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Questions & Answers

For general questions, I recommend asking on bikeforums.net – the best cycling-related forum in the world. There I actively participate under the “Bike Gremlin” username. Also, many other experts offer help and advice there, so You benefit from getting 2nd opinions. You are also most likely to get a timely response (within a day or two), at least from other knowledgeable members, even if I don’t manage.

If you have any questions regarding a particular article, you can use the comment section below the article. With a suggestion to first try a website search – your question may have already been answered:

BikeGremlin website search - powered by Google! :)
BikeGremlin website search – powered by Google! 🙂


If you wish to hear an answer/advice from me, directly, you can ask a question in the BikeGremlin.net forum (even anonymously – by entering any name you wish).

Rules for posting questions and comments.

What is a forum, and how and why did I build the BikeGremlin forum?

In separate articles I explained:

I generally reply to questions within a few weeks or so, in order: first asked, first answered.

Tutorial: how can I add an image to a comment?

How to best phrase/ask the bicycle/mechanics/cycling related questions:

Questions, help and advice - Q&A 6
My video explaining how to ask questions and get help and advice


Time spent answering questions on the BikeGremlin websites and YouTube channel (i.e. BikeGremlin forum, since October 2023), according to Clockify:

Monthhours : minutes
2021
June7:14
July7:06
August4:56
September8:21
October4:08
November6:55
December4:56
2022
January7:59
February4:50
March7:39
April4:34
May7:43
June6:31
July4:25
August4:58
September7:20
October4:07
November5:38
December7:48
2023
January6:50
February6:39
March5:48
April7:08
May7:30
June7:21
July4:33
August7:43
September3:43
October5:23
November
(BikeGremlin forum started working)
7:19
December3:50
With the December 2023, I’ve decided to
stop tracking statistics on this.


I’ve gathered enough data to get a rough estimate of the net-time needed to answer all the readers’ questions. From now, instead of using the Clockify timer, I’ll be able to get a rough estimate by looking at my BikeGremlin forum post count.

That is, near the end of October 2023, I created the BikeGremlin forum: www.bikegremlin.net.

What is a forum and why did I make one?

Fewer than 1% of people who ask questions on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook etc. bother to create a forum account and post their questions there. On the other hand, the forum allows me to write better replies (I can add photos and sketches, headings and similar). So, the result seems to be higher quality, with lower quantity – which I personally prefer. 🙂

The existing comments (questions and answers) posted here, have been moved to this BikeGremlin forum thread:
https://www.bikegremlin.net/threads/questions-answers-page-comments.106/

49 thoughts on “Questions & Answers”

  1. Hi Relja just a question before I buy the part question.Saw the SRAM yaw system on a video and am impressed with how well it works.Just wondering if I have a campy escape ergo front shifter which I believe has no trims just up and down would shift a sram yaw derailleur.Would hate to buy the yaw just to find out that it won’t work.

    • Hi John,

      The Yaw system was designed to remove the need for a trim function.
      Having said that, I haven’t tried it with Campagnolo shifters, so can’t confirm it will work OK. 🙁

  2. Thank you very much Ralja just wanted to make the front shifting as crisp as possible without going to a full group set. Really frustrated with the campy 50/34 cranks shifts worse than the 80s friction stuff.Even the campy techs are scratching their heads.What did work was swapping out the rings for a set of matching sram 50/34 rings.That being the case I got an excellent deal on a beautiful SRAM red 22 gxp crankset and thought a matching red front mech might work even better.

  3. I have a 2008 [Mongoose XR-75] 21 speed, how do I thighten the crank???

  4. I want to put thicker tyres on my bike, is this possible, at the moment I have 28 x 1 5/8 x 1 3/8, what would you recommend

    Thank you

    • Hi Jackie,

      The max tyre width depends on your rim width and on how much space your frame offers, and riding conditions and total bike+rider+luggage weight too of course.

      I wrote an article about bicycle tyre sizing and dimension standards. It explains what to look (out) for and what to measure to see if a wider tyre will fit.

      Generally, for off road, you could go as wide as 55-622 mm (if it fits the frame and rims), while for general paved road and dry dirt roads, it usually makes no sense to go wider than 42-622 mm.

      Relja

Comments are closed.


Please use the BikeGremlin.net forum for any comments or questions.

If you've found any errors or lacking information in the article(s) - please let me know by commenting on the BikeGremlin forum.
You can comment anonymously (by registering with any name/nickname), but I think it is good to publicly document all the article additions (and especially corrections) - even if their author chooses to remain anonymous.

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