What I learned this year 2006 thread

In article <[email hidden]>, elyob

Quoted message said:

1. Sturmey Archer gears are not as good as proper gears. I had one
bloody knee and a ruined pair of jeans to prove this.

SA 5 speed and properly adjusted are brilliant.

--
T h e - e x t e n d e r ! ! ! !

"Sandy Morton" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, elyob

Quoted message said:

1. Sturmey Archer gears are not as good as proper gears. I had one
bloody knee and a ruined pair of jeans to prove this.

SA 5 speed and properly adjusted are brilliant.

And a pain to adjust correctly when you've never adjusted one!

I also apologise for "learned" in the subject. Learnt, learnt, learnt.

elyob wrote on 31/12/2006 02:19 +0100:

Quoted message said:

"Sandy Morton" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, elyob

Quoted message said:

1. Sturmey Archer gears are not as good as proper gears. I had one
bloody knee and a ruined pair of jeans to prove this.

SA 5 speed and properly adjusted are brilliant.

And a pain to adjust correctly when you've never adjusted one!

As can be derailleurs, especially front ones. Like Sandy I've had no
problems with Sturmey Archers.

--
Tony

"...has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least
wildly inaccurate..."
Douglas Adams; The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

"Tony Raven" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

elyob wrote on 31/12/2006 02:19 +0100:

Quoted message said:

"Sandy Morton" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, elyob
<[email hidden]> wrote:
> 1. Sturmey Archer gears are not as good as proper gears. I had one
> bloody knee and a ruined pair of jeans to prove this.
SA 5 speed and properly adjusted are brilliant.

And a pain to adjust correctly when you've never adjusted one!

As can be derailleurs, especially front ones. Like Sandy I've had no
problems with Sturmey Archers.

- In the most simple of road situations, motorists can materialise from
no-where, and suddenly knock you off.

- In the middle of the countryside, far away from roads, deer can appear
from no-where and knock you off.

- Halfords wheels don't come with "tape" and therefore are designed to
puncture at will.

in message <[email hidden]>, elyob

(') said:

Just thought it may be worth listing some of the "learns" we've had this
year. So, I'll start ...

1. Sturmey Archer gears are not as good as proper gears. I had one bloody
knee and a ruined pair of jeans to prove this.

That's not news. Sturmey Archer have been making lethal and unusable
devices for almost a hundred years. I had learned all I ever want to know
about them by the age of twelve.

Quoted message said:

2. Spray on lube rocks. Sod cleaning bikes until they're showroom
condition, just keep lubing them until they are gunked.

I learned that when I was twelve, too. I've learned more recently that
keeping your transmission in showroom condition not only significantly
improves efficiency and precision of shifts, but also makes it last a lot
longer. You could eat your dinner off my mountain bike transmissions these
days, and carry out minor surgical procedures on my road bike
transmissions.

However, if I was commuting regularly in all weathers, it would be on a
bike with an enclosed transmission - full chaincase and hub gear
(but /not/ Sturmey Archer!)

Quoted message said:

3. A friend who take up cycling can buy three bikes in six months, join a
club and kick my [censored].

Almost anyone can kick mine...

Quoted message said:

I look forward to reading more 🙂

6. There is no limit to what you can spend on bike bling.

7. If you spend stupid amounts on bike bling, you don't subsequently regret
it.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; all in all you're just another click in the call
;; -- Minke Bouyed

Tony Raven <[email hidden]> wrote in news:4vpb0iF1c8vcuU2
@mid.individual.net:

Quoted message said:

As can be derailleurs, especially front ones. Like Sandy I've had no
problems with Sturmey Archers.

I learned to use the cable adjuster for my front mech to trim wretched
thing because there isn't a position that prevents chain rub on the mech
cage for all front/rear combinations - even my LBS has tried and failed.

I also learned that grit in the free side of my bottom bracket when ground
by the crank sounds just like chain rub from my front mech and that I need
to wash out the grit rather than monkey with the front shifter cable
adjuster to make the noise go away.

BTW, my dictionary gives both "learned" and "learnt" as past tense for "to
learn".

"elyob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

"Sandy Morton" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, elyob

Quoted message said:

1. Sturmey Archer gears are not as good as proper gears. I had one
bloody knee and a ruined pair of jeans to prove this.

SA 5 speed and properly adjusted are brilliant.

And a pain to adjust correctly when you've never adjusted one!

You didn't read the manual/sinstructions bookthen ? ;-)

Quoted message said:

- Halfords wheels don't come with "tape" and therefore are designed to
puncture at will.

Most wheels don't come with tape.

A clued up bike shop operative will either slap some on FOC or offer it at
an additional cost.

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

Quoted message said:

2. Spray on lube rocks. Sod cleaning bikes until they're showroom
condition, just keep lubing them until they are gunked.

Makes a very effective and more expensive grinding paste for the
transmission than just putting plain lube everywhere ;-)

In article <[email hidden]>

elyob said:

"Sandy Morton" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, elyob

Quoted message said:

1. Sturmey Archer gears are not as good as proper gears. I had one
bloody knee and a ruined pair of jeans to prove this.

SA 5 speed and properly adjusted are brilliant.

And a pain to adjust correctly when you've never adjusted one!

RTFM :-)

Quoted message said:

I also apologise for "learned" in the subject. Learnt, learnt, learnt.

Nothing wrong with learned.

"Rob Morley" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>

elyob said:

"Sandy Morton" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, elyob
<[email hidden]> wrote:
> 1. Sturmey Archer gears are not as good as proper gears. I had one
> bloody knee and a ruined pair of jeans to prove this.

SA 5 speed and properly adjusted are brilliant.

And a pain to adjust correctly when you've never adjusted one!

RTFM :-)

It's a second hand bike, didn't come with a manual 😉

In article <[email hidden]>

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>, elyob
([email hidden]'😉 wrote:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

1. Sturmey Archer gears are not as good as proper gears. I had one bloody
knee and a ruined pair of jeans to prove this.

That's not news. Sturmey Archer have been making lethal and unusable
devices for almost a hundred years. I had learned all I ever want to know
about them by the age of twelve.

When I was twelve I bought Richards Bicycle Book and read it cover to
cover several times - I've never had persistent mechanical problems with
any of my bikes because I've always been able to fix them, and never
AFAICR had an 'off' because of mechanical failure, although I suppose I
might have adjusted my riding style when on one of those "lethal"
machines ...

Rob Morley said:

In article <[email hidden]>

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>, elyob
([email hidden]'😉 wrote:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

1. Sturmey Archer gears are not as good as proper gears. I had one
bloody knee and a ruined pair of jeans to prove this.

That's not news. Sturmey Archer have been making lethal and unusable
devices for almost a hundred years. I had learned all I ever want to
know about them by the age of twelve.

When I was twelve I bought Richards Bicycle Book and read it cover to
cover several times - I've never had persistent mechanical problems
with any of my bikes because I've always been able to fix them, and
never AFAICR had an 'off' because of mechanical failure, although I
suppose I might have adjusted my riding style when on one of those
"lethal" machines ...

Like don't pedal hard in case the SA gears suddenly come out of adjustment
for no apparent reason, despite them being properly adjusted in the first
place according to Richard's instructions.

~PB

In article <[email hidden]>

Pete Biggs said:

Like don't pedal hard in case the SA gears suddenly come out of adjustment
for no apparent reason,

Don't ride in such a way that suddenly finding neutral will cause major
loss of control. That's not the same as not riding hard, if you go in
for big sprints you probably won't be using hub gears anyway - after all
it is just a utility component.

Quoted message said:

despite them being properly adjusted in the first
place according to Richard's instructions.

If the hub has had a hard life then it won't be wonderful, although
technique can help - easing off when shifting, or occasionally while
pedalling hard, encourages it to stay engaged.

Rob Morley wrote on 31/12/2006 12:11 +0100:

Quoted message said:

Nothing wrong with learned.

Unless it was meant to be "taught" ;-)

--
Tony

"...has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least
wildly inaccurate..."
Douglas Adams; The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Pete Biggs wrote on 31/12/2006 13:11 +0100:

Quoted message said:

Like don't pedal hard in case the SA gears suddenly come out of adjustment
for no apparent reason, despite them being properly adjusted in the first
place according to Richard's instructions.

I've not had that problem on my new Sturmey Archer hub although I did
have it happen once on one many moons ago when I were a lad and
dinosaurs roamed the earth. OTOH the Rohloff 14 does (did?) have a
neutral gear if you are not careful.

--
Tony

"...has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least
wildly inaccurate..."
Douglas Adams; The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

"vernon" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

You didn't read the manual/sinstructions bookthen ? ;-)

Sorry, can you explain this strange concept?

T

:~)

"Tony W" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

"vernon" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

You didn't read the manual/sinstructions bookthen ? ;-)

Sorry, can you explain this strange concept?

Apparently it's a strange ritual that women do when they get anything
complicated. I've never witnessed it myself as my wife locks herself in the
bedroom with said publications and their accompanying gizmos until the union
of mind and artifacts take place.

;-)

In article said:

Like don't pedal hard in case the SA gears suddenly come out of adjustment
for no apparent reason, despite them being properly adjusted in the first
place according to Richard's instructions.

Jobst on the subject: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/sturmey-archer.html

(With my folder it's usually that they have come out of adjustment because
the cable outer has come out of its end stop from being flexed by folding,
but Jobst explains how they can disengage under load even when perfectly
adjusted. But I don't pedal hard.
Next year I might get round to fitting the 5-speed hub I bought on eBay
this year.)