What Have You Fettled Today?

[cyberknight]

@Gunk - rim brake bikes appear to have collapsed in value and demand which imho is daft as they work just as well as disc brakes if properly set up.

Indeed I have seen rim brake bikes so cheap it's unbelievable,I paid a bit more for my synpase as I wanted a disc bike for winter .
I will have to take it to the lbs to sort out the FD as I can't get it too shift to the big ring even after following instructions and videos.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Took a wheel to bits, and then re-laced it. I'll do it again tomorrow and several more times after that. For the exam next year I have to build the wheel and straighten it in 90 minutes, so I'll be doing it a lot in the next months.

 

[ColinJ]

Wow, very high pressures, unless you weigh 100kg.

That's why I mentioned them and explained the situation here, and how the tyres feel.

I started off with the pressures much lower but punctured twice hitting potholes. To be honest, even with the higher pressures it might still have happened,

I think that I might reduce the pressures by about 0.3 bar for my next ride and see how I get on.

I use lower pressures than those on my 28 C GP5000 tyres oop north.

 

[Webbo2]

I put together my Park tools work standing that’s be stored in the garage roof for over 18 months. Clearly I’ve done lots of fettling.🤣🤣🤣🤣

 

[DCLane]

I had a look at the not-a-Colnago collected from @colly on Wednesday.

The old bar tape has been removed with partial new bar tape added. Also, it now has a working front brake with the Weinmann Carrera 400 that wasn't selling on eBay being used although a new brake hood will be needed. Finally, I've added some Wilier SPD pedals that have been sat in a box since buying them from Banana Industries on an offer.

That'll have to do for now until I can sort some 23mm tyres.

Note that I'm intending to only be a temporary custodian of the bike. Should another CC member wish to take it on then let me know.

 

[Lostcause]

Today I have mostly been ruining the classic lines of my steel fixed gear bike with a worryingly cheap Chinese fork.

 

[cyberknight]

Got the synapse back from the lbs £20 well spent to get the FD working , apparently the barrel adjuster needed greasing as it was new and not doing anything !
They did spot a couple of other issues which i can sort out at home but its rideable now , just need to add bar tape .

 

[Andy in Germany]

Part of my exam, in about a year, is building a wheel in 90 minutes, so it was high time to get some practice...

I was covering for a colleague today which meant I wouldn't have too much to do, so I grabbed a wheel from the store and took in to bits, then built it again...

Three times.

This was just to practice the basic lacing: I reckon to stand a chance of truing the wheel within the set time, I need to get the basic lacing done in under half an hour; the first step is being able to lace a 36 spoke wheel without needing to check the instructions for each step.

On the third attempt I managed to get the wheel done in about 15-20 minutes; more practice next week...

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

(Yesterday)

I topped up the tyre pressures on my Devon bike. I am really impressed by those Bontrager Hard Case Lite AW3 tyres. I have them in size 32 C, inflated to 5.5 bar (80 psi) rear and 5.0 bar (73 psi) front. I used to run them at lower pressures but the lanes that I ride on in Devon often tend to have pretty rough surfaces. After a couple of pinch flats, I pumped them up harder to protect against that. They still feel surprisingly comfortable on all but the worst surfaces, and roll well at those pressures. [I weigh about 82 kg, and the bike + kit around 12 kg. Slightly lower pressures would be okay for lower rider + bike + kit weight.]

I've never had those tyres, so I asked google what pressures it suggested for me if I fitted a pair on my Cube Attain GTC, with bike weighing ~10Kg with two 750ml bottles and me weighing ~95Kg kitted up. It suggests ~64 front, 69 rear for my moderate-rough South Downs lanes (~4 higher for decent tarmac).
If I was 82Kg kitted up, it reckoned ~57/62psi.

Last night I did a short ~45min ride on my GT eGrade Bolt, with my now usual 45mm Caracal Race and 1.7-2.3" latex tube on default rear wheel at 43psi, but I finally got around to trying my Vel 50 RL 50mm carbon rim front wheel with 32mm GP5000 and 25-32mm latex tube at 65psi. I was sceptical, because on the Cube I ran that tyre at ~82psi on the rear back when I was ~82Kg kitted up '20-'22. It added another level of transforming my gravel ebike into more a tarmac "weapon" even at moderate effort by me, I can't wait to try it with some interval efforts.

 

[Webbo2]

I put together my Park tools work standing that’s be stored in the garage roof for over 18 months. Clearly I’ve done lots of fettling.🤣🤣🤣🤣

Used said work stand and changed the front disc pads on my bike. Surprisingly they didn’t seem too worn. But changed them any way, didn’t bother with rear brake as that doesn’t get used as much.

 

[Gunk]

Fitted a set of SKS S Board/S Blade mudguards to my son’s commuter in readiness for the wet weather. Made sure they were also cable tied on as virtually everything gets stolen in Central Oxford, this is commuter bike number 3!

 

[Big John]

Part of my exam, in about a year, is building a wheel in 90 minutes, so it was high time to get some practice...

View attachment 819959

I was covering for a colleague today which meant I wouldn't have too much to do, so I grabbed a wheel from the store and took in to bits, then built it again...

Three times.

View attachment 819961

This was just to practice the basic lacing: I reckon to stand a chance of truing the wheel within the set time, I need to get the basic lacing done in under half an hour; the first step is being able to lace a 36 spoke wheel without needing to check the instructions for each step.

On the third attempt I managed to get the wheel done in about 15-20 minutes; more practice next week...

In amongst the tools you'll be permitted to use are you allowed a nipple driver as I don't see one in the photos? They do save time once you get the hang of it. Assuming you're given the correct length spokes and the rim is true the 90 minutes is perfectly doable. Does the time allowed include prepping the spokes, the rim and the spoke nipples prior to lacing the components together? If that's included in the exam then practice that too. If dishing the wheel is part of it then practice that too. That part can be confusing, especially under exam conditions. Good luck. You'll nail it 👍

 

[Andy in Germany]

In amongst the tools you'll be permitted to use are you allowed a nipple driver as I don't see one in the photos? They do save time once you get the hang of it. Assuming you're given the correct length spokes and the rim is true the 90 minutes is perfectly doable. Does the time allowed include prepping the spokes, the rim and the spoke nipples prior to lacing the components together? If that's included in the exam then practice that too. If dishing the wheel is part of it then practice that too. That part can be confusing, especially under exam conditions. Good luck. You'll nail it 👍

Not for the first time I find myself in the ironic position of knowing names for things in German but not English. Is a Nipple Driver like a funny screwdriver with a metal bit sticking out the end to hold the nipples? If so, that's the silver thing in both pictures. I must admit though I have seen better versions of this tool, so I'll try and get one.

I don't know if Dishing is part of the exam, but I'll be practicing that too. We are able to prep the spokes and rim before the exam, so we arrive with everything prepped and ready to build.

I'm a bit more concerned about the theory at the moment, not least because it's a bit unclear which accrediting body will be running the exam, meaning I don't know what the curriculum is. Hopefully this will be cleared up when the various colleges come back from the holidays.

 

[ColinJ]

... and changed the front disc pads on my bike. Surprisingly they didn’t seem too worn. But changed them any way, didn’t bother with rear brake as that doesn’t get used as much.

That is a reminder to check the pads on my Devon bike, and if necessary, change them. I was thinking that on yesterday evening's ride but I felt too tired to do it after getting back.

I have ridden the bike at least 2,000 km since the pads were last replaced and there is quite a lot of braking on steep local descents so they are probably well worn. I will check them now...

[Some time later...]

As expected, the rear pads were not too bad.

The front pads were well worn, however. I could probably have squeezed a few more rides out of them, but why mess about? I had spares available so I changed the front pads and left the old rear ones in for now. I will check them again on my next visit.

That is a sandwich of an old pad (above) and a new pad (below). You can see that the old one is at least 50% worn.

I cleaned and lubed the chain.

The transmission is currently okay, but the chainring, cassette, and chain have seen a lot of use so I will probably have to replace all 3 next year.

The gear shifting on the bike has not been perfect so I started to work on that...

I had noticed the low gear endstop was not perfectly set but I hadn't realised that it was actually possible to overshift and drop the chain down between the cassette and the spokes. Fortunately, I discovered that when turning the cranks slowly by hand, so I immediately stopped and no damage was done. I obviously sorted that endstop out, and made sure the other one was right too.

I checked the gear shifting. It isn't quite right. I am struggling to get the upshifts and downshifts to both work properly. One or the other - no problem. I think that is probably due to friction in the gear cable but my evening meal was ready so I left fine-tuning until tomorrow.