What Have You Fettled Today?

[Mike_P]

Garden fettling. Had cleared four planters of spring bulbs that hadn't done anything beyond a few green shoots and decided perrenials would be a good idea in them. Nicely coincided with Lidl having a stack in at £4.99 a pot and of the four varieties only one was not UK hardy. In need of a fourth £7 spent in B&Q. The Salvia is described as the RHS as generally pest free but to play safe I have added a copper ring around it. Edit- swopped to the Dianthus as that is likely to be muched and anti slug gel put around the Echinacea. More copper rings ordered.

 

[Elybazza61]

Sorting a used Squish 26" kids bike for my neighbour.

 

[ColinJ]

I watched a video on bike fit in which the fitter suggested that some people might benefit from rotating the shifters in slightly on drop bars. Not quite the same thing as the position achieved on those gravel bike bars that are wider on the drops than on the tops, but... kinda! I have turned the shifters in on my CAAD5 and will see what the bike feels like on a test ride. It looks odd, but if it feels more comfortable then I will stick with this setup.

I had overdone it. It not only looked odd, it also felt odd! I have now turned the shifters almost back to their original straight-ahead alignment; just a small inward rotation is left. I'll see what that feels like on another test ride. The shifters definitely look better with the more subtle inward rotation.

I noticed that my saddle was a degree or two off pointing straight ahead so I have sorted that out. I also felt that I was sitting forward of the widest part of the saddle, which was pushed way back. I have now moved it forwards about 0.5 cm and will see how I get on with that.

That does feel like an improvement. I'm going to try moving the saddle forward another cm though because I am still not sitting on the widest part of the saddle, and when I force myself to do it I feel slightly too stretched out.

The other thing I noticed was that the handlebar was ever so slightly off parallel to the front wheel hub. I have tried to sort that out but it is fiddly...

I keep staring down at the wheel when I should be watching where I am going! I can't swear that it is right now, but it is definitely very close so I will try to stop worrying about it.

 

[youngoldbloke]

I had overdone it. It not only looked odd, it also felt odd! I have now turned the shifters almost back to their original straight-ahead alignment; just a small inward rotation is left. I'll see what that feels like on another test ride. The shifters definitely look better with the more subtle inward rotation.

I've always done that, it's the way my hands naturally fall on the hoods. Much more comfortable.

 

[bikingdad90]

Retightened the T25 torx screws on my superstar disc brakes. Some nogooder had decided to have a go at them and see if they could steal the wheels while the bike was parked up and I was in a cafe on holiday! Need to pop to the bike shop tomorrow for some replacement T25 bolts!

Bike shop had some kicking round in the spares box so got two replacement bolts for nothing and they fitted them too!!!

 

[roubaixtuesday]

New timing chain on the tandem - had to join two together of course.

LBS recommended these https://www.kmcchain.eu/chain-KMC_B_Series_BB01#B1_Narrow_RB_BB01NRB12+narrow which seemed to be completely unlubricated vs the normal pre-lubed derailleur chains I'm familiar with. So I lubed it - does anyone know if that was unnecessary?

Also removed the eccentric BB which seems to be the source of one of several current creaks and groans, and greased all the contact surfaces. I always get nervous pulling cranks in case of damaging threads, but all went well. Bearings still running super-smooth. You can see minor damage on the BB from when the retaining screws for the eccentric have been previously done up too tight (probably by yours truly).

 

[ColinJ]

[With the aid of an ex-mechanic friend...]

I was trying to put a new bottom bracket in the bike formerly known as singlespeed, more recently known as dinglespeed and now known as 6-er. It has English threading. I remember that as 'right is wrong, but left is right' but I made a mistake... The fixed cup was labelled 'LH' and I took that to mean lefthand, as in lefthand side of the bike! I managed to get it started that way using fairly gentle finger pressure, not using tools. I then tried to start the loose cup on the righthand side of the bike. It wasn't having it! I didn't make the mistake of trying to force it in but was rather baffled by its refusal to cooperate...

Ex-mechanic pal arrived... He looked at what I was doing and told me that I was putting the BB in the wrong way round! I asked if he was sure and he said that he has done thousands of them in his time, so yes. But the BB fixed side was marked LH! Er, yes, as in lefthand thread NOT lefthand side of bike! Aaargh, what an unfortunate ambiguity!

We started again, and sure enough, it went in cleanly the other way round. What neither of us can work out is how I started it the wrong way round with only finger pressure and without damaging the thread!

Anyway - no harm done. The bike has been reassembled and is ready for a test ride this evening if it stays dry.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

[With the aid of an ex-mechanic friend...]

I was trying to put a new bottom bracket in the bike formerly known as singlespeed, more recently known as dinglespeed and now known as 6-er. It has English threading. I remember that as 'right is wrong, but left is right' but I made a mistake... The fixed cup was labelled 'LH' and I took that to mean lefthand, as in lefthand side of the bike! I managed to get it started that way using fairly gentle finger pressure, not using tools. I then tried to start the loose cup on the righthand side of the bike. It wasn't having it! I didn't make the mistake of trying to force it in but was rather baffled by its refusal to cooperate...

Ex-mechanic pal arrived... He looked at what I was doing and told me that I was putting the BB in the wrong way round! I asked if he was sure and he said that he has done thousands of them in his time, so yes. But the BB fixed side was marked LH! Er, yes, as in lefthand thread NOT lefthand side of bike! Aaargh, what an unfortunate ambiguity!

We started again, and sure enough, it went in cleanly the other way round. What neither of us can work out is how I started it the wrong way round with only finger pressure and without damaging the thread!

Anyway - no harm done. The bike has been reassembled and is ready for a test ride this evening if it stays dry.

Shimano nicely have arrows on their HT2 BBs pointing which way to tighten. Always start BBs by hand turning them the wrong way, then right way to tighten. Seem to sit in threads better that way and avoids cross threading.

 

[ColinJ]

Always start BBs by hand turning them the wrong way, then right way to tighten. Seem to sit in threads better that way and avoids cross threading.

That is exactly what the ex-mechanic said, and did!

 

[Jenkins]

Two minor fettles today.

Firstly a puncture repair on the 29er - one of those tiny holes which, unless you'd noted where you'd pulled a fragment of a thorn out of the tyre to match the location, would be almost impossible to find.

Secondly I've been chasing an occasional and annoying rattle from the rear on the Giant flatbar for a while and had tried all the usual suspects (cassette on tight, QR tight, no loose spokes, mudguards secure, nothing loose in the saddlebag, etc). While having another look over it this afternoon I noticed that with the rear brake engaged, there was about 1-2mm of movement on the disc rotor - all 6 bolts had become very slightly loose needing less than 1 complete rotation of each bolt to be fully tightened. Silence reigns again.

 

[Tom B]

Finally got around to replacing the snapped chain on the MTB.

Clobbered the Aldi Bike Stand on the way out of the shed and snapped one of the feet clean off, wasnt so bad on the grass of the lawn, but itll be a pain on a hard surface and no obvious fix.

Seemed to destroy a set of pads on the Ogwen - Bangor Trail with the tag-along on a few weeks ago so changed them, probably less than 450 miles out of them, oh um.

Tried a bit of T-cut on the Asgard Shed that has annoyingly faded.
Looks like ill have to do the rest of the shed. I wonder if I could get some sort of UV resist wax on type thing.
Hmmm

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Oiled springs on SPD pedals as release getting a bit stiff. Don’t want a failed to unclip moment.

 

[DCLane]

Minor bits; new rear mudguard bridge on the Avanti and I think I've sorted both issues with the Thompson Capella - slipping bars with carbon paste plus slipping gears with a big adjustment. Won't know either until I go up a steep hill or hit a pothole, of which there are many in Kirklees.

 

[bikingdad90]

Changed my flat pedals back to a set of look keo pedals for my commute in tomorrow after holidays and indexed my jumping rear mech.

 

[youngoldbloke]

Fitted Jagwire Rotating Hooks to separate touching cables where they cross in front of head tube, and small self adhesive felt pads to cushion hydraulic cables at entry/exit points on front fork to try and cut down/eliminate annoying rattling on rough road surfaces. Yet to be tested ....