Bike Maintenance for Beginners

Yes, it’s tightly wound, and the forces as noted by @JaRok2300 are opposite to what unwinds it, so it’s just held at the end.

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Don’t treat the tape like stretch Armstrong, it has a limit. You have to stretch ‘just so’ it’s easy once you know how ( as the old adage goes).
For a neat finish, taper cut the end of your tape

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Just had a fun one to sort out. Yesterday I noticed that trimming the front mech caused the rear mech to shift up a little. WTF?

The only thing I could think of was that the gear inners were twisted around each other inside the frame (it has internal cable routing in the down tube where the cables go in independently either side of the down tube but come out together through a slot by the BB). Also complicated by the rear brake hose also coming out in the same place.

So both gear cables pulled out and carefully re-installed, :crossed_fingers: seems to be fixed

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No hills big enough for this to unravel on you though?

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No hills. Full stop.

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had another crack at my bar tape. Thanks @r0bh for the link - very helpful, especially the figure of 8 around the levers which I had not done right.

I’m still not 100% happy and think despite having excellent instructions I have still managed to spanner it up, as the spiral of the tape on the top bar goes in the same direction left and right :see_no_evil:

undid to retry but managed to tear the tape near the left lever :rage:

Feel like I’m closing in on target, but not there yet

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Looks better already mate :+1: It does take a while to get right. Figure 8 was always tricky with Campag because the shroud doesn’t come back as fas as Shimano, so it’s easy to end up with a gap along the edge. Some people use the extra strip across the clamp method but I use to persevere.

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Right following on from commuter thread.
Rode in this morning - about 5 miles in back brake lever was solid, couldn’t move it.
TPR sprye mechanical discs.
Gave all the cabling a spray at work and put a bit of pressure on lever - starts to move.

And now the lever is floppy (like the cable has snapped) BUT the rear brake is now on solid?!?!?

Am I still on the right track that the cable is snagged somewhere?

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That would still be my guess, originally the snag was stopping the lever moving, what you’ve done has moved the snag along the outer a bit so the brake is jammed on and now the lever is loose.
It’s trickier with cable discs as you’ve got cams/levers inside the caliper so it could be those sticking, whereas rim brakes you can see exactly what’s going on.
I’d disconnect the cable from the caliper (if you have tools) check the lever on the caliper moves by hand and then you know it’s the cable.

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Yep that was next job anyway as I can’t move the bl00dy thing now! But yes will show me if the cable moves at all. Thanks!

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Well just gone back out to the bike bathed in sunshine. So either the warmth or the healthy application of spray has loosened it up as its now working!

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Not sure what the temp was where you are, but any chance it could have been frozen?

Claimed 1 degree… felt possibly sub zero. It kinda felt like it was frozen - just odd it went from seized off to seized on. But frozen does seem the most feasible.
Probably needs a clean - imagine if it has froze, be all the gunk under bottom bracket area where the cables come out.

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I got through 2 sets of these on my better crosser/gravel bike before getting a 105 hydraulic groupset on offer from Wiggle earlier in the year. Fantastic upgrade.

My current commuter is a museum piece that has cantilever brakes. I still look at it shaking my head & wonder how I managed the Marmotte route & other Alpine descents on it.

I’ve had a frozen calliper in the past, squeezing it also helped and GT85

Maybe a new cable as well as they can corrode

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TBH Im not normally going to fast to need much more. It’s pan flat. So just the odd commuter issue to slam on for.
The fact I can fix them roadside and don’t have to worry about the pads being closed by mistake if I have the wheel off (not that I ever do that!!).

Probably due a service for new cables.

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