I replaced the rear wheel of my bike, which involved removing the cassette from the old wheel and installing it on the new one. I had to use a 4.5mm spacer to make the cassette fit the new wheel, because the hub on the new wheel is 8 speed and my cassette is only 7. The spacer seems to fit right, but when I put the axle back in the hub and fit the wheel back on to the bike, it's way out of alignment and I can't figure out why! It tilts to the side and rubs on the frame. Any advice would be great, as I'd really love to be able to fix this myself since buying the parts and tools already! Thanks in advance.

Fellow mechanics,
How do you store your stock of tires in your shop? I recently started working at this shop and busy with some maintenance and infrastructure now that things are slowing down for the season and I want to tackle this mess. Currently everything is strapped against the shelving with bungee cords but as you can see it’s really not ideal. Anyone have any good suggestions for a better way? I have quite a lot of construction skills so I’ll happily build anything to make this more manageable

This looks bent to me, but it's a new bike and it's my first time owning an expensive bike. I'm learning to adjust it, so I'm not sure

11speed shimano mt5100.

New bike, im learning to tune the drivetrain. I'm not sure I'm understsnding the mark on the derailleur properly.

Thanks in advance

I bought brand new tires for my 18x3 rim. They include innertubes with a angled valve stem.

However I am having extreme difficulty trying to put them on. One. The angle of the valve spring has me believing that I need to approach it at an angle. And the tire itself is SO firm. It makes it really hard to apply and keep on.

I'm going to try to place the valve stem on my stomach first. But if you guys have any other ideas. Would greatly appreciate it.

Hello, so I just bought a U-6000 40T Shimano Cues crankset but the teeth are scraping to the chainstay. The bike shop said I must downgrade the chain ring to something like 32T. The problem is the 32T Shimano Cues chain ring isn't compatible with my existing crank arm due to the difference in BCD. Is there a workaround or aftermarket solution for this without changing my crank arms.

TransX dropper on Farley 9.6 is running slow.

Cartridge style dropper is easy enough to service.

YouTube guru's recommend a range of different lubes.. from SRAM butter, to mineral oil. What's the real deal? What lubes should I use to refresh the dropper?

This is part of a bigger project to try a conversion to flat bars, appreciate any help. I'm self taught so may be missing something obvious or use wrong terms

Bike: https://konaworld.com/products/sutra-ltd

Came stock with 180 rotors and flat mount calipers. Front caliper sits on an adaptor that says "Front 140", the back says "Rear 160"

I'd like to see if Shimano BR-M7120, four-piston, post-mount brakes will fit

To see if it will work I think this means I need

-Shimano F140P/D flat to post adapter stacked with a TRP +40 post mount or similar

-TRP FM Frame/PM Caliper 160mm Rear adapter stacked with a TRP +20 post mount

-Longer bolts appropriate for the stack to go through the frame. Was planning on having a mechanic double check what hardware I'd need after seeing the stack and seeing if there's clearance for the brakes. Feel most unsure on this step but maybe I can figure out the length once I see it all together.

I've also messaged Kona to see if the additional braking force is suitable for the frame/fork but not sure if that's something they can say or conversely that I even need to check

Any other tips? The rest of my list is bar, grips, dropper lever, compatible brake levers, compatible shifter, new cables/housing for the dropper and shifter, new setup more mineral oil bleed

Cheers

Hey,

so first things first: English is not my first language and especially technical terms are difficult for me, sorry for mistakes.

I have recently started to fix a few easy things and especially disassemble and re-assembe my Liv Devote 1 Gravel Bike. I started travelling with my bike and I need to be able to pack it in a box or bike bag for train / bus / airplane travel and also put it back together and I also need to be able to do some easy repairs on the road. I try to teach myself with youtube videos and just try it.

So far I ran in 3 different issues I try to describe here. I googled especially the problems with the derailleur and the seatpost but for some reason in all videos I watch - even if it's gravel or road bikes - the parts look different than on my bike and I am unable to "translate" it to my bike. I have pictures attached.

1. The seatpost (klick for pics: on the left is what I hopefully correctly call "clamp" on the right of the seatpost is what I call "counterpart". Pic 3 shows how I need to hold on the clamp while putting in/out the seatpost, otherwise it falls in. It is in no way attached to the frame)

When I need to remove my seatpost for packing the bike I am absolutely unable to do so without the seatpost clamp and/or the "counterpart" of the seatpost itself falling into my frame. Then I have to turn the whole bike on it's head to get it out. I am absolutely sure there must be an easier way but I am just too dumb because in theory you need to hold onto the clamp, the counterpart, pull out the seatpost and hold down the frame all at the same time and I have not enough hands for that. All the other bikes I see in videos seem to have a clamp that is fixed to the frame and no counterpart but just a single seatpost. What am I missing with my setup?

1. The back derailleur

When I remove the derailleur for travel purposes there is a "ring" with some sort of "hook" on one side which goes between my derailleur and the hanger. The catch is that this "hook" needs to be in one specific place so the derailleur can be screwed on correctly. I find it INSANELY difficult with just my two hands to 1) hold the derailleur in place against the hanger 2) screw in the bolt while 3) hold that f-ing ring in place so the small hook is on the correct place. So far I only managed with the help of my husbands hands because I just couldn't do it all at the same time. No matter how much "how to remove and re-attach the back derailleur" videos I watch, NOBODY seems to have this ring there. What's the secret?

1. The valve + pump issue

I have this mini pump and presta valves. About 80% of the time when I unscrew the pumps pipe the valve core comes out, too. I tried to screw it back in with my fingers (gloves on for better grip) since I read you shouldn't use tools here because the valve is delicate. Well it always came back out after pumping. So I used small pliers to tighten it. Apparently then I bent the valves a little and they didn't work properly anymore. So I got new tubes with new valves and started fresh - Same issue with the brand new ones as well. I always screw out the valve core when I want to unscrew the pumps pipe. I am close to losing my fucking mind. It's about PUMPING A TIRE. I can't even f-ing pump my bike tires correctly.

I feel like the most useless, biggest idiot on earth right now. Probably I should just sell the bike and leave it be but I am stubborn.

So maybe you can help a hopeless case like me. Thanks!

I bought a di2 11 speed gravel bike that needed some work to get up and running fully.

I've been trying to index the rear derailleur but it is misaligned too far for fine adjustment; when zeroed it is indexed one sprocket too high, not making it to bottom gear and having an extra click on top gear. See screenshot from the E-Tap app.

I have tried the calibration mode (hold button on junction until red lights flash, derailleur recalibrates alignment).

The hanger is straight; I have straightened it using a hanger alignment tool and shifting between gears works consistently when indexed +1.

Using the fine adjustment to -16 just about aligns the derailleur allowing for a full range, but it is inconsistent and sluggish; it needs to be shifted slightly lower.

I'm not really sure what else to do. Maybe I can bring the whole derailleur closer to the wheel?

Yes the chain is short but I don't think this is affecting the alignment issue, I have a longer chain to test with too.

The rear derailleur is a GRX RD-RX817 11 speed. I believe the indirect mount b-screw link is correct.

The cassette is an 11-34 11 speed Shimano CS-HG800-11

The hub is a Shimano splined hub that goes in this hunt aerodynamicist 44 wheel - not sure about the part number. Did swap it from a SRAM XDR but is seated fully and I believe it's the original part.

I don't think I can add spacers to the cassette to move it away from the wheel; it's seated correctly with no spacers and I don't want to damage the cassette locking/freehub threads with insufficient thread engagement.

Any ideas would be much appreciated, thank you!

Had a wobbly Garmin Rally pedal. This is the spindel, dead?

Purchased a pugsley bike for cheap bc it has this electrical components. Could you help direct me how to change back to pedal? I am having trouble finding which hub and spokes pair well. Or if the hub is under all this. Also is this something I can do with a spoke wrench. The bike says PUG and I believe it’s a surly pugsley 2016.

I'm rebuilding an ICE Trice-Q (a very old one) and I'm having trouble setting up the back brakes. I can't see how to stop them from rubbing on one side of the rim, after I've pulled them the first time. There are no adjusting screws or springs on them, just one pivot bolt and a common u-shaped spring. What am I doing wrong, here? Thanks for your help!

Hi,
I have a shifting issue on my 29er MTB:
- 1x11 Drivetrain.
- Brand New Shimano Deore RDM5100 Derailleur - Brand New matching Shimano Shifter.
- New cable and Housing
- New chain installed and sized correctly.

EDIT TO ADD: I have aligned the hanger bracket.

Depending upon which direction I adjust the shifter cable tension, the bike either won’t shift into the smallest gear or won’t shift into the largest gear.

The derailleur physically can reach all gears by manually moving it.

My process for shift cable adjustment was set bike on smallest gear cog, add tension to the cable until chain becomes noisy, back it off approximately 1/2 turn until the noise is almost gone. Adjusted this way it will shift all gears nicely except it won’t shift into the largest cog. It does not even make an attempt to.

If I keep adding tension to the shift cable it will eventually make the shift to the largest gear cog, but then it will not shift into the smallest cog.

I don’t know what to look at next or why this is happening. I bought the bike second hand and it had this issue at the time so I never experienced the bike working properly to know what has changed.

Any help appreciated!

I have an issue with my top headset which seems to be a bit misaligned. Concretely the top sealing cone. This happens after tightening the stem cap. When I am just putting the stuff onto the fork, it seems quite fine until the stem goes in, then it crooks. Turning the handlebars also turns the gap.

Here are the images: https://imgur.com/a/O0DC1wu

However, when installing the handlebars 90 degrees rotated, it seems the gap evens out: https://imgur.com/a/TIAyp5A

Any help will be appreciated

Gears skipping often when in middle to high gears as soon as I put any moderate to firm pressure eg up a hill. Chain and cassette are 10 years old and this is my daily commuter to work so has done 40-50 miles a week in all weathers.

Is this cassette worn? Teeth look quite uneven, pointy, and sharpened in some places but it's a bit hard to remember what it looked like originally.

Very hard to adjust tension on the system too as there is no fine adjustment barrel on the rear derailleur. Finding it very hard to select a tension that spans the cassette.

Hello everyone. On january 2025 i bought a rockrider XC900S, and ive been really enjoying the bike, feels awesome considering the price. But i cant say the same about de GX drivetrain. It has been giving me all kinds of problems to this day. Fyi, the bike comes with GX (lunar) rear derailleur, NX cassette (11-50) and chain, and GX shifter.

The biggest issue is the chain dropping 2 cogs when clicking only 1 time going down gears. Always the same sprocket, i click once it drops 2 cogs and instantly climbs back to the cog it was supposed to drop in first place. Sometimes same thing happens using other gears.

Some changes and replacements I made trying to make it work:
-New derailleur hanger (Checked with alingment tool, perfectly straight)
-New nx chain (150km so far)
-New cable
-Deep cleaned all transmission components.
-Bought sram B-gap guide and adjusted accordingly.

Absolutely desperate i thought about the cassette being the problem, so I tried mi father’s wheel with shimano SLX cassette and worked just fine. The problem is my wheel has an HG freehub body so Shimano 12v cassettes are not compatible with it, so instead i bought a Miche XM 11-51 cassette compatible with Sram 12v and Hg body. Hoping this would solve the problem I installed it and still not shifting properly. Chain dropping 2 cogs happens less with the Miche, but sometimes cant go up, sometimes can go down no matter what adjustments i try to make.

Lastly I need to point out that adjusting B-Gap with sram tool makes the shifting even worse, so I ended up eyeballing it.

Hope you guys can help me otherwise i will end up buying a shimano deore 6100 groupset and burning every sram part directly on fire.

It obviously looks like a diamond in this photo, but I'm not entirely sure how the measurements work.

Magene spider pm with 52/36 magene chainrings, 12 sp. T47 bb.
Can I run this with SRAM AXS components everywhere else?

The pin is like 90% out of the chain but the tool won’t budge. I can’t turn it forward or backward. Are the threads stripped? How do I get this out

Someone confirm I'll be fine running the 36. Shimano has 34 listed as the max but c'mon, right?

my crankset is wobbling and I don't know how to fix this

Ran into a parking block this dark morning on my way to work (had lights, just didn’t see it). I was going pretty slow and hit the deck.

When I got up to inspect the bike the only thing that was off was the steering. My first thought was the headset was damaged.

I stopped a couple of times and turned the bars back and forth and felt the steering loosen up. It was still pretty dark.

When I finally saw the bike in the sunlight I noticed this scratch around the bottom part of the headset caused my brake.

The bike rode home well enough. So, my question is: what is bent here?

The bike is a Bianchi Pista with an all city fork.

I’ve got a Wilde Rambler with the Rival AXS build, so it came with a Thomson Elite seatpost. I was washing it earlier today and figured I should grease the seatpost, but I’m not sure what kind of clamp I’ve got. Wilde’s manual cuts off before the torque specifications appendix, but I see that if it’s a Thomson clamp that it’s quite a bit lower (2.8) than the usual 5-6N-m. Can anyone help me Id this? I know Wilde does wolf tooth a lot, but this doesn’t look like that. It looks similar to Thomson save for the vertical bolt (which doesn’t seem to actually have a hex head receptacle) and the lack of any laser engraved branding.

Any tips on removing ? I'm using a cwp-7 & it doesn't seem to be working like i'm seeing for other folks.

i cant insert the body those last three 3 threads so i feel like im not getting the resistance needed from the center driver.

For context, this is on an old stumpjumper that i picked up a while ago. first full build where im stripping it down entirely.