What Have You Fettled Today?

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Punkawallah

Über Member
Saddle clamps recovered from the white vinegar, sludge wiped off, cleaned, given a brush with 3-in-1 and fitted. Saddle rails de-rusted with fine wire wool and 3-in-1, saddle surface and underside cleaned with proprietary kitchen degreaser, saddle fitted.
Front derailleur cleaned with said degreaser, rust removed with wire wool, scrubbed with 3-in-1,, polished with paper towel and fitted. New nut required for chain guide.

Gear cables fitted, with new length of gear outer for the rear derailleur. Brake levers fitted, new brake cable outers cut to size.
Finally on to wheels - it seemed like a wheel day. Cleaning showed a Suntour Perfect 14 - 24t freewheel. Plus Gas + effort broke it loose from the hub, without damaging the freewheel tool. Hurrah! Tyres cracking, but held together while removing to remove broken spoke. Fabric rim tape not so obliging. A dip into the Pit of Despair provides a replacement that needs to be shortened - FLBS on Saturday to use the communal spoke threader.
 

Gunk

Guru
Location
Oxford
Worked on a string of crappy BSO’s today and then a couple of Dawes 501 framed beauties were donated. I’ll start on this one next week.

IMG_4402.jpeg
 
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Chris S

Legendary Member
Location
Birmingham
I had to replace a rear brake cable today but the calipers wouldn't centre. I then noticed that the rear wheel was flopping about so I had to remove it and tighten the cone. The wheel nut was partially stripped so I had to find another one and replace it as well. What should have been a 10 minute job took me over an hour.
 

Gunk

Guru
Location
Oxford
I had to replace a rear brake cable today but the calipers wouldn't centre. I then noticed that the rear wheel was flopping about so I had to remove it and tighten the cone. The wheel nut was partially stripped so I had to find another one and replace it as well. What should have been a 10 minute job took me over an hour.

We have a running joke at work, “this won’t need much” means it will end up taking all day.
 

raleighnut

Legendary Member
Despite new pads and toe-ing in the canti pads on the CX bike, I'm still getting some unwanted fork judder. I can't fit a brake hanger on the forks, as there are no holes, so the hanger is on the steerer. This is an issue with canti's, so I've been to Decathlon and changed the 'shimano' straddle wire to a Tektro one with a more substantial 'bridge'. There is a lot less flex, so we will see if this fixes it.

Try putting some 'Coppaslip' on the pivot pins, it has eliminated judder on both V brakes and Canti's on my bikes
 

Witzend

Well-Known Member
I also replaced the 531 stickers on my Carlton, the frame transfer had been ruined with a pump and the fork decals were incorrect, these replacements were painfully expensive, but are correct for the 1979 model year.

Did you go direct to Reynolds? I got a 931 decal for a £5-50 (not sure if the sparkly ones are more expensive), with every extra decal £2.
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Gunk

Guru
Location
Oxford
Did you go direct to Reynolds? I got a 931 decal for a £5-50 (not sure if the sparkly ones are more expensive), with every extra decal £2.
View attachment 746172

Didn’t even consider that, mine came from Belgium.
 

scragend

Senior Member
We have a running joke at work, “this won’t need much” means it will end up taking all day.

We have the same, get given a job and told "it won't take you long" invariably means it ends up being a massive faff and a huge pain in the backside. We now say it to each other deliberately ironically.
 
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