Road bike overhaul

[stewie911]

I'm giving my roadbike a full service before road season starts again.  I have never worked on a roadbike and will have a couple of questions(Only ones which I can't find on google)

 

First one:

1. I took off the dust cap on my campag eurus wheels and after trying to remove a nut I found it may be a balancing weight or something. Is this for balance and how do I get the wheel to balance again.

2. Are there any maintenance on these wheels? They still run super smooth.

 

[Veloce]

Maintenance on these wheels is easy. There is an allen bolt in that recessed area of the locking mechanism in the photo. Undo that, put allen keys in both sides of the axle, turn anti-clockwise and remove the locknut. Remove the ball bearings, clean 'em up, regrease and put everything back. Bobs your aunty.

  

[stewie911]

Thanks, but is that a balance weight or is it just a locknut?

[Minion]

 

Apparently it's called a 'hub adjusting sleeve' in the parts list and a locking ring in the manual.

 

I know reading it's against the guy code, but the manual is quite helpful:

Record hub (same as on Eurus) manual (1MB PDF)

Parts list (1.4MB PDF)

 

Edman2010-06-18 04:19:04

[Johan Bornman]

Thanks, but is that a balance weight or is it just a locknut?

 

It is not a balance weight. Bicycle wheels don't need balancing and a such a weight would have resided at the rim, not the hub.

 

I would describe it as a locking cone, and I'll explain why I call it that. Shimano and other non-Campag cup-and-cone hubs use a threaded cone to adjust the preload on the bearing. This cone is locked in place with a jamb nut, the knurled nut that sits against the frame when the wheel is in place.

 

Campag uses a nicer system. They've got a similar adjusting cone but it doesn't lock in place with the jamb nut. Instead it is split and uses a pinch bolt. The advantage of this is speed of adjustment.

 

To adjust a Shimano wheel is a bit of an art, since there must be just a little bit of perceptable play in the wheel, which is then squeezed out by the skewer. Getting this right with two spanners is difficult and tricky.

 

To adjust a Campag wheel you just need a 2mm allen key (screwdriver type is best). You then fit the wheel in the bike, loosen the adjusting cone with the allen key and rotate the cone until you have the right adjustment. You check this by turning out any sideways play in the wheel. This ensures that it is not loose. You then check that it is not too tight by ensuring that the wheel doesn't stop randomly when spun, but stops at the heaviest part (usually the valve) each and every time after oscillating past the points a couple of times.

 

If you adjust your Campag wheels like this and ensure that it always has fresh grease, you'll get infitite life out of them. I have a pair of Campag hubs which I estimate have done about 120 000 kms over 14 years. I've never opened them, just injected fresh grease once or twice a year. These have the greaseport, which I believe yours don't. It is a pity they've done away with the greasepoort since it makes servicing so much easier. There's just no need to ever remove the balls if you can inject fresh grease in and push the old grease out.

 

I suspect it has to do with weight wheenies. (I blame them for all the evils of cycling). The grease port adds about 30 to 50 grams of weight to each hub since a sleeve inside is kept full of grease.

 

Edit: Sorry Edman, I only read your proper naming of the Hub Adjusting Sleeve now. I had some pesky Chris Willemse advert obscuring the view. I still prefer my made-up name though.

[stewie911]

Thanks for the manual edman. Was looking for it, but couldn't find one. Also thanks for explaning Johan.

[stewie911]

Ok, on to the rims. What's the best way to treat the rims with to improve the braking surface?

[stewie911]

What bearings does a truvativ GXP bb take? My bearings aren't running smooth anymore.

[stewie911]

bump

[Johan Bornman]

Stewie, to improve the braking surface, you have to de-glaze the brake pads (or replace them with Koolstop pads) and roughen up the rim with steel wool. The Truvativ takes an Enduro Truvativ bearing kit. Avaialable from www.rushsport.co.za or from me. I can also fit them for you.

[stewie911]

Ended up lightly sanding the the brake surfus and followed with steelwool. Will let you know about the bearing if I come to that side of town.