Triban 3 Owners Club

[andyoxon]

Hi andy I have a cateye computer do you know if they have the same sort of magnet. It's quite tight in there as it is.

Don't know how they compare. The Lidl magnet is a disaster, big and barely held by plastic nut on a plastic thread... It would be good to see if something else would do the trick. Once I'd adjusted the mudguards the magnet clipped the arm, so Ihad to push it down for the ride.

 

[Radchenister]

HUB LOVE
Acquire these ... grease essential, magnet isn't ... but it might help:

You might also like to keep life simple and make sure you have something like this (or equivalent) - i.e. a 15mm nice and thin cone spanner (I think it was 15mm - I had to compromise with an old rusty one from the last millennium adjusted a little with a file ):

You'll also need a more general and less cone specific 17mm spanner for the outer lock nut but that's the easy one to source.
Please check your own sizes though as I've been known to forget things.

Before you start, do yourself a favour and clean things up; I did this in the workshop sink by scrubbing with brushes and old fashioned washing up liquid, then using a drying cloth (note: my new Decathlon brushes , other sources available):

Find these (2x9 front and 2x10 back) - picture as they came out (note the good covering of grease):

Assess how they run on these (perhaps use a ballpoint pen?):

... and these:

Finally, add the grease and carefully place the bearings, then you will have wheels so perfect (ahem ) that they won't even get you in trouble for leaning them against the fixtures :

I could get all techy relating to the above but I'll save that for later !

 

[jifdave]

I'd add baby wipes to that. Perfect for cleaning the muck out of the hub and great for polishing up the bearings.

 

[Radchenister]

No muck in my hubs and bearings went back in unpolished .

 

[Widge]

I've yet to investigate my hubs..........I'm not (yet) aware of any symptoms developing and am torn between letting sleeping dogs lie and being pro-active. I'm not sure what the best philosophy is.

It is terrific that so much experience and practical help and affinity has built up around these 'bikes. Just look at the size of this thread!! ...these Tribans are clearly greater than the sum of their parts!

Certainly, the last thing on my mind when I am happily bowling along and everything appears to be functioning is how much grease is in me hubs! On the other hand....when I am merely fondling the bike I do start to worry that ghastly things might lurk behind the seals.

I guess life is too short to go looking for trouble sometimes. Enough seems to come my way without me having to precipitate it.

PS...your hubs n' cones look pretty well spanky to me Rad, so I guess not all T3s are lost causes in the hub dept?

 

[Radchenister]

See ... someone took the bait ... in a clever and sidling up to the question sorta way .

Main issues in our discussions today (when working through the re-greasing exercise with my relative who is a retired engineer and life long tinkerer):

'Euurre - they feel a bit rough' - his first reaction when spinning the spindle bar in thumb and forefinger! ... we were feeling varying resistance and slight glitches; on opening them up, the conclusion was they were over tightened by the factory and this exacerbated any other issues.

When getting into looking at the cones and cups properly, the conclusion was that the cones (in my instance) were reasonably smooth (ballpoint pen and visual test) but the cups were a bit rough and could have been better engineered - we believe that this, when combined with the fairly thick grease used at the factory and the over-tightening, meant that there was a slightly rough roll.

We felt on the whole that there was sufficient grease in the set up of both wheels on my bike.

We wiped off the old grease from the cones and cups but left the old grease on the bearings, as it held them together nicely - once the new grease was in place and the hubs reassembled, we paid particular attention to ensuring the tightness of the hubs was spot on, aiming for no lateral movement, establishing a solid pressure on the hub but avoiding over-tightening and ensuring a fairly free rotation ... generally, once this was done, the wheels ran much smoother when lifted and spun between outstretched arms, although we could still feel some roughness to the touch when turning the spindle between the fingers; we feel that in my case this is down to the cup surface rather than the cones.

Disclaimer and qualification of our judgement - I have no recent experience of other road wheels to compare against but presume that a top quality wheel would fair better, this is an assumption though - next time I am in a bike shop I will aim to find something suitable to compare the T3 wheels against.

A quick and easy one for everyone to try - do a spin test - lift the bike off the floor via handlebars (right hand) and spin the front wheel (with left hand), give it a good spin but nothing excessive (I did it whilst sat on my computer chair, pushing the top of the wheel with my left hand away from me) - when I did this, the wheel ran for 1 minute 35 seconds before stopping.

 

[Radchenister]

Oh, while I'm at it ... other relevant issues that we discussed:

If clocking good miles in wet weather (or adverse conditions generally) then perhaps every couple of months I should be assessing if the wheels need a re-grease; I will be using the thumb and fore finger sensitivity test on the spindle when the wheels are taken out and the spin timing test / just listening to the noises they make, when they are left in the frame.

We also felt that the rubber gaskets don't look like much in the scheme of things but perhaps should not to be underestimated as an important part of the protective measures; we feel you need to keep an eye on these to make sure they fit well and aren't wearing, as they are a crude but important first line of defence to the ingress of nasty stuff. Water penetration is of course less likely to be an issue when the weather improves but then finer dust will be the next foe to keep at bay.

 

[andyoxon]

Oh, while I'm at it ... other relevant issues that we discussed:

If clocking good miles in wet weather (or adverse conditions generally) than perhaps every couple of months I should be assessing if the wheels need a re-grease; I will be using the thumb and fore finger sensitivity test on the spindle when the wheels are taken out and the spin timing test / just listening to the noises they make, when left in the frame.

We also felt that the rubber gaskets don't look like much in the scheme of things but perhaps should not to be underestimated as an important part of the protective measures; we feel you need to keep an eye on these to make sure they fit well and aren't wearing, as they are a crude but important first line of defence to the ingress of nasty stuff. Water penetration is of course less likely to be an issue when the weather improves but then finer dust will be the next foe to keep at bay.

...and re. the rubber caskets - if people are are doing free moving wheel hub examinations etc, the the rubber gaskets will apparently offer some 'resistance' to the e.g. tube valve falling to the lowest point, but of course no resistance of importance when cycling.

 

[andyoxon]

When I'd finished my ride this pm, there was black inky (looked like ink on tissue paper) stuff all over the rims (more on rear). Anyone know what this could be - road gunk, brake pad dust?

 

[G3CWI]

Have you run over a squid?

 

[avsd]

Brake pad dust and road dirt. Just clean if off. Baby wipes are a popular weapon of choice.

Then again it may be squid ink. Again baby wipes are a popular weapon of choice perhaps assisted with a little white spirits.

 

[antnee]

I
I Stripped out the front wheel bearing i.e. the cones issue and to my surprise found grease in there! So there some hope though I did think the cone assembly was a bit over tightened when I removed them. Though as I've said elsewhere I think the rubber protective seal ring does impede the free running of the wheel (well to test the cone adjustment) But then its still a protection from ingress of wet and road dirt in general. Perhaps we are making more of this than we should. But after all everything you buy regardless of the amount spent you should expect a certain standard of workmanship.
Though perhaps it this day and age of the throwaway world it doesn't apply?
Perhaps I am more suited to the world of 1950/1960?

 

[Radchenister]

We (relative and I) had a lengthy chat about the quality and standard of the hubs / wheels and concluded, like many have already said, that the hubs are the cheap bit and will likely require regular maintenance but would keep you rolling OK for quite a few miles before they needed binning, so on the whole, my gut feeling is what did we all expect for £300. It's a manageable issue and if people clock several thousand miles then they will be due an upgrade, if not then they should be served OK.

I would be interested to hear what the equivalent of £300 in the 50's / 60's would have bought in the way of an adult sports / racing bike, capable of use by ladies, big middle aged blokes and naturally fit whipper-snappers after some sports fitness training?

 

[andyoxon]

Brake pad dust and road dirt. Just clean if off. Baby wipes are a popular weapon of choice.

Then again it may be squid ink. Again baby wipes are a popular weapon of choice perhaps assisted with a little white spirits.

Yes, probably squid ink. It was actually like black ink.

 

[tribanjules]

Like the photo. Does the saddle bag restrict the rear light?

ive hung my rear light on
the sasddle bag for that reason