What Have You Fettled Today?

[DCLane]

Yesterday, whilst commuting, I got a slow fairy visit going into Leeds. However, when pumped up using the bike station pump at work the tyre seemed to hold enough air to get me home.

Made it back ... just ....and did a full bike clean plus new Pirelli Cinturato gravel tyre on the rear. The Merida Cyclo-Cross has done just under 400 miles but it looked filthy after three weeks of commuting in mostly bad weather, with quite a lot of that off-road: all clean now, including a full cassette clean.

The saddle on this Merida was also absolutely not fitting me. A look showed I've worn part of the nose off trying to adjust my position. I've had a similar issue with the Charge Spoon saddle that had been put onto the Merida Scultura Zwift bike which was off my old Avanti Circa cross bike simply because whilst it was OK for for commuting it wasn't comfortable for fixed-position Zwift use. So ... Merida Scultura's saddle off, and the 128mm Bontrager Paradigm saddle I frequently use on, with the Charge Spoon going instead onto the Merida Cyclo-Cross. It doesn't match the silver/yellow colour scheme as it's a white saddle, but who cares.

 

[cyberknight]

I think hammering a torx bit of the right size into the worn socket might work.

If you have a replacement bolt, you could saw a slot for a screwdriver in the head? Of there’s always mole grips. Good luck?

The torx bit sorted it its amazing how easy things are when you not tired from work in the 1st place !
Now gone tired as i have had my tea and been up since 4 am , i will fettle more in a bit .
Long term plan is i have a carbon fork in the shed stripped from a defy i found left out for the scrap man during lock down ( cracked seat tube ) the owner let me strip for bits that should fit the frame , take the guards off and hunt for a better set of wheels , handle bars are a bit wide but usable.

 

[cyberknight]

Front mech sorted,took the mudguard off for another bike ,got the rear gears indexed as best I can , larger front chainring,replaced the stem .

 

[Kevberlin]

Treated my Raleigh Gemini to a wider cassette 12/28 to 12/32 and a new Shimano 7 speed chain.
Also added Ergo gp5 grips to my flat bars.……..so very comfortable and much improved climbing position.

 

[Punkawallah]

Hoorah!

 

[GeekDadZoid]

I picked up some of the £10 Marathon GT365 tyres from Ribble and as discussed on the bargain thread they send 38mm instead of 35mm

I thought I would give it a try fitting them today as I would like them on for the gravel ride I have planned over Christmas.

Well I've got them on and made enough clearance but faffing with the mudguards. Took the opportunity to swap the brake pads out too as they where due.

Only managed a 100m ride so far, they are agricultural, but should be fine for the commute.

 

[ColinJ]

WHAT A LOAD OF OLD BLOCKS!!!

I took a look at the front brake on my '6-er' today and discovered that there wasn't much left of its brake blocks. The recent wet, gritty rides have really chomped away at them. I destroyed a front wheel once by trying to scrape another few rides out of worn blocks and running out of rubber half way down a steep descent... I don't intend to make that expensive mistake again!

New blocks fitted. (Better aligned than the original blocks!)

New vs old in this picture:

 

[Fredo76]

Took apart the Stronglight headset on Blue Bella. Found 24 ball bearings in the top race, but only 7 in the bottom race. No wonder it felt rough.

Tools coming to get the cups out and crown race off. Hoping this headset will fit:

https://www.rivbike.com/products/headset-tange-ird-needl-blastr-roller-drive

 

[Gwylan]

Feel a bit pathetic amongst all this big time fettling.

Gave Hercules 2 a TLC wash. Well more a bath.
Warm water with gentle degreaser and a soft brush for the awkward bits.
Left to dry in the bit of sun we had.

He was very mucky.
That was the result of taking the short cut across the field to Aldi.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Last couple of weeks, very annoying creak from the saddle, but of course never got round to looking at it 'cos on arriving cold and wet, "get in and get warm" rather than "fettle saddle" is the first thing on my mind.

Anyway, milder and nearly dry ride in, remembered to look at the saddle, and one of the two bolts was totally loose, so good job i remembered.

 

[DCLane]

Today's ride to Holmfirth saw me on muddy canal paths and flooded greenways, along with road riding. The mud and floods didn't go down well with the Viner Mitus on slick tyres. It's now cleaned.

I've also started work on the vintage Carlton I picked up last month, starting stripping it down. There's a front brake still needed but it'll be the first of two framesets to go for a paint strip and re-spray early in the New Year. Dismantling may take some time though as quite a lot is a little stiff.

Finally, I swapped the rear studded tyre that was on an old wheel for a Bontrager X-Lite one to match the front. That needed a 7-speed cassette to replace the 10-speed that's been on there for years (son no. 2's winter commuter wheel plus my snow wheel on the old Avanti) so was stuck / filthy / rusty. All off and cleaned with the new cassette making it all a lot smoother. That's the Raleigh Pioneer all set up as a winter snow bike.

 

[EckyH]

The big wheels were unattended for just two days...

Seriously: built a new wheel set for the commuter. The small wheel is the rear wheel of the Brompton which had to be newly build up, because it came with aluminum nipples and the previous owner stored it in a damp room. The niples corroded so much that trueing the wheel was nearly impossible. Unfortunately I recognised that too late so that I had to replace all spokes - just to be safe. And I used brass nipples.

E.

 

[biggs682]

Today's fettling has been based in the kitchen making our Christmas cake.

 

[cyberknight]

mini pump not working , feels like suction either way but no air coming out so i stripped it and found water on the cylinder plunger head so i have left it dismantled in the hope everything will dry out and work again.

 

[Gillstay]

mini pump not working , feels like suction either way but no air coming out so i stripped it and found water on the cylinder plunger head so i have left it dismantled in the hope everything will dry out and work again.

Yep, I put a small smear of rubber grease in mind to try and avoid that problem and on the track pump to avoid the spring rusting away.