What Have You Fettled Today?

[Elybazza61]

Mostly garden work the past few days but managed to re-route the dynamo and di2 cables and shortened the rear brake hose which I have been meaning to do for ages;actually got away without having to re-bleed which is a bonus.

 

[ColinJ]

Today's bike fettling session was in 2 parts ...

Part 1:

Having measured the setup on 3 of my bikes by measuring each from the nose of the saddle to the centre of the handlebar, I was shocked to find that one was 56 cm, one was 58 cm, and one was 61 cm. How on earth had I coped with the setups being so different?

I decided that the bike with the 58 cm measurement was very slightly more comfortable than the other 2 bikes so I adjusted their saddle positions to make their measurement 58 cm too.

I felt pleased to have made such an important discovery and rectified the problem. I made a pot of coffee and sat down to work on the computer. But something was niggling me ...

Part 2:

It eventually dawned on me that while all the bikes had the same type of saddle, they each had different types of bars and different types of shifters.

I repeated the measurements, this time from the nose of saddle to where my hands spend most of the time when riding - on the hoods... All 3 different!

So, I put the saddles back to where they had started from, repeated the measurements and found that the nose to hood measurements were now identical!

 

[derrick]

New spoke in a mates wheel. Then some decorating,

 

[Reynard]

New laces in my MTB shoes. I like to double knot my laces, and the original ones were too short for me to be able to do that.

 

[LeetleGreyCells]

Gave the bike a wash and lube.

 

[fossyant]

My SRAM Guide Gen2 brake lever piston arrived from Taiwan in less than a week. There is a known issue with earlier SRAM Guide brake levers (and Level levers) where the piston inside the lever can jam in heat (i.e. a hot sunny day). My rear jammed last year when the bike was parked in the sun, so changed it - the front was OK.

Decided to change the front after it was a little sticky recently having been in the sun. It takes about 30 mins to strip down, the hardest part being removing a small circlip. Swapped out quickly then bled the brakes after. £11 for a bit of plastic with two rubber seals and a spring.

 

[JhnBssll]

Gave the Bianchi a good going over ready for Velo Birmingham on Sunday. Thoroughly degreased the new chain to remove the last of the original factory lube, it's done a few hundred miles now so was due a clean. Rinsed and dried it and put it to one side.

Wheels off, degreased the cassette and cleaned them up. Cleaned the discs with brake cleaner.

I took the opportunity to re-fit the dura ace lh crank arm, it had been away having an Avio PowerSense power meter fitted. The Ultegra arm and its PowerSense are now ready and waiting to be fitted to the Ti frameset when ready.

Before reassembly I gave the frame and rims a nice coat of wax, all shiny again! All back together again now and I've left the Di2 charging

 

[BianchiVirgin]

Last week I knocked out the old FSA BB from my Bianchi only to discover that the Wheels Mfg BB was the wrong one. Don't know how I got that brain fade. Anyway, quickly prepared the Cube for the Sunday spin instead. It's a nice bike but a real slug by comparison and hard work doing 100km on.

The new BB arrived yesterday, PF30, and it fitted easy peasy. Didn't even need the press. The FSA unit is plastic rubbish compared to the outboard machined alu of the new one and the halves are threaded together and more or less eliminate the risk of creaking. A quick spin round the house and it seems fine. Didn't even have to adjust the front derailleur, which I was expecting to have to do. Bonus.

Then fitted a new inner cable to the front derailleur on the MTB as the old one was shabby and frayed after the strip down and reassembly.

 

[geocycle]

Replaced 50/34 Shimano 105 chain set with spa sub compact 44/28. Had to change BB to a square taper as well. Took it out for a test ride and all seems good. I wanted a very low gear for the 20% hills around here and a smaller big ring so I can use it on the undulating roads without constantly changing from big to small.

 

[CXRAndy]

Replaced 50/34 Shimano 105 chain set with spa sub compact 44/28. Had to change BB to a square taper as well. Took it out for a test ride and all seems good. I wanted a very low gear for the 20% hills around here and a smaller big ring so I can use it on the undulating roads without constantly changing from big to small.

I had that setup and while it was perfect for super steep hills, the 44t just wasnt quite enough for flat or descent.

I end up with a triple of 48/36/26 on XTR Di2 derailleur

 

[geocycle]

I had that setup and while it was perfect for super steep hills, the 44t just wasnt quite enough for flat or descent.

I end up with a triple of 48/36/26 on XTR Di2 derailleur

Yes time will tell, whether I have left enough at the top end. A triple would certainly be another option.

 

[Zanelad]

Fitted a rack to my ebike. Now i can take stuff to the office any day, rather than only when I use the car. I'm beginning to feel like a proper commuter.

Got a helmet too. Having reached my early sixties without feeling the need, Mrs Z has been quietly applying pressure for me to get one. Saw a cracking looking one in the shop, really caught my eye. Then I spotted the price tag. £239. I opted for a slightly cheaper one.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Fitted the Aldi bike winch, supposed to have to save me lifting the bike above my head, we'll see,

 

[Deleted member 1258]

After my pothole clattering episode yesterdy I gave the bike a check over this afternoon, checked the wheel and it was still true, checked the rim, no dings in it, no damaged spokes either. Checked the tube I took out and it had got the classic snakebite puncture thats difficult to impossible to repair so it went in the bin. The pump that didn't work by the roadside was dismantled and checked and found that the seals were Ok, I smeared some grease round the insides and it is now working again.

 

[rugby bloke]

Checked the tyres ahead of the morning commute and found the front tyre had fully deflated after night after yesterday's ride. The sealant seems to have mysteriously disappeared as well. A close inspection of the tyre found no visible damage so have topped up the sealant and reinflated. The tyre has held pressure for the last 2 hours, so fingers crossed. Still getting used to the brave new world of tubeless, this is my first problem after almost 1500 miles so I's still impressed with them.