Alex: Welcome to another GCN Tech Clinic where we answer the questions that have you've been
submitting using the hashtag #AskGCNTech. I guess we'll dive straight in and answer the first one.
First up this week, we've got Phillip Kulitzscher. "Hey guys, love your show.
My question is after deep cleaning my bike, do I have to grease and oil the derailleurs,
or is it just enough to oil the chain?" He also asks, "What about cleaning bikes with Di2?
Is there anything special to be aware of? Thanks very much and greetings from Germany."
After a deep clean on your bike, you are obviously going to need to dry off as best
as possible and that's one of the best things you can do firstly, but you won't need to lubricate
the derailleurs themselves, they've got sealed mechanisms and units. That'll be perfectly fine
just to leave as it is but you will need to lubricate your chain and that's something that
you should do every time after you wash and clean your bike, make sure you lubricate that correctly.
In terms of anything different that you need to do with Di2, well, it's exactly the same as a
mechanical groupset so the only things you should be mindful of avoiding blasting water directly
into the components but a Di2 groupset is just the same maintenance process as what you would
do with a mechanical one. That's pretty simple. Next up, we've got Jeff Williams, who asks,
he uses bicycle all year round in Canada, where he says they have a real winter,
which is obviously good. When he's been cycling, he finds that he's getting slippage of his gears,
which feels like they're trying to shift gears even when he's not and that's mostly on the
cassette. It's more noticeable at lower temperatures, which he says circa -15,
which is pretty bloody cold if you ask me. "Is it just a badly adjusted shifter or could it be
related to the temperature?" He says his bike is mechanical with no hydraulics or electronics on it
and that only recently his local bike shop did a bit of a tune-up for him.
He says normally they do generally good work so he tends to trust them.
Well, yes, it's nice to hear from someone who rides in a real winter, we quite often
get a little bit of stick from people that say, "Oh, the British winter is not cold enough and
you guys just run a little bit of rain now and again." Fair play to you for riding in -15.
In relation to your slipping gears, I think is most likely to be the indexing just isn't quite
right and if your bike has been to the bike shop recently, it could be that they've made some minor
adjustments to it and it's just gone slightly out of a line, or they might have fitted a new inner
gear cable, and it might have just settled in. My best advice would be, just take it back to
the bike shop, explain that the gears aren't quite right and I'm sure they'll have that
sorted in no time at all and it should just be a minor case of adjusting the indexing and
you have perfectly working gears again. Next up, we've got Sanjay Khan who asks,
"Hey guys, I've bought a Stages left-sided power meter," good investment there. "Do I need to spend
more money and buy a bike computer or will my smartphone be able to show you my power whilst
I'm riding?" As I said, yes, good investment into a power meter. It's a good training tool to have
there. You don't need to specifically buy a bike computer to get a power reading from that crank.
Stages cranks do have a smartphone app that you can use to power up to the crank,
and that will display the power and the cadence whilst you're riding along. If you've got a mount
that puts your smartphone onto the handlebars, you could use that. The only downside to using
that app is it won't enable you to record that data so you'll only be able to view it live
and you've only got some very basic metrics. It doesn't operate the same way as a bike computer.
It's not quite the same as that but you don't have to use that. That gives another option.
If you've got a bit of money, then you're going to be able to invest into a bike computer and it'll
give you a far greater spread of information and you can be able to record with that data.
That might be a slightly better option. There are other apps out there that might link up and pair,
but they tend to only work with a power meter that they were specifically designed for.
Next up, we've got John Maher. He says, "Hey, Alex and Ollie, I'm an under 14 Junior and I've
bought a 16-27 cassette. I've installed it properly but the last sprocket on it
is touching the inside of my Vitus Vitesse Evo seatstay." That doesn't sound very good.
"Is there any sort of spacer that will stop this or what should I do? Thanks in advance."
A very good question. It reminds me back when I was under 14 and under 16,
trying to fit those funny size cassettes onto my bike to meet the gear restriction requirements.
One of the things you are going to struggle a little bit with this because bikes don't tend
to be designed with a smaller sprocket of a 16th. It's quite a large size sprocket.
The advice I would say is to check that you haven't got any unnecessary spaces at the back
of the cassette because that will mean it can move across a little more increased, it's like a gap
it might fit but if you're still struggling with that, you could remove a sprocket from
the cassette and then space the back end of the cassette out so that it shifts the whole cassette
across towards the center of the wheel a little bit more and then the 16 tooth sprocket will be
a little bit further away which is not ideal, and you are going to lose one of your sprockets.
You'll have one less gear on the cassette which is, as I said, not ideal. You might find one of
the best options is to use a slightly different cassette that maybe uses a 15 or a 14 tooth as
the smallest sprocket. Which will mean you go over your gear restriction, but you have to use
a chainring that relates to give you the same overall gear ratio. You might have
to experiment a little bit with the gear ratios just to try and get that perfectly.
I think you are going to be up against it a little bit to get that 16 tooth to clear the
frame and not cause any damage to it. A bit of trial and error, and you should get that sorted.
I've got Jim Raynor who asks, "Why don't we see a front disc wheel used in time trials?" That's
a really good question actually and something a few people have asked me in the past before.
Out on the road, you don't tend to see a front disc wheel being used, as in aero disc wheel,
not a disc brake wheel, because of the wind conditions. Whilst you could actually technically
use it, the wind conditions catch the side of the wheel and can make it incredibly unstable.
Meaning that when riders are tucked in on the time trial ski bars,
that you have very little control over the bike. You could easily crash and lose control.
No one wants that, do they? Indoors, on the velodrome, for example, you do regularly see
pursuit riders and some of the sprint riders using a disc wheel on the front and the back,
because there's no wind inside on the velodrome to put them off course. That's what that tends to be.
Particularly on windy days outside you will see time trial riders and road racers using
a slightly shallower front wheel to account for those wind conditions, and help them
remain stable and in control. That rounds off another really good GCN Tech Clinic. Thanks very
much for those questions, and as usual do keep your questions coming using the #AskGCNTech.
That's it for this week. See you later. [00:06:40] [END OF AUDIO]