[kippu]

Does it make sense to upgrade from shimano tourney groupset to a shimano tiagra groupset?

I am having this silent itch to upgrade some of my montra trance hybrid parts as a reward for the mileage and I am thinking whether this upgrade makes sense?

I am just a casual everyday rider with no intention of setting records , just like my time on the road . look forward to your suggestions

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by kippu

Does it make sense to upgrade from shimano tourney groupset to a shimano tiagra groupset?

That doesn't seem right. Tourney is the entry level groupset on mtb/hybrids while tiagra is a middle-level groupset on road bikes.

A logical movement would be to move to Acera (most commonly seen) or Deore if you have the money to spare and the necessary support/mechanics to do this work properly. Take a call depending on what do you expect out of the upgrade (more riding, shift to higher elevation rides, issues with current groupset, etc). Plan accordingly and get proper support on this from your local bike mechanics/shops if you plan to go ahead.

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by amol4184

My bike is making a cut-cut-cut sound.

Is there a specific position of the crank where it makes the noise? Does it increase as your pedaling increases or is it with tire rotation? Do you hear the noise in all gears?
If it is with pedaling, then it could be the bottom bracket.

This is an excellent article on how to troubleshoot random noises from a bike:
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/creaks.html

[bugatti]

Originally Posted by kippu

Does it make sense to upgrade from shimano tourney groupset to a shimano tiagra groupset?

I am having this silent itch to upgrade some of my montra trance hybrid parts as a reward for the mileage and I am thinking whether this upgrade makes sense?

I am just a casual everyday rider with no intention of setting records , just like my time on the road . look forward to your suggestions

I picked up a Montra Helicon 2nd hand some months back. This is for my commute. It came with the Shimano tourney 7 speed groupset.

I upgraded the parts (brake levers, standalone Altus shifters, Altus FD and RD). The bike runs very smooth now, shifting is crisp and brakes really nice.

The Altus parts are 8 speed, however I did not change the cassette, chain and crank (these are 7 speed).

Just keep in mind that quality upgrades on your bike will cost you a lot of money. I bought the bike for 11k, spent 8.5k on the parts and service, which is more than what a new Helicon would cost.

As for upgrading parts on your Trance, I'm not sure whether yours is 7 or 8 sp. You could take the same route as I did. A complete quality 8 speed setup will cost you about 10-11k. A 9 speed Acera setup will cost you about 13k.

A Deore/Tiagra upgrade (10 speed) might be a bit difficult (your rear hub might not accommodate the cassette). A complete Deore upgrade will cost you an easy 18-20k, the Tiagra some 25-28k. Happy upgrading.

[kippu]

thank you for the comprehensive information , this is exactly what I was hoping to do ,
I suppose the best thing is to take it to the local cycle shop and see how to move ahead , mine is a 8 speed ,

First I will have to check if its a freewheel or a cassette , if its a casette then my upgrade plan is sorted , Otherwise I have to rethink the plans

[sridhu]

Hi folks

I need to ship my son's bicycle from Bangalore to Davangere.

What is the best way to do this?

[KA18]

Originally Posted by sridhu

Hi folks

I need to ship my son's bicycle from Bangalore to Davangere.

What is the best way to do this?

Transportation by Indian Railways is the best option as Davangere is well connected from Bangalore.

Other option would be to mount a bicycle carrier on your car and take it by road, about 4 hours drive.

I wouldn't recommend cargo shipping unless the logistics company knows the right way to pack and handle the bicycle.

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by sridhu

Hi folks

I need to ship my son's bicycle from Bangalore to Davangere.

What is the best way to do this?

In addition to the trains as suggested by KA18, you can also carry/ship them on the numerous private buses that ply between the two cities. They generally insist on removing the pedals so that the bicycle can be tied properly on the top. Won't hurt to carry a good quality tether for the purpose.

Back when were studying, we have carried our bicycles multiple times like this, on KSRTC buses too. But all of them were simple, no frills attached, sub 10k pieces.

If yours is a costly one, a properly packed train journey will be the best bet.

[silverado]

Originally Posted by kippu

Does it make sense to upgrade from shimano tourney groupset to a shimano tiagra groupset?

Changing groupset can give slight gains. Dont be tempted if its costing too much.

Also note Helicon IMO comes with a freewheel and not a casette

Originally Posted by bugatti

I upgraded the parts (brake levers, standalone Altus shifters, Altus FD and RD). The bike runs very smooth now, shifting is crisp and brakes really nice.

The Altus parts are 8 speed, however I did not change the cassette, chain and crank (these are 7 speed).

A 9 speed Acera setup will cost you about 13k.

Happy upgrading.

There are no 7 speed cassette these days , freewheels come in 7 speed mostly and rarely in 8 speeds.

Its best to buy a new bike rather than going so far on the upgrade route, as other components like frame etc would also be better on costlier bike.

[ringoism]

Well, weather in Manali has been in a warming trend the past 2-3 weeks, hardly need a sweater now and that means it's time to get going with cycles again. Village kids have pulled out all their rusty ones (look to have been stored under snow piles) for me to get started with, but am eager to start something of my own as well.

I've got three MTB frames I'd picked up late last year which have been sitting in the storeroom under my landlord's house, waiting for some kind of buildups: A very old alloy Firefox, the spindly steel Hero Ranger, and this Cosmic Crux 27.5".

I got the latter from a cycle shop down-valley for a few grand in complete form - probably too much considering the condition, but 1) the alloy frame itself was of handsome profiles and felt pleasingly light; 2) 26" MTB's are apparently getting to the point of near-obsolescence, and most of my (rental) fleet along with that... So wanted to start adding more contemporary sizes.

I've got Raleigh/FF 29er's which do ride ok, but honestly feel the additional (unsprung) weight of the larger wheels negatively on broken roads. Probably would need considerably higher-end stuff - lighter wheels and better-damped, more rigid forks (than SR XCT) to really appreciate the supposed benefits of the 29's. So as some out there suggest, the 27.5 might be the best compromise. Being a modest 17" frame, it'll be too small for me personally, but that's alright. Should turn out light and strong enough without having to spend too much.

Anyway.

Paint scheme was based on a rather nice smokey, kind of gleaming metallic grey, but it was scraped up enough to make me doubt a good cleaning/touching would suffice...




...So today stripped the paint with a chemical remover (I seem to be partial to polished aluminum frames, this will be my fourth), and was pleased to find the bare frame weighing in at under 2kg's, even with the BB / steering races still in there. Must be about 1.5 net then, which generally puts it on par weight-wise with an aluminum Trek or whatever else. Also has, quite surprisingly, the clip-type holders for hydraulic brake lines... something that back when this was made would have been fairly unusual. So I'm guessing a decent China/Taiwan-sourced frame laden with heavy, cheap desi components to keep costs down?




Whatever, it had www.brandnmc printed on the frame, which currently takes me to a seemingly not very lively site called "Nandi Marketing" which at present offers a couple of rather nondescript low-end cycles of the "Level" brand.

I had an aluminum handlebar and seat post on hand already, the OE rims seem acceptable. Typical freewheel type setup should work well enough, especially if I can source a 32 or 34T-first eight-gear one, which pre-Covid was supposed to be available even from my local desi source (he has 13-28T 8g even now). Tyres are quality take-offs with a little life left in them. I'll try to get hydraulic brakes on this one, too.

Forks are always the sore point when it comes to budget MTB builds, 'cause cheap as everything else may be, it's basically impossible to find budget ones (meaning anything that doesn't cost twice what a budget cycle is worth) that perform well and don't themselves weigh more than the rest of the frame (as the horrid, undamped, unadjustable original seen on the ground there definitely does). I have a spanking-new Rs1500 set, also heavy but at least tighter, that'll have to do for now. Parts supply still hasn't picked up very well and am hoping that once we get into the season I'll be able to find some better-quality salvaged items. Rigid just isn't going to work up here for most people on about half the available roads, where dodging nasty potholes is far too distracting to be enjoyable, IMO. Personally I want to be able to keep my line and just ride through them.

On that note, the 27.5 SR XCM hydraulic fork I picked up from someone I met at Manali's downhill event last year would've been perfect for this build, had it not been even more needed for my ACT108Max... which is now riding much more happily "over the river and through the woods" than ever before. In retrospect, getting repeatedly airborne with the original front suspension was pretty foolhardy



Anyway, put my best mechanical junk-bin calipers on there - Hayes MX-5's - and between those and the SRAM rear derailleur and clickers and jugaad 2x8 setup, it really is a pleasant ride. Anticipating some real fun on it this year.


A good winter's rest for my knee(s) seems to be what was most needed, thank God. Haven't been on as long of rides as I was doing last year pre-injury, but so far in moderate pushing a few times a week am feeling no pain, so am looking forward to more riding again - most of which will probably be on the (ancient) Decathlon Riverside, since indeed the 700C's do roll better than anything else I've got. Really wish I had some flatter roads to go longer on, though. We've only got two basic roads running either up or down valley here, most of the link roads / side valleys are more interesting but steeper, too. Working on getting whatever personal cycles I ride geared as low as possible in order to reduce the strain (better late than never).

More to come.

-Eric

[ringoism]

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

...one of my friends suggested calculating the ratios of the front and rear cogs to get an MTB that is better suited for climbing. I am not really technical here, but I get that as dividing the teeth on the front crankset by the teeth in the rear cassette. What do I make of the ratio that I get there?

What you really want to know when it comes to gearing isn't ratios (which do not take into account differences in tyre sizes) - it's how far you move along the road/trail per each revolution of the pedals: i.e., "gear-inches" or something similar. Lots of great configurable calculators here:

https://www.bikecalc.com/

or more specific to the current question:

https://www.bikecalc.com/gear_inches

Look at the chart here or modify it to your own tastes or as per specs of your various hardware options.

Depends on gradients and duration (and age!?), but if you're wanting to do a lot of on/off-road climbing without hurting your knees, you probably want to be at under 20 gear-inches in 1st (lowest) gear. Some people, especially if touring with luggage, would go 17 gear-inches or lower - something like a 22T (smallest) ring up front and 34T cog (largest) out back, in a traditional 3x8 or 3x9 setup (bear in mind that newer 2x or 1x drives of course can have much larger cogs out back, so the chart can be adjusted accordingly if you want to calculate those).

I'm 53 and in terms of physical strength can comfortably grind away in higher gears / slower cadences BUT as my experience showed last Autumn, I can also hurt myself in doing so - was running a 24/28T 1st, i.e., about 23 gear-inches for maybe 1500+ft vertical gain in a relatively short run... did that once just fine, second time a week or so later I put myself out of commission for six months.

Since you may still want speed on flat ground / downhill stretches, on an MTB you probably want minimum 85 gear-inches in your highest gear (largest front ring / smallest rear cog), which is what just about every budget 3x7 MTB has had for decades as top gear (42/13 or 14). Some people would want to go up to 100 gear-inches or more (42/11 etc), but when you're dealing with 1x setups, that much range from highest to lowest might be hard to come by and/or expensive both initially and maintenance-wise. Which is why personally I prefer 2x's, but to each his own. A 1x with a 34T up front and a 10-50T cassette out back gives you a pretty good overall range (low-18's to low 90's in gear-inches) IMO, if 1x is your only available option.

-Eric

[Fillmore]

Strava Query - Club Leaderboard related

I am part of a local Strava Cycling club.
We have noticed that the Weekly Leaderboard is not refreshing to include more than 10 users on the Leaderboard dashboard.
However the same dashboard refreshes to display all riders for the Last Week's stats.

Is this a known issue , and are there any fixes to it ?
I did google and see a few posts saying it will take time to refresh etc..
But no real solution.

Edited : removed some content around support

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by Fillmore

Also does Strava have an end point customer service chat link or number anywhere ?
Most of their support just seems to be made up of canned documentation.

Have you tried the support option in the app? It shows this message with a chat interface. Although I wonder what level of service they will provide for free users.

"Hello, we’re Strava instant answers. If we don't quickly find what you need, we'll help connect you to an agent"

No idea about the leaderboard functionality.

[Fillmore]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Have you tried the support option....

No idea about the leaderboard functionality.

Yes I was able to open a Ticket.
Will let you know the level of support they provide.

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by Fillmore

We have noticed that the Weekly Leaderboard is not refreshing to include more than 10 users on the Leaderboard dashboard.
However the same dashboard refreshes to display all riders for the Last Week's stats.

That's odd. Is that happening for other clubs in your feed as well or just this one?
Not totally relevant, but I use this Chrome plugin to download club data and create my own leaderboards for various activities:
Download Reports