Advice on seat posts

Pilgrim said:

Hey group. Your help is really getting my bike in good shape. Just a
few more things I need to ask before she's ready to hit the trail:

I need a taller seat post, a RD with a longer cage for hitting all 8
sprockets, and a triple ring crank. What should I be looking for as I
rummage through the parts bins at the bike co-op? They don't have much
name brand stuff, but there are occasionally pretty good components in
there.

1)If you need alonger seatpost, you want a seatpost of the same
diameter (usually marked on the seatpost, e.g., 26.6) that has a
longer length between the saddle mount and the "minimum insertion"
line. Make sure it is the *same diameter*, this is not a good place to
fake it.

2) Your existing Suntour AR RD should work fine. Adjust the limit
screws to allow it to reach all the cogs. A longer cage is really
*not* necessary (really!), just size the chain to clear the big ring/
biggest cog combination. A newer, index capable, longer cage RD would
be nice, but it is not a necessity, by any means.

3) What happened to the Suntour triple from your other bike?

Ozark Bicycle said:

Pilgrim said:

Hey group. Your help is really getting my bike in good shape. Just a
few more things I need to ask before she's ready to hit the trail:

Quoted message said:

I need a taller seat post, a RD with a longer cage for hitting all 8
sprockets, and a triple ring crank. What should I be looking for as I
rummage through the parts bins at the bike co-op? They don't have much
name brand stuff, but there are occasionally pretty good components in
there.

1)If you need alonger seatpost, you want a seatpost of the same
diameter (usually marked on the seatpost, e.g., 26.6) that has a
longer length between the saddle mount and the "minimum insertion"
line. Make sure it is the *same diameter*, this is not a good place to
fake it.

2) Your existing Suntour AR RD should work fine. Adjust the limit
screws to allow it to reach all the cogs. A longer cage is really
*not* necessary (really!), just size the chain to clear the big ring/
biggest cog combination. A newer, index capable, longer cage RD would
be nice, but it is not a necessity, by any means.

3) What happened to the Suntour triple from your other bike?

Is the seat bracket part of the post? Are some seat brackets more
durable/ easy to adjust than others? That's the part that concerns me
more than the post itself. The ones I saw seemed to be pretty
different. Do most seats mount on the same brackets?

I backed the limit screws all the way out and it still won't reach
those two cogs. When I look at the clearance on the pulley closest to
the cassette it just doesn't look like there's room for the chain to
ride between the biggest cog and the pulley even if the arm moved that
far in. Are there any RD characteristics I should be looking for? How
can I tell if it's index capable, or newer for that matter.

I'm really just looking for options on the crank. I want to see if
they have anything that might be a little more durable. The suntour
one looks dirt cheap, it's just stamped steel, no chrome or anything,
and no ramps. If they have something that might last longer or work
better I'd like to use it while I've got my BB torn apart. I like that
you're keeping thrift in mind when you're advising because that's
important to me, but if I can find something better for $5 I should
take it. I just don't know exactly what to look for, and the
volunteers at the Bike Kitchen aren't exactly helpful when it comes to
that.

Cheers!

Pilgrim said:

On Mar 5, 2:15 pm, "Ozark Bicycle"

Quoted message said:

On Mar 5, 3:59 pm, "Pilgrim" <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Hey group. Your help is really getting my bike in good shape. Just a
few more things I need to ask before she's ready to hit the trail:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I need a taller seat post, a RD with a longer cage for hitting all 8
sprockets, and a triple ring crank. What should I be looking for as I
rummage through the parts bins at the bike co-op? They don't have much
name brand stuff, but there are occasionally pretty good components in
there.

Quoted message said:

1)If you need alonger seatpost, you want a seatpost of the same
diameter (usually marked on the seatpost, e.g., 26.6) that has a
longer length between the saddle mount and the "minimum insertion"
line. Make sure it is the *same diameter*, this is not a good place to
fake it.

Quoted message said:

2) Your existing Suntour AR RD should work fine. Adjust the limit
screws to allow it to reach all the cogs. A longer cage is really
*not* necessary (really!), just size the chain to clear the big ring/
biggest cog combination. A newer, index capable, longer cage RD would
be nice, but it is not a necessity, by any means.

Quoted message said:

3) What happened to the Suntour triple from your other bike?

Is the seat bracket part of the post?

On modern seatposts, yes. Some older/cheaper set-ups use a seperate
"seat pin" and mounting bracket.

Quoted message said:

Are some seat brackets more
durable/ easy to adjust than others?

Yes.

Quoted message said:

That's the part that concerns me
more than the post itself. The ones I saw seemed to be pretty
different. Do most seats mount on the same brackets?

Almost all modern saddles have the same width between the rails and
will mount on almost all modern seatposts.

A failed seatpost makes for a classic "bad day". Were I you, I'd buy
something like a new 350mm Kalloy (or similar) seatpost in exactly the
right diameter. Under $15 on the internet.

Quoted message said:

I backed the limit screws all the way out and it still won't reach
those two cogs. When I look at the clearance on the pulley closest to
the cassette it just doesn't look like there's room for the chain to
ride between the biggest cog and the pulley even if the arm moved that
far in.

Using the Suntour AR RD, do the following:

1)disconnect the cable

2)back the "L" limit screw out as far as possible

3)adjust the "H" limit screw so that the pulleys line up with the
smallest cog

4)there is a screw that faces out the rear of the RD, about 1" above
the cable entry point.
Turn it all the way in.

5)move the rear (right) shifter to full "high gear" position (all the
way down/forward on a Barcon)

6)turn the cable entry point adjusting screw all the way in

7)re-attach the cable, taking up any slack prior to tightening things
down

8) SLOWLY shift toward the biggest cog, adjust the "L" limit screw to
keep the RD cage out of the spokes. (You may need to turn the cable
entry point adjusting screw out a bit to reach the biggest cog.)

See if that makes things workable. :-)

Quoted message said:

Are there any RD characteristics I should be looking for? How
can I tell if it's index capable, or newer for that matter.

I'm really just looking for options on the crank. I want to see if
they have anything that might be a little more durable. The suntour
one looks dirt cheap, it's just stamped steel, no chrome or anything,
and no ramps. If they have something that might last longer or work
better I'd like to use it while I've got my BB torn apart. I like that
you're keeping thrift in mind when you're advising because that's
important to me, but if I can find something better for $5 I should
take it. I just don't know exactly what to look for, and the
volunteers at the Bike Kitchen aren't exactly helpful when it comes to
that.

Cheers!- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Per Pilgrim:

Quoted message said:

taller seat post, a RD with a longer cage for hitting all 8
sprockets, and a triple ring crank. What should I be looking for as I
rummage through the parts bins at the bike co-op?

I'd try to find a micro-adjustable (i.e. continuously-adjustable) post.

Very small diffs in angle can give very large differences in comfort.
--
PeteCresswell

"Pilgrim" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hey group. Your help is really getting my bike in good shape. Just a
few more things I need to ask before she's ready to hit the trail:

I need a taller seat post,

I recently got a brand new SR 26.2mm seatpost for my old Motobecane off of
Ebay for only $4. It was probably cheap because it's an odd size and not an
interesting seatpost. You should be able to find a similar one in a parts
bin. Be sure it's the right diameter.

http://www.bikepro.com/arch_products/seatposts/asr.html

Not a micro-adjust but sometimes you get lucky, my saddle ends up at a good
angle.

Greg