Incoming... small boys bike, Specialized enduro S-Works.

[weeksy]

Grrrr and arggghhh.

At Swinley today the instructor noticed some play he thought right at the axle pivot bearings.

Luckily I'd bought 2 for it a few weeks ago.

Unluckily I apparently need 4!!!!

I'm also missing a blind bearing puller for 6801s. So the chainstay was removed and it went in the vice for some tappy tappy action. There's a spacer between the bearings but that means all surfaces are basically flush. This makes any tapping/hitting even more complicated.

Bearings 1&2 exploded which meant I was left with the outer shell still in the chainstay. This took a good 20 mins to get them out.

It was getting a bit grumpy at this stage in the garage as he needs the bike for his training on Wednesday.

But they came out and the new bearings went in.

Not exactly effortlessly but 3-4 tries and they were in.

Happily the other side of the chainstay went smoothly, both getting then out and putting them back in. So that's all back together.

Phew.

We then moved onto the next minor issue that his chain/chainring is hanging a bit, it's going past the point where it should on the bottom. Tom (Reynolds) thinks it's the chainring. So just had to order a new one, not too expensive but I did go for Raceface which is a bit more, but can get it tomorrow from Wiggle.

It may need a cassette too but can worry about that next week.

Just need to do chainring tomorrow then and away we go.

[weeksy]

Test fitted a spare chainring which threw up it's own issues.

The current ring is an Uberbike which has integrated threads.



Sadly the irritating thing is that the Raceface i've ordered isn't.... So i either need a Uberbike style above or a set of chainring spacers/bolts for single ring setup which are a lot smaller....

HOwever after pulling everything apart yesterday i've now decided to replace the Bottom Bracket. So i'm dropping the bike into Rotec in an hour to get a Hope PF30 installed by them as it's easier with the right tools and the correct Hope socket tool for installing.

So i'll either get a chainring from them or a set of bolts/spacers for the Raceface while i'm there.

[weeksy]

Well the chainring got a little complex as when i stripped the cranks out i realised it needed a new BB more than i thought.

Quick call to Rotec cycles (awesome LBS) and he has a Hope sitting on the shelf to fit…. Oh and a 30& chainring too.

While it was there he serviced the rear freehub and tensioned the wheel. It cost me £170…. but considering, that’s a great price. I’m not sure how many times the boy will need to hoover my car to pay that off !

The chainset is running incredibly smoothly now… it’s a joy !

[weeksy]

Yesterday was most interesting... As you'll have seen, we've been at Swinley Summit on training for 6 afternoons in the past 3 weeks. Yesterday was 'jumps' day... they've been deliberately kept off the jumps for the other days.

The coach Tom has a completely different technique to either Jedi or Katy who he's had teaching with. I say completely, they're all slightly a basis on a theme of course of weighting/unweighting the bike at various times. But is interesting to see how it affects his jumping etc. He's now jumping slower to make the same jumps, also higher (which if you've seen him ride you'll find hard to believe lol) which gives him more time if he wants to do various tricks in the air.

I've got a video (of Tom) but i don't think it would be right for me to post it... But i'm curious now as to what particular technique i will end up with for myself. I've moved recently more from the Jedi technique to the Katy... But i'll certainly try the Tom....Although his is techincally 3 movements within each jump which i'm not sure my little brain can cope with.

[weeksy]

Nothing too exciting today, the boy was at forest of Dean yesterday and complaining about his pedal grip, so a new pair of nukeproof neutron went on
I was also getting irritated by his dropper lever being stuff so a new outer and inner went on there, it's so much nicer to actuate now.

[weeksy]

As always, the expense continues..


2021-08-29_10-30-43 by Steve Weeks - Flickr2BBcode LITE


New maxxis minion dhf fitted on his.

New helmet ordered and on its way too

[weeksy]

Couple of bearings on the shock/frame linkage were a bit stiff when checking today, so they were whipped out and replaced.

2021-11-12_09-20-33 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2021-11-12_09-20-43 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[MingtheMerciless]

Is the laptop for “coding” the new bearings into the frame?

[weeksy]

Is the laptop for “coding” the new bearings into the frame?

Nah it's just downloading the new HPe Synergy support pack to deploy to a load of newly installed hardware.

[MingtheMerciless]

Is the laptop for “coding” the new bearings into the frame?

Nah it's just downloading the new HPe Synergy support pack to deploy to a load of newly installed hardware.

You should be banned for using Synergy and deploy in the same sentence .

[weeksy]

Our first minor mechanical yesterday, luckily we were in a place with a shop. Does mean i need to rethink the spares pile though.

He went down to the car on his own (well with @Welsh Muffin ) and 3 mins later i get a call "we've got a problem, you better get down here"

Basically he'd been putting 2-3psi in tyre and had bent the valve core, so it wouldn't hold air when tightened. I went to bend it straight and it sheared.

Quick check of my spare tubes in the car and would you believe they don't have removable vavle cores, so ran to the shop who had a service kit with 2 valve cores for £3.99. Took all of 30s to get things sorted and him back out.

[weeksy]

Pikes are booked in with Sprung Suspension for a full service and tune on Tuesday next week. See if it can give him an edge for race on 19th.

[Mr Moofo]

Even I can service Pike forks - it's not difficult!
If you want to service the damper that is when it becomes a little more technical
- but lower legs is rebound nut off, two allen bolt undone, twatted with a hammer to release the internals. Bolts fully undone ( watch out for the small amount of oil) and pull off the lowers.

Foamies out - wash in alcohol or buy new. Soak in 0-30 wt oil, and replace. If you want to do the seals, lever the old ones out with a closed end spanner. And then buy some new knuckles. You will fuck the old ones, so by new ready to go in. Seating these can be a bit of a challenge.
Whilst you are at it - up-rate the the debonair air spring - one circlip - but remember to let all the air out. Pop in new air spring with a bit of whatever Judy Butter is called now.
Re- Judy better the seals and a bit on the stanchions, assemble the lowers , add a little oil, put the rebound knob back in and presto ...

[weeksy]

It's getting what they call a full service, not just lowers, plus tuned to his weight.

It's deffo something I need to learn if you fancy teaching though?

[weeksy]

Well that was lucky... The boys forks are now fully rebuilt, serviced and tuned. They're on their way back from Sprung suspension to arrive here tomorrow.

But anyway, i was moving it in the garage and thought "oooooh that feels a bit draggy" wasn't sure if it was the brakes or something else.... Checked and deffo wasn't the brakes...
Chain was next on the list, so checked that and it too was ok, bit more lube and still dragging.

Chain came off, cranks spin perfectly....

Top jockey wheel on mech, fine.... bottom jockey wheel, noooooooo that ain't moving.

2021-12-16_01-52-10 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Check the bearing, seems it's a 626RS... checked the bearing spares, yup, got serveral of them.

5 minutes later it's in and spinning freely once again. It's weird how sometimes things 'go' quickly and need replacing... I don't think it's been draggy for a while, but certainly needed replacing

[weeksy]

does anyone suffer with the rear mech coming loose ? e.g the mount bolt that goes into the mech hanger ? This is the 2nd mech we've had on it now and both have been loose more than once. It explains why he had some issues the other day with his indexing.

Forks have finished being rebuilt, serviced and Tuned by Sprung and are now back in the bike.

2021-12-17_04-05-57 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2021-12-17_04-05-42 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

No but try using Loctite on the bolt that's coming loose

[MingtheMerciless]

Only occasionally on my old Rocky Mountain, but if its an issue use some mild loctite.

[MingtheMerciless]

If it keeps happening maybe a new mech hanger, could be tired threads where its come loose and rocked on them

[weeksy]

If it keeps happening maybe a new mech hanger, could be tired threads where its come loose and rocked on them

It's deffo at least the 2nd mechn hanger, maybe 3rd. Only seems to do it on this bike. None of my others.