An M5 die would be ideal, but just running the bolt through a regular M5 nut does a decent job, too. Whatever's left I can usually remove pretty quickly with some Scotchbrite.
My main goals when upgrading my gear is to reduce maintenance and when maintenance is required make it easier. I agree with your definition of “perfect” as an engineer. I can always think of ways to make my designs better, but my customers are always happy with designs that require minimal maintenance. They also want to find replacement parts easily. Half of my work is replacing the fancy stuff their previous engineer talked them into buying that had a lot of issues requiring costly maintenance and it was to find parts. “It work great until this one thing broke. It cost us less to replace the whole thing than to fix the problem.” Sometimes perfect is set and forget.
At this point in my life, I sometimes feel like the biggest objective is some combination of reducing stress and gaining back some time. Chasing perfection achieves neither of those things.
Another thank you for the caliper bolt tip. I assemble a lot of bikes and this issue is maddening. I will still have to wrestle with cheap, stiff brake hose but some bolt magic may just win the day.
I'm loving these newsletters James! Some thought provoking musings, efficient takes on some new stuff, a little deeper dive, and then something useful to take away and try right away (I'm trying the grease on the caliper bolts tomorrow, so simple and elegant!). To use another slogan, "I'm lovin' it!".
Great tip with the caliper bolts. I picked up a trick from somewhere about using brass instead of stainless washers for the same reason. They seem to resist walking a little better, but I'm going to try the grease 👍
Hey James, what’s your process for removing the factory retaining compound on the caliper mounting bolts? Do you just use a pick? Thanks!
An M5 die would be ideal, but just running the bolt through a regular M5 nut does a decent job, too. Whatever's left I can usually remove pretty quickly with some Scotchbrite.
Did you say podcast!? Do you currently have one going or this is still in the future?
There have been two already!
I did one on the Allied Able (https://nminus1bikes.substack.com/p/n-1-podcast-the-new-allied-able) and another on those Specialized S-Works Ares 2 shoes (https://nminus1bikes.substack.com/p/podcast-specialized-ares-2-shoes).
I already have two more episodes edited up and ready to go (plus two more recorded). Just need to find some time for the associated write-ups.
My main goals when upgrading my gear is to reduce maintenance and when maintenance is required make it easier. I agree with your definition of “perfect” as an engineer. I can always think of ways to make my designs better, but my customers are always happy with designs that require minimal maintenance. They also want to find replacement parts easily. Half of my work is replacing the fancy stuff their previous engineer talked them into buying that had a lot of issues requiring costly maintenance and it was to find parts. “It work great until this one thing broke. It cost us less to replace the whole thing than to fix the problem.” Sometimes perfect is set and forget.
So much yes.
At this point in my life, I sometimes feel like the biggest objective is some combination of reducing stress and gaining back some time. Chasing perfection achieves neither of those things.
Another thank you for the caliper bolt tip. I assemble a lot of bikes and this issue is maddening. I will still have to wrestle with cheap, stiff brake hose but some bolt magic may just win the day.
It won’t magically turn flat mount into something good, but I’ll take any improvements I can get, however small.
I’ve been wrestling with a red caliper all morning and this was as timely as tech tip as I’ve ever read, and worked like a charm. Chapeau !
Glad to hear it did the trick for you! The simple solutions are sometimes the best ones.
I'm loving these newsletters James! Some thought provoking musings, efficient takes on some new stuff, a little deeper dive, and then something useful to take away and try right away (I'm trying the grease on the caliper bolts tomorrow, so simple and elegant!). To use another slogan, "I'm lovin' it!".
Nowhere to stash the sunnies, what were they thinking of???
Great tip with the caliper bolts. I picked up a trick from somewhere about using brass instead of stainless washers for the same reason. They seem to resist walking a little better, but I'm going to try the grease 👍
I love these newsletters, especially the intros. Great stuff James. Is the POC Cytal likely to make it into a TL;DR review section at some point?
Definitely! I’ve got one inbound right now, actually.
Always a good read. Well researched & presented article James. Thank you.