What have you fettled today?

[Gattopardo]

Tried to remove a stuck seat post with a rubber strap wrench, broke the strap wrench...

Don't care about the post as it is a cheapy suspension post.  So what to do next...

[jsabine]

Dispose of. Dead because a chain stay snapped in front of the dropout, now has a dented top tube and fucked forks. Free to a good home (well, any home) if anyone wants to cut it into some random lengths of 531 or to practice unbrazing then brazing again.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Straightened the chainring and also the aluminium chain guard on my Brompton, following Aer Lingus' recent tender ministrations. Lubed the chain, because I'm told it saves a few watts.

It must have worked as it seems I managed to avoid getting lapped at the Brompton World Championships today (which I didn't expect). Also managed to win the track stand competition and got 1.5 litres of Bolly for my trouble (which I also didn't expect).

[bludger]

Not strictly related but I was very annoyed to hear that the women's brommie race was pulled off because of a crash in the men's.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

I think I was with or very near the leading women. It wasn’t just the women’s race. Everybody was pulled up short. I’m told there was a real mess up front that made it imperative to stop racers ploughing into them in a full sprint. Even so, there were a couple of folk who tangled up and fell (just behind and to the side of me) as we were braking to a halt.

I saw or heard four prangs near me during the race. Going clockwise, slower riders kept drifting far right on corners and braking, which made it quite difficult to get round them at speed. I had figured the mix of social riders, inexperienced wannabes and full-on racers might be sketchy but this was a bit more than I expected.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Fitted a Monkii cage to HK's MTB commuter, so that she can easily bring home wine bottles and fitted a bolt/ nut to replace failed rivets in the rear mudguard. Still need to replace the Alfine oil.

De-creak-ified my Frezoni by tightening a couple of chainring bolts and pulling and refitting the pedals, cranks and bottom bracket. Still need to replace the handlebar tape.

Retensioned the chain on my fixed and tweaked the rear cantilever. Brake lever sorted a few days later.

Replaced the cracked rear mudguard on the audax tandem. Replaced the worn rear tyre and middle ring. Still to sort out the timing chain with a half-link, which is hiding somewhere in the house. After that, just choosing which luggage to take and checking on-bike spares to do before PBP starts.

Swapped back the SPDs from my Brommie to HK’s Kinesis. Still need to refit pedals to my Brompton, after replacing the worn bearing on the folding pedal.

[davelodwig]

I improved the design of the mounting plate I had fabricated to get the Ortlieb saddle-bag mount to fit a Brooks saddle - when I say improved, all I really did was to radius the rear corners of rectangular plates I had already made with a jig-saw to improve the appearance and make it easier to tuck the Brooks cover between the rails and leather top to be ready to fit when parked.

Did one, excellent job - then did two more and re-fitted them to the Brooks on other bikes - and then made a spare unit to attach to the venerable Galaxy in due course.

All part of the plan to have just one bag that simply clips to the bike I'm riding, rather than multiple bags and sets of tubes, tools etc.   The Ortlieb bag is great BUT with the clip in a position that fits direct to the rails on a Brooks B17 the weight causes the bag to sag - my plate mod allows the clip to be further back and balance the bag.

Rob

Do you have  a picture this is a quandary I've been trying to solve, having something to copy from would be really helpful. Same saddle bag as well.

Cheers

D.

[robgul]

I improved the design of the mounting plate I had fabricated to get the Ortlieb saddle-bag mount to fit a Brooks saddle - when I say improved, all I really did was to radius the rear corners of rectangular plates I had already made with a jig-saw to improve the appearance and make it easier to tuck the Brooks cover between the rails and leather top to be ready to fit when parked.

Did one, excellent job - then did two more and re-fitted them to the Brooks on other bikes - and then made a spare unit to attach to the venerable Galaxy in due course.

All part of the plan to have just one bag that simply clips to the bike I'm riding, rather than multiple bags and sets of tubes, tools etc.   The Ortlieb bag is great BUT with the clip in a position that fits direct to the rails on a Brooks B17 the weight causes the bag to sag - my plate mod allows the clip to be further back and balance the bag.

Rob

Do you have  a picture this is a quandary I've been trying to solve, having something to copy from would be really helpful. Same saddle bag as well.

Cheers

D.

If you PM an email addy I'll take a couple of snaps and send them to you . . . . I may have a scrap of the aluminium sheet left over? - if I have I could cut it to size and drill the holes ready for you to fit the Ortlieb clip, and send to you [I'll check tomorrow morning]

Rob

[davelodwig]

I improved the design of the mounting plate I had fabricated to get the Ortlieb saddle-bag mount to fit a Brooks saddle - when I say improved, all I really did was to radius the rear corners of rectangular plates I had already made with a jig-saw to improve the appearance and make it easier to tuck the Brooks cover between the rails and leather top to be ready to fit when parked.

Did one, excellent job - then did two more and re-fitted them to the Brooks on other bikes - and then made a spare unit to attach to the venerable Galaxy in due course.

All part of the plan to have just one bag that simply clips to the bike I'm riding, rather than multiple bags and sets of tubes, tools etc.   The Ortlieb bag is great BUT with the clip in a position that fits direct to the rails on a Brooks B17 the weight causes the bag to sag - my plate mod allows the clip to be further back and balance the bag.

Rob

Do you have  a picture this is a quandary I've been trying to solve, having something to copy from would be really helpful. Same saddle bag as well.

Cheers

D.

If you PM an email addy I'll take a couple of snaps and send them to you . . . . I may have a scrap of the aluminium sheet left over? - if I have I could cut it to size and drill the holes ready for you to fit the Ortlieb clip, and send to you [I'll check tomorrow morning]

Rob

That would be fantastic, I'll PM you shortly.

Cheers

D.

[robgul]

I improved the design of the mounting plate I had fabricated to get the Ortlieb saddle-bag mount to fit a Brooks saddle - when I say improved, all I really did was to radius the rear corners of rectangular plates I had already made with a jig-saw to improve the appearance and make it easier to tuck the Brooks cover between the rails and leather top to be ready to fit when parked.

Did one, excellent job - then did two more and re-fitted them to the Brooks on other bikes - and then made a spare unit to attach to the venerable Galaxy in due course.

All part of the plan to have just one bag that simply clips to the bike I'm riding, rather than multiple bags and sets of tubes, tools etc.   The Ortlieb bag is great BUT with the clip in a position that fits direct to the rails on a Brooks B17 the weight causes the bag to sag - my plate mod allows the clip to be further back and balance the bag.

Rob

Do you have  a picture this is a quandary I've been trying to solve, having something to copy from would be really helpful. Same saddle bag as well.

Cheers

D.

If you PM an email addy I'll take a couple of snaps and send them to you . . . . I may have a scrap of the aluminium sheet left over? - if I have I could cut it to size and drill the holes ready for you to fit the Ortlieb clip, and send to you [I'll check tomorrow morning]

Rob

That would be fantastic, I'll PM you shortly.

Cheers

D.

Pics sent but couldn't find any left-over material

Rob

[CommuteTooFar]

I washed my duvet.  It was discoloured brown. Now it is white apart from a small blood stain and some tea stains. Still a little wet so I can not put it back on my bed.

[T42]

Yesterday I fettled a dish of guacamole and cut a through vacuum-cleaner hose, but the one did not entail the other.

[SoreTween]

Heating valve was hunting around the mid position instead of sitting deenergised when on HW only. It's always the microswitches with heating valves but I wasted 10 minutes checking the other components anyway.  Then dismantled the valve head and confirmed the suspicion. Naturally the failed switch is not the type I have in stock having replaced loads in 2 port valves at my previous abode.  Replacement switch and a spare ordered from ebay. Someone is making a handsome markup at £5 each but compared to £80 for a new head I'm happy.
I was about to fit a bypass link for HW only operation pending arrival of the replacements and chance to fit one. Just for the hell of it I cut the old switch open, to my surprise, without loss of pingfuckits. I prised apart the welded contact, superglued the switch back together only briefly attaching it to my thumb and then soldered it back into the valve head. It is now working perfectly again and hopefully will last 4 weeks to my next rotation break when I'll fit a new replacement.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Fitted a dynowheel, Cyo and Igaro D1 to HK's PBP bike. She's picked the Roberts that was custom-built for PBP99 but she rode a tandem bike instead. Only a 20 year wait for the Roberts to move up to the big show... Apart from routing cables and heat-shrinking connections, it was a fiddlier job than expected, due to fitting the shortest possible fork crown bracket and, as a result, tight clearances to the front brake. The bracket had to be filed slightly to clear the front brake but it all looks like the real deal now.

Retaped the bars on my Frezoni, tightened a loose brake lever and reshaped the front mudguard. Just need to bond the brake lever pivot into place for this bike to be 'done'.

Adjusted the timing chain on the audax tandem after fitting a 3/32" half-link. Just need to pick and fit the luggage and it will be ready for PBP.

Pretty much every bike needs a wash though.

[T42]

Trimmed the anti-splintering strip on the track-saw I bought a while back. Oh, and removed the anti-kickback doo-dah because it has such a strong spring that it's bloody hard to push the saw forwards, never mind backwards. Will endeavour to fettle weaker spring.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Unpacked my trike, adjusted the rear axle bearings, trued both back wheels, cleaned out the brake pads and reshaped the mudguard. Replaced the dodgy Sachs front mech with a Campag from the garage pile that had a stripped cable anchor thread (now a bolt and nut).

Washed my trike and fixed. HK washed her Kinesis and Roberts.

Will wash the audax tandem and possibly the Frezoni tomorrow.

[Tim Hall]

We have a propane fired urn at Scouts. During our recent camp, its lighting became intermittent so I took a look this afternoon.  It has piezoelectric electric ignition and a flame failure device - hold the knob in for 20s after ignition, release and adjust flame. The FFD kept cutting in after the 20s, so at first I suspected the thermocouple wasn't getting hot enough- maybe it had take  a knock. However a bit of web based research pointed to the knob/valve interface. Pressing the knob didn't get the gas valve quite to the right position, as the knob fouled on the casing. Solution: cut a teeny shim from the lid of a soft drinks bottle and slide it into the hole in the knob.

TL,DR? I mended it with a scrap of plastic. Phear mi l33t haxxor skillz.

[Kim]

Barakta and I tracked down a seemingly intermittent fault in the BHPC's electronic timing system.  Fortunately the problem appears to be a dicky cable, rather than a problem with the expensive RFID SCIENCE.

In the process we discovered a compatible tag^[1] somewhere in (or within a few metres of) our house that I can't account for.  I know the EPC, but not where it is or what it might be attached to.  I wasn't quite bored enough to turn the gain down and wander around with a massive aerial to try to find it.

Reminded me of http://bash.org/?5273


_{[1] These are the cheap disposable stick-on ones normally used for asset tracking.}

[ElyDave]

My iron has developed a leak, so has gone back to Panasonic for repair. Hence, I borrowed an iron yesterday from one of the carers to iron my shirts for next week. 

The fettling was a new plug onto the borrowed iron this morning before she arrived. It also needs a new flwx really, but I don't have one. She thanked me on the way out - I'd not said anything during the day.

[T42]

My iron has developed a leak, so has gone back to Panasonic for repair. Hence, I borrowed an iron yesterday from one of the carers to iron my shirts for next week. 

  I read that as "My son...".

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Yesterday, disassembled, cleaned, greased and reassembled a Gran Cru hub that was making funny noises and movements under load. Looks like sticky pawls and distorted pawl seats. Should get the rider to the finish of PBP, hopefully without any more funny noises.

[T42]

I hope you get finished fettling other people's bikes in time to get to the bike check.

[FatBloke]

Just replaced a Shimano 105 Octalink BB-5500 Bottom Bracket on my favourite (and oldest) bike.

Those Octalink BBs are becoming rarer than rocking horse doo-doos!!!   

[Kim]

Other people's V-brakes.  My favourite.

[T42]

Just replaced Shimano 105 Octalink BB-5500 Botton Bracket on my favourite (and oldest) bike.

Those Octalink BBs are becoming rarer than rocking horse doo-doos!!!   

When's it from, around Y2K? I probably have one on a shelf in the workshop, along with the rest of the groupset.  The STI-lever rubbers are a bit tacky, though, and probably split by now.