What Have You Fettled Today?

[Jenkins]

Just as an experiment, I changed the handlebars on my Pickenflick from 600mm flat bars to some 740mm MTB riser bars.The only problem I found after a test ride was getting it through the back door and into the shed thanks to the bars' width.

And it's back on with the flat bars. While the risers felt fine on a short test ride, on today's longer riide I found myself too upright and pushed back on the saddle due to the shape of the bars. It was almost as if a shorter stem had been fitted.

 

[12boy]

Actually if raising the bars meant you were leaning less to hold the bars it is pretty much the same as a shorter stem.

 

[Chislenko]

Today, mostly I made a wheel trueing stand from an old set of forks and other assorted stuff I had in the shed. It's only good for 700 wheels but as all my bikes are 700 not a problem.

Had to enlarge one of the holes in the workmate to take the steerer tube but works a treat.

 

[DCLane]

Stuck latex inner tubes into the two Novatec wheels we've sourced for my son to use as training wheels. His Cervelo has a slightly twisted rear Dura-Ace mech so un-twisted that. Hopefully.

Then pulled out the pile of parts that was my Dawes Kingpin plus the box of replacement parts for the build which I packed away about 9 months ago when the frame went off for a re-paint. It would've helped if I'd kept better notes for re-building but ...

As it's been powder-coated quite a bit of excess laquer's got in, so I've removed bits. Still more to do. That was shown when the RH bottom bracket went in but the LH threaded section won't go in as some laquer's still on the threads. A job to do there as I'm swapping from the old-style bottom bracket threaded cups/bar to a square taper one.

Headset cups polished and in - that was about it given I'm not feeling 50%, let alone 100%. I hope it's deep bottom, thin top. Diagrams showed it that way.

Then it'll be:

- The rest of the headset needs metal polishing, along with the seatpost clamp, then installing with new 1/8" bearings.
- New A-head quill stem adaptor with stem, for new carbon bars that are en route.
- The revised lightweight seatpost goes in with lighter saddle.
- Need to decide whether I'm using the Dura-Ace 170mm crankset or the Tange 165mm I've got.
- Drill a hole for the Campag derailleur hanger I picked up costing £25
- LBS has been chivvied along with the wheel build; 451 rims on wider hubs.
- Once LBS has done the wheels I'll re-space the frame.
- Shifter(s) and rear derailleur. It'll get a 10 speed of some sort.
- Chainring(s) and chain.
- Brakes to fit and cable everything.

Still to buy: 10 speed RH flat bar shifter, possibly LH double shifter as well.

Photos when I've got more bits together.

 

[FrankCrank]

Decided my recently fettled bike maintenance stand needed some sort of tool tray attached. An old frying pan should do the trick

It'll build up a layer of oil over time, so maybe I could rig up a camping stove under it and cook some bacon & eggs - yummy

 

[DCBassman]

Wheels-off rim and brake block clean-up on the Revell mixte, to try and improve the braking somewhat. Which about describes the result, they improved...somewhat. But still not what I'd like, or anywhere near. I see long-drop dual pivots in my near-ish future...

 

[DCLane]

New SRAM Red cassette and seat clamp onto my son's hillclimb bike - it's now down to 5.4kg but that's it. No more to lose without spending big £'s. Seat clamp was fiddly as the PlanetX frameset is an odd size and we're working with a slightly too-small seat clamp and seatpost: problem solved with a bit of tape plus carbon paste which should hold.

Also more work on the Dawes Kingpin; forks in with new top/bottom bearings, new quill stem in and carbon bars, seatpost in with purple saddle. Photo tomorrow.

 

[LeetleGreyCells]

New brake and gear cables, jockey wheels and bar tape fitted to my Fuji.

Strangely, I couldn't fit a new Shimano gear cable to my Shimano Claris left shifter - the cable barrel was too big. On checking the original cable, it's a Campagnolo 1.1mm cable. Weird. So I've ordered a replacement which, due to the current nature of things, should arrive in about 10 days or so. The old cable will suffice until then.

I did check the brake pads before finishing with the new brake cables, and there's plenty of wear left.

 

[JhnBssll]

A couple of small jobs on the Pilot; I removed the rear wheel and added a 0.2mm shim behind the disc rotor in an attempt to align it more closely with the rotor on my other rear wheel. Seems to have done the job, I should now be able to swap the wheelset over without tweaking the caliper alignment The fronts already lined up - I used the same hubs for both wheels which helps I guess. I also tweaked the thru axles - I was getting a rattling from the telesopic levers that tighten/loosen the axle. An email from the customer support team suggested I adjust them so the levers were vertical instead of horizontal when stowed so I'll see how they behave next time I'm out on it

I also had a play with the Oltre - I'm getting the frameset replaced under warranty because the bottle bosses on the downtube are wonky This seems to be a marmite topic - when I show people they either cant see anything wrong and think I'm nuts, or agree that it would drive them nuts I guess it depends how OCD you are...

Anyway, as a result of it being replaced in a month or two I'm taking the opportunity to play with the stem height... I had used all 4 spacers when it arrived and had planned to tweak it down over time but for various reasons I barely used it last summer so it has remained at full height... This evening I checked the geometry charts for both the XR4 and my old XR3 - the XR4 has a 5mm shorter headtube, but otherwise they're pretty similar. Looking at old photos I could see I had 30mm between the top of head tube and the underside of the stem on the XR3, which suggests to get the same bar height on the XR4 I would need 35mm - I actually had 45mm So I've been riding the new 'racier' geometry bike with a higher front end than the one it replaced Oops... I decided to start by taking 15mm out to go down to the same 30mm of spacers I had before but a 5mm lower overall bar height due to the shorter head tube...

As soon as I took the top cap off I rememered what a faff the internal routing made the steerer assembly

To allow for spacer removal without completely removing the hoses, the spacers are split into two halves - you can see the split line here...

The rear brake hose and Di2 cable run though them at the front - all very neat when assembled but a real nuisance for adjustment and maintenance

Anyway I had time to get the bars lowered down and tightened before I called it a day and came indoors... I'll have to go back out tomorrow to trim the steerer, which will require front and rear caliper removal to allow enough play in the brake hoses to lift the bars out of the way to clamp on the cutter guide All fun and games... 😄

 

[JhnBssll]

I finished the job this morning I swapped one of the remaining 10mm spacers for a 5mm then trimmed the steerer tube down to suit before reassembling. I gave her a quick clean, did a quick 'burp' bleed of the brakes and cleaned the rotors with alcohol. Once all back together I gave her a blast down the local bus lane which has a couple of very small hills which are handy for bedding in rotors By the time I had whizzed up and down a few times they were biting nicely again I see her in the corner of my eye on the office wall all week but I still forget how pretty she is in daylight Hoping to pop out for a longer spin either this afternoon or tomorrow morning!

 

[Landsurfer]

My fettling did not go to plan today . My Boardman fixed needed some TLC ,it was not a quiet ride in part due to a well worn bottom bracket . Change the bottom bracket, simple what could possibly go wrong.
I then remembered the extractor threads were a bit worn on this chain set , again not a problem. Well it was the extractor tool just chewed up the remaining threads. “ oh crumbs “ I said or something like that,
This could mean the visit of shame to the LBS . But I’m pleased I managed to sort it myself. See photo. View attachment 566742 tomorrow I’m going to dig out my angle grinder to chop that chain set up , then I won’t be tempted to put it back on a bike.

Angle grinder and alloy don’t mix ...... be very careful .... you cant grow new fingers ...

 

[Gunk]

I added some Campy decals to my Ribble Turbo bike

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Oiled road bike chain before going for ride. This was because my recumbent had a rear flat when I was getting it out for ride, so used the bike n+1 insurance policy. So got that puncture to fix at some point this weekend.

 

[keithmac]

Trip down memory lane today, got 4 bikes in for carb work and chose the Honda NC30 (VFR 400R) first.

One of my first jobs was sorting out Japanese Imports 25 years ago, must have done 40+ NC30's!.

 

[Gunk]

I owned one about 25 years ago, brilliant little bikes, great for learning how to get your knee down!