What Have You Fettled Today?

[DCBassman]

To be honest, I'm regretting the reversion to drops, because the brifters are a travesty compared to flat-bar EZ-Fires. Time to swap back, and thank feck for also getting away from bar tape. Another nuisance I can do without.
7.94 miles, avg 8.8 mph, 774ft gain.
Let the conversion begin! Again!

Got the Trek out of storage to pilfer the ST-EF65-9 4-finger EZ-fire brifters. Ordered a set of 2-finger versions to replace them. The 4-finger ones have variable brake capabilities, the 2-finger are for V-Brake only. Will use the flipped original Scott stem to put the flat bar in approximately the same place as the hoods on the drops, as that was a nice reach. Pics later...

 

[ColinJ]

Today, I have mostly been fettling...






... my old PC mouse!

I prefer using a mouse with my laptop. The track pad is ok for occasional use but a mouse is much better for intensive graphical work and I have been playing about with Xara Photo & Graphic Designer recently.

I really liked my old Microsoft mouse but it has died the death. (It looks like somebody immersed it in a vat of strong coffee, though I don't remember any coffee break accidents. Anyway - it is no more; it is an EX-mouse.)

I have a couple of cordless mice but they play up after a while; it is probably a driver issue. I haven't been able to get them to behave themselves so I have put them to one side for now.

I found a cheapo Labtec corded mouse in the drawer of my desk and I have been using that. It isn't as good as the MS mouse was but I can live with it. Well, I could until the point where the scroller wheel started playing up. It felt like my finger was slipping on the rubber wheel. About 3 times out of 4 there would be slippage rather than, er, scrollage. It was starting to do my head in!

Ideally I would have bought a new MS mouse but funds are tight, and I don't like binning things that I can repair so I decided to sort the mouse out.

Close inspection revealed that my finger was NOT slipping on the rubber wheel - it appeared that the rubber wheel itself was slipping inside the mouse. I disassembled it and discovered that the rubber wheel is in fact a doughnut-like ring fitted round an inner plastic wheel on a little shaft. I could feel that the rubber was not gripping the wheel properly. When I removed the ring I could see that it was relying on friction between it and the wheel, but the wheel's outer edge was perfectly smooth so there was little friction between the two. I thought about trying to superglue the two items together but they looked like they might be a bad combination for superglue - I haven't had much success with materials like that. Then it dawned on me that I could create the friction needed by roughing up the edge of the wheel. I took a sharp knife to it and scored a deep crosshatch pattern onto it. I refitted the ring and hey presto - the two stick together nicely.

I just put the mouse back together and it works perfectly. Yay - a few crisp tenners saved*** and another chunk of plastic did not end up getting chucked away!

*** I just looked up how much corded mice cost. You can actually get them for under £10 now, so not a huge saving, but still - waste not, want not!

 

[roley poley]

Fitted a rack and some quick release/safety mudguard clips to the rear, so now I can remove the wheel without unbolting the eyelets just by popping them out the clip. Off to the garden centre for some plants and BOING talk about quick release !!.A folded fag packet fettle of a shim saw me home over the bumps in the road in fact its so good I might leave it there

 

[DaveReading]

Not bike fettling, but I found a new use for one of these:



Just after the lockdown started, with exquisite timing (see what I did there?), my Lorus analogue watch battery died. So a trip to Timpson to have a new battery fitted was no longer an option.

I stuck it out with my cheapo digital watch for a few weeks, then I gave up and ordered a replacement battery on eBay.

Toolkit to replace battery: kitchen knife with a sock wrapped around the blade to lever the back of the watch off, tweezers to extract the battery and insert the new one.

Then of course there's the expected YouTube video showing how to replace the back using a press and the appropriate dies so that you don't crack the glass - none of which I had, of course.

So the poor man's equivalent: put the back on loosely, correctly oriented, and use sellotape to stop it moving. Similarly, tape the spoke key against the backplate with the numbers facing outwards. Put the whole assembly in a vice with a kitchen chopping board to spread the load on the (fortunately flush and flat) glass and carefully tighten until a sudden click indicates that the backplate is seated.

Job done !

 

[carlosfandangus]

Number 11 also fits Presta valves too, handy if you go tubeless

 

[DCBassman]

Well, my fettling, see above, has left me with no serviceable bikes. The Scott fd would not play with the ST-EF65s, so, have to revert to 8-speed, which was the plan originally. All the major bits are fitted, but I've managed to screw up three cables, so while I await those, I am wheel-less...

 

[DSK]

I cleaned the drive train today as I think its picked up a bit of dirt/dust/grit when I've been forced into the gutter over the past few days. I then decided to give the clean bike a wash anyway as you can never have a bike that's too clean,

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

There's been a creak from the BB area of my CGR for a couple of weeks
Nothing apparently loose, no damage to the frame

Yesterday though, I got it on the workstand, took off the chainset (opportunity to dismantle, & clean the inner ring - where it's behind the spider)
Experimentally, I put the spanner on the bearing cups, & gave them a tap with the rubber mallet

The drive-side moved about 3/4 turn (to tighten), the non-drive about 1/4 turn (to tighten)

I didn't get chance to try it, to see if it made a difference, & maybe not today neither
I'll go to work on it tomorrow & report back

 

[DCBassman]

Today's fettle, part the first:
The Scott now has brakes. No gears, but it will stop...

 

[carlosfandangus]

Today's fettle, part the first:
The Scott now has brakes. No gears, but it will stop...

Half way there
Anyhow, after last weeks crash, my RH shifter had moved somewhat, I moved it back straight away, still well attached, however I went out for a ride yesterday and the stem appeared to be slightly out too, I couldn't make a perceivable adjustment by eye alone (i tried) so it was out with the 6 foot level as a straight edge to line both wheels up and a smaller level across the seat and stem, slightly out so adjusted straight, we will see how we get on

 

[DCBassman]

Today's fettle, part the second:
Now have a working road bike with 3x8 speeds. 'Twas a fight, put the hanger extender back on, front mech fought and fought and kept throwing the chain right past the big ring. Daaah. Think I might ask for a rematch to get it to 9 once I've finished recabling the Trek.
Absolutely cream-crackered after nearly two full days of it...
Edit: also changed back to the 1.5" City Jets on the Trek.

 

[SGG on a bike]

Replaced the front brakes on my old GT Outpost. It has Shimano Altus Cantilever brakes and had suffered the broken plastic cap syndrome. Went like for like purely for convenience, but seems to haul up better with the slightly later "updated" version of same with the black plastic cap. Waiting for some new tyres to arrive now, as I discovered a slight bulge in the sidewall of the existing front while sorting the brakes. Putting on a pair of City Jets, so I guess that will make it a hybrid

 

[Gunk]

With a lot of WD40, wire wool, a few rags and some elbow grease, today I turned a shabby Dawes which was going to be thrown away, into a nice little bike!

 

[palinurus]

Someone gave me an old Peugeot (Carbolite, 10-speed, cottered cranks) so I took off the mudguards and cleaned it up. It looked pretty tatty to start with but there was so much dried-up oil over everything that a good wipe showed the shiny stuff underneath. The steel bits (bars, cranks, pedals, rims) are a bit rusty.

God knows why I cleaned it up, frame's a 58. Sort of satisfying I suppose. It's not so large I can't ride it- I'll take it around the block shortly.

Same person is also giving me a Moulton (not sure what kind exactly, one with a shopping bag on the back- not a sporty one). Will pick it up tomorrow. No idea what condition.

 

[palinurus]

It's not so large I can't ride it- I'll take it around the block shortly.

It goes and it stops, although it is considerably better in the going department. I haven't done anything to the brakes yet except for twiddling the adjuster a bit.