What Have You Fettled Today?

[Jenkins]

Last night the securing/release clip on the rear mudguard (SKS Raceblade Long) finally gave up the ghost after 2 years of use with frequent removal and refitting so today I fitted the replacement set I've had in stock for a couple of months including renewing all the frame fittings front & rear as well.

 

[PeteXXX]

Defy2 fettled and ready for riding tomorrow.
I've not been out on this bike for a while, but all seems fine and dandy.
Just needed to nip up the cones a tad on the rear end.

 

[Tom B]

Went out on the clunker..

About as far from home as I could get the top jockey wheel seized solid. Nothing visibly preventing it turning. Ended up just letting the chain skate over the seized wheel and the bike sounding like an oldskool diesel. By the time I'd got back the chain had stripped off most of the teeth it was touching.

SRAM x5 is anyone is wondering.

 

[LeetleGreyCells]

Added bottle cage to my wife’s MTB. Not sure it’ll be used because due to the position of the bolts in proximity to the front fork, we need to buy the world’s smallest bidon. Found the smallest one at Halford’s which I’ll pick up once the mudguards for my son’s MTB arrive for click and collect.

Also added a kickstand to my MTB as I really hate lying my bike on the floor.

 

[NorthernDave]

Fitted a Topeak Bar Extender to the Giant so I can now mount any of my front lights, rather than just the small Electron Pod "be seen" one.
Not the most aesthetic of solution, but it works.

 

[Pumpkin the robot]

I converted the front end to a disc set up. I picked up a set of forks, wheel and mechanical disc caliper for just under £90. The biggest pain in the back side was fitting the mudguard on it.
All ready for the first commute of the year tomorrow.

 

[bpsmith]

Stripped, cleaned and regressed a mates set of Fulcrum Quattro’s. They were seized both on the outer nuts and the inner bearings. Ideally they need new bearings, but they are back up and running in better shape than I thought tbh.

 

[DCLane]

I've had a pile of little jobs building up to do over Christmas, but with being ill I've left them. They're now all pressing so this evening I've got all the bits out and have:

• Fitted new Conti Supersonic tyres to my youngest's 'spare' track wheels - Mavic Ellipse's (they'll be my 'good' wheels then )
• Got his new Sonderklasse track tyre out to stretch it to replace one he damaged in Manchester in December
• Fitted his new PlanetX track bars and bar tape to the track bike for Monday's track league.

Just the Sonderklasse to fit for that bike to be finished and track sprockets to swap over on the spare wheels (won't budge so are soaking )

• Fitted a carbon fork to his winter commuter. Too long - - and he said to just put the old one back as he'll only be using it for about the next 3 months
• Fitted a replacement Bontrager Paradigm saddle to my winter commuter. I prefer them and it's running an old spare saddle at present

Then set to work on his Giant TCR training bike:

• Fitted a new, longer 170mm Shimano 105 crankset and pedals
• Fitted new bar tape as the old tape was loose and after 18 months and 5,000 miles in all weathers plus indoor training
• Fitted new rear brake pads - he wondered why stopping wasn't easy

Then changed the 48 tooth Ultegra chainring over on a replacement 170mm crankset from the 165mm one he has for emergency race use.

As a result I'll have two 165mm Shimano cranksets (5700 and 6700) to sell and some carbon PlanetX cross forks.

That leaves me just his race bike to do: new longer seatpost and lighter saddle, longer stem and new tyres for the 2018 season. Or however much we can get out of it on the Cervelo S3 he uses.

 

[LeetleGreyCells]

I’ve fitted two sets of Zefal Classic MTB Mudguards to my wife and son’s bikes, then added some Topeak Defender XC11 for 27.5” to my MTB.

Also altered the angle of the drop bars on my road bike to a more comfortable angle (hopefully - I’ll find out in my next jaunt). I seemed to be leaning too far forward when having my hands on the hoods.

 

[ChrisEyles]

I lost my fettling mojo somewhat last year and the jobs have been piling up... but finally had a chance to order some bits and get craking over xmas.

Had a very good day's fettling yesterday and finally sorted out the niggling chainline issues on my fixed gear bike

I swapped over most of the spacers from the drive side to the non-drive side to move the sprocket about 4mm outboard, then re-dished the rim back to the middle of the frame. Didn't take as long as I feared and no snapped spokes (phew - they are pretty old!).

There is still a tiny wobble in the chainring which I'm unable to fix. I had it in the vice butthought better of it last minute 'cause it was so minor I'd probably have made it worse... but moving the sprocket seems to have made this un-noticeable.

Very satisfying!

Got new brake pads and cables for my two MTBs to fit next. One of them also needs the headset re-greasing and the other is going to get a snazzier derailleur upgrade from the spares bin. Mrs Chris's bike is due a new freewheel and am debating whether to swap from 6 to 8 speeds at the same time (would need a new cassette hub rear wheel for this but have all the other parts)... and I've just got a big box from the postie with some tyres for her "new" Dawes galaxy, which if she gets on with it will probably also want new bar tape, chain, cassette, and brake pads.

Need to keep that fettling mojo going!

 

[ColinJ]

I fitted my Crud Roadracer mudguards to my best bike (Cannondale CAAD 5) at the weekend. I don't normally ride it during the winter but the gears, chain and chainrings are already pretty worn so I might as well ride the bike through the winter and put nice new transmission parts on in the spring. I must put some old wheels on though. I really didn't like the sound of gritty water grinding away at my best wheel rims on my ride on Monday!

 

[Tom B]

Yesterday I finally picked up the new mech from the local decathlon and got around to setting to work before today's commute.

I got the new FD clamped on roughly in the right place and threaded up a new cable.

Measured the chain and found it was exceeding .75 so binned that. decided to thoroughly clean the chainrings and give them a closer look for wear as I had a feeling they was getting a bit long in the tooth. I dont think I was wrong...

I dont think the granny ring looks too bad but the other two are looking worn to my eye. They have 15'000+ all weather, grotty, north of england daily miles on them so I can't really complain especially seeing as I managed 364 days activity last year so maintenance slipped. ( I was going for 365 but missed the day the Mrs Tomb pushed out the heir).

So I am now trying to source a replacement 48/38/28 8 speed compatible triple rather than replacing the rings. I think the square taper receiver is worn, its been on and off about 8 bottom brackets of dubious quality including one occasion where it worked loose and now seems to have a permanent wobble.

Never the less I put it back together with a newish part worn chain. As i re-threaded the chain I notice that the tension jockey wheel was like a dick in a bucket. There was rub marks on the cage and this slop would probably explain the chattering noise. I remembered I had bought a spare pair of jockey wheels and eventually found them and fitted them. I then threaded the chain and started to set up the new FD, noting something was amiss I spotted this.

(yes i know the chain on the bike behind is filthy - its not been used for 18 months.)

I initially thought that I had miss-threaded the chain and was cursing the stupid Shimano Quicklinks (as opposed to the KMC type) when I stopped and noticed the chain was routed the same as on the bike behind. I scratched my head and noticed that the mech was not pivoting around the pivot closest to the hanger. This just about moved by hand and corrected the chain routing. I couldn't find a suitable key to undo the pivot so all I could do was lube and grease as best I could. It's better and operates now but is still tight and will need further attention.

With the bike at least operational got on with tiling the conservatory roof.

I now need to make up my mind on the replacement chainset, but 8spd triples with 48t outers seem to be getting a bit rare.

 

[ChrisEyles]

@Tom B sounds like a good day's fettling there!

I've got a 48/38/28 Shimano Altus triple on my tourer (8 speed on the back). It's not exactly high end but does everything you need it to and is one of the few cranksets out there that has quite a nice looking chain guard built in (which I find handy as I'm often wearing non cycling specific clothing on that bike). Here's a link to one if you're interested:

https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Shimano-FC...MI-MSA5b3E2AIVLrHtCh3hGgU9EAQYASABEgJOufD_BwE

 

[ChrisEyles]

If it's a sunday best sort of bike, this looks nice, but a bit pricier: https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m2b0s109p3/STRONGLIGHT-Impact-Triple

 

[raleighnut]

Yesterday I finally picked up the new mech from the local decathlon and got around to setting to work before today's commute.

I got the new FD clamped on roughly in the right place and threaded up a new cable.

Measured the chain and found it was exceeding .75 so binned that. decided to thoroughly clean the chainrings and give them a closer look for wear as I had a feeling they was getting a bit long in the tooth. I dont think I was wrong...

View attachment 390379 View attachment 390378 View attachment 390377

I dont think the granny ring looks too bad but the other two are looking worn to my eye. They have 15'000+ all weather, grotty, north of england daily miles on them so I can't really complain especially seeing as I managed 364 days activity last year so maintenance slipped. ( I was going for 365 but missed the day the Mrs Tomb pushed out the heir).

So I am now trying to source a replacement 48/38/28 8 speed compatible triple rather than replacing the rings. I think the square taper receiver is worn, its been on and off about 8 bottom brackets of dubious quality including one occasion where it worked loose and now seems to have a permanent wobble.

Never the less I put it back together with a newish part worn chain. As i re-threaded the chain I notice that the tension jockey wheel was like a dick in a bucket. There was rub marks on the cage and this slop would probably explain the chattering noise. I remembered I had bought a spare pair of jockey wheels and eventually found them and fitted them. I then threaded the chain and started to set up the new FD, noting something was amiss I spotted this.

View attachment 390380
(yes i know the chain on the bike behind is filthy - its not been used for 18 months.)

I initially thought that I had miss-threaded the chain and was cursing the stupid Shimano Quicklinks (as opposed to the KMC type) when I stopped and noticed the chain was routed the same as on the bike behind. I scratched my head and noticed that the mech was not pivoting around the pivot closest to the hanger. This just about moved by hand and corrected the chain routing. I couldn't find a suitable key to undo the pivot so all I could do was lube and grease as best I could. It's better and operates now but is still tight and will need further attention.

With the bike at least operational got on with tiling the conservatory roof.

I now need to make up my mind on the replacement chainset, but 8spd triples with 48t outers seem to be getting a bit rare.

Depending on BB width you should be able to get a 10 speed Deore to fit, I've got one on a 90s Raleigh 'Outlander' MTB running with a 7 on the back, the chainrings might be slightly thinner ( I don't think they are) but they won't be thicker so a 5-8 spd chain will run fine.