advertisement


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

stevec67 said:
That's a result. Well done on getting an Octalink to last 1500 miles BTW. I jest, even that ill thought out piece of junk should last a couple of years. Not Shimano's finest hour.
Click to expand...

That good huh :D?
If it's advisable to change it and you can point me at a better (and affordable) alternative it then I might just do that.
 
calorgas said:
That good huh :D?
If it's advisable to change it and you can point me at a better (and affordable) alternative it then I might just do that.
Click to expand...
If it works keep it. The cure is a new crankset using anything other than f*ing Octalink. When mine wore out Octalink was still new and sexy so a new BB was £35. A mate had a spare crankset, nearly new, a new sq taper BB was cheap. Anyway you now have a spare, so run this till it wears out, then drop the new one in. With 2 Octalink BBs you might get, ooh, as much as 2 years or 2000 miles.

Don't sweat it. Nothing else will break or wear out as a result of it being worn, so just run it. Do remember to put coppergrease on the threads for less crying at change time.
 
I had a strange experience a couple of weeks ago. I was on my B'Twin commuting bike and all of a sudden it lost drive i.e. the chain was still on but it completely freewheeled in both directions. I got off and had a look and as I couldn't see anything I started walking to work (I only had about 1km to go so I was pretty much almost there). During a random re-check along the way, I found that drive had returned, but no sooner had I got on the bike and pedalled more than a few metres, it lost drive again. During another random re-check a few minutes later - this time executing a number of gear changes with the back wheel off the ground - I found that drive had returned and it's been fine ever since. What's that all about?
 
BTW was this one of the bikes that has had a confrontation with a car ? I remember you've been more than a little cursed in that respect. (Just thankful you're still here). If so that might have caused some internal damage - but it amounts to the same - new rear wheel ASAP.
 
cctaylor said:
@windhoek What type of gears does the bike have? Derailleur or internal hub gears?
Click to expand...

It a 21-speed bike with a 7-gear derailleur setup at the back wheel. It hadn't been involved in any hits to my knowledge before the freewheeling things happened (I bought it second hand), although me and the bike took a hit last weekend when I got plum sideswiped by a car that turned left without warning. The bike seems to be working as well as ever - before and after that particular incident - so I'm really not sure what was going on when it temporarily started freewheeling both ways a couple of weeks ago. A glitch in the matrix, perhaps?
 
windhoek said:
It a 21-speed bike with a 7-gear derailleur setup at the back wheel. It hadn't been involved in any hits to my knowledge before the freewheeling things happened (I bought it second hand), although me and the bike took a hit last weekend when I got plum sideswiped by a car that turned left without warning. The bike seems to be working as well as ever - before and after that particular incident - so I'm really not sure what was going on when it temporarily started freewheeling both ways a couple of weeks ago. A glitch in the matrix, perhaps?
Click to expand...

If it happened before it could well happen again, possibly when your standing on the pedals to get out from in front of something. IMO the bike is unsafe and you should replace the freewheel / freehub. If it's a screw on freewheel then the wheel itself can be saved and you just need a new freewheel (maybe 30 quid) - but if it's a cassette on a freehub you need a new rear wheel.
 
windhoek said:
It a 21-speed bike with a 7-gear derailleur setup at the back wheel. It hadn't been involved in any hits to my knowledge before the freewheeling things happened (I bought it second hand), although me and the bike took a hit last weekend when I got plum sideswiped by a car that turned left without warning. The bike seems to be working as well as ever - before and after that particular incident - so I'm really not sure what was going on when it temporarily started freewheeling both ways a couple of weeks ago. A glitch in the matrix, perhaps?
Click to expand...
No glitch in the matrix, crud in the mechanism. Some hubs will rebuild (Hope for example) but SHimano is very laborious and it's easier to buy a new freehub or entire hub and swap the bits. Sometimes you can clean it up with oil and paraffin and wash the crud out. Sometimes not.
 
If it's a 7 speed shimano freehub then new ones are unobtanium - as the owner of a shimano 7 speed freehub from the mid-90s I have looked. 7 speeds newer than 20 years old are usually freewheels (cassette and freehub in one), in which case a new freewheel is all that's required.
 
Sounds like the rear freehub is doomed so I'll probably keep going till it's completely done. The whole bike has served me well so it might well she's worth some new parts when the time comes. At least I now know what's going on... and it's not a glitch in the matrix!
 
I wouldn't want to trust that freewheel/freehub now. Too risky, could throw you off if it lets go under pressure. I still have the scars from the time a Sturmey Archer 3 speed ended up in no gear when I changed gears throwing me into a barbed wire fence.
 
Last edited:
So is a freehub. You need to buy a whole hub and unscrew the' freehub bit, but that's easy if you have 2 spare spokes and a vice. Once that's done, unscrewing the knackered hub is easy, because it's in a wheel, and spinning in the new one equally straightforward. I did this last summer to a Shimano 9 speed free hub from a 2005 (?) bike. Change from £25.
 
stevec67 said:
So is a freehub. You need to buy a whole hub and unscrew the' freehub bit, but that's easy if you have 2 spare spokes and a vice. Once that's done, unscrewing the knackered hub is easy, because it's in a wheel, and spinning in the new one equally straightforward. I did this last summer to a Shimano 9 speed free hub from a 2005 (?) bike. Change from £25.
Click to expand...

Agreed - but not a 7 speed freehub. Shimano made several types, and many are now unavailable and not compatible with 8 speed and later freehubs.
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
sean99 said:
Agreed - but not a 7 speed freehub. Shimano made several types, and many are now unavailable and not compatible with 8 speed and later freehubs.
Click to expand...
Don't I know it, I have stripped them down completely and tried the "one good from 2 worn out" trick. Nope.
 
I think the trouble with octalink is the interface between the bottom bracket and cranks - if they get loose the cranks get chewed up and then they'll always wobble.
Not sure how many miles the one on my bike has done but I must have put 5k or so on it without a problem.
 
Lovely ride with my son yesterday to the edge of Leeds, then a trip through the grounds of Temple Newsam on the way home.
6-E7-AFC1-A-0-D1-A-4-D5-D-93-E6-19-BA01-E451-EB.jpg

186-D1-FF8-431-E-42-CD-821-C-EBF38-A52-BEC4.jpg
(The photo of Temple Newsam is one I took a few year ago, the Leeds one was taken yesterday)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top