What Have You Fettled Today?

[fossyant]

Part of my daily commute has recently become oddly dark, much darker than it ever used to be. Some street lighting seems to have been switched off permanently, or it could be to do with the new hotel being built in that stretch, but I felt I needed something brighter at the front. Took delivery of a Cree XM-L today and had a spin around after fitting it Whoa ! how bright is that, dose the job though, no danger of riding into a pallet some oik has pulled into the road using this beasty.

Welcome email to the XML club. Really need mine on a shared path on part of my route. Let's me pick out pedestrians and dogs then drop the light as I approach. They are invisible otherwise.

 

[compo]

I salvaged several odd socks that my wife had put out for rubbish. They have gone into my wiping rags bag in the bike shed.

I have also today fitted a new ahead stem, using a quill to ahead adaptor, and new bars to my Pug, and have ordered a pair of aero brake levers.

 

[ColinJ]

I decided to ask for a pair of Crud Roadracer mudguards for my birthday this week. I bust the last pair after riding over a load of twigs which had been littering the Calder Valley Greenway, which is my route for avoiding traffic on the A646 if I am riding home at busy times.

My original plan was to wait until I buy a CX bike and put mudguards on that, but that purchase could still be months away. I have been avoiding riding when it is cold and wet so it is worth buying the Cruds (currently just under £20 at Wiggle) so I get out more often in the mean time. Even if I only use them for 20 or 30 rides, that would be £20 well spent.

I put them on my Basso tonight. I am hoping to get a 100 km road ride in before the end of the month to get me into the 'metric century a month challenge' for 2015, and I don't want to use rainy days as an excuse for not doing it. OTOH - I didn't fancy getting sprayed with cold, mucky water all day either.

As usual, the Cruds were a bit fiddly to squeeze on. There is very little clearance on my bike and the Cruds have to be perfectly adjusted not to rub. TBH - once a bit of muck gets under them, they will start making noises. It's the price to pay for bodging guards on to a bike not designed for them. Noises can be kept to a minimum by riding through shallow puddles to sluice the muck out. I also use a garden spray to rinse under the Cruds when I get home.

I'll take a picture of my bike when I do my next ride and will add it below.

 

[youngoldbloke]

Tip - carry a teaspoon with you for cleaning out the mud when its more than the puddle rinse can cope with
You'll have to take the wheels off but its much more effective than the usual handy twig.

 

[Hacienda71]

After a recent mtb ride with @dan_bo decided to change my pads as they were making a reet racket. Probably just as well I did. One pad had no pad left and part of the spring had worn away. Sounds much better now.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Fixed a puncture on our lasses bike this morning, think that is only the second time she has punctured and she must have had the bike a good 15 years.

Also changed the jockey wheels, cassette and pedals on the Sirrus (okay I got the LBS to do them )

 

[Scotchlovingcylist]

Fitted Clark's pads to the new bike, hopefully will stop a hell of a lot better now.

 

[HLaB]

Well it was last night but on cleaning the chain I noticed part of a link outer had broken off so I fitted a new chain and was delighted it never skipped once on today's hilly ride; if it had as well as being a pain I'd have to fit my spare cassette pronto. Ideally I would've tested it before the ride but I never had time.

 

[compo]

Fitted a pair of aero brake levers to my Peugeot and taped up the handlebars. I was a bit disappointed with the tape, it came up a little short on the tops.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Finally got round to fitting the new wheels to the knockabout bike along with brake blocks and chain (new cassette already fitted earlier). I should get a few running-in rides before the weather is due to go icy again.

After getting used to the snow studs for the last month and a bit, the Tour Ride tyres seem quite skinny.

 

[Spoked Wheels]

A new front derailleur arrived this morning so I changed the crappy front derailleur the bike came with. Fitted a new cable and adjusted the front brakes. What a difference makes a good derailleur . I took the hybrid for a 6 mile test ride and I'm happy as Larry with the job I did.

 

[bpsmith]

Stripped my Defy down earlier in the week. Needed a new chain, so took the opportunity to clean both mechs thoroughly whilst off the bike. Cleaned the cassette off the bike too.

Decided to rebuild yesterday, but noticed a frayed cable on the front one and the back one was trouble indexing on all sprockets.

Outer for rear brake was also too short, when I fitted 105 callipers to replace the poor Tektro which came as standard.

New set of cables fitted, using the Jagwire Road Pro kit. Inners and outers for brakes and gears. Never done this before, so just took my time copying what came off and then made a longer outer for the rear brake.

Took me a while getting it all set up from scratch, but well worth it and the shifting is perfect now. So much smoother and more direct feeling. These Jagwire cables are amazing!

105 brakes are so much better than the Tektro's and not even worn the pads in yet obviously too. Very pleased.

Replacing the cables means replacing the bar tape. First time for this too and chuffed with the result.

Thoroughly enjoyed the fettling. Waxed the frame whilst it was stripped too. Overall it looks better than when I bought it.

 

[Jenkins]

Striped the Triban of the lights, mudguards,bottle cage and everything else I want to keep, full clean and lubricate and them photograph in the sunshine as it's gone up for sale on Ebay.

Mudguards transferred to the Boardman as a temporary measure until I pick up my new Whyte Sussex.

Wheels swapped between the Boardman (was Campag Zondas) and the Van Nicholas (was Mavic Aksiums)

 

[ColinJ]

I did a 100 km ride with the Crud Roadracers on my bike today. Within 10 minutes of setting off, the noises from the front were really annoying me. I forgot what I learned with my last pair. I really don't have much clearance so setup is critical.

I discovered before that my weight on the bike bends the steel forks enough to cause scraping noises that I don't get with the bike in my work stand. The inevitable grit pickup at this time of year makes things worse.

I'd only gone and fitted the 2 little self-adhesive pads to the front guard again, either side of where the cable tie is attached. They are probably there to stop the guard from rattling, but all they do for me is to push the guard too close to the tyre. I will remove them tomorrow.

Here's a picture of the bike with the guards fitted:

Ha - I've also forgotten to align the 2 rear stays! I didn't notice on the last pair until I looked at some photos of the bike. I left the mounts on the bike when I broke the last Cruds, so they are still in the same positions. The left rear mount is too high.

 

[Cubist]

Well this week I have transferred all the running gear from the Cube onto a brand new Planet X pro Carbon frame I got on Gumtree for a song with my Christmas money. Now with 105 Chainset, brakes and brifters, with Ultegra mechs and Aksium wheels it seems to be pretty good. I've had a couple of running in rides, but find the bars too narrow, so I've ordered a 46cm bar to go with my broad shoulders. Other than that it is incredibly smooth and quiet, a joy to ride. Cube finishing kit is a bit weighty so I've also found a nice barely used Easton Carbon seatpost on eBay. Pretty pleased with my first road bike build.... Couple of learning points like threaded barrel adjusters on the downtube rather than inline, but other than that it is a lot less complicated than a MTB build. I've been staying down at Mum's bungalow so I haven't been near a camera, but will post up a pic or two when I've put the finishing touches to it over the next couple of days.