What Have You Fettled Today?

[Arjimlad]

New gear cables - and new outers at the handlebars on my Defy 2. They had rubbed against the brake cables and gone rusty !

Changing had been very poor for some time and I had changed the rear derailleur outer and cable to try to alleviate it.

I was surprised how little time it took with a proper cable cutter tool and how easy it seemed to index the gears afterwards. Need to ride it a bit now and let it all settle in..

 

[DCLane]

The Spesh Secteur has had a wobbly bottom bracket and clicking from the RH side for a few weeks.

Fitted a new Ultegra 6700 bottom bracket this lunchtime - thanks again Velocampus, Leeds.

And ... the clicking's still there. At least I know it's the RH pedal!

 

[ColinJ]

Now then, the answers to 2 big questions

• Q: How well does the new gearing work mechanically? A: Very well indeed! I have not changed the derailleurs, shifters, or chain, and had to rotate the rear derailleur with a baked bean can shim (!) to get it to work properly, but it shifts quickly, quietly, and reliably. I did a hilly 11 mile test ride this afternoon during which I repeatedly shifted up and down through all 30 gears and didn't experience one flunked shift. I am chuffed!
• Q: How well did I get on with the new gear ratios? A: As I hoped - very well indeed! The big ring is more usable - I can spin the 48 much more easily than the old 53. I don't think I will miss the one gear at the top end that I have effectively lost. The middle ring is great. I now have a 38 instead of a 39 and that makes it possible to stay longer on the middle ring up some fairly steep climbs. I did a few stretches of 12-15% in 38/29 and felt comfortable. I would drop down onto the new little ring for longer or very steep climbs, but the 38 ring with a 23, 26 or 29 sprocket is ideal for sprinting up tough little rises, especially with the lightness and stiffness of the Cannondale frame. The little ring gives me a luxury 28/29 gear which will enable me to survive stretches of 25+%, and be really nice on longer climbs of 10-20%.

All in all, that is £80 just over £85 well spent [I had forgotten the new bottom bracket], and I hope to recoup some of that by selling my old double chainset and bottom bracket.

If you are struggling on steep hills, you might like to consider such a conversion on your bike if you think that you would prefer using a triple, rather than a compact chainset with a huge cassette.

I have now done hundreds of miles on this new gearing and it has exceeded my most optimistic expectations!

I have climbed lots of steep stuff, done scores of miles on rollercoaster roads which have me shifting up and down through the gears every few seconds, and done some fairly high speed wind-assisted runs down flat A-roads. I have only managed to overshift and drop the chain onto the granny ring instead of the middle ring a couple of times, and that was because I was being very careless with my shifting - if I click the left Campag thumbshifter one click at a time, the shift is perfect, but because it is so reliable I sometimes just click it three clicks and throw the chain straight down to save time.

Now I need to get the old chainset on eBay to recoup some of the cost!

 

[Robeh]

when i get my cycle to work voucher i will be getting one off these..........http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Cannondale-Synapse-105-5-Disc-2015-Road-Bike_73606.htm

 

[compo]

I wanted to fit my newly trued wheel to my bike this morning, but when I collected it from the shop the mechanic showed me why it had suddenly gone out of true. A fine hairline crack had developed around the rim, about 4 spoke holes length. The wheel is scrap. He did suggest getting a rim and relacing it but the labour on a fairly inexpensive wheel would hardly make sense so I have ordered a new wheel. If I can find a cheap rim I might have a go myself at relacing it, it can't do any harm.

Update: New wheel received today from Evans, delivered by DPD. Now ready to head off out for a ride tomorrow.

 

[Cyclist33]

Just done some wheel swappage... Fell off and bent my Vision Team 30s, well the rear one anyway, last week, so dusted off my old hybrid wheels and they, bizarrely, seem to have improved with hibernation!

Not the lightest ever though - 1180g/900g naked weight, so after trialling them on my steel bike for a week, enjoying the comfort and assurance, I've just swapped cassettes etc and put them on my Giant Defy, and put the Fulcrums back on the Jamis.

Happy days - me feelz a ride coming on tomorrow!

 

[Drago]

My complimentary carbon seat post arrived today thanks to Wiggle. Not going to fit it just year cos i want to fondle it a while.

 

[Cyclist33]

Complimentary?!

[Splutter] how so?

 

[Drago]

My new Felt bike was mis described as having one. When it arrived with a alloy post I complained, and after a bit of negotiation I got a.£60 FSA carbon post for gratis. Very happy with Wiggle, and will continue to use them with glee.

 

[Cyclist33]

My new Felt bike was mis described as having one. When it arrived with a alloy post I complained, and after a bit of negotiation I got a.£60 FSA carbon post for gratis. Very happy with Wiggle, and will continue to use them with glee.

So will I, although glee is probably the wrong word... I bought some wheels from them recently but they were absolutely shocking, but to be fair Wiggle took them back at their own cost and issued a quick and full refund.

 

[Drago]

I had heard bad things, but to be fair they went to expensive lengths in the end to sort it, and I had threatened to simply send the bike back at their expense, so I took a firm stance. Either way, they made some effort to make me happy, so I'll reward that with some future custom. I've always found Evans customer service to be superb, sorting out hassles virtually instantly, but they simply didn't have the bike I wanted.

 

[fatjel]

Cleaned the mud from yesterdays estuary adventure and pumped the tyres ready for the crown audax in the morning..
Bikes in fine order not so sure about rider

 

[themosquitoking]

@Nomadski and i helped a mate partially rebuild his sons bike, he got new wheels, shifters, casette, cables and chain for his birthday. He's a lucky boy. Amazingly it ended up being cheaper to get him 10 speed tiagra shifters and casette than 9 speed sora was. We were upgrading from 8 speed sora with thumb shifters. A few false starts but all in all once we started doing things in the right order everything fell into place fairly quickly.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Rode out for saddle adjustment ride, wound up fettling brakes, as the saddle seems to be at the right angle right off, but the brakes had some cable stretch.

 

[fossyant]

The fixed commute bike is back on the road. Super fast deliveries from Chain Reaction and bike-discount.com, ordered Friday, delivered Monday am.

New brake levers, cables and bar tape fitted. New replacement skid lid too. All ready to go when I am recovered from my crash. Still in big trouble with the boss.