Problem with my n'lock

[julk]

I was on the CTC Lothian Rally this last weekend. Based at Mortonhall Caravan and Camp Site in Edinburgh the rally was great fun.
I met old friends and made some new ones. The rides were good, evening food and entertainment were excellent.
Sadly the weather was pretty grim, lots of rain, misty and a cold easterly wind.
My bike was parked outside under a tree and got very wet. It is usually dry garaged.

On Sunday I parked opposite St. Gile’s Cathedral on the Royal Mile whilst having a drink break in a nearby coffee shop.
On returning to my bike and getting ready to set off I had a few minutes of worry as the 2 year old n’lock would not engage in the ride position
After a few minutes struggling with it I managed to force it back to the ride position. Later in the ride I forgot and n’locked again only to have the same problem getting it back to the ride position.
Thereafter I remembered to leave it locked in the ride position, using just a U-lock for security when parked.

This week, after arriving home I shared the problem with n’lock's very helpful Franklin Niedrig who advised (and offered) a strip down and relube of the stem.
I undertook the strip down of the n’lock stem myself. With the stem off the bike it involves loosening 3 grub screws whilst removing the parts so released.
Close examination of the stem components revealed no problem other than the lock barrel had rust by it, everything else seemed well lubricated.

Relubing and reassembling the stem were straightforward. The only difficulty came when repositioning the indicator lever on top of the stem.
I got this done by a temporary clamp of the indicator lever post whilst positioning the lever and spring, obvious after the job, not so obvious when you are holding several oily components under a coiled spring tension!  The temporary clamping grub screw is then loosened a midge’s wing to just retain the indicator lever post whilst allowing rotation.

So my advice to all you n’lock users is put a few drops of oil on the moving parts of your n’lock and give the lock barrel a soak with oil every year.
Julian.

[Andre Jute]

Thank you for that warning and tutorial, Julian. I've saved your post in my n'lock file for future reference.

(I also saved your post in iBooks via Dropbox. I've discovered that the iPhone, which I carry only for medical and taxi emergencies -- also called "flats" -- is a really handy workshop manual, but you don't want to have to search for the information on the net, you preferably want to save the frustration by having it instantly to hand in iBooks either as text or a PDF.)

[Andre Jute]

Julian, since you're the only one of us who has taken the n'lock apart, do you have any idea about giving a working n'lock a precautionary shot of grease without completely dismantling it first?

And what about the lock? Will a squirt of oil from the outside do it?

[jags]

Lads this sounds like a hell of a lot of hassle for locking your bike
just saying.

anto.

[Andre Jute]

Lads this sounds like a hell of a lot of hassle for locking your bike
just saying.
anto.

What are you on about, Anto? You have to squirt some oil into the mechanism of a D lock too.

It seems to me that servicing an n'lock every three years with a squirt of grease, if that is what is required, is a pretty low-maintenance demand from a lock that works, that actually saves weight (my n'lock is lighter than the stem it replaced!), that gives you higher handlebars on demand, and that you don't have to bend over with your backside inelegantly in the air to operate.

[jags]

yeah ok Andre but what happens when it goes wrong. your walking.
i wouldn't mess around with anything to do with the steering,a good  u lock or  cable lock is good enough me thinks .
mind you i never use a lock i always keep my baby in view at all times just a roadie thing i suppose keep things as light as possible 
besides a lock is useless un less it ancored well to something solid like a police man or an german shepard.

anto.

[julk]

Julian, since you're the only one of us who has taken the n'lock apart, do you have any idea about giving a working n'lock a precautionary shot of grease without completely dismantling it first?

And what about the lock? Will a squirt of oil from the outside do it?

I don’t think you would get grease in without some dismantling and I found my n’lock to be adequately lubricated inside.
If you are worried then I would drip a few drops of oil into anywhere you can as a precaution.
The sticker on the back covers a hole which gives some access to the internal surfaces.

The lock will definitely benefit from a squirt of some penetrating lubricant if it has gone stiff or been subject to a lot of driven rain.
Julian.

[il padrone]

besides a lock is useless un less it ancored well to something solid like a police man or an german shepard.

....or 35kgs of camping gear and another bike similarly loaded

[Andre Jute]

yeah ok Andre but what happens when it goes wrong. your walking.
 

That's why I have a phone. It's only old roadies who're embarrassed to call a taxi.

i wouldn't mess around with anything to do with the steering,a good  u lock or  cable lock is good enough me thinks .

My n'lock installation saved over 7 pounds of Abus Granit U-lock and a ringlock and a heavy Gazelle chain in a heavy canvas sheath. I wouldn't want to be called a weight weenie, but enough is enough already.

besides a lock is useless un less it ancored well to something solid like a police man or an german shepard.

People here don't drive open trucks and their vans have rubbish in them. Anyhow, who's going to move my bike? It's not a road bike you can pick up on a pinky, it's huge and it's heavy, and the n'lock turns it alive in the most awkard manner imaginable. Read at
http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=3930.msg21571#msg21571
how my bike turns into vicious viper just waiting to break a thief's legs when I remove the n'lock key.

Nah, if you'd ever used an n'lock, you'd agree with me that it is one of the best components I ever fitted to my bike (I rate it fourth to the Rolloff and the motor which between them allow me to keep cycling, and the Big Apples around which my bike is designed), well worth a shot of grease every few years when I service the klickbox on my Rohloff anyway.

Of course, if I lived in a higher-crime environment, I'd carry the longer n'lock cable (than the one in the handlebar -- see the photos in the thread you've already been referred to), and lock the rear wheel around a pole to the n'lock.

[Andre Jute]

besides a lock is useless un less it ancored well to something solid like a police man or an german shepard.

....or 35kgs of camping gear and another bike similarly loaded

Or to the luislang (Python natalensis),  I used to keep as a pet.

Problem is, you might come back to your bike, and your snake, to find the bike inside the snake, with just a bit of the tethering cable sticking out of the corner of its mouth as a declaration of defiance. Some more of my pets at
The Piranha Pool Party in Hell, Connecticut
 

[John Saxby]

to find the bike inside the snake

'course, then you could write a book about it, & call it Le petit prince or something similar...

Mind you, Andre, your foto of the python reminded me of a very effective anti-theft strategy a friend in Zambia used.  Rather than invest in hardware and electronics, he simply installed prominent "Beware of Snakes" signs in several languages around the house & garden, and let it be known that he kept a pet Boomslang and Gaboon Viper.  Would-be thieves took note and decided not to call his bluff.

Here, maybe just a sticker on the downtube would do the job:  "Boomslang inside my kit -- and anti-venom just is a waste of money"

[jags]

well your probably right but i wouldn't trust it as far as i could throw it .
tipping down a hill at 50mph which i do pretty often. i want nothing to interfear with my steering. nah anto will take his chances with the common sense approch  keep ya bike in view at all times.

[Andre Jute]

Julian, since you're the only one of us who has taken the n'lock apart, do you have any idea about giving a working n'lock a precautionary shot of grease without completely dismantling it first?

And what about the lock? Will a squirt of oil from the outside do it?

I don’t think you would get grease in without some dismantling and I found my n’lock to be adequately lubricated inside.
If you are worried then I would drip a few drops of oil into anywhere you can as a precaution.
The sticker on the back covers a hole which gives some access to the internal surfaces.

The lock will definitely benefit from a squirt of some penetrating lubricant if it has gone stiff or been subject to a lot of driven rain.
Julian.

I'm not keen on precautionary dismantling of Things with Springs, and my n'lock has been wet (lightly) perhaps twice, so there is no urgency here now that I have reread your posts in this thread carefully. Next time I'm doing some little job I'll oil the lock and investigate the hole behind the label now that you've generously shared your first-hand experience with us. If the thing ever gets stuck, I'll hire Franklin Niedrig, who has retired, to service it; always get the main man, if you can.

You're a prince, Julian.

[Andre Jute]

to find the bike inside the snake

Here, maybe just a sticker on the downtube would do the job:  "Boomslang inside my kit -- and anti-venom just is a waste of money"

If by boomslang you mean a black tree snake, the problem with it isn't so much that anti-venom is a waste of money, but that there is no effective anti-venom at all. If a black tree snake  bites you, you suffocate in seven to ten minutes, period. They're easily startled into attacking and their thin heads are very hard to see hanging down in your path. I don't know any African survivor of those latitudes who doesn't kill black treesnakes on sight.

I worked with a fellow who'd been a squadron leader in the RAF in Kenya, who would handle his black and green mamba and then come into the directors' dining room and pick up the fruit and cheese without washing his hands (ugh!) and he, without smiling (he had zero sense of humor or even the absurd), called a man who kept a black tree snake in a glass cage in his living room "Mad and suicidal."

Fruit and nut cakes everywhere.

[dick220369]

Can anyone tell me what stem length the n'lock uses? On the website some models are quoted as being 120 mm,  some don't have a stated length,  and on this forum I've read 100 mm. I'm thinking of getting one but 100 mm is too short.