(sharp, dramatic music)
- Right, welcome back to another episode
of the GCN Tech clinic,
where I try and solve your bike-related problems.
So if you've got one, leave it for me
down there in the comment section below.
Or alternatively, on all forms of social media
using the hashtag, #AskGCNTech.
Right, let's crack on with the first question this week.
It comes in from Javier who says, "Hi Jon!
"I have an old SunTour Vx rear derailleur
"that I'd like to refurbish for a vintage build
"but the jockey wheels are shot
"and I can't find them anywhere.
"What jockey wheels would be a good
"replacement or upgrade for it?
"Cheers, from Guatemala!"
Blimey, I think that's the first question
we've ever had in from Guatemala.
Right, Javier, very good question,
and there's a few variants around that Vx rear derailleur.
Now, they're quite old,
but what I'd try and go for, probably,
is some of the Shimano jockey wheels,
so the entry level ones that come with
little metal covers over a bushing that goes in there,
rather than a bearing, because they tend to have
just a little bit more movement on them,
so it's gonna help slightly with that
older style rear derailleur, there.
Alternatively, maybe have a look around from Tacx
because Tacx, the Dutch company,
actually make some pulley wheels
that come with different shims on them,
which fit a variety of different rear derailleurs,
so have a look for that.
I think, from memory, the Vx rear derailleurs,
this is a really cloudy part of my mind,
they came with 10 teeth on the jockey wheels,
so make sure you get them with 10 teeth,
'cause obviously you do need the chain
to be able to go round the side of the cage,
so that's gonna be your first port of call, really,
and, well, good luck with it,
I do like a bit of a retro build.
Right, next up we got a question from Alex Juarez,
who says, "Are there any good aluminum aero
"but affordable track bike frames that I could find.
"Most of the vendors that I've found
"are a little suspicious.
"Also what would I need for a full, first time build?"
Right, Alex, there sure are some really great
aluminum aero track frames out there.
The first one is the TC1, from Terry Dolan,
very good mate of mine, so certainly
check out his website for those frames;
I actually got one of the first generations of those,
still going, nice and strong, so you've got it on my word.
As for what else you're gonna need,
well, you're gonna need a bottom bracket,
a chain set, wheels, valve, stem,
seat post, saddle, everything.
So go on the website and have a look,
normally, I'm pretty sure on Terry's website
you can actually spec out the bike as you go,
choosing all the different components.
That's just the first one that springs to mind,
so, go ahead from there.
Okay, next up is Gabriel Sarrazin-Mackay
who says, "Hey Jon, great show again and again."
Thank you, check's in the post.
"I'm riding a 15 year old BH Arcalis, Ultegra groupset.
"Everything is slowly but surely falling apart.
"I'm getting back on the bike this year."
Good stuff, "and look forward to riding quite a lot.
"Your episode on cheap bike to super bike got me thinking:
"My budget being limited, should I save money,
"and purchase a new bike, or invest in
"a new Shimano 105 groupset or the SRAM equivalent?"
Right, great question this.
I guess, if you're happy with the frame, the BH Arcalis
and it's all okay, and it's perfectly fine,
no dodgy welds, nothing like that, dropouts,
then yeah, why not keep it if you're happy with it?
And you're gonna feel the difference
from going from that old Ultegra groupset,
I think you said you've got, onto that new 105,
I'd be tempted to go with that,
after all, it's 15 years old,
that old Trek that I transformed,
that was almost 20 years old, and that,
well, that had a really new lease of life on it.
Mr Opie and Richardson, they absolutely loved cycling it
so let us know what you do,
and why not submit before and after photos
to the Screw Riding Upgrades Buy Upgrades
section of the tech show,
if that's your option you decide to go for.
Right, next up is DrBreezeAir, who says,
"Hi Jon, thanks for all the help.
"Is there any way to mount flat mount calipers
"on post mount frames and forks?"
Oof, DrBreeze, to my knowledge: no, there isn't.
If anyone out there does know a way to do that,
let me know down there in the comment section,
also, show me a photo of it because I'm really keen
to see exactly how that would look and work.
But yeah, I'm stumped on that onê, I'm afraid, DrBreezeAir.
So, yeah, can't help you there, I'm afraid.
Next up is a question from Callum Hockey,
who says, "Hey Jon, I am in the process of building
"a Fixie/Singlespeed with a flip flop hub.
"I'm worried about the chain tension,
"would I be able to use a 16 tooth sprocket on one side,
"and an 18 tooth on the other,
"without playing around too much with the chain tension?"
"I.e. would a quick changeover be possible,
"and which side should I tension the chain to first?"
Right, Callum, great question there.
What I would do is, first of all,
do the tension of the chain with the 18 tooth sprocket
in position for your drivetrain,
and have the wheel probably about a centimeter
back from the end of the dropout.
So when I say the end, I mean the end
closest to the bottom bracket,
so not where you're going in,
rather, where it meets the end of the dropout,
so the furthest forward bit,
hopefully that's nice and clear.
Go back about a centimeter, put the chain on,
try and get it tensioned so that it's
the correct tension around about there,
that way, when you push the wheel forward slightly
you can take the chain off and you can then remove
the actual rear wheel, flip it around
and put the chain back onto the 16 tooth
and then it's gonna be further back in the dropout,
so closer to where you actually insert it into the rear end
but hopefully it will still be nice and tensioned there
without overhanging out the backend of the dropout.
Good luck with that one, it's something which
yeah, I've done loads and loads of times
on my own track bike so I know it does work.
Certainly between a 14 and a 16 tooth sprocket
with the same chain ring, that sort of thing,
so you'll be okay on that one too.
Right, next is Allan Dodds, now Allan says,
"Would you have a view on a simple phone
"that would be best for taking in my pocket out on the bike?
"Just want something small that will allow me
"to make calls, upload to Garmin,
"and maybe even use Livetrack?
"Loathe to carry my big expensive
"smartphone if it can be avoided.
"There's got to be a sweet spot
"for solo cyclists somewhere."
Right then, Allan Dodds, I used to actually do this myself.
I actually destroyed a few different mobile phones
believe it or not, through sweating.
It used to get all inside the internals and ruin them
'Til I started covering them in clingfilm
and tended to survive it a little bit longer.
But have a look around online,
and you can probably find a pretty good smartphone
that will do all those features for under 100 pounds,
dollars, euros, whatever your currency is.
Something nice and affordable there, I reckon,
for you to take out on the bike.
Bear in mind though, make sure that the sim tray
that you put the sim card in is nice and easily removable
so you can simply swap it from your original phone
into the smart, into this second smartphone,
meaning that you're more likely to do it
because I've done exactly what you suggest there,
you know, I wanna keep my posh smartphone for best
but I ended up taking it out with me,
'cause it was such a hassle to get the sim card in and out
so something to bear in mind there.
Also, the good news is, most of those cheaper smartphones
tend to be a little bit smaller too,
and likely more robust, which is good news, quite frankly.
Right, Tokyo Cyclist is next.
Tokyo Cyclist, regular commenter,
so let's see what they've got to ask this week.
"Hi Jon, I'm slightly embarrassed asking this question
"that may have a simple answer."
Right, first up, no question is simple, okay?
Everyone has to start somewhere,
so just putting that out there,
so any question is a question in my eyes.
"I have a portable air pump that requires
"screwing on to the top of the presta valve
"in order to put air inside it.
"Every time I finish pumping air,
"however, the inner rod inside the valve comes off
"when I unscrew the pump from the valve
"and air just gushes out!
"I use pliers to tighten the rod inside the valve
"but I'm worried I'm damaging it by doing so.
"Is this a common problem, what am I doing wrong?"
Right, okay, those pumps screw
on to the actual valve itself.
When you put your air in, you start
to create this really tight vacuum
between the adaptor of the pump
and the inner tube, or the valve,
whatever it is you're putting the air into.
Therefore, unless that valve core's, at the central bit,
is done up really tight, they do in fact
tend to actually unscrew the valve core
when you unscrew the pump from it.
It's incredibly frustrating, especially if
you've just pumped up the tire and yeah,
you know, you're running short of time or something.
So, some pumps have a tiny little pressure release valve,
really close to where it screws on
so that just releases that pressure
that's built up so you can unscrew it.
But even then sometimes, they undo those valve cores.
So what you've been doing there,
with a pair of pliers on the valve is absolutely great,
make sure you don't bend that little fragile bit,
instead go for, they tend to have a couple of flat sections,
you can even use a multi-purpose spoke key sometimes
just to do them up nice and tight.
But pay attention, when you're doing them up
hold onto that valve itself
so the valve stem, nice and tight,
so it's not twisting on the inner tube inside of there
or a tube, or the tire or anything like that
because if you start to twist it,
essentially you could work that loose
and then, well, you're gonna render everything useless.
So hold it nice and tight with your fingers,
or another pair of pliers, so one pair of pliers
for holding the valve stem, and then one,
or valve stem, sorry, and then the other one,
doing up that valve core inside of it,
and you should be okay.
Hopefully, that's gonna solve the problem
because, trust me, there is nothing
more frustrating than that, in fact,
some of the guys I used to race with,
they used to ask to borrow my track pump before a race.
I'd quite often lend it to them
because then they'd pump up their tire, undo it
and then be left with a flat tire
minutes before the start of a race.
Of course, I would always put the valve core back in
because that's what Johnny Tech does.
And the penultimate question this week
comes in from Nicholas Smith,
who says, "Hi Jon, love the shows."
Very kind of you Nicholas, "keep up the hard work.
"Do you have any tips on making sure
"the wheels are straight in the forks
"when putting a wheel back inside of it?
"I take my bike to work so that I can ride in my lunch hour
"and have to take the front wheel off
"so I can put the bike in the boot.
"When putting the wheel back on,
"it takes me ages to get the wheel properly aligned
"without it rubbing on the brakes, any tips?"
Right, Nicholas, I'm gonna assume here
that you've got rim brakes and not disc brakes
because disc brakes tend to be pretty good with alignment
unless, of course, you go ahead
and pull one of the brake levers
and the pad's actually coming a little bit from the pistons.
Right, all that out the way then.
So, you've got your bike, take it out the car,
you're gonna go out for your lunchtime ride.
First up, let's make sure that brake caliper
is nice and tightly fitted into your forks.
So normally you have a little serrated washer
that goes in between the brake caliper
and the front of the fork,
and that actually digs slightly into the material
so whether or not you've got carbon or alloy or whatever,
it's just gonna prevent that brake from rocking
once it's done up nice and snuggly.
If it's not done up nice and snuggly,
it is gonna be able to move and everything like that.
Second bit of advice I can give you is don't try
and put the wheel in when the bike's upside down.
Reason being, it's not gonna find its way
into the dropout quite as perfectly
as if it's around the correct way,
so if you've got the wheel down, you put the forks on.
The forks, due to gravity, are gonna find
the perfect place to sit in the correct
place on those dropouts there too.
If you ask virtually any pro mechanic out there,
they will tend to put rim brake wheels in
with the bike on the ground for that wheel exactly,
because they can get them exactly
into the dropouts perfectly.
Enjoy those lunchtime one hour rides,
and hopefully it's solved your problem.
And the final question this week comes in from
Alan Coom, who says, "Can you use
"SRAM RED eTAP with a Shimano 105 crank set?
"I've got the opportunity to get eTAP
"but can't get the crank too."
Well, yes, Alan, been there, done that,
got the t-shirt, well, got the chain set.
And it worked absolutely fine.
Now, admittedly, it's not gonna give you
the most perfect, crisp gear change ever
because there are some very slight
differences in tolerances between
the two chain rings of the different brands.
But it will work, as it will do
across all 11 speed platforms there too.
Right, I do hope that this week, I've been able to help
answer and solve your bike-related problems.
Like I said at the start, if you've got one
leave it for me down there in the comment section below.
I love hearing all of your questions.
Don't be afraid to leave them there.
Also on all forms of social media,
using the hashtag #AskGCNTech,
and also remember to check out the GCN shop
https://shop.globalcyclingnetwork.com
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