Bicycle component interchangeability

[ShipHill]

This post was instigated by me watching 3 of the guys at work "repairing" old Jim's bike using bits from Geoff's bag of bits and an old mountain bike that's been in our bike shed since the late Cretacious.

All handlebars are one of only 2 diameters and they'll all fit with subtle "adjustment". True?
There are about 10 different seat stem diameters. Would 1mm difference be a problem providing it clamped up tight?
A few different rim wheel widths, and obviously diameters. Is it all dependent on the skewer/axle? frame width?
Disc brake wheels.... I imagine would be different to rim brake jobbies.
Chain.... length and thickness/pitch depends on gears so there's probably quite a few differences there.
Deraillieurs.... SRAM and Shimano are interchangeable but Campagnolo aren't. Is that correct? I guess it depends on the number of cogs etc. No idea about other gear makes.
If my memory serves me I think there's about 3 or 4 Bottom Brackets. Do they swap over?
Steering stems...... Looking at my own and other bikes there's at least 2 types but probably more.
Saddles...... Do they all fit anything? Seat tube diameter dependent I suppose.
Cables........ Apart from length they all look the same really.

And after all that I suppose any parts compatability would depend on the age of the bike too. I should imagine my old Carlton 5 speed would have quite a bit of swap over with more modern bikes. Or would it?

Hopefully I'll learn something here.
Cheers gang.

 

[KneesUp]

Handlebars - there are two I know of, but the 31.8mm won't fit the stem off the other ones.

I have two seatposts 1mm difference - it makes a difference

SRAM and Shimano indexed erallieurs have the same 'pull ratio' so are interchangeable - but the cassettes have different spacing I think? The difference is slight.

Got to go - kid shouting from upstairs!

 

[fossyant]

At least three handle bars - 35, 31.8 and the older 26.something.

Lots and lots of variables. With gears it's the amount of pull the shifters make.

An old bike really won't swap much over to a new bike. Bars and stem are different, seatpost may be different,

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

SRAM and Shimano indexed erallieurs have the same 'pull ratio' so are interchangeable - but the cassettes have different spacing I think? The difference is slight.

This is the wrong way round: SRAM and Shimano cassettes are interchangeable but most SRAM derailleurs use a 1:1 pull ratio so aren't compatible with Shimano which use a 2:1 pull ratio. SRAM do make some derailleurs and shifters that are Shimano compatible but it's mostly at the lower end of their range.

As I understand it Campagnolo isn't compatible with either of the above, but some enterprising folk have made them work together for certain applications.

Chains: Single speed is only suitable for single speed or hub gear drivetrains. 5 to 8 speed are interchangeable. 9, 10, and 11 speed use steadily narrower chains so, for example, an 8 speed chain wouldn't be suitable for any of these and a 9 speed chain wouldn't suit a 10 speed drivetrain. New chains come with more links than you need for most applications and will need shortening to suit the bike. All chains are the same pitch: half an inch between pins.

Disc brake wheels are different to rim brake ones: you need a different hub with a mount to take the disc and some have a specific rim which doesn't have the braking surface for a rim brake. For other wheels, rim width will depend on the application - a racing bike will have a narrow rim to take a narrow tyre while a touring bike will have wider rims. Hub widths vary - the front is usually standard at 100mm but the rear could be 120mm (track bikes/3 speed hubs), 126mm (older 6/7 speed road bikes), 130mm (modern road bikes), 135mm (touring/"hybrid"/many mountain bikes), 140mm (Tandems) and up to 185mm (fat bikes)

Steering: looking in my Park blue book it lists 20 variations for the head tube, 8 for the top bearings and steerer and 6 for the crown race.

Saddles: I believe any modern saddle fits any modern seat post but there were some variations on much older bikes so you might have trouble fitting say, a 1940s Brooks on a new seat post.

Cables: brake and gear cables are different thicknesses and the nipple at the end is a different shape according to what they are meant to fit so you couldn't usually use a gear cable in place of a brake cable or vice versa.

The old Carlton mentioned could be updated with modern parts but they'd have to be selected correctly and the rear triangle would likely have to be spread to take a more modern wheel.

 

[Cycleops]

Why doesn't the government do something, that's what I'd like to know!

" Gort! Klaatu barada nichto".

 

[Cubist]

MTB world has some very simple standards:

Stems, three fittings that I know of, 25.4, 31.8 and 35 mm bar clamp size.

Steerers, 1 1/8", 1 1/8" to 1.5" tapered, and 1.5" straight. Sme old steerers are 1"

Head tubes. Straight 1 1/8" non-integrated, 1 1/8" semi integrated, tapered 1 1/8" to 1.5" integrated, straight 1.5", then headsets vary by quite a bit depending on the internal diameter of the head tube and which fork standard you need to fit. Hope mix n match headsets cater for all known standards, then along come Giant and introduce their own tapered steerer that nothing else fits.

Seat posts. 26mm on some old ones, 27.2, 28 and a bit, 30.9, 31.6mm. Shims available to fit slimmer posts into wider tubes. Seatclamps. Just when you thought you knew the size you needed, some frame builders add or remove material from the clamping area,.....

Wheel hubs and axles. Front forks on a MTB have several sizes, and you need to buy hubs or adapters to match. 9mm QR, 9mm bolt-thru, 9mm Maxle, 15 mm Maxle, 15 mm Syntace, 20mm Maxle lite, 20mm magura......

Rear hubs. 135 x10mm QR, 135x12 bolt thru. 135x12, 142x12 old and new standards.

Brake mounts and calipers can be IS or Post Mount. Entertaining trying to mount a new PM brake caliper to an IS fork, as again, you can find the right adapters, but its harder to find an adapter which will mount anIS caliper to a modern PM fork. Rear brakes are often IS frame mounts, but more modern designs tend to be PM. and that's before you want to change rotor sizes, 140, 160, 180, 183, 200, 203, 205, with helpful manufacturers like Hope and Avid insisting on kooky sizes. Have a bag of shims and spacers available!

Chainsets. Loads of different Bolt Circle diameters, with some manufacturers varying between models. So Deore rings will fit SLX and XT, but not XTR. SLX double 9 speed spiders won't accept middle rings off a triple, despite being the same size and BCD, and you'll have to find new chainring bolts if you want to fit a different bash guard.

Too many BB variations to list between the mainstream manufacturers along, let alone axle widths and diameters. You cannot mix and match any manufacturers' standards as far as I can see.

Saddles have two standards, twin rail and i-beam.

Front mechs. Triples, doubles, direct mount, band on, top swing, bottom swing, top pull, dual pull, bottom pull, e type, bb mounted.

Rear mechs; rapid rise, top normal, long cage, medium cage, short cage, clutched, low profile.

I can build a full suss MTB in about four hours, but it can take days to research component compatibility!

 

[Kestevan]

The cycle industry loves standards............................ every manufacturer has at least one of their own.

 

[jarlrmai]

Trying to work out if it work or better than IT.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Most stuff can be fettled to fit if you're careful and not too precious about aesthetics



Seatposts, I've shimmed a slightly thinner post into a frame by cutting up a coke can.

My bargain Trek 800's rear rapid-fire display now reads backwards (Smallest cog reads as 1 & Granny ring as 7) since I put on a spare Deore dreaileur I had to replace the kaput original one.

 

[raleighnut]

Most stuff can be fettled to fit if you're careful and not too precious about aesthetics



Seatposts, I've shimmed a slightly thinner post into a frame by cutting up a coke can.

My bargain Trek 800's rear rapid-fire display now reads backwards (Smallest cog reads as 1 & Granny ring as 7) since I put on a spare Deore dreaileur I had to replace the kaput original one.

I've got a reverse swing rear mech if you want one.
Love to see the back of it, only kept it for the dolly wheels.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

I've got a reverse swing rear mech if you want one.
Love to see the back of it, only kept it for the dolly wheels.

Thank you for the offer but I'm happy with the Deore,

I'd never seen one like that before, I didn't even know such devils work existed, thought it was only the front mechs that could be an over or under cable option.

I've kept the one I took off the Trek to try and de-cludge some life back into it and have a look at how it is different, the bike had been in someones shed for years and years was pretty dishevelled and seized up to begorrah when I got it, This was one of those unexpected bodges when I fixed it up with bits from Asda & out of my spares box.

 

[raleighnut]

They're sprung to default to the largest cog if the cable snaps as a get you home easier idea. Bloody stupid, and it had to go cos 3 of my other bikes had the same levers and I kept shifting the other way. Not fun on a roundabout when you grab a higher gear cos you're spinning out and they shift down instead.