What Have You Fettled Today?

[Salad Dodger]

Today I needed to take the free play out of the rear brake on the ebike.
A cable tie fastened around the brake arms as a "third hand" was bloomin useful.

If only getting good adjustment on the gears could be so easy......

 

[IaninSheffield]

Fitted new cassette and chain on Koga tourer on Sunday. Sounded a bit noisy & indexing was 'less than optimal' so adjusted to get shifting working across the ranges.
Still noisy.
Took it for a run to see whether it was the new chain that needed bedding in.
Nope.
Internet search for possible causes/solutions, of course dropping by Sheldon Brown's. Removed cassette and refitted. Nipped up the lockring a little tighter.
No joy.
Following Park Tools video advice, listened (and observed) intently whilst the chain was running, nowhere near smoothly enough I should add. Finally spotted it!
Had installed the chain running through the rear mech the wrong side of a bar across the cage plate, just below the jockey pulley. Doh!

I lay out my embarrassment here so that others might avoid such frustration in the future
Enjoy your troubleshooting.

 

[Goldy]

Cleaned the mud off the kona after yesterdays small off.
Fitted new tyres, grips & bottle cage to my cheap carrera gryphon ready for its first outing

 

[I like Skol]

Fitted a new RS500/Tiagra 4700 Hollowtech bottom bracket to my commuter today after noticing some play and the occasional noise. Turns out the L/H non-driveside bearing was getting rough and on its way out. Driveside is still silky smooth so will be kept, just in case. Previous experience tells me it will always be the L/H cup that fails.

Not very impressed, 10 months and just 2300 miles before it started to fail. I haven't had much better luck with previous Hollowtech BBs on my other bikes either. It certainly isn't a good design and not a patch on the good old UN55!

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Fitted a new RS500/Tiagra 4700 Hollowtech bottom bracket to my commuter today after noticing some play and the occasional noise. Turns out the L/H non-driveside bearing was getting rough and on its way out. Driveside is still silky smooth so will be kept, just in case. Previous experience tells me it will always be the L/H cup that fails.

Not very impressed, 10 months and just 2300 miles before it started to fail. I haven't had much better luck with previous Hollowtech BBs on my other bikes either. It certainly isn't a good design and not a patch on the good old UN55!

They sound a bit short lived, I got around two years from the first one on my Eastway, the second one looks like lasting a bit better, now if I could stop my left cycle shoe from creaking I'd have cracked it.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Needed to get creative to solve this one.
Gutter downpipe come away on 3rd floor.
Last time this happened we were charged £1500 yes 1.5 k to re- attach a pipe.. Scaffolds 2 men....

So i constructed a tool for re- attaching the pipe.
Use the wood prongs to grip the pipe to put it back on, then taped a drill to the prongs to drill a pilot, I've glued a screw to a stick to secure it later, cost 1hour of my time..and that's about a tenner to my employer.. Or more to the point a months salary..

 

[I like Skol]

Needed to get creative to solve this one.
Gutter downpipe come away on 3rd floor.
Last time this happened we were charged £1500 yes 1.5 k to re- attach a pipe.. Scaffolds 2 men....

So i constructed a tool for re- attaching the pipe.
Use the wood prongs to grip the pipe to put it back on, then taped a drill to the prongs to drill a pilot, I've glued a screw to a stick to secure it later, cost 1hour of my time..and that's about a tenner to my employer.. Or more to the point a months salary..


View attachment 482214 View attachment 482215 View attachment 482216

Done similar myself. My wonderful kids had managed to get a tennis ball on to the flat roof of our loft conversion and it made its way into the gutter and sat at the top of the downpipe, hence gushing torrents of overflowing water whenever it rained.

Because this is now at 2nd floor roof height my ladder doesn't quite reach and is stored elsewhere anyway. My cunning solution was a broom handle with a wire coathanger claw fashioned on the end and 20-30 minutes fumbling out of a narrow bathroom window. Frustrating, but eventually successful.

EDIT: I popped their ball and put it in the bin!

 

[Crackle]

Loosened and re-tightened the left pedal which stopped the irritating soft click it's taken me three rides to track down.

 

[Vantage]

Made a bigger & better front mudflap.

 

[Crackle]

Loosened and re-tightened the left pedal which stopped the irritating soft click it's taken me three rides to track down.

It's back. I fear a pedal strip down is required. I might add that to my end of year maintenance list which due to budget cuts could be my beginning of spring maintenance list.

 

[youngoldbloke]

Mudguards back on. Involved complete cleaning and lubrication of the rest of the bike - of course!

 

[Goldy]

Just converted my kona to single drive sprocket and adjusted the gears on the carrera

 

[Vantage]

Washed and polished the bike. Fitted some new semi-knobbly tyres coz yesterday in the moors was scary coming down the bumpier trails.
The drivetrain has been sounding and feeling rough as a hedgehogs arse for ages. I didn't know what was going on as everything was brand new...ish. Today I found the issue! I screwed in the B-tension screw and it ran smooth as a very smooth thing. The top jockey wheel was too close to the sprockets. Doh!

 

[JhnBssll]

Had a smashing day at bike park Wales yesterday which meant the bike was a bit of a state

First job when I got home this afternoon was to wash it down and get it all working again as the mud and grime had played havoc with the running gear...

While the gear was out I gave the Methanol a clean too as I'd been out for a damp mid week spin on it and hadn't had a chance to clean it down. In the process I noticed what a big weight difference there is between the two bikes; of course I expected there to be a difference, but the Bianchi is very light for a MTB, <11kg on the scales with 100mm of front suspension and a dropper post

With the bikes clean I thought I'd fix a problem with the Stumpjumper that had become painfully obvious the previous day - the dropper post remote lever was right in the way of a comfortable grip. I'd noticed before but it was more of a problem on the downhill trails and caused a few grip issues and a blister on my thumb within the first hour or so of riding. As you can see here the design means it is very close to the grip where your thumb should wrap around the bars...

Bit of a crappy design to be honest but there you go. Instead of spend any money on it I decided to go for the tried and tested "cut it down" approach so popped it in the vice and grabbed the hacksaw...

A few minutes later, back on the bike, it seems we're on to a winner. Plenty of space for a gloved thumb now and still within easy reach

Once happy with the new length I rounded the edges with a file and gave it a spot of black touchup paint to hide the scene of the crime a little Nobody would ever know it's been butchered now Unless they look at it from more than a few metres away, then it'll be fairly obvious

I need to bleed the brakes too, might attack that later if I get a few moments

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Yesterday afternoon

Took the chain-rings off the CGR, so I could wipe clean/degrease the sections behind the arms

Also, started looking at SWMBOs Boardman, with regard to fitting lights, for when the clocks go back