What Have You Fettled Today?

[ColinJ]

I have started putting my old Crud Roadracer mudguards on my singlespeed bike. As always, it is a fiddly process to get them not to rub when clearances are tight. I was getting a noise from the front guard once per revolution of the wheel. I thought that it was probably due to the wheel being out of true but that turned out not to be the case - non-true was in fact un-true! The problem is due to a kink in the tyre. I have taken a couple of pictures which try to illustrate the defect. They are not that clear, but you can see that something is not quite right.

I have had that problem before and it turned out to be due to the tyre breaking apart from the inside. That's a scary problem, so I whipped the tyre off to check it from inside. I can't find any problem with it! I used a magnifying glass to get a really good look but couldn't see anything wrong; I ran my fingers round the inside but could not feel anything wrong.

The tyre looks like it is only about 40% worn so I want to carry on using it if possible so I have marked the tyre where the bulge is and will check it again after every ride now to make sure that it is not getting worse.

The Crud guard will stop me forgetting about the problem. It will start rubbing again if the bulge gets even slightly bigger.

I want to fit the rear guard but somehow I have lost 1 of the 2 mounts plus its 2 rubber o-rings. I could understand if I had mislaid 1 of the 3 parts but to lose all 3 makes me think that I have put them all down somewhere. I will be able to bodge a mount if I have to but it is annoying to have lost these parts. I must have another look in a minute.

 

[si_c]

I want to fit the rear guard but somehow I have lost 1 of the 2 mounts plus its 2 rubber o-rings. I could understand if I had mislaid 1 of the 3 parts but to lose all 3 makes me think that I have put them all down somewhere. I will be able to bodge a mount if I have to but it is annoying to have lost these parts. I must have another look in a minute.

I know how that feels, lost one of the drawbolts for my pug somehow, thought I'd put them all in the same place, now not sure that I had it in the first place as I got it just as a disassembled frame, they're an odd size too, 4mm. Ordered some new ones, but it's still annoying.

 

[greekonabike]

I bought some really cheap 'universal' mudguards for £7.50 to see me through winter. Cut to today and I'm in the workshop attempting to install them. Back one goes on relatively easily but then I get to the front. The 4mm Allen bolt supplied with the mudguard is about 5mm too short to get through the top of the forks.

I rummage around in the box full of bolts I never use and can't find anything the same size with an a llen bolt head... So I've chucked it on with a wingnut for now. I'll be popping down the hardware store tomorrow to get the right bolt.

GOAB

 

[si_c]

I bought some really cheap 'universal' mudguards for £7.50 to see me through winter. Cut to today and I'm in the workshop attempting to install them. Back one goes on relatively easily but then I get to the front. The 4mm Allen bolt supplied with the mudguard is about 5mm too short to get through the top of the forks.

I rummage around in the box full of bolts I never use and can't find anything the same size with an a llen bolt head... So I've chucked it on with a wingnut for now. I'll be popping down the hardware store tomorrow to get the right bolt.

View attachment 153767
GOAB

Hacksaw the bolt to length, job done Easy to remove for summer

 

[greekonabike]

Hacksaw the bolt to length, job done Easy to remove for summer

The mudguards actually slide onto an l bracket so they're actually quite easy to remove and then the brackets stay on in case I need to put the guards back on again. I'd cut the bolt down to length but it's already annoying me that the front and back bolts aren't the same. Luckily my local hardware shop does individual bolts so I should have some luck in the morning.

GOAB

 

[Biff600]

Not much today, cleaned the bike after the manky ride yesterday. Put it on the TT and had half an hour on there. My ICE stickers arrived, so i stuck one on the bike and one on each helmet.

The weather doesn't look like it's going to improve for a while so the TT may get to earn it's keep !

 

[ColinJ]

I want to fit the rear guard but somehow I have lost 1 of the 2 mounts plus its 2 rubber o-rings. I could understand if I had mislaid 1 of the 3 parts but to lose all 3 makes me think that I have put them all down somewhere. I will be able to bodge a mount if I have to but it is annoying to have lost these parts. I must have another look in a minute.

I know how that feels, lost one of the drawbolts for my pug somehow, thought I'd put them all in the same place, now not sure that I had it in the first place as I got it just as a disassembled frame, they're an odd size too, 4mm. Ordered some new ones, but it's still annoying.

I searched the obvious places for the missing bits but they were nowhere to be seen. I suddenly had a brainwave - the most obvious place of all was on the bike from which I had removed all of the other parts ... D'oh - There it was, still attached to the old bike!

Having found the missing mount, I finished putting the mudguards on the singlespeed and did a 25 mile test ride. The bike is slightly heavier than before and a bit noisier over bumps, but so what ... it is a bike for winter rides. A few hundred grams isn't going to kill me and lowering my tyre pressures a bit helped quieten the bike.

That's 115 miles ridden on the singlespeed and no significant problems with it so far.

 

[ColinJ]

The problem is due to a kink in the tyre. I have taken a couple of pictures which try to illustrate the defect. They are not that clear, but you can see that something is not quite right.

View attachment 153756

View attachment 153757

I have had that problem before and it turned out to be due to the tyre breaking apart from the inside. That's a scary problem, so I whipped the tyre off to check it from inside. I can't find any problem with it! I used a magnifying glass to get a really good look but couldn't see anything wrong; I ran my fingers round the inside but could not feel anything wrong.

I did another couple of rides on the tyre but I was not happy with it so I just took it off to find out what was going on. A visual inspection with the tyre deflated doesn't show that anything is wrong but my fingers could feel the problem. The tyre was definitely breaking up out of sight inside the rubber!

I discovered that it became obvious if I flexed the tyre. I've tried to show it in this picture. You can clearly see that the tyre is not bending the way that an intact tyre would.

I have replaced it and will put the tyre on the bike which I only use on my turbo trainer to see if I can get it to fail in safety! (I think at some point it will explode in use and that would not have been any fun whatsoever if it had happened on the front wheel of a bike doing 50 mph down a hill!)

 

[Elybazza61]

Garmin cadence sensor fitted to the XLS and paired succesfully with the Garmin 500.

 

[Biff600]

Garmin cadence sensor fitted to the XLS and paired succesfully with the Garmin 500.

I've never understood why it has to be placed on the non-drive side crank arm.

 

[Elybazza61]

I've never understood why it has to be placed on the non-drive side crank arm.

Probably covering themselves as there is less chance of anything happening if one of the straps breaks,if it's on the drive side it could jam in the chain in theory.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

New middle chainring on the Raleigh today. When I fitted the new chain at the end of October it seemed okay on a test ride but on an extended commute it became clear that the new chain didn't want to play with the old chainring. With the weather and other distractions this is the first time the bike has been out since then. The new chainring is Deore spec (chainset is Alivio) so I'll be interested to see if it lasts any longer.

Also cleaned the knockabout bike which was truly filthy after a century then commuting last week. The rear brake blocks were down to the minimum after only 600 miles (admittedly very muddy and gritty ones) so those have been replaced too.

 

[ColinJ]

@Oldfentiger met me in Todmorden to give me his old Garmin eTrex Legend HCx. In its day (8-10 years ago) that was a top GPS. This one is generally in very good condition but Oldfen had left it in a drawer for years with batteries in. The batteries had leaked and corrosive battery chemicals had damaged the battery compartment. It seemed a shame to chuck out the GPS but not worth paying a shop to fix it, so Phil donated it to me to see if I can revive it. I am using an even older and less powerful eTrex so if I can get this one working it would be a significant upgrade for me.

So, here you go ...

Garmin eTrex Legend HCx fettling, part #1

This is the device I am talking about:

I thought that I might be able to get away with cleaning the battery contacts, or maybe wedging in some folded up pieces of cooking foil to make a better contact. That didn't work ... It wasn't long before one of the battery contacts fell off. The corrosion had obviously trashed it. I needed to dismantle the device ...

You can see the disintegrated battery contact.

In this picture you can see that the contact is no longer there ...

When I had a look inside the case I discovered that one of the internal power wiper contacts had gone. You can see two metal pads on the printed circuit board, There are supposed to be flexible metal wipers feeding power from the batteries to those pads. Wiper #1 and pad #1 are fine. Wiper #2 has vanished and pad #2 was corroded.

I have cleaned up pad #2 and will solder a wire onto that to connect to a new spring battery contact. I'll have a think about what to use for the replacement contact. I could use part of the old contact but I think I might improvise one using something else.

I'll report back when I have replaced the contact. If it works then I will need to get some double-sided adhesive tape to seal the sides of the GPS and attach its rubber surround.

Watch this space ...

PS Thanks for the GPS, Oldfen!

 

[ColinJ]

I'll have a think about what to use for the replacement contact. I could use part of the old contact but I think I might improvise one using something else.

I might just use thin single-core cable, strip a length of it and wind that into a coil to form a contact. The batteries are a tight fit so the negative end of the battery should wedge that coil of wire against the end of the compartment ... That is an easy thing to try. If it works, fine. If not, I will have to come up with something more sophisticated

 

[ColinJ]

I have now ridden a total of 187 miles on my singlespeed bike and the chain finally came off today. I was in fairly heavy traffic on a narrowish road with a gradual descent and I felt pressured into riding faster than I normally do on the s/s. I have just calculated that I was pedalling at a cadence of about 110 rpm. The road surface is bumpy and I could hear the chain tensioner slapping about, and then the chain came off ... I probably should have slowed down but impatient drivers were getting too close and it felt like one of them would inevitably go for a dodgy overtake if I didn't get out of their way ASAP.

I'm not too disheartened - the setup had been very reliable up to that point and that was a fairly extreme test. I put the chain back on and observed that it is now slightly slacker than it was 187 miles ago so I adjusted the chain tensioner to push the chain up harder. The push was a bit too subtle before. Now, I can really see the deflection of the chain over the jockey wheel.

The chain was damn mucky! It was squeaking after a couple of wet rides so I wet-lubed it. I did a couple more rides before putting mudguards on the bike and a lot of dirt seems to have stuck to the chain in between.

I have draped a rag over the chain to remind me to clean it before my next ride.

Oh, and I need to do something about the front piece of the front mudguard. The Cruds can be noisy and this one is flapping about and rattling against the underside of the front brake calliper. I tried wedging something in there but it fell out on the ride and the rattling noise returned. I will stick several layers of gaffer tape together to form a thick self-adhesive pad and use that.