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Technical Q&A with Lennard Zinn - Rebuild or replace?
Dear Lennard,
My 1998 9-speed Campy Ergo levers have now reached the time for rebuilding.
The left lever won't keep the chain on the big ring any more, it keeps clicking lower when I jump or hit a bigger bump ─ very soft and touchy. I understand that 1998's can't be converted to 10-speed, although I've never seen an explanation of why and the innards seem to be the same from what I've read.
I could rebuild the levers but I'm considering springing for new shifters, derailleur and cassettes, converting to 10-speed, since 9-speed parts of this era are getting harder to get. I recall that you once wrote that a 9-speed Sachs chain worked well with 10-speed Ergo shifting, and Shimano 7700 9-speed cranks and chainrings worked with 10's. I have a 7700 triple (one of the few at the time available in 180 mm) and I'd like not to leave that behind.
Is compatibility still reasonable, or have the newer 10-speed systems tightened up everything so much that they're incompatible with the earlier stuff? I'm using Veloce loose cog cassettes, so are there spacers available to convert these to 10 or is there a problem there, also?
Larry
Dear Larry,
As you can see from the illustrations from my book posted in this column, there are subtle differences in the guts of 8-speed levers and 10-speed ones, and the 1998 9-speed levers are the only year that they had the same guts as 8-speed levers, yet within the more rounded, thinner lever body shape of 9-speed and 10-speed levers.
It’s been years now since I had an 8-speed lever apart, but it seems to me that the 10-speed index gear is smaller in diameter than that on the 8-speed. The fact that the G-spring carrier has a post on it to anchor the flat compensation spring, a spring that the 8-speed levers don’t have at all, should not be an issue.
Also probably irrelevant is that the central pivot post nut on 8-speed levers is double-ended and on 10-speed levers it only has a single end. I think I remember that it is simply the diameter of the index gear and possibly the G-spring carrier that is the feature preventing upgrading your 8-speed-style lever into a 10-speed one.
I think you’ll find that that 7700 triple crank will work fine with a triple shift lever from a recent 10-speed system.
As for your cogs, generally, Wheels Manufacturing makes spacers to adapt almost any cogset to another system.
Lennard
Dear Lennard,
I just bought my first new bike in about ten years, and naturally it has a crankset with external bearings ─ Shimano SLX in this case. Are these Shimano bearing sets interchangeable across component groups? That is, will LX/Ultegra/XTR/Dura-Ace/SLX all work interchangeably? I ask because I would like to have a spare set up bearings and the place I typically buy this stuff only has Ultegra bottom brackets in stock. I'm guessing they would work fine, although they also carry a Chris King bottom bracket set with adjustable and replaceable bearings that is really tempting.
Steve
Dear Steve,
Yes, Ultegra or any other Shimano Hollowtech II external bearing set will work fine.
Lennard
Dear Lennard,
I have recently had a SRAM Force rear shifter fail. The shift lever snapped off at the pivot point. I am interested in finding out if this is a frequent thing or if it was a quirk. There is no way for a customer to contact SRAM via the web as they do not publish any e-mail addresses for the general public at all. How do they get feedback from their customers if they don't allow anything other than a long distance phone call? Or is that the point?
Larry
SRAM’s answer
Over the phone, Michael Zellmann said the following, which I have paraphrased: We generally try to empower our dealers, and we encourage consumers to go through dealers. We service our dealers rapidly and take their parts and service requests and questions seriously.
It is possible to find a contact number for SRAM on our Web site, and consumers can call us if they have no dealer nearby. In the specific case of this broken lever, we did have a handful come in broken out of the thousands that went out. We have made a running change to strengthen the lever body.
And in writing, Zellmann said: It is extremely challenging to support consumer phone calls directly. All U.S.-based consumers should hopefully have access to any local bike shop as we typically try to empower our dealers and utilize them as our primary point of contact. We have a complete warranty program, and we offer a repair service for all of our road product, which is available from any U.S.-based independent bicycle dealer. SRAM has a two-year warranty on manufacturer's defect on all the products it makes.
SRAM’s philosophy is that the equipment it makes benefit from technical sales and support and the specialty bike retailer is the best source to provide this service. We’ve earned an excellent reputation with the level of service and warranty support we provide to this critical cog in the industry, in turn supporting our products with the end consumer.
Michael Zellmann
SRAM U.S. Road PR & Media Manager
Feedback about creaking cranks
Dear Lennard,
You offered good crank noise advice, but my top two in order are:
1. Rear axle/dropout noise: therefore remove rear wheel, clean the dropouts and the axle area, lube, replace.
2. Pedal threads: therefore remove pedals, lube, replace. The noise does seem to emanate from the crank area. I spent years figuring this out.
Alan
Dear Lennard,
Re: the recent question about creaks and noises: I have one rear wheel that will creak like crazy if the skewer isn't tight enough. It sounds like a bottom bracket noise but there is just enough movement in the vertical dropout with each stroke to drive me crazy until I fix it. The wheel stays put but makes a lot of noise. Also, I've found that some Asian QR skewers are not well lubed when delivered. A little WD-40 on the cam and bearing of the lever side will do wonders for noise free operation.
Larry
Dear Lennard,
I had a somewhat similar occurrence on my Roubaix SL. One time the bottom bracket bearings were loose and had play, replaced 'em. At another point it was a crack in my rim, which would flex and pop and it was hard to localize, replaced 'em. Another time was when the chain would grip the lower pulley wheel on the rear derailleur and cause a click/tap as it came free and the rear cage sprung back. Maybe look for a tight/pinched link. One other area for the guy to check and oil would be both the spoke nipples and the inner spoke attachment points on the rear hub. Don't get sloppy on the rim with oil as braking could be compromised.
George
Dear Lennard,
I have one more suggestion for the annoying click emanating from the bottom bracket to add to the answer that Nic Sims provided. I ride a Specialized Roubaix Pro, and after checking all the same that Nic suggested except the derailleur hanger, I decided to check my pedals. They were the only other revolving at the same rate as the cranks and my ‘click’ occurred on every revolution of the crank.
The first obvious thing for me to check were the bearings; but they are smooth as silk, so I was going crazy. I figured it had to be the bike ... somewhere. I happened to look at the bottom of my shoe, only to see a cleat bolt head that looked longer than the others. Oops, it was not loose, but it wasn’t tight either, so I tightened the bolt (cleat) and voila, the noise was gone. The cleat wasn’t moving laterally because the other two bolts were tight, but it was bending and apparently ‘snapping’ back into place each time around.
Ralph
Dear Lennard,
I am a mechanic at a Specialized concept store and we have come across this noise problem also. The noise IS coming from the bottom bracket bearings. The fix (per Specialized warranty section) is to remove crankset and bearings.
Clean the bearings outer surface and the bottom bracket sleeve with alcohol. Then apply slip fit retaining compound (Loctite Retaining Compound 638 Green Slip Fit) to the inside surface where the bearings are pressed in. Reassemble and let sit for 24 hour curing. We’ve done a half dozen bikes, including mine, in the last month.
Brian
Dear Lennard,
I would like to make a small addition to the noise issue being experienced by Geoff on the Specialized, even though this may not be the cause. I consider myself quite bike savvy, but it stumped me for a long time.
My girlfriend had mysterious noise emanating from the drivetrain of her Felt F4. It took us about 300Km on several rides to determine the cause. The lock ring on the cassette was not tight and the cassette rings were 'dinging' against one another.
It’s a simple fix, but one that’s hard to pinpoint.
Tyler
Dear Lennard,
Have the person check his cleats on his shoes. If he has a shoe with two bolt mount plates in the shoe, but uses say something like Look pedals (three bolt), then the plates can break loose and click with every pedal stroke as they move back and forth in the track in the shoe. It will start and stop depending on the pressure on the plate. It will drive you nuts! I use silicone to glue the cleat mount plates in place and the clicking goes away.
Brent
Technical writer Lennard Zinn is a frame builder (www.zinncycles.com), a former U.S. national team rider and author of numerous books on bikes and bike maintenance including the pair of successful maintenance guides "Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance" - now available also on DVD, and "Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance," as well as "Zinn and the Art of Triathlon Bikes" and "Zinn's Cycling Primer: Maintenance Tips and Skill Building for Cyclists."
Zinn's regular column is devoted to addressing readers' technical questions about bikes, their care and feeding and how we as riders can use them as comfortably and efficiently as possible. Readers can send brief technical questions directly to Zinn. Zinn's column appears here each Tuesday.
