What Have You Fettled Today?

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GeekDadZoid

Über Member
This morning was a nice Dutch bike that is now fixed apart from something funky happening in the Sachs hub gears at the back end; that's waiting until I can figure out hope to solve the problem.

After that I sorted out a rather nice 24" wheel kid's bike, and was about to put it out for sale when I felt the back wheel wobble as it touched the floor.
Note to self, follow the checklist and check wheels before sorting the gears out.
Wheel now tightened, bike ready for sale. It'll be priced at 175 € as a new one is about 350 €...
WHile in the sales room I noticed another bike has dodgy tyres so that will have to come into the workshop later.

Just out of interest what was the kid's bike at that price? Other than Frog and Isla bikes here I rarely see any sell used for more than £50 no matter the original price.
 
Just out of interest what was the kid's bike at that price? Other than Frog and Isla bikes here I rarely see any sell used for more than £50 no matter the original price.

It's a Moxon Rocket like this one, in near mint condition.
 

Ming the Merciless

There is no mercy
Location
Inside my skull
Replaced front disc pads, new tyres front and rear, new chain idlers. I have a mirror to fit on left (to detect foreign riders trying to overtake that side on LEL) , and new seat mesh and foam seat to fit to recumbent ahead of London Edinburgh London. I’ll do that next week. Then no more fettling other than lube on chain, till after event.

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cyberknight

As long as I breathe, I attack.
I have been working on spraying a set of forks i had that were tatty but sound as the ones i had one one bike had been cut down for a slam that stem look and i needed a shortened flipped stem to make it work.
A few layers of matt black car paint sanded down with 1200 paper between coats then a couple of coats of laquer to seal it all in.Fitted to the bike and the ride feels a lot nicer :smile:
 

Big John

Guru
More work on the HB. Converted to riser bars last week, today I swapped the 28c tyres for 25c (mudguard clearance), swapped the single sided SPDs for platform/SPD combo and added mudguards and carrier. Jury's out on the saddle - may need something a bit wider at the rear.

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Apologies for late comment but only just spotted this post. I was shocked to see one of John Burton's works of art 👍. I'm not sure how much you know about Henry Burton bikes but in Stafford there are an awful lot around the town. Henry was John's dad but John Burton is the shop owner and its proper 'old school'. His main claim to fame is building bikes to the customers specifications. I've watched him in the workshop as I've been chatting to him and his attention to detail is borderline OCD lol. His pride and joy is a photo of himself with Mr Shimano. He's an ex first cat road racer and the older he gets the faster he was 😉. He's a character for sure and I've spent many years riding in his company. Excellent choice of bike! 👍
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Full on bodge. Big paperclip to hold the pannier stay away fron the axel/spokes to get home after the rack snapped this morning. Bumpy canal commute. Oh, and both sides were fully loaded - made a right racket going home. Lost 3-4 minutes over 13 miles on the canal. Paperclip is wrapped round one of the guard stays !

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GeekDadZoid

Über Member
I mentioned on the auction thread that my mate was looking to get a Birdy and missed out on the one in Nottingham as it sold for £450 ish including fees. Anyway that same day I found this for him on Facebook for £80.

He was a bit worried about riding it before having it checked over so he brought it round tonight and we did a few jobs. He had already bought new tyres and tubes so we fitted them, all the cables where in as new condition, it must have been serviced not long before it had been put away. The read derailleur needed the limit screws tweaking and it needs new brake pads as they have gone shiny, I didn't have any in my stock, well I had some used holders and new pads but my mate is fussy.

We put a list together of upgrades he wants to do including new handle bars to give him a little more hight on the front, replace the pedals as they are flat/spd combos, new saddle and sole cosmetic work, we also need to investigate mudguards.

We also need to work out what options we have for shifters as he hates the grip shift.

We then went for a KM or so test ride I got it up to 30km ish and it felt nice and stable with nothing other than the poor braking causing problems.

Realistically he should be on the road in a few days for sub £200. Bargain I think.

He already has an electric brompton so this is to be his winter commuter bike, he does a mix car / bike commute so this will be ideal.

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iandg

Legendary Member
Apologies for late comment but only just spotted this post. I was shocked to see one of John Burton's works of art 👍. I'm not sure how much you know about Henry Burton bikes but in Stafford there are an awful lot around the town. Henry was John's dad but John Burton is the shop owner and its proper 'old school'. His main claim to fame is building bikes to the customers specifications. I've watched him in the workshop as I've been chatting to him and his attention to detail is borderline OCD lol. His pride and joy is a photo of himself with Mr Shimano. He's an ex first cat road racer and the older he gets the faster he was 😉. He's a character for sure and I've spent many years riding in his company. Excellent choice of bike! 👍

I know John well, grew up in Stafford and worked in the shop on and off from 1979-1984 and John was my mentor when I raced 😉

Frame not HB built but from the period where John buys bare frames and has them sprayed and badged

I did race on a Charlie Bettley built HB in the early 80s

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RoubaixCube

~Tribanese~
Location
London, UK
I think it's about time for this one to go. Been on the bike since I first bought it new in 2016. Everything still shifts and runs absolutely fine though.

Does one also change the chain and cassette when changing chainrings? Parktool tells me my chain still has a fair amount of life left.
 

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Marin Pine Mountain day.
Really only basics, but a lot of it. New tyres and tubes. Clean. Clean some more. Remove jockey wheels and clean Rd. Apply a little grease under the plates of the jockeys. They look fairly new.
Adjust rear canti. I do not like fiddling with these. Front brake blocks are in backwards, so remove and replace properly. More fiddling. More cleaning.
Chain and cassette are pretty knackered. After consulting specs for Rd-M737, order new chain and 11-32t cassette, the max specified. Could probably go 34 but probably overkill with the small chainset.
One Big problem is that this freehub has little depth to get the cassette removal tool seated, and my tool is a bit worn...
 
Other musings: all the trouble I had getting the gears working on the Trek Navigator have transferred to the Scott. There's something wrong with the fancy-dancy Alivio RD-M4000.
I weighed the Pine Mountain when I'd finished playing today. 10.79kg. That's just 150g heavier than the Scott roadie. If I'd weighed it with the Spesh Fatboys on, there would likely have been even less of a difference, if any.
 

roubaixtuesday

self serving virtue signaller
Needed to at least try to stop the cacophony that using the front brakes on the tandem brings, before going up (and more pertinently, down) the Swiss alps on it next week.

Trip to bike shop to buy new blocks and discuss the necromancy of squeal silencing. Then endless farking about with the front cantis on the tandem which are a total PITA to set up.

Suddenly remembered half way through that I needed to replace a brake bulb on the car, so abandoned tandem unfinished. Endless farking about, racing to spare parts shops on bike before they closed, swearing, finding the rear lights weren't working either, more swearing, swapping around bulbs and bulb holders, more swearing, eventually car with 6/8 working rear bulbs and all brake lights working. Need new bulb holders now. Back to the tandem...

Set up cantis, decide blocks too close to tyres, re set up, repeat 4x. Eventually all is well AND THE SQUEAL HAS STOPPED!!

Praise be. Hilly ride planned early tomorrow before the heat hits. Let's see if the cacophony returns.
 

GeekDadZoid

Über Member
I am loosing access to some free storage at the end of the month. So spent all day today going through the first load I brought back to see what I want to keep, want to sell and want to bin. The most important thing is I don't want to impact my bike storage.

It's amazing the amount of stuff I have accumulated, I am into hobby electronics and amateur radio so most of it is in that vein. I also bought between a friend and myself the entire remaining stock of one of the local maplins on its last day.

Successful so far and just given the Holdsworth a quick check before a ride tomorrow, this is the first one on that bike since last Sunday's Manchester to Blackpool ride.
 
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