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Cycling log - random events in the day of a cyclist II

NeilR said:
I would imagine the failure rate is tiny i.e. a fraction of a fraction of a percent. If there really was a serious issue, then a company as big as Shimano would issue a recall and have implemented design changes. I would ride without concern, but with the caveat to visually check itonce in a while for any signs of problems.
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I’ve been reading a lot, so can’t remember exactly where I read what, but the rate may be tiny given it is the default groupset on so many mid to upper-mid-level bikes, and by a substantial amount, but the actual numbers of fails are disturbingly high given it is a potentially life-threatening fail. There have apparently been over 600 in the US alone and several lawyers are fishing for business.

There is clearly a design flaw, as that thing should not come un-glued in *any* normal usage scenario, though it does seem to be hitting powerful all-weather cyclists the hardest. I’m the opposite extreme, I never go out if it looks like rain and I’m a spinner rather than a stamper, so I don’t even get out of the saddle going up steep hills. As such I’m likely at the lower end of risk, but even so something that expensive should just work and keep working pretty much indefinitely. If I could figure out a direct replacement (i.e. something that would fit the Shimano bottom bracket and work with the front mech) I’d be inclined to swap it out just for peace of mind. At the least I know that if I hear any clicking or it feels ‘odd’ it has likely failed so I’ll catch it before some would assuming it doesn’t just crack in two at the first sign. Not what one wants in allegedly high-end kit.
 
I've got several of those chainsets but have no concerns about those issues - partly because the failure rate must be miniscule, and partly because (despite those failures) the HTII stuff is probably still more reliable than pretty much anything else anyway. I also definitely wouldn't have continued using the bike with out checking it out given how many indications there seems to be before the actual failure happened.
 
sean99 said:
Just took my own advice and inspected the forks, cranks and handlebars on all my older 1990s bikes. Everything looks good, but as a precaution I'm going to swap out some dura-ace 7400 cranks of unknown history (came to me on a used road bike in the late 90s) with some NOS early 90s 105 cranks I just got off ebay for $80.
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Now I'm reading that as actually meaning: "I'm using this as an excuse to switch from my 53/39 Dura-Ace 7400's (which definitely won't have the problem that's being discussed) to a compact chainset"... ;)
 
SteveG said:
I also definitely wouldn't have continued using the bike with out checking it out given how many indications there seems to be before the actual failure happened.
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That is the reassuring thing, I am unquestionably on the obsessive side things, I’m the sort of person that agonises about 2mm of seat setback etc, so no way in hell would I not notice a click or misaligned pedal! I’ve just gone across everything very closely and certainly no issues so far (not so much as a scuff to the paintwork) and I gave it a rub-down with GT85 as the guy in the video above seemed to imply a water-repellent (and that was one he stated) may help stop water sticking in the tiny gap. I’ll be very careful cleaning from now on too, I’ve been known to wash-up cranksets and rear mechs in the kitchen sink before now, I certainly won’t be doing that with this one!
 
Tony L said:
I’ll be very careful cleaning from now on too, I’ve been known to wash-up cranksets and rear mechs in the kitchen sink before now, I certainly won’t be doing that with this one!
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I avoid issues associated with cleaning my bikes by pretty much never doing it. I do lube and clean the chain and mechs etc. regularly but for the rest I pretty much only wash the bikes when I think the amount of mud is significantly adding to their weight!
 
SteveG said:
Now I'm reading that as actually meaning: "I'm using this as an excuse to switch from my 53/39 Dura-Ace 7400's (which definitely won't have the problem that's being discussed) to a compact chainset"... ;)
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The NOS 105 will have the same BCD as the 7400 so I’ll move the newish 39/50 chainrings over. With 7 & 8 speed bikes I find I prefer less of a jump up front so I’ve ended up with 36/46 on the compact bike and 39/50 on the regular crankset.
 
Tony L said:
Anyone here running fairly recent Shimano Ultegra or DuraAce? I’ve got a full Ultegra 6800 groupset on my road bike and I’m starting to get a bit nervous as it looks like there may be a design or manufacturing flaw with the glued ‘Hollowtech’ chainsets. A huge thread over on Weightweenies, an Instagram group called ‘Thanks Shimano’ and a plausible explanation of what is happening on the Peak Torque YouTube channel (which is great for cycling engineering topics):


There is certainly a lot of visual evidence of catastrophic failure and that has me very twitchy. I’d far prefer to pay £200-300 just to swap it out than end up potentially injured with a damaged frame, or worse bleeding out inspecting the underside of bus. At the very least I’ll be inspecting it before every ride.

Has anyone here had a crankset failure of this current-era glued Shimano Hollowtech? Particularly interested if anyone is involved in a bike shop and could find out what sort of numbers/percentage of returns they are seeing, if any. It’s always very hard to establish risk-factors on a product that has such market dominance as even a trace element of failures will equate to many hundreds of units worldwide.
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I have Ultegra 8000 groupset. I am heavy and like a big gear but no issues so far. Will check before tomorrows ride.
 
stevec67 said:
I'm after a new front mtb tyre. Current rear is a Maxxis 26x2.1, Advantage. I like it. It's a wet winter compound, a proper sh*tegripper. Front is, I kid you not, an old Pana Smoke/Dart from the last century. It performs perfectly on XC stuff which is most of my riding. Bike is a Kona Kula, hardtail, 3x9, goes like hell XC, hard work at trail centres. A mate is taking me to trail centres, I'm enjoying it but spending lots of time on my arse. I know it's about the skills, not the bike, but I'm hoping a tyre change, rather than a bike change, might help. Any clues? Anything that just might give me a bit of traction in wet rooty conditions gets my vote, after all anything grips in the dry.
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I use WTB Sendero on my 650b wheels and they are proper ***tgrippers. Highly recommended.

https://gravelcyclist.com/bicycle-t...-like-tire-for-drop-bar-bikes-gnarly-terrain/
 
Tony L said:
I’ve been reading a lot, so can’t remember exactly where I read what, but the rate may be tiny given it is the default groupset on so many mid to upper-mid-level bikes, and by a substantial amount, but the actual numbers of fails are disturbingly high given it is a potentially life-threatening fail. There have apparently been over 600 in the US alone and several lawyers are fishing for business.

There is clearly a design flaw, as that thing should no come un-glued in *any* normal usage scenario, though it does seem to be hitting powerful all-weather cyclists the hardest. I’m the opposite extreme, I never go out if it looks like rain and I’m a spinner rather than a stamper, so I don’t even get out of the saddle going up steep hills. As such I’m likely at the lower end of risk, but even so something that expensive should just work and keep working pretty much indefinitely. If I could figure out a direct replacement (i.e. something that would fit the Shimano bottom bracket and work with the front mech) I’d be inclined to swap it out just for peace of mind. At the least I know that if I hear any clicking or it feels ‘odd’ it has likely failed so I’ll catch it before some would assuming it doesn’t just crack in two at the first sign. Not what one wants in allegedly high-end kit.
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several posters on weigh weenies suggest that 105 cranks don’t have the same problem- probably a drop in replacement but a little heavier
 
Yes, I’m currently researching 105/R7000. I’ve seen conflicting opinions, but the suggestion is they are hollow-forged like 105 5800, Ultegra 6700 (which I have nothing but respect for as I suspect it saved my foot in the accident a few years ago as it didn’t shatter even with a long-wheelbase van going over it) rather than the glued two-part construction of 6800, 8000 and DuraAce. It could be a good cheap option to guarantee safety. Apparently DuraAce is glued both sides and both can fail, Ultegra 6800 and 8000 are only the drive side.

Given I’m a far from athletic fair-weather cyclist I’m tempted to watch it very closely but hold-out for a while in case there is a recall program, which I’d expect really given the potential danger of a catastrophic failure. I guess the older the cranks get the more likely that fail becomes, and the more people who will start to get injured/litigious. I certainly don’t want to keep the cranks on the bike long-term, but I suspect I’m safe for another year or so given low use in good conditions. I was hoping this bike would need nothing beyond normal consumables (chains, tyres, brake-pads, cassettes etc) to see me out, so I’m certainly a bit annoyed about it.
 
I've liked the 11-51 11-speed 1x drivetrain I've got on one of the bikes as having the 51 low gear does allow a decent range of gears if you use something like a 36, 38 or 40 up front as it allows a reasonable high gear as well as covering the low end. With most 1x set-ups (barring 12-speed with cassette's having a 10 cog on the back - but that would be expensive to fit to my bikes as I'd need a new back wheel) I've found they don't quite allow a wide enough range for an XC mountain bike if you want to be able to go fast on the flat. So with that in mind I've bought the bits to convert another of the bikes to that set-up - this time ordering the necessary components from a supplier in China via Ebay - £107.99 including postage for the 11-51 cassette, the matching (very) long cage Deore rear mech, shifter and a chain. Took 3-weeks to arrive and they are all genuine Shimano so that's a bargain I think (it's about £35 cheaper than from Wiggle, who don't have several of the components in stock anyway).

Not sure yet which of the bikes I'll move to that set-up. I might even just use it to convert my wife's mountain bike to 1x as it's still on 3x9 and she's never got on well with having 2 shifters.
 
We never saw a single ultegra crank failure with the new stuff, so defo way less than 0.1% failure rate. Perhaps it was a batch issue?
 
I was planning to do a mountain bike ride tonight however the heavens opened and I wimped out! I did a little bit of bike fettling instead - sorting out a couple of the things on my to-do list. The Enduro has gone on a little bit of a weight loss programme with the switch to an XTR chainset (I was surprised just how much lighter that is than the Deore one that was on their before) as well as a change of tyres to Racing Ralphs. It'll be interesting to see what impact the switch to less draggy tyres has on it.

Also sorted out the indexing on the Inbred, however there is still a fair few things on my to-do list - one downside of having too many bikes.
 
That's another of my fleet gone as my Inbred has now found a buyer. I thought it'd go to someone experienced who knew what it was but instead it went to someone that didn't know much about mountain bikes but realised it was going to be a better option as his first MTB to go with an older decent spec one than going for something like a £350-400 entry level bike. It has an 11-42 cassette and a 34t chainring (1x10) which was fine for me but I also gave him a spare 32t narrow/wide chainring and suggested he change to that if the hills give him trouble. I think I might have taken on the role of his online coach as I've already had a couple of questions back including on how to make the bars higher. It was set up as an XC bike, although not aggressively stretched out or anything but probably does seem rather long and low if you've only ridden cheap hybrids before!

I hope I don't end up seeing it in use with the saddle slammed down and some kind of high-lift stem added though!

I've ended up in a bit of quandary though as I'd bought in the bits needed to rebuild it as an Alfine hub gear winter bike but don't have as suitable a frame any-more. I do have an Alfine chain tensioner in the parts bin though (which I've had for 10 years and never used!) so might rebuild one of the other hardtails for the winter using that. Either that or stick it on my wife's mountain bike as she'd like the simplicity of the hub gear.
 
Speaking of Alfine, I have dropped on for a wheel with one. A mate was given it, but it's a 26 MTB and he is all 27.5 these days. I've not yet got it but I think it should be ideal for the commuter. I'm not worried about the selectors, they are old school Shimano thumbies that will work anything, but what else might I need? What's the chain tensioner arrangement, is it like a single speed?
 
stevec67 said:
Speaking of Alfine, I have dropped on for a wheel with one. A mate was given it, but it's a 26 MTB and he is all 27.5 these days. I've not yet got it but I think it should be ideal for the commuter. I'm not worried about the selectors, they are old school Shimano thumbies that will work anything, but what else might I need? What's the chain tensioner arrangement, is it like a single speed?
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If the frame isn't already set up for singlespeed (e.g. slot dropouts or some other way of tensioning the chain) then you will need a tensioner. There is an Alfine specific one but I image any singlespeed tensioner should work. My Roadrat has Alfine gearing but is a slot dropout frame so doesn't need a tensioner so I haven't tried one yet.

The shifter is an Alfine specific one I think but they are cheap and you might also need the fitting kit (it has the various nuts and turn washers as well as the cassette joint unit if that's not already on the wheel) - it's also cheap though.
 
Thanks, it's a conventional mtb with vertical rear dropouts. The rear rim is about knackered anyway, so it's timely. I'm struggling to keep it true and it's bumping under braking, so I suspect a change is well overdue.
 
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