Cycling

PhireSide said:
Picked up a Merida Big Nine 500 to restart my cycling journey with over the weekend, needs a bit of cleaning and adjusting and so on, but very happy with it.

View attachment 1818097

Shimano Deore running gear (2x10) and Alex tubeless rims with a Manitou Markhor front fork. There are some Shimano cleats installed here but I have some platform pedals that I need to fit. Still need to get a few bits and bobs but I have the bare necessities sorted.
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Nice, 10sp is good just get a wide range cassette at the back, I think they go right up to 52t these days, plenty gear range that means there's no real need to go to 11 or 12sp. Also check on Temu for parts, there's some good stuff including dirt cheap narrow wide chainrings if you decide to go to 1 - 10sp.
 
airborne said:
Nice, 10sp is good just get a wide range cassette at the back, I think they go right up to 52t these days, plenty gear range that means there's no real need to go to 11 or 12sp. Also check on Temu for parts, there's some good stuff including dirt cheap narrow wide chainrings if you decide to go to 1 - 10sp.
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I think this rear cassette might be a 11-42T one but I will have to check tonight. It looks like it could be a Sunrace if I look at the red anodised hub.

I have some stuff in my Temu cart, will shop around some more once I have the exact specs and have given it a good clean :)
 
PhireSide said:
I think this rear cassette might be a 11-42T one but I will have to check tonight. It looks like it could be a Sunrace if I look at the red anodised hub.

I have some stuff in my Temu cart, will shop around some more once I have the exact specs and have given it a good clean :)
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I'm on a 11-42T sunrace, it's plenty even when running 1x, I use a 38T chainring but most of the hills on my rides are pretty tame. A 36T or 34T narrow wide chainring will probably work if you have decent hills, if your crank is 104BCD you can go down to 32T.

When going 1x it's important to work out what the most used ratios will be, if you go too low on the front you end up riding on the small cogs on the cassette too much and they'll prematurely wear out. That being said having 2 chainrings and a front derailleur is actually not bad, it works soo well, the only reason I'm on 1x is my bike didn't come with a front derailleur but if it had I probably wouldn't have gone to 1x.
 
I checked now, the front chainring seems to be a 24-34T Dynasys and the rear cassette is a 11-50T and the only markings I found is a name called 'Sunshine-SZ'.

Also got the last pedal off after a lot of huffing and puffing, and got the new (temp) platform pedals installed.
 
PhireSide said:
I checked now, the front chainring seems to be a 24-34T Dynasys and the rear cassette is a 11-50T and the only markings I found is a name called 'Sunshine-SZ'.

Also got the last pedal off after a lot of huffing and puffing, and got the new (temp) platform pedals installed.
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That sounds like a 104BCD crank but just google one of the current chainrings and it'll tell you what it is.

That 11-50t is a great candidate for a 1x setup, probably go a little bigger on the chainring so that most of your pedalling is on the bigger cogs, from my experience with the 1-42t I’d imagine a 36t will work well with that setup, maybe also get a 34t or 32t because they are so cheap on Temu and if you know a ride will be hilly you can just swop the chainring as needed, just undo the 4 bolts.
You couldn't use a cordless impact wrench on the pedal?
Pedals can be bastard tight and hard to hold and loosen at the same time but an impact wrench makes short work of them if they have an allen key head on rear of the pedal axle.

Those cassettes are really well priced:

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@PhireSide have you checked how worn the current drivetrain is?
I've been burnt before buying a bike with worn out chain/cass/chainrings, an expensive lesson.
 
airborne said:
@PhireSide have you checked how worn the current drivetrain is?
I've been burnt before buying a bike with worn out chain/cass/chainrings, an expensive lesson.
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I’ve checked it out and I got the all clear. The bike was serviced back in Feb/March and everything with the running gear looks good.
 
Oh wrt the pedals, I don’t have an impact wrench and the right side pedal had a 6mm allen broken off inside the pedal shaft so it was a bugger to remove. I eventually found a narrow 17mm spanner that I could slip over the shaft and got it off that way
 
PhireSide said:
Oh wrt the pedals, I don’t have an impact wrench and the right side pedal had a 6mm allen broken off inside the pedal shaft so it was a bugger to remove. I eventually found a narrow 17mm spanner that I could slip over the shaft and got it off that way
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Please do yourself and your sanity a favour and get one asap, the Ingco ones work great. I’m very surprised you don't have one yet, after a drill it’s probably the best cordless tool ever, absolute game changer, it’s saved my bacon so many times.
Someone must have got properly carried away on those pedals..

Especially on bikes they are a life saver because things can get all seized up on parts that can't be easily held.
Like chainring bolts, holy smokes those things can get seized up and trying to loosen them with hand tools with the crank trying to spin can be a huge pita but with the impact driver it’s a 3sec breeze. It also saves screw/bolt heads that often get mangled trying to force them loose with hand tools on bike parts that are often quite delicate.
 
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airborne said:
Please do yourself and your sanity a favour and get one asap, the Ingco ones work great. I’m very surprised you don't have one yet, after a drill it’s probably the best cordless tool ever, absolute game changer, it’s saved my bacon so many times.
Someone must have got properly carried away on those pedals..

Especially on bikes they are a life saver because things can get all seized up on parts that can't be easily held.
Like chainring bolts, holy smokes those things can get seized up and trying to loosen them with hand tools with the crank trying to spin can be a huge pita but with the impact driver it’s a 3sec breeze. It also saves screw/bolt heads that often get mangled trying to force them loose with hand tools on bike parts that are often quite delicate.
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Oh trust me I have had one in my wishlist for ages, but every time I want to buy it something NB comes up that needs cash thrown at it. I already have 3x Ingco P20s tools so their impact wrench is next on the list.

I managed to get the stuck pedal out with a thin 17mm spanner, so all good in the hood. I think I may need to expedite the acquisition of the driver sooner rather than later, the way things are going.

I found that the derailleur was rubbing against the 2nd largest cog at the back when set to the smallest cog (the 'arm' part of the derailleur), seems there is not enough clearance between the parts so I may be looking at incompatible parts, maybe. I'll take a closer look again on Thursday when I have some spare time. I did check the indexing, H & L stops and adjusted the B-link as much as I could to no avail. You can see where the cog has taken off some of the coating on the arm here:

1746539100291.jpeg
 
PhireSide said:
Oh trust me I have had one in my wishlist for ages, but every time I want to buy it something NB comes up that needs cash thrown at it. I already have 3x Ingco P20s tools so their impact wrench is next on the list.

I managed to get the stuck pedal out with a thin 17mm spanner, so all good in the hood. I think I may need to expedite the acquisition of the driver sooner rather than later, the way things are going.

I found that the derailleur was rubbing against the 2nd largest cog at the back when set to the smallest cog (the 'arm' part of the derailleur), seems there is not enough clearance between the parts so I may be looking at incompatible parts, maybe. I'll take a closer look again on Thursday when I have some spare time. I did check the indexing, H & L stops and adjusted the B-link as much as I could to no avail. You can see where the cog has taken off some of the coating on the arm here:

View attachment 1818415
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That's probably because the RD can't accommodate the oversized cogs on that wide range cassette.
What model is it?
 
airborne said:
That's probably because the RD can't accommodate the oversized cogs on that wide range cassette.
What model is it?
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I'd be lying if I said I knew but I think it's an RD-M5120 based off the pics I've found on the web.

Which also tells me it's not compatible with the current cassette if I look at the spec sheet.

I'm all new to this so still learning as I go along..
 
PhireSide said:
I'd be lying if I said I knew but I think it's an RD-M5120 based off the pics I've found on the web.

Which also tells me it's not compatible with the current cassette if I look at the spec sheet.

I'm all new to this so still learning as I go along..
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The RD code will be on the RD somewhere, sometimes hidden around the back somewhere , best to get the actual code.
There are some workarounds to make older RD compatible with wide range cassettes
 
airborne said:
The RD code will be on the RD somewhere, sometimes hidden around the back somewhere , best to get the actual code.
There are some workarounds to make older RD compatible with wide range cassettes
Click to expand...
Does the workaround involve a Dremel, by any chance?
 
PhireSide said:
Is this the goat link I've heard about?
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That's one of them or just get the clone on Temu for R65, same as this:

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airborne said:
That's one of them or just get the clone on Temu for R65, same as this:

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South Africa's leading online store. Fast, reliable delivery to your door. Many ways to pay. Shop anything you can imagine: TVs, laptops, cellphones, kitchen appliances, toys, books, beauty & more. Shop the mobile app anytime, anywhere.
www.takealot.com www.takealot.com
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Sweet, thanks. Last night I took a Dremel and cleaned up the scuffing on the arm where it was gouged up by the chain and managed to solve the clearance issue. There is probably only 1.5mm of travel though so any shaking would likely cause contact.

I will get this though so I know there is no chance that it can touch at all.
 
airborne said:
The RD code will be on the RD somewhere, sometimes hidden around the back somewhere , best to get the actual code.
There are some workarounds to make older RD compatible with wide range cassettes
Click to expand...
I checked this out as promised, and the code on the back says it is an RD-M6000-GS
 
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