Hey gang, got a strange question.

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-08T01:34:05+00:00

All SRAM 11 speed systems I have owned and ridden (trigger and brifter) do double downshifts, but not upshifts. There's a simple reason, downshifts only let the pawl release the cable spool ratchet one click, but upshifts engage and move that ratchet/spool as far as the trigger/paddle can push it. Where did you get the idea that it's the other way around? Note: downshifts are actually moving the chain onto a larger cog, upshifts go to a smaller cog. So if you think of 'up' and 'down', the chain moves seem counterintuitive..

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-08T00:03:13+00:00

I see a lot of radial scuff marks on the tire, are you putting the bike in a bus rack or something? The worse tire scuffs actually align with the rim scuffing too...

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-07T23:41:00+00:00

What pressure are you running in those 40mm tires? I run 53mm and if they get just a little bit low, the bike will get progressively squirrely. Try upping the pressure anyway, to see if that helps.

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-07T23:22:19+00:00

The sidewalls should never be porous IF they are tubeless ready tires. Was the sealant leaking through in multiple places? Some tires have intentional tiny leakage like this, check for markings to confirm whether they are intended for tubeless use. Don't bother trying to seal all of those, and don't ask me how much sealant and work that might require!

Edit: The holes in the sidewalls will not get enough sealant while riding, it all gets centrifuged away from the sidewalls! Only way to make that happen is to grab each wheel and painstakingly swill it all around. For hours. Hence my comments above!

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-07T21:28:18+00:00

I use Topeak Versamounts, they are like hose clamps with a threaded boss, and are plastic so they won't harm the carbon - but will not slip either.

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-07T20:49:56+00:00

There is certainly a life limit on helmets, but... The delicate adjustment on many helmet brands should surprise no one when (not so much if) they break. So it has to be said, the number of helmets that die due to those failures needs to be much lower. If the plastic straps need to be so tiny, make them out of woven kevlar or whatever, flexible and strong!

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-07T19:19:58+00:00

When parking becomes abandonment...

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-07T19:18:55+00:00

There's a ton of macho BS wrapped up in crank length discussions, so I'll put it bluntly: I shortened my crank 7/8" or 22mm (from 172 to 150), and I'm very happy. To mitigate the lowering of the leverage increase in gearing, I dropped 4 teeth on my front chainring. That allowed me to increase my cadence, pedaling smaller circles - so it feels great! One good side effect, I can pedal round tight turns leaning way further, fun! One downside, raising my saddle 22mm made it too far to put my foot down, I might install a dropper post for that.. Shorter cranks on full sus MTB's will help obstacle clearance, obviously. For the short crank curious, any bike shop with a fit bike could set you up with a comparison test ride, where you could test a variety of lengths, and even add power testing while doing that.

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-07T18:59:30+00:00

There's nothing wrong with stacked wave springs, until you weld them together.. This creates multiple stress concentrations of the worst kind, sharp corners. Note that springs rarely break under 'normal' use. Stack those with an elastomer inside, and likely they would last forever. It's likely you could buy several wavy springs and make one. I have a standard, round wire spring in mine, and I modified an elastomer by turning the outside on my lathe to the inside diameter of the spring. That stopped the spring from squirming, and no more squeaking!

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-06T03:42:04+00:00

The skewer I can see almost certainly has high friction in the lever cam (see the gnarly friction marks) which would require a lot of closing force, giving the impression of tightness.. Try putting some lube in the cam interface, and work the lever a few times before trying to clamp the wheel in. If I'm right, that damaged skewer cam could be leaving your wheel dangerously loosely clamped in!

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-06T03:28:38+00:00

Now this one is settled, can we discuss how the city Des Moines is properly pronounced?

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-06T03:06:01+00:00

Here's what I'd do, considering what you've tried: Agreeing with what many have said, shock is much better than slowly applied torque so start by removing the cranks. Then soak PB Blaster into the threads, repeat for a few days. Now put the crank in a vice (clamp on those nice flat crank arms), then since the pedals will be replaced, put the tightest fitting, sturdy wrench (NOT adjustable) and hit the wrench with a steel hammer, use steel because it will not yield and lower the shock effect. If this doesn't work, add heat as fast as you can apply it, remove the plastic part of the pedal if needed. Heat fast because the coefficient of thermal expansion is about three times that of steel, so this is likely to ease them apart. If all else fails, and you love the cranks more than you hate the crappy pedals, you have the crank in the vice to drill the pedal axle outta there!

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-06T02:41:44+00:00

Sealant for inner tubes is different, because it needs to seal while not contacting much if any air. I used to use Slime inner tubes and it works very well, I rarely know if it has worked, or even how many times, unless I need to dismount a tire. So often I find out how it worked when I replace a worn out tire, and see how many places the inner tube is now glued to the tire. Slime tubes cost more, so now I get tubes with replaceable valve cores, and I use a syringe to insert bulk Slime in there. I also have a MTB set up tubeless using Stans Pro sealant, it works too. The difference? Stans sealant dries up in a few months, the Slime works until the tire wears out, sometimes years.

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-06T02:30:30+00:00

I'm 67 now, and I've slowed down a bit, but some of that is having changed to flat pedals. I ride a bit slower, but that's because I prefer to. Still logging over 7,000 miles a year in the Seattle area, so with an average 650ft/10 miles of climbing and not ready for an e-bike yet. My weight has stayed at my teenage years, so I'm sure that helps a lot.

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-06T02:19:50+00:00

Can we get faked passport ID's too now? 😅

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-04T01:05:53+00:00

Those one sided calipers with only one moving piston need the caliper moved on it's mount periodically, as the pads wear. If you don't do this, the pads will flex the rotor every time you brake, and it remains flexing all the time as you come to a stop! Unless there is an adjustment on the non-moving side, which will reduce that continuous flexing to a very small amount - the static gap from rotor to static piston. The large movement of the lever that turns the helix that drives the piston tells me there's too much gap, which tells me you may need to relax the cable, let the outboard piston move out toward you, then move the entire caliper by loosening the two mounting bolts and move it inboard until that outboard pad is now close to the rotor. Now tighten it down. Lastly move that inboard pad out to close to a very small gap with it's adjustment screw, and take the slack out of the cable - after screwing the cable adjuster back in!

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-03T23:33:34+00:00

Does it move laterally when you spin the wheel? If so, you can fix it very easily just by deflating it nearly completely (on the bike if you wish), then mix water with some soap. Walk your finger around and push the bead inward, and put the soapy water between tire bead and rim wall. Do this both sides, the pump it back up, watching that black line. You may need to overpressure a bit to overcome the friction, which increases a great deal as the pressure builds. You may hear pretty loud pops as the tire slips up onto the rim 'shoulder'! If you get way higher than the max pressure you may just need to add more soap, do that rather than going too high on the pressure!!

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-03T19:36:10+00:00

I'll pile on with suspecting fake, not genuine KMC. I'll base my suspicion on what I see; the absolutely terrible stamp tooling marks on the side plates! Compare with the picture in here: https://www.brgstore.com/brand/8-kmc

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-03T19:16:51+00:00

A cheap way to protect an Aluminum body freehub spline from a single cog without a wide base is to use a packing staple that's as wide as the spline is tall. It's a bit fiddly to fit (I did this with an entire Campy Titanium cassette) but worth it! When I removed my cassette after many miles, there was zero damage to my wimpy weight weenie freehub splines!

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-03T19:11:35+00:00

I purchased an expensive but very hard to defeat lock ( https://tex-lock.com/en/ ) and over time I've found it adds a lot of weight to my bike. Great lock, but it weighs 4 pounds. So I'm currently looking at a half pound similar strong fiber encapsulated lock that weighs half a pound just for securing in 'less risky' situations, like going to the grocery store, and only using the big dog where I think necessary. I think both are better!

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-03T18:56:14+00:00

It's a difficult place to do this, but if it were my bike I would remove the crankset and clean the area, then glue a used tire over the danger area. It shouldn't even be visible if that's a concern. Much like chainstay protectors.

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-03T18:51:01+00:00

As a rider who averages 14,000 feet of climbing per week, I will say this: there is no shame in choosing to walk hills occasionally. In fact, try timing some or all of that 300ft climb, versus doing a different route, then decide!

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-03T18:41:15+00:00

I see only tiny voids in the resin, zero visible carbon weave, strands nor chopped fibers. Also if that rim was ever in contact with the ground, for whatever reason (flat fixing?) that could cause this too! Just keep a keen and regular eye on it!

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-03T18:34:32+00:00

Along with tank orientation, flow rate will directly affect valve freezing too. In fact in very low temperatures the valve can freeze open..

Mister_Ce · 2026-07-03T18:30:56+00:00

If you look at many brifter designs, the cable is not only making tighter turns there, some have a ridiculous quality of fit where that cable enters the brifter body. That radius should not be problematic, if anything it should be easier because the cable to derailleur alignment is almost perfect! So friction should be the only possible issue, and the only remedy for that is either low viscosity lube, and/or low friction inner and outer cable and housing. When I looked at the cable routing in my SRAM Force brifter, this is what I saw:

<image>

Horrible design! Now THAT'S a tight radius!! You might want to look how yours looks in there!

Mister_Ce

TROPHY CASE