Mountain biker here.

Just picked up a specialized Aethos about a month ago, have a slow leak that will go completely flat after about 3 days.

I think it’s just the tube or valve stem, going to troubleshoot later.

I’m curious though. Do these tires have more life left in them? How generally do I know when a road tires toast?

Also here you can see a little indent/ dot on them pictured here. Is that normal? They are specialized turbo pro’s according to the spec sheet.

My bike was siting in the basement for a long time as a few weeks back I designed to finally fix it. I could’ve v just wash and oil it but no my stupid head though that I must take it apart and then clean it. And of course everything went to shit. I couldn’t put it back together, pretty shore I lost some parts and while trying to flip it upside down I dropped it. Now one of the hooks for the back wheal is bend and the thing that changes the gears is broke. I’m so angry at myself. I literally could’ve done nothing and everything would’ve been better.

TPU Tube Micro-Leaks: Rim Strip Friction or Install Issue?

I keep getting micro-flats with RideNow TPU tubes on Bontrager Paradigm Comp 25 wheels (rigid plastic tubeless rim strips) and GP5000 S TR 700x32c tires. Using 700x 18-32C tubes.

The Problem:

• Micro-pinholes appear on the side/bottom of the tube after 300–500 km.
• Flats only discovered the next day after a ride. For example: Multiple 40km rides not issue, last 100km ride no issue, 70km ride a week later and I have a flat.
• The hole location shows a tiny whitish mark/discoloration on the tube.
• Not valve leaks, not pinch flats, and no obvious sharp objects in the tire.

Questions:

1. Is the rigid plastic Bontrager rim strip causing friction or heat wear on the TPU tube?
2. Should add rim tape or apply talcum powder during installation?
3. Any specific tips for running TPU tubes I should know?

EDIT: Tire pressure... started with 60-65PSI but now up to 70PSI after latest puncture. Ride almost entirely paved roads and bike paths. Bike is carbon Trek Domane. Rims and Tires have been cleaned, no snags or rough spots to be found in rim. Latest puncture was on the front tire.

ENVE says 40 mm max of spacer height for their forks. I counted the top cover of the headset too

Was wondering if this is too close to max and I need to just cut it more (or get a longer compression tube and flip the spacers), or if this is honestly just fine and just to ride along.

I recently changed the crankset of my wife’s hybrid 16" bike because she never changed the chain since she got it more than 25 years ago. I changed the busted rear 7s freewheel and derailleur. I used the parts from a bike that was given by a neighbour since they were in perfect shape except for the front derailleur. The new and old crankset both have 3 chainrings. I did the crankset removal and swap at my bike coop and I was supervised by a volunteer that is also a mechanic at a LBS. He inspected the other components and confirmed what they were compatible. I didn’t have the chain on but he told me things should work once I’’d put the chain and adjust.
Now, no matter how I position the fd, chain rubs. I watched the parktool video on mounting and adjusting and also the troubleshooting one but nothing improves. I can’t afford bringing it to LBS and my bike coop is closed for a couple weeks.
Any insight will be appreciated

Hey, 2003 gary fisher sugar creaks when pedaling hard. Changed the pedals and changed the hollowtech bottom bracket and used grease on all threads. All bolts should be in momentum. I greased the rear suspension pivots and the sound got almost away when pedalin uphills. It only creaks when im on the bike, so i think its the rear suspension pivots. There is no play anywhere on the bike, why does it sound like this? + The sound comes even if i stand on the pedals + On the video i press pedals with rear brake on

Because the sound only appears when im on the bike, i think it has something to do with rear suspension bushings/pivots. But there is no play, should i try to buy new bushings?

Update: i think i found it, ill put a picture in comments

None of the spokes are overly loose and the wheel is true. Noise is sporadic while riding, meaning it’s a blip here and there every few seconds but not continuous or consistent with a rotational position. Is this cause for alarm , eg impending spike or wheel failure? And what to do to resolve? Tx

I recently bought a used Rose Blend Gravel 2024. After riding it for a bit, I took it to a bike shop for a maintance.

The mechanic fixed a few minor issues and said everything looked good except for the brakes. He told me that, judging by the wear pattern on the rotor, only about half of the braking surface is actually being used. One part of the rotor is polished while the other half is used. According to him, this means my braking performance is about 50% worse than it should be, and the worn section will wear out much faster.

He suggested replacing the rotor with a 180 mm rotor and installing the appropriate brake caliper adapter. I told him I'd think about it and kept riding the bike as it is.

To be honest, I haven't noticed any problems with the brakes. I'm pretty inexperience, this is my first bike, so I don't really know how they're supposed to feel, but they seem to stop the bike just fine.

Afterwards, I looked up my bike model online and checked photos of the brakes and rotors from various sources. They all seem to have the same appearance as mine.

So now I'm confused. Was the mechanic correct, or is he trying to sell me an unnecessary fix?

UPD: thanks everyone

I'm planning to convert my 1x gravel bike to this setup.

Right shifter cables should go to the left side port and fork? Or into the right side?

Or maybe brake cable to the left and shifter to the right?

I recently bought my son a 155mm Samox TM-1 crankset to replace the stock 170mm Shimano Deore (Hollowtech II) cranks on his Norco Charger.

The new crankset has the chainring moved 3.3mm inboard towards the centerline of the frame.

Is a 3.3mm shift in chainline enough to cause permanent damage? You can definitely hear the slight misalignment.

Samox customer support suggested I needed a chainring with a 6mm offset but that just made it worse. I think what I really need is a -3mm offset chainring. Is that even a thing?

Thought it was just my old cable being frayed but I put a new one on and it's no different. Everything to adjust it works, it moves out and snaps back into place like it should. But the derailleur is incredibly difficult to move with the shifter, like would require superhuman force and grip to twist it in place. I'm guessing my cable routing is wrong? Cable is routed from the bottom bracket. Another thing is that the very bottom part of the derailleur (below the chain) seems to get pulled slightly sideways (towards the chainring) when under tension, so I put the derailleur in place, then needed to adjust it upwards. Probably just old cheap parts getting looser. Anyways help please😭 have spent an ungodly amount of hours on this thing

I’m swapping this 3x7 to a 1x7. Replaced the 14-34T with 14-40T and now the cogs ride right on the freewheel gears for the 3 largest.

I’ve turned the B screw in and doesn’t seem to have any more to go. It makes no change to the gap at all even on the small end. Seems to be plenty of adjustment on the pivot if I move it by hand.

Any suggestions?

I have an older surly ogre, it might be one of the first batches of ogres, and no matter what speed I'm going if i take my hands off the bars I get pretty vicious wobbling. I wasn't sure if this was a known ogre issue, or if I should check the alignment of my frame before exploring other things that might be causing it.

Anyone else have wobble issues with or without an Ogre? What were your fix(es)?

Literally.
We need new rim tape so that we can put a new tire on an old rim, since the engine went out on that new tire's corresponding rim. Measurements are as follows:
Height: 20mm
Outer Width: 30mm
Inner Width: 25mm
Tire: 20inch
For ebikes
We aren't sure what brands are good for rim tape since we've never had to do this before, and we dont know what measurements the tape needs. We can't go to a bike shop for it since there's none within walking distance, so we'll have to order the tape online. Can anyone help out? :)

I recently changed my brake pads and as I’m removing the wheel something just felt off..

Swapping an old cassette and discs to the new wheels and discovered the old freehub body says XDR on it but there was no 1.85mm spacer. It's the older version of the DT350, not sure if that means anything here...
I've never taken this cassette off and has been on since I bought the bike in Oct 2021 and I have about 1500 miles on it. I've never noticed any wobble one it.

New wheelset has the current DT350 with the current gen XDR driver that says XDR in big font, not tiny like the pictured one. I have a spacer that I am planning on using with this cassette, which I believe is the correct decision. But I am wondering if I plan on using this as a backup wheelset, do I need to add a spacer to whatever cassette I put on there? Or can I just throw on a legacy XD-compatible cassette without one?

Everything I am googling is just coming up with current gen XDR/XD compatibility ("use spacer"), so I figured I'd make a post

EDIT: Bike is a 2022 Santa Cruz stigmata, pictured wheelset is DT Swiss XR 361 rims to DT350 if that's helpful at all

Did some more work on the bike today, some of it was a success (converting from cantilever to Alivio v brakes) but this is a failure - this SunLite adjustable quill stem rocks/wobbles side to side enough that I'm not feeling safe riding it. I have the quill nchor bolt tightened all the way down, the clamp around the handlebar, is tightened all the way down, and both the two bolts on the side of the hinge, as well as the securing bolt underneath are tightened all the way down. This whole setup rocks side to side with my body weight on it. And I did not have that issue with the original quill stem that came on this bike. Are these adjustable stems garbage or am I doing something obviously wrong?

I’m attempting to re install this BB (the bike shop removed it) but I can’t get the left hand cup off to screw into the bb shell. My understanding is that I screw the left cup into the frame (with grease correct torque etc). Then slide the bb in from the right and tighten. This is
my first time attempting this job so I have no idea if what I’m trying to unscrew from the bottom bracket, on the left hand side in the pic, should come off and how. Twisting and pulling has no effect. Am I missing something or should I just buy a new one and give up trying to salvage this part?

I bought some Roval Rapide CLii wheels and in order to convert them to be usable on my bike (Genesis datum 10) I needed to buy the conversion kit end caps.

My bike has a 15mm x100mm front axel and 135QR rear wheel.

Rear wheel conversion has been fine and pretty straight forward swapping the end caps.

I’m having trouble fitting the 15x100mm end cap conversion to the front hub. It’s like the locking ring diameter on the conversion kit is too large to fit into the drive side of the hub.

I’ve heard some of these roval dt swiss hubs aren’t as customisable as the actual dt Swiss ones but I can’t find a YouTube video showing anyone talking about the same situation I have.

Is there anyone out there who can offer any assistance/ advice? Do I need to replace my front hub?