What Have You Fettled Today?

[Rickshaw Phil]

Friday: Fettling a summer house by cutting out a rotten section of window frame and making a replacement section. Hopefully that will keep the weather out now.

Yesterday: A bit more work on the vintage Raleigh. The new front wheel was disappointingly wobbly so I had it out, tensioned and trued it. There is a slight kink in the rim that I can't get out which you can still feel under braking but it's a lot better than it was. The rack came off to be straightened, cleaned up and repainted. Unfortunately it has cracked while I was straightening it - It'll still go back together but it'll be more for show rather than actual luggage carrying.
While waiting for the paint to dry I dismantled one of the old wheels so as to keep the original hubs. The spokes were in surprisingly nice condition apart from one so I've bundled them up to put to one side as well
I've started on cleaning up the brightwork by polishing using aluminium foil (can't remember if I learned about that technique on here or on YACF). It's doing a really good job of transforming a mess of rust back to fairly shiny chrome but will take time.

 

[ianrauk]

New bottom bracket fitted to the commuter/tourer and a good all round strip down for a clean and re-lube/grease.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Refitted my Trek 600 with a Shimano Tiagra FD and a SRAM GXP (or Giga X Pipe) bottom bracket and cranks. Old Shimano 600 stuff going over to the Bianchi when that is ready for it. Took a good deal of fettling, and I still need a GXP spacer to get things perfect.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Not fettling but I stumbled across a brand new pair of Durano Plus tyres in my garage that I didn't know I had. I have no memory of buying them. Result!

Strangely enough I was poring over the rolling resistance website last week and had decided to give Michelin Pro 4 Endurance a go, on the basis that they seem to have good puncture resistance but also low rolling resistance, which would convert me into a cycling god. I guess I'll have to remain as a slow mortal trundler for another year or so.

 

[overmind]

Fixing a slow puncture tonight (and fitting new headset bearings)

I cycled to the Velolife cafe yesterday as it is pretty close to me. I read a story about an injunction that seems absolutely ridiculous and decided to pay a visit. It looks like the Streisand effect is in play.

I got there a bit late and got a slow puncture just outside. A kind man in the cafe lent me a track pump (even though they had just closed). I was able to reflate the tyre just long enough to get home (I will bring a pump and a spare tube next time, doh!). The tyres have been so reliable - Schwalbe Marathon - I had developed a false sense of security.

I also received a set of headset bearings in the post today so I will fit those tonight. The front forks have been rocking a lot and when I try to tighten them up it is either too lose of too tight. I am hoping new bearings will solve this problem.

 

[JhnBssll]

Fixing a slow puncture tonight (and fitting new headset bearings)

I cycled to the Velolife cafe yesterday as it is pretty close to me. I read a story about an injunction that seems absolutely ridiculous and decided to pay a visit. It looks like the Streisand effect is in play.

I got there a bit late and got a slow puncture just outside. A kind man in the cafe lent me a track pump (even though they had just closed). I was able to reflate the tyre just long enough to get home (I will bring a pump and a spare tube next time, doh!). The tyres have been so reliable - Schwalbe Marathon - I had developed a false sense of security.

I also received a set of headset bearings in the post today so I will fit those tonight. The front forks have been rocking a lot and when I try to tighten them up it is either too lose of too tight. I am hoping new bearings will solve this problem.

I visited the VeloLife cafe last weekend. It was a bittersweet visit, with nice coffee and a great piece of cake marred by an altercation between a cyclist and a horse rider that he had apparently passed too closely. Eventually the neighbours came out and sided with the horse rider, placing all the cyclists fully in the 'blame' category, at which point I decided it was a thoroughly unpleasant place to be and went on my way We passed the horse rider a little way down the road, passed her carefully and thanked her and she was very pleasant. I fear the few will spoil it for the many in this instance, if this is a common occurrence and I lived next door I would be complaining too

 

[chriswoody]

During the last week of commuting the rear end on my folder was feeling really loose and nearly kicked me off a couple of times. A quick glance revealed nothing obvious amiss, so I left it until Friday when I finally had time to have a proper look and discovered a broken spoke. Problem is it's a 20 inch wheel running a coaster brake hub, so not your everyday length. Luckily we have a good old fashioned bike shop in town and by pure luck they had a pack in. So I bought several extras as well. It didn't take to long to fit and re-true the whole wheel.

Along with the broken spoke I also had some awful noises coming from the hub whenever I was free wheeling. So Saturday I stripped it apart and inspected it. The bearings are noticeably shot, however, due to It being a Shimano coaster brake hub, they are not off the shelf items and none of the bike shops in town had some in, most didn't even know Shimano made a coaster brake hub! So I decided to clean and re-grease everything, then throw it back together for the week. I've order some new ones off of the internet and they should be here this week, meanwhile with it's new grease, it's gone back to being a beautifully slick and quiet hub.

I also replaced the tires with some 20inch Kojaks, the old Marathon racers have done stirling service these last two years, however, the carcass is riddled with small holes and the side walls are shredded in places. It won't be long before I start seeing lots of punctures, so I decided to slightly prematurely replace them. So lots of love lavished on my folder and more to come when the bearings arrive.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Built a 20" wheel for the recumbent. Gone for 36 spokes as this will be used on long rides in remote areas with rough roads. May as well have spare spokes built into the wheel.

 

[JhnBssll]

Re-engineered my GPS backup battery mount this evening. Pleased with the result, its solid and not too obtrusive. In fact its completely invisible once you're in the saddle

As some sort of reward I was greeted by an email from the computer manufacturer when I sat down indoors alerting me to a firmware update that finally introduces Di2 connectivity. I downloaded it and went straight back put to play Took a while but I now have gear info and Di2 battery level displayed on the screen and, more usefully, I can navigate screens, zoom the map and pause the ride with the shifter top buttons, something Garmin users have been able to do for years but is brand new and exciting to me

 

[Denis99]

Alot of fettling over the weekend.

Bought a new Condor Fratello frameset from Condor and rebuilt with mainly Campagnolo Potenza and Hope wheels.

First shakedown ride was yesterday, just some minor adjustment to the rear mech.

 

[Vantage]

I replaced my cream longboard mudguards with my last two silver ones. The longboards don't cover enough of the side of the tyres so spray escapes everywhere and the front light bounces off the front of the guard blinding me in the process. Problems fixed now. Shame really as I loved the look of the longboards

 

[jongooligan]

Got the very seized bolts out of the cleats on a pair of old Lake MX101 shoes with a hacksaw and a very large mole wrench. Fitted new cleats and went for a test ride up and down the street on my Kinesis Racelight T2.

That has had a creaky click thing going on for a while which I thought was worn cleats on another pair of shoes. It was still doing the creaky click thing with brand new cleats though so it was obviously summat else. Found some play in the bottom bracket (Hollowtech 2) so tightened the preload thingy a bit until it ran true. IME though the bearings will be shagged so that will be a temporary fix at best.

 

[Heigue'r]

Had the day off work today so after seeing @Arjimlad 's TCR with mudguards,I got a set myself,sks raceblade long..fitted with 25mm michelin pro 4 endurance..There is probably less than a mm clearance under the rear brakebridge bracket,had to wedge an allen key beteen it and the tyre to get maximum clearance before tightening the brake caliper bolt.I didnt fit the rear front piece of mudguard as I did not have ball end hex keys to hand and it would of rubbed on the seat tube.Probably sunny skies for the foreseeable now they are fitted

 

[Arjimlad]

Had the day off work today so after seeing @Arjimlad 's TCR with mudguards,I got a set myself,sks raceblade long..fittet with 25mm michelin pro 4 endurance..There is probably less than a mm clearance under the rear brakebridge bracket,hat to wedge an allen key beteen it and the tyre to get maximum clearance before tightening the brake caliper bolt.I didnt fit the rear front piece of mudguard as I did not have ball end hex keys to hand and it would of rubbed on the seat tube.Probably sunny skies for the foreseeable now they are fitted

As you saw from the picture, I left the rear wheel front piece off too, after reading about an incident where one wasn't clipped on properly & jammed someone's wheel. Thanks for buying the sunshine !

 

[Denis99]

thought I should post an image up.

Second ride earlier today, works flawlessly.

Just gave it a wash.