What have you fettled today?

[Torslanda]

Par for the course round here. Many seem affronted at the idea of parting with actual money for fettling stuff...

[T42]

Helped the missus stripping 30 years' worth of ivy off the well.  Long way to go yet: some of the creepers are as thick as my thumb and need bolt-cutters. Thon fella who chopped through tangled thorns with his doughty blade to reach the Sleeping Beauty would have come in handy, though what she'd have been doing down our well I've no idea. Starring in the Alsacien version of Ringu, maybe.

[robgul]

In the process of fixing a bike where the customer had "gear changing problems" ..... chain un-shipping to between the cassette and dropout.

He said:  "I adjusted this bit just a little"   -  expecting him to point to the barrel adjuster he pointed to the cable clamp bolt! You got it, he had released the cable tension  (although that also suggests he probably turned the limit/stop screw too)

.... still that's all good for my shop workshop revenue.

Rob

[Gattopardo]

Par for the course round here. Many seem affronted at the idea of parting with actual money for fettling stuff...

Well the bikes are such kwality...

[Blade]

My Shimano pedals finally needed replacing after 25 years of use. They had never been removed since fitting and at the time I didn't have any Copperslip grease available.

First pedal was removed with difficulty using a long spanner and a large hammer.

The other pedal (chainring side) refused to budge at all, even with overnight soaking in releasing fluid.

Applied heat to the pedal/crank area with a blowlamp. Still no luck using a long spanner and a bigger hammer.

Eventually, removed chainset from the bike and stripped down the pedal so that I could hold the pedal spindle in my bench vise.

Found a 5' length of 2x2 timber, and using five toestraps, attached the timber to the crank and spider. Didn't attach to the chainrings, due to the risk of buckling them.

Pushing heavily on the end of the timber resulted in the crank slightly undoing from the pedal spindle. After that, I was able to undo the rest of the way by pushing and pulling on the chainrings.

This time, when fitting the new pedals, I made sure to apply Copperslip grease to the threads.

[Mrs Pingu]

I broke a pedal spanner this morning A Park Tools one too.
Bought a chunkier looking Topeak one. Hopefully that one will fare better.

[Torslanda]

Cyclo makez "Teh Peggal Spannuh of Doom". I haz two . . .

[andyoxon]

Installed* two new Koolstop Salmons, and adjusted the other pads too.  Spent ages trying to get straddle cable length & pad toe-ins correct.  Hopefully done.

* in the ktchen - nice and warm...

[rogerzilla]

Laced a dynohub front wheel.  I'll tension and true it tomorrow night.

[rogerzilla]

Did some panel beating on the Moulton. The Monosphere receptacle was dented and marked by a rear rack, so I knocked the dent out from the inside and then touched up the paint.  It's rather better now and will be almost perfect when it's dried hard and I can cut it back and blend it in.

[slope]

Did some panel beating on the Moulton. The Monosphere receptacle was dented and marked by a rear rack, so I knocked the dent out from the inside and then touched up the paint.  It's rather better now and will be almost perfect when it's dried hard and I can cut it back and blend it in.

 

[rogerzilla]

Also winterised the big Quinn (smeared vaseline over all the chromed fasteners and waxed the frame).  It'll look terrible when it attracts dirt, but it'll all wipe off in spring and it really does stop the salt corrosion.  In t'olden days my dad used to smear chromed rims too...hopefully not the brake tracks!

Then bolted on a dynamo headlight and took it round the block just now to check the aim.

[phantasmagoriana]

Yesterday actually - laid a new vinyl floor in the bathroom.

[Torslanda]

Purple, natch . . .

[phantasmagoriana]

Sadly not!

[zigzag]

my bike has developed a creak (the typical higher effort out of the saddle one), so the first suspects were bb and chainset as that's where the noise seemed to come from. dismantled everything, cleaned and regreased bb, chainring bolts, pedal threads, reassembled. took the bike out for a spin - still creaks!
stem bolts and headset assembly are next on the list. i can't remember having any creaks on any of my bikes in the past ten years so really intrigued what's causing this one!

[Kim]

I glued some wheels to a fish.

[Butterfly]

I glued some wheels to a fish.

Have you been near Nikki again?

[Kim]

I glued some wheels to a fish.

Have you been near Nikki again?

I can see how you'd think that, but obviously as an elite track racer I don't hang around with mucky mountain bikers.   

[rogerzilla]

Removed the faulty FSA BB from the Moulton, which was sounding like a flock of canaries. 

While it was out, I serviced the rear pivot, which is all fine (slope had changed it fairly recently).  The hollow sleeve feels good in the bronze bushes.  Then I pumped it with grease again until it spewed out of both sides, working the rear triangle up and down through its full range with the Monosphere unattached.

Just need the new Tange BB to turn up now.

[Mr Larrington]

I glued some wheels to a fish.

Have you been near Nikki again?

I can see how you'd think that, but obviously as an elite track racer I don't hang around with mucky mountain bikers.   

Be advised that Fabien Canal, who claimed third place at Battle Mountain this year, is one o' they mucky mountain bikers

[Kim]

I glued some wheels to a fish.

Have you been near Nikki again?

I can see how you'd think that, but obviously as an elite track racer I don't hang around with mucky mountain bikers.   

Be advised that Fabien Canal, who claimed third place at Battle Mountain this year, is one o' they mucky mountain bikers

Yes, well, he seems to have got the right idea having come over to the darkside...   

[Auntie Helen]

I collected my new Flevobike Versatile Velomobile on Sunday.

No fettling has taken place (except some by Ligfietsshop Tempelman in Dronten), but I have quite a bit to do to make Bertie a suitable commuting bike. Parts are ordered and arrived today.

New pedals - SPDs instead of the flats; with a velomobile this is a must!

Adjust the lamps so they actually shine where I am going. This may involve additional fettling as they look like they are at their maximum upward angle and are behind plexi covers which can't easily be removed
(subitem 1) remove the sticky label over both new B&M lights 'peel before use' which wasn't peeled and cannot be reached due to aforementioned plexi
(subitem 2) remove dead insects stuck behind plexi, but with all access blocked by new B&M lights which I paid to have fitted.

Clean him out - he sat in a junkyard for 3-4 years and this did not improve his overall cleanliness

Try to work out if I can just spray some new yellow paint on him as he was in an accident and is gouged and scratched. If it is all yellow I think it will look a bit better

Adjust the seat a little further back but there is no pedal adjustment with the Versatile so I hope I can do this and still reach the pedals comfortably. At the moment my thighs are rubbing the inside of the wheelbases uncomfortably. In Penelope my previous Versatile the whole pedal arrangement was in the 'back' position (it is in the 'front' in Bertie) and changing this is a mega pain. Current 'front' position allows a lot more luggage space which is a bonus

Change all three tubes to AV (Schraeder) from the Blitz Ventil that Dutch bikes have

Change the rear tyre from a Marathon Racer to a sensible tyre for winter commuting

Try to improve the opening of the entrance hatch hinge (was damaged by the crash, is pretty ropy)

Stick my Bee stickers on the side, as he is Bertie the Bee (we live in a house belonging to a beekeeper and a yellow and black Versatile just has to be a bee, really).

So a bit of work to do on Saturday...

[zigzag]

my bike has developed a creak (the typical higher effort out of the saddle one), so the first suspects were bb and chainset as that's where the noise seemed to come from. dismantled everything, cleaned and regreased bb, chainring bolts, pedal threads, reassembled. took the bike out for a spin - still creaks!
stem bolts and headset assembly are next on the list. i can't remember having any creaks on any of my bikes in the past ten years so really intrigued what's causing this one!

so, it was the headset assembly (i could swear the noise was coming from the bb!..). after a clean and re-greasing of bearing surfaces all is quiet now.

[andytheflyer]

Changed the drum bearings in our 20 yo Hotpoint washing machine.

What a job.  Took all day, I'm 99.9% knackered.  Essentially a total dismantling of the machine to extract then split the drum, drift out the bearings and seal, then fit new ones. At least I now know where the racket was coming from.  The old bearings were 100% shot.

Had a couple of wrong roads on the build back up - getting the door seal back on necessitated taking off the front panel, c/w the door seal, then mating this to the drum on the bench.  Then reassembling as a unit.  The drum halves are held together with spring clips, but getting these back in place when the drum is in the machine case resulted in a couple of cuts from the sharp casing panel edges.  Ouch.

That sounds easy, until you factor in the bloody great big concrete weight bolted to the underside of the drum. Had to waste a hour or so working out the optimum sequence of re-assembly steps so that it could all go back together.

Splitting the drum meant that I also ordered a new seal, to go with the drum spider and the bearings/seals.  Except that, despite ordering the correct part according to the model number, it's wrong. So I had to re-use the old seal - which looks to be in good nick and I put it back with plenty of silicone grease.  We used to use that with O rings and seals on underwater survey kit when I was a young marine geologist  Fingers crossed.

Also had to un-seize one of the drum dampers, so at least the drum should be much quieter and smoother  now.  Provided it doesn't leak that is.

Too tired to try it out tonight, so will be connecting up in the middle of the kitchen floor tomorrow and trying a short wash to look for leaks.