What Have You Fettled Today?

[HovR]

I'm having this problem with the third sprocket.. it reaches nicely over 1 and 2, but is slightly too the inside of the third sprocket so think it may need an LBS in time. I am thinking I can function on 12 gears rather than 18 for a while as I'm a novice.

Sounds to me like your limit screws are set incorrectly. It's really quite easy to adjust!

If you look on the front dérailleur (the mechanism that actually pushes the chain on to the next gear) there should be two small phillips/cross head screws, one should have a small "H" written next to it, the other a small "L", which stand for high and low limit.

These screws stop the dérailleur going too far and pushing the chain off the end of the cogs, but if they are adjusted incorrectly they can also stop you getting in to the gears at the more extreme end of the ratios. In this case your largest gear on the chainset.

If you unscrew the screw marked with a "H" this should allow the dérailleur to move slightly further out, and hopefully get in to the biggest gear (assuming the cable has been fitted correctly). Do small adjustments at a time, half turns of the adjustment screw are good, then go for a small test ride up the street.

If the chain comes right off the end then you've unscrewed it too far.

 

[Robeh]

bought these off amazon...http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0073FNYPI/ref=pe_385721_37038051_TE_3p_dp_1
bargain

 

[HovR]

Another fettling session with my brothers cheap Amazon road bike, the Coyote Route 66. There was a nasty knocking noise coming from the headset when out of the saddle despite it being appropriately adjusted.

I took the stem and spacers off to find a very rusty steerer. Forks wouldn't drop out. Gave it a couple of good whacks with a lump of wood. The forks still weren't moving, so I removed the two rubber seals which can sometimes prevent the fork from sliding out. Still nothing. The upper race was corroded on to the steerer. A very large pair of pliers to grip it eventually got it off.

The headset turned out to have sealed cartridge bearings, which were very worn and dry. In an attempt to make this repair free I removed the seals, flushed out the bearings with GT85, removed the GT85 with compressed air, then trickled a large amount of heavy oil in to the bearings. This freed things up a bit, and I was able to replace the seals and reassemble after sanding down the rust from the steerer.

Amazingly it actually worked. Headset is now silent, hopefully for another few months, until I persuade him to buy a proper bike.

There was still a bit of noise coming from one of the cheap stock plastic pedals though. It was completely dry, and one of the non-serviceable kind... So I drilled a hole in the plastic pedal body and filled the sucker with oil. Bit of iso to clean the oil off the pedal body, then cover the hole with some duct tape. Job done!

Rest assured that on any other bike both of these would have been replacement jobs, but I don't think this bike has a whole lot more time on the road left until it's replaced!

 

[Batgirl]

Sounds to me like your limit screws are set incorrectly. It's really quite easy to adjust!

If you look on the front dérailleur (the mechanism that actually pushes the chain on to the next gear) there should be two small phillips/cross head screws, one should have a small "H" written next to it, the other a small "L", which stand for high and low limit.

These screws stop the dérailleur going too far and pushing the chain off the end of the cogs, but if they are adjusted incorrectly they can also stop you getting in to the gears at the more extreme end of the ratios. In this case your largest gear on the chainset.

If you unscrew the screw marked with a "H" this should allow the dérailleur to move slightly further out, and hopefully get in to the biggest gear (assuming the cable has been fitted correctly). Do small adjustments at a time, half turns of the adjustment screw are good, then go for a small test ride up the street.

If the chain comes right off the end then you've unscrewed it too far.

Thanks will have another look when put hte chain on but we did adjust the screws and I was stood up on a retaining wall / part of the garden where I could look down on the derailleur while hubby adjusted them - sadly it doesn't seem to want to go past hte edge of the biggest sprocket.
will try again though - or get LBS onto the case if it limits me once I'm back riding. I haven't been able to use the gears so far so have all that to come. It was part of the reason to strip the bike down a bit and do a few jobs at the same time.

Hubby is hinting at my getting an N+1 next year, so this really is a cheap project for me to learn on but also to use to commute and not worry about it being at the station.
Appreciate the full explanation though, it'll help me to know which way need to turn the screws for best effect and confirms we were in the right area.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Another fettling session with my brothers cheap Amazon road bike, the Coyote Route 66. There was a nasty knocking noise coming from the headset when out of the saddle despite it being appropriately adjusted.

I took the stem and spacers off to find a very rusty steerer. Forks wouldn't drop out. Gave it a couple of good whacks with a lump of wood. The forks still weren't moving, so I removed the two rubber seals which can sometimes prevent the fork from sliding out. Still nothing. The upper race was corroded on to the steerer. A very large pair of pliers to grip it eventually got it off.

The headset turned out to have sealed cartridge bearings, which were very worn and dry. In an attempt to make this repair free I removed the seals, flushed out the bearings with GT85, removed the GT85 with compressed air, then trickled a large amount of heavy oil in to the bearings. This freed things up a bit, and I was able to replace the seals and reassemble after sanding down the rust from the steerer.

Amazingly it actually worked. Headset is now silent, hopefully for another few months, until I persuade him to buy a proper bike.

There was still a bit of noise coming from one of the cheap stock plastic pedals though. It was completely dry, and one of the non-serviceable kind... So I drilled a hole in the plastic pedal body and filled the sucker with oil. Bit of iso to clean the oil off the pedal body, then cover the hole with some duct tape. Job done!

Rest assured that on any other bike both of these would have been replacement jobs, but I don't think this bike has a whole lot more time on the road left until it's replaced!

Actually, I saw a coyote out by Route 66 the other day.

 

[slowmotion]

Sounds to me like your limit screws are set incorrectly. It's really quite easy to adjust!

If you look on the front dérailleur (the mechanism that actually pushes the chain on to the next gear) there should be two small phillips/cross head screws, one should have a small "H" written next to it, the other a small "L", which stand for high and low limit.

These screws stop the dérailleur going too far and pushing the chain off the end of the cogs, but if they are adjusted incorrectly they can also stop you getting in to the gears at the more extreme end of the ratios. In this case your largest gear on the chainset.

If you unscrew the screw marked with a "H" this should allow the dérailleur to move slightly further out, and hopefully get in to the biggest gear (assuming the cable has been fitted correctly). Do small adjustments at a time, half turns of the adjustment screw are good, then go for a small test ride up the street.

If the chain comes right off the end then you've unscrewed it too far.

I can do the limit screws OK, and also set up the cage height. What totally defeats me is getting the cable tension right using the barrel adjuster so that the indexing works. I have a triple so it might be a bit harder than a compact. Actually, I'm probably just useless.

 

[HovR]

I can do the limit screws OK, and also set up the cage height. What totally defeats me is getting the cable tension right using the barrel adjuster so that the indexing works. I have a triple so it might be a bit harder than a compact. Actually, I'm probably just useless.

Indexing is a bit fiddly, but really once you get the gist of it it's just a case of making an adjustment, testing it, adjusting again, testing again etc. until you've got the correct cable tension. Starting with no gear cable attached, and the barrel adjuster screwed most of the way in:

• Set shifter to lowest 1st gear, the dérailleur will naturally sit in 1st gear with no cable attached. Thread the cable through the pinch bolt of the dérailleur and pull it nice and taught, then tighten down the pinch bolt.

• At this point there will almost certainly still not be enough tension in the cable. This will be evident as the dérailleur will struggle to shift to a bigger/higher gear. Unscrew the barrel adjuster, a half turn at a time, to increase the cable tension. Go on a little test ride down the street between each adjustment until it's shifting as it should.

• If you've added too much cable tension the dérailleur will struggle to shift down to a smaller/lower gear. To fix this lower the cable tension by screwing in the barrel adjuster. You're probably in the right region now, so make adjustments a quarter turn at a time, again with a test ride between each adjustment.

That's really all there is to it. If it won't shift to a larger cog, add cable tension. If it won't shift to a smaller cog, remove cable tension. After you've done it a few times it sort of becomes second nature, and you can get the cable tension pretty damn close on the first adjustment.

And of course if you have a work stand you can just test it in the stand, rather than riding down the street. Although you may actually want to test ride it for the final adjustment!

And of course this will work for an ideal situation where only the indexing needs adjusting. If there's an issue else where with the bike, such as mis-matched shifters and dérailleurs, old cables etc, then you'll struggle to get it working well even with all the indexing knowledge in the world!

 

[slowmotion]

Indexing is a bit fiddly, but really once you get the gist of it it's just a case of making an adjustment, testing it, adjusting again, testing again etc. until you've got the correct cable tension. Starting with no gear cable attached, and the barrel adjuster screwed most of the way in:

• Set shifter to lowest 1st gear, the dérailleur will naturally sit in 1st gear with no cable attached. Thread the cable through the pinch bolt of the dérailleur and pull it nice and taught, then tighten down the pinch bolt.

• At this point there will almost certainly still not be enough tension in the cable. This will be evident as the dérailleur will struggle to shift to a bigger/higher gear. Unscrew the barrel adjuster, a half turn at a time, to increase the cable tension. Go on a little test ride down the street between each adjustment until it's shifting as it should.

• If you've added too much cable tension the dérailleur will struggle to shift down to a smaller/lower gear. To fix this lower the cable tension by screwing in the barrel adjuster. You're probably in the right region now, so make adjustments a quarter turn at a time, again with a test ride between each adjustment.

That's really all there is to it. If it won't shift to a larger cog, add cable tension. If it won't shift to a smaller cog, remove cable tension. After you've done it a few times it sort of becomes second nature, and you can get the cable tension pretty damn close on the first adjustment.

And of course if you have a work stand you can just test it in the stand, rather than riding down the street. Although you may actually want to test ride it for the final adjustment!

And of course this will work for an ideal situation where only the indexing needs adjusting. If there's an issue else where with the bike, such as mis-matched shifters and dérailleurs, old cables etc, then you'll struggle to get it working well even with all the indexing knowledge in the world!

Thank you HovR! That advice is much appreciated. I have a workstand and I'll give it go tomorrow.

 

[Gravity Aided]

I attached a rear rack to the Fuji, as well as fitting narrower 700x28 tires and changing the saddle again, this time a Terry Liberator I got on a hybrid I bought for parts and spares. I only got a 3 mile ride in today, as I had a pinging spoke I could not trace down. As well as a puncture, unrelated to spoke. I also went to a large sporting goods chain store and got a pair of tubes and a third bottle holder (for fuel for the Trangia). I think I am up to date for the Fuji, except the need to craft a tang to hold the front rack, and fitting of same. And rust removal from spokes, nothing serious, just surface, but I may have a new front wheel built , or order spokes and do it myself, as it looks like another long winter.

 

[jayonabike]

The new winter wheels (Fulcrum 5's) turned up from Wiggle, as well as the new 4 season tyres from Evans. So I popped them both on the Enigma and put the Fulcrum 1's away till next spring. Put on the AssSaver mudguard and the bike is now ready for winter.

 

[Cubist]

I put the saddle back on my road bike after I lent it to someone for an extended test ride.

I then converted my Coitc Soul to 10 speed. A bit of a windfall and I was able to get hold of an XT 11-34 cassette, a RH XT shifter, an XT M786 clutch mech and a KMC X10 93 EL chain. I stripped out the old parts, including removing the BB mounted chain guide and replaced it with a BB spacer, then refitted the cranks after a good clean. I've kept the old rings, an XT 22 tooth granny and a Deore 36 tooth as they work well enough, although I might sell the bits I've taken off to raise some cash for some Blackspire or Middleburn rings. Swapped the cassettes over on the freehub, fitted the shifter and rear mech and spent a happy half hour adjusting the mech so it's sweet as it can be. I used the big to big plus two links nonsense and ended up taking another two links out before the chain ran the mech properly.Just finished cleaning and photographing the old stuff to sell.

 

[PeteXXX]

Defy 2 cleaned and lubed up ready for my ride tomorrow. New rear light fitted.
Touristique cleaned and lovingly fettled all over before storing away until the next time I take it for a spin.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Yesterday I adjusted (again ) the derailleurs on my touring/commuting bike, and today I installed a new mini-pump and pair of tyres on the road bike. I had used the road bike for 2 days commuting last week but had left replacing the tyres for too long, and I needed to use my existing mini-pump on Thursday's commute home. It was very difficult to use, so I bought another one. This one (unlike the previous) I tested, and found it was very easy to use. It has a flexible hose with Presta head on one end and Schrader the other, and both screw onto the tube valve, making it easy to pump up the tube without struggling to keep the pump head attached to the valve.

As for the new tyres, they're 700x25C Marathon Plus, and I didn't need tyre levers to remove the old or install the new tyres, so it didn't take long to do it .

I also transferred a pair of cleats, and inner soles, from an old pair of cycling shoes which were falling apart, on to a brand new pair.

Yesterday I also fettled (in a manner of speaking) my face, shaving my Winter beard off (and various grey hairs with it) and getting my hair trimmed. It's taken a decade off my age!

 

[Gravity Aided]

I added the bottom fuel bottle holder and fitted a front rack to my Fuji. Just need to add a bell, and ride through Normal Thursday, as the transit system will be giving away bicycle lights and talking about bicycle racks on buses, and how to use them.

 

[compo]

My rear brake cable snapped this morning during my ride. No great drama as long as I remembered not to use it to slow me down! Anyway new cable now fitted. New disc pads fitted while I was at it as the pads were well worn down.

On the same run I also had a puncture and a cut in the tyre that penetrated right through the casing. I glued a large patch to the inside of the tyre and fitted another tube and it got me home ok, so I guess a trip to the tyre shop is called for tomorrow.