What Have You Fettled Today?

[Elysian_Roads]

Mmmm, given I'm only 4ft 11, I really doubt it's quite *that* big Probably a 15 inch frame as a guesstimate. It's running on 24 inch wheels as it's a junior bike.

If it had a slanted top tube as opposed to a horizontal one, it would fit me just fine. But it's just that little bit too tall, so starting / stopping / junctions can get a bit hairy. And painful. DAMHIKT.

And here is the bike in question - photobombing cat included.

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I won't ask... Ouch! But once you have fettled the running gear to your satisfaction, that kind of leads on to a frame swap as a project, does it not?????

 

[Reynard]

If it is an old budget MTB it is likely that the bb will be a cup and cone rather than a cartridge one, I am currently dealing with that in my bike. The advantage is that cup and cone are easy to service.

Oh, that's useful to know. The numbers on the rear mech date the bike to October '87. I've had it since '93.

 

[Reynard]

I won't ask... Ouch! But once you have fettled the running gear to your satisfaction, that kind of leads on to a frame swap as a project, does it not?????

I'm not sure...

But I do have a nice little restoration project up in the loft that I plan on tackling once I'm a bit more confident.

 

[mikeymustard]

This Specialized Globe town bike has been sitting in the garage gathering dust and rust for the last few years.

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Every time I go in the garage I look at it thinking I should get it back on the road. Well today was the day.
Stripped it down, cleaned and re-greased the headset which came up surprisingly clean

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Greased the seat tube, and give the whole bike a thorough clean. Adjusted the Nexus 3 speed hub although not entirely happy with it. I can select gears 2 & 3 but not gear 1. Think a new cable might fix this.
It’s going to get new brake Calipers and I’m going to get new levers at the same time, more of an upgrade than anything else. I fitted new sks mudguards which I had in the spares box and added a brooks saddle which I had kicking around. Dusted off a pair of pedals from some other project from years ago.
When I dropped the forks out the thread came out of the star nut when I undid the headset so I need to replace that as well.

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Really pleased with the way it’s turned out, haven’t spent a £ on it yet and it will be road worthy and upgraded for less than £100.
A town bike, ideal for trips to the shops, popping round to see mates and even the odd commute to work.

Lovely

Looks good with the Brooks on it!

 

[raleighnut]

Y

Mmmm, good point. I'm assuming that there are different BB extractors according to type? (sorry if this is an idiot question)

Yep, some of them even have a 'self extracting' feature where undoing the fixing bolt pushes against a threaded 'cap' when you unscrew it and pushes the crank off the splines. The square taper crank is still the most common although the external bearing cranks (whether push fit or screwed into the BB shell) are slowly taking over.

 

[biggs682]

Had an hour swapping tyres on the Pollard and the fr tyre on the family tandem tonight leaving just the rear one to do now

Fitted the matching rear tyre this morning so now the family tandem is up and running

 

[LeetleGreyCells]

"That and the fact that it's actually a bit too big for me.

It's an Emmelle Leopard 10, btw."

Had to Google the Emmelle. First example I saw was a 22" frame example on Gumtree. Yup, that looks big!!!!

One purchase I am loving is a bike repair stand. My is a Halfords bike hut one, so nothing special but makes working on the bike so much easier.....

I bought a Lidl one a few weeks ago. Absolutely brilliant and no aching back after a good fettling session.

 

[Reynard]

A repair stand - and some additional bike-specific tools are definitely on the agenda.

Today I removed the bars and forks, cleaned and greased the headset bearings, lubricated all the threads and reassembled everything. Bottom bearing race was a bit pitted, but managed to buff most of it out.

 

[bpsmith]

Built up n+1 after annual leave day for parcel to arrive after 3pm. Swapped cranks to shorter ones I had ready. Swapped wheels also. Got it nicely set up following my other bike. Just need to wait until Saturday for first test ride.

 

[Reynard]

Yep, some of them even have a 'self extracting' feature where undoing the fixing bolt pushes against a threaded 'cap' when you unscrew it and pushes the crank off the splines. The square taper crank is still the most common although the external bearing cranks (whether push fit or screwed into the BB shell) are slowly taking over.

Actually, I'm not sure what type of crank it's got...

The cranks and pedals seem to be integrated units that are fixed to the bottom bracket using hex head bolts. But the bolts are recessed into the cranks and there's not enough space around them to insert a socket or a spanner to facilitate removal.

 

[mikeymustard]

I was going to ride it but after one gust of wind nearly blew my bloody back door off (to misquote Michael Caine) I wimped out and cleaned the chain on my Equilibrium instead. I've not ridden it much (only built it about 2 months ago) but a coupla short commutes - like 5-10 minutes - a week have made a right old mess

Edit: oh, and cos I was bored I thought I'd try heating up my TF2 dry wax in the microwave to see whether it had any effect on it.
I dunno if it did anything to the wax but it turns out the bottle doesn't like microwaves much!

 

[Leaway2]

Actually, I'm not sure what type of crank it's got...

The cranks and pedals seem to be integrated units that are fixed to the bottom bracket using hex head bolts. But the bolts are recessed into the cranks and there's not enough space around them to insert a socket or a spanner to facilitate removal.

If you post a picture looking down on the bb/chainring, we will be able to see.

 

[C R]

Y

Yep, some of them even have a 'self extracting' feature where undoing the fixing bolt pushes against a threaded 'cap' when you unscrew it and pushes the crank off the splines. The square taper crank is still the most common although the external bearing cranks (whether push fit or screwed into the BB shell) are slowly taking over.

But that would be self extracting cranks, not bottom bracket (i'm sure you know that, I guess it was just a slip of the tongue). For the usual square taper bottom bracket you need a crank extractor, and then a special spanner to remove the lock ring in the adjustable cup (it is a ring with notches), and then another spanner to turn the adjustable cup (on the non drive side). Removing the cup on the drive side in this type of bottom brackets is another story.

 

[Illaveago]

Been teaching myself some basic bicycle mechanics the practical way this afternoon, using my old (and no longer ridden) MTB as a teaching aid.

Rear brake didn't work, so removed the caliper, took it apart, cleaned it, found that the plastic washer at the pivot point had disintegrated, replaced said washer, reassembled caliper (no, I didn't have any pieces left LOL), refitted to frame, re-tensioned cable and voila, one working rear brake.

Loads of tinkering-type stuff still to be done if I want to move her on, so need to decide what to do next.


I have good socket set, range of spanners, allen keys and my topeak multi-tool. Anything else worth adding to that in terms of useful tools?

A nice cable cutting tool to stop you getting frayed ends when fitting new cables .

 

[C R]

Actually, I'm not sure what type of crank it's got...

The cranks and pedals seem to be integrated units that are fixed to the bottom bracket using hex head bolts. But the bolts are recessed into the cranks and there's not enough space around them to insert a socket or a spanner to facilitate removal.

Looking at the photo you posted further up, I would guess they are bog standard square taper cranks. What kind of socket did you try to use to get at the nuts? The cranks look very similar to mine, and in mine a standard 14 socket just fits, then you use one of these

to extract the crank.