What Have You Fettled Today?

[Salty seadog]

In that case, I've got a fair wait. My birthday's not till March. On the other hand, I'm probably reasonably local...

Wait your turn little lady.

 

[Reynard]

Wait your turn little lady.

Alas, alack, I am sore wounded... To be accused of queue jumping indeed...

 

[Salty seadog]

Alas, alack, I am sore wounded... To be accused of queue jumping indeed...

And being little. 'tis the end. Alas poor Reynard, she shopped so well.

 

[Reynard]

And being little. 'tis the end. Alas poor Reynard, she shopped so well.

So long as men can breathe and eyes can see, so long lives this, and this gives life to me!

I'm off yellow stickering tomorrow

 

[Pale Rider]

It's my mums birthday in a few weeks and as a present this year I've offered to service her bicycle and upgrade the tyres. She has had the bike for several years now but it has hardly been used; she states the reason for this as "the tyres are always flat". They put it in to a local bike shop a few years back who charged a small fortune to service the bike and replace the inner tubes with ones that "dont go flat" - ie magic inner tubes - and unsuprisingly were dissappointed with the results Anyway I picked the bike up last night and set to work on it this morning. It was in a bit of a state having been left unloved in the shed for a few years but has cleaned up rather nicely and is now in fine fettle. I've just measured the rims and ordered a pair of Tannus 700x40c solid tyres, once they arrive I'll wrestle them on to the rims, give it a test ride and drive it back over to her

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I'm curious to know how you will get on fitting Tannus tyres.

My local bike shop is a dealer.

I think they use a special pair of pliers, although that may be just to speed the job up a bit.

 

[fossyant]

Fair bit of cleaning after yesterdays ride - decided to re-grease the jockey wheels on my SRAM x9 mech. Quick job, but it needs doing regular as SRAM jockeys can seize as they run on a cartridge bearing.

My OCD had me replacing one of the studs on my ice tyres, the spares I had were the flat top type, but the ice spikers had 'pointy' ones. When I first got the tyres, I'd lost a stud, so fitted the spares. Since then, I've ordered the 'pointy' ones. Prized the old stud out with a screwdriver, then promptly 'slipped' and shoved the blade through my index finger. Bled a fair bit and took a good hour to stop - cold fingers and bike mechanics aren't a good mix.

 

[JhnBssll]

I'm curious to know how you will get on fitting Tannus tyres.

My local bike shop is a dealer.

I think they use a special pair of pliers, although that may be just to speed the job up a bit.

I'm also curious, I watched a few tutorials and saw the special pliers at work - I'm hoping I've got enough random tools in the garage to bodge together a makeshift tool if the going gets tough I see you can buy them for ~£20 but thats more than I'd want to spend on a single use tool - I'm not likely to fit another set anytime soon and I doubt my mother will ride the bike anywhere near enough to wear them out

One way or another I'll let you know how I get on later in the week

 

[JhnBssll]

It was pointed out to be again recently that the bar end plugs of the Bianchi are different colours, even after I'd sprayed the Di2 junction box bezel orange to match the hope one on the other side. The junction box itself is still black, and the hope bolt is silver, so they still looked different...

Anyway, I accidentally came across some game changing information the other day; the Hope bar end plugs (Grip Doctor) use the same custom bolt as the headset cap (Head Doctor) which are of course available in all the lovely Hope colours. A quick search found Leisure Lakes had them on sale for 3 quid each and it was a done deal - 2 bolts on their way to me They arrived earlier in the week and I just found them and decided to pop them in, hopefully this should stop the OCD from myself and others

 

[Jenkins]

I've had a pair of Raceblade Pro XLs sitting in their packaging in my shed for a few months and finally got round to setting them up for use on the Giant flatbar this morning.

 

[DCLane]

Re-fitted my 14yo's stem on his Boardman AirPro with longer stem bolts after his bars slipped on a training ride today.

Then had a look at the Dawes Galaxy I bought last week:

• Cleaned and lubricated. I don't think it's been used in a while
• Removed and re-greased the seatpost
• The front derailleur wouldn't hold - shifter was loose so tightened and works fine
• Rear derailleur also tightened
• The cranks still seem 'sticky', so the next job is to have a look at the bottom bracket
• Also needs new bar tape (to be removed) and a better saddle (on order)

 

[BSOh]

I'm curious to know how you will get on fitting Tannus tyres.

My local bike shop is a dealer.

I think they use a special pair of pliers, although that may be just to speed the job up a bit.

I'm also curious, I watched a few tutorials and saw the special pliers at work - I'm hoping I've got enough random tools in the garage to bodge together a makeshift tool if the going gets tough I see you can buy them for ~£20 but thats more than I'd want to spend on a single use tool - I'm not likely to fit another set anytime soon and I doubt my mother will ride the bike anywhere near enough to wear them out

One way or another I'll let you know how I get on later in the week

I fitted a pair last year and was absolutely dreading it after reading online how torturous some had found it. But they went on with no hassle in an hour or so. I say no hassle i.e. Bothinv went wrong, but they are a bit of a fiddle. Slow, steady, and a full mug of tea is my recommendation

Edit: nothing not bothinv!

 

[Deleted member 1258]

A minor fettle for me today, I'd noticed recent rides had been slow and hard, I realized yesterday my rear mudguard had become clogged, so I had the rear wheel out this morning and cleared a couple of pounds of dirt out from under the mudguard. Whilst I was at it I had a look at the bottom bracket, it runs free and smooth with no play, but rumbles like a good un, looks like I'll be changing it sometime soon. I also did the usual checks, tyres and brakes.

 

[derrick]

All i have done over the last couple of days, is take peoples pedals off there bikes ready to be transported to Calpe.

 

[chriswoody]

Having brought the Super Galaxy out of semi retirement and pounding the plentiful forest tracks around here, I decided that it was about time I caught up with the maintenance that's been slipping over the last years. Firstly I purchased the headset spanner that I've been threatening to buy for the last twenty years and tightened the headset up.

With that done I turned my attention to fitting a new large chainring, the old one had lost some teeth at some point as well as looking decidedly worn.

Then it was on to the tedious job of fettling the twenty five year old cantilever brakes. I discovered a few years back that the bosses on the fork blades are far closer than on a modern bike, so there will never be the chance to upgrade to anything other than these old canti's. So no excuse, but keep them fettled and in good nick. When done properly though, the stopping power easily rivals more modern systems. It's just a pain to get right. There was also a myriad small jobs as well, but I'm looking forward to cycling some more gravel roads now that the bike is back in tip top condition.

 

[HLaB]

I don't know if it techically counts as a fettle but I gave my commuter a mechanical clean (wiped the frame but didn't give it a deep clean I don't want it to be too desirable).