguards name, I will get a set ordered.

I could feel my hands ache a bit on the hoods as well, I was thinking of undoing the clamp holding the handlebars and lifting the hoods a bit to a more horizontal position to see if that helps.

I can live with the rattly brakes, I was more worried in case there was something wrong.

I do have a concern regarding the back wheel though, if I lift the back wheel off of the ground and start turning the pedals backwards, the wheel, cog and chain feel a wee bit rough, not smooth like if I was turning the pedal clockwise.

I don't know if a single speed is not designed to pedal back wards but I sometimes do this on my geared road bike and it doesn't sound rough, does your bike feel rough doing this?

I will get the bike shop to check this out ( once I get there ), if your bike felt the same then I would not be as concerned.

I never made it to the bike shop today as I have waited in for an Argos order only for them to tell me 5 minutes ago that it will not be delivered today, going to have to wait another 4 weeks

 

[djb1971]

If you're running fixed you won't be pedaling backwards in a hurry!

If you're running a freewheel don't have the tension super tight on the chain because it'll knacker it out fast. Are you sure it's not the sound of the chain you can hear? 1/8 chains are a bit agricultural but bombproof. Have you checked the wheel bearings?

You can add grease to the shimano freewheels without dismantling, place grease on the front and rear where there's a gap running around the face. Turn the freewheel and force the grease through the cracks. Don't put loads in, it'll just come back out. Put just enough in to make it run nicely and stop any rattling. You can degrease and then do this to put fresh grease in without taking them apart.

The brake levers can be stopped from rattling. Ensure the brake cable has no slack at all, lsnide side the front of the lever and grease the pivots. It'll stop them from rattling, that's what I did.

 

[mcb2080]

If you're running fixed you won't be pedaling backwards in a hurry!

If you're running a freewheel don't have the tension super tight on the chain because it'll knacker it out fast. Are you sure it's not the sound of the chain you can hear? 1/8 chains are a bit agricultural but bombproof. Have you checked the wheel bearings?

You can add grease to the shimano freewheels without dismantling, place grease on the front and rear where there's a gap running around the face. Turn the freewheel and force the grease through the cracks. Don't put loads in, it'll just come back out. Put just enough in to make it run nicely and stop any rattling. You can degrease and then do this to put fresh grease in without taking them apart.

The brake levers can be stopped from rattling. Ensure the brake cable has no slack at all, lsnide side the front of the lever and grease the pivots. It'll stop them from rattling, that's what I did.

LOL, at the fixed comment.

I haven't touched anything on the bike yet, just took the bike out the box yesterday and put the front wheel on, so I am unsure of tension, I will get the LBS to show me how to set tension correctly and get him to check out the roughness, it probably is nothing but better to be safe.

I will have a go at the brake cable, cheers.

Cheers for the tips regarding the grease, I think even I could tackle that

No more daft question from me....well today anyway!

Thanks again

 

[djb1971]

Tension the chain so that it's taught with a couple of mm visible slack inthe chains midpoint between the chainring and sprocket. You should be able to push the chain up and down a few mm at that point. If its too tight it will not spin right if you flick the pedals and it'll have tight spots on the chainring causing excess wear.

Learn how to do it, you'll need to if you're out and get a visit from the fairy!

 

[mcb2080]

Cheers djb1971, I got some goodies through the post today, so I was swapped the tyres over to gatorskin hardshells and I put my shimano a530 pedals on and sorted my cadence magnet, so everything is good to go

The tension advice was spot on, but I am glad that my first time of taking the wheel off was in the house, as the drive side axle just wouldn't come out, I don't know if there was too much paint on the frame, but I had to get a rubber mallet and tap the axle quite a few times to get it out.

I re greased the axle and put the wheel on and off a few times so that it now slips on and off without any force.

I tried pulling on any slack on the brake cables but alas still rattly but I can life with that.

After re tensioning the chain and putting some chain lub on the bike feels a lot smoother, so maybe it was a combination of tension or no chain lub.

Is it hard to undo the head set to drop the forks in order to give them a clean and grease or is this a task for the LBS?

I would like to try as much myself as possible.

Also, I would like to rotate my handlebars so that the hoods are more horizontal, when undoing the clamp, is there an order for re tightening the 4 screws

Cheers

 

[djb1971]

The handlebar clamp bolts should be tightened in an even X pattern and to 5nm. If you don't own a torque wrench just do them pretty tight but don't swing on them!

You can get a ritchey torque key that is preset to the exact force for stems etc. which is cheaper than a torque wrench.

The headset is easy if you have an idea of what you're doing but if you don't take it to the lbs. it'll take 5 mins to degrease and put together again.

Undo the stem clamp bolts
Remove the top cap then stem
Remove stem spacers
There may be a split plastic compression ring, carefully prise it out
Remove any dust shield from the top race
Revove the top bearing race you will see the bearings here
Push the top of the forks and the bottom will release
No need to pull out the fork, just lower it. Unless you're replacing or cleaning bearings and race
Clean everything and regrease then rebuild. Don't drop any bearings if any are loose
Clamp bolts to at least 5-6nm it should give the force on the stem.

If they're sealed bearings (not small ball bearings)just clean everything. If the bearings are rough get new ones.

That's the general way but look on you tube, there's loads of info on there.

 

[djb1971]

You will need to preload the bearing when rebuilding. Check on you tube!!

This is important

 

[djb1971]

A quick search found this but there are lots!

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP2qaKUUMDM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[mcb2080]

Thanks again djb1971, excellent video that doesn't look too difficult.

I am heading out for a few stella so tomorrow will probably be a no go but might attempt it on Monday, worse comes to worse I take it to LBS, which I would have had too anyway.

Cheers mate

Have a good night.

 

[djb1971]

No problem

Once you've seen it done or done it yourself it'll be dead easy!

 

[mcb2080]

Right question for today

When out on the road, do you carry a dumbell spanner for wheel removal or a full size spanner?

I am going to have a saddle bag so space wise it looks like a dumbell spanner for me, are these actually any good?

Or should I just find space in my jacket somewhere for a full size spanner?

 

[djb1971]

Use the dumbell if it's got 15mm on it. I use a sawn off normal ring spanner

I wouldn't stick a spanner in my pocket.

 

[mcb2080]

Good point mate, never thought what would happen if I had a spill on the bike, still a wee bit hazzyfrom last night.

Yeah the wheel nuts are 15mm

I will have a search for a small 15mm spanner as this would save some space in the saddle bag over the bulldog.

Cheers