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Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX
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The quick question - does the crank in the video below spin as freely as it should?






The long explanation and question:


Bought a used P5six this winter and brought to the closest LBS to install a Quarq power meter and bottom bracket (he said it was a ceramic bearing bottom bracket that is top of the line - Wheels Mfg PF30). Also for a full tune up to get ready for IMTX. First sign of trouble was that the wheels weren't inflated when I picked up the bike and the rear tire was binding on the brakes. So I seriously doubt they actually verified everything was working properly even though they claim so. When I put it on the trainer and the chain was skipping in a few gears - but I figure it was the difference from the race wheel and cassette versus the electronic trainer. Its a drive to get to the shop as I'm rural and not real confident in the service to make the effort worth it at this point. Figured these are items that can be dealt with at the bike repair place at the athletes village.

The snow melted enough that I could finally get on the road today. The chain broke 4 miles in so when I got home, after a bit of a walk, I put it up and noticed the cranks don't seem to turn freely. But I don't have a lot of experience in how freely they should spin when there isn't a chain attached. In my mind I think it should spin freely similar to a wheel.

Is the spin in the video typical or should it continue to spin for a lot longer? Need to decide whether I need to go to plan B and switch to an old bike for this coming weekend as we leave in 48 hours.

Thanks in advance,

Jeff
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Re: Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX [wjoiner] [ In reply to ]
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Not a bike expert/mechanic but a guy who has installed some cranks. I would say that spins pretty freely.
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Re: Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX [wjoiner] [ In reply to ]
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What's that weird rubbing sound at the beginning?
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Re: Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX [wjoiner] [ In reply to ]
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no they should spin a lot longer, and what is that sound
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Re: Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX [logella] [ In reply to ]
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The sound is the wheel rubbing on the workbench. I have the original Bottom bracket and cranks so may need to switch those out. Does anyone know if that is something they will do at the athletes village bike shop?

I don’t have any tools specific for it otherwise I’d be fine to attempt to switch it out.
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Re: Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX [wjoiner] [ In reply to ]
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Does anyone know if that is something they will do at the athletes village bike shop?

No idea.

But, you could try to call Ken at Bike Lane (it's in The Woodlands) and ask him if you can bring it on for a repair. They're a large Cervelo dealer and he's a great mechanic. No promises you'll be able to get in though as he's pretty slammed with local athletes getting ready for the race.
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Re: Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX [wjoiner] [ In reply to ]
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Looks fine to me, you could pay a shop $20-30 to pull the cranks and inspect the BB bearings. Again, looks good enough for me unless you are counting on those extra 3-4 watts.
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Re: Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX [wjoiner] [ In reply to ]
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How much was the bottom bracket. Definitely should spin more freely than that if brand new. From a performance stand point I wouldn't worry about it for this race, but it is nice to know you aren't getting ripped off and taken for.


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Re: Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX [Thomas Gerlach] [ In reply to ]
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I was charged more than I expected - but I'm not upset to do my part to keep a LBS in business. I was charged: PF30 BB (ceramic bearings) - $185, Spindle shim - $29.50, and installation of $35.
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Re: Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX [wjoiner] [ In reply to ]
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Is there a wave washer on non-drive side or a preload nut or both:) Do you know how to adjust preload?
Last edited by: ktm520: Apr 23, 18 5:22
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Re: Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX [wjoiner] [ In reply to ]
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I have a P3 with BBright , ceramic, and GPX. I wrench my own bike for almost 100% of things. When I have done the same my crankset spins way way more than that, I would say as freely as a bicycle wheel does, just doesn't have the inertia of a wheel so not as long.

Good Luck!
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Re: Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX [wjoiner] [ In reply to ]
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If you don't hear a scratching sound or something, it should be fine for the race. However your suspicions are correct, it should spin more freely. I had the same issue once, basically everything was correctly done but it just didn't spin freely, and that was with a 150$ Rotor Ceramic BB, so I was pretty upset. Replace the bearings with 25$ steel bearings from FSA, and it moved super smoothly. I am not a mechanic and cant say why, if its incorrect installation, or maybe has something to do with production tolerances, but sometimes things just don't seem to fit as they should. I would go back to the shop and talk to them about it - paying more at a LBS is of course correct, but then the quality should be adequate to the price as well.
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Re: Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX [wjoiner] [ In reply to ]
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wjoiner wrote:
The snow melted enough that I could finally get on the road today. The chain broke 4 miles in

Forget the b.b., this is what caught my eye. A broken chain can easily result in a serious crash. Who installed it?
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Re: Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX [Andrew Coggan] [ In reply to ]
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Chains simply should not break in use.
For the BB, put your ear on the frame and spin it, if you can hear a rumble you need new bearings. Remove the pedals if you cannot stop them from spinning.
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Re: Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX [wjoiner] [ In reply to ]
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This is a new BB? If so, that grease probably hasn't loosened up in there yet. It needs some time if new. My new BB installed took a couple hundred miles before it spun freely.
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Re: Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX [Andrew Coggan] [ In reply to ]
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To answer the last few questions: The LBS installed the chain and the BB was brand new about 4-6 weeks old with only trainer use. So about 50 hours of riding. I ended up getting ahold of them and driving it down before work this morning. They said everything is good and put my back up chain on. Good news is that I did a short ride on it tonight and feels good - except the chain dropped the first time I tried to go from small ring to big ring (no big deal since I won't even touch the small ring on the Texas course). So I plan to bring it to the shop at the expo for a look over just for peace of mind.

At this point I'm just glad to have a functioning bike and so grateful the chain didn't break during the race.
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Re: Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX [wjoiner] [ In reply to ]
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wjoiner wrote:
I was charged more than I expected - but I'm not upset to do my part to keep a LBS in business. I was charged: PF30 BB (ceramic bearings) - $185, Spindle shim - $29.50, and installation of $35.

Did they say what kind of ceramic bearings are in there. For that price they better be Ceramic Speed.


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Re: Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX [Thomas Gerlach] [ In reply to ]
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It was a Wheels Mfg PF30 ceramic BB - from a quick internet search it doesn't seem inappropriately priced. These are the struggles of us in the middle of nowhere - LBS's just don't have experience with higher end bikes or components due to low demand with a small population base.
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Re: Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX [wjoiner] [ In reply to ]
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Looks like its time to learn to wrench your own bike - best way to learn the intricacies of your bike. You tube and Dr. Google would be good places to start and of course Slowtwitch.

------------------------------------------------------------
"PAIN is nothing compared to what it feels like to QUIT" Wink
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Re: Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX [wjoiner] [ In reply to ]
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I'd find a new shop.

Uninflated tires
Binding brakes
Skipping gears
Soon to be broken chain

Sounds like you got the Anti-tuneup.

Formerly DrD
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Re: Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX [wjoiner] [ In reply to ]
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wjoiner wrote:
I did a short ride on it tonight and feels good - except the chain dropped the first time I tried to go from small ring to big ring

Fire your mechanic.

Here is how I have always tested the adjustment of cable-operated derailleurs, going back to when I was 16 y old and assembling Schwinn Varsity bikes at piece rate: put the bike in the stand, crank it up by hand as fast as you can, then keep cranking it while shifting front and rear derailleurs as rapidly as you can up and down the cassette and between chain rings. If the chain *ever* falls off, stop, re-adjust everything, and repeat until the system passes this derailleur torture test. Once it does, the odds of unshipping a chain while actually out riding are almost nil.

(Of course, I would also take the time to pre-stretch all the cables of those same Schwinn Varsity bikes, so customers weren't forced to come back for their "free 30 d check-up!" just because the cables had stretched a bit. I would also bed in the spokes and then re-tension them, so the wheels didn't go all wobbly in the first 100 miles. It's no wonder I never really made any money at that job...)
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Re: Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX [Andrew Coggan] [ In reply to ]
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Andrew Coggan wrote:
wjoiner wrote:
I did a short ride on it tonight and feels good - except the chain dropped the first time I tried to go from small ring to big ring


Fire your mechanic.

Here is how I have always tested the adjustment of cable-operated derailleurs, going back to when I was 16 y old and assembling Schwinn Varsity bikes at piece rate: put the bike in the stand, crank it up by hand as fast as you can, then keep cranking it while shifting front and rear derailleurs as rapidly as you can up and down the cassette and between chain rings. If the chain *ever* falls off, stop, re-adjust everything, and repeat until the system passes this derailleur torture test. Once it does, the odds of unshipping a chain while actually out riding are almost nil.

This is timely as I dropped a chain last night on my TT bike and my roadie had some issues last weekend.

Thanks for the tip!
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Re: Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX [Andrew Coggan] [ In reply to ]
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Andrew Coggan wrote:
wjoiner wrote:
I did a short ride on it tonight and feels good - except the chain dropped the first time I tried to go from small ring to big ring




Here is how I have always tested the adjustment of cable-operated derailleurs, going back to when I was 16 y old and assembling Schwinn Varsity bikes at piece rate: put the bike in the stand, crank it up by hand as fast as you can, then keep cranking it while shifting front and rear derailleurs as rapidly as you can up and down the cassette and between chain rings. If the chain *ever* falls off, stop, re-adjust everything, and repeat until the system passes this derailleur torture test. Once it does, the odds of unshipping a chain while actually out riding are almost nil.

My daughter was watching me test out my RD by shifting up and down the cassette rapidly while cranking the cranks. She asked me why I was trying to hurt my bike? Made me laugh and I got to bore her to death with explaining how the RD works.

Oui, mais pas de femme toute de suite (yes, but I am not ready for a woman straight away) -Stephen Roche's reply when asked whether he was okay after collapsing at the finish in the La Plagne stage of the 1987 Tour
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Re: Bike trouble - 6 days out to IMTX [wjoiner] [ In reply to ]
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I have a Ceramic Speed BB and it spins similarly to that. I was going to tell you it is fine (I've had better and worse cranks at spinning). Now after reading all the responses I'm wondering if I need to do something about mine!

Dimond Bikes Superfan
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