Help?!

[CycleSafeUK]

Hiya, just been repairing a bike and as i'm working my way towards the front, i noticed that turning the front wheel with the handlebar was very stiff, it had been tampered with by someone else who didn't know what they were doing. It was very stiff, i dismantled and re-assembled all of it and that got rid of the stiffness but left us with what sounds like a crunching, grinding noise. The wheel does now turn but the sound is very annoying, if you also brake with the front brake, it becomes apparent that something must be loose or not in the right place as the handlebar jerks slightly forward. The person who tampered with it were trying to attempt some sort of replacement without knowing what they were doing and may have put something back incorrectly. Despite dismantling it fully, i can't find what it is in particular that isn't right. The bike is a ladies btwin rockrider 340. Help soon would be appreciated.

IMG_7270-min.JPG

• CycleSafeUK
• 28 May 2020

Rockrider 340

 

[Ajax Bay]

turning the front wheel with the handlebar was very stiff, it had been tampered with by someone else who didn't know what they were doing.
if you also brake with the front brake, . . . the handlebar jerks slightly forward. . . .
Despite dismantling it fully, i can't find what it is in particular that isn't right.

Aheadset or threaded steerer? Caged bearings or loose? Headset is not tight enough (and bearings may be dysfunctional).
Context (for others) from another thread:

I am a bicycle mechanic in the south east of England,
I've had a customer come in . . .

 

[CycleSafeUK]

Aheadset or threaded steerer. Caged bearings or loose? Headset is not tight enough (and bearings may be dysfunctional).

I was thinking threaded steerer aswell by the sounds of it. I will investigate it further anyway so that i can purchase the right part and fit it.

 

[I like Skol]

Hi Cyclesafe

Sounds like you might need to take that bike to a bike mechanic or bikeshop for them to check the headset. The headset and handlebar fixings are very safety critical and the consequences of getting it wrong could easily be catastrophic/fatal. Please let someone that knows what they are doing check the components and find out what the fault is.

 

[sleuthey]

When you dismantled it did you clean the bearings and housing with paraffin and apply fresh grease before putting back together? Did you use a torque wrench set to the value stated on top of the headset cap to do up the Allen bolt?

 

[Ajax Bay]

I was thinking threaded steerer aswell by the sounds of it. I will investigate it further

Matey (or 'sir' if you prefer)
If you are just 'thinking it might be threaded' and are going to 'investigate further' either:
1) you cannot possibly have "dismantled and re-assembled all of it", OR
2) You don't know the difference.
OR
you're trolling, which was my intitial reaction to your first post on 'where can I get an inner tube?'.
My advice is to learn about threaded steerers and their headset bearings, and Aheadset bearings, go to your LBS and get replacement bearings the correct diameter (to replace the caged ones (I'm guessing)), a tube of grease.
AASSIA
Servicing a headset successfully offers a sense of satisfaction.
I see you added a photo last night - thank you. Aheadset.

 

[C R]

Matey (or 'sir' if you prefer)
If you are just 'thinking it might be threaded' and are going to 'investigate further' either:
1) you cannot possibly have "dismantled and re-assembled all of it", OR
2) You don't know the difference.
OR
you're trolling, which was my intitial reaction to your first post on 'where can I get an inner tube?'.
My advice is to learn about threaded steerers and their headset bearings, and Aheadset bearings, go to your LBS and get replacement bearings the correct diameter (to replace the caged ones (I'm guessing)), a tube of grease.
AASSIA
Servicing a headset successfully offers a sense of satisfaction.
I see you added a photo last night - thank you. Aheadset.

The bike in the image has an a headset, not a threaded one, according to decathlon. What is not clear to me is if the OP is talking about headset being tight or wheel bearings being tight.

 

[CycleSafeUK]

you're trolling, which was my intitial reaction to your first post on 'where can I get an inner tube?'.

That's because it was genuinely an inner tube that I was struggling to find. With that particular size that I needed.

 

[Ajax Bay]

I just shared the options I grappled with - and trolling was, I thought, unlikely.
So which is it:
1) you didn't "dismantle and re-assemble all of it", OR
2) You don't know the difference between a threaded headset and the type the bike's got (image added as an edit last night).
or both. People on here will try to help - see my immediate analysis that the headset was not tight enough, and other people's comments. I hope you make clear and do not disguise, to whoever you allow to ride the bike, the extent of your competence.

 

[CycleSafeUK]

So which is it:
1) you didn't "dismantle and re-assemble all of it", OR
........ I hope you make clear and do not disguise, to whoever you allow to ride the bike, the extent of your competence.

1

And I wouldn't allow the bike to be ridden until it's fully repaired especially since the handlebar and headset is a vital component which must be fully safe before being used. I've sent the owner of the bike to a mechanic who has the right knowledge and tools to undergo repairing it.

 

[I like Skol]

What other 'repairs' did you do to this bike as you worked your way toward the front?

 

[CycleSafeUK]

What other 'repairs' did you do to this bike as you worked your way toward the front?

Rear brake, brake shoe wasn't aligned against the rim. The plastic around the tension screw turned out to have been snapped anyway, so new part on it's way.

Then the seat, quick release wasn't screwed in properly and the seat was stuck down completely. Sorted in the end.

Why did you need to quote repairs?

 

[Ajax Bay]

Why did you need to quote repairs?

Because you said you'd been 'repairing' the bike:

just been repairing a bike and as i'm working my way towards the front,

Which for me/us implies more than normal maintenance.

plastic around the tension screw turned out to have been snapped

Can't envisage what a 'tension screw' is in a brake context.

 

[DRM]

Are you charging people for these repairs, and if so are you insured?, because reading some of your posts it seems to me that people are bringing you bikes to repair in good faith, and you come on here asking how to effect that repair, I'm not being funny just very curious as I think you could be building up to a big fall if you can't strip, clean, grease and correctly reassemble an aheadset so that it's not loose when braking, if there is an accident it's you that will end up in court explaining all this in front of a judge if one of your customers comes a cropper.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Easy, Tiger!