2020 Schwinn Axum 29'er

[73Eldo]

It will be interesting to see how those fenders work out. I think I looked at those and was thinking they may be the closest till I found the SKS's. SKS had some similar ones I saw on a 29er but the guy said it took quite a bit of tweaking to make em fit and said if the 75u's had been out at the time he would have used those. Those 2.6's are pretty big. You don't see many 29's that size even here the home of the Surly Krampus.

I got one ride in before our first real snow on xmas eve. Was only going to ride to the bike shop but then a stop to the vet got added and was feeling decent so ended up doing one of my regular loops with bike parts and cat food in tow. Got the studded tires on the Pug and did a short powder ride on that as well as some unexpected non cleared paved trails on the way to the mtn bike park. Was pretty fun. Was just fixing my snowplow lawn mower in the garage and had the heat on so thought about putting the stud tires on the Axum but just didn't have the energy since I needed to go out and use the plow.

[Dshue]

Yeah as far as the fenders fitting the worry is the front, but from what I've seen the supports that mount to the lower fork tubes should clear the tires and the fenders themselves don't really wrap around the tire so we'll see. The rear fender doesn't really concern me, I plan to try and mount it to the underside of the rack and eliminate the seat post mount that it comes with.
The bad part is that many e-bikes come with fenders that look like they would fit perfect but I can't find anyone selling them separately, but the ones that do sell the fenders separately are the 4" fat tire models.
I would love to find a bike shop that has the SKS and the Topeak fenders in stock. But finding a shop with either in stock is proving difficult.

[Dshue]

I got the new cassette and shifter yesterday and got both installed. I also installed the Axum cassette and shifter on my Specialized.
I suggest if you have shifting accuracy issues with the Axum remove the cassette and tighten the 3 screws that hold all the cogs together and if needed file the ends of the screws down where they protrude through the 6th cog. But at the very least tighten the lock ring.
The new Sunrace cassette doesn't look any better or worse than the stock cassette. It has slightly different tooth counts with more highs and less lows but I think that will be slightly better 1st is 40t, 2nd is 34t, 3rd is 28t, and 4th is 22t . 1st, 2nd, and 3rd are 6 tooth separations and I believe the stock was 4 tooth separations.
the Shimano Altus shifter feels much better than the Axe shifter and it can be positioned better than the Axe shifter. The Axe shifter was too bulky and had interference issues with the Bafang brake lever, and I'm sure it was the same with the factory levers. It's also nice that the shift display is under the bar, one less thing to worry about when flipping it over for a trailside repair.
I didn't get to road test the bike last night(New Years eve)and today is pouring rain.
I did test ride the Specialized and all is good except the derailleur can't reach the 40 tooth cog. So now I need to source a derailleur that can. Maybe I'll try to find a longer B screw first.

[73Eldo]

Ya I ran into the reach issue too and had to do some swapping around. Do they make extenders or can you just replace the hanger? I never really looked that close are the hangars some sort of standard or do the builders just make their own up for each frame?

I should go out and look at my original cassette and see if it was loose. Maybe that would explain part of why I was having issues getting it adjusted for all gears to work well. I remember the locknut wasn't stupid tight like it was on the bike I borrowed the cassette off of. Don't remember thinking ti was loose tho.

I ordered a bar mount adapter to move my 500c display to the middle so I can fit my bar mitts on the Axum. Will also likely install the studded tires at the same time since it looks like there isn't going to be clear pavement in very many places anytime soon.

I also got a new chain to replace the stretched out one and am going to try Squirt low temp wax lube. Some say it doesn't do well when wet but they just came out with a low temp formula and wet usually comes with low temps so we will see. Main thing I am after is eliminating the black goo which everyone seems to say it does do. To get free shipping I also bought a bottle of Squirt E bike lube. Will try that in the summer if the winter experiment goes ok. Stuff isn't cheap $15 for a 4oz bottle vs $5 for normal oil but if it gets rid of those stains on my legs and pants and keeps the hands clean during repairs it will be worth it. I went 6 months only using a 1/4 of the 6oz bottle of park lube so I can't imagine the cost really adding up.

[Dshue]

I haven't tried any of the hanger extensions. The thing to watch out for with the extension is they are usually made for using mountain cassettes on road bikes so they are made to index road derailleurs. But I have seen some on Amazon that say they are for mountain derailleurs.
Hangers come in many varieties, for the Axum this is the only aftermarket replacement hanger that I know of https://derailleurhanger.com/product...ur-hanger-399/

[Dshue]

The lock ring on my Axum wasn't tight and neither was the lock ring on my Specialized. As far as the 3 screws go as long as the cassette is tight at the lock ring they can be loose. But what I found is the screws are a little too long if fully tightened, the 7th speed sprocket has some clearance built in for the ends of the screws but now enough when fully tight. A little filing solves the problem. When left loose the screw heads just protrude from the rear of the cassette and don't interfere with anything.
But if they are left loose then the lock ring must be tight or the cassette will hammer on the outside of the free hub body.
Also this ability for the individual cogs to float on the free hub will affect shift accuracy.

[73Eldo]

Did a little work on the Axum today. Got a new chain to replaced the one that was well worn when I went from the 8 to a 10 system. The park freewheel brush combined with a combination of foamy engine degreaser and classic Lava bar hand soap got the cassette fairly clean. Wanted to do an extra good job cleaning because with the new chain I am trying out Squirt liquid wax lube. Since its gonna be below freezing the next couple months I went with their new low temp formula. We will see how that works out. Stuff isn't cheap but going with 3 applications fairly heavy on a new chain I think I used maybe 1/2-3/4 of an ounce out of 4. To get the free shipping I also ordered a bottle of their E bike wax lube too. So far it seems like it could work but time will tell. Hopefully no more black goo is my main goal.

While I had the wheel off to clean the cassette I had a good inspection of the rear hub. The grease doesn't like cold weather and it was set a little on the tight side so I adjusted it a bit. Observed the dust cover seal thing doesn't fit very well on the non drive side and doesn't feel like it really likes being around the grease but maybe the cold isn't helping either.

Installed my 45Nrth Nicotine 29x2.35 studded tires today. Since the original tires were 29x2.6 and the tubes were marked as 29x3 and I had some of the correct size presta tubes on hand I left the 2,6/3's with the original tires and used the presta ones. Earlier I had bought some adapters from Wheels Mfg that were about 10mm tall but that isn't tall enough to get through both layers of the wheel so I 3d printed some that were 15mm. 15 just sticks through.

An observation with the tubes and tires off the wheels, they still way a friggen ton and that was without a cassette or quick release installed. Not sure where all the weight is. I assumed it was the tires which showed more wear than I was expecting for only a few hundred miles. The tires I stole the tubes from have almost 1000 miles on em and still look new but they are Schwalbes so I'm sure slightly different quality and compounds. Also for being a non tubeless setup the stockers were a bit tricky to get off. Not as bad as a classic road bike but had to use more than one tire lever and the locking to the spoke feature which I have not had to do lately. 45Nrth's went on easily without tools.

I also got a Topeak barxtender dodad to remount my 500c display in the center to make room for my Cobrafist bar mitt pogies. The Topeak like many other bar accessories is 1" instead of the 7/8" grip and 500c clamp so good thing I have a lathe, turned it down a bit on the end to fit. Also gave me a place for my bell that doesn't fit inside the pogies. Got dark and cold by the time I was done so no test ride, may be a couple days.

[73Eldo]

[Dshue]

I wonder why they choose 1" for the bar extender? Most 1" bars are only 1" at the stem clamp and ⅞" over the rest of the length. So most accessories are for ⅞" or 1 ⅛". Maybe they figure it's a nice middle of the road size.

Speaking of chains I need to get a chain stretch gauge, while changing the cassette I noticed that my chain felt really "sloppy free" like it has a lot of wear. And in 8th gear my derailleur was completely relaxed, it wasn't like that when I put it all together. This chain only has about 150 miles on it. So I'm going to order a Park Tools or KMC chain checker along with a new chain.

[73Eldo]

I don't know what the deal is with 1" either. None of the products I bought said anything about the new bar size so I assumed 7/8. They all say how big a bar they can mount to so I just assumed it was 7/8 because most things that are not 7/8 come with shims or can easily be shimmed especially wimpy accessory sorts of things. The Topeak thing has a metal strap with several holes in it that I think if fully extended could go around headset spacers or smaller to mid size frame tubes so that is pretty cool. Don't know if I could have done anything with it if I didn't own a lathe.

That would be pretty horrible if a chain stretched in 150 miles even if all you ever did was ride in sand. I have the Park CC-3.2. It came in a Park tool set I bought a few years ago but looks like its a current item and about $12. Never put enough miles on a bike before the E days to need one. I have no idea how many miles were on the one that I just replaced sine it was well used when I got it. I think I checked it not long after I got it and and I could jam the worn side in if I pushed hard but not the replace side. I estimate I put about 800 miles on it before the worn side easily dropped in and the replace side also fit in most of the links.

[73Eldo]

Here is a video where they say how you can use a tape measure instead of a tool to check for stretch. Also talk about checking the length.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qFkTjU-ECA

Syd Fixes Bikes its the channel if you don't like clicking on links.

[Dshue]

Here are a couple pictures to kind of show the cable pull of the bafang levers(first pic) and the stock Axum levers.(second pic)

[Dshue]

The stock levers pull almost twice as much cable.