The "what bike bits have you just bought" thread Vol 2

[defblade]

Plan to go down another 2 teeth on the front chain ring; also a new HRM strap as the old one was getting manky as hell:






Chain ring plan postponed by the discovery that none of my pliers will fit inside an 11-speed chain: down 4 teeth now from OE ring and hence the chain needs shortening a bit but I couldn't release the quick link... Amazon to the rescue:



Neat little things which worked fine and fit inside the pouch for my Topeak Alien multitool, so they will be with me if I need them.
Happy to swap big comfy handles for something that might be less comfortable and need more effort (although it didn't in this case, opening or closing the link) if it means I can take it with me every time.

Anyone know what the long hooky bit of metal you can just about see behind the pliers is for? I could only imagine it is to temporarily hold the chain together while you fiddle?

[take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey]

You are correct... Holds the chain ends together whilst you fit the QL ends before re-joining.

[defblade]

take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey said:

You are correct... Holds the chain ends together whilst you fit the QL ends before re-joining.

Ta. I had no trouble without it tho

[take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey]

defblade said:

take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey said:

You are correct... Holds the chain ends together whilst you fit the QL ends before re-joining.

Ta. I had no trouble without it tho

Clutched long cage derailleurs (sram) have quite a strong spring in them. Helps in that case, but still just fiddly without one.

[rider73]

anyone bought one of those wolflink roadlink thingies that allow you to run MTB large cassettes on road bike 10/11sp systems?

i'm in need of a new 11sp chain and cassette and wondering about more gears for spinning, for the price it looks like worth taking the shot, but then the price of cassettes would be tough to swallow if it doesnt really work properly.

[trails]

rider73 said:

anyone bought one of those wolflink roadlink thingies that allow you to run MTB large cassettes on road bike 10/11sp systems?

i'm in need of a new 11sp chain and cassette and wondering about more gears for spinning, for the price it looks like worth taking the shot, but then the price of cassettes would be tough to swallow if it doesnt really work properly.

I've got a Wolflink for my XTR mech so I can run Sram cassette and it works very well.

[LMPanda]

DaveyBoyWonder said:

Was my first time after saying to myself a few years ago that I'd not bother racing again but a) a mate booked a load of us so I couldn't say no and b) its only 40 mins away so be rude not to.

Absolutely brilliant weekend. Got there Friday, practice Saturday with a massive hangover, race Sunday. Only ridden 4 or 5 times this year so to get into the top 75% I was happy with but I could easily see where I could have made up time on each section (eg actually having the energy to pedal on stage 1 and the top of stage 3!) so with more miles under my legs in the run up to it I reckon I'd be a lot closer to top 50% which seemed like it was only 30/40 seconds overall from where I was.

The stages were brilliant too. Less keen on the pedally stage 1 but the slower more techy stuff I loved.

Agree about the Ard Rock too. Did it 3 years on the trot and decided not to bother that year before Covid when it got washed away. Just too busy for me - same reason I stopped doing VW van shows, I'd rather spend my weekends with mates camping somewhere quiet than in a field with thousands of other people!

Ah yes!!!! And to be honest, we look at it as racing in the most loosest of terms! Love the low key vibe, especially saturday afternoon/evening with the kids jump competition etc.

The big ol'hill to the top of stage one hungover on a hot Saturday morning is NOT the one, but the stages are all lush! Four and five definitely our favourites.

Most of my lost time was being in the wrong gear for short sharp pedally bits, but I scraped into the top 40%-ish of my class (a fairly stacked 30-39yr!) Most importantly I beat my mates


Jerry and the gang getting epic photos all weekend too!





Also took the old bus loaded up for the weekend...

[mie1972]

Powermeter. Been eyeing them up for a while. Merlin have them at 185 which is the lowest they've been for a long while.

Piece of cake to fit and set up on winter bike (with Shimano cranks). Need a BB adapter to fit my best bike as it has PF30 BB

[dirtbiker]

Good purchase, I've got one on both my proper bike and my gravel bike now and enjoy the geekery!

[mie1972]

dirtbiker said:

Good purchase, I've got one on both my proper bike and my gravel bike now and enjoy the geekery!

Spent a good hour trying to add screens to Garmin - you are right about geekery with all the numbers. Then remember to look up and enjoy the scenery.

Will be useful for upcoming time trials !

[vwsurfbum]

Bathroom_Security said:

Bit fed up with mountain bikes now. Constant raft of problems

Sent this off to a suspension specialist for steerer replacement and full service/bushing replacement and or sizing and its come back like this. Cheeky even re-used the washers for the foot studs. So who knows if I even got new wipers and foam rings...

Thinking my grip 2 was blown I swapped it out for a spare and it does the same thing. Close the LSR and it stops on both dampers. Unsure what it might be. Going to send it off to TFTuned in the hope they can sort it.

In the interest of stating the obvious, everything's tight, I've tried different wheels, different axles, the air spring and luftkappe are tight. Literally nothing I can think of to check unless a bushing is loose. But why would that noise stop with the LSR closed.

https://youtube.com/shorts/cEQYhwnceDg

Almost sounds like the air shaft isn't tight? thats gotta be bugging the hell out of you?

[Bathroom_Security]

vwsurfbum said:

Almost sounds like the air shaft isn't tight? thats gotta be bugging the hell out of you?

Yes, thankfully I dont notice it much on trail or on rougher sections.

I've checked and torqued both foot studs and they are good. There's literally nothing loose on the bike, callipers and mounts, pads, axle etc. Everything on the fork in and out is tight

Honestly think its the damper as it goes away when the LSR is closed fully, BUT, I've tried a spare grip 2 damper in it and it still does it. I'm going to send it off to TFTuned and see what they can do with it. May swap the lowers out quickly as I've a spare set, wonder if a bush is loose or something. That or both my dampers are blown.

[Camoradi]

rider73 said:

anyone bought one of those wolflink roadlink thingies that allow you to run MTB large cassettes on road bike 10/11sp systems?

i'm in need of a new 11sp chain and cassette and wondering about more gears for spinning, for the price it looks like worth taking the shot, but then the price of cassettes would be tough to swallow if it doesnt really work properly.

I used one of these to convert my partner's bike from a 28T max on the rear to a 34T. I has to change the rear derailleur cage from short to long and then the wolflink moved the derailleur down and back. Worked a treat.

[Pablo16v]

Camoradi said:

rider73 said:

anyone bought one of those wolflink roadlink thingies that allow you to run MTB large cassettes on road bike 10/11sp systems?

i'm in need of a new 11sp chain and cassette and wondering about more gears for spinning, for the price it looks like worth taking the shot, but then the price of cassettes would be tough to swallow if it doesnt really work properly.

I used one of these to convert my partner's bike from a 28T max on the rear to a 34T. I has to change the rear derailleur cage from short to long and then the wolflink moved the derailleur down and back. Worked a treat.

I’ve used a couple of them before too without any issues. One was used in conjunction with a new cage and the other worked on its own (both on MTB’s). I’m considering one just now for my gravel bike as the Apex mech will probably struggle with the 46t cassette I am planning to use when I replace the existing 42t one.

[rider73]

Pablo16v said:

Camoradi said:

rider73 said:

anyone bought one of those wolflink roadlink thingies that allow you to run MTB large cassettes on road bike 10/11sp systems?

i'm in need of a new 11sp chain and cassette and wondering about more gears for spinning, for the price it looks like worth taking the shot, but then the price of cassettes would be tough to swallow if it doesnt really work properly.

I used one of these to convert my partner's bike from a 28T max on the rear to a 34T. I has to change the rear derailleur cage from short to long and then the wolflink moved the derailleur down and back. Worked a treat.

I’ve used a couple of them before too without any issues. One was used in conjunction with a new cage and the other worked on its own (both on MTB’s). I’m considering one just now for my gravel bike as the Apex mech will probably struggle with the 46t cassette I am planning to use when I replace the existing 42t one.

thanks for the info - it seems 11 speed cassettes either road or mtb are still expensive at the moment, well, when i say expensive i mean that they are full price ;-) , which is quite unusual as you usually get something % off them.....

i've resurrected my old alloy 9 speed road bike which runs 9 speed mountain rear mech and sram cassette and 9 speed roadie levers - good old days when they both had the same pull ratio

however - rim brakes - ugh, i forgot how bad they are in the wet.

[bobbo89]

Set of 50mm rise Burgtec bars for the Cotic. Might seem ridiculous to some but I'm 6ft2 and hate my stem being stacked with a tower of spacers.



I remember the days when everyone was going full flat bars and so it seems almost a little old skool to me having a set of high risers again like i did in the mid to late 200's

[LMPanda]

Pablo16v said:

I’ve used a couple of them before too without any issues. One was used in conjunction with a new cage and the other worked on its own (both on MTB’s). I’m considering one just now for my gravel bike as the Apex mech will probably struggle with the 46t cassette I am planning to use when I replace the existing 42t one.

For what it’s worth, ran an Apex 1 groupset on my old grav bike with an 11-46 Sunrace cassette and a 42t oval chainring (absolute black) with no issues…

[tertius]

bobbo89 said:

Set of 50mm rise Burgtec bars for the Cotic. Might seem ridiculous to some but I'm 6ft2 and hate my stem being stacked with a tower of spacers.



I remember the days when everyone was going full flat bars and so it seems almost a little old skool to me having a set of high risers again like i did in the mid to late 200's

They look good.

Funnily enough I was out on my ancient full rigid MTB today and it is (and always has been) a bit small for me - was thinking about a longer stem but something like that might be a good idea as well.

[Pablo16v]

LMPanda said:

Pablo16v said:

I’ve used a couple of them before too without any issues. One was used in conjunction with a new cage and the other worked on its own (both on MTB’s). I’m considering one just now for my gravel bike as the Apex mech will probably struggle with the 46t cassette I am planning to use when I replace the existing 42t one.

For what it’s worth, ran an Apex 1 groupset on my old grav bike with an 11-46 Sunrace cassette and a 42t oval chainring (absolute black) with no issues…

Thanks, that’s good to know. Currently running a 42t chainring with an 11-42 cassette but hoping to swap for a 10-46 if I can to get additional range at both ends.

[dirtbiker]

Those riser bars look great - amazing how clean the AXS stuff makes the cockpit!