What Have You Fettled Today?

[ColinJ]

There is a little thump on the turbo roller once per revolution of the wheel. The thing is, wheel-truing is one job that I never mastered; I would probably make the wheel worse rather than better!

I think that I can reduce the thumping by lowering the tyre pressure and bringing the roller slightly nearer. It is a compromise between thumping and the tyre starting to slip on the roller.

I did a turbo spinning session this evening after adjusting the tyre pressure and roller position. I found a setup which was okay.

I probably won't notice the thump when listening to music on my earbuds while using the turbo. I now have access to 100,000,000 songs on Amazon Prime Music so I might as well start checking out some of them!

I couldn't hear the reduced 'thump' while listening to music, but I could just feel it through the bike. Ideally, I would sort it out, but I can live with it for now.

I wasn't listening to the music on Prime. Instead I found some turbo trainer videos on YouTube which look pretty good... here: TurboTripping, CTXCvideos, and IndoorCyclingVideos. And that leads on to my next 'fettling' project, which is to make myself a tablet holder. I was using the tablet on a little table to watch the videos but I was getting a sore neck looking down and to the side at it.

I have started that project by attaching a piece of wood to an old photographic tripod and will make a clamp on that to hold my tablet in place. Using the tripod I should be able to position the tablet directly in front of me on the bike, and within touching distance so I can easily reach forward to skip the ads on YouTube.

Oh, and I am going to fetch my small step ladder out of storage to help me get on and off the bike. The extra distance from the floor that the turbo trainer raises the bike by is just enough to make it difficult for me to get on and off. I normally lower my bike slightly when mounting and dismounting but obviously I can't do that on the trainer, and the raised height makes the problem worse. (I'm getting too old to get my leg over... )

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Oh, and I am going to fetch my small step ladder out of storage to help me get on and off the bike. The extra distance from the floor that the turbo trainer raises the bike by is just enough to make it difficult for me to get on and off. I normally lower my bike slightly when mounting and dismounting but obviously I can't do that on the trainer, and the raised height makes the problem worse. (I'm getting too old to get my leg over... )

Happens to us all eventually.

 

[HLaB]

Lol, a lunchtime fettle from me today. I was making sure my new Garmin Varia Front Light would fit. It does but I'll probably have to fettle the angles when the bike is level, but I prefer my stem mount to the out front one as it's slightly more compact and out of the way on the train. I'm off to Google what options I have.

 

[Andy in Germany]

The current clunker on the stand. The front shocks have a nasty gash in them, ca 20 mm long by 3mm wide but I can't keep throwing bikes away, so it will have to go out cheaper. Unfortunately this means that instead of making sure it's really nice I'm just making sure it works and replacing as little as possible.

Still, it looks a lot better now than in the picture, although most of time was taken cleaning it.

 

[TK421]

My 11yr old had asked that I raise the handlebars on her carrera be raised. So after purchasing a headset extension and a metre of blue outer cable on the dreaded Ebay her wish became my command. And, yes she is happy with the new height.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

New cord for my recumbent seat after cord on RH side wore through. Should have avoided when I threaded it before knowing that cord or rope that moves against itself will eventually wear through. As a climber that’s a rookie mistake. 4mm Climbing assessory cord has a breaking strain of 4kN, so plenty strong enough.

 

[fossyant]

View attachment 668302

View attachment 668303
My 11yr old had asked that I raise the handlebars on her carrera be raised. So after purchasing a headset extension and a metre of blue outer cable on the dreaded Ebay her wish became my command. And, yes she is happy with the new height.

All due respect, but these things make me shudder. I'm sure that are safe, but they certainly don't look it.

 

[fossyant]

New cord for my recumbent seat after cord on RH side wore through. Should have avoided when I threaded it before knowing that cord or rope that moves against itself will eventually wear through. As a climber that’s a rookie mistake. 4mm Climbing assessory cord has a breaking strain of 4kN, so plenty strong enough.

View attachment 668401

Do you re-string garden chairs ?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Do you re-string garden chairs ?

No in Manchester though I was born that way. Should not take you long, especially if you know a few climbing knots.

 

[DCLane]

Today some time - between online meetings and paperwork - has been spent mending the Raleigh SP Race after Sunday's debacle when a branch got caught, snapping the rear mech hanger plus breaking the rear derailleur, two rear spokes and the rear mudguard. If you're in Heswall I left you a very bent rear mudguard in a bin on Sunday

Bike cleaned and a replacement Pilo hanger was installed. The supposed Raleigh-specific one didn't fit so this was second choice. Then a used rear Ultegra 6800 derailleur plus the chain was OK after cleaning it thoroughly. A new rear gear cable was also needed. The rear Raceblade Long mudguard bridge came out as it was bent and a simple clip-on mudguard put on instead (there's no mudguard eyes as it's a pure race carbon frame). Finally I put in the commuting wheels instead of the Superstar Components ones as it was the rear Superstar wheel which was damaged.

Overall it seems OK and I'll have a test-ride tomorrow. Quite a lot of parts damage but the only frame damage appears to be a bit of chipped paint.

 

[TK421]

All due respect, but these things make me shudder. I'm sure that are safe, but they certainly don't look it.

Everything is torqued up and held down by the top cap using a long bolt.

 

[ColinJ]

I have started that project by attaching a piece of wood to an old photographic tripod and will make a clamp on that to hold my tablet in place. Using the tripod I should be able to position the tablet directly in front of me on the bike, and within touching distance so I can easily reach forward to skip the ads on YouTube.

Hmm... my woodwork failed at the first hurdle!

Somebody has borrowed my drill so I couldn't drill pilot holes for the screws. I suspected that without those holes the thin strips of wood that I was going to screw to the larger pieces of wood would split and they did!

It might be a few days until I can get the drill back so I might just buy a bradawl overnight on Amazon Prime and use that instead tomorrow.

PS I've ordered the bradawl, but won't get it until Sunday. Never mind - the forecast is reasonable for tomorrow so I'll be riding on the road rather than using the turbo trainer.

 

[Spiderweb]

Too wet in North Yorkshire for cycling today so did some work on the second hand Dolan Preffisio I’d recently picked up.

New Cassette fitted. The previous 11-28t was worn so swapped to an almost new 12-30t Ultegra which I recently purchased cheaply from ebay.

I had a spare Fabric Scoop saddle so fitted that.

The outer chainring was worn and also had a broken tooth so swapped for a new TA Specialities 50t and also changed the inner 34t for a new one I had in stock.

Mudguards fitted, these were a pair of mismatched SKS, the front was Matte black, the back gloss black. I spent some time with the finest grade sand paper and a scourer type pad to remove the gloss finish. They look almost identical now, really pleased with the result.

Finally a homemade rear mud flap fitted. Black would have been better but I only had some clear 0.4mm PetG so cut one to size and shape and finished off with a Specialized sticker I found in a drawer.

 

[si_c]

Went to put some new tyres on the dynohub wheel, it's been feeling a little off and there looked to be a high spot, the old tyres were quite worn, totally squared off. Opted for a set of 32cs to replace the 28cs that were currently fitted, as I'd checked with a different wheelset and they'd fit under my mudguards comfortably.

Fitting and the new front and it was binding horribly, realised that it wasn't the tyre, rather the rim that was out. I've not used it for a couple of years and it's been through a house move and has a visible high spot, tried to true it out, but I think it's done, probably had something dropped on it in the garage at some point.

Fortunately I can get a like for like from SJS. Down side I've had to put the 28s back on as they actually fit under the mudguards. Probably gonna use the other bike til I can sort a replacement rim out.

 

[ColinJ]

I couldn't hear the reduced 'thump' [of the wobbly wheel] while listening to music, but I could just feel it through the bike. Ideally, I would sort it out, but I can live with it for now.

A friend is going to have a go at retruing the wheel for me. I have put the bike up on my Park Tools stand and am waiting for him to come round. We are going to clip clothes pegs on the rear rack to use as gauges for the rim. (The original plan was to use the brake blocks for that, but the pegs will be a very versatile way of doing it).