You had a malfunctioning bike, and accepted help from a stranger. You are a newb.
Only a newb would think chains stretch
Do chains lengthen as they wear? Yes. Is it reasonable to describe this as stretch? Yes.
My mate cycles with his wife ,she carries all the tools and their lights, she mends any roadside punctures and fettles the bikes at home. Recently they went out separately, he phoned me to pick him up in my van - he'd punctured with no tools and no one stopped to help him !
Maybe I didn't get my point across (my title probably didn't help) I felt like I was being treated like a newb. Which is my problem more than the person who offered to help.
Can't remember who it was who mentioned ATGNI, you probably have a point as I was wearing a lot of newish decent branded cycling kit whilst my bike looked like an old steel racer
Never mind all that Newb,did you find out what was wrong with the bike? 🤣😉😊
Do chains lengthen as they wear? Yes. Is it reasonable to describe this as stretch? Yes.
Not sure that’s right. The rollers on the links wear down from contact with the cogs/sprockets meaning the effective spacing between the links increases, thus causing further damage to the cogs/sprockets/chain. There’s no plastic deformation of the chain.
By describing a chain stretching, you’re saying that you’ve put enough energy into it to plastically deform the steel plates, almost to the point of fracture. This isn’t true even when most chains snap as they snap at the links, not the plates.
Got a bike bits delivery today consisting of..... 4 chains! 🤦
Jockey wheels on their way.
By describing a chain stretching, you’re saying that you’ve put enough energy into it to plastically deform the steel plates, almost to the point of fracture.
No I'm not. A chain is made of multiple parts which wear as you describe, making the chain longer. I don't see any problem with describing chain lengthening as stretch, other than the inevitable invitation to pedants.
By describing a chain stretching, you’re saying that you’ve put enough energy into it to plastically deform the steel plates, almost to the point of fracture.
Behave.
A mechanical engineer.
Semantics I suppose. I’d class that as chain wear, not stretch, but I guess it’s describing play in the bushings as allowing more movement, thus a greater overall length under tension, so “stretched”.
Behave.
A mechanical engineer.
I was.
An aerospace engineer.
Can we agree on one thing before this thread goes any further.....
Its noob, not newb.
Stretching is just a word that can be used for something that has increased in length. Doesn't really matter whether the increases is wear or plastically deforms it.
When anybody uses the word chain stretch we all know exactly what they mean.
Eh?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newbie
Newbie, newb, noob, or nub is a slang term for a novice or newcomer, or somebody inexperienced in a profession or activity. Contemporary use can particularly refer to a beginner.
A mechanical engineer.
You only qualify as a Mech Eng if you've stood in a bike shop arguing that it IS a valid warranty and you know this because you're a mechanical engineer. 😉
Ah yes the classic I'm an engineer and that's how I know that the thing I was fixing shouldn't have broken even though I'm not sure how it works and was using the wrong tool, now I demand you fix it for free while I tell you how much better I am at your job.
Why does everything on STW have to descend to this.
You only qualify as a Mech Eng if you’ve stood in a bike shop arguing that it IS a valid warranty and you know this because you’re a mechanical engineer.
Overheard someone list ‘I’m an engineer’ as one of his qualifications to be able to administer an a injection. To a nurse.
5plusn8
Free Member
Why does everything on STW have to descend to this.
Because it's a discussion forum and we're discussing/bickering. It's fun, it doesn't need to be acrimonious.
Because it’s a discussion forum and we’re discussing/bickering. It’s fun, it doesn’t need to be acrimonious.
As long as everyone is having fun then its all good. I feel sorry for OP, he was nursing his wounds and then got salted.
In the last couple of years I've had mtbikers passing me When I'm walking down a gnarly trail) and kindly stopping to give me guidance. It's fine, however what they don't realise I've been previously riding those trails for 20 odd years, but now I'm an old woman with a hip replacement I'm just being extremely cautious.
Tasha - I've had a similar experience to you in Dalby forest, where I was descending a wooded, windy section and 2 youngish blokes must have got tired of me being quite close (yes they were holding me up, but I wasn't buzzing them), so one shouted do you want to pass MATE? Oh how lovely to see their expressions when they realised that I was a lady of a certain age, one of them pronounced 'gosh a woman'.
Anyone I pass who is at the side of the trail/path/road sorting their bike gets a “yer alright? Need a hand?” Regardless of bike quality, sex, age or Lycra cover
I've been caught out and resued by a passing rider, and likewise I've rescued a struggling rider as I happened to have a long 8mm in my pack.
Be good to each other, that's all I will say.
I go with something very neutral like “have you got everything you need?” rather than asking if they need help – which sort of implies that they’re incapable.
Exactly what I do. I got the idea on holiday up in Scotlandshire from another passing cyclist as I was attempting to fettle a friend's mechanical, and being on the receiving end I thought it was a lovely way of offering help without suggesting I was feeble.
As it happened, no I didn't have everything I need. The chain on her BSO had munched itself and whilst I'd manage to untangle it, it was left with a couple of frozen links. I was contemplating whether there was enough surplus in the chain to get away with chopping them out and rejoining it - it was borderline. Our hero had a couple of quick links about him which he donated to us, being fairly new to biking (since I was a kid) I didn't know such a thing existed.
Although when you come across someone with a puncture and no means to fix it I hope they learn a valuable lesson from it.
My on-bike toolkit now contains varying sizes of quick links and a couple of inches of spare chain... (-:
Can we agree on one thing before this thread goes any further…..
Its noob, not newb.
lol n00b kkthxbi
I thought a new was a novice and a n00b, well, just an idiot.
varying sizes of quick links
You carry spares for strangers, just in case.
This a level of community service that should be applauded.
I am community minded, I have spent hours helping strangers who are stuck, I have helped carry strangers off the hills which took hours an was bloody knackering, and have driven miles to help a stranger get home to get the tools and kit to fix their car and do whatever it takes, but I've never thought to bring kit advance in case someone needs it.
I am slightly confused as to how you checked the indexing with the chain off.
You ran the mech through it's range, looking at it to see if it was indexed proper, but all you can do is count clicks and see if you are hitting the limit screws
Not if the chain is running true through the range and not clattering about like a bike thats not indexed properly
I once stopped on a bike ride to help a woman change a tyre but as I pulled up to the car it turns out she was just crouching down for a pi55 by the back wheel. I think I was more mortified than she was, made worse by my I bumbling effort to clip back in and be on my way but struggling to get going again in too high a gear. She must have thought I was a riiiight noob... or a perv... or both, when I am in fact neither!
It’s referred to cycle industry wide as ‘stretch’, rightly or wrongly.
I've maybe browsed in the Edinburgh bike coop looking at a bike I've no intention of buying but up comes a student to tell me this bike is "rad" "mega" etc words I never use but having bought my first Rockhopper in '86 I've been round the block
I felt like telling him I've ridden bikes in Baghdad when you were in your dad's bag but bit my tongue
Maybe that Edinburgh student is on this site now
So someone stopped to help and your unhappy about a possible inferred slight that may not have even happened.
I'd get over yourself. Maybe you just didn't know as much as you thought. If someone helps me I try to be gracious even if they are telling me stuff I know.
No slight inferred you understand. lol.
If someone offers you help and you accept ,I think it’s best to just accept their advice, you don’t have to tell them you don’t agree. If someone offers to fix my bike beside a cold trail I would happily listen to their anecdotes and stand around.
When offering help yourself I agree with the ‘ have you got everything you need’ approach. It’s better to offer help when it’s not needed than not offer when it is. My FIL told me about a guy who worked the lathe next to him in the early sixties, one week he was less chatty than usual and very irritable. Being a man in the sixties my FIL didn’t do anything/ ask questions. The following Monday the boss called my FIL in to his office and said that the guy had hung himself. I get the impression that he really regrets not trying to help get to the bottom of things.
@ahsat - you could take the staring as a compliment, they are looking at a nice looking bike with a nice looking rider who owns a nice looking vehicle😀.
As for the riders cutting in and bunnyhops experience too, I bet that gets old very quickly. See also women in martial arts who are told by opponents with years/ decades less experience that they will go easy on them or offer to correct their technique.
Well the wait is over, my gear woes are fixed.
Guy I rode with today did a major noob error. Brought out a used gas canister and his inner tube he hadn’t repaired...he hadn’t ridden outside since December and completely forgotten he had yet to sort out his repair kit.
Was highly entertaining for me even if he did get a free inner tube out of it!
(I’ve been riding with him for well over 20 years, he was a decent level roadie and XC racer....but he’s absolutely useless at bringing his own gear).
He’s the same guy who had a flat at the top of Rococorba, his tyre properly blew out at about 40mph, he was lucky to end up in bushes. But he had 60mm wheels and only had inner tubes with 40mm valves and no extender. Oh how we laughed at him walking down the mountain in his cleats pushing the bike!!
If it can go wrong it’ll go wrong for him!
Normally people’s poor planning annoys me, in his case it’s pure comedy.
