What Have You Fettled Today?

[Reynard]

Fitted a set of single-sided SPD pedals to the Chartres - easy task with the right tool. Bought a lovely pedal spanner / crank extractor tool in the LBS. Also raised the saddle another 10mm.

Went for a test ride. Cockpit is now 95% where I need it to be, and still need to tweak cleat tension a bit. Rear gears now shift silky smooth across the whole cassette after re-tensioning the cable. No sign of any random shifting or a skippy chain. Well chuffed.

 

[raleighnut]

Fitted a set of single-sided SPD pedals to the Chartres - easy task with the right tool. Bought a lovely pedal spanner / crank extractor tool in the LBS. Also raised the saddle another 10mm.

Went for a test ride. Cockpit is now 95% where I need it to be, and still need to tweak cleat tension a bit. Rear gears now shift silky smooth across the whole cassette after re-tensioning the cable. No sign of any random shifting or a skippy chain. Well chuffed.

 

[Reynard]

It's just so satisfying when things go right.

 

[raleighnut]

It's just so satisfying when things go right.

 

[LeetleGreyCells]

Yesterday, cleaned up the chains on the kids' bikes before their coaching session. Both chains (and cassettes) really need removing soaking in degreaser, a job for Monday perhaps.

Installed the newly delivered Charge Ladle on my wife's bike. Fingers crossed this one suits her better than the last two.

 

[C R]

The front wheel was rattling a bit when braking, the bearings had somehow loosened, so gave the hub a good clean, fresh grease and readjusted. The rattle seems to have gone. While I had the bike in the stand I also put in new brake blocks in the front and gave the chain a good clean.

 

[Leaway2]

Had a strange grinding on Wednesday. Peddling back seam to stop it for a while. I used the other bike for the rest of the week. Thought it may be the BB which I only fitted recently. It turned out to be the rear wheel, a Fulcrum racing 7, which is not that old. The first thing I noticed was the freehub was loose/wobbly. So off it came. The bearings are pretty shot in the freehub and the ds of the wheel. I bought the Fulcrums as I thought the cartridge bearing would be better than the Shimano cup cones.

The spacer, 2nd left was seized and had to be persuaded off. I'll price the bearings, but may scrap the wheel if they are too expensive.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Last time this happened to me the mech had excess play and needed replacing. I would whip the chain off and check how much lateral movement there is in the assembly by wiggling the bottom of the cage, it should be fairly solid. Pretty technical I know...

I remember a seven speed rear mech many years ago that developed free play in the pivot pins, I found myself with a mech that would change up or change down but wouldn't do both and I had to scrap it.

 

[TigerT]

It’s been a day of chain and cassette cleaning today.

My old Roubaix has been my winter bike and has been totally abused riding through mud and snow. The chain was making a crunching noise so I took the hint and cleaned it. Then I took the wheels off, cleaned the cassette and the braking surfaces, cleaned the brakes and put it all back together. Took it for a 50km Test ride and it’s working really nicely again.

I have a long ride planned for tomorrow so when I got back, I cleaned the chain on my Emonda as well.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Replaced a shabby old plastic water bottle cage on my Raleigh MTB with a bargain alloy frame type one from Chain Reaction. The shabby one has now been fitted to my pub bike, which hasn't got any frame bosses - so I had to be inventive in my use of double sided sticky tape and cable ties. It looks shite, but it works and it hasn't slipped position or fallen off yet after 13 miles riding today. A quality bodge I reckon.

 

[Reynard]

Replaced a shabby old plastic water bottle cage on my Raleigh MTB with a bargain alloy frame type one from Chain Reaction. The shabby one has now been fitted to my pub bike, which hasn't got any frame bosses - so I had to be inventive in my use of double sided sticky tape and cable ties. It looks shite, but it works and it hasn't slipped position or fallen off yet after 13 miles riding today. A quality bodge I reckon.

You could always fall back on the old engineer's mantra:

If it doesn't move and it should, WD40, if it moves and it shouldn't, duct tape...

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

You could always fall back on the old engineer's mantra:

If it doesn't move and it should, WD40, if it moves and it shouldn't, duct tape...

I'm a big believer in duct tape, but on bikes it's better used for patching up the sort of battered old saddle with the foam coming out of that most cyclists wouldn't be seen dead with. I'm sure the tape has bike thief repellent qualities especially the silver-grey variety when used on a black saddle.
For the water bottle I wrapped double sided round the seatpost as it sticks like you-know-what to a blanket, then used multiple cable ties pulled up nice and tight so they deformed the tape. That way the ties won't slip down the seat tube under the weight of the water, and the bottle cage won't rotate out of position and get in the way of my legs.

 

[Reynard]

I'm a big believer in duct tape, but on bikes it's better used for patching up the sort of battered old saddle with the foam coming out of that most cyclists wouldn't be seen dead with. I'm sure the tape has bike thief repellent qualities especially the silver-grey variety when used on a black saddle.
For the water bottle I wrapped double sided round the seatpost as it sticks like you-know-what to a blanket, then used multiple cable ties pulled up nice and tight so they deformed the tape. That way the ties won't slip down the seat tube under the weight of the water, and the bottle cage won't rotate out of position and get in the way of my legs.

You could've used an old inner tube and a pair of hose clips, you know...

Duct tape is good for fixing racing cars, although it doesn't always go *entirely* to plan... (P.S. Yes, this is one of my photos, and yes, I have the whole sequence of the body shell peeling off the chassis like a banana...)

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

You could've used an old inner tube and a pair of hose clips, you know...

That would have made a better and more elegant job of it, but would have also required a full search of my tool shed to locate some suitable jubilee clips. There was a roll of sticky tape and a packet of cable ties immediately to hand indoors, so laziness/convenience won the day!

 

[Reynard]

That would have made a better and more elegant job of it, but would have also required a full search of my tool shed to locate some suitable jubilee clips. There was a roll of sticky tape and a packet of cable ties immediately to hand indoors, so laziness/convenience won the day!

You mean you don't have a re-purposed bookshelf with all these oddments in old jam jars so that you can see what you've got at a glance?