- Welcome back to another episode
of the GCN Tech Clinic, where I try
and answer and solve your tech related problems.
So if you've got one, make sure you leave it
for me down there in the comments section below,
or alternatively on all forms of social media,
using the #AskGCNTech.
Now with no further ado, let's crack on.
The first one this week,
it comes in from Daniel Gunnarsson, who says,
"I want to have a little custom work done on my helmet.
"I have a matte black Specialized Prevail.
"What sort of paint is it safe
"for me to have my airbrush guy use?
"Thanks."
Right Daniel, just going to put on my health
and safety hat here.
Basically I wouldn't advise doing it.
The reason being, most helmets,
so when it's actually the helmet's being painted,
it's generally the plastic shell,
which is then put onto the actual EPS foam.
Now those plastic shells are either screen printed
or digi-printed at the factory,
and use really safe inks to do so.
The reason I wouldn't advise doing it
is because if you get any overspray,
quite often that spray paint actually contains solvents,
and that go onto the EPS foam and attack it,
eat away at it.
I have seen someone once upon a time
add some superglue or something like that
onto an EPS foam, and basically just melted it away,
and I don't know exactly what solvents contained
all within different types of paint.
I do know though that people out there
do in fact customize helmets,
but I just simply wouldn't advise doing it,
for that very reason of rendering a helmet useless.
So, really, err on the safe side of caution,
and don't stick anything on your helmet,
don't paint it, don't do anything like that,
because if you do so,
a helmet manufacturer will just, well,
void your warranty, I'm afraid.
Now next up we've got a question from Dennis.
Now Dennis asks, "For my indoor trainer,
"I need a specific Tacx skewer.
"Can I use that same Tacx skewer out on the road,
"so I don't have to keep swapping them?"
Yes Dennis, you can.
Now those skewers that are used inside of a turbo trainer
are generally a little bit bigger,
a little bit heavier, and can withstand that clamping force
from a turbo trainer, or a home trainer.
Now the reason a lot of people might swap them over
is because it doesn't match up with the front one,
or maybe because it's slightly bigger,
and maybe heavier too,
but it does the job absolutely fine
whilst out on the road,
and if anything, it is going to give you
an even better amount of clamping force,
because they do tend to just lock up
just that little bit firmer.
Now we've got a question from Robin,
and Robin says, "What cleaning products
"do pro teams use to keep their riders' kits clean,
"and to prevent a funky smell from settling in?"
Right Robin, great question.
They use the same washing powder or products,
just like you or I do.
So something which works at very low temperature,
and removes stud and stains,
although I guess they do put them
onto a hotter wash when they've really been riding
through the wet weather.
But generally, they're going to use
just an off the shelf product.
There are sport specific products out there too,
but one thing they don't generally do
is use any fabric softener, or conditioner,
anything like that, because that tends
to clog up the pores of the fabric, if you like,
so it doesn't let you breathe,
or wick away the sweat quite as effectively.
Something else to really consider
is to actually wash your kit after every single ride.
That way bacteria's not going to harvest,
and if possible, even wash it by hand.
That way that none of the delicate fabrics,
or synthetic pads inside of the shorts
are going to get damaged inside of a washing machine,
when it gets spun round and round.
A little fact here as well,
when I looked inside of the Team,
well, what was Team Sky's vehicle last year
at the Giro d'Italia,
each rider had their own washing machine,
so that no bacteria was spread
from one rider to another,
via the inserts of their shorts.
Next up is Matt Fletcher.
Now Matt says, "Hi Jon, I got caught
"in a monsoon during a ride last week,
"and once back, after wringing out my kit
"and tipping the water out of my shoes,
"I got distracted and forgot to wipe down,
"and liberally spray my drivetrain with WD-40.
"As a result, my chain ended up with lots of rust spots
"and a bit stiff in some of the links.
"Any tips on how to regenerate a neglected chain?"
Right Matt, I would get myself a pad,
something like Scotch Brite, or a scouring pad,
something like that.
Hold it around the chain, and just run it through.
Generally that's going to be enough,
just to actually dislodge any of those bits of rust.
Now you say about the stiff links in there as well.
Just try and actually bend that bit of chain around.
Apply some chain lube on there, probably quite a bit,
and then remove it,
and then apply, or you probably won't have to,
but possibly apply a little bit more
if you've removed too much.
That should do the job.
Something else you could also try
would be a wire brush too,
just to give that chain a bit of a brush-down really,
and try and remove those rust spots.
But, the first time you go out,
after probably two or three kilometers,
all those rust spots will have just disappeared anyway.
Next up we've got Juan Pablo.
Now Juan Pablo says, "I have a question.
"How to clean the brake surface of aluminum rims?
"It becomes black and ugly with the braking."
Right Juan, trick here is to use lots of elbow grease.
But not just that.
You're also going to need to use a decent cleaner too,
so you can get disc brake cleaner.
That might do the job, even on a rim brake surface.
But really, you want some hot, soapy water.
The hotter, generally the better it tends
to wear away that brake residue
from the rims a little bit easier.
But yeah, really you want to make sure you scrub nice
and hard on there too.
I do know people who've used
the aforementioned Scotch Brite, or scouring pads,
things like that, to try and wear away
that ingrained brake dust.
The problem with that is that it can wear away
any anodizing on the rims too,
and also damage the sidewalls of a tire,
so really, it does require a little bit
of extra effort, but it's certainly worth it
in the long run, just to use a standard sponge.
But, something else you could try too
is a old toothbrush, of all things,
because that can really get
in any nooks and crannies effectively.
Next up is Syncmaster667.
Hey Jon, keep up the great work.
I'm on the edge of buying myself a set
of Prime Black Edition 85 rim brake wheels,
but I'm worried about the lifespan
of the braking track.
What is the usual lifespan for carbon wheels?
Right, as long as you use the correct brake pads,
you're going to get good life out of them.
I've had a pair of carbon wheels,
probably now going on 15 years or more,
and the brake track on them is absolutely fine.
The only thing I've had to do
is change the odd spoke or two when they've broken,
and also the bearings inside.
Something though just to really consider here
is that by using carbon wheels in really bad weather,
really wet weather,
you are going to risk wearing out the brake track,
just like you would on an aluminum rim there too.
But generally, they are going to last a pretty long time.
Ian Fuchs is next, and Ian says,
"I recently noticed that my rear wheel
"on my road bike seems to be much closer
"to the non-drive side of the chain stay
"than the drive side.
"Nothing else seems out of alignment.
"The tire appears to be centered in the caliper,
"and there's plenty of space at the seat stays.
"What is going on, and how to I get it straightened out?
"Thanks."
This sounds odd.
This sounds like the wheel is not dished correctly.
So, the dish of the wheel is essentially,
if you have the overlock nuts of the rear axle,
for instance, in your case,
where it actually butts up against the frame
when you tighten it.
They need to be an equal distance from the rim,
so from the sidewalls of the rims.
So it takes a special measuring tool,
called a dishing stick, or a dishing tool,
to actually measure that effectively,
and basically if you tighten up the spokes on one side,
so every alternate spoke in most cases,
that will bring the rim further over to that side.
Sounds like that to me,
but it's odd that it's still centered
at the, underneath the brake caliper,
and also at the seat stays.
So, possibly it's not that, really.
So, one thing it could be,
and the easiest thing to check
is make sure that wheel is in the dropout correctly.
So have a good look.
Never put your wheels in a bike upside down for a start,
because that way the gravity doesn't tend
to find the wheel,
doesn't tend to help the wheel into that dropout
as effectively, as opposed to if you've got
the bike up the correct way,
the weight of the bike is a lot more
than the weight of the wheel, let's face it,
and then it can find its way on.
If in doubt, with the wheel,
or the axle inside of that rear dropout,
just give it a good push down really, on the saddle,
so the wheel does find its natural place,
and then tighten it up.
The number of peoples' bikes I look at,
when I pull the back brake,
something I always do, and I see they're lopsided,
I always undo the skewer,
just let that wheel drop into place,
and re-tighten the skewer, and everything's fine.
So have a check of that first.
If not, go into your local bike shop,
and get them to check the dishing of that rear wheel.
Now we've got one from Zeno Kaufmann,
who says, "From a mountainbiker,
"why do road bicycles still have two gears in the front?"
Right, so by this he's meaning
a standard double chainset.
Two reasons, gear options and tradition.
Now firstly, road cyclists are hugely traditionist,
and it takes a long time for us
to actually embrace new technology, let's say,
whereas mountain bikers, the sport isn't as old,
and they seem more willing, really,
to adopt new things.
Now I've said about gear options,
I'm going to go back to that.
So the reason being, road cyclists,
obviously we ride on the road a lot more,
and we like to be more in control,
I guess, of our cadence, because we're not having things
like tree roots, and stones, and stuff like that
that can really throw us out the way with it.
There's a more consistent approach I guess,
with our feel when it comes to riding a bike,
and therefore we get probably slightly more fussy,
I guess, with our cadence, and our gear selection.
We want it to be absolutely just right.
So that's probably the main reason behind that.
And really, you do tend to be able to get that
with a two-by chainset,
because you just don't have those big jumps
that you would have with a wide range cassette.
So if you've got a one-by setup,
obviously you just have 10, or 11,
or 12 speed at the rear,
but you're always going to have a bigger jump
somewhere in that combination.
And the next one comes in from chaostwinduction,
who says, "Why is there still a clicking sound
"every time I do one pedal stroke when I cycle,
"despite changing my bottom bracket,
"and re-greasing my crank and pedals?"
Right, it could well be that one
of your chainring bolts needs tightening up,
or maybe one of the cranks too.
Also, did you grease the spline of the crank,
when you refitted it?
That maybe could be giving you a slight creaking sound.
Something else to consider here is your seat clamp,
and also your rear skewer on there too,
because sometimes you think it's coming
from your pedal for instance,
but it may be coming from somewhere else.
A way of identifying this is to pedal single legged,
so just with one leg while riding along.
May look a little bit odd but just bear with me,
because that can often identify
which side it's coming from,
and also make sure you ride out of the saddle too,
to see if it's coming from that seat post or not.
And a final question this week comes in
from Paul, who says they have a torque wrench
with a 1/4 inch drive for small jobs on the bike,
up to 24 Newton meters, but Paul's question is,
can he buy an off the shelf 30 Newton meter
to 200 Newton meter 1/2 inch drive,
for instance, as the larger,
bike specific torque wrenches are very expensive.
I know 200 Newton meters will never be required.
Yeah, you can Paul.
I've done exactly that.
So I've got a, I think it's a 20 to 150 Newton meter,
I think it's 1/2 inch drive actually,
just like you say, torque wrench,
and I got that for that exact reason.
I don't tend to use it very often.
The only thing really we use it for on many bikes
are threaded bottom bracket fitment,
or maybe your pedals, if you're using that
with a little crows foot adapter or something like that,
but most torque settings on a bike
are a lot less than sort of 30,
what you're saying on there.
But yeah, it could well be a good purchase.
I use mine for other things,
so working on my own car, and others' cars as well.
It's nice and handy that.
Now, this is one for you all actually out there.
Mr. Grumpy 53, a regular commenter,
I'm sure you'll get involved in the comments section below.
Whenever I finish using a torque wrench,
I always unwind it, so it doesn't have any tension,
on the spring, or the ratchet inside of it.
Is that a thing to do or not?
I do it, just for peace of mind,
because I think it's not going to wear away,
or change the calibration or anything like that
on the torque wrench.
Well let me know what you do,
but yeah Paul, your question mate,
absolutely fine to do that.
Right, I hope that I've been able
to help answer and solve your question this week
in the Tech Clinic.
Let me know though if you've got a question,
down there in the comments section below.
I'm dying to get involved with them.
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