What Have You Fettled Today?

[Gwylan]

Discovered that kicking the mudguard didn't stop the noise if something rubbing.
Did learn that if I kicked the mudguard whilst in motion that it was the wheel that moved. Ever so slightly.

Erm?

Wheels have a "security key" aimed at stopping Johnny Scroat thinking he can have my wheels away
Just have to find the magic key for the relevant nut and tighten things up. Or carry on doing the kick in motion. A demanding and subtle adjustment

 

[Deleted member 1258]

More work on the HB. Converted to riser bars last week, today I swapped the 28c tyres for 25c, swapped the single sided SPDs for platform/SPD combo and added mudguards and carrier. Jury's out on the saddle - may need something a bit wider at the rear.

View attachment 651606

That looks nice.

 

[bikingdad90]

@Gwylan afraid it isn’t. The little turner on the door lock went from flush to out by 5mm every time you locked the door. Was and still is driving me crazy!! It works though with no binding so will leave it.

 

[biggs682]

My fettling this week so far has been swapping seat posts about , changing saddles , dropping forks out checking for frame numbers oh and swapping pedals .

@iandg i like the HB

 

[Andy in Germany]

Currently sorting a shedload of spokes as part of The Great Workshop Clearout.

 

[ColinJ]

I got caught out in a shower today. I was descending a 5% hill at a reasonably quick rate and went to brake before a t-junction ahead which I needed to stop at. I discovered that I only had about 1/3 of my usual wet-weather brake power!

Not a problem in this case, but something that definitely needed sorting out ASAP. I go a lot faster than that, down hills a lot steeper than that, so I need reliable brakes!

When I got home I soaked an old kitchen scouring pad in citric degreaser and scrubbed the braking surfaces of both wheel rims. Sure enough, they were pretty greasy so a lot of black stuff came off. I then hosed the degreaser off.

The brakes work properly again now!

 

[Andy in Germany]

First thing on arriving at work today: put my bike on the stand and swapped the wheel cassette and chain.

Finally the gears no longer sound like a bag of gravel.

 

[fossyant]

Not much. Gave this old thing an AutoGlym Super Resin polish and a bit of chain oil.

Never allowed to be dirty after a ride (washed), but needed a polish and a good check of the 32 year old chrome. All shiney.

Out today on it, and next three days.

 

[HLaB]

I fitted a new chain to gravel bike a few weeks ago but the twice I have ridden it it's not felt right so a new cassette was fitted today. Surprisingly the Thruaxle and the old cassette which has been on there a year came of quite smoothly and it was a quick clean job. Except I forgot to get grease for the new lockring so it just got wet lube in there just now

 

[ColinJ]

This is not so much 'fettling', as changing the way I do things...

I use my singlespeed bike to go to the local shops. No rack on it, so I carry my shopping in a rucksack. I also carry a huge great D-lock. I didn't trust the flimsy and rattly frame mount for the lock so I normally carry the lock in the rucksack too. Three problems with that...

1. The lock is very heavy so a heavy bag of shopping becomes even heavier.
2. The lock tends to squash delicate shopping like bananas!
3. It occurred to me today that if I crashed the bike on the way to the shops and landed on my back, having a D-lock shoved into my spine probably wouldn't be great!

I thought it was time to think up a better solution. After a bit of experimenting I came up with this. I'm very pleased - I just have to carry a bungee cord to secure the lock. The lock is held very securely, does not rattle, doesn't get in the way, and is very quick to fix in place or remove from the bike.

PS Yes - I have non-matching bottle cages! I was hard up when I built the bike and used whatever I had lying around. I will probably buy another silver one.

I got caught out in a shower today. I was descending a 5% hill at a reasonably quick rate and went to brake before a t-junction ahead which I needed to stop at. I discovered that I only had about 1/3 of my usual wet-weather brake power!

Not a problem in this case, but something that definitely needed sorting out ASAP. I go a lot faster than that, down hills a lot steeper than that, so I need reliable brakes!

When I got home I soaked an old kitchen scouring pad in citric degreaser and scrubbed the braking surfaces of both wheel rims. Sure enough, they were pretty greasy so a lot of black stuff came off. I then hosed the degreaser off.

The brakes work properly again now!

I did the same for my best bike today. It was a while since I had cleaned the rims and they were looking a bit grubby too.

 

[ColinJ]

After looking at the photo, I realised that the bottom of the lock was rubbing on the down tube so I moved it up a few cms to the top of the silver cage. Perfect!

 

[ColinJ]

After looking at the photo, I realised that the bottom of the lock was rubbing on the down tube so I moved it up a few cms to the top of the silver cage. Perfect!

Unless descending quickly on Todmorden's rough roads that is... Or, worse still, whizzing along cobbled Water Street!

Yes, my test shopping trip DID still manage to cause a few lock rattles. I decided that I would have a look for some pipe lagging when I got home and use that to wrap the lock's shackle. I walked into my kitchen with the bike and there was a suitable piece of lagging right in front of me!

I thought to myself that I must go out for another test ride some time...

That turned out to be 1 minute later when I realised that I was no longer in possession of the debit card that I had used at Lidl!!!

I sprinted back there on the now much quieter bike. No card. I went everywhere else that I had just been. No sign of it. I've just been online to cancel it and there have been no dodgy withdrawals. Bloody annoying though - this was the first time that I carried the card by itself in the (zipped) pocket of my shorts. Normally it would be in my wallet, but that is a bit big for a tight pocket. I'll go back to carrying the wallet in a zipped pocket on my rucksack! Now I will have to see if I can persuade the Halifax to give me some cash to tide me over until the replacement card comes.

I'll probably find the card somewhere stupid in 5 minutes time. Down one of my socks, in the fridge or some other equally unlikely place...

 

[Andy in Germany]

Finally defeated a touring bike today. It was being thoroughly awkward and the brakes in particular seemed to either drag or be really sloppy. After all that I took it out for a test ride and realised the chain was even more worn than I thought and had done its worst on the cassette so I changed those too; this seems to be a common job so I'll get a couple of extra cassettes and chains when I next make an order.

 

[Andy in Germany]

This morning was a nice Dutch bike that is now fixed apart from something funky happening in the Sachs hub gears at the back end; that's waiting until I can figure out hope to solve the problem.

After that I sorted out a rather nice 24" wheel kid's bike, and was about to put it out for sale when I felt the back wheel wobble as it touched the floor.
Note to self, follow the checklist and check wheels before sorting the gears out.
Wheel now tightened, bike ready for sale. It'll be priced at 175 € as a new one is about 350 €...
WHile in the sales room I noticed another bike has dodgy tyres so that will have to come into the workshop later.

 

[DCLane]

Son no. 2's Carlton Corsa fixie conversion is looking a bit worse for wear. Not sure why but it's had a bit of use. The orange tyres are cracked and the paint's got quite a few chips.

So, we've got a pair of new 25mm orange WTB tyres and fitted those since the pair of orange 25mm Tannus Aether tyres I picked up for £10 collected just wouldn't go on the rim.

I've dismantled the frame and will put the half-link chain into the parts washer before re-fitting it. The frame's been masked and will get a paint tidy up and laquer before being put back together. The orange cranks and pedals have some chips so they'll be touched up with orange Humbrol.

Paint being done today/tomorrow with laquer over the next few days. Then re-assembly and it should be OK for him using at university. The idea is that a bike which looks distinctive is less likely to be stolen and easier to find if it is. Solid tyres would have helped with maintenance but since they wouldn't fit we've had to run with standard clinchers and tubes.