QUICK FIX: STICKY CABLES

9 out of 10 times when your gears are misbehaving it's sticky cables.As I've mentioned before it's best to replace the cables with full outers,but if you cant be bothered this is a good way of keeping them shifting smoothly.



This one is really easy.You dont need any tools,just some of your favourite lube and some tissues.Ahem.



Step 1



First start with your rear mech in the top position on the largest rear sprocket. I'm assuming you dont have an opposite 'low normal ' setup.If you do, start on the smallest sprocket.The principle is the same.





Step2





You now need to release the tension in the cable.Do this by changing gear at the shifter ,but DO NOT TURN THE PEDALS.


As you click down the inner cable becomes slack. You might need to pull on the exposed inner to help it to release .





Step 3





Now all the tension is released you can unhook the cable outers from the guides in the frame.



Step 4






Use your imagination for this bit.It will depend how gummy your cables are. Use copious amounts of your fave lube.You can pull the caps off the cable outers to squirt inside the cables a bit.Quickly slide the outers back and forth along the inners and wiping them as you go . If the inners are actually rusty you should replace them,BUT,if you were a mingebag you could maybe clean them with wire wool or something just a bit abrasive.While youre at it,look inside the guides for dried in bits of cack.
If you have disc brakes be careful with spray lube.If it gets on the brake pads it can knacker them.



Step 5






When you are satisfied that the cables are OK ,lube them up with light bike specific oil,and hook them back in the cable guides.In a classic Haynes manual style ,refitting is a reversal of removal.Take care not to kink the inners as you feed them back in and if you are struggling to get the last one in ,check that the mech/chain hasnt slipped down a cog or two at the back. If it has ,push the mech ,BY HAND, and slot the chain back on the top sprocket.Dont touch the shifter or the pedals until you have all the cables back in the frame guides.When it's all back in ,take up the slack in the inner by changing gear at the shifter,or turning the pedals.





Step 6.

Do the front mech as well. The principle is the same.Start on the top sprocket,dont pedal,change down the gears to the granny ring,unhook the outers etc etc.



Step7.When you have finished bask in the glory of what you have acheived. I celebrated with a nice latte,but you might prefer something else ,maybe a nice cup of 'Earl Grey'.






This is such a quick fix I have even done it mid-ride to cure troublesome shifting.Prevention is the best medicine though ,so do it regularly and definitely after a wet ride.It works equally well on racing bikes too,in fact ,any bike with slotted cable guides,and derailleur gears.

TIM

No featured lyrics today,but I was listening to 'Bloc Party' with their obscure references to Brett Easton Ellis.This didnt affect the outcome of the job in anyway and in fact nobody was butchered in a horrific satire on the overbearing wastefulness of the eighties, although the sky did exhibit a certain 'hazy shade of winter'.Haha

Hope Light & Stem Combo

We have one on eBay, will be a bargain for someone.

LLANDEGLA FOREST

"Feeling rather strange when you're sixteen again.
Things don't seem the same the past is so plain.
This future is our future this time's not a game.
This time you're sixteen again" *

Yea ,I was right about that shifter.I put up with it though.Definitely needs a new one .Must be a dud. Anyway........


Llandegla forest.Worth the drive down . Took just over an hour , down the '56,A55,A483,about 8 miles out of Wrexham.Good facilities,bike shop,bacon butties,bog.What more could you need?A suspender belt?

We were fairly lucky with the weather,depending on your point of view.It was certainly a bit damp but not too bad and not as cold as of late.Could've been worse.Maybe if it had been 'nicer' there'd have been standing room only ,so it's six of one..........



A SCWALBE TYRE EARLIER TODAY

I PHOTOSHOPPED THAT LOG TO LOOK CLOSER THAN IT ACTUALLY WAS

I enjoyed the trails.Nothing too mad challenging.Up and down swooping singletrack with some good rolling jumps, nothing you couldnt have just rode over if you prefer your wheels stuck to the floor.The surface is hard packed stone in the usual north wales trail centre manner,and even after all the rain it was OK,well drained ,the odd puddle here and there.There are definitely some good flowing sections where all you really need is a little push off and you're away pumping the rythmn sections and railing the berms.Obviously there are a few uphill sections but nothing too long and arduous,maybe if you went on a stupid singlespeed or big daft DH type rig you'd struggle but there's nothing that'd take you too long to hoof up.


Just over half way round we stopped for a bit of a play on a jumpy section.A bit of a BMX feel to it with a few tabletops ,step up bits ,and a really nice set of whoops ( sorry kids ,doubles ).We rode down it once just taking it as it comes ,quite fast having a go at it all ,and clearing it ,in the zone,flowing,y'know.It was so good we pushed up for another go.The classic"just one more go".Could just as easily all ended in tears. I for one dont like 'over analysing' a trail or jumpy bit.Just get on with it.If you look at it too much ,you end up in the A+E.


ANDY STYLIN' ON STUPID SINGLESPEED


So needless to say we had a right laugh for a half hour or so ,reliving our youth and generally misbehaving without incident ,so I suppose I'm wrong again.While we were there a few gangs of riders came past and we saw one good stack on a baby set,and one very close to over the bars rolling front wheelie on the bigger set.Proper arse twitcher.There's a big disclaimer/warning at the top of that section that warns of riding outside your limits and to not respond to peer pressure.They both rode away to tell the tale but ,yea , they have a point.


GARETH CATCHING THE BREEZE ON BIG DAFT DH TYPE RIG


Who am I kidding ? It's a right laugh,hahah.Keep your weight back and all that......

ARCHIVE PHOTO FROM WHEN I WAS A KID

From here we had maybe an hour or so of XC type singletrack back to the carpark.Again some good fast downhill bits through tight trees that come up fast.Ace.Here an there there was the odd elevated wood sections in a north shore style ,but again nothing too hardcore.It's like mountainbiking in a box,does what it says on the tin.I can see how it could appeal to a wide range of riders,which has to be a good thing.We all like a bit of peak district fillet steak ,medium rare,but every so often a McDonalds is OK.In fact it's more like my favourite pizza guy at Bryn .He's proper Italian,he does these really dead genuine pizzas and lasagne that are really really tasty,but theres no hassle.So it's moutainbiking in a 14" square box,double thick cardboard,still piping hot ,delivered to your door by a guy with a moustache.......


I for one dont like 'over analogising' a trail or jumpy bit..........


Just get on with it.



OK then,back to the car,a brew and a cake with a DVD on the big telly and Racheal Atherton in the queue.Get in there.


And in another hour youre hungry again.Chippy or pizza ,chippy or pizza......



TIM

Further pix are up at gareths site of this and many other rides

http://www.garethwoosey.fotopic.net/

*Buzzcocks, 'sixteen again'.

PREP

".....and I know I was wrong when you said it was true that it coud've been me who'd been caught in between without you" *

Been getting ready for tomorrows ride to Llandegla forest.Last week the Meta was acting up a bit.The gears at the back were misbehaving.I put it down to a 'sticky' cable . It's a common 'fault' with mountainbikes. A few manufacturers are getting wise ( UK ones ),but the majority are still running cables that' stop and start' on their way from the shifter to the mech.I'm sure in the barren wastelands of California ,and even Andorra, this isnt too big a problem,but over here where it actually rains and then water saturates the ground creating mud , it is.After a few rides moisture is drawn into the cables which corrodes and causes the cables to stick.Your thumb is strong enough to shift up the cassette and overcome this stickiness,but the spring in the mech that returns it back down the block isnt and you end up in between gears.The cure is a simple one.Run an uninterrupted piece of cable ,inner+outer,all the way from the shifter to the mech and tape/tie wrap it to the frame.Shit cant easily get in .
OK ,so that's todays job.Simply replace the cables on the meta.Hmm.Not dead easy.The SRAM x-9 shifters have a cover on top that is held in place with a silver screwed on retainer,they look like the old x-0s.Upon removal of the cover you have to unhook a( fragile looking )spring and 'fish out' the cable from under a coiled second spring,again a bit like the old x-os. It's abit tricky ,but hard to cock up really,not an impossible job ,but not as easy as some i've done over the years. 'Fish in ' a new inner and put everything back,slide on a new full length bit of outer and clamp up the inner onto the derailleur.Job done.Ace.
Except it isnt.It still doesnt seem to be shifting right.The larger of the two shifter arms,for changing up the cassette,isnt 'snapping' back into it's natural default position after a gearchange.It's not a wasted job but it might not be the cable at all. I'll keep you posted.Everything i've read about SRAM shifters is that theyre mega reliable but thats not to say it couldnt be a rogue.It's not had a knock that I know of.See how it goes tomorrow. TIM

* The cure. In between gears.

PURE EVEL

Just watched that Evel knievel thing on TV.Good .

To see him that way,now that he's dead and all.Moving.Just another old man.

I'm not the first to mention his effect on our generation.People say he was responsible for BMX happening in the way it did,that magic ingredient that ignited it ,certainly over here.More than that I think he's responsible for it all.Not just BMX . Mountainbiking ,skating,rock climbing,snowboard,even bloody fruit boot,extreme ironing the lot.

Yea yea ,skating goes back to surfing,people have climbed up hills since the dawn of time ,whatever,but the way I see it ,when Evel came, kids learned it was OK to show off ,to push what was possible,against the odds, and not just stay in making airfix battleships and reading the beano.Live life ,have a bloody good go.

Yea people skated before,but can you remember what it was like?I mean ,really? We would lie down on the board and if you had the balls to stand up and you hit even a tiny lollystick you'd be on your arse.What's skating like today? Have you seen what BMX is like today?Do people climb mountains anymore with sherpas and stuff? They dont even use ropes.And they run up them and then jump off the top.

I blame the whole 'extreme ' thing ,the state of mind,and all it's many avenues whatever they might be on Evel Knievel.May he rest in peace.Lest we forget.And all that.

"You spend all goddamm day waiting for a goddamm bus.......And then 13 of the son-bitches turn up at once."

The football's on now. I know a lot of people like football.There's 22 guys having a right laugh ,and everyone else.Theyre watching them.

TIM