What Have You Fettled Today?

[DCLane]

My youngest's Giant TCR suffered a broken mech hanger on Saturday and he limped home single-speed.

Today the replacement hanger arrived. Or rather two of them, so this time we have an immediate spare . As a result I:

• Fitted the new rear hanger and the Ultegra rear derailleur onto it
• New gear cable inner with new outer at the back. Ultegra 6700 shifters are a pain to fit cables in
• New chain fitted

All working but jumping a little in top gear.

As I was in a 'gear fitting' mode attention was turned to the Columbus X-wing we're re-converting back to drop bar. It received a chain and the front / rear derailleurs set. That leaves new brake straddle barrels to fit (adjustables coming), bar tape and new tyres to finish.

 

[GuyBoden]

Trying to re-grease the bb on my old Raleigh winter bike, it won't budge, even with the correct adjustable pin spanner and an extension tube for more leverage.....

Soaked it in "Free It" oil for a few days, but it still won't budge, so, I've ordered a Park Tools Pin spanner.....

This BB type:

 

[Tin Pot]

I can happily state that the lifeline pressfit bb tool is a piece of shoot as far as power torque bb86 cups are concerned.

Booked into the shop tomorrow to remove and seat properly.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Still working on getting the old BB out over here, PB Blaster marinade in its third day. Ammonia is available for the nuclear option.

 

[PeteXXX]

Proper 'wheels off' wash today. After last nights ride, it needed it!
Then a wipe over with GT85 (the bike, not me )

 

[Illaveago]

The dreaded seized seat post. I know it looks a bit drastic but the usual method didn't work especially when top where the seat mounting fits inside post started rotating. So out with a drill, some angled dexion and a nut and bolt and it still wouldn't budge, I could see it twisting as far as the frame but no further.
My wife asked me if I could unblock a drain with some caustic soda so whilst I had some mixed up I thought I would try it on the post. I used some plumbers mate to make a bit of a well with some plastic tape, and with gloves and goggles on I poured some of the caustic soda on the post. It leaked a bit, but it cleaned up the corrosion at the top. I washed the frame off with water and tried heaving on the angle, still no movement so I sprayed it with WD40 and left it over night.
This afternoon I tried heaving on the bar again and it gradually started moving, so with a bit of back and forth and more spray it worked loose.

 

[GuyBoden]

The dreaded seized seat post. I know it looks a bit drastic but the usual method didn't work especially when top where the seat mounting fits inside post started rotating. So out with a drill, some angled dexion and a nut and bolt and it still wouldn't budge, I could see it twisting as far as the frame but no further.
My wife asked me if I could unblock a drain with some caustic soda so whilst I had some mixed up I thought I would try it on the post. I used some plumbers mate to make a bit of a well with some plastic tape, and with gloves and goggles on I poured some of the caustic soda on the post. It leaked a bit, but it cleaned up the corrosion at the top. I washed the frame off with water and tried heaving on the angle, still no movement so I sprayed it with WD40 and left it over night.
This afternoon I tried heaving on the bar again and it gradually started moving, so with a bit of back and forth and more spray it worked loose. View attachment 344780

When aluminium posts are stuck into a steel frame, the caustic soda technique does work, but it takes about 4 to 7 days. Aluminium "welds" itself to the steel, it's a chemical reaction over time. WD40 won't do anything in this situation. I've used caustic soda, but it ruins the paintwork near the top of the seat post.

Procedure:
Cut the seat post off about 3inch from the top and pour in caustic soda into the seat post hole, alternatively remove the BB and pour caustic soda in from the bottom (block all holes up first). leave and top up every day until the Aluminium has gone. (Wear gloves and goggles.)

 

[Gravity Aided]

Do this outside, by the way. It smells bad when this reaction occurs, and the byproduct of the chemical reaction is hydrogen. (Just a caution for first time users.).

 

[Tin Pot]

LBS refit BB
I did the crankset
Finished fitting the brakes, some fine tuning to do still (rear brake won't release)
Bars
Shifters
Derailleurs and chain
Adjusted the seat to fit
Adjusted bar height

KMC link won't fully get into place unlike every other KMC chain I've used so I need to get another fecking tool tomorrow.

 

[I like Skol]

KMC link won't fully get into place unlike every other KMC chain I've used so I need to get another fecking tool tomorrow.

Tool for what? If the link wont click into place then turn the pedals until the chain link is at the top (above chainstay, between cassette and chainrings) then stand on the pedals and pedal. If that doesn't do it then throw the link away and get another because there is clearly something wrong with that one!

 

[confusedcyclist]

Finally getting around to building my dynamo wheel... and the evening commute just got light, doh!

Gratuitous heroic pose to follow...

 

[Deleted member 1258]

A minor fettle for me today, I'd noticed the rear mudguard on my Eastway had started to rattle, an inspection revealed a broken bracket , the one that bolts to the rear brake spindle. The thing is I'd used my spare bracket on a previous repair so I had to have a root round in the back of the shed, eventually I found an old mudguard with a bracket attached and was able to use it to replace the broken one and I'm now looking forward to quieter rides in future.

 

[I like Skol]

Finally getting around to building my dynamo wheel... and the evening commute just got light, doh!

Gratuitous heroic pose to follow...

View attachment 345004 View attachment 345005 View attachment 345006

Respect, from a fellow wheel building hero

 

[Deleted member 41544]

Two of us started work on the newly arrived, and very battered, Columbus X-wing with a flat bar conversion. Half of me was toying with building a bike with a 36 rear cassette but I've been persuaded not to:

• Wheels off and checked - all good
• Square taper crankset off and very poor condition bottom bracket out.
• Replacement (used) Hollowtech 2 bottom bracket in - can't remember where it came from
• Shimano Sora crankset fitted which should suit both of us as it's 170mm
• Paint started - two coats of black Humbrol on the many, many chips and scrapes

Still to do:

• White and then red paint
• Add drop bars (thanks @rugbyleaguebiker for dropping the bars off - this is what it'll be on
• Fit 10 speed shifters. Not sure whether they'll be Ultegra or Tiagra yet but I think it'll be Tiagra.
• Change the rear derailleur to 10 speed. Front clamp-on Sora's staying, mainly because I can't be bothered finding a replacement
• Find and fit a 10 speed 11-32 cassette
• New 10 speed chain, cables and bar tape

It looks like this although the black paint's now been touched in and there's now a black crankset:

View attachment 342721

We also did some work on his Giant TCR training bike as he may need to race on it in York on Saturday and he's using it for the Yorkshire roller racing championships rather than his Cervelo:

• Training wheels fitted with a 16-25 U14's youth cassette
• Crankset swapped for his Ultegra 48-34 set-up

I then set to work on my Principia RSLe - adjusting the headset and changing the front wheel. If the rumbling noise from the forks is gone then one of those two worked.

The Eastway however is in the doghouse until I have the patience to look at it again! New bottom bracket to fit, then possibly a rear derailleur, followed by bar tape if it all works properly. Only then can it go on sale

That X wing is gonna be a beaut, looking forward to seeing the finished bike

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

I've been out between the showers to fit a front mudflap and a B&M Secula rear lamp to the Galaxy, which took a little longer than it sounds as both items required drilling the mudguards.

It looks good and a couple of miles of test riding shows that the mudflap doesn't rattle or flap about so it's all ready to rack up some miles.