What Have You Fettled Today?

[the stupid one]

Groan. I went out on the hardtail RockRider BigRR 5.1 a couple of days ago, and noticed that the brakes were a bit dodgy and the gears needed tweaking.

The weight, geometry and tube cross-section of the bike meant that the workstand wasn't very happy. The front derailleur was a real bugger, but I got there in the end. The rear derailleur just needed a bit of a twist of the barrel adjuster.

Meanwhile the rear brake seemed to have gone completely t*ts up. It was doing that annoying thing where it closes but then refuses to open. I adjusted the blocks, in case they were catching the tyre as well as the rim, but that made no difference. Sent some lube into both ends of the rear cable outer, which also made no difference. Then I had a lightbulb moment - surely the clamp on the workstand is interfering with the bare inner cable. What a dope . . . but it wasn't that either.

Finally I got to the front end, and the problem was an almost invisible deflection of the front outer as it left the barrel adjuster. With the merest touch the problem disappeared. Grrr. With a bit of loosening and tightening I think I've sorted it for the moment - worked OK over several pulls, then on a short testride. In fact the brakes are very effective now. The lad had a quick go and he was pleased with the brakes and gears, and he's hoping to do the Wirral Bikeathon on Sunday.

And after all that I got the junior B'Twin bike which the lad used to fit and gave it the same treatment. That was a lot more user-friendly. What a relief.

 

[Chris S]

I put a new pair of pedals on my 30-year-old Raleigh. They were only £3.47 of ebay (inc p+p) so I wasn't expecting much but they've completely transformed the bike. They don't look much different from Halfords basic pedals.
I didn't realize how bad the old ones were. One was actually bent and both flopped about so much they must have been sapping energy.

 

[shirokazan]

And so to my LBS to pick up the new pedals (PD-T400) for my road bike (and quick link for my tourer). As I had in fact arrived there on my road bike, they volunteered to swap the pedals for me, so strictly speaking, I didn't do any fettling. Thanks, @Dogtrousers for mentioning those pedals in this post.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Wheel building today. Couple of new wheel builds.

 

[mangid]

Phaffed with internal gear routing last night.

Bought some silcone tube to try and keep the route open, failed miserably as it was too soft to go through some of the smaller openings. Gave up, and decided to go in with a magnet. The Park tool magnet from their internal routing kit is way too weak, messed around for ages, Found an old disk drive magnet and used that. Still had problems, the last portion was thru a a small metal ferule pressed into the alloy dropouts, removed this, found a stiffer piece of tubing I got with some handlerbars, and managed to get the cable all the way through. At this point it was bedtime. So I'm heading off out for the morning ride on my old reliable Burls fixed, and will finish getting it all back together this afternoon :-)

 

[fossyant]

My Guide RS rear brake has fallen fowl to the sticky piston failure in heat. The lever was sluggish to return. Stripped the lever, and the piston had 'expanded' slightly. I sanded it down and rebuilt the lever. It's been working much better but I also ordered the Generation 2 piston from Taiwan (yes the only place that sells the piston on it's own).

That arrived today, and there is noticeably less 'material' on the piston. Stripped and refitted the piston, bled the brakes and it's perfect, even in 25c heat. The front lever has been fine, but at least I know where to get the spares. I'm now a dab hand at bleeding hydraulic brakes - absolute doddle !

 

[DCBassman]

New batteries in 2 sets of lights.

 

[mangid]

Finished the recabling, of the rear mech after last nights phaffing. Involved screwing bits back onto the Dura Ace shifter, rewrapping bars, front mech, little dodad under BB which routes the cables, finessing the rear mech, and riding up and down to make sure it all worked. Nice way to wind down after this mornings 116 mile fixed ride, and the 5 round mile trip to Waitrose.

Looking forward to tomorrow !

 

[HLaB]

Topped up the sealant in my tyres last night and finally got round to changing my chairing from 52/36 to 50/34.

 

[stoatsngroats]

Cleaned the discs, an replaced fr & rr pads to Nuke Proof organics, and bedded them in, and I can now skid with the rear brake! Much better than squealing, as I had recently.
Bought an MT800 B.B., ready to put in, following the clicking Deore SM52, I think it will fit?
Yesterday, put on the Axiom DLX 29er rack, and checked out the Ortliebs for fitting, although the OH has bagged the new ones, as they colour match her Cube orange colours
Sorted the Arbus lock and pump holder onto the bars, to give another bidon on a location on the frame.
Our much planned (4 years I think) Avenue vert ride in a few weeks is coming along well, just pondering the planned 55 miles on day 3, with the hills around Beauvais, and whether this will be too much!

 

[bpsmith]

23 mile all out blast for me. Followed by a full strip down of the gears to find out what my rattle was.

The only thing I did different was to remove the hanger and clean behind on frame and hanger. Greased it lightly before reassembly and then set up front and rear mech from scratch again.

Appears to have sorted it all out and front shifting is sharper than ever.

 

[HLaB]

Finished the recabling, of the rear mech after last nights phaffing. Involved screwing bits back onto the Dura Ace shifter, rewrapping bars, front mech, little dodad under BB which routes the cables, finessing the rear mech, and riding up and down to make sure it all worked. Nice way to wind down after this mornings 116 mile fixed ride, and the 5 round mile trip to Waitrose.

Looking forward to tomorrow !

I've only did half that I've re-cabled the left side of the bike (back brake and front deraileur) and re-taped it and I've only done 75mile. I spent most of the afternoon after the Dauphine cleaning the chain/ cassette etc.

 

[HLaB]

I've only did half that I've re-cabled the left side of the bike (back brake and front deraileur) and re-taped it and I've only done 75mile. I spent most of the afternoon after the Dauphine cleaning the chain/ cassette etc.

You shamed me into action @mangid and I did the other half. I've still got to change the front tubeless tyre (its sprayed sealent 3 rides in a row and sometimes twice on one ride) but that's tomorrow's job, good night

 

[mangid]

You shamed me into action @mangid and I did the other half. I've still got to change the front tubeless tyre (its sprayed sealent 3 rides in a row and sometimes twice on one ride) but that's tomorrow's job, good night
View attachment 413714

Having gained confidence and experience with the rear cable I went for the front mech yesterday afternoon, easy when you know how :-) Didn't even need to unwrap the bars.

 

[C R]

Saturday fettling was changing the mudguards which were too big for the new 1.50 tyres, and looked a bit daft. The bike looks a bit more reasonable with mudguards now the right size for the tyres. I was thinking about not putting mudguards on, but in view of yesterday's adventure it was lucky I did put them on. The bracket screws seem to loosen over time, so I am going to need to fettle some shake proof washers in.

Also put in seat stay lights and reflector, as the saddle bag doesn't leave any space for them in the seatpost.