What Have You Fettled Today?

[ColinJ]

I am beginning to worry . I have been working on refurbishing some old chrome wheels to restore another cycle and I have totally forgotten what they

Were like to ride.

Just avoid riding them in the wet?

Maybe there are some special brake blocks that work with them in the wet, but the standard ones on my bikes certainly didn't.

 

[Illaveago]

I have just been outside putting on some Hamerite rust removing gel on another rusty chrome wheel. This wheel looks pretty bad in places so I have put it back

in the garage to work. In the meantime I have made myself cup of tea and a homemade blackcurrant jam on toasted sandwich.

 

[Milkfloat]

Wife is away with the kids - so I thought I would treat her bike to some TLC and sort out a raised stem. So last night was, new wider tyres and tubes, an adjustable raised stem and because of the stem, longer cable inners and outers. She better ride the damn thing now.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Been working on a Dawes Galaxy (sadly not mine) over a couple of evenings this week. I'm under instructions to service but not to replace anything unless I really have to so it's been a case of cleaning, regreasing and adjusting.

It's obviously been stood for a long time and whoever has serviced it before (professionally, I'm told) likes their bearings set tight . When the bike was converted to flat bars they also seemingly didn't know/didn't care that V-brake levers aren't compatible with cantilever brakes. Not a lot I can do about that but adjust them to work as best I can.

Just the pedals left to do and I have to say it's scrubbed up nice. Wonder if I can persuade the owner to part with it at some point?

 

[ColinJ]

Hmm . I just noticed a cut in one of my new tyres, which has only done a hundred miles or so. It hasn't gone all the way through (yet) but is big enough to be concerning. I might try superglueing it shut, though I suspect that wouldn't last long. And/or, I might put a patch inside the tyre behind the cut, just in case.

 

[Illaveago]

Hmm . I just noticed a cut in one of my new tyres, which has only done a hundred miles or so. It hasn't gone all the way through (yet) but is big enough to be concerning. I might try superglueing it shut, though I suspect that wouldn't last long. And/or, I might put a patch inside the tyre behind the cut, just in case.

Can you get hold of some Sikaflex or Tiger seal it is a flexible polyeurathane adhesive, they use it for bonding in windscreens. I have been using it to repair a couple of my saddles. It costs about £10 for a tube the size of bath sealant.
I was thinking you may be able to smear some into the split and let it set overnight. you can wash off the excess with white spirit before it dries.

 

[si_c]

Had a bit of a nasty creak from the cranks when under load (standing / hills / junctions) and put it down to the BB being JIS and the cranks ISO (according to Sheldon this can work fine). Not had any problems as such, but took the cranks off to inspect them, and noticed that the BB has caused some slight damage to the crankarms as the spindle is wider than for ISO, so tightening the cranks to the spindle had caused a set of ridges to form towards the outside edge of the holes. Half hour with a pair of files, and I've removed the ridges, and widened out the holes a bit so they accomodate the JIS spindle.

Seems to have fixed the problem.

 

[ColinJ]

Can you get hold of some Sikaflex or Tiger seal it is a flexible polyeurathane adhesive, they use it for bonding in windscreens. I have been using it to repair a couple of my saddles. It costs about £10 for a tube the size of bath sealant.
I was thinking you may be able to smear some into the split and let it set overnight. you can wash off the excess with white spirit before it dries.

Sounds like it might work, but the tyre only cost £10 so I am not going to buy £10 worth of stuff to fix it! I may have something similar in the cellar, however. I'll have a look tomorrow.

 

[Illaveago]

I thought that if you could lay your hands on some it might be worth giving it a try. I thought that super glue might set hard! It was just an idea and as you say

If a tyre costs as little as that you might as well replace it.

 

[ColinJ]

If a tyre costs as little as that you might as well replace it.

I have ridden on the tyre a couple more times and am keeping an eye on the cut. So far, it hasn't got worse but I think I will do something to stop it widening.

Even though the tyre only cost £10, it was only a couple of weeks old so I am reluctant to scrap it unless I have to.

Today's fettling ... Something a bit different - I fettled a tool for future bike fettling!

I found an old chain's master link particularly tough to remove recently. I tried the usual technique of cleaning the link and squeezing it as I tried to slide the two halves apart but it was still really difficult to do so there was much cursing!

I looked at the Park Tool master link pliers on CRC [HERE] but decided that £11.99 was a bit much for a tool that would only get used a few times a year. I went down to a local corner shop and bought a cheapo pair of long-nose pliers instead and filed them down to do the same job. Total cost £1.49 and about 10 minutes of filing! I just tested my DIY master link tool and it worked perfectly.

Top view

Side view

 

[Cubist]

Just finished a very satisfying new build. Used On One Carbon 456 frame off eBay, some bargain Hope cranks 32t single spider less chainring, and 30mm threaded BB, 11-42 cassette, Magura Thor AM 140 fork out of the spares bin, Hope pro2 Evo hubs on Stans Arch Ex (off the Soul) XT shifter and rear clutch mech with Rad cage, SLX brakes, Answer ProTaper Carbon 740 bars off the Soul, reverb dropper and charge spoon, Nic 2.25s running tubeless. All in weighs in at 24lb (10.9kg. ) Feels like a right hooligan. Great fun fitting the BB and cranks...all very different to Hollowtech, looks 'kin awesome. Range on the gearing feels good, can't wait to get it down to the quarry or up to Norland to see what it can do. Great slack front end and short snappy chainstays, but front wheel lifting on my steep driveway. Should be a doddle to pop the front end up.

 

[Illaveago]

I have ridden on the tyre a couple more times and am keeping an eye on the cut. So far, it hasn't got worse but I think I will do something to stop it widening.

Even though the tyre only cost £10, it was only a couple of weeks old so I am reluctant to scrap it unless I have to.

Today's fettling ... Something a bit different - I fettled a tool for future bike fettling!

I found an old chain's master link particularly tough to remove recently. I tried the usual technique of cleaning the link and squeezing it as I tried to slide the two halves apart but it was still really difficult to do so there was much cursing!

I looked at the Park Tool master link pliers on CRC [HERE] but decided that £11.99 was a bit much for a tool that would only get used a few times a year. I went down to a local corner shop and bought a cheapo pair of long-nose pliers instead and filed them down to do the same job. Total cost £1.49 and about 10 minutes of filing! I just tested my DIY master link tool and it worked perfectly.

Top view
View attachment 101732

Side view
View attachment 101733

Nice bit of fettling there, I usually find the pliers pinch my fingers. Those links can be stubborn at times.
Your tyre problem i have been assuming that you are using inner tubes

 

[Illaveago]

My wife has planned what i'll be doing over the next week, she seems to have omitted bike fettling!

 

[Asa Post]

Yesterday's fettling.

Morning: The front derailleur on the road bike has been misbehaving, so time to fit a new cable. New cable fitted and tested. The change up is fine, but it won't change down at all. The lever moves but there is no click, and nothing happens. I'm stuck in the big ring. Release the cable at the derailleur, and the spring pulls the chain to the small ring - so spring is OK. Better have a look under the hood. Pull rubber forward and operate change-down lever. I hear a tinkle and look on the floor to see a small, rectangular piece of metal with a threaded hole in the middle of it . It isn't obvious where it's come from as there is no corresponding screw to be seen in the changer.

Afternoon: take bike to LBS and leave it with them. Mentally prepare self for hefty bill.

Evening: Put smooth tyres on the flat-bar bike to use until the road bike is fixed.

 

[Poacher]

Got the track pump out to top up the Bromptons. Mine, OK, Mrs Poacher's, front OK, back nearly flat and refused to inflate. Removed rear wheel, itself a non-trivial task, removed marathon tyre, found cause - a spoke-induced puncture. Why oh why do Brompton penny-pinch on their cheap plastic rim tapes?
Patched tube (yes, some of us still do this!). Cleaned rim, used half a roll of Velox cloth tape, refitted tube and tyre, marvelling at the ease with which my new Var lever got the tyre back on, and got the rear wheel back in place, an even trickier proposition than removing it. Job's a good un.