What Have You Fettled Today?

[PedallingNowhereSlowly]

Gave the Thule Chariot trailer I bought via fleabay for the princessly sum of £75 a good look over.
The wheel bearings on both sides are well past their best. On the near side, they were absolutely shot.

I've pulled a set of them - the inner bearing sits in a plastic carrier, and with that out of the way, I could drift the outer one out using a socket.
New cartridge bearings have been ordered.

The original Kenda tyres are very cracked up and one is refusing to hold air. New tyres and tubes also ordered.

Going to give the trailer a good clean up today.

 

[DCLane]

New Vittoria Rubino III tyres onto the spare winter Fulcrum 5 wheels I have as spares, plus a clean-up of the very filthy cassette. The tyres have been sat in the parts shed for a while so I hope they're OK.

I've been continuing on with the Carlton Franco-Italia today, trying to deal with niggling issues. The forks are now better seated but I'm still struggling with the 70 year-old Benelux rear derailleur. That'll take a bit more fettling on another day. Oh, and a photo (forgot that bit!):

From this last November:

To this:

 

[Rusty Nails]

Trying to fix a neighbour's front disk brake (tektro). Just gave up on him when going downhill. No gradual loss of pressure, in fact no feeling of pressure at all...just nothing. Plenty of fluid in there so I've got some puzzling to do.

 

[Gunk]

Pulled the front brake off my Carlton in readiness for the replacement, my pound shop clamps came in handy

 

[Witzend]

This needs a bit of a fine tune as its catching the brakes.

View attachment 747733

If it had been a disc brake you could have left it on...

Spent a very productive hour or so sorting out the indexing on two bikes I use off-road. Both have had interactions with fallen branches, with one resulting in a mangled derailleur cage - subsequently straightened and both back to acceptable shifting, but not quite good enough.

Reading numerous advice to others on here that twisted/bent hangers are a major, but overlooked cause, I invested in a mid-range hanger-alignment tool and was amazed at how much both bikes were out (on both axes). After the inevitable subsequent need for re-adjustment, they now appear to be as they should, at least on the stand - next ride will confirm.

Edit - I can confirm that it has made all of the difference. Just a bit of on-bike tensioning to get up onto the lower gears was needed to fine-tune.

 

[All uphill]

If it had been a disc brake you could have left it on...

Spent a very productive hour or so sorting out the indexing on two bikes I use off-road. Both have had interactions with fallen branches, with one resulting in a mangled derailleur cage - subsequently straightened and both back to acceptable shifting, but not quite good enough.

Reading numerous advice to others on here that twisted/bent hangers are a major, but overlooked cause, I invested in a mid-range hanger-alignment tool and was amazed at how much both bikes were out (on both axes). After the inevitable subsequent need for re-adjustment, they now appear to be as they should, at least on the stand - next ride will confirm.

I dithered about buying a hanger alignment tool, thinking it wouldn't get used.

Five years later I'm still surprised to find how often it comes in useful, and what a difference it makes to gearchanges

 

[DCLane]

Final job for today was to glue the tubular tyre onto son no. 2's hillclimb bike front wheel after a couple of broken spokes. It's a very lightweight wheel (650g with 19mm tyre), but very fragile.

 

[Gwylan]

Trying to fix a neighbour's front disk brake (tektro). Just gave up on him when going downhill. No gradual loss of pressure, in fact no feeling of pressure at all...just nothing. Plenty of fluid in there so I've got some puzzling to do.

That's interesting. Just had something similar around Cap Blanc Nez. Rapid loss of braking capacity tended to focus the mind.

Could be both sets of pads are shot.

The alleged Shimano equivalent, supplied by Halfords, are too big.
So cleaned the rotor and the pads. Bled the system, put it all back together. The result is an improvement.

 

[Rusty Nails]

That's interesting. Just had something similar around Cap Blanc Nez. Rapid loss of braking capacity tended to focus the mind.

Could be both sets of pads are shot.

The alleged Shimano equivalent, supplied by Halfords, are too big.
So cleaned the rotor and the pads. Bled the system, put it all back together. The result is an improvement.

New pads. I think it might be something to do with the piston on the lever not pushing the fluid. Lever will not move very far when operated then just stops. Will not have time to look at it till later in the week.

 

[PedallingNowhereSlowly]

Cleaned up the Chariot - that took a lot of elbow grease. I don't think it's ever been cleaned before. I think I've just doubled it's resale price.
Removed the bearings from the other wheel. Last bearing took quite a lot of effort to remove - and actually has some embossing on the seals to indicate what type of bearing it is. A bit odd that only one bearing in one wheel seems to have been replaced - and it was the only good one of the lot.

One of the tyres had an un-patched tube in. That will be re-used. The other tube - no less than 18 repair patches. One of them had unsurprisingly failed.

I just need to get the new bearings installed when they arrive and fit the new tyres - ready for a cycling adventure next weekend.

With the Chariot cleaned up, I moved on to the next project. The Islabike CNOC 14. Although it's single speed, it uses an 8 speed chain. First surprise was that the chain was knackered. It's entirely enclosed by the chain protector - at some point water has gotten in and I don't think the chain protector had ever been removed to re-lubricate it. It was dry and rusty and unsurprisingly shown up to be worn by the chain measuring tool. With it being single speed, I don't think a new chain is entirely necessary - could clean it up, lube it and call it good. But, I don't think it is worth cuttin gthe corner.

The chainring and sprocket look to be in really good shape - the gaps between the teeth are not at all elongated and there's no hooking of the teeth at all. Presumably, being a small childs bike, there's not much power being transmitted through the drive train to cause any kind of wear?

I dropped the wheels out. The front hub is clicking, so that will get a strip down and re-lube. Spins well enough though.

The rear was tight. Extremely tight. I slackened it off and it seemed to be just fine. As I'm stripping and re-greasing the front hub, the back will get the same treatment.

Bike cleaned up really nicely. Front brake blocks look new. And so do the rear ones, except for the non-drive side where it's been set-up incorrectly. The rear tyre's knobbles have all been worn away across the centre section. Front seems fine.

So that's a chain, set of brake blocks, rear tyre and just to freshen things up, a new set of handlebar grips and pedals. I'll get those ordered tomorrow and hopefully find time next weekend to put it all back together.

 

[Gunk]

The replacement front caliper arrived this morning so fitted that.

My Brompton red clamp set also arrived, removing the original seat post clamp was an absolute nightmare as the aluminium collar was stuck to the steel shaft, made sure the replacement had plenty of grease.

Not everyones cup of tea, nut I really like them.

 

[Gunk]

Back on the bench stand and new front brake cable fitted, it’s solved the sticking caliper issue.

 

[Punkawallah]

Rear wheel hub serviced, after carving out the bearings from the old grease. Spokes and hub outer cleaned with paper towel and WD40. Spare rubber rim tape replaces torn fabric tape. Rust scrubbed off from skewer with 3-in-1 and wire wool (chrome blown, so it's not coming back} and wheel re-assembled and fitted.

Heigh ho. Ditto front wheel (that was easy) barring a bit more work on the spokes required. Several had rusted, but look fine after a scrubbing with wire wool and 3-in-1 and a wipe with the Oily Rag (tm).
Cables fitted with a drop of oil down the outers for luck, gear outers taped to the bars, wheels trued, tyres inflated and out for a test ride. Seems to work, and more importantly, stop. Bar tape next!

 

[HLaB]

Took some old tubeless 25mm tyres of my winter rims last night and fitted new 28mm tyres. Removing took a few attempts but fitting the new tyre was easy. I left the sealant to today expecting a time consuming job. I was wrong. Peaty's is very easy to pour (the first time I have tried it) and the rear seated first time (the front took two attempts) and they both are holding air ok. Assuming they're still like that after tea, I'll take the carbon rims (summer wheels) off after tea, change the cassette over to these and change the pads. Now to clean up, this tubeless is a messy business 😉

 

[HLaB]

Took some old tubeless 25mm tyres of my winter rims last night and fitted new 28mm tyres. Removing took a few attempts but fitting the new tyre was easy. I left the sealant to today expecting a time consuming job. I was wrong. Peaty's is very easy to pour (the first time I have tried it) and the rear seated first time (the front took two attempts) and they both are holding air ok. Assuming they're still like that after tea, I'll take the carbon rims (summer wheels) off after tea, change the cassette over to these and change the pads. Now to clean up, this tubeless is a messy business 😉

View attachment 748777

After 2hours they were still solid so I switched over the cassette and pads for my carbon wheels