What Have You Fettled Today?

[EckyH]

Did some work on the spouses' new bicycle: Filed off a bit of the kickstand plate so that it is no longer in the way of the derailleur cable, adjusted the derailleur, changed the brake cable housings from black to silver ones, installed the front and the rear light.
There's still some work to do for the lights: the cable routing and for some mysterious reasons the front light peers to the left. Probably a large pliers wrench and some soft power will help to sort out the latter. Tomorrow.

E.

 

[EckyH]

You'll have to wait till yesterday is here. (Tom Waits)

Sorted out the peering front light and did some barber pole style cable routing for the rear light.

The mudguard line on the rear wheel is subpar due to the silly plastic mudguard holder from SKS for the seat stay.

The most important part is that the missus likes it and wants to do a test ride as soon as possible.

E.

 

[Marchrider]

Made a new bridge from a pop bottle for my rear mudgaurd, the last one has vanished (or could have been nicked?)

Also fitted two new rear brake pads (these are far from cheap, £7 - is there better deals out there ?)

Chain out to 1.45% so replaced it with one that is at 0.9% , got 500 mile out of the last one from 1.05% to 1.4%

And hopefully got the slow puncture (takes about 3 days to go down) sorted, spent an age holding it under water looking for that tell tale bubble - it was a previous patch that crossed the seam, and there was a tiny little leak at each side, like 1 tiny bubble per minute (no wonder I missed the last time I searched for it) - I have often wondered if this seem should be sanded complete off when patches need to cross

 

[Gunk]

Everyone clubbed together and bought me a brand new Brompton for my 60th. Just got back from holiday and decided this afternoon to unbox it. It’s a 2021 NOS S6R, never been ridden, the previous owner bought it and then sadly became ill and it was never used. I picked it up for a really good price, and personally I prefer the silver cycle parts on these older pre-C line bikes.

S = flat bars, 6 = 6 speed and R = Rear luggage rack.

I did a few jobs this afternoon to make it mine, I already have a 2011 M3L so this will be ideal for longer rides. The M3L will continue to be a utility bike, this will be for best.

So this afternoon I removed the rear luggage rack and fitted a standard mudguard and stays. (absolute pig of a job!)
Fitted front and rear USB rechargeable lights
and fitted a Brooks B17 Narrow saddle (same as my other Brompton)

I just need to wait for a dry day to test ride, set the saddle position and height and then fit the seat stem insert, but so far, so good, really love it and can’t wait to start riding into Oxford on it for my morning coffee and pastry.

 

[EckyH]

Tried to fit the crank (Shimano 6207) onto the Brother Allday. Unfortunately the 103mm spindle is too short, but fortunately I've found one 107.5mm in the fund.

E.

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

Cleaned this up and checked it over. When I bought in new in 95 it was a very good quality mountain bike ( it’s claim to fame being a double butted chrome moly frame, all 7 tubes ) It’s served me loyally through most of my working years, slowly morphing into the very comfortable thing it is now. When I retired 3 years back I started filling the garage with “cool” bikes, so now there’s no room for the Nishiki. A good friend is looking for a comfortable bike for exercise now that he’s retired, he’s picking it up this afternoon.

 

[HLaB]

A bit of an enforced fettle. I finally got the mojo for a ride before dusk. The cycle way along near the house Road seemed ice free except for the bit at the old petrol garage. However, it was covered in glass there and a mile along the road my rear tyre was flat. Came back and topped up the sealant, went back out and p'tured again. I suspect I never gave the sealant long enough and the p'ture reopened. Came back again and pumped the tyre up above the pressure I would normally use, spun it and a hour and a half later its still solid. I was tempted to go out again a few times but I didn't fancy things in the dark!

 

[EckyH]

I fought the... chain line
And the chain line won

Or so.

Changed the bottom bracket in the Brother Allday from 103mm spindle to 107.5mm to gain clearance between the chainstay and and the spider arms. Unfortunately the Shimano 6207 crank then got a chain line of roughly 44mm. Then I tried the initially planned Sturmey Archer crank set and got roughly 44.5mm chain line.
The hub has a chainline of 42.5mm.
The chain runs fairly quiet on the Sturmey Archer and doesn't grouse. Therefore I'll use it that way, despite it's a bit bodged. Probably all other Brother Allday bikes with fixed hubs in the world probably have that problem, too. Lots of tyre clearance and 42.5mm chain line require to make compromises.

E.

 

[Jenkins]

While I had a clear bike shed thanks to needing the space to set up my new bike and put on a different chainset, I took the opportunity to change the front & rear brake pads on the Elan Ti. Looking at the ones taken off, there was only about 1 or 2mm of material left before the disc and spring clip would meet.

 

[ColinJ]

Also fitted two new rear brake pads (these are far from cheap, £7 - is there better deals out there ?)

Take a look at DiscoBrakes. One pair is about the same price, but 4 pairs only cost about double so they end up half price per pair. They are currently doing 20% off this month with the code JANUARYSALE so each pair would only be around £3. I bulk buy and keep spares for the future.