What Have You Fettled Today?

[Punkawallah]

Fitted a 700x28 Schwalbe Marathon plus tyre! 45 minutes of huffing, puffing and inventing new swear words. Stopped after 15 mins to watch a couple of You Tube instruction videos and eventually got it seated by a combination of:-
1) when dragging the beading over the rim on one side of the wheel, created some slack by pressing down firmly on the wheel to squash the opposite side of the tyre into the groove,
2) once I got half of the tyre on, I progressively tied the seated part firmly onto the rim using a number of cable ties before seating each further stretch of tyre and
3) when I got down to the toughest six inches to seat, I combined squashing down on the tyre with gripping the last bit with my hitherto useless tyre seating tool.

Well, it's done, but I can't say I looked like a pro. I no longer have any fingerprints.

You sure they aren’t 27” wheels :-)

 

[Punkawallah]

The fairies have visited with a vengeance Yesterday. Had a puncture to fix on the Galaxy, and a broken spoke on the Renown Of course it would be the rear drive side. At this rate I’ll have run out of spares before long :-)

 

[Spiderweb]

Finished work on the Ridley Fenix build; gear and brake cables done, chain plus bar tape. Raceblade Long mudguards are also on as it'll be used as a winter bike and for Zwift use before it gets cold and wet. So probably off the smart turbo by Friday. Happy with the result as it's been built on a tight budget, which at times has been complex given the frameset was originally for Di2 only, and it means we've a Boardman AirPro frameset plus parts to sell.

We've taken the 3T Aeronova bars plus stem and the 105 crankset with Absolute Black winter chainrings from the Boardman, added a spare set of Superstar Components wheels with Shimano 8000 shifters/rear brake and 6800 derailleurs with a Dura-Ace 9100 front brake. Ultegra pedals replaced the well-used old Shimano 105 5700 ones. We'll get the steerer trimmed once it's all bedded in.

Finished photo:

View attachment 702658

The PlanetX Nanolight has also been stripped down to a frameset plus bottom bracket. At 5.1kg it's been light but almost too light and very temperamental. We've a Ridley Helium X which will be heavier when the parts are transferred but hopefully easier to use. It'll also double-up outside of the hillclimb season as a spare road bike so there are two different builds happening; one for climbing with a different saddle/bars/shifters/crankset with single chainring/lightweight tub wheelset and an 'alternative' build with two working shifters/front derailleur/double crankset/heavier wheels.

That looks really nice!
To be finicky, I’d put one or two spacers back under the stem and then flip the stem over. Bars should remain the same height, flat stems imo alway look better on that kind of bike.

 

[DCLane]

@ Spiderweb - thanks. And yes, I've suggested the same so it'll probably be done when we do the steerer.

 

[Gwylan]

Charged the battery, via the solar panels, domestic batteries and the inverter.
Quite pleased it works. There's lots of sun fortunately.
Evening ride planned.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Ortlieb handlebar extenders added to the tandem bar bag fitting to allow the bike computer to be visible

Other bicycles may also be in shot!

I think we're all ready for the planned September tour now, starting to get excited

 

[GuyBoden]

I've built a 1x bike from a cheap Cannondale Caad7 frame I got from ebay, some wheels with Hope Hubs and other stuff I've been collecting. I'll test it on a ride tomorrow.

Gears are 30t front, 12-46t rear sprocket, especially for fat old blokes riding up very steep hills. One RHS Barend gear shifter. New Ultegra brakes because I like to stop on decents.

 

[Jameshow]

I've built a 1x bike from a cheap Cannondale Caad7 frame I got from ebay, some wheels with Hope Hubs and other stuff I've been collecting. I'll test it on a ride tomorrow.

Gears are 30t front, 12-46t rear sprocket, especially for fat old blokes riding up very steep hills. One RHS Barend gear shifter. New Ultegra brakes because I like to stop on decents.

Good light frame!

 

[DCLane]

Been working on the Ridley Helium build which will be son no. 2's replacement hillclimb bike - it's a Helium X rather than an SLX but we're on a budget.

The bars with stem and old shifter set-up has been moved from the PlanetX Nanolight, along with the wheelset, rear derailleur, FSA brakeset, bottle cage and saddle.

The older Shimano bottom bracket was removed and swapped for a new Dura-Ace one we have. The previous FSA SLK crankset has been swapped for a Dura-Ace one but with a 36T 4-bolt set-up. Also, a Wolf Tooth derailleur extender plus a new lightweight carbon seatpost were added. Also added were a new braze-on chain catcher, but that needs an extender.

Cabling to be done plus a new wider 11-32 cassette before the chain goes on, plus the steerer being cut and different chainring bolts as the red ones are annoying me. The seatpost will probably also be cut as it was £10 cheaper to get a 400mm one instead of a 350mm one from the same seller and son no. 2's got a long body but short legs. The final weight should be 5.7-5.9kg, so heavier than the 5.1kg PlanetX but hopefully more usable given that it'll get different bars with 'proper' shifters that have hoods, bar tape and double chainrings outside of hillclimb season. Progress photo ...

 

[GuyBoden]

Good light frame!

The whole bike is under 9kg, but the fat old bloke rider is over 100kg, so a lighter bike makes little difference.

 

[HLaB]

I refurbished my left shoe, replacement toe vent, heel cup and cleat.

 

[Ian H]

Replaced the Gravelking slick which had developed an ominous bulge. Photo of the inside of the (tubeless) tyre, which had been on for a while & had several sealant top -ups.
Then replaced inner & outer rear gear cable, which of course meant changing the bar-tape. Then I gave the bike a semi-thorough wash & lube. All ready now for a wibble down through Brittany.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

That annoying mudguard rubbing that only comes under load...

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/tales-from-todays-commute.105055/page-2199#post-7043178

... took the rear wheel off to investigate.

Couple of shiny patches on inside of mudguard, made some adjustments, same thing. Still only under load.

Took wheel off again, no obvious play in the bearings, but seemed to have slight wobble on freehub. Have it a wiggle, then another, then another and...

...hub fell apart in my hands, rear axle had snapped.

Presumably was flexing under load as a result. I keep a spare, swapped cassette, went to swap tyre and tube...

... valve core fell out. Couldn't find it, binned tube, finally everything back together, reindexed gears, good to go.

New wheel needed. Actually probably two, 'cos the spare is pretty much bollixed too.

 

[HLaB]

That annoying mudguard rubbing that only comes under load...

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/tales-from-todays-commute.105055/page-2199#post-7043178

... took the rear wheel off to investigate.

Couple of shiny patches on inside of mudguard, made some adjustments, same thing. Still only under load.

Took wheel off again, no obvious play in the bearings, but seemed to have slight wobble on freehub. Have it a wiggle, then another, then another and...

...hub fell apart in my hands, rear axle had snapped.

View attachment 703093

Presumably was flexing under load as a result. I keep a spare, swapped cassette, went to swap tyre and tube...

... valve core fell out. Couldn't find it, binned tube, finally everything back together, reindexed gears, good to go.

New wheel needed. Actually probably two, 'cos the spare is pretty much bollixed too.

Too much power ;-)

 

[Gwylan]

Finally, in the cool of the evening, (<30°C), replaced the brake pads.
But the belt drive means a bit of fiddling to get it tensioned.
Anyone else use the Gates App to set the tension.
Anyone use it successfully? Or like me just tighten and hope.