What Have You Fettled Today?

[Ming the Merciless]

@Ming the Merciless, where I am it would be getting rolled into the garage and left alone for another day. Absolutely chucking it down and blowing a gale, storm Dudley has well and truly hit with an orange weather warning. Got my kid and Maddie Moat on TV for company. Dads will know about Maddie 😋.

Well the fix mostly consisted of me chasing the strip of patches and inner tube around the garden. Bit windy. After I’d put the rubber solution on I hung the tube in the porch to stop it blowing away again. Light rain but that was ok.

 

[GeekDadZoid]

Front Derailleur had been getting knocked when pedalling in big ring. Front derailleur straightened and nice and smooth again. Went for ride for a couple of hours and got puncture in last mile back home. Bike sat outside whilst I drink tea before my next fettling which is to fix the puncture.

Hope it's not blown away :-/

I've not been up to much tinkering over the last week a combination of extra busy work and trying to reduce costs before the next gas bill, I am trying it be a bit sensible working on projects. But have been putting a list together of what's outstanding.

Need to get my head around rod brakes so I can get the latest project out the door for my sister. It's a Portuguese 90s vintage style bike so in quite nice shap, ideally I will find a cheap basket and it should be perfect for her for the few miles she will ride it a year.

I am also waiting for SJS to get the Sturmey Archer thumb shifters back in so I can get my gazelle back on the road with its new Marathon Plus tyres, this bike will live outside so cosmetics are not important, but I need to fit a front crate on it so I can free up the rear rack for some panniers. Should be my main errand bike then.

The Holdsworth Adventure bike is still the favourite and I think I want to make some effort to find a set of 700c wheels so I can run it over the summer without loosing too much speed. 130 OLD rear wheel makes it a little trickier especially as I would ideally like a freehub.

Raleigh Wayfarer needs the bottom bracket re assembled and the cranks replaced after some work, I have new cotter pins in stock now so it's just a time issue. Still need new stem / handlebars to get it perfect.

My old Saracen hybrid has probably hit the end of the road unfortunately, it's been a fab bike. I need to work out if I can comfortably tow the WeeHoo trailer with the Holdsworth, if so then that was it's last duty, so I will part it out. I'll probably use the tyres on the Holdsworth's 700c wheels when I get them and the wheels will probably go into storage as they are nice and strong. Rack and mudguards to be removed too then off to the great scrap heap in the sky. I'll check if the local bike recycling place want it for letting trainees wild on first.

The Dawes Giro 300 has been unused since about November due to the weather and terrible roads surfaces, but it needs a shake down ride so I can have it prepped for spring.

The Emmelle will hopefully sell soon.

And the ever wonderful brompton needs a clean, it's been pulling the heavy lifting this year in the horrible weather so I'll treat it to a nice clean and relube.

Enough bikes???

 

[HLaB]

Doh, I realised my road bike saddle had slipped by over 3cm. I think the in between position was pretty comfortable and efficient, that the height it was when I spent a week in Tenerife climbing but with my cranks failing a month later I've put on old cranks temporarily and whilst they are just 2.5mm longer I felt it. 3cm is too big for one go I think so I have put it up 1cm for now.

 

[chriswoody]

So after last weeks wet and gritty ride finished off both front and rear brake pads for good, along with the front rotor. I only had one set of spare pads on the shelf, so today a care package arrived for the bike. One set of pads will sit on the shelf as a spare set, but the other is going on the bike.

The new rotor was quickly fitted to the front wheel, after which I gave the front brakes a bleed. So on the front, that's the calipers and pistons all cleaned up and bled alongside a new rotor and pads.

On the back, it was just a new set of pads and the pistons/caliper was all cleaned up with isopropyl alcohol. Annoyingly the pads were still dragging on the rotor on one side, so I loosened off the mounting bolts and re-centred the caliper which cured that issue.

Then after the brakes, it was on to the tires, the old Raddler's were quite worn and the side lugs were in a right sorry state. The tires have been on there for two years now and a fair few thousand off-road kilometres, so they've done well. The only issue was breaking the seal on the rim, they've not been off the rim in two years and were seated really strongly. This is why I never carry a spare inner tube, because breaking the seal required me to get quite medieval on it, not something that's possible out on the trail. I was quite interested to see what two years worth of dried sealant looked like on the inside of the tire.

After the fight to remove the old tires, I cleaned up the inside of the rim with Isopropyl alcohol, the old sealant cleaned off the tape really easily and it all came up looking like new. The new tires went on quick and painlessly, a quick shot of 140psi through the airshot tank and the reassuring crack of tires seating onto the bead. I left the sealant out for now, I just want to check that all's well and they're holding air before I do so.

Whilst I was ordering the essentials, I also ended up ordering a new set of handlebars. The old Kona bars are not bad, but the curve on the drop is a little tight and they're not the comfiest to ride in that position. I was also hankering after more flare on the drops, the Kona comes with a smidge over 12 degrees and I wanted more. So I went for a set of 50 cm wide Salsa Cowchipper's, with 24 degrees of flare and a much nicer shape in the drops. Curiously they also have a shorter reach, which brings the hoods a tad closer to me. It didn't take long to fit them and I left them unwrapped for now while I dial in the fit. Riding around the estate though whilst bedding in the brake pads, they felt absolutely lovely, the extra width and flare over the old bars has really improved the low speed handling. I'm looking forward to getting the bike out on a longer ride now to test it all out, just a shame the current weather is really not conducive to riding in the forest.

 

[Scotchlovingcylist]

Bit more than a fettle but didn't feel it warranted its own modification/rebuild thread.

Fitted some Kona P2 forks to my Rockhopper to replace the knackered XCM'S.
New rear rotor and pads.
Fitted the Conti contact cruisers, these are the easiest tyres I've ever seated, took literally minutes.
Pannier rack to fit tomorrow when my mate drops it off.

Wouldn't have minded if it looked a bit 'hacky' as the plan is for it to be an all purpose do anything bike but actually think it looks alright so far.
It may end up with some different bars at some point too.

Before and after pics.

 

[DCLane]

Son no. 2's racing the Guido Reybrouck Classic in Belgium in March and I sorted out the wheelset he's going to be using this evening. We've gone traditional and probably against-the-grain as it's a cobbled race, possibly wet and with crosswinds.

In the parts store was a new 38mm Superstar Components wheelset in red, now with GP5000 25mm tyres and latex inner tubes plus a Junior cassette.

Why shallow-ish aluminium rims and clinchers? It's a lumpy race near the Belgian coast in mid-March. Likely to be wet and/or windy. With cobbles. We have to buy his wheels, so carbon ones on cobbles could mean an expensive day out. Also, he's only 53kg so any strong winds make life hard with deep section rims. And the wheels are mid-weight, which will help with the lumpiness with any carbon wheels we have being 50/60mm depth. He's selected GP5000's for their grip rather than the Pirelli's he uses normally, with latex tubes losing weight and rolling resistance. It may help. But he also may get absolutely battered by the competition.

If racing happens on Sunday he'll give them a shake-down test. If not, we'll find another way. Photo once they're on the BeOne, although he'll be racing his Cervelo S3 (with a NeilPryde as back-up) since the BeOne isn't UCI approved and training on that next week whenever it's dry.

 

[Fredo76]

Today I finally finished refurbishing my old Specialized training wheels. I started by removing the 35 year old tires - Specialized Turbo R 25c that actually measured at 21mm. I'm saving them as they are still good. Then I replaced the dinged front Mavic MA40 rim with a new Mavic Open Elite.


Trued up and centered the front, and re-dished and centered the old rear MA40. Took some steel wool to the stainless DT straight 14-gauge spokes, which got a lot of old dried crud off and shined them up well. Took a brass toothbrush to the old ferrules on the inside, oiled some of them, then cleaned up and buffed the inside track. Replaced the Specialized plastic rim tape with cloth Velox, 10mm front and 16mm rear. Mounted new 28 mm Specialized Turbo Cotton tires, 260g, using 85g Vittoria Latex tubes (pink!), and Stan's sealant right off, for our goathead-rich environment. The new 28s are a close fit on Fredo:


Had to deflate the rear to get it in. Pumped them up to 80 psi front, and 85 psi rear. Can hardly wait to try them out!

Cheers!

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Hope it's not blown away :-/

I've not been up to much tinkering over the last week a combination of extra busy work and trying to reduce costs before the next gas bill, I am trying it be a bit sensible working on projects. But have been putting a list together of what's outstanding.

Need to get my head around rod brakes so I can get the latest project out the door for my sister. It's a Portuguese 90s vintage style bike so in quite nice shap, ideally I will find a cheap basket and it should be perfect for her for the few miles she will ride it a year.

I am also waiting for SJS to get the Sturmey Archer thumb shifters back in so I can get my gazelle back on the road with its new Marathon Plus tyres, this bike will live outside so cosmetics are not important, but I need to fit a front crate on it so I can free up the rear rack for some panniers. Should be my main errand bike then.

The Holdsworth Adventure bike is still the favourite and I think I want to make some effort to find a set of 700c wheels so I can run it over the summer without loosing too much speed. 130 OLD rear wheel makes it a little trickier especially as I would ideally like a freehub.

Raleigh Wayfarer needs the bottom bracket re assembled and the cranks replaced after some work, I have new cotter pins in stock now so it's just a time issue. Still need new stem / handlebars to get it perfect.

My old Saracen hybrid has probably hit the end of the road unfortunately, it's been a fab bike. I need to work out if I can comfortably tow the WeeHoo trailer with the Holdsworth, if so then that was it's last duty, so I will part it out. I'll probably use the tyres on the Holdsworth's 700c wheels when I get them and the wheels will probably go into storage as they are nice and strong. Rack and mudguards to be removed too then off to the great scrap heap in the sky. I'll check if the local bike recycling place want it for letting trainees wild on first.

The Dawes Giro 300 has been unused since about November due to the weather and terrible roads surfaces, but it needs a shake down ride so I can have it prepped for spring.

The Emmelle will hopefully sell soon.

And the ever wonderful brompton needs a clean, it's been pulling the heavy lifting this year in the horrible weather so I'll treat it to a nice clean and relube.

Enough bikes???

If it's of any use, Bankrupt Bike Parts is showing these Sturmey Archer Shifters as in stock: https://bankruptbikeparts.co.uk/pro...e-in-england-nos?_pos=19&_sid=accef9009&_ss=r

 

[JhnBssll]

Just applied some invisiframe protectors to the cranks on my hardtail. I've got them on my road bikes but decided it was worth at least trying to protect the shiny on this one too

Not a perfect application but good enough, they'll be dirty most of the time anyway

I also adjusted the limits on the front mech as it was rubbing slightly. I've got a 35 mile event on Sunday, it's going to be wet and windy so I want the bike working as well as possible if only at the start line

 

[GeekDadZoid]

If it's of any use, Bankrupt Bike Parts is showing these Sturmey Archer Shifters as in stock: https://bankruptbikeparts.co.uk/pro...e-in-england-nos?_pos=19&_sid=accef9009&_ss=r

Thanks. I actually don't like the trigger shifters like those, I much prefer the modern thumb shifter that they make. SJS have them in stock now so will make an order.

 

[Sittingduck]

Tried to resolve a creaky pedal/crank noise. 90% sure it’s the drive side pedal, that upon inspection had Some play. Unscrewed the spindle from the pedal body and spent about an hour trying to strip and resolve it but the 24 miniature bearings are a nightmare… there was too much lateral movement anyway so gonna have to order a new set of pedals. Out of stock in Decathlon which means 50 quid upwards for lowest level spd sl pedals which is a bit of a rip off.

 

[bikingdad90]

Removed the stock 400mm Carrera bars off my Vanquish and replaced it with a set of 380mm (400 as sold) Deda Zero1 bars then did the best wrapping of tape I have ever done, it’s carbon effect and a little thin so will see how I get on with it, may replace It for something thicker; will take some pictures tomorrow.

Did have to save the bikes tonight though! One of the shelves in the garage gave way and my tools started to fall off, threw myself in the way and held the shelf while I unloaded it all onto the floor. I was planning on taking the shelves down and replacing with metal racked shelves later on this year, looks like I will be doing it soon!

 

[bikingdad90]

As promised, pictures; Excuse the messy garage.

 

[Elybazza61]

Hope RS/DT wheels for the better half's Kona finished and fitted today (sorry no pics!)

Plus tyres and wheels swapped around for the Trek Multitrack prior to getting it ready for sale.

 

[HLaB]

Wasn't today but yesterday. I hadn't noticed that the seat post on my road bike had slipped so I took it out and put some carbon paste on it. I had also set my gravel bike saddle to the same height as the slipped post. I quite liked it but I decided to raise it a bit too. I ordered a SPD cleat shim from EBay ages ago but it never turned up and no one answered my emails. So I decided yesterday when I was in a fettling mode to add two road bike rectangular washers under the spd cleat but had to use longer road bike bolts too. Rode the gravel bike today, what a difference it has made 👍