Frustrating little things

[All uphill]

I don't know if you are like me; I can get the big stuff done without too much trouble - wheelbuilding, bottom brackets and indexing all seem to be straightforward. It's the little stuff that catches me out.

Maybe it would be of interest and useful to share?

I have just converted my 7 speed tourer to 8 speed. It has bar end shifters and already had an 8 speed hub, so should be a ten minute job to change the cassette. The chain jumped up on the 11 tooth gear wheel. I changed the chain, straightened the hanger, cleaned everything, examined the new cassette carefully before finding I had used the lockring from the 7 speed, which is slightly larger diameter than the 8 speed one .

10 minutes became two hours!

 

[si_c]

Yeah, I know that one. Wheelbuilding, ok. Full bike builds. Ok. Brake bleeds OK. Getting rim brake pads aligned properly? fsck off that's impossible. Last time I swapped the cartridges out I ended up rubbing a hole through the sidewall

 

[matticus]

Yeah, I know that one. Wheelbuilding, ok. Full bike builds. Ok. Brake bleeds OK. Getting rim brake pads aligned properly?

Have you now learned to build bikes without brake pads? (Maybe put them in a jiffy-bag, zip-tied to the brake calipers, with a big sign saying
"***Fit these before riding bike*** "?)

I think the little jobs can be little sh1ts because you underestimate them - I mean how hard can fitting rim brake pads (or jockey wheels, say) be?!?


I can't do bar-tape - but that's not even a mechanical skill. It's closer to embroidery. Or put brake levers on straight and symmetrical ...

 

[fossyant]

Yup. Rebuild of the Ribble. I'd taken two rear wheels apart, both Mavic, to clean the cassette (one was a turbo wheel). Refitted the cassette of the road wheel and put on bike. During gear set up, wondered why the gears felt rumbly. Felt like it was the mech as the cage 'jumped'. Checked new chain, checked freehub ran smooth.

Pulled wheel off eventually, and could feel a very slight movement of the cassette. That's why I had an extra spacer with the turbo wheel's cassette.

Spacer back on, smooth !

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I think you mean fiddly jobs, ones where things go ping and you drop things that roll out of sight.

A bottom bracket is fairly simple. Big bits to hold, a bit of grease, initial hand tighten then finish off with big bb tool / spanner etc. Whereas the little jobs with small bits and pieces and smaller tools...

 

[Ajax Bay]

I think the little jobs can be little sh1ts because you underestimate them - I mean how hard can fitting rim brake pads (or jockey wheels, say) be?!?

Not very hard, imho. Surely fitting (normal) new mudguards must be right up there in the underestimated little jobs.

 

[si_c]

Not very hard, imho. Surely fitting (normal) new mudguards must be right up there in the underestimated little jobs.

Depends on the mudguards. But yeah, it usually takes me at least half an hour to fit some guards and then I'm still tweaking the fit days later.

 

[Gravity Aided]

I think you mean fiddly jobs, ones where things go ping and you drop things that roll out of sight.

A bottom bracket is fairly simple. Big bits to hold, a bit of grease, initial hand tighten then finish off with big bb tool / spanner etc. Whereas the little jobs with small bits and pieces and smaller tools...

I am building a work bench with a cove molding frame around the top for just such emergencies.

 

[cyberknight]

changing disk brake pads wtf , why do i need to take the whole caliper off the frame to do so then feck about settings the alignment and spacing ,rim brake are a doddle in comparison

 

[Smokin Joe]

Fitting a QR lever to a hub without pinging one of the springs to an unknown corner of the garage where you find it five years later while searching for the bit of the quick link that has just flown off the chain you were fitting. This of course will disappear for a similar length of time only to turn up after you have dropped the cable end cap you were just about to crimp.

And so on.

 

[Blue Hills]

Fitting a QR lever to a hub without pinging one of the springs to an unknown corner of the garage where you find it five years later while searching for the bit of the quick link that has just flown off the chain you were fitting. This of course will disappear for a similar length of time only to turn up after you have dropped the cable end cap you were just about to crimp.

And so on.

By the by, and probably betraying my extreme stupidity, I have often wondered what those springs are actually for. Do you even need them?

 

[Ajax Bay]

what those springs are actually for

They keep the hub centred between the QR lever (and nut on other end of the skewer) making it easier to refit the wheel into the dropouts. No: not needed. Try it without, and get irritated.

 

[Milkfloat]

changing disk brake pads wtf , why do i need to take the whole caliper off the frame to do so then feck about settings the alignment and spacing ,rim brake are a doddle in comparison

Good question - why do you do that? Pop pads out, use tyre lever to push back pistons and pop new pads in.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

changing disk brake pads wtf , why do i need to take the whole caliper off the frame to do so then feck about settings the alignment and spacing ,rim brake are a doddle in comparison

What calipers are those, never had to do that for Giant, Shimano, Avid, or Trp calipers?

 

[Colin_P]

Locknuts on wheel axle / bearing cups.

All cleaned, regreased and the cups just so. Counter hold the cup and tighten the locknut and the axle is either slopping about or locked solid despite being just so moments before.

Undo, reset and repeat.... too tight!
Undo, reset and repeat.... too loose!
Undo, reset and repeat.... too tight!
Undo, reset and repeat.... too loose!
Undo, reset and repeat.... too tight!
Undo, reset and repeat.... too loose!
Undo, reset and repeat.... too tight!
Undo, reset and repeat.... too loose!
Undo, reset and repeat.... too tight!
Undo, reset and repeat.... too loose!

Sometime later, you manage to get it 'just so', put it down to a fluke and have your confidence faith in your ability destroyed.