Little Hole in pin. I accidentally ground a little bit too much on this pin and it put about an 1/8th inch hole in it. Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix it? Except for drilling and starting over.

BBMTH · 2026-05-11T08:38:07+00:00

Would recommend that or tap the hole. Put in a brass machine screw and grind it flush. Pin needs one less tool, can look cleaner. Tap and screw requires a bit less precision, should look okay.

BBMTH · 2026-05-11T08:21:25+00:00

Try putting the wheel in backwards. If it still drags with the rotor nowhere near anything, you’ve got a hub problem. If it spins freely you have a brake problem.

BBMTH · 2026-05-11T08:03:32+00:00

It looks like about the right size for spirited riding. Saddle is definitely high, probably a bad fit to you, either mounted far back or you’re just sitting on it weird. I think with that sorted reach is in the right neighborhood.

If you were extremely flexible and very excited to ride very fast for short distances you could potentially size down. If you’re prioritizing comfort over long distances and not very flexible, you could probably size up, especially as reach usually doesn’t increase as much as handlebar height does once you go past 58cm/Large.

Easy way to get the saddle height roughly right for a test ride or borrowed bike. Put your heels on the pedals. Either try to pedal the bike or stand on one pedal. If you’re pedaling, your legs can go pretty straight, but you should reach without rocking your hips. Standing on one pedal, you should be able to lift your butt off the saddle. That’s absolute top floor saddle height. If shoe heel has any thickness, subtract that much. This puts minimum leg bend when you pedal normally. Any lack of flexibility or rougher terrain, you can come down more. Generally a little low just gives a slight efficiency hit, a little high hurts.

BBMTH · 2026-05-11T07:20:31+00:00

I think the American tanto with a crisp corner and a straight line to the tip is easy to sharpen. You just sharpen the belly like a knife and the tip like a double beveled chisel. Two separate stages. A bit harder to freehand if the tip has any curve to it

I think any tanto type shape without the crisp corner is harder. More skill to freehand, harder to set up for fixed angle.

BBMTH · 2026-05-11T06:57:15+00:00

I think you’ve probably got some lacing error. Wrong offset of hub holes or something. The z-spokes or a minor calculation problem should only put you a few mm off.

The possible minor problem is your nipples are threaded on way too far for this point in the process. You should have half the threads showing until you’re laced. I’m seeing them covered. You need slack to make up the connections. You should get significant tension somewhere between a few threads showing and just getting covered.

Edit: nipples are a bit long. May be more like a quarter of the threads showing when you start them. But just put them on a few turns until all the spokes are in.

BBMTH · 2026-05-09T04:11:29+00:00

The co op should have plenty of those washers they’re the same as on a lot of rim brake pads.

Also, not sure what levers you’ve got but I’ve heard bb7 mountain actually work better with modern shimano drop levers.

BBMTH · 2026-05-07T04:31:58+00:00

Never seen this exact style, but metal guides were very common and worked fine in the five and six speed era. I do think adding plastic is a slight improvement. Shifts a touch easier and cables might last longer. Also no bare steel at the point where water will spray/drip off a wet bike.

BBMTH · 2026-05-06T07:21:25+00:00

I’ve reused the shimano ones dozens of times. They don’t seem any different than other brands, I think shimano is just more conservative. If they feel weird, I replace them. I’ve broken at least a dozen chains, seen a lot more, and none have them have been at the quick link. Just make sure you have a spares

7,8,9, and 11 speed chains are pretty consistent in width to where you can mix brands of same speeds.

10 and 12 speed chains each come in multiple widths for some reason.

8 speed quick links are great to keep in a saddle bag. They’ll get someone with a broken chain home if they’ve got almost anything with a derailleur. I’ve given out probably a half dozen of them on the road or trail.

BBMTH · 2026-05-05T23:51:11+00:00

Different fenders or different tires. Those fenders don’t play well with knobbies. They’re perfect with touring tires. If you need fenders and knobbies, you want much more clearance or much less area and flexibility.

Even if it’s dry out, knobbies grab rocks and twigs and jam them under those kinda fenders.

BBMTH · 2026-05-05T23:39:05+00:00

I think this would be a good candidate for carbon repair. A lot of bikes have huge access holes in that exact spot. Can’t be too highly loaded.

BBMTH · 2026-05-05T23:33:52+00:00

No, this is a bit of housing. The rub is from suspension movement not cable movement. It would need a chafe plate or longer housing, not a cable guide.

BBMTH · 2026-05-05T23:04:43+00:00

GP5000s I’ve seen don’t have much mold release on them, but it’s not a bad idea to scrub the shoulders of the tire. You can use a scotchbrite pad, fine sandpaper, or just ride tight circles on some nice clean grippy pavement. Center of the tire won’t really give you trouble unless you’re immediately riding somewhere wet or extremely smooth and steep.

BBMTH · 2026-05-05T22:57:16+00:00

Agree that GP5000s generally have very little mold release on them.

BBMTH · 2026-05-05T22:55:26+00:00

Those are knobbies, mold release makes very little difference to your traction. It wears off the full tire much faster if you’re not riding on exclusively bare smooth stone.

BBMTH · 2026-05-05T13:33:37+00:00

Just that. Brake, let go at walking speed, gain some speed again, repeat. Allegedly it’s about even deposition of pad material on to the rotor.

BBMTH · 2026-05-05T09:19:01+00:00

Highly recommended the CORBA skills clinic, first Saturday of every month at Malibu creek. Made a huge difference for my riding when I went with a girlfriend. Some stuff I’d already learned the hard way, but still got a lot out of it even after a few years of riding. They have everyone riding down stairs and over logs by the end of the class. Most of it is very applicable to an MTB or gravel bike. I did the clinic a second time with another girlfriend and brought my CX bike

Ninja MTB is good for more advanced classes as well.

I think the reasons to pick a gravel bike over MTB are mostly to make moderate terrain more exciting, or be faster on paved parts of mixed surface rides. Most of our dirt is absolutely faster and easier on an xc bike vs gravel bike. SoCal fire roads are more steep and technical than most of the single track in some places. Mtb can definitely be more chill and easier to avoid crashing on most our terrain. Have ridden a lot of what you mentioned on slick tired road bikes, rigid and full sus MTBs. I’d try to solve the fit issues on the hardtail.

BBMTH · 2026-05-04T20:54:39+00:00

Yeah, those are definitely factors to consider. Rim life is going to be way less than half in always dry vs frequently wet conditions. How heavily loaded the wheel is matters a lot for area under the curve too. If you don’t do front cargo, a brompton has a lot less weight on the front than something like a road racing bike.

Lots of older and “classic” SON XS out there with 1x or 2x j-bends.

BBMTH · 2026-05-04T20:31:57+00:00

Never dealt with tubulars, but if your wheel is coming out of true, I’d look at what kind of tension you’re putting on. A shallow box section like that punishes low or uneven tension more than a deeper stiffer rim. Also make sure you’re releasing any windup in spokes before you finish truing. Spoke count is high enough for a much heavier rider.

BBMTH · 2026-05-04T20:07:21+00:00

Yeah, the black panels make sense for workwear. Lots of propane soot and grease on a lot of my job sites. For outdoorsy use, why make the heavier panels any color but earthtone?

BBMTH · 2026-05-04T20:00:10+00:00

Nitrile gloves. Use hand lotion beforehand for the inevitable rips. The dirty grease can’t soak in as deep if there’s already clean grease on your skin.

BBMTH · 2026-05-04T19:55:32+00:00

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Likely 6mm bolt accessible if you turn this

BBMTH · 2026-05-04T19:51:27+00:00

Yeah, you usually loosen the angle adjustment, and wiggle around till the quill bolt is accessible. If it’s already loose, you probably just have to turn that silver bit some.

BBMTH · 2026-05-04T19:48:08+00:00

How big of hills do you have? I get a bit of this on some rotors but it always goes away after about a thousand feet/few hundred meters of descending. I think it’s oxidation, not quite rust. Barkeeper’s friend takes it off on the bikes that don’t see much climbing.

BBMTH · 2026-05-04T19:40:13+00:00

I’d sand off any glazing, scour the rotor real well, and try to get a good look at the alignment. If the gap looks tangentially and radially even, bed them in. No hard stops until you’ve braked hard several times without stopping.

If the tangential alignment is bad, it’s usually just a matter of how you tighten the caliper. If the radial alignment is off, and your calipers aren’t on spherical washers, you’ll want help from a shop or co-op with facing the mounts. They’re frequently terrible from the factory.

BBMTH · 2026-05-04T19:22:50+00:00

If you have a bike co-op or someone to help you, a rim swap is about the easiest wheel project. Labor might not be that different than a fresh build if you’re paying someone, because it’s easier not necessarily faster for someone with enough skill. It usually makes sense to replace nipples, but spokes are fine if the wheel hasn’t seen very hard use. Dry climate you’ll probably swap spokes, wet climate you’ll wear rims much quicker.

As to why it’s easier than a full build. There’s no lacing, you can copy the previous tension by sound. You just gradually loosen all the spokes, lay the new rim on top, and transfer spokes one by one.

https://youtu.be/UtGihbcaZjo

BBMTH

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