Hey everyone! I have been on a nice hiatus while transitioning to a new shop in the area. I am really excited about the opportunities happening and will be back to regular posts next month. In the meantime, I have been developing material for tutorials on some of the newest technology in the industry. It is a passion of mine to figure out solutions for products with little to no information on troubleshooting. Many times in the shop I will be working with a new bike that has limited instruction from manufacturers and does not necessarily provide methods for effectively carrying out a build (aka the Venge ViAS). Our shop spent a great deal of time figuring out the best setup for the front rim brake setup and how to eliminate (or at least reduce) the drag the cable would experience when actuated due to the complexity of the cable routing through the steerer tube out to the caliper arm. Things like this, when solved, will help a great number of people avoid frustration and useless wasted time. The beauty of it is that hopefully my efforts (both right and wrong) will lead to the most effective solution for the product. Consequently, I have had many readers comment and provide additional information that further refines the solution. Collaboration is the best way to make all of our lives easier in the shop. I always welcome suggestions and other methods as I seek to find whatever is the best.
Compiling all of the information has really helped to use my blog both as a reference for myself and a place for people to detail problems they’ve had. Even when I cannot provide the exact solution, pointing someone in the right direction (either a dealer or manufacturer) usually resolves it. Real life problem solving in unknown situations is every bit as important as a torque specification or cable routing diagram. This doesn’t just apply to high end products. I find sometime even a cantilever brake can be as frustrating for someone as a wiring issue on an electric bike.
Some of the articles forthcoming will cover:
- Proper cantilever brake setup (saw that one coming?)
- Hub motor wheel lacing for electric bikes
- Disc brake (break) squealing and bleeding difficult disc brake calipers
- Situations where you need three hands for a project and only have two
- Setting up tubeless tires on rims that just don’t want to seal during inflation
- Carbon frame inspection for cracks and damage
- Proper road shifter placement and why they should be where they are
- Dropper post setup with internal routing
- Modding components to accept unacceptable setups (like running an 11-32 cassette with a Di2 rear derailleur)
- Bottom bracket solutions for BB30, PF30, and BB86/90 (creak creak creak, pop)
- Updating Di2 firmware yourself (quite easy) and apps for power meter firmware and diagnosing these issues. This may expand into more than one article.
I hope you’ll read the articles and gain some insight. Any tips you may have that have been successful are encouraged and welcome. Also, the articles will detail some of the failures I came across with methods before I was satisfied with the solution. Thanks for reading! Oh yea, and here is my new cat Ernie. He didn’t come with a manual unfortunately, haha. He might be broken 🙂
One gear at a time,
SNC
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