What Have You Fettled Today?

[Mike_P]

Back last autumn I commented on a broken valve to a Joe No Flats inner tube on my hybrid. It had one outing later in the year, when I could not that morning be bothered to fix a flat on the road bike, and the tyre pressure still seemed okay but over winter it had depressurised somewhat so a new Joe No Flats inner tube acquired and this afternoon I plucked up courage to tackle the matter. Turned out not be a shower of sealant and the old tube was fully deflated by gripping its valve in a pair of end cutters and twisting it until something gave. Thankfully the inner tube came cleanly out of the tyre; I have one in the past that had sealed itself to the tyre meaning a new tyre needed as well. New one fitted although getting the tyre on needed added strength from a mug of tea and a hot cross bun.

 

[DCBassman]

Both the Scott and the Revell on the stand today.
First the big job, the front mech on the Scott. After much cursing and much study of the Park Tools Blue Book, I've got it working. Took over an hour...
Second, replace the Koolstop Salmon Classics on the rear of the Revell mixte with a set of generic MTB blocks, Clarks, I think. After cleaning the rims YET AGAIN. It seems to have made A difference, but I'm too tired now to take either for a blast to see if all this work has actually achieved anything...

 

[Gunk]

I connected up a lead and socket to the power lead of my TomTom Rider so it can be plugged straight into the loom of my new BMW motorcycle. It allows the sat nav to be powered on and off with the ignition and avoids the need to connect it directly to the battery, so a nice elegant solution. Unfortunately my soldering was not particularly elegant, but it should all work.

 

[pawl]

After receiving my cleaning kit order from Bike 24, I cleaned my son’s S-Works drivetrain first and then the remainder of the bike - the drivetrain was really dirty and he got stuck in too which was nice to see - he’s only 11. It has white bar tape and saddle and it’s so difficult to remember not to touch either during cleaning - I’ll stick to black on my bike when it eventually arrives
First time using a ‘chain cleaner’ device with a reservoir of cleaning fluid and various brushes inside - fantastic bit of kit - the chain was sparkling when we’d finished , rinsed and re-applied lubricant.

I’ve been thinking about getting one of those chain cleaning tools What make did you get?

 

[bikingdad90]

If not a chain cleaner has anyone used the Tru tension kits? The videos look cool especially the degreaser but dubious of how effective it really would be as it goes from greasy to shiny with a spray only.

 

[Colin Grigson]

I’ve been thinking about getting one of those chain cleaning tools What make did you get?

I bought the ‘muc-off’ brand - I’d recommend it unreservedly

 

[kellis]

I bought the Park Tool one and its great

 

[DRM]

I bought the Park Tool one and its great

And you can get replacement parts for it too.

 

[Jenkins]

Having finally got a new chain for the Bootziper (NX Eagle - very little stock anywhere) I fitted it this morning. Initially I'd shortened it too much causing the chain to slip on the cassette as there wasn't enough contact area, so I then added all the links back in and removed them one or two at a time until it all worked properly.

Anybody who says the SRAM quick links are single use only is wrong - I'd saved the one from the old chain and used this when sorting out the correct chain length meaning it's been opened & closed 4 times so far.

 

[C R]

New pads and cables for the brakes on the commuter. As I am not commuting I had neglected it, and just noticed that the pads on the front were well past the wear indicator.

 

[biggs682]

Fitted a set of gatorskins last night to my Woodrup single speed

 

[FrankCrank]

Made my first ever weld on alluminium today, quite pleased with it really:

My DC machine is only supposed to be good for steel, you need an AC/DC one for ally, and helium instead of argon, and different tungstens, but guess you don't know till you try. This was just a test piece for a neighbour who wants to make a part for his car, so it was him really who talked me into it. Obviously if you were doing a lot of ally welding you'd have all the proper gear, but for a one-off it's good to just use what I've got

 

[DCBassman]

Today was fettling some bits on the Trek 800 Sport prior to sale. I'll be sad to see it go, I've had it from new in 2001, but I've no ongoing space for three bikes, so...
Crankset off and cleaned, refitted. Cleaned the lower frame while it was off. General checking of bolt tightness, brake block alignment, anything else I could think of. Front wheel off and bearings checked and greased. They looked fine, added some more grease, reset cones and refitted seals. All good.
Ready to go!

 

[Chris S]

Not so much fettling as a lucky accident. I've got a non-OE bottom bracket in my Raleigh and I couldn't tighten up the adjustable cup enough to get rid of all the free play. I cycled up a steep hill today and the extra load seems to have tightened things up for me. The free play has gone.

 

[HLaB]

Its going to snow tomorrow, my fault I stuck the summer wheels back on the bike. The tubeless tyres were still seated so I went with the easy 15minutes option of removing the valve cores and topping up the sealant. 3 hours after reinserting the core and topping up they are still solid. I hope they still are in the morning