What are your embarrassing or shameful bike confessions?

I have seen X0 transmission cranks with power meter on Facebook marketplace in the $225-300 range. You can get those and a 0 mm offset chain ring from wolftooth and you are set. :+1:

The 0 offset chainring moves the chainline in the wrong direction. You need a -6mm offset. Wolftooth doesn’t sell an 8 bolt -6 chainring.

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Shhhh don’t reveal my z-list bicycle celebrity status to the world :rofl:

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I have literally no idea what this means but I shall investigate, thank you!

#notblessedwithmechanicalknowledge

I haven’t seen any secondhand 165 mm sets for sale here in the UK, yet, but I shall keep looking, thanks :slight_smile:

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I’ll default to you. I thought I remembered reading a 0mm chainring going from 55 to 52… but I must have got it mixed up. Thanks for the clarification.

After the weekend’s audax ride in which I was babying a shifting system for 300km because in the right shifter I intermittently couldn’t feel or hear clicks & shifting was sometimes slow, this afternoon I checked the cable & yep, it was frayed inside the shifter, with two threads separated from the rest of the cable, potentially interfering with the ratchet, so perhaps some damage was done. :grimacing: At least (for now) with the new cable it’s operating correctly.

Before installing the new cable I decided it was about time the bike had a more thorough clean than it usually gets, so together with the usual I sank the chain in a petrol bath & rebuilt the RD (yes I took them both off). When reinstalling the chain I couldn’t help but think of this thread. :laughing: The chain is threaded correctly through the derailleur. Thanx for the reminder! But yes I have made that mistake too.

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Installed a new SRAM Transmission Cassette on my XDR freehub last night. Read the literature backwards and thought I didn’t need a spacer behind the cassette. To make matters worse, I torqued it with my 1/2" torque wrench thats about 2ft long, so I didn’t feel when I transitioned from tightening to stripping threads.

When the spacer arrives in a couple of days I’ll find out if I ruined like $300 worth of parts. Actually kind of crazy that the lock ring on these cassettes isn’t replaceable. Glad I bought the GX cassette and didn’t splurge on a $400-600 cassette.

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since 165 cranks are all the rage right now I’d just buy a XX1 DUB crankset with the quarq spider and sell off the old crank & chainring. Might be much more cost effective than buying faveros and converting them. Quarq carbon cranks + PM spider is about 700€ + shipping and whatever you guys pay in the UK as VAT. minus the money you get from selling the old crnaks vs 750€ for the Assioma Pro MX duo + import duties and postage.

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This is why I never understood threaded cassettes. :face_with_peeking_eye:

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It was warm and sunny today, a rarity around these parts. Hit the roads with a T-shirt and MTB helmet with a visor. Decided to work on the sock tan and slipped on some ankle socks. Cuz at this point… why not? :grin:

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How did it turn out? I suspect fine. I’ve done this
many, many times over the years and never had any damage that I could identify. It’s such a silly mistake, I don’t know why I keep making it, but I did it again just a couple weeks ago.

I listen to what the pro’s do wayyy to much.
I run big chainrings to boost my ego even if it means I have to do 300w up every hill. Think 46t chainring 1x with a 44 out back. 15 to 20% gravel climbs are normal. But honestly, I started that way and now kinda like the gearing. I guess I always race up hills anyways. And as I get faster, a 46-10 becomes more used.
I will not fix things so I have an excuse to buy a new bike. I let my drivetrain get outdated and worn out. My wheels and so on. Then I say “well ill just buy a new bike” when I could just upgrade my parts.
For a person who makes less then minimum wage, I spend money on my bikes like I make 200k.

I think the argument of “It’s easier to work on” for things like axs and internal cable routing is dumb.

I judge people harshly for there bike set up. Like Titanium bike with deep carbon wheels. Judged.

I scroll through Pinkbike and buycyle like its instagram and just look at bike pics.

Finally, my hoods point down like 15 degree’s. And I ride on the very edge of them. Not sure why or how I started doing this but now level hoods feel pointed up and lazy.

I could go on but yeah.

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Yeah it turned out fine. The cassette is on there and the T-Type derailleur is working perfect.

The whole thing confuses me though. I realized the reason I missed the spacer, is because per SRAM’s spec an XDR driver needs a spacer for a GX cassette. However, the non T-Type GX cassette I was replacing also didn’t have a spacer. I wasn’t expecting the spacer configuration to change, hence why I just threw it on.

I took it by my local Giant dealer and they said to run it however it came from the factory… It’s on there with no spacer and works fine. I haven’t seen a spec from SRAM on exactly how much clearance there should be between cassette and deraillurer mount, but it works. :man_shrugging:

It didn’t change, someone screwed up the old style GX Eagle cassette install also. And yeah, it seems to work without the spacer. When I missed the one a week or so ago, I ended up doing a group ride that night on it and didn’t even notice any bad shifting (and didn’t adjust anything). I didn’t realized I missed it until I was lying in bed that night and it dawned on me and I fixed it the next day. I’d think being off by that much would matter, but it seemed fine. But I was also riding on gravel, so maybe it was working but making noise and I just didn’t notice.

I use oil to lubricate my chain.

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I used sunflower oil in my fork lowers once

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Man, you came all win here heheheh

I reuse quick links.

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so do I

So do I. I’ve only broken one chain and it wasn’t at the reused quick link.