What Have You Fettled Today?

[GeekDadZoid]

Not really fettled much recently other than some brake pad replacements.

However the BB ok my Dawes Super Galaxy seems to coming to end of life. It's not done to many miles from my reckoning, I have don't 1200km on it and I am fairly confident the original owner can't have done more than a few hundred. But the 10 years in storage and me then taking it through all weathers may have seen it off.

I've tried to eliminate everything else ebut now need to work out what to replace it with. It's a SM BB-51 so got a decent number of options.

 

[TK421]

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

Lovin the Specialized modification. Looks like it will make •5 passed light speed

 

[Andy in Germany]

Went down the rabbit hole today. I'd selected a nice looking gentleman's city bike: old, with steel frame, Nexus gears and canti brakes. It looked complete so I wasn't expecting problems until I go to the lights.

When I got to the rear wheel I found the axle was the wrong length. Quite how this happened I'm not sure, but it's not unusual for people to try and fix bikes, fit the wrong parts, and then "donate" them to us.

The problem grew and expanded and I ended up having to strip down the hub, wheel, and axle and rebuild them from scratch. I'm still not finished. On the other hand, I've learned a lot about axles, spacers and what parts I'll need in future so hopefully next time I'll be able to diagnose the problem and sort it quickly.

 

[DCLane]

The Raleigh SP Race that went kaput on my 200km audax a couple of weeks ago was still having issues. I'd re-used the chain and now suspected that wasn't great either; a spare slightly-used chain went on and it now seems OK. Also replaced the Raceblade Long rear mudguard that had snapped when the parts broke.

Removed a punctured tub from a cyclocross wheel; I'd done two months' commuting on it as an experiment. It sort-of worked, but I'd not left a spare wheelset at work to swap if/when I'd got a flat en route in. Just looking for a spare that holds air now.

My Avanti Circa 1 winter commuter was clunking when in higher gears; the cause was a slightly twisted front derailleur which must've happened in the fall I had on it a few weeks ago. All resolved, fully cleaned and working.

 

[chriswoody]

Something a little different today, I've been fixing the bread machine. For a while now it's been making a horrible squeaking noise when kneading and then the kneading process itself was failing to mix the ingredients sufficiently. Deciding it was probably a mechanical issue rather than electronic I decided to see if I could strip it down and work out what was wrong. Under the bottom cover is a large cog wheel attached via a belt to a small cog on the motor. There was puzzlingly a lot of rust on the parts which made stripping it down a little harder because it was difficult to work out how it all attached together under the rust.

The shaft that this large cog wheel sits on goes through a bronze bush in the base and the inside end is a large cup that connects to the bread mix tub. It didn't take long to work out that the bronze bush was severely worn on one side and the result being the large cog was prescribing an arc, rather than a circle and possibly the belt was slipping as well. Luckily the shaft/cup thing and the bronze bush are all available as replacement parts and I also ordered a new belt for good measure, with postage it cost me the princely sum of €15 for the new parts.

The hardest part of the operation was drifting out the old bronze bush, with attempts at using a hammer and socket as a drift, failing. I then decided to use the replacmant bronze bush to drift out the old one as it seated itself. I made up a bearing pull using some threaded bar and various washers and other metal objects I had. Using this technique I wound in the new bush from the bottom as the old bush got pushed out through the top and it worked a charm.

So with the bush out it was a simple job of popping in the brand new metal shaft/cup thingy and re-assembling the rest and in no time we had a refurbished bread machine. A quick test proves it works without any noise or smoke, so tomorrow will be the acid test when we bake the first batch of bread in it.

 

[Mike_P]

Found a new use for a disc piston press tool today in tucking a new carpet behind the grippers

 

[TK421]

Swapped out the Sram grip shifters on the youngest's cycle for Shimano thumb shifters as she struggled to move them.

Got over enthusiastic and almost forgot to take a before shot.

And after Youngest is happy she can now change gear.

 

[ColinJ]

Swapped out the Sram grip shifters on the youngest's cycle for Shimano thumb shifters as she struggled to move them.
View attachment 669241
Got over enthusiastic and almost forgot to take a before shot.
View attachment 669242
And after Youngest is happy she can now change gear.

I had gripshifters on my first MTB. I thought they were okay until I did a hard offroad ride and struggled to change gear towards the end of the ride.

I am quite a big man, so if even I had problems with them, I'm not surprised that a child did!

 

[C R]

Swapped out the Sram grip shifters on the youngest's cycle for Shimano thumb shifters as she struggled to move them.
View attachment 669241
Got over enthusiastic and almost forgot to take a before shot.
View attachment 669242
And after Youngest is happy she can now change gear.

I tried the same change with my son's bike, he is happy with the rear shifter, but found the front one too stiff, and changed that one back to grip shift. How does your daughter find it?

 

[TK421]

I tried the same change with my son's bike, he is happy with the rear shifter, but found the front one too stiff, and changed that one back to grip shift. How does your daughter find it?

She hasn't used the front yet. Where we live in South Lincolnshire is as flat as a pancake.

 

[biggs682]

Being trying to find some kitchen door hinges all week and they were coming up 7mm shorter hole centre to centre

Took the decision today to have another go at trying to use a narrower style hinge and so far it's in place and working

 

[GeekDadZoid]

Fitted a new bottom bracket on the Super Galaxy today. Seems to have taken all the play out of the crank so hopefully that's the noise gone too.

All torqued up to spec, but no test ride so we will just see on the commute tomorrow.

 

[Gunk]

Had one of those productive weekends you have now and again where you feel very self satisfied

Cleaned car inside and out
Cut grass front and rear, raked borders and cleared away all the leaves
Filled all the cracks in spare bedroom ready for redecoration
Helped Mrs Gunk with some bookkeeping for her business
Polished all the silver

Pulled motorcycle out of garage, checked oil and tyre pressures, pissed off the neighbours and fired it up!

Changed the headset on the Giant Trance Advanced.

finally sat down with a beer now, roast pork is in the oven.

 

[bikingdad90]

Being trying to find some kitchen door hinges all week and they were coming up 7mm shorter hole centre to centre

Took the decision today to have another go at trying to use a narrower style hinge and so far it's in place and working

Have you been to Howden’s Joinery? It’s a national chain I believe but they stock hinges are part of the their stock. Got me out of a pickle with a 20year old kitchen one!

 

[biggs682]

Have you been to Howden’s Joinery? It’s a national chain I believe but they stock hinges are part of the their stock. Got me out of a pickle with a 20year old kitchen one!

Must admit i was going to yesterday but didn't get there , but if my fix doesn't work i will try them