What Have You Fettled Today?
- Thread starter threebikesmcginty
- Start date
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A non bike related fettle today, I noticed last winter that the back bedroom radiator was loose. I drained the radiator this afternoon and took it off the wall, it turned out that the rawplugs the bracket screws were screwed into on one end had disintegrated and there wasn't anything holding the bracket on the wall, I was able to just pull the bracket off the wall with almost no effort. I drilled the holes a little deeper, put in new slightly bigger rawplugs and put in filler where the plaster was missing round the holes. After waiting a while for the filler to dry I screwed the bracket back on the wall, remounted the radiator, refilled it and repressurized the boiler, the radiator is now solid on the wall.
They were bloody tight, it felt like the allen key might break as I undid the bolts, greased everything and back bloody tight again, and no creak from the pedals this evening. The seat, though, sounds like unfinished business.
I'd left my Bianchi hanging on the wall so long both tyres were flat and had popped off the rims 
They'd been losing pressure slowly since I built them so I knew something wasn't quite right and decided to take the opportunity to strip them down and start again 
First thing I noticed on both wheels was the tubeless tape was peeled up in a few places, and sealant had gotten to the spoke holes. That won't have helped then I had bought a big roll of unbranded yellow tape some time back, seems this was false economy. Unfortunately it's also fitted in 2 other wheel sets so they'll probably get stripped at some point too if they start losing air 
The next thing I noticed when cleaning the tyre up was there were nobbles of rubber all the way around both beads of both tyres, the larger of which had dry sealant around them. Seems pretty silly to have knobbly bits on a sealing surface to me so I went round with my side cutters and trimmed them all off
I had bought some Schwalbe high pressure rim tape to try this time; it states it's good to over 100psi with only one layer of tape applied which is higher than the tyres so I only wrapped it round once where I would normally do twice. It went on really nicely, sticking down well without too much effort so we'll see how well it stands up to use.
With that done I prepared to wrestle the tyres back on, but was fairly surprised to find I could mount and demount them (I put the first bead on backwards first, of course) then mount them again fairly easy by hand. Presumably this was due to the single layer of tape but I'm surprised that thickness of material makes such a big difference. I needed tyre levers to remove when I started with the old rim tape fitted I popped some new sealant in before rolling the last of the bead over the rim then it inflated perfectly with no leaks first time 
Seems to be seated nicely so I span it up a few times and will check it again in the morning to see how its holding 
All being well I'll do the rear tomorrow - I've cleaned the tyre up and trimmed it's nobbles (ooh er!) but havent cleaned and taped the rim yet in case the tape was rubbish
They'd been losing pressure slowly since I built them so I knew something wasn't quite right and decided to take the opportunity to strip them down and start again First thing I noticed on both wheels was the tubeless tape was peeled up in a few places, and sealant had gotten to the spoke holes. That won't have helped then I had bought a big roll of unbranded yellow tape some time back, seems this was false economy. Unfortunately it's also fitted in 2 other wheel sets so they'll probably get stripped at some point too if they start losing air The next thing I noticed when cleaning the tyre up was there were nobbles of rubber all the way around both beads of both tyres, the larger of which had dry sealant around them. Seems pretty silly to have knobbly bits on a sealing surface to me so I went round with my side cutters and trimmed them all off I had bought some Schwalbe high pressure rim tape to try this time; it states it's good to over 100psi with only one layer of tape applied which is higher than the tyres so I only wrapped it round once where I would normally do twice. It went on really nicely, sticking down well without too much effort so we'll see how well it stands up to use.
With that done I prepared to wrestle the tyres back on, but was fairly surprised to find I could mount and demount them (I put the first bead on backwards first, of course) then mount them again fairly easy by hand. Presumably this was due to the single layer of tape but I'm surprised that thickness of material makes such a big difference. I needed tyre levers to remove when I started with the old rim tape fitted
I popped some new sealant in before rolling the last of the bead over the rim then it inflated perfectly with no leaks first time Seems to be seated nicely so I span it up a few times and will check it again in the morning to see how its holding All being well I'll do the rear tomorrow - I've cleaned the tyre up and trimmed it's nobbles (ooh er!) but havent cleaned and taped the rim yet in case the tape was rubbish
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Fitted the rack to my old MTB, and washed my panniers (5 years without use). Might be commuting next week. 
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Bike light repairs.
Bought a 'Ding' light via kick starter about 7 years ago. Took 18 months to actually arrive, but by then I'd broken my spine and wasn't commuting. Pah.
Anyway, it was a good idea in that it has a down light to light up the road beneath and to your sides. Down side, the body itself had numerous issues. First use was off road muddy ride, not particularly wet. Water got into the light and the downlighter. Sealing was shocking, so I glued it all together. Roll on a year or two of occasional use, came to fit to bike and the mount ripped straight off. Tiny screw holding it on, but it snapped the fitting point.
Chucked it in the spares. Roll on yesterday, hmm, would a bigger self tapper work. Tried it, but the casing then fell to bits. Rummaged in the spares and found a tube of epoxy. Squirted some inside the casing where the hole now was, then applied more to the bracket and screwed the self tapper in. 24h later and its rock solid.
A test ride will see if it holds up.
Bought a 'Ding' light via kick starter about 7 years ago. Took 18 months to actually arrive, but by then I'd broken my spine and wasn't commuting. Pah.
Anyway, it was a good idea in that it has a down light to light up the road beneath and to your sides. Down side, the body itself had numerous issues. First use was off road muddy ride, not particularly wet. Water got into the light and the downlighter. Sealing was shocking, so I glued it all together. Roll on a year or two of occasional use, came to fit to bike and the mount ripped straight off. Tiny screw holding it on, but it snapped the fitting point.
Chucked it in the spares. Roll on yesterday, hmm, would a bigger self tapper work. Tried it, but the casing then fell to bits. Rummaged in the spares and found a tube of epoxy. Squirted some inside the casing where the hole now was, then applied more to the bracket and screwed the self tapper in. 24h later and its rock solid.
A test ride will see if it holds up.
LeetleGreyCells
Un rouleur infatigable
- Location
- Whitehaven Mansions
Fitted the newly arrived Kenda K812 mud tyres to my daughter’s 650A wheels. They are not as wide as I expected. I might get the vernier callipers on the tyres later as while they fit perfectly and are the right size for the wheel, I’m sure that the marked 37mm is not the actual size as they appear narrower. Of course, it could just be my imagination.
The real test will be to see how they perform in the mud.
The real test will be to see how they perform in the mud.
The final width of the tyres will depend on the width of the rim they're mounted to; a wider rim gives a wider tyre cross section with a flatter tread profile whereas a narrow rim will generally give the same tyre a smaller cross section and more rounded tread profile 😊
mickle
innit
- Location
- 53.933606, -1.076131
Andy in Germany
Guru
- Location
- Rottenburg am Neckar
The scuff marks I can identify with on my own elderly mechs. What is the advantage of the bigger jockey wheels?
mickle
innit
- Location
- 53.933606, -1.076131
Reduced jockey wheel rpm equals reduced bearing drag, larger diameter means the chain articulates less, so a corresponding reduction of chain link drag - also reduced wear rate, greater tooth capacity and increased cage plate (aka chain) tension. I'm guessing. The truth is I just like the look of them.
mickle
innit
- Location
- 53.933606, -1.076131
I needed to find a few mm
I refuse to let Shi**no dictate my stack height.
I refuse to let Shi**no dictate my stack height.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
That's one way.... God knows what I'l do when I eventually replace the STX headset on my MTB - the original Tange headset was a very low stack, so not much 'steerer'
mickle
innit
- Location
- 53.933606, -1.076131
This was just to get some material out of the way before hitting it with the facing tool.
I remember the STX being pretty tall...
