What Have You Fettled Today?

[Shut Up Legs]

MAJOR fettling coming up this weekend. I've bought new wheels for my touring / commuting bike (a Vivente World Randonneur), and will be putting those on, as well as a new rear cassette, chain, 3 front chain rings, and 2 pairs of brake pads. I've already prepared the wheels by putting new tyres on them, since my existing tyres are also pretty worn out, and the new cassette on the rear wheel, so fitting the wheels shouldn't take long. I think the longest part will be the fiddly operation of putting the new chainrings on the righthand front crank spider: I always have to clean it, put a bit of grease on the chainring bolts, etc., so it takes a while.

 

[Gravity Aided]

I found a bicycle with the wrong sized fork in a recyclers' pile the other day. The fork proved to be the right size for my Specialized Expedition that had the suspension fork fail on it, and the bike frame turned out to be a very nice Giant mtb. I went past the recyclers yesterday, and all the bikes were gone. I changed the bearing races, and everything fit together nicely. So I replaced a suspension fork with a solid fork and got a frame for my next project(and there's always a next project) for less than $10 American.

 

[Illaveago]

I have been cleaning up an old wheel I got recently, I've always liked the look of large flange hubs so I thought I'd take a chance.

 

[raleighnut]

Done a good job on that hub.

 

[Gravity Aided]

I have been cleaning up an old wheel I got recently, I've always liked the look of large flange hubs so I thought I'd take a chance.

Normandy?

 

[Illaveago]

Done a good job on that hub.

Thanks , it came attached to an alloy tubeless rim which has loads of old glue still stuck to it. Some of the spokes are loose and the bearings may need greasing. Work in progress.

 

[raleighnut]

Thanks , it came attached to an alloy tubeless rim which has loads of old glue still stuck to it. Some of the spokes are loose and the bearings may need greasing. Work in progress.

If you strip the bearings out soak the cones and locknuts in a bit of vinegar then rinse and soak in oil (even warm the oil up a bit) will bring those up great.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Tubeless? or tubular?

 

[Gravity Aided]

I fitted the handlebars to the Specialized Expediton project today, and removed most of the paint from an old Fuji road bike frame. Tomorrow, we'll be off to steel wool and sandpaper, after another round of caustic, I think.

 

[Illaveago]

The hub is a Mallard and is stamped 25 81. I'm not sure if that means anything as I have an old rear Maillard small flange hub which is stamped 07 88 which I think is from the 60's.
The rim is AVA and the tyre is a De Alesessandro Special.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Thanks , it came attached to an alloy tubeless rim which has loads of old glue still stuck to it. Some of the spokes are loose and the bearings may need greasing. Work in progress.

Once it cools off, I think I may have some wheel renovations to do as well, especially with getting some of the old glue off the rims. Get all ready to get the Olmo back on the road.

 

[Tom B]

After two weeks riding around French seaside and driving around with the bikes on the roof. I've spent the morning degreasing, degritting and relubing.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

New BB fitted to the Brompton, tuw return of click free cycling.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

After preparing my new commuter bike wheels last weekend, by putting tubes and tyres on them, and a cassette on the rear wheel, I installed them today, along with a new chain and new 3 front chain rings. It took about 2 hours, because I tend to take my time doing it, and involved:

• removing the old wheels and storing them in case anything went wrong with installing the new.
• removing both pairs of brake pads, since they needed replacing also, having next to no rubber left.
• removing the chain.
• removing the 3 front chain rings, and cleaning the dirt off the chain ring bolts and spacers, then greasing these.
• installing the new 3 front chain rings on the right-hand crank spider.
• removing, cleaning, regreasing and reinstalling the bottom bracket, which was looking pretty dirty.
  
• putting both new wheels on the bike.
• installing the chain. This was the most frustrating part, because I always have trouble joining the ends together. I used a recently-purchased quick link tool (a bit like an oddly-shaped pair of pliers), but didn't have much luck with it, and ended up just pulling the 2 chain ends together with the quick link halves loosely connected to each end, then joining the quick link halves. It's at times like these you wish you had 4 hands instead of 2.
• I also cleaned the hard-to-reach parts of the bike while the various parts were off.

This was before lunch, so after lunch I'll install the brake pads, adjust them, then do some minor front and rear derailleur adjustment, and the bike should be ready for next week's commuting (and tackling The Hill again).

 

[Shut Up Legs]

All done, now. Another 45 minutes, and I replaced all 4 brake pads, adjusted the brake cables and pad angles, then took the bike for a quick test ride down my street to check that no banshees had hitched a ride. Now the commuter bike is ready for more commuting. I keep meaning to check the total distance it's gone, too, because it's very close to 100,000km now, and I've had it for about 7.75 years.