What Have You Fettled Today?

[Domus]

Rear discs and pads on number 2 daughter's Audi Q3. Garage could not fit her in for a week or so. Picked up Pagid discs and pads for £90.00
Different fasteners all over, 7mm hex, 5mm hex, 14mm Torx, 8mm E-torx plus the tiny torx locating the disc. Electronic parking brake was a first for me but a YouTube video sorted it out. First side was just over the hour what with sorting out the correct tooling. Second side about 40 minutes. Quite satisfying really. God knows how much Audi would charge. £££££££££££££

 

[Jameshow]

Cleaned the MTB.

It has a suntour xc rd which shifts poorly. I will adjust it but would it be better replaced with a deore xt rd? As the sisters are deore sti.

 

[ColinJ]

Yesterday's Devon bike fettling was to fit a bar-end mirror.

The combination of my poor hearing, stiff neck, and ultra-narrow, twisty-turny high-hedged lanes is not a good one... Vehicles kept creeping up on me unannounced and because I was unaware of them I would miss opportunities to pull over in passing places.

My first ride with the mirror on the bike confirmed that it is very helpful. Several times I spotted vehicles behind me long before I would have heard them and was able to pull over to let them pass.

 

[Jameshow]

Yesterday's Devon bike fettling was to fit a bar-end mirror.

The combination of my poor hearing, stiff neck, and ultra-narrow, twisty-turny high-hedged lanes is not a good one... Vehicles kept creeping up on me unannounced and because I was unaware of them I would miss opportunities to pull over in passing places.

My first ride with the mirror on the bike confirmed that it is very helpful. Several times I spotted vehicles behind me long before I would have heard them and was able to pull over to let them pass.

I had a near miss yesterday with white van man, thinking of a camera are the cheap 1080hd ones on eBay any good?

 

[cyberknight]

Rode the "commuter " to work with the new disc brakes ,cant get the front one to have decent power without one pad sitting to close to the rim so it have a slight rub .
Spent a while this morning adjusting it so the pads are even and i just cant get it right
Going to take another bike tonight rather than spend time stressing about it .

 

[Gunk]

Rode the "commuter " to work with the new disc brakes ,cant get the front one to have decent power without one pad sitting to close to the rim so it have a slight rub .
Spent a while this morning adjusting it so the pads are even and i just cant get it right
Going to take another bike tonight rather than spend time stressing about it .

I hate disc brakes, only my MTB now has them and they’re nothing but trouble

 

[ColinJ]

I had a near miss yesterday with white van man, thinking of a camera are the cheap 1080hd ones on eBay any good?

Maybe good enough for the police to identify the hit and run driver who splatted you, but not good enough to shoot your gnarly downhill mountain biking footage?

I don't have any experience with them but I have seen some pretty poor quality videos on YouTube shot with cheap action cams. A friend has a GoPro which is quite impressive, but they cost a lot more. It isn't the latest model. You could probably go back a few models and still get good performance but unless you got a bargain on ebay, then still (say) £150+?

 

[ColinJ]

Rode the "commuter " to work with the new disc brakes ,cant get the front one to have decent power without one pad sitting to close to the rim so it have a slight rub .
Spent a while this morning adjusting it so the pads are even and i just cant get it right
Going to take another bike tonight rather than spend time stressing about it .

It sounds like the type with one fixed pad and one moving one? Yes, they are fiddly but as long as the disc isn't bent*** you should be able to sort the brake out. I have that type on my bike here in Devon. I have to get the fixed pad as close as possible without touching the disc and then bring the moving pad in close enough for the brake to work properly.

I noticed that I need to back it off a smidge from the position that seems to work silently with me off the bike because my added weight was enough to flex something (wheel? fork?) enough to cause a slight rubbing sound from the disk.

These cheapo mechanical disc brakes are not as nice as the hydraulic ones on my mountain bike, but when set up carefully they do still provide powerful braking and can be quietened down.


*** if it IS bent, flatten it!

 

[fossyant]

Cleaned the MTB.

View attachment 703503

It has a suntour xc rd which shifts poorly. I will adjust it but would it be better replaced with a deore xt rd? As the sisters are deore sti.

Either give the Suntour a good service/oil/new cables, or get a good 'period' XT mech.

 

[fossyant]

I hate disc brakes, only my MTB now has them and they’re nothing but trouble

Now't wrong with them, nor rim brakes, but I wouldn't want rim brakes for some of the MTB stuff I do. Turned the rear disc blue the other week descending - proper cooking brake pads.

 

[cyberknight]

It sounds like the type with one fixed pad and one moving one? Yes, they are fiddly but as long as the disc isn't bent*** you should be able to sort the brake out. I have that type on my bike here in Devon. I have to get the fixed pad as close as possible without touching the disc and then bring the moving pad in close enough for the brake to work properly.

I noticed that I need to back it off a smidge from the position that seems to work silently with me off the bike because my added weight was enough to flex something (wheel? fork?) enough to cause a slight rubbing sound from the disk.

These cheapo mechanical disc brakes are not as nice as the hydraulic ones on my mountain bike, but when set up carefully they do still provide powerful braking and can be quietened down.


*** if it IS bent, flatten it!

Its the sort with pads that both move tektro c 550 so oem spyres and new rotors .
I got the back one set up lovely but cant get the front one right , qr levers dont help as its keeps settling wrong , i have tried all the usual tricks and followed various videos and guides .
It did have single piston which were a PITA but at least they were more forgiving clearance wise .

 

[fossyant]

Its the sort with pads that both move tektro c 550 so oem spyres and new rotors .
I got the back one set up lovely but cant get the front one right , qr levers dont help as its keeps settling wrong , i have tried all the usual tricks and followed various videos and guides .
It did have single piston which were a PITA but at least they were more forgiving clearance wise .

Tried a Shimano QR Lever ? Way better than the others (unless Campag).

 

[ColinJ]

Its the sort with pads that both move tektro c 550 so oem spyres and new rotors .
I got the back one set up lovely but cant get the front one right , qr levers dont help as its keeps settling wrong , i have tried all the usual tricks and followed various videos and guides .
It did have single piston which were a PITA but at least they were more forgiving clearance wise .

Ah...

I did have a problem with my rear wheel pulling over slightly due to a slightly loose qr and that caused disc rub.

Have you tried all of these suggestions?

Good luck!

I am going to go out on my bike soon and I bet my brakes will now be noisy for the whole ride...

 

[Windle]

When I bought my old Trek 810 Singletrack a couple of months ago I thought it was best that it was stripped down, serviced, checked over and re-assembled, however, the ham-fisted oaf of a cycle mechanic (cough), who I entrust for my maintenance requirements managed to strip the thread of the band clamp on the left hand combined brake / shifter resulting in it not being able to tighten sufficiently to stay put . Luckily, the dribbling buffoon redeemed himself by modifying a nut he'd found in a jar of bits, filing it down to a wedge shape and rounding off the back to make it fit the gap between the two sides of the clamp, thus enabling the allen stud to have something to screw into and tighten the shifter. Cock-up averted .
The custom nut in situ.

And a blurry shot of the other side showing how it should have been, with the stud protruding through the clamp.

 

[cyberknight]

Ah...

I did have a problem with my rear wheel pulling over slightly due to a slightly loose qr and that caused disc rub.

Have you tried all of these suggestions?

Good luck!

I am going to go out on my bike soon and I bet my brakes will now be noisy for the whole ride...

Yes tried all but checking the frame facing on the forks