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Dissecting The “Frame Rubbing” Problem
from Rookie’s keyboard Hello, friends I’m feeling unstoppable today as the song says and decided to write yet another post in my lunch break while the rest of the workers are losing brain cells watching TikTok and reels. I respect them. Don’t worry. They are all good colleagues. Today, I will talk about the rear…
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Rotor Compatibility Is About Parameters, Not Brands
from Rookie’s keyboard Hello, friends I wanted to share a principle that many people (not only in the bike industry) follow, namely – obsession with brands. A lot of people are too concerned with being “loyal” to a brand as if you’ve signed a contract with the manufacturer. The truth is that as long as…
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A Useful Chain Link Tip I Learned As an Apprentice
from Rookie’s keyboard Hello, friends As I wrote in the previous post, the other day I spent an afternoon as an apprentice in a bike shop (otherwise I work in a warehouse for the time being.) And I wanted to share one more tip that I learned there. As I was reconnecting the chain of…
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What An Awesome Day! My bike mechanic experience…
from Rookie’s keyboard Hello, friends I got to spend an afternoon at a local bike shop where I met an old acquaintance of mine from a local skate park. He offered me to stay in the shop and just observe how they work. Of course, I ended up doing some work on a few bikes…
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A Useful Thing To Know About Shimano Cranks
from Rookie’s keyboard, Hello, friends Today, I am going to tell you a little-known peculiarity (at least among rookies) about Shimano’s cranks. Here’s the thing… I learned the hard way that only Shimano’s square taper cranks can be used with a SRAM bottom bracket. The rest of SRAM’s BBs are proprietary and thus incompatible. To…
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Ghost Pedaling Explained In ELI5 Fashion
from Rookie’s keyboard Hello, friends It’s a hot sunny Saturday afternoon where I live – an ideal time to write a post on a popular issue, namely – “ghost pedaling”. Don’t worry. This is a metaphor. We won’t be calling ghosts to steal your bike. Joking aside, ghost pedaling is essentially rotations of the cranks…
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11spd Cassettes Are Weirder Than I Thought (another warehouse post)
from Rookie’s keyboard Hello, friends The other day, I had a weird experience with an 11-28 (11spd) cassette that I was trying to install on a friend’s 10-speed hub. In short, it didn’t work well. I was quite surprised and decided to perform a thorough investigation as to why. I learned the truth. And today,…
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Yesterday I Made a Dumb Bike Pedal Mistake (but fixed it)
from Rookie’s keyboard Hello, friends Unfortunately, I have to report a mistake that I made yesterday due to the lack of knowledge. Accidentally (although they say there is no such thing as a coincidence), I went into a new bike shop in town and saw that they had MTB Crank Brothers pedal on clearance and…
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Analyzing The Frame Fit Of The Pros
from Rookie’s keyboard Hello, friends Today, I am going to analyze the frame sizes and fits of the pros. I’ve wanted to do this for a long time but didn’t have the opportunity due to my demanding warehouse job. But I guess, every post has its day. If you observe the road bikes of professional…
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Dirt Jumper Sizing For Total Rookies (ultra-complete guide with graphs)
from Rookie’s keyboard Hello, friends Dirt jumping (DJ) isn’t nearly as popular as MTB and road cycling. As a result, people have a harder time finding information when it comes to fit and size. But today, I will make the selection process easier by giving you the most detailed guide on the topic ever. Factors…