- Back again with another episode of the GCN tech clinic
where I hope to try and solve your
bike related problems and queries and questions
that you submit down there in the comments section below
or on all forms of social media
using the hashtag askgcntech.
Next up is Dennis Wenzel, now Dennis says
hi, I plan to treat myself with a titanium cyclocross bike,
that's a nice treat, but there's just one problem with it.
The cables are routed externally.
Do you think it's possible to drill holes
in the frame at the right positions
and grind the external mounts off
to convert the bike to the much neater
look of internally routed cables?
Thank you for all the good advice.
Right Dennis, well, you could drill holes,
I wouldn't recommend it though, really.
I've got friends who've done it in the past
and fingers crossed, touch wood and all that,
they've not had any problems
but the thing is with doing that
is you could well be, well risking
or compromising the safety of any tubes.
Instead, why don't you run
full length outer cables on that bike
and take advantage really
of having externally mounted cables?
From my experience, full length outer cables
are either internally routed or externally routed give you
the best breaking and best gear shifting you could get.
Ultimately, don't buy a brand new bike
and start grinding or drilling holes on it,
it's just not the done thing.
Gautier Triffault is next.
I do hope that I've said that name correctly.
Right, Gautier says hello John and the team.
I have a SRAM Red eTap groupset
on my Ceepo bike and I really love it.
Next summer I plan to ride in the Alps, lucky,
and therefore I'd like to install
a larger cassette at the back, 11-30.
Do I need to replace the entire rear derailleur
with the WiFLi medium cage one
or do you have a less expensive solution in your bag?
Gautier, yes, I have a less expensive solution in my bag.
In fact, in my shopping bag on eBay
when I converted a bike to a 1x set up
what I decided to use there on the rear end
was a derailleur hanger extender.
Bolts onto your existing rear derailleur hanger
then it drops your rear derailleur by about two centimeters
meaning you can use a bigger range cassette.
Exactly how many teeth, it depends
on what rear derailleur you've got
fitted there in the first place
but I fitted it with a Campagnolo rear derailleur
that was a short caged one and I've managed to fit in
an 11-36 cassette on there with ease,
so you'll be good to fit an 11-30
on your bike, I'm pretty sure.
And it costs about two pounds or three pounds from eBay
so it's a very, very cheap upgrade
or certainly, sort of a get you there solution to use.
Next up is DrBreezeAir.
Right now the doctor has got bit of a problem here.
They've got a 2015 specialized Crux with quick releases
and recently bought DT Swiss C1800 wheelset
and a Shimano 105 groupset.
Now DrBreeze says they can't, for the love of God,
figure out which quick releases to get for them.
They say it should be nine by one hundred for the front
and 10 by 135 but I can't find such quick releases
even on their own website.
Right DrBreeze this one is a breeze my friend
because, basically, pop into your local shop and tell them
I want a pair of quick releases for my road bike
and they will point you to a selection on the shelf
or behind the counter and that's what you need.
It's just a bog standard quick release skewer.
James Williamson, got a question.
James says I've seen people say it's bad
to stand your bike upside down whilst doing maintenance.
No one specifically says why though.
Can you give any insight into this thinking?
Thanks.
James, I'm one of those people
and my reason being is when you turn
a bike upside down nothing is logical
because you don't ride a bike upside down
so every little thing which you're trying to do
is a little bit more complicated
including just the simple things
like putting a wheel into the dropout.
With the chain runs going in totally different directions
and looking really, really different
it doesn't make it so straightforward.
As well as the fact that you're gonna risk scuffing up
your white saddle, your white bar tape
and your beautiful brake hoods there too.
I just don't like seeing people do it.
You don't ride a bike upside down
so don't fix one upside down.
That's the easiest answer I can give you on that one.
Right we've got another doctor now.
This one is DrDan @drdanfish,
not sure if it's a veterinary doctor, I don't know.
Either way, hi tech gurus.
I've got a Stages Cannondale SISL2 crank power meter.
Can I transfer it to an FSA crankset?
DrDan, no I'm afraid, those Stages power units
are installed at the factory using special methods
and also resins and everything
to actually bond them onto the crank
and they're non-transferrable I'm afraid,
so if you do want to put a new power meter
onto your FSA crankset you are gonna have to
go to Stages and buy a specifically made product.
Right, the final one comes in from Maletic Research
who says my main road bike, even back in the year 2000
when created, was intentionally old school.
Serves them well, it uses a seven speed freewheel
12-28 on a Phil Wood hub, very nice.
At the time when Maletic Research got it,
they got a spare one as well that is now in use
and they can't find new ones.
What is a good source for such antiquey parts in the USA?
Right, Maletic, we all get to this stage
when we're into our old bikes
and I tend to hoard things away and stock buy
and like, you know, just put them away
for that rainy day, when eventually
the part you're using wears out, you need to replace it.
However, you've done that, which is good
but now we need to find you a solution.
The best thing I can recommend to you actually
is just to search on eBay, so search NOS,
new old stock in the cycling category
and you'll come up with all sorts of different things
and also search without NOS too.
There will be loads of people out there watching now,
I reckon mrgrumpy53 who always comments on the videos,
mrgrumpy will probably have somewhere in the USA
to recommend you having a look around too.
If I was in the UK, I would go to a website
called Campyoldy, based in Dorset in the UK.
Nigel, who runs the website, pretty sure
he's gradually selling off all of his stock
but he may have something kicking around
so it's worth having a look on there.
But, yeah if anyone can help out Maletic Research
do so in the comments below
because we need to keep these old beauties,
I was about to say relics,
we need to keep these old beauties going
for longer and longer don't we?
Right, well I hope I've been able to help
answer and solve your bike related problem, this week.
If not remember to leave it down there
in the comments section and also
all forms of social media using the hashtag askgcntech.
Now, remember as well like and share this video
with your mates, give it a big thumbs up,
don't forget to check out
the GCN shop @shop.globalcyclingnetwork.com
and now for another great video.
How about my old bike that I made modernish kind of thing?
Click just down here.