What Have You Fettled Today?

[TigerT]

Finally got around to re wrapping my Bar tape. It was badly done from new and has been annoying me pretty much every time I ride.

All nice and neat now.

 

[gbb]

Just went to bed last night at around 22.15, our son came in with my ebike he's borrowing...punctured. ...back wheel..
He's useless at that kind of stuff and tbh I'd sooner do it myself so luckily I managed to locate the puncture without removing the wheel, around 15 minutes later, done and still up this morning. How often do you fix a puncture in your dressing gown.

 

[JhnBssll]

Checked tyres, both had dropped to nothing again. New Gorilla tape ordered, I'll de-mount them and clean the rims down and start again I think. What a faff

 

[Gravity Aided]

I am going over my Italian Bicycle I got last week, and touching up all the dings with nail polish, I got a bag at the GoodWill (second hand store chain in the U.S.) which netted me a large Ziploc ($3.50) full of open nail polish bottles, although I found one was an exact match without mixing.

 

[Justinitus]

I am going over my Italian Bicycle I got last week, and touching up all the dings with nail polish, I got a bag at the GoodWill (second hand store chain in the U.S.) which netted me a large Ziploc ($3.50) full of open nail polish bottles, although I found one was an exact match without mixing.

There’s an idea - nail polish! Never thought of that for touching up dings! Cheers

 

[Salty seadog]

Checked tyres, both had dropped to nothing again. New Gorilla tape ordered, I'll de-mount them and clean the rims down and start again I think. What a faff

After reading this saga I'm glad I run with tubes....

 

[NorthernDave]

Out for tea tomorrow, so prepped the Giant 'winter' bike for Saturday and it's first ride since July.

Most unlike me, but I cleaned it before putting it away last time including the drivetrain which I just gave a light coat of GT85, so cleaned that off and relubed with C3 ceramic wet lube, fitted the lights & saddle bag and pumped up the tyres. Looking forward to getting out on it now.

 

[ColinJ]

I did a 100 km test ride yesterday and that creaking/clicking noise has gone - yay!

Unfortunately, now an irritating squeaking noise between my pedals, shoes and cleats is much more obvious without those annoying transmission noises to distract me! I'll try cleaning and lubing the pedals next. I might also try increasing release tension to see if that helps - I normally set it to minimum to make sure that I can unclip in a hurry if I need to, but I would probably be ok with it a bit higher.

I've now fixed that problem too. I looked at the pedals and could see places where the metal was getting worn away by the tread on the soles of my cycling shoes. I reasoned that this was the source of the noises and decided to give the shoes a bit of help. Rather than waiting for the shoes to wear enough metal away to reduce friction to the point where the noises stopped, I took a file to the pedals and filed a thin layer of metal off both sides of both pedals in the critical positions. Result ... no more squeaking!

 

[pjd57]

Cobbled together a back light fitting from an assortment of bits from a box in the shed.

I was supposed to be tidying the shed at the time..

 

[JhnBssll]

After reading this saga I'm glad I run with tubes....

Yeah, I'm kinda glad I kept the tubes in the event I give up and want to refit them

I took the tires off again today as the roll of gorilla tape I ordered arrived yesterday. They'd actually held a little pressure this time Anyway I removed the original specialized 2bliss rim tape, cleaned it all up and went round each rim twice with gorilla tape. Then pierced a small hole so the valve stem was a press fit through the tape, dipped the valve stem o-rings in sealant and re-fitted them. There was still lots of liquid sealant in both tyres so I just popped them back on and reinflated. They both popped on to the head and sealed first time and have held pressure for an hour or so. I'll check again tomorrow but it's looking promising this time

I did notice some damage to the original rim tape around the valve stem holes of both wheels, I suspect it was leaking here. Both rims were wet with sealant under the original tape, which i presume they shouldn't be

The sealant does seem to have turned blue but a quick Google search suggests that's normal

 

[C R]

New brake pads in, some readjustment of the shifting, but still a bit hesitant at times, I am going to have yo check the hanger alignment.

 

[PeteXXX]

I need a new headset for my Trek Fuel EX9. Ordered one, by make, year and model, though discussions with Rutland Cycles, but the one sourced by them and delivered isn't the right one. No-ones fault, really, it just doesn't fit. Specs change.

I only found out the problem once the forks had been removed, and the headset had been dismantled....

I'm off the their local store, Pitsford, for a chat later today.

Such is life.

 

[Chris S]

I swapped my brake cables over so that the left-hand lever operates the front brake and the right hand operates the rear. It looks much cleaner, there isn't a tangled mess of cables on the front of the bike now.

 

[JhnBssll]

I swapped my brake cables over so that the left-hand lever operates the front brake and the right hand operates the rear. It looks much cleaner, there isn't a tangled mess of cables on the front of the bike now.

One of my friends has his bikes set up like this, I'm helping him swap the hydraulic hoses and re-wrap the bars on a cross bike he's bought on eBay this week. He's always had them this way around for reasons I can't remember but he says another advantage of it is watching thieves go over the handlebars if they try to steal it

 

[PeteXXX]

Following on from t’other days fettling. Any excuse for a ride, I dropped the incorrect headset into Rutland Cycling at Pitsford and had a chat wit the good folk there.
The mechanics are going to phone me tomorrow with suggestions on the sizes I’ve found on the upper and lower cups.
Watch this space....