@Matt Budofsky
Do you have a picture? is this your commuter or other bike? earlier you mentioned ultegra di2 12 speed... if you have a modern shimano crank, you likely do not have a self extracting bolt...

If it is a self extracting bolt this is a pretty good video on how to install it... minute 4:40 is the install (bolt first, ring second) but watch the full video, earlier it shows how to uninstall, which can prove insightful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzG3zgUmpuQ

It’s my venge, so sworks crank arms. I’ll take a picture tomorrow when I go back into my garage but below is the replacement bolt I bought. I did some more research and it looks like it should go metal spacer, bolt, plastic spacer, retaining ring. 

That makes sense, basically you want to put the crank in, using the bolt, and once it is all set, you put the retaining ring -- in theory you only need the retaining ring for the bolt to push against when removing the crank. 

My thought is the silver ring in the first and third pictures is wear it sheared

Hi team, so my left side Stages ultegra power meter no longer appears to properly connect to a battery...

If I place the battery, as I have for a few years, and close the little slider door, it doesn't work. If I push the battery with my finger, then it does.

That is, both the battery and the power meter appear ok, but there's some issue with the small connectors, which are likely no longer positioned correctly when the battery door is closed.

Might be a question of just pulling the connectors a bit, but wondering if anyone has experienced something similar or serviced a crank with Stages. LMK thanks!

I've manipulated the prongs on a few battery connectors in my day.  As long as you're gentle, but deliberate then it shouldn't be an issue.  What you don't want to do is move it back and forth.  That'll increase the likelihood that it breaks off.

Another option may be to put some pieces of paper or tape between the battery and the slider door (if there is room).  Essentially pushing the battery down on to the connectors.

When I first got my Stages left-side power meter, I was having problems with it sending signals.  And it was fresh out of the box, 100% new.  When I called them for help, they suggested what Greg has, namely using a small tool to basically pry the battery connector prong out a bit more than it is.  

Thanks both, tried adding the paper between the door and the battery, but that didn't appear to work.

Will carefully pry/pull the prongs a bit, based on your comments. Will report back.

not a stages, but i've had this issue on my quarq meters before.

I take a small flat head screw driver and very gently move the pins. I've done it covering the screw driver with a glasses cloth so I don't scratch anything and without and haven't found it makes any difference. 

Thanks everyone. Took me like 10 minutes of carefully moving the (+) prong and trying and repeating until I got it to where it should be. This video gave me a sense of how the prongs should look, but mostly it was thanks to all the comments above. Appreciate it!

Feels like this shouldn't be this prevalent, but easy enough to correct. Left side Stages power meter works as expected now!

Rope 'a' spoke !


https://theradavist.com/spoke-too-soon-an-in-depth-review-of-berd-spokes/

Pretty steep at $8 a spoke.

While the weight savings is nice--130g per wheel on what looks like a 29er (aka 700c)--some of the claims the author made I question.

I don't see how compliance can be affected.  For that matter, I have a hard time with the idea that aluminum rims flex more than a little.  

The guy that runs the Berm Peak youtube channel just happened to put these on a frankestein bike he put together (it's got a mullet wheel set up, a lefty fork, expanding foam in the frame, electric chinese groupset- it's a weird one) but he's seems pretty positive on the spokes so far. I've been keeping an eye out for if he has a follow up video on them but no such luck yet

Hey folks. I'm trying to get a Formula freehub back in action for a friend. It requires a special tool to disassemble the freehub body. Something like the Shimano TL-FH40 (no longer made) or the Efficient Velo Cassette Body Service Tool. Don't suppose anyone has a loaner of one of these or equivalent?

Niall,
      We used to call that a two-prong freewheel removal tool.

       I have one for a SunTour two-prong freewheel removal tool, but the prongs are wider and I don't think they'll fit.  

       I also have a four-prong SunTour, a splined Regina, a Shimano, and a Falcon, which is about 1mm different than the Shimano.  Sorry to report none of them will work for you.  

     If it's a freewheel and not a cassette, I'd strongly recommend dripping in a super-thin lube or WD-40 when the wheel is lying on its side and letting the liquid sit for a long time.  

I’m like 10 years late on this but finally set up tubeless on my ancient rim brake cross/gravel bike. I gave up trying to seat tires with a track pump and got an airshot and holy hell it works perfect. Can’t wait to run lower pressures in cunningham without flatting.

@David Yang

The Airshot is pretty cool.

To add to the growing list of things to do to get tires seated more easily, lube the tire beads with water or soapy water just before you apply the blast of air from the Airshot.  

Specialized join the arena on the weird and wacky bike designs

https://www.specialized.com/us/en/sirrus-6-0/p/200224?color=322587-200224

It's designed for casual riding, but with the number of mounting points and tire clearance the frame feels like it could be used to make a serious gravel machine

Don't be so sure.

The BB drop is pretty long, 80mm, and trail is as fairly long even with the 32mm wide standard tires.  Put on 40-45mm gravel rubber and the trail will be longer.  Both will contribute to a slow-feeling ride.  The stack and reach numbers suggest that it would be hard to get a stem long and low enough to get a decent position with drop bars.  

Still, the mounting is generous and i'd love to know to put on fenders and a heavy-duty rack in the back.  

I went to adjust my rear brake caliper and when I was tightening it back up, I felt the bolt give and pull the internal threads out of the caliper, which I confirmed when I backed the bolt out (there was metal stuck in the threads of the bolt). I was only at about 3-4 Nm of force (shimano recommends anywhere from 6-8 in the manual) and wasn't cross threaded either, so I'm thinking the caliper was defective. I did a fair bit of google searching and couldn't find anything about this, but reached out to the company I bought it from to see if there is a warranty process to replace it. I the meantime, I bought a new caliper from Brands.

Has anyone ever heard of something like this happening? I spoke to engineer friend (he works on boats primarily but knows a thing or two about screws and bolts) who also rides bikes and he was pretty baffled by it.

This is on a disc brake? Because they are actually notorious for this.

Most new disc calipers and frames come come with alloy bolts (cheap and light) that, well, wont last more than a few adjustments -- the tricky piece is that any time you change disc brake wheels you probably need to adjust the calipers. 

Two solutions:

1. Get disc rotors spacers. Align all your rotors be super close to each other, and that way re-adjusting the caliper is not needed
2. Buy new titanium bolts replacements for your caliper to frame bolt (these are expensive, usually in the $20~$40 per set) sizes vary, so take out your current one, measure, then buy.

Ask me how I know

@eloy yep disc brakes and that's exactly what I was doing. Given the number of times I've swapped wheels and realigned discs, I'm surprised this is the first time I'm running into this issue.

Do you have any suggestions/recommendations for the titanium bolts?

Kind of amazing that this sort of not-yet-perfected tech was adopted by just about everyone.

Unless you're not supposed to swap wheels at all.

I guess the pros out weigh the cons enough to make people move past this sorta thing?

LOL uh oh, not this debate again.

Matt Budofsky said:

@eloy yep disc brakes and that's exactly what I was doing. Given the number of times I've swapped wheels and realigned discs, I'm surprised this is the first time I'm running into this issue.

Do you have any suggestions/recommendations for the titanium bolts?

My disc brakes are SRAM, and SRAM makes titanium replacement bolts. I think you have mostly Shimano, so I would search for the same. Altho I can imagine that the SRAM bolts could potentially work. You just need to figure the right length (and type if cross brand).

If you need but can't find Shimano, there are countless Asian made bolts for this, but I would suggest to go this route as a last resource, and to go as expensive and better brand name as possible (i.e. replacing a brand bolt, with a cheap no-brand bolt, even if alloy vs ti, might end up costing more) 

--- 

Most pro teams have one brand of hubs, so most rotors are likely aligned close enough... but if recent races are an indication, changing the full bike (vs just a wheel) is the pro peloton preferred way. Precisely 'cause of this.