What Have You Fettled Today?

[HLaB]

I fitted new front pads to the commuter and pumped it tyres up in prep for my first commute for a year and half. What could go wrong; the ping demic (or what ever its called)! 'You have bee in close contact with some one with C19 and are recommended to test/isolate'. The last person I saw (in fact the last time I was out) was last Sunday, a week ago. They've came back from holiday and tested positive. I'd be pretty sure I was clear but I've had an annoying cold/ occasional cough all week and even though I have had zero other symptoms

 

[bruce1530]

Fettled: nothing. But if the question had been "what have you broken today"....

.. it would be a petrol lawnmower

Now, it's not a particularly good one. It was the cheapest no-name-brand one in B&Q about 6 years ago. I used it for a year or so, and it was a pain - too small and underpowered for my garden. But it did the job.

Then it broke after 2 years. Pissing petrol all over the deck.

A replacement carb from eBay sorted that - but in the interim, my wife had spoken to a neighbour, who is a gardener, and he offered to cut the grass once every 4 weeks for a very reasonable rate. He's been doing that ever since, and I've just been doing additional cuts in between when the grass is growing quickly.

Earlier this year, a tiny spring broke, I fixed it with a bit of elastic from a face mask.

I don't even put the thing under cover when not in use - for the last 2 or 3 years it has sat outside, behind the garage. And it starts first time every time!

Anyway - yesterday, decided to squeeze in one last cut before winter. Half way through, hit a big stone.

It used to have one big blade. Now it has 2 smaller ones.

And I've got a half cut lawn.

replacement blade is almost half the price I paid for the whole thing 6 years ago. Although I can get a 3rd party one for £15

 

[rogerzilla]

Sorted out a Moulton F-frame rear rack - freed off the "foot" of the bottom strut with a blowlamp and Plus Gas, and drilled out the rusted screw holding the top strut to the rack. Then straightened it - it was twisted, sheared sideways, bent, you name it.

Also did some minor straightening of a front rack to ensure all the bolts lined up before it goes off for powdercoating. They'll look like new in a fortnight's time.

 

[Chris S]

something's caused a really slow puncture, and even dipping the tube, I can't see any air loss.

I had the same problem. I pulled at a patch edge that had come away from the tube and it was possible to gradually peel it back. They were just stuck together and not chemically bonded. Another patch fixed the problem.

 

[Tom B]

I've fallen out of love with cycling and lost my mojo other than the necessity of commuting since spring. As a result the bike has been on a bit of a maintenance holiday (new baby and 3yr old hasn't helped).

Got a new superstar front hub for crimbo last year, finally got around to getting it built up by the not so lbs using one of them EST vouchers.

By this point the front wheel and bearings had deteriorated to the point there was a constant buzz through the handlebars and the guys in the office could hear me arrive on what sounded like a demented Newton's cradle.

Picked up the wheel and set about swapping the tyre over (you didn't think I'd buy a new tyre too did you) and found I had no rim tape, so ordered some (I'm a velox man). Fitted it at the second effort and only had to cut one brake disk screw out. The difference was amazing, but did allow me to then notice the play in the headset bearings.

Decided to push the boat out and fit the new set of bearings I've had in stock for a while now. They'd been swapped around and regreased when I ordered the spares and waited for them. According to Strava they've got about 30k on them so they've served well.

Cast my eye over the back end as I suspected the brake pads are low and noticed a bit of play in the wheel bearings. They haven't been touched for 3-4 years of daily commuting, kid ferrying and utility riding as well as pleasure rides etc.

Whipped the wheel out and fiddled with the bearings, but bit gutted to find theyre cones as I thought they was sealed cartridge type hence not touching them. I'm not the best with cone type and couldn't really find a balance between notchy and not loose.

Then noticed I had a broken spoke too, wheel is really true despite this so now toying with the idea of rebuilding it onto a new hub, getting the lbs to do the spoke and bearings or doing both myself. I'm just time poor at the moment. Annoying the spokes are a bit oddball too (it's a Shimano mt15 wheel with aero spokes) can't help but wonder how far behind the rest of the spokes will be.

 

[8mph]

Pretty much everything on my new Dawes Countryman, except for the BB. Both Maillard hubs were still packed with grease, so I just took the play out of the crank, replaced pedals and saddle, fettled brakes, limit screw, removed mudguards, fitted a front rack and tightened a couple of spokes.

This old tech is so much easier to work with imo, pretty pleased with the results, the bike feels smooth.

 

[simongt]

Raised the quill stem on my Galaxy as I've been getting slightly sore arms towards the end of my daily twelve mile commute. Took it up to the 'max' mark, seems to be doing the trick.
Equipment - Hex key, wrench & 'ammer.

 

[SydZ]

Simple job today. Adjusted light brackets on the front of my commuter after I got a comment from someone last night saying that I dazzled them. On inspection one bar bracket had rotated a little so they were correct.

 

[biggs682]

Fitted some guards to my Dawes Giro 500

 

[fossyant]

Simple job today. Adjusted light brackets on the front of my commuter after I got a comment from someone last night saying that I dazzled them. On inspection one bar bracket had rotated a little so they were correct.

I just fry anyone I come across on the canal. Not had any complaints, and the cooking bacon smell is quite nice.

 

[Elybazza61]

Added some sealant to the front Teravail Cannonball on the X-Trail after last weeks 'puncture';tyre had stayed up so no need at the moment for a plug(couldn't actually find the hole!).

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

A few bits and pieces on the knockabout bike (Hawk Trakatak) after my long ride yesterday. I had a pannier try to abandon ship crossing a bump so spent a while tweaking various things to make them fit better.

I picked up a puncture in the back tyre late in the ride so fixed the tube and decided to swap back to the Marathons for the winter for a couple of reasons; one being that I think they feel better on mud/leaf mulch covered lanes than the Vittoria Randonneurs (which otherwise are very nice) and the other being that my Marathon Winter studded set is the same size so my speedo should still be fairly accurate when swapping over on icy days.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

A wheelchair repair for me today, my Good ladies wheelchair broke last weekend, fortunately we were only a few yards from the house, initially I brought another wheelchair and E-Mailed the website I brought the chair off, it was only 11 months old, after a couple of E Mails a pair of replacement brackets arrived in the post Thursday. Tonight I've fitted them, I changed both even though only one was broken, I looked at it at first wondering about how to dismantle the chair but soon realized I didn't have to as I was able to fit them whilst the chair was folded by just pulling it about, I was surprised at how flimsy they were considering they were a major part of the structure.

 

[Willd]

Front derailleur stopped dropping down to the small ring, which was OK yesterday until I got here:

- cue cross chaining, puffing and panting

Checked it this morning, return spring thankfully OK, so a liberal application of Gunk degreaser, wash & dry and then a good spray of WD40 and everything seems to be back to normal

 

[si_c]

Cleaned the Trek commuter as I'd quickly lubricated the chain after ignoring it for a while. Unfortunately the chain was quite clearly worn so I replaced both it and the rear cassette with spares from my box. Also cleaned the derailleurs and made some adjustments to the indexing front and rear so it's a bit quieter and smoother. Nothing major it had just bedded in a bit more since I changed the cables and I had never got around to setting the stops properly on the front.

Unfortunately that's the last chain but had a quick look online and Halfords have a couple about a half hour ride away so I'm heading out to get a couple now. Need to have a look and find some more decently priced cassettes though.