(heavy beats)
- [Jon] Back again here in the GCN Tech Clinic,
to answer the problems that you submit
down there in the comment section.
So remember if you got yourself a bike problem
make sure I know about it so I can try and tackle it
and get you riding as soon as possible again,
but let's crack on with the first question this week,
that comes in from Gavel Why, who says
Jon, I have an Argon 18 Gallium Pro road bike
with a carbon, setback seatpost.
Do you I know if its possible
to rotate the seatpost 180 degrees,
so that the setback is forwards instead of backwards,
so that with the addition of clip on aero bars
it could effectively make a TT or Triathalon bike?
Or would it put too much force in places
it isn't supposed to be?
Alright then Gavel, without knowing the exact seat post
you've got fitted in there, I can't actually comment
on the strength of it and the suitability of it,
especially when creeping further forward
over the bottom bracket.
However, good news for you my friend is that
is in fact a solution out there for you.
So a company called Profile Design,
who are one of the first companies who are actually
making after-market products for triathletes
and time trial riders when it became super popular
around the late 80's and early 90s,
they actually make a fast-forward fast carbon seat post,
and that enables you to get nicely forward
over the bottom bracket.
I think it's got up to about 40 millimeters of adjustment,
which is certainly gonna do enough for you I reckon,
so go ahead, check that one out,
the Profile Design, fast-forward carbon seat post.
And our next question we've got, comes in from Asghar
who asks, Can they get
their 11 speed Ultegra di2 rear derailleur to work
with a 10 speed cassette, so can they reprogram it
with the e-tube software.
Good to hear from you my friend, right,
so the Di2 rear derailleur, absolutely wonderful
bit of kit, however, it is limited
to how many sprockets it can control and work
across just like a standard derailleur is
because the brain of it is in fact
inside of the rear derailleur so it's not
inside of the junction box or the levers
or anything like that,
so unfortunately you are stuck with it
to be working with an 11 speed cassette,
which to be honest with you kind of saddens me
in this day-in-age that
with the electronic circuit boards inside,
I'm sure--In fact, I'm positive that if Shimano
really wanted us to they'd allow us to actually
be able to change that around
but in doing so means they wouldn't sell
any 11 speed Di2 rear derailleurs if you're currently
using a 10 speed if you could just re-program it,
well and vice-versa as well, but yeah,
the answer to your question is 11 speed Di2
is 11 speed Di2, 10 speed Di2 is 10 speed Di2.
Next up is Felipe Renault, I love that surname Renault.
Right, Hi Jon, are tubular types actually viable
for day-to-day use or are they something just for the pros?
What happens in case of a puncture,
can they be patched on the roadside?
Only Felipe he spotted of a deep section light weight
tubular wheels for a bargain, but wondered if
the would suit the amateur rides.
Right, I absolutely love this, I love the fact that
you're looking at it for a bargain.
Now something to consider with tubular tires
is they are a bit more of a hassle to actually set up,
as in you have to glue the rim, as well as the tire,
multiple times really,
just to make sure that the adhesion
is really nice and secure,
and at the side of the road, well...
They're, I guess, less likely to puncture,
pinch punctures definitely, because you don't have
that inner tube inside of the rim
instead it remains inside of the tire
but what you've gotta consider here is
if you do puncture you are gonna have to actually
refit the whole tire on there,
so in that case you are actually gonna
have to take with you a spare tubular,
which isn't necessarily the most convenient thing to do,
also consider you could get a little canister,
which in fact if you get a blowout, or a slow puncture
for instance, you could in fact hold that on to the valve,
and that canister with the force of the air inside of it,
as well some sealant, goes inside and it
seals up the holes, but what if that wasn't to work?
Well you're left lumbered there aren't you.
I guess it's the same with an inner tube,
you know if you only have one canister with you
and it doesn't work during the same situation,
but I'd like to think for an everyday ride
a clincher tire is a lot more convenient
than a tubular tire, but yeah
a bargain's a bargain, it's a real tough one for that.
If anyone's got any ideas for Felipe let him know down there
personally I wouldn't go for it for everyday use.
Next up is Steven Priefer who says
he recently upgraded the 6800 mechanical shifting
to Di2 R8050 shifters and deraiileurs.
They left the old crank and cassette
to save himself some money.
They have a habit of shifting to the small chain ring
when slowing to a stop,
but now if the cadence is less than 60 revs per minute
the chain drops on to the bottom bracket,
and they're using the semi-synchro mode
if that makes any difference.
Right then, personally I can't think it's anything
to do with your cadence is actually affecting this.
Possibly you're going from the big chain ring
and the largest sprocket in the rear
and that angle where you're coming across
is too steep basically, and that when you
press in that shifter, it's kind of throwing
the chain over too far at one moment.
Something to consider also, just actually have a look
at the derailleur adjustment screws,
make sure they're set up nice and correctly.
That's the only things I can really think of there
that could be causing it.
It should be anything to do with chain line
or such because generally those things
are pretty much close enough
for most frames and chain sets out there.
Something though you could well buy is in fact
a chain catcher, so that clamps on
to the front derailleur mount and it goes down there
just inside of the inner chain ring
and actually prevents the chain
from over-shifting in most scenarios
and that should save your bottom bracket.
But yeah, I reckon it's probably your adjustment screws
or maybe just that angle that
you're initially changing gear in.
And our next one this week comes in
from Manas Deshpande who says
they've got themselves a Canyon
which they ride on well-paved roads;
Is a chain catcher necessary on the bike?
(lightly grunts)
Sticking with chain catchers then,
well personally I like to put a chain catcher
on all of my bikes other than of course
my track bikes, because just I like to have
that extra reassurance of the chain not falling
down on the inside of the chain set and then
getting jammed up in amongst
the bottom bracket and chain set.
I have been out riding with people in the past
and their chain has come all the way off
and it's actually got so badly jammed
down in between the chain set and the bottom bracket shell
we couldn't actually remove it, we couldn't
get it off and they could carry on riding,
instead, someone actually had to come along
and pick them up. That was in the days
of old square tape the bottom brackets
where you had some pretty special tool to remove them.
These days of course that happens.
In a lot of cases you could probably get it out
of course with Shimano chain sets
you do have that funny eight-sided tool
which does in fact remove the crank on the left-hand side.
But yeah, chain catchers, a little piece of mind,
go for one.
Next one is Kick Buttoski who says
Hi Jon, love the show, I have a problem
with my rear derailleur: when I shift
into the lowest cog at the back
using a normal cadence, it doesn't work,
but when my rpm is above 100, it works,
what the hell is it?
Right? (laughs) I hope it's not anything to do
with your cadence but it could well be
that when you're riding along that 100 rpm or so,
you're actually putting a little bit more pressure in
and in turn, it's actually just giving the rear derailleur
just that little bit of extra flex
to move into that sprocket,
however, that's not good is it, because we want
those gears to work during all different rpms,
so take a look at the rear derailleur adjustment screws
and importantly, do it with your rear wheel tightened up
as you would have it when you're riding along normally.
A lot of people when they work on bikes and work stands,
they don't do up the rear-wheel tight enough,
and then when they take it out of the stand
they do up the skewer a little bit more
and in turn it actually moves the rear derailleur over
because the hanger just tends to flex a little bit.
Also why don't you look at that hanger, make sure it's nice
and straight too, and not bent one way or the other,
because that could be playing havoc with your gears.
But anyways, take a look at those options
and hopefully you're gonna get smooth changing gears.
Yes sir, Jaime is next up:
Yes also can they use paint thinner
as de-greaser for their chain.
Right, I'm gonna get an absolute grief in the comments
for this one, now it's not exactly great for your health,
your skin or the environment necessarily
but it can in fact work wonders on your chain and cassette.
I'm gonna leave it just there because if you do use it,
you have to take extreme caution
because it's like I say, it's not good for you at all
and make sure you rinse it really well
and away from any water streams
or any environmental impacts anything like that
and we're gonna leave it on that one before
you lot really go to town on me.
Alright Bob Ajob is up next:
Bob ajob wants to know when you bring
your best bike out of winter storage
does it need a de-grease to get rid of dust, etc.
If it was put away cleaned and lubed.
Alright then Bob, personally I would
because quite often that lube can actually become
quite sticky and in turn actually accumulate
a lot of dust and grime from just around your house
especially if it's anything like mine,
mine gets little bit dusty because I don't like
to use the Hoover that much.
So give it a good clean, de-grease, and then relubricate
and everything like that. You did the right thing
to put it away at the start of winter lubricated
so it's not gonna go rusty or anything like that.
It's just a shame that well here we're just entering
winter and not exiting.
Right next one is from OhFookinELL.
(sighs) some of these usernames honestly...naughty.
Alright, Hi Jon, how do I go about removing
or loosening a stuck crank.
I've heard about people using a hammer
to bashing it off but I'm not so sure about going down
that route as my friend is carbon, Thanks!
Right then, is this an old square taper crank
are you talking about there that's stuck on,
because that's the only type really I could imagine
that'd be well stuck in place
because you'd have to round off either a really big bolt
if it was a Campagnolo or a SRAM one,
or alternatively two, if it was a Shimano,
so I'm not sure what you've got going there
anyway right let's talk about
how to get that crank off then.
First off, use something called Plus Gas,
which is a releasing spray, so you spray it on
and it kind of breaks the seal that you could have
between two components, and then you are
gonna essentially have to sacrifice that crank arm
because yeah...you are gonna have to be bashing it off,
so, you wanna have the friend help nice and securely,
not on a work stand though, really, you want someone
to be bracing it from the side, so nice and rigid,
but enough to kind of move because obviously you're
gonna be putting a lot of force when you're trying
to whack that crank off.
Like I say, you are probably gonna lose the crank
cause you're gonna be smashing it to bits,
although it won't snap in half, very unlikely.
So yeah essentially you're gonna just keep hitting it,
and hitting it, and hitting it, until it pops off.
It will take quite a long time.
I've had to do it a few times to peoples' bikes in the past,
where they've actually cross-threaded
the threads on the inside of the crank
where it attaches on to the axle of the
bottom bracket by using one of those old crank pullers,
I don't know what they did, they just mashed up the threads,
but yeah, you are gonna have to bash that,
but just get someone else to brace it, get them to do
the...kind of donkey work for you if you like,
and you get to flex your muscles and bang it off.
And the final question this week
comes in from Noah Yu who says
"Hi Jon great show, keep up the good work"
Thank you very much,
"I've recently spotted a crank on my carbon drop bar
so I replaced them immediately"
However, what can they do with them?
They're reluctant to throw them away,
can I think of any other uses,
the best idea so far are wall hooks
or maybe attach the handle bars of their lawnmower.
I'm actually stumped for this one...
Maybe make it into a little bit of wall art,
candle stick holder, I don't know,
in fact, let's put this one out to the viewers:
who can help Noah with a use for those broken carbon
fiber handlebars, let them know down there
in the comment section below,
and tell ya what Noah, send it in to us
on the TCN Tech Show
for the screw riding upgrades/buy upgrades,
or something like that anyway, we just want to see it really
what have you down with those old carbon fiber handlebars.
I do hope that this week
I've been able to answer your question,
and as ever, If you've got a problem
leave it for me down there in the comment section
and I will do my best to help answer it.
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