Just got an 07 DX and am re-learning to ride after 30 years away. The warranty says it has to be assembled by an authorized Torker repair shop to be valid, so I guess I blew that. But I’m wondering if I should have a shop check to see if the spokes are properly tight and if I got the right amount of torque on the bearing cap bolts (manual says 45 inch pounds). I don’t think I overtightened them–I used a 4-5-6- hex triangle and put about what I could muster with my hand and fingers alone without putting my arm into it, tightening them a bit more after each ride until they felt uniformly tight.
Seat twisting is a bother! It keeps going out of alighment, usually after a fall [lot of those…hmmm… ]. I’m thinking about removing the film of grease from the shaft where the bolts tighten.
Had to get a pair of high-top wresting shoes because my running shoes flair at the bottom and were bumping the cranks and because the soles were too thick and textured to feel the pedals. (They should work but I won’t find out for a few days cause I came down with a cold last night–GRRRR.)
Any suggestions or relevant experience would be appreciated. Sorry if this sounds like hand-wringing, but don’t want to do anything that would mess up the little guy right out of the gate.
Don’t worry about what it says in the warranty, I believe most people have assembled the uni themselves. As far as tightening the bearing caps, they do not need to be tight at all, just enough to hold them on. Sometimes if you tighten them too much you can even feel the drag it creates during wheel spinning. The wheel should be able to spin freely and slowly come to a stop while held in the air. It shouldn’t stop as if brakes are suddenly being applied to it as it slows down. As far as shoes go, any sort of shoe works really, its just personal preference, Converse shoes usually work really well, but running shoes or even hiking boots can work fine.
Can’t help you with the spokes/bearing stuff, I suck at it.
However, with the seat thing, I know what you mean. My DX does that too. I just tighten it as much as possible (without stripping the bolt) and then if it falls hard and gets twisted again I just bang it back into place with my hand. Probably not very good for the uni, but I sometimes forget to take my axel wrench with me and it’s such a bother … Eh. I’m lazy.
As for the shoes? Converse Hi-Tops all the way. I still have scars on my ankles from riding barefoot on my CX and smashing my ankles on the cranks. Before it would heal it would just slice open again. Once I got my Hi-Tops and started wearing them, it was like heaven. My ankles healed right up and now I only have some nasty scars, no open wounds.
i tighten my bearing caps until they drag the wheel noticably(short process of tightening the bolts and spinning the wheel) then loosen them 1/2 turn.
I have had them fall off while riding even w/ the locknuts. make sure that the bearing caps don’t rub the hub, mine did on my old frame and it etched grooves into the hub. The seatpost clamp … i seriously doubt you will strip it out. I tightened mine so tight that it cracked, but it didn’t even begin to strip. tighten it until the seat doesn’t move, and don’t worry about it. you probably want to get it exactly the right height first and just not move it.
With the bearing holders, I usually put some loctite (blue) on the bolts to keep them from coming loose. As others have said, don’t overtighten them–you can mess up your bearings if you do, and the DX bearings aren’t the most available size in the world. Actually, now I think about it, I think the DX has separate nuts for the bearing holders, right? If they’re nylock nuts (the ones that have a nylon insert to keep them tight), you wouldn’t need the loctite.
Spokes–well, they’re a different story. I haven’t touched the spokes on my son’s DX wheel since he got it almost a year ago, and the wheel’s stayed true. But if you’re feeling a little paranoid about it, it’s usually only ten or fifteen bucks at a bike shop to have them checked.
Good luck. I also started to uni after a long hiatus (1977 to 1996). It’s a great sport–have fun!
]. I’m thinking about removing the film of grease from the shaft where the bolts tighten.