we're in trouble now
I somehow lost my rear brake on Sunday's ride. Planning on bring my bike with me this weekend so I can ride Pisgah while in NC next week I opted to actually do some maintenance on my Superfly.
While I was trying to figure out why the lever and pistons would not retract I also noticed my rear wheel was sluggish and some of the spokes were loose. Guess this is what I get for not touching my bike in six months.
I got to this point and was walking down the path of panic. I now had a rear brake in pieces on the bike with mineral oil dripping onto the floor and a DT hub strewn apart on my workbench. I hadn't eaten anything since noon and it was now approaching 10pm. Blood sugar low, time is running out before it was bed time, having never touched a hub other than a Mavic I navigated away from Bad Brains on my phone and in a pseudo panic ridden state called George and left some run-on sentence voicemail.
I then walked away...
And found my computer upstairs and started googling about what happens when you use pharmacy mineral oil in Shimano brakes and what else of my DT hub can come apart and be cleaned without any fancy tools.
Lesson # 1
Do not use pharmacy mineral oil in Shimano brakes. I am ashamed of doing such a thing when all it took was a minute of searching on the internets great alternatives to the red Shimano Mineral oil you can find in your local bike shop.
Only Pentosin hydraulic fluid I have is CHF 11S which is synthetic so I can't use that. I did have some Finish Line 10w fork oil laying around so I used that to both flush the brake system out and fill it up for proper use. A liter of Pentosin CHF 7.1 is on order and I'll move forward using that fine hydraulic fluid.
Lesson # 2
Came to find out that DT hubs are super easy to take the freehub apart, clean and re-grease. Probably easier than Mavics since you don't need any tools. I also confirmed my suspicion by counting that I actually do have the 36 pawl upgrade. I then greased the freehub with some automotive white lithium grease and then greased the seals of the axle flanges with some Pauls waterproof grease.
All back together again and in bed by midnight.
While I was trying to figure out why the lever and pistons would not retract I also noticed my rear wheel was sluggish and some of the spokes were loose. Guess this is what I get for not touching my bike in six months.
I got to this point and was walking down the path of panic. I now had a rear brake in pieces on the bike with mineral oil dripping onto the floor and a DT hub strewn apart on my workbench. I hadn't eaten anything since noon and it was now approaching 10pm. Blood sugar low, time is running out before it was bed time, having never touched a hub other than a Mavic I navigated away from Bad Brains on my phone and in a pseudo panic ridden state called George and left some run-on sentence voicemail.
I then walked away...
And found my computer upstairs and started googling about what happens when you use pharmacy mineral oil in Shimano brakes and what else of my DT hub can come apart and be cleaned without any fancy tools.
Lesson # 1
Do not use pharmacy mineral oil in Shimano brakes. I am ashamed of doing such a thing when all it took was a minute of searching on the internets great alternatives to the red Shimano Mineral oil you can find in your local bike shop.
Only Pentosin hydraulic fluid I have is CHF 11S which is synthetic so I can't use that. I did have some Finish Line 10w fork oil laying around so I used that to both flush the brake system out and fill it up for proper use. A liter of Pentosin CHF 7.1 is on order and I'll move forward using that fine hydraulic fluid.
Lesson # 2
Came to find out that DT hubs are super easy to take the freehub apart, clean and re-grease. Probably easier than Mavics since you don't need any tools. I also confirmed my suspicion by counting that I actually do have the 36 pawl upgrade. I then greased the freehub with some automotive white lithium grease and then greased the seals of the axle flanges with some Pauls waterproof grease.
All back together again and in bed by midnight.
posted by dougyfresh at 8:04 PM
2 Comments:
I hope you went sparingly with the grease on the ratchet rings or you'll be randomly freewheeling.
WV=testical; a bible verse about balls.
I went with a conservative amount. Just enough to coat the gears.
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