What Have You Fettled Today?

[Punkawallah]

I checked my Devon bike yesterday, before the first ride of my current holiday. There were no serious problems with it. I just topped up the tyre pressures, cleaned and lubed the chain, and adjusted the disc brakes.

I do still have one minor niggle with the bike... I used to wear a backpack when riding this bike but have now fitted a saddlebag to hold my phone, spares and most tools. The bike pump doesn't fit in that though so I have mounted it on a holder bolted beneath the rear bottle cage. The problem is that it is ever so slightly too far out from the seat tube. My left calf was brushing against the pump every now and then, which irritated me. I think that moving the pump in a few mm would put a stop to that. It looks like 5-7 mm improvement would be possible by drilling new mounting holes in the holder. I will try to sort that out later***.




*** If the bracket mod doesn't work, I might move the pump to under the top tube and use velcro straps/cable ties/rubber bands/(whatever) to hold it there.

Have you considered mounting the pump on the seat tube?

 

[ColinJ]

Have you considered mounting the pump on the seat tube?

Without the bracket which IS on the seat tube?!

 

[Punkawallah]

Without the bracket which IS on the seat tube?!

Sorry, meant to type ‘seat stay’.

 

[8mph]

Thought I'd quickly mount this rack

I ended up having to use washers from some old V - brake pads in order to have access to the QR lever.

I can't help wonder how the bike would look with drop bars, I have the necessary parts in store.

 

[Andy in Germany]

I can't help wonder how the bike would look with drop bars, I have the necessary parts in store.

And so it begins...

 

[Andy in Germany]

I finished off the touring bike I'd worked on. There was something wrong with the Magura rim brakes and I never figured out what, so I swapped them for V Brakes instead. I found some fairly high-end parts and made the cable as short as I could, and to my surprise managed to get a good braking point even on the back brake.

In the middle of this, a lady returned a 26" wheeled girl's bike we'd sold, complaining that the BB had 'broken'. It turned out to be an unsealed BB that had unscrewed itself. I tightened everything up, and also fixed the broken mudguard (what do people do with bikes?). Thing is, the lady riding the bike was shorter than me at about 150cm and, well, rather wider, and the bike is designed for a ten to twelve-year-old girl, so I suspect it will happen again.

 

[8mph]

And so it begins...

I think the wheels could stay now that half the luggage can be loaded up front. I have some 105 levers which I think can run as either 2 x 8 or 3 x 8 and these bars

It would mean swapping out the 9 speed 32t cassette for a new 8 speed cassette, of which I have a couple.

Look faster already

 

[ColinJ]

Have you considered mounting the pump on the seat tube?

I found a drill in my sister's garden shed. I used that to drill new mounting holes in the pump holder so the pump now sits about 7 mm closer to the seat tube.

I went out on a 40 km ride after that and my leg didn't touch the pump even once - job done!

 

[PedallingNowhereSlowly]

The CGR Ti got a quick wash, the chain swapped out for a fresh one (currently rotating them every 200-250km) and the chainset/cassette scrubbed.

Also dropped the wheels out and spayed some brake cleaner onto the rotors and pads. The instructions said to spray on and leave it to dry, which I felt a bit weird. Finish Line Brake Cleaner. Wondering if this is any different to automotive brake cleaner, which would be much cheaper.

 

[EckyH]

Build a new clamping bracket for the 105 rear derailleur.
Original:

New bracket:

The idea is to route the cable on the outside, but the original 105 clamping bracket doesn't allow that.
One source for that idea: https://www.cxmagazine.com/shimano-campagnolo-ergopower-compatibility

E.

 

[Punkawallah]

The CGR Ti got a quick wash, the chain swapped out for a fresh one (currently rotating them every 200-250km) and the chainset/cassette scrubbed.

Also dropped the wheels out and spayed some brake cleaner onto the rotors and pads. The instructions said to spray on and leave it to dry, which I felt a bit weird. Finish Line Brake Cleaner. Wondering if this is any different to automotive brake cleaner, which would be much cheaper.

Followed similar instructions when cleaning a rotor at the shop, hoping to cure a squeal. Didn’t work, had to clean them off with tap water and towelling to cure it.

 

[ColinJ]

I hit a ridiculously huge pothole hidden in a flooded Devon lane on Friday and got an instant front wheel puncture. That is 2 years on the trot that I have made the mistake of thinking that riding slowly through a brown swamp makes it safe. Not when the holes are 15 cm deep and have sharp edges!

View attachment 731529

I flagged down all the drivers approaching while I was putting my spare tube in. Some diverted when I told them how deep the holes on both sides of the road were. Others thanked me and drove through very slowly. Even so, the vehicles were juddering and clunking. One local said that he witnessed another driver try to go through at full speed that morning and wreck a front wheel! Apparently, the road has been like that for weeks due to a blocked drain.

A young female cyclist came along and I warned her that there was only a very narrow strip of tarmac in the centre of the road, with big holes either side. She aimed for the middle but did exactly what I'd done - slipped off into the depths, came to a dead stop, and toppled sideways. At least she didn't get a flat tyre and she wasn't hurt.

Update:

I was riding around those lanes again today. I avoided the flooded bit shown in my OP but noticed that there are now ROAD CLOSED signs on all the approaches to it.

Update to the update...

I just noticed that the Street View car went down that lane shortly after the road closure, ignoring the closure signs [LINK]. That gives us a really good view of just how big and sharp-edged those potholes (caverns!) were, though not showing how deep they were...

The road is open again now and I rode down there on Tuesday. The repair is the full width of the road and 4 or 5 metres in length!

The repair crew have done repairs to several massive potholed stretches in the surrounding lanes, but missed others.

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

Installed a set of $900 bars on a customer’s bike. Its a decidedly custom build for someone who just loves his bike.

 

[Punkawallah]

Is it a Trek?

 

[si_c]

Swapped out the stem on the Kinesis, I don't ride anywhere near so often as I used to and I'm not as flexible these days so a 120mm stem on a 63cm frame was stretching me out a bit, got a 110 and swapped it in to see how it goes, will run it for a few hundred km to see if it's any better.