What Have You Fettled Today?

[Elybazza61]

Noticed the rear tyre was down again on the bh's Cotic (have just been pumping it up and it's been holding for a few days), so had a closer look and noticed it was perished in a couple of places so decided to swap it for one of the same off another wheelset.

Old one off ok but the rim tape was damaged so had to remove that ,too a while to get it all off but after a wipe with brake cleaner got the new tape on and valve fitted; tyre popped on fine but then realised I'd put the tyre on the wrong way round ,so off and on again and sealant added once it was seated.

 

[Elybazza61]

Midnight start. Even more fun. Epic……👌

Had to cry off this now as have managed to get some kind of lurgy and spent most of the night coughing, a sore throat and a headache all made worse with this heat.

 

[Gunk]

Set up a workshop in the garden early to avoid the heat.

Removed the mudguards and rack of my Van Nicholas, gave it a clean and service as my son is pressing it into triathlon duties on Sunday.

I also finished off his new tatty Allez which has ended up as a bit more work than I originally anticipated, but for around £160 all in its come out quite well and rides smoothly, so perfect for a 2 mile commute into Oxford. I‘ve had a few Allez’s over the years, they’re a good light, simple bike, however they all seem to be completely knackered!

 

[iandg]

I've been playing with this for about a month. Converted my urban e-bike into a gravel bike. Remove lights, mudguards and carrier, swapped 38c Marathons for 47c Smart Sams, fitted smaller chainring (40 to 36t), swapped bars from Ergotec City Cruisers to On-One OGs, fitted a front crudcatcher and modified a rear Muckynutz to create a rear splash guard.

 

[chriswoody]

We bought a "new" second hand bike for my son the other day, a nice 2022 Cannondale hardtail. Looking it over I negotiated the price down due to the rear hub and freewheel being really rough and the chain and sprockets were worn out. The rest seemed to be fine as far as I could tell.

Back home I've stripped the rear hub and discovered it's drier than a desert in there, the freewheel is also completely shot.

After cleaning the races and the bearings I packed it with grease and popped it all back together. Then I fitted this little lot which included a brand new freehub body.

It was at this point that it all went pear shaped. I'd been umming and ahhing about whether to service the forks, in the end, given the state of the hub I decided I'd better. First things first was to drop the lower legs and it was then that I uncovered a horror show. The foam rings were beyond dried out and were completely broken down and stuck in one fork leg. The worst horror though was on the upper leg, adjacent to the crusty foam ring, were it must have been sat unused for a long time it was corroded.

This was really low down and under the level of the outer dust seal when the bike was sat unsagged, so I had completely missed it, I was really annoyed and angry, but I was in too deep now. Given its location, really low down, adjacent to the foam ring, I figured it wouldn't have too major an affect on the performance of the forks. So I decided to plow on and rub it lightly over with 2000 grit paper and Isopropyl. You can feel one or two small nicks with your nail, but hopefully we should be OK.

So I'm going for a full 200 hour service for these forks and I have the full service kit.

With the lower legs, dust seals and foam rings removed, it's time to move on to the air damper assembly and we soon have the internals on my bench. The oil and grease have turned a bit sticky, but it's really not too grim. I soon have it all cleaned up and new O rings installed.

So on to the damper assembly tomorrow, but that's all for tonight.

 

[pippy]

We bought a "new" second hand bike for my son the other day, a nice 2022 Cannondale hardtail...
Back home I've stripped the rear hub and discovered it's drier than a desert in there, the freewheel is also completely shot...
It was at this point that it all went pear shaped...
So I'm going for a full 200 hour service for these forks and I have the full service kit.

How on Earth does a four-year-old bike become such an utter wreck so rapidly?

Philip.

 

[ColinJ]

I had been thinking that my CAAD5 was feeling a bit too comfortable recently on our crappy local roads. "There is no such thing as 'too comfortable'", you may say... Well, there is if the low tyre pressures giving that comfort result in greatly increased rolling resistance and risk of snakebite punctures!

I checked, and sure enough, higher pressures were advisable. I have now topped the tyres up to what I hope will be good compromise pressures so that they roll well but are tolerably uncomfortable!

 

[HLaB]

I had been thinking that my CAAD5 was feeling a bit too comfortable recently on our crappy local roads. "There is no such thing as 'too comfortable'", you may say... Well, there is if the low tyre pressures giving that comfort result in greatly increased rolling resistance and risk of snakebite punctures!

I checked, and sure enough, higher pressures were advisable. I have now topped the tyres up to what I hope will be good compromise pressures so that they roll well but are tolerably uncomfortable!

Go tubeless then you can get away with low pressure comfort without the pinch!

 

[Punkawallah]

Once more unto the Breach!
Couple of top coats added to the frame/forks, and the last of the tin used to catch the ‘sparse’ coverage.
Wheels duly cleaned, and rims/hubs given the once-over with some fine wire wool to take the stubborn crap off.
Next job to clean up the furniture while the paint cures.

On the Home Stretch!
Fitted the headset, forks, bottom bracket, chain-set (twice - got the spindle the wrong way round), derailleur, bolt-on rear cable stop, wheels, saddle & post, bars, brake callipers. Had intended to replace the Shimano Tourney callipers, but none of the other sets I had would reach the rims!
Left to do is to T-Cut the bar tape to remove crud, brake & gear cabling, chain, and hand paint the contrast patch around the brazed-on (?) ‘CARLTON’ letters on the head-tube.
Aiming to pedal it down to the shop window on Monday.

 

[chriswoody]

How on Earth does a four-year-old bike become such an utter wreck so rapidly?

Philip.

You have to bear in mind this bike only retailed at €1500 when new, which in this day and age is not a lot. At that price point compromises are made and the rear hub is a case in point. It has loose ball bearings and inadequate sealing for its intended use. It's no wonder it was dry in there and the freehub is a similarly cheap disposable item, I paid €10 for the replacement, hardly top quality stuff from Mr Shimano. As for the chain, it was coated in thick sticky oil, a sign of an owner who had no idea what they were doing, it was no surprise it was worn out.

The corrosion on the forks is interesting, it looks like the bike was used for a while and is is often the way with these cheaper bikes, a lower leg service was never performed on the forks. Over time the foam rings and wiper seals dried out and then the bike must have been stored for a while, possibly when wet or in a damp environment and then water or moisture was trapped in the foam and it sat there for a fair period of time, long enough to corrode the upper leg. With these cheaper Rockshox Judy forks, i wouldn't be surprised if the seals were never that well lubricated from the factory either, which wouldn't have helped.

The rest of the bike was in really good condition and so far I've spent €60 on new parts, which I really don't think is excessive. This was never intended to be a stunning bike, my son won't be the best custodian I've afraid. I just needed a bike which he could use daily and then come out with me on trips from time to time.

 

[sevenfourate]

Inner bar ends to give me a different hand position option. And get more like shoulder width apart - not like the (very) wide I have been:

Don’t even ask why the RHS goes on the left and vice-versa:

And a quick wipe / check of drivetrain for just 2 days commuting this week: before the whole Family leaves for Vegas and California for a couple of weeks……

 

[chriswoody]

So after servicing the air spring side of the forks, it was time to move on to the Compression and Rebound side. I removed the remote lock out assembly and then undo the damper top cap. Tipping out the oil it was good to see there was plenty of it and the colour wasn't too bad. I soon had all the internals laid out on the bench.

A 200 hour service on these lower range Rockshox forks, consists mostly of disassembly, clean, check, replace all the O rings and re-apply liberal amounts of grease and oil where appropriate. The detailed tech docs make the whole process pretty straight forward. With everything back together I torqued the top caps up to spec and that's both the Air Spring and Damper assemblies serviced. I'm just waiting on a delivery of foam rings so I can re-assemble the lower legs.

 

[Elybazza61]

Decided to clean and check over the spare wheels (there's 3 sets) as when I used the tyre off one of them for the Cotic that they were a bit grubby ;all mostly ok with only one being a pain as the rim tape had had it were sealant had creeped under, so took a while to clean off all the glue from the tape.

Only one set left tubeless with tyres on and the sealant was done only a couple of months ago so will be good for few months.

The only wheels needing looking at now will be the Stayer carbon/Rene Herse set but they were recently topped up so will wait until the winter to give them a good fettle and clean.

 

[pippy]

Campagnolo 15mm crank-bolt spanner arrived yesterday evening so I could finally get into the B/Bracket to re-lube.

After that it was time to mark-out the top-tube / down-tube with masking tape as far as aligning the replacement decals are concerned. I was considering leaving the original head-tube transfer just out of nostalgia but it will come off as well.

Frame almost ready for new stickers and reassembly;

The 'Peanut-Butter' spanner; is anyone here knowledgeable about the diffferent styles of Campag. logo which have been used on these things through the ages?
The one I had but lost had the more usual 'Brev Inter. Campagnolo' inside the diamond cross-hatched escutcheon and I believe that I've seen a plainer version (with no cross-hatching?) but this style is completely new to me;

Any info re; rough dates will be appreciated!

Philip.

 

[adiemla]

Needed some longer dead straight roundstays for a rear rack on my 'gravel bike'. I know there are straight 350mm Tubus roundstays that would do the job, but, as is my won't these retirement days, decided I'd make some from 8mm stainless steel tubes silver brazed to m6 eyes. A reasonable effort.

Total cost just over £12. Cheaper than the 350mm Tubus roundstays.