What Have You Fettled Today?

[Gravity Aided]

Removed stubborn spindle from crankset, determined to start over with new sealed BB and used or new crankset, as old was quite worn. Not only were the threads on the spider stripped when I got it, but the teeth are also quite worn. Luckily, I've also got a lot of good replacement candidates lying about that may be helpful. I also have yet to remove the fixed cup, as it is also quite fixed in place, so I shall have to make a fixed cup removal tool when I go by the hardware on Saturday. All wheel considerations are positive for both sets of wheels, cogs and hubs all in good shape, so I'm ordering a sealed BB and chain for next week, I guess. No hurries, I'm sure the old weather is about to clamp down here.

 

[DCLane]

Went into the bike parts store (i.e. the shed) for a rummage to see if I could collect the bits for the Carrera magnesium build. It arrived all dismantled so I've started to put it together.

Originally it was a Carrera Vengeance from 2002 built by Merida (who build Halford's Carrera range). Their version was a Merida 909 - but mine is all green with the black forks:

So far:

• Fitted seatpost and (temporary) saddle with the one supplied going in the bin as it's broken
• Found a pair of Cinelli bars, removed the shifters from them. Fitted the bars.
• Found a pair of 8-speed shifters bought from @shaun o'shea on here and selected these.
• Tried several brake calipers. Found two that fit but not great; 1 black front (v. basic), 1 silver rear (new Sora).
• Found the Carrera wheels bought from @cyberknight . Yet to be fitted on their 2nd project bike.

Now need:

• 28.6mm stem as the one on the bike is 27.2mm
• Front and rear derailleur - hopefully from @Drago
• Crankset (ordered)
• Green saddle (en route from Hong Kong)
• Green bar tape - found in pile of bits
• Green cable outers - also found in pile of bits
• Possibly a better pair of (matching) calipers

I want this on the road ASAP, preferably by the end of next week. Photos to follow.

 

[DCLane]

Fitted Ice Spiker tyres to the GT Timberline.
Removed all the coloured tape from the GT fitted by the previous owner, who also painted stripes/bits red and Hammerite green . All the black/white bits are tape, now removed, all the red/green are paint.

Fitted the Cinelli bars to the Carrera above and the Carrera wheels. I'm stuck now until the crankset arrives.

 

[cyberknight]

Got a good deal on fleabay locally for a set of cheap wheels for the commuter so i installed them today which included a retrue. rim tape , changing cassette over from the 501`s and tyres /tubes.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Put a 2" 5/8" bolt, 2 nuts, 1 by the bolt head, with some lockwashers, and one outside a large washer on the outside, as a fixed cup remover to take the old fixed cup off the Fuji Touring Series IV, as it had frozen in place. Once I tightened down on the assembly, continued clockwise turning freed the fixed cup, with the assistance of some penetrating oil. It was a Sheldon Brown spectacular that only cost me about $3 worth of hardware and about 20 minutes' effort. I have now gotten out the digital calipers and measured up for a sealed bottom bracket which, if it lives up to most sealed bottom bracket lifespans, may see me out.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Just changed the MTB to knobbly wheelset and made sure the Spike bike is ready for a commute in 6 hours time.

*I love insomniacal tendencies*

 

[Gravity Aided]

Got an unused crankset from a binned Raleigh SC40 I found after someone had broken the derailleur hanger, apparently on one of its first rides. Practically no wear on the bicycle whatever, so it has been a parts donor since, as the frame is only 18" and I ride about 23" frames. I will use its' sealed bottom bracket on my 26" tourer project, as it does not fit the BB shell on the Fuji Tourer.

 

[Dirk]

Put my missus' car battery on charge after it failed to start this morning. Meant to do it yesterday, when it struggled to start. The cold last night killed it!

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Changed the front brake cable, including outer, on my lads bike, also adjusted the rear brake for him. He's going to get a bollocking when he gets in though as he's let the chain go rusty, gave it a good spray of GT85 but he can try and clean it up properly his self.

 

[potsy]

Gave the winter commuter a wipe down, somebody must have put it away dirty a few weeks ago and forgot about it

 

[NorvernRob]

Got a Yokozuna reaction cable set and thought about fitting it - but my rear wheel needed trueing anyway, so I dropped the bike off at the LBS for them to do the lot and took my lad sledging instead.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Bought a 1991 Schwinn Woodlands mountain bike, an old rigid frame MTB made of Reynolds 500. Quite nice and light, but someone attempted to make a single speed out of it, for whatever reason. I have removed the retainer clips from the wheels and put the wheels on the Trek 800 for tomorrow's club run in very cold weather. 1.6 inch narrow tires, very nice considering the rest of the bicycle is middle of the road. I'm fixing it up for some yet to be defined usage. I've put used thumb shifters on, and will put brakes on the front, where they were removed for some single-speed/hipster reasoning, give her a good clean-up and a used sealed BB, and give it a spin. It may be the best candidate for a 26" tourer yet. The scale will tell the tale. Schwinn had this bicycle made in Hungary.

 

[Dirk]

Put a Garmin mount on my wife's road bike.

 

[Cubist]

A fine day's fettling in the garage yesterday, converting one bike to a 1x10 setup and servicing some bits and pieces in between. First I took the chainsets off both MTBS. The Soul was running double n bash with 36 24 Blackspire rings on an XT M770 triple chainset, 11-34 cassette with a GS (medium cage) XT clutch mech , and the Mojo was running XT M785 38/26 with an 11-36 cassette and long cage XT clutch mech. I removed the chainrings from the M770 and fitted a Superstar Components IO (narrow wide) 32T single chainring, in the middle position using spacers to pad out the chainring bolts. The Hope SS BB in the Mojo was sounding a bit rough, so I removed the BB cups, bearing shields and seals, and flushed out the old grease with GT85 and replaced with fresh marine grease.

Next I took the GS Shadow plus mech off the Soul and fitted a OneUpComponents RAD cage. This conversion allows crisp shifting on an expanded cassette eliminating B tension issues and jockey/cage clearance on a 42T cog. Next, I removed the XT 11-36 cassette from the freehub, and fitted a 42T OneUpComponents 42T expander, removing the 15 and 17T cogs and replacing them with a 16T to improve ratios. The cassette is therefore now 11-42 which coupled with the 32T chainring gives me much the same bottom gear as the previous setup. The advantage is that you simplify the setup, losing the weight of the shifter, front mech and cables. A net loss of 300g makes quite a difference to the overall weight of the bike. It now weighs a pretty decent 28 1/2 lb. (12.9kg) Tuning the gears was more straightforward than I thought it would be, and it now shifts beautifully.
So, front mech and shifter removed and nicely sorted.

Next I replaced the 26T granny on the 785 double chainset with a 24t and fitted it to the Soul. I used the long cage shadow plus mech off the Mojo as I had increased the overall capacity, refitted the chain and tuned the gears.

 

[Levo-Lon]

^^ keep thinking about a Soul Cubist, I do like what ive read about these frames..