What have you fettled today?

[robgul]

^^^ "Look dear, I bought you a nice ultrasonic bath as a birthday present so you can clean all your jewellery. Yes, it is quite large for putting just your rings into..."

. .  and you could get her a slow-cooker to share with you - you wax chains in it, she prepares meals

Seriously - the ultrasonic tank I have is great for cleaning my wife's earrings and other jewellery stuff - I put them in an old-style metal tea-strainer and then put that in the tank's basket - stops the stuff falling through the basket mesh.   The machine is also very good at cleaning/un-bunging the coffee machine group coffee holders (clean water and a throrough clean with Milton after the ultra-sonic process)

[seasider]

On the subject of Ultra sonic baths, has anybody a recommendation for a bath for use with bike bits ?. Just for hobby requirements. Would a 2L tank be large enough for normal use ?.I don't envisage cleaning any car parts. Thanks for any tips.

[robgul]

On the subject of Ultra sonic baths, has anybody a recommendation for a bath for use with bike bits ?. Just for hobby requirements. Would a 2L tank be large enough for normal use ?.I don't envisage cleaning any car parts. Thanks for any tips.

Mine is about 2.5 litres - some parts, e.g. 50T chainrings, have to have 2 goes with about 2/3 submerged each time.  Most bike bits - mechs, brakes, chains (yes, really) all go in.

[Pingu]

Drat. I'm supposed to be casting about for b'day presents for MrsT but I keep finding things I could do with myself.

[JefO]

Improved the security of the MTB shed today. Previously the door could be forced open. Now it will take much more determination to get to the cheap bikes inside.
I used the distributor shaft from a Morris Minor (0.49" diameter), which I drilled to accept a padlock, then fitted from behind the door, through the bottom of it.
Made a 6mm aluminium striker plate with a 0.5" hole drilled through it to accept the dizzy shaft, and a couple of countersunk holes for screwing the plate to the bottom of the door. The rear edge of the hole for the padlock, is in line with the front edge of the plate, when the door is fully closed.   Fitting the padlock takes all the free movement out of the door.

[T42]

Just don't put a Master lock on it.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

^^^ "Look dear, I bought you a nice ultrasonic bath as a birthday present so you can clean all your jewellery. Yes, it is quite large for putting just your rings into..."

. .  and you could get her a slow-cooker to share with you - you wax chains in it, she prepares meals

Seriously - the ultrasonic tank I have is great for cleaning my wife's earrings and other jewellery stuff - I put them in an old-style metal tea-strainer and then put that in the tank's basket - stops the stuff falling through the basket mesh.   The machine is also very good at cleaning/un-bunging the coffee machine group coffee holders (clean water and a throrough clean with Milton after the ultra-sonic process)

Hmmm.... Mrs A does jewellery..

[ScumOfTheRoad]

Just got a front fork mount for a QR fork https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B099K2C8XN
The plan is to use this screwed down to a 2x4 to make an interior bike rack for the VW Touran.

[L CC]

Just got a front fork mount for a QR fork https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B099K2C8XN
The plan is to use this screwed down to a 2x4 to make an interior bike rack for the VW Touran.

We tried this in our van and it wasn't a huge success- how will you secure it to the floor of the vehicle?

[JonBuoy]

Just got a front fork mount for a QR fork https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B099K2C8XN
The plan is to use this screwed down to a 2x4 to make an interior bike rack for the VW Touran.

We tried this in our van and it wasn't a huge success- how will you secure it to the floor of the vehicle?

I bought a couple of those a few years ago for the back of the Berlingo.  They are mountable onto a piece of wood that spans the width of the load area and is cable tied to a convenient lashing point in the floor at either side.  It was complicated by the fact that I had to build up the height of the mounting point to keep the front mudguard off the floor.  The assembly rocks around a bit but it does the job.

I find it a bit fiddly to engage the fork - it really makes you appreciate the centring springs on a quick release!

[ScumOfTheRoad]

Hmmm..  I was not going to secure the wood to the floor of the car. This may be a bad move?

For lashing the bike down, the car is equipped to hoist MRs Scums electric wheelchair aboard.
The wheelchair has its own inertial reel seatbelt - you really dont want that thing coming forward in a crash.
SO plan is to lash down using the extra seatbelt.

In an ideal world I would use the electric hoist to hoist the bike aboard - all I really need is some webbbing straps and a bit of wood to fashion a sling to hook the toptube of the bike to the hoist. The hoist is like a mini crane which has a hook at the business end.

https://www.brig-aydcontrols.co.uk/view-product/80kg-150kg-programmable-4way-evotech-hoist-1/

[MattH]

Years ago we had a Peugeot rack for the 807 (spit) we had. That had the front fork QR mount, plus a strap for the rear wheel. It bolted to the floor in the rails that the seats used (that car you could move all the seats around and they had a quick release clip into the floor). It worked really well, other than obviously taking up quite a lot of room. So well, in fact, that I'd put one bike on that rack, then could strap another two bikes to it one on each side. I'd do it again in the right vehicle.

[T42]

Two of these, one for me and one for chum Emil.



The idea being that these go under the shifters on a road bike and keep the gubbins on the handlebars off the floor when you turn it upside down. The bike, not the floor.

The motors we both have are best installed with the bike upside down.

[JefO]

Just don't put a Master lock on it.

Why not?

Intrigued.

PS I like the shifter protectors.

[T42]

Just don't put a Master lock on it.

Why not?

Intrigued.

Low security. See https://youtu.be/s5jzHw3lXCQ

Lots of locks on Amazon are either OEM Masters or copies thereof.  You're probably better off with some of Abus's products, preferably with shielded shackles otherwise they can be cut with bolt cutters or opened by shoving a 2€ shim down the sides so that they pop open. Decent ones are quite expensive, but so unfortunately are quite a few low-security ones.

Though to be honest, just the sight of a BFO padlock will probably put most thieves off.

PS I like the shifter protectors.

Thanks! Not patented.

[T42]

PS it's amazing how much more crud you see with the bike upside down.

[JefO]

I have been fortunate enough to have acquired a large number of ABUS padlocks, left over from a huge project in one of my various employments.

I have been completely unsuccessful in bolt-cropping these off, and resorted to cropping the door furniture which was a helluvalot softer, when someone (??) lost the keys.

Yes, have previously found the benefits of inverting bikes for cleaning. As our Hase Pino semi-recumbent tandem often gets lifted onto the roof rack, that tells me when we need to give it an inverted clean. Inverting a Pino is easy. Unless you want to invert it.

[JefO]

Today I doubled the drinks capacity on my old steel bike

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Laced up some wheels for my new trike. Some more wheels need new rims, to be done later in the week.

[Mr Larrington]

Attacked the replacement front door wif a hammer and chisel, that cutouts for the hinges might be molished.  This involved having to move it.  I'm dreading having to install the thing, because it weighs $BIGNUM and I will undoubtedly drop it and crush my toes.
 Or something.

[T42]

Installed a new motor on the eBrute. Nothing wrong with the old one but it has a 135 mm axle whereas the new one's is 130 mm, which is somewhat kinder to the stays and a hell of a lot easier to get into the drop-outs.  All done & dusted, only... something's rubbing.  Not the brakes, more at cassette level.  There is a nut that goes on the motor axle: when the wheel-retaining nut is screwed up tightly the drop-out butts against that nut, and I think it's in contact with the cassette-lockring. aargh. Going to have to take the motor off again and back it off a bit. 

Which way to the fecking div thread, please?

[T42]

Attacked the replacement front door wif a hammer and chisel, that cutouts for the hinges might be molished.  This involved having to move it.  I'm dreading having to install the thing, because it weighs $BIGNUM and I will undoubtedly drop it and crush my toes.
 Or something.

Get a helper and a long webbing sling*.

* no, not gin-. At least, not until after.

[Pingu]

...Which way to the fecking div thread, please?

I think you already know the way   

[robgul]

Waxed my first chain (on the Ti winter road bike) - all went to plan with cheapie slow cooker etc.   Cassette, jockey wheels, chainrings all cleaned in the ultrasonic tank and everything re-assembled and ready for a test ride if/when it stops raining.

Whether it's worth it remains to be seen - if I do continue I'll probably get a second chain for each of the 3 bikes and just work on "one on the bike, one waxed and ready" doing them in batches, depending on bike usage/mileage.

[orienteer]

Attacked the replacement front door wif a hammer and chisel, that cutouts for the hinges might be molished.  This involved having to move it.  I'm dreading having to install the thing, because it weighs $BIGNUM and I will undoubtedly drop it and crush my toes.
 Or something.

I look for suitable height wedges to put under the door when removing and replacing.

Books can be quite useful.