How to open pack of Bahco SandFlex hacksaw blades
- Thread starter JackPack
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
Ajax Bay
Guru
- Location
- East Devon
Just buy a little junior hacksaw. But having bought all these blades, i guess the OP needs to use them, to justify £9 purchase. Wear both gloves.
For @matticus Surely the reason the stays are supplied 'long' is so that they can deal with different sizes of tyre (and therefore ideal stay length). Once cut they need to be mummy bear: too long or too short and the rubber thingies wont fit - some tolerance but not much.
For @matticus Surely the reason the stays are supplied 'long' is so that they can deal with different sizes of tyre (and therefore ideal stay length). Once cut they need to be mummy bear: too long or too short and the rubber thingies wont fit - some tolerance but not much.
Considering the fancy ratchet spanner he uses I'm surprised he's gone for the ghetto saw.
Ajax Bay
Guru
- Location
- East Devon
The OP might have been a little more picky about the video they (decided to) rely on.
Cutting those stays with a blade is poor (unsafe) practice.
I offer a few additional points, with which many looking will be all too familiar, offering added value: missing in the video.
1) Clean the attachment areas first. Once fitted the crannies formed are super hard to reach.
2) Clean the threaded braze-in(?) in the chainstay bridge.
3) Use a low profile button head (hex or slotted) not a chunky bolt ((don't) see video). This maximises clearance there.
4) When securing the mudguard bridge onto the seatstay bridge with C21 brake (calipers) the bridge will have to go in between the calipers an the seatstay (ie behind the) bridge.
5) When securing the stays at the drop out braze-ons, I use a washer in between the drop out and the stay eye, as well as between the the stay eye and the bolt.
6) Care needed to choose a bolt length on the rear right drop out to ensure chain is not fouled.
7) Cut the stays to length safely with a junior hacksaw and a gloved hand.
8) When securing the front slotted tab onto the fork crown there can be two connected issues:
a. The top of the tab can interfere with the headset. One can bend it sharply forward: I cut it short: it is secured by friction and two tanges are fine.
b. To get maximum clearance you often have to file (extend) the slot closer to the mudguard. How far 'up' you can get the mudguard is (for caliper brakes) limited by the clearance to the brake caliper arms, when brake levers squeezed and blocks against the rim (iteration often required).
9) For quality 'mud'-stopping good people add a flexible extension to both front and rear guards (fixing methods and aesthetics vary).
10) Disc brakes can cause routing challenges for the left hand stays.
HTH
Cutting those stays with a blade is poor (unsafe) practice.
I offer a few additional points, with which many looking will be all too familiar, offering added value: missing in the video.
1) Clean the attachment areas first. Once fitted the crannies formed are super hard to reach.
2) Clean the threaded braze-in(?) in the chainstay bridge.
3) Use a low profile button head (hex or slotted) not a chunky bolt ((don't) see video). This maximises clearance there.
4) When securing the mudguard bridge onto the seatstay bridge with C21 brake (calipers) the bridge will have to go in between the calipers an the seatstay (ie behind the) bridge.
5) When securing the stays at the drop out braze-ons, I use a washer in between the drop out and the stay eye, as well as between the the stay eye and the bolt.
6) Care needed to choose a bolt length on the rear right drop out to ensure chain is not fouled.
7) Cut the stays to length safely with a junior hacksaw and a gloved hand.
8) When securing the front slotted tab onto the fork crown there can be two connected issues:
a. The top of the tab can interfere with the headset. One can bend it sharply forward: I cut it short: it is secured by friction and two tanges are fine.
b. To get maximum clearance you often have to file (extend) the slot closer to the mudguard. How far 'up' you can get the mudguard is (for caliper brakes) limited by the clearance to the brake caliper arms, when brake levers squeezed and blocks against the rim (iteration often required).
9) For quality 'mud'-stopping good people add a flexible extension to both front and rear guards (fixing methods and aesthetics vary).
10) Disc brakes can cause routing challenges for the left hand stays.
HTH
Last edited:
Yup - such tools are so useful for such a wide variety of tasks; great for doing brake and gear cables / outers too, amongst other things
@Ajax Bay, I did watch other videos and read websites, and they covered a lot of what you mentioned but still helpful, thanks.
@MichaelW2, I'm planning to get fine grade aluminium oxide sandpaper (after seeing if I can cut the stays). Would that be enough to smooth the stays?
@MichaelW2, I'm planning to get fine grade aluminium oxide sandpaper (after seeing if I can cut the stays). Would that be enough to smooth the stays?
I'm pretty sure that you would need a file, the sharp edges of the cut stay are likely to cut through the sand paper and potentially your fingers.
Ajax Bay
Guru
- Location
- East Devon
As OP says, the little rubber cap thingies anchor onto the nuts so in theory no filing required. In practice they get lost and you then have a sharp edge - quick filing is all that's needed. Emery paper would be better than nothing.
Last edited:
Top OCD'ing there - I can endorse most of these from the Longboards I've fitted to a couple of my bikes. In addition I replace all the plated socket cap fixings with stainless button heads, use two different grades of stainless (A2 and A4) for nuts and bolts (at the fork crown and break bridge) and assemble everything with copper grease. Fat washers can be handy at the bridge and fork too.
If the front of the guard sits high at the front wheel, spacing the bracket away from the fork crown with plastic washers can help...