My son recently got a really nice specialized bike used. It came with presta tubes on it, and a few extras. Last night he called me in the middle of the night to come pick him up because he had a flat and he could not get the pumps on campus to work with his tubes.

He said he could have probably ridden home on the low tire, but he was trying to fill it up but instead the pump kept releasing more and more air.

I personally see no benefit to presta valves, but there has to be some... right?

Just replaced the front brake of my bike, its terrible. It can barely even stop the wheel against me pedaling. The back brake is still using the original pad and doing a significantly better job.

All I did was remove the old one and put the new one in. Adjust the brake position slightly to avoid rubbing when the wheel spins.

Does it take time for a new brake pad to wear in at all? Is there something else worth trying? Its terrible currently.

I installed a new (threaded) headset on my old bike: a cheapo https://www.necoparts.com/en/product/H841CW.html. The thing is impossible to adjust – I can get it to a point when it still knocks, but also rubs quite a bit. The rubbing looks concentrated in a single spot though – worst with the bars turned about 90 degrees to the right.

I've popped both cups out and pressed them back in, inspecting everything on the way, to the exact same result.

Feels like the only remaining thing is the crown race being on crooked, but I don't have means at home to take it off and reinstall it. Is there anything worth checking still before I take it to a shop?

Sorry for this beginner question, but I got a Rockhopper MTB, it's a hardtail. I also got a chunky bike lock, one of the foldable higher tier ones.

The problem is, with the mounting mechanism the lock comes with, it can't be mounted on the seat tube because there won't be enough vertical space to easily take it out.

I've seen two solutions to this:

1. There are alternate mounting mechanisms where the lock can be taken out toward the front. However, I keep finding comments about those that during a rougher ride, the lock may just fall out on its own.

2. And some people mount the lock on the front tube. At first, I thought that would be a great solution.

   However, I can't find much info about what the bike manufacturers say about this, since the top tube doesn't seem naturally designed to carry extra weight, especially in lighter bikes like MTBs or racing bikes.

Does anybody know if having a lock up there, fixed in position via velcro and without drilling any holes, can cause strucural issues for the bike frame? Or would it likely worsen accident outcomes significantly? Especially when driving on rougher terrain where the bike may get tossed around a little.

As far as I know the frame is aluminium, not carbon. But it's not steel either, of course.

Update 2026-07-06: I realized sidecage bottle mounts are a thing, I will try to get one of those now and see if perhaps I can fit the bottle on the seat tube after all. If that works, then I could have the lock sitting on the bottom tube after all!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/71252573

Frannie is a 2019 Salsa Vaya.

Steel frame with a Shimano 105 drivetrain. We roll tubeless. She typically hauls between 20 and 40 pounds of gear depending on the season. I used to ride carbon, but once I hit my 40s every ride started to hurt a little more, so I moved to steel. Unloaded, the frame weighs about 19 lbs, but it handles smooth as silk.

I would spend 8 hours a day on this thing if I didn't have a job.

Dat azzzz

So I got some strange shifting issues with my 105 road shifters (ST-R7020) combined with GRX derailleur (RD-RX812). The cassette is deore CS-M5100-11

Now in theory, and according to Shimano's compatibility chart this should be compatible configuration, despite a little mix-and-match

https://productinfo.shimano.com/en/compatibility/C-454

Now the problems I have screams still for compatibility issues with slightly wrong pull ratios

Going from smallest cog to largest, the first 4 cogs are shifting perfectly. Then the next couple clicks want to over shift and skip cogs, and the largest 3 are shifting perfectly again. In total it takes 9 clicks to go through the 11sp cassette. What fucks my mind over, is the top and bottom cogs that shift perfectly, if the pull ratio was wrong, these would have equal problems?

My 2023 Cannondale Topstone gravel bike has started squeaking in the last week. It sound like a bird chirping and only makes the sound when I pedal.

I used Rock'n'Roll gold to clean the chain and then I applied lube on the chain and Tri-Flow on the jockey wheels on the rear.

Still happens, though now it's intermittent. Shifting is fine in any case.

What else should I check / lube?

Thanks!

I've been biking my whole life, but I've never had a bike that shifted properly. Like I've literally bought a bike, and right from the shop, the shifter's clicks don't line up with the gears properly. And then it's a game of going up two clicks and then back down one to get the chain lined up properly.

So how do I get it just right? The bike I have has Shimano twist shifters all the clicks numbered, but the numbers don't line up with the actual gears.

The closest I've gotten it is where it works perfectly when the bike is on the lift, but as soon as there's weight on it, it goes out of sync again.

I am trying to get back on my bike after about 6 or so years of neglect in my shed. It’s a Schwinn GTX1. I Am decent with working on things, but I know nothing about tools specific for bikes or things that are recommended to keep with you on longer rides. I have some new tires and tubes to put on due to dry rot on the existing tires. I realized I don’t have any idea how to put a bike tire/tube on either. What is the right process? What tools should be kept in a kit with the bike? What parts? (A tube or patches, etc?) What maintenance should I look into? I also have some degreaser to clean the chain and Muk-off chain lube to go on it. The brakes seem ok and most rubber appears to be in good condition, except the tires. Sorry, I know it’s a lot, but I am wanting to get back onto this bike for weight and health reasons.

With most modern 1X cassettes being as large as a dinner plate, you can use another chainring or sprocket to jam a chain when you need to take off a cassette locker

When my girlfriend suggested we take the tubes off an old 27" bike to fix the flats on my 29", I thought she was being crazy and overly cheap. No way it would work. Surely I'd have to go out and buy some 29" tubes.

But fuck me sideways, it did work, and I'm currently riding just fine with 27" tubes in my 29" tires. Wasn't even that hard to get them on.

So I guess that's just a PSA for everybody ... apparently, tube sizes aren't really rules, they're more like guidelines.

I wrecked my RydeANDRA40, probably by using too much pressure on cobblestone and pothole ridden roads.

While not strictly a bike, it is bike adjacent. I am trying to convert an old schwinn kids bike trailer into a dog trailer.

I am hoping to be able to grease the wheels. It looks like there is a ring I need to remove.

Not sure if this is common knowledge or not, but it took me far too long to figure out. So posting in case it helps others.

Old trek dual sport with 8 speed Shimano Acera would skip one gear near the middle of the range, and be very noisy on those cogs.

I assumed I had a bent hanger… nope. Tried numerous other things to figure out what I had done to cause this.

Turned out to be the shift cable was attached on the wrong side of the cable clamp post, causing too sharp an angle for the cable and ever so slightly changing the pull ratio.

The only way I figured it out was that I remembered some obscure web page that talked about doing this on purpose as a hack to get incompatible shifter and derailleur to work together.

HTH someone.

I want to switch to wax. For preparation, I am cleaning my cassette, the gears in the bicycle derailleur (and the derailleur frame), and the bicycle chainring (I don't need to clean the chain because I am getting a new one).
For the job, I got white spirit, isopropyl alcohol, and a brush, and I cleaned them as well as I could, but, for example, on the cassette there are still some black dots left and, when touching them, they are still a little greasy. How clean do the components need to be, and how can I get rid of the leftover grease?

I've got a MTB project and one of the first step I want to take is removing the old frame paint and apply new paint. What's the best way to remove the old paint? Can aircraft paint remover be used? Thanks in advance.

I needed a narrow-wide chainring for a build. After looking around it seems like the prices of chainrings have skyrocketed over the last few years. I've heard of Deckas before but never used one. Got one from Ali, shipped for CAD $26, USD $18.5. I'm pretty impressed by how well made it is. It's a little chunkier than what I'd expect from Wolf Tooth and the likes. Nevertheless incredible value for a functional build that doesn't need the lightest possible components.

I'm planning a future eMTB project and I'm trying to get the tools that I need. What repair stand would guys recommend?

Ideally without hazardous chemicals.

Does dish soap and hot water work?