What Have You Fettled Today?

[Gwylan]

The nearside mirror on my bike transporter.

This was achieved with a slice of cardboard carefully trimmed to stop the mirror self adjusting.

The cardboard was carefully selected from a 4 pack of Hoegaarden bier.
200km this still works. Thats a result in my book

If I need spares I have a clear reason for buying more beer.

 

[Andy in Germany]

This:

A surprisingly nice 80's chromoly framed MTB with the unfortunate brand name of "Hooger-Booger".

This was handed to me with a completed checklist, which in theory means it can go on sale. I put it on the stand and quickly realised the front mech shifter was, well, "Boogered"

I took it to bits and doused the lot in WD40 on Wednesday, then today I did the wheel and pedals check and found both pedals and the rear wheel had loose bearings. I've done pedals before but not rear wheels. Some surreptitious looking at YouTube videos later (Thank you ParkTool) I sorted out the wheel, trying to look like I'd done this more times than I could recount.

In the midst of this a Ukrainian refugee of about 14 came with his German host; they were going on a bike ride and had realised the "donated" bike the lad was riding had no working brakes and could we help? They were stranded without a bike so I tightened the brakes so they at least stopped the wheels turning.

They came back later that day so I at least knew the brakes worked...

 

[cyberknight]

Mate bought his bike around for repair after an off that cuased a fair bit of cosmetic damage and a fair amount of road rash for him so i offered to have a look .
new saddle
new bar tape
new hoods
trued the front wheel
replaced the front brake pads as they were worn out
replaced bent rear QR skewer
Noticed the mech hanger was bent and loose so managed to tighten it up and straighten it enough so it worked until he can get a new one

As a thank you he bought me coffee and cake at the cake stop we went to on a test ride and when we got back gave me a couple of jerseys and shorts he had that were too small for him( Italian sizing ) , i rode home with a bag of stuff up my jersy looking like i was about to give birth

 

[Gunk]

To show the difference the new chain & chainring make, here's the before and after shots showing the lack of engagement on the old parts...
View attachment 646026

View attachment 646027

Great work, I love doing a job like that, so satisfying

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Spring clean of frames and moving parts on Posh road bike and tandem. Too much gunk on both, so took ages.

And fitted new brake pads to the tandem in hope of solving the orchestral harmonies it currently plays.

Cantis are an absolute pita to set up.

 

[Zigzak789]

So I had a weekend of doing some bits on the 90s Trek I picked up last week, ordered a few bits such as new cables and housing, brake pads, pedals, grips, and a front derailleur as the old one was in poor condition and the limit screws completely stripped and rusted. All of the parts came to the reasonable sum of £30 (they're nothing special just good enough to get the bike functioning well), so my total outlay is £80.

I managed to quickly rattle through changing the pedals, brake cables and pads ,and grips, all went smoothly which was good, I then had a tea and prepared myself for the changing of the gears/fitting of the front derailleur - after watching numerous videos and reading many tips I've managed to index them fairly well, they are not completely smooth but they work as they should, I have a bit of an obsessive trait when it comes to these things but decided to stop fettling more and take the bike out to try it and it all worked well - a little tweaking left to do but I am no longer hesitant to touch the derailleurs on my bikes!

I really enjoyed riding the bike, i have been using two road bikes with 25mm tyres but this has 2.1 inch Maxxis tyres which are slower but absorb so much more of the road and means I can nip off road every now and then, makes a nice change.

 

[CXRAndy]

This -New handbuilt wheels

 

[CXRAndy]

Today I finally bled my Tripsters hydraulic brakes, upgraded Di2 firmware and dialled in the mechanical adjustments on the system.

I'm running a MTB front Di2 triple chainring but using a road triple chainset-pushing the mechanical limits of the derailleur

Just need to fit new pads as mine squeal ever so, even for me. Hope standard and sintered to see which perform best

 

[DCBassman]

Pre-ride fettle on the Trek. Reset seat post, move saddle back a bit, tweak sticking front V-brake for balance and clearance. All good, so orft we jolly well go!

 

[si_c]

Not bike related, but just finished removing all the external stud walls on my new to me house (this is my first house, one I never thought I'd be able to afford), it was built in the 1950s and doesn't have any insulation in the first floor timber frame. Tomorrow's job is to put PIR insulation boards into the framing and then start plasterboarding walls back up in time for the plasterer to come and skim next week. The photo is of my office space.

This is the first job in a long list of jobs as the house is a bank repossession and is in terrible condition internally and externally, the render on the lower half of the building has flaked off and causes some damp issues, there are holes in all the walls internally where someone has kicked them in and the roof needs work, particularly around the dormer windows where the flashing is in terrible condition. Oh and large parts of the brickwork need repointing. After that I'll start on the garden (front and rear are approaching rainforest), the concrete driveway is cracked and uneven and the external garage needs a lot of work before I can proceed to do what I want which is to turn it into a workshop.

 

[ColinJ]

There is a chain tensioner on my 'singlespeed'*** bike. The tensioner used to be spring-loaded and pull the chain down but I found that it bounced about on rough roads and the chain fell off a few times.

Enough was enough... I took the spring out and reversed the tensioner's direction of operation so it pulled the chain UP instead. Wrapping more of the chain round the sprocket made it much more reliable. I put some washers on the bolt to tighten against. The trouble was that I couldn't get the tensioner tight enough to stay where I put it. Over a ride on rough local roads the shocks from the road surface would cause the weight of the chain acting on the tensioner to gradually pull it down so the chain would loosen and was at risk of coming off again. It was annoying me!

I just took the thing to bits and made a metal shim from an old bean can. I managed to squeeze that shim between the loose parts. I have retightened the tensioner and it feels to be held in place much solidly now. I plan to use the bike on a 100 km ride tomorrow, so let's see if I can do the whole ride without the tensioner coming loose.

*** It used to be a 'pure' singlespeed bike, but now it is actual a dual-singlespeed/double-singlespeed/dinglespeed/twin-speed/2-speed because I can get off and manually change to a lower gear if I absolutely have to. I plan most routes so I DON'T have to but having the option means that I can tackle a wider range of routes in these here hills. I am only prepared to do it a couple of times a ride otherwise I might as well be riding my best bike with its proper gears!

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Patched a slow front wheel puncture that I got yesterday in the rain. Yesterday I pumped up the soft tyre and managed to get back home. Culprit was glass which I’ve got all the bits out of the tyre. Far better fixing in sunshine on patio today than side of road in rain yesterday .

 

[Andy in Germany]

Checked a clients bike prior to putting it out for sale; it was roadworthy so it went out with minimal adjustment after a test ride. Then I checked a cheap folding bike; this one had really cheap V-Brakes which took a bit of fixing but I got there in the end after straightening out the wheel a bit.

At this point I was asked to talk to a customer which turned out to be a lovely Italian lady who had tried to upgrade her drive chain and was having trouble with the gears. It turned out that she'd laid the chain over the small lug on the rear mech cage, which wasn't doing her any favours.

I took another bike from the sale floor to check, and I was very glad I had because the brake blocks were down to the metal. Once replaced and the brakes and gears were set up, I noticed that the dynamo lights were working but the casing was badly damaged. "Oh dear" I said, or words to that effect.

I have a love/hate relationship with dynamo lights, especially this kind where the return is supposed to run through the frame and there's only one wire because of course as soon as I put the new light in it wouldn't work, and now I don't know if it's the bulb, light, wire, fitting or something else. Will have to work on it tomorrow...

 

[cougie uk]

Put new grease in my speeplays and then thought I'd clean up the cleats. Did that and noticed both cleats were loose and on one the connector plate to the shoe was loose too.
I have after market plastic plates on to improve walking so it hides the screws and protects them. Faffier but longer lasting than looks.

 

[ColinJ]

At this point I was asked to talk to a customer which turned out to be a lovely Italian lady who had tried to upgrade her drive chain and was having trouble with the gears. It turned out that she'd laid the chain over the small lug on the rear mech cage, which wasn't doing her any favours.

What a daft mistake!




Okay, okay - yes - I have done that too!