Hot answers tagged repair
17
I've done a bit of work on old, neglected bikes at our local community bike shop. It's rewarding to bring a forgotten bike back to life. There are usually a lot of things that can be improved, so it's important that you prioritize carefully. Fix the most important things, get riding, and then fix the rest as you go along.
You haven't told us much about your ...
17
I volunteer at a community bike shop. We take old donated bikes and fix them up for sale, so I have a lot of experience with this exact dilemma. Here are a few reasons why I will stop working on a bike I am refurbishing:
Frame has worse than just surface rust: i.e. extensive pitting and / or holes.
Seized parts, especially if they need replacing. Sometimes ...
15
As a number of other posts have pointed out, your best option is to get yourself a proper repair stand. They are not that expensive, and you will find that you and your friends all get good use out of it. But, if you are determined to do it on the cheap, here are a couple of techniques that worked for me before getting a workstand:
Turning the bike upside ...
15
I can tell you from experience that your best option is to buy a repair stand.
I worked in a shop for a number of years and thought there was no way I could use a consumer grade stand when I left. I purchased park tool PRS-4W at cost before I left the shop and built my own stand from it. The consumer price is now $200 for that so that is obviously not ...
14
A mobile phone. These days, irrespective of where you're riding, what you're riding and over what terrain or distance, there's no excuse for being deliberately out of contact. We can't guarantee being in an area of reception, but if you haven't got a phone you'll never know.
Additionally, a huge benefit of smart phones are the apps that can do more than ...
14
I'd recommend not taking a chance you'll miss something and take it by your local bike shop. They have a tool that can correctly re-align a bent hanger...this is much more likely then the derailleur being bent. Also, the mechanics have looked at tons of bikes up close and will notice little things that you might miss. Many LBSs will do a post crash check for ...
13
The exact model is Start Shosse from Kharkiv Bicycle factory (ХВЗ Старт-шоссе) Wikipedia link about factory.
This particular bike was a dream of many soviet youngsters, but in reality it is not anything special, as Soviet Olympic team rode on Colnago bikes.
It is quite popular trend here (in Latvia, ex USSR member country) to make a fixed gear bike from ...
12
I would carry at least one unpatched, pristine tube as a spare. Put the patched ones on the bike or keep for repairs at home. The idea being that when you need it -- in the middle of nowhere, in the dark and pouring rain -- you're guaranteed that the old patches aren't peeling off or weakened and the tube should "just work". Then swap it for a patched ...
12
There are four main possibilities, depending on the quality and age of bike.
The most likely scenario is that the wheel is a traditional kid's coaster brake wheel - one gear forward, pedal backwards to brake. In that case it's likely that the clutch is slipping inside the hub. A replacement wheel is probably an easy find, even more so than replacement ...
12
You have asked two questions.
Is it feasible? Yes. Yes it is. As has already been said, many people rebuild old frames like this with newer parts to create unique rides. I don't know much about xUSSR bicycles, but I would guess that a lot of the parts are copies or near-copies of popular nonUSSR components. To my eye, this looks like a knock-off of ...
12
Summary:
Did you crash it? Replace immediately.
Did you drop it hard enough to crack the foam? Replace.
Is it from the 1970's? Replace.
Is the outside just foam or cloth instead of plastic? Replace.
Does it lack a CPSC, ASTM or Snell sticker inside? Replace.
Can you not adjust it to fit correctly? Replace!!
(source: Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute)
12
Like Daniel Hicks says, they are threaded opposite to each other. This ensures the act of you pedaling is constantly tightening them both. If they were both the usual right hand threads then the left pedal would eventually unscrew and fall off.
So, if you're like me and use the right hand rule to constantly assess which direction you should be turning ...
11
Helmet manufacturers recommend replacing helmets after the crash, even if there are no visible cracks, just to be sure. If you see a crack, the helmet cannot do its purpose anymore. You might want to replace the helmet if it is getting old (a few years or so) even if there has been no crash.
Remember, most of us are making money with our brain, so we need ...
11
This video shows how to fit a tight tire / rim combination. Although it shows the Marathon Plus tire, it applies to any tire.
The crucial point he makes on the video is that the tire ...
11
Some things to check and I'm assuming you're running V-brakes:
My first guess is that the brake cable inside the brake cable housing is sticking. Some light oil on the cable could help. (WD40 is a solvent, do not use it on cabling or chains and do not use it where you want to maintain lubrication on parts. Look for some light oil like TriFlow, or whatever ...
11
Your best bet is to use mechanical advantage to your benefit. What you want to do is line the wrench up with the opposite crank, so that your hands are as close together as possible, now straddle the frame and force the two apart. Here's an image from Park's description of how to remove a pedal that illustrates it well:
The worst position for the wrench ...
11
Right solution is to use the "tight link removal" position of most chain tools:
Just choose the side where the pin is showing most outwards, and pull it in a tiny bit. This is very subtle, and your link will be released.
An alternate solution is to grab the chain with both hands (dirty!) and force it as if you were to bend it sideways, in both ...
10
Here's what I normally bring:
Spare tube
Tire levers (for changing the tube)
Pump (or CO2 inflator)
4, 5, and 6mm allen wrenches (for adjusting/tightening the saddle or seat post during the ride, but also to tighten many other things on the bike that could come loose)
To me, for the long rides that I do, everything beyond this basic equipment provides ...
10
For repairs, I always carry with me:
a saddle bag to conveniently carry all my supplies
a multitool for adjusting anything, fixing the chain, and anything else
a spare tube to repair flat tires
two CO2 cartridges and a CO2 nozzle to inflate my tires back up to high pressures; I bring two so if I waste one on a punctured tube, I have a backup on hand
a pair ...
10
In the near term it's reasonably safe -- the dent is not sufficiently deep to seriously weaken the tube (though one does need to be concerned about the integrity of the welds on the rest of the bike, given it's been in an accident). In the far term (10s of thousands of miles) there's danger that the tube will fatigue and become weakened at the dent. (The ...
10
Those notches are used when shifting gears, as you move the derailleur, the chain moves and catches on a notch and switches from one chainring to another adjusting the gearing.
You do not need a replacement bicycle, this is a nice bike and with proper maintenance (keeping the drive train clean and lubed) should last a long time.
9
You will need one special tool: a spoke wrench that fits the size of spokes you have. While a truing stand is great, you can do some basic truing of a bike with rim brake by simply putting the bike on a stand. Spin the wheel slowly and watch the space between the rim and the brake pad. When you have found the center of a an area that is listing to one ...
9
Even if the frame is repairable, you should consider the forces that it experienced which led to its bending in the first place. Steel--and these Firenze frames were steel, Chromo-oly, I think--will accept a fair bit of abuse and isn't as prone to catastrophic failure as aluminum. I have had steel frames break, though--and it always happens at some point ...
9
Yes, this is no problem, though I would suggest practicing once before you have to use it on a flat. The first couple of times I used an inflator I had trouble inflating my tire fully.
No, but I've found that once I start a cartridge it will leak slowly, so it doesn't last forever. In my experience it doesn't last more than a few hours, certainly not more ...
9
The easy way would be to get a qualified bike mechanic to take a look at your bike for less noticeable problems.
It's not safe to ride a bike if the frame has been noticeably disfigured.
Re-adjust the wheel to be aligned to the handlebars. The wheel tends to twist after crashes.
Go through the final safety inspection you would normally go through, check ...
9
Lengthening the wrench is your best bet. You don't need anything fancy, find a bit of pipe at your local hardware shop that fits over the wrench.
Watch your fingers. While trying to remove a tricky pedal, it gave suddenly and my knuckles hit the teeth of the chain ring. It was a daft and bloody mistake.
9
In my experience:
You only need to apply a drop of glue a bit larger than a pea (about 7mm diameter) per patch;
Glue inside eventually dries. If you only have a puncture once a year, most probably the glue remaining from the last puncture would be dry "no matter what". Also, there is an expiration date of around two years, but I think it's two years if you ...
8
I find the bigger problem is not the number of patches, but rather the age of the patches. There is a correlation though, in that by the time you have patched a tube for the third time, I find that the first patch is starting to get a little suspect.
In my student days I would patch a tube four or five times, but I often had patches eventually fail.
...
8
Your crank arm is trashed.
With the crank bolt removed, gently ride around a few miles, it should work itself loose enough that you can yank it off.
Otherwise many shops have basically a slightly larger crank puller for addressing this issue, where they chase out a larger set of threads, then use the larger puller to get it off. The crank arm typically ...
8
Yes, you are right that the tire must be replaced.
No, the tires are not defective. This type of cross hatching is caused by age and weather deterioration. It appears like diagonal cuts because the weave of the cloth start breaking threads, and they are woven diagonally.
The tire is either at least 3-5 years old, or has been stored in a climate which ...
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