mrsconsequence being the flashy thing she is has a carerra kraken ‘w=spec’ from the mighty halfords

she needs a new rear hub, and a new headset

its a black one… think it was either the 2009, or 2010 model.

seeing as 99% of its use from now until spring will be swinley, i’ve advised her to wait until the rear hub dies before replacing it as a winter in swinley could leave the new hub in the same state the current one is already in! was that an idiotic suggestion?

as for the headset, for some reason i’m thinking its an integrated headset? should i just tell her to get halfords to whack a new one in?

any advice on hubs or my general idiotness? 😀

thank you clever people xx

I’m not that clever, but I know it depends which hub you get as to how long it lasts. Something with sealed bearings (eg. er, Hope?) will easily last more than one winter (even with Swinley grit). Whereas Shimano ones will need servicing.
Headset – easy enough to do, but I don’t know enough about Carrera’s (see, I can’t even spell it) to know whether they have integrated or whatever. Get an FSA one, whatever it is.

xx

hmmm hubs confuse me, different amounts of holes and bearings and stuffs. what would be sexy to the maximum would be for someone to be kind enough to say ‘you need this type of hub, here’s a link to where you can buy this type for a range of prices, i’d recommend that one because its better than the cheaper one’:D

cheers Lethal-D! (this nickname will stick if i use it enough) mrsconsequence said she’s got an upper limit for 50squid for a hub, which i’m surprised at as she only paid 300ish for the whole bike! kinda think its not worth investing that much in a hub whe she’s planning on buying a nice bike hopefully by next summer.

ohhhh annuva bike question…

if i turn my bike into singlespeed for the winter, how easy is it to put gears back on if i decide it was a silly idea?

You’d need to tell us how many spokes before we can recommend one 🙂
Then I’d recommend a WTD on the classifieds to get a Hope or similar at a good value price.

Phil are you any good at basic bike maintenance?

Headset does seem to be an integrated one If you are interested I am fairly confident I have a FSA one in my shed somewhere with sealed bearings, I only used it for 2 rides before getting new forks and having to get a new headset.

Like this one

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=15888

but with silver cups, think it was about that price when I bought it so if I can find it I’d sell it for a tenner posted.

Hubs seem to be generic Formula ones, could you not open them up for her and shove a bunch of grease in them to see her through winter then treat her to some new wheels for chrismas?

Singlespeed for the winter? Easiest way is to get a second back wheel.
But you’d still have to change the cranks or chainrings when you swap back, which isn’t something I could be bothered with!

Rusty you sir are a star 😀 the bike is in Mary (the dedicated bike den) at a friends house so i’ll give him a call once he’s awake and ask his to confirm the headset (and amount of spokes as that would indeed be useful Lethal-D!)

second back wheel is a jolly good idea… i’ve already got an unramped 32teeth sexy (and by sexy i mean anodised purple) ring up front as i converted to 1X9 a while ago, its prob me being an idiot again but why would i need to change cranks?if i had a second back wheel then i could leave some kind of beastly tyre on it…

Well, you won’t need to change cranks if you’ve got 1 ring up front already, that’ll be ideal. Just swap the chain and back wheel and ignore those dangly shifter things hanging on your bars. 🙂

Rusty’s headset sounds ideal

would the rear-mech essentially act as a chain tensioner if i left it in place then?

Halfords website just says “Formula Alloy” for the rear hub, would have thought you are prob better off getting a complete rear wheel – go for LX/SLX or above to get some decent seals to keep the grit & water out – unfortunately just yesterday sold a rear wheel that would have been perfect but there must be some more good web deals out there 🙄

I think Lethal-D was hinting at, you would either need to change the chain rings (if you were running a triple ring up front) or have a second set of cranks with the single ring, cranks are almost as easy to change if you have an external bottom bracket.

Single speed chain rings may be chunkier than 9 speed to aid in longevity of parts. Does your bike have horizontal drop outs or are you planning on running some kind of chain tensioner?

[edit]most of which seems to have been covered already while i was typing my reply – must learn to type faster and ignore my boss whe he starts asking stupid questions[/edit]

dickyboy, hold back the tears of laughter if you can… but i’m that much of an idiot that i have no idea what LX/SLX means 😳

was i silly in suggesting she wait til spring to have the wheel built with a new hub and just run the current one into the ground over winter?

EDIT – my bike has an internal BB, horrible powerspline thingy… but yeah already got them set up with single unramped ring with bash.

if i discover i like the whole SS thing over winter then i could take the rear-mech off and not worry about buying a second rear wheel for changing over in spring?

I think Lethal-D was hinting at

Don’t encourage him!

would you prefer ‘Lethal Dezzle’? 8)

was i silly in suggesting she wait til spring to have the wheel built with a new hub and just run the current one into the ground over winter?

I wouldn’t replace anything at this time of year unless it was unusable. So in my book that was good advice. As for the hub. What exactly is wrong with the hub that has made you decide that it needs replacing? Sure it doesn’t just need a good service?

it sounds like a combine harvester and thats not much of an improvement after a decent service at a proper bike shop where they re-greased it but advised her she should probably think about replacing it soon (nice enough not to assume, change it and charge her without asking) 🙂

headset is the main thing that’s making her feel uncomfortable on the bike at the moment, the tiny rubbish bearings in it have been damaged i think, over tightening by a friend who worked in a bike shop for 2 months 15 years ago and forgets he might not be the mechanic he is in his head!

Sure it doesn’t just need a good service?

I see trouble ahead 😆

Phil – If it can wait till end of month I’d offer to pop over with tools to Swinley to see if it is servicable – karma returns for the Swinley Sexy party earlier this year 🙂

Edit – ah! I see above now

Dickyboy, i might take you up on that 8) even if its just for a bit of help with (hopefully) fitting Rusty’s headset!

No problem – email in profile if you need to scream help! 🙂

Phil,

I’ve got a half day today, will get out to the shed this afternoon and try and look it out for you, my email is in my profile if you want to ask any other questions about it.

Formula hubs don’t last long, I killed one in six months of very fair weather useage.

As others have said, it’s probably easier to buy a complete wheel and in doing so you can probably lose a bit of weight there and gain some reliability. Shimano hubs are ace for user friendly servicing and the Deore ones are so cheap they’re practically giving them away. You could buy now and so long as you stay on top of maintenance it’ll keep going practically forever.

You could try Merlin for a wheel deal.

What’s your budget?

ok, 32 spokes apparently, sound about right? (no bikes near me to see if that is kinda normal)

headset is completely integrated (nuffink sticking out the top or bottom of the frame apart from spacers on the forks… standard 1 1/8″steerer tube xcr cheapo forks). roughly 2″ diameter for the headset… that seem about right Rusty? 🙂

mrsconsequence said she’d be happy paying up to 50squid for a new hub, not sure if she realised it would cost a bit for a shop to build up a the wheels with new hub…

thanks again everyone 😀 any links to wheel deals/possible hubs?

Phil, you’re not far from me in Farnborough are you?

If you need a tame mechanic who’ll work for beer and Tunnocks Tea cakes, drop me an email. I’m sure I can find time to sort the bike out for you.

Serious offer.
🙂

EDIT
I skipped straight to the end of the thread and missed the other kind offers. Mine still stands though. 🙂

I can build wheels though, and I’ve got a good stock of used hub parts in the garage!

Well my local bike shop could probably build a wheel for around 40 including spokes.

So if you got a deore hub at about £20(when I last looked) then she would have spent £60.

However, you can get two lighter+more reliable wheels for around £100-£140 from superstar/on one/merlin.

Merlin have a deal here

Also Wiggle sell the hub only for £24 here

32 spokes is about the norm, but you cannot assume that the old spokes will still fit, as spoke length of a wheel will vary depending on the hub fitted. If you opt for the hub only route, you may well end up having to spend on new spokes AND having the wheel built, so if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing it can be a false economy.

Or you could take Peterpoddy up on his offer, which sounds extremely reasoable to me 🙂

These
and some centre lock adaptors?

thanks again everyone, i have sent mrsconsequence the link to this thread as its her cash she should prob have a part to say in the decision 😆

cheers for all the links and offers… Rusty i think that headset could be perfect but i dont want to confirm anything til the good lady has had a butchers 🙂

Right. Just had a proper read through.

As already stated, Formula hubs aren’t the best.
BUT I’d wager a fair amount it’s not as buggered as you think it is. There’s only 2 things go wrong with hubs (Usually) and thats bearings and freehubs. Even if the cones are a bit rough, a strip and fettle will keep them running almost ad-infinitum. You can’t feel a slightly rough wheel bearing when riding, as long as it’s not loose it’ll be fine.
I’ve got 2 complete and one incomplete hubs in the garage. 2 of them seem to have decent freehubs, so there’s at least a 50/50 chance that one of them will fit your hub, if so, that’s the back wheel sorted for a few pence!

To be honest, I wouldn’t spend £50 on a hub alone, especially rebuilding the wheel you already have. It’s just not economical IMO.
For that price you can get a really decent PAIR of OE wheels off the classifides. The last ones I bought were Shimano M475 hubs with Mavic 117 rims, virtually new for £50. Something like that (Deore hubs are better if you can find them though) with the hubs properly regreased, will last for years and probably be noticeably lighter than the ones she already has.

Headset: If it’s an integrated unit, it’ll just need new bearings chucking in it. If it’s a semi-integrated, the world’s your oyster but, as above, FSA can’t be beat really! To be fair though, I’d need to see that before I knew which one it is, and which one to get, unless anyone else knows for SURE! 🙂

Wild guess, but does the rest of the bike need a service too? Ask AnnaB on here if you need a reference, and possibly Cinnamon Girl too, I think I’ve helped her out in the past as well (I know I fixed her garage door at least!)

Anyway, up to you, but I might have time on Sunday, or maybe even this evening if you’re desperate?
Just don’t go chucking money way at a bike shop when you’ve got this amount of help being offered by several people, OK? 🙂

PP 🙂 you’re a delicious man. i want to buy you pies full of meat for offering such kind help.

(still need the good lady consequence to check the thread though)

Get a Hope ProII, if you keep being sexy to me I even own all the tools to replace the bearings when they eventually die.

Also, I have an old rear wheel she can have for the winter.

i will take you up on that offer when you sell me your covert yeti. hope pro II’s might be a bit overkill for a 300squid halfords bike.

EDIT its me that needs the extra rear wheel, gimme gimme gimme!

*stokes nipple suggestively*

I’ve got two spare rear wheels I think.

Keep stroking!

what a coincidence yeti, i have two, yes two whole nipples….

Send me a picture of you trying to lick one of them?

Ewwwww!

you dont like meat pies PP? 😕

Headset has now been located and has pride of place on the mantlepiece in my living room.

Everything is there except the star fangled nut, this should not be a problem for you as there will already be one fitted in mrsconsequence steerer of her current forks.

The cups are new as i never fitted them, the bearings and the upper crown race look new but have been used for 2-3 rides, the lower crown race has previously been fitted and has a 1mm nick out of it where the screw driver just slipped when i took it off my old forks – sorry. The nick will not affect performance in any way.

If mrsconsequence is interested i could get it in the post for you this weekend. If you want any pics drop me an email and i can reply with some.