What have you fettled today?

[Pingu]

Tea? Now I'm wondering what else you're keeping in containers like that...

[Kim]

Tea? Now I'm wondering what else you're keeping in containers like that...

Not Tea, obviously.

(That was one of those "I've just got a new label printer" labels.  It's lasted quite well (about 18 months now), given how much the mug gets used/washed.)

[Jurek]

Mum's lawn yesterday.
Using a scythe.

[rogerzilla]

Still rebuilding the small Ridgeback for SO's niece. Built a back wheel and fitted the rear mudguard.  Set up the gears and found this XT rear mech is finished - it looks good but there is appalling slop in the cage pivot.  Will swap it for the known good one on my Kilauea and that can have a road mech, which was what we did in the 90s anyway.

Then just brakes, mudflap and rear reflector to fettle.

[rogerzilla]

20210921_114210 by rogerzilla, on Flickr

Just the reflector and mudflap to go now.  The "mechanic" who prepped it for sale didn't have a clue.

[rogerzilla]

A spare Moulton series 1 fork turned up, so I stripped it down for parts.  Nylon bushes very good, small parts very good, bellows junk (boo!).  Low mileage, heavy neglect.  I am going to try some Bilstein steering bellows from a car, which are the right inner diameter but a fair bit longer, with an extra two ribs.  As long as they don't bottom out, they'll work.

Put the main fork and steerer back on the Bay.  The crown race is really nice so it should be a useful spare for someone.

[JonBuoy]

The rear tyre on the shopping bike (old 26" hardtail MTB) started rubbing on the chain stay yesterday.  I (eventually) spotted this which was a tad annoying:



I can't be 100% certain but I am pretty sure that this is a wheel that I put a new rim on about 10 years ago.  The rim was a newish Mavic that a mate gave me. Unfortunately the sticker has peeled off so I don't know which model.

Closer inspection today showed another location with similar damage.  I then removed the tyre and rim tape and was pretty gobsmacked at the scene of devastation that I uncovered:



That crack runs round 75% of the circumference 

No wonder the back end felt a bit weird with a full shopping load in the panniers!

[Mrs Pingu]

Oh wow that is quite impressive!

[hatler]

    Grief. Amazing that didn't fail catastrophically.

[neilrj]

No wonder the back end felt a bit weird with a full shopping load in the panniers!

How much shopping? That is some damage!

[Pingu]

Ruddy Norah 

Wheels can be pretty resilient, eh 

[Paul]

Not to mention rim tape and tubes.

[rogerzilla]

Mavics aren't all they're cracked up to be 

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Adjusted the hub gear and cleaned the derailleur gear lever on HK’s Brompton. Both shift nicely now. At some point the frame will need a new powdercoat and replacement Wellgo QR pedals. Perhaps that will be a winter project.

Replaced the worn-out chain on my fixed with a faux Shimano chain from a dodgy eBayer (photos showed Shimano stamped on the links but not on what arrived). It didn’t measure as worn out of the box so I decided to not bother sending it back. Hopefully it will hold together sufficiently in comparatively-benign fixed service.

Replaced the wornout Grand Prix on the rear of my Moulton with a Contact Speed. With luck, it won’t be much slower. Tweaked the rear derailleur adjustment and checked the hanger alignment. On the stand, it is still quite slow shifting to one cog only in one direction when on the big ring. Shifts nicely in every other gear, so I am a little confused. If it persists on the road, I will pull the Campag cassette and see if something is going on there.

[rogerzilla]

The Moulton hanger that's slightly too thin for all modern rear mechs 

SO's niece came to collect the Ridgeback.  I put it on the turbo ready to fit it to her and the PoS Altus 8-speed shifter promptly broke.  You don't get much for £7.  I phoned the LBS and amazingly they had a slightly.better 8 speed RF+ shifter in stock, so I pedalled down to get it.  2 min job to swap.

It fits her perfectly after adjusting the seat height and setback - including reach (with the stock long 90s-style stem).  Got lucky there, as it's common to have to swap out the stem.

[ElyDave]

ae.ro bars and tape onto the Airnimal, adn then took it for a 75km test ride. Need a better solution for the Garmin mounting

[LittleWheelsandBig]

The Moulton hanger that's slightly too thin for all modern rear mechs 

Yes, there is a washer under the mech of my TSR. HK’s much nicer Moulton has a stiffener brazed onto the hanger that adds the required thickness.

This evening, I swapped tyres around on my upright trike as the drive tyre has started showing tiny bits of canvas. Front Pasela to LH rear wheel and a slightly used Supersport onto the front wheel. Certain tyre sizes are starting to run low in my garage.

[Mrs Pingu]

Not a lot. I was going to replace all my cables today but my RH Daytona shifter decided to die while I was doing that. 

[hatler]

New bar tape on mini's bike in preparation for tomorrow's Big Ride^®.

Charged lots of batteries, fitted lamp brackets. All systems go.

[Kim]

I have a door knob I need to temporarily uninstall, until such a time as barakta is no longer dependent on the use of a wheelchair ramp to move between rooms.  I keep bashing my hip on the knob every time I put the ramp down, and my bruise now has bruises.

This.  The door doesn't door properly, so it's not too difficult to open without the knob.  Assuming someone hasn't left a ramp in front of it.

[John Stonebridge]

Spent today getting my winter bike ready - its a bike-to-work Boardman SLR and £ for £ its the best bike Ive had ever.

Id last ridden it December 2020 on a very muddy 200km but thankfully had given it a top to toe clean and strip down immediately after.

Im hoping to use it for longer (over 200km) audax rides next year so have equipped it with a hub front light, brooks saddle and have upgraded the wheels. 
 
Only hiccup is where Id intended putting a larger (32T) cassette on it from another spare wheel but could not budge the lock ring.  I dont want to risk taking the skin off my knuckles so will refer it to LBS who will no doubt have the wherewithall to apply the necessary torque. 

[salar55]

Sleeve bearings from Igus arrived, pulled out worn ones and fitted the new ones. Pedals are perfect now, the outer bearings never seem to die like the inner ones. Now i have a spare set of pedals for the offroad bikes.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Fitted a new chain to HK’s Moulton and swapped a virtually-new Campag cassette from my Moulton to her’s. A new Miche 11sp cassette wasn’t playing nicely with her Tune hub but seems fine with my Miche hub (as you would hope). The long Moulton chainstays mean the 116 link KMC chain is at maximum allowable tension big-to-big but it seems ok changing in the stand and chain wear will loosen that off soon anyway.

Stripped the mudguards, rack and dynowheel from my TSR and fitted a pair of new Conti Contact Speed tyres. Somebody is borrowing it for a sportive.

The only spare 406 tyres left in the garage are tubeless Schwalbe, so I should finally get on and build up the tubeless Fratelli rims for HK’s Moulton. Without any long brevets or overseas brevets for a couple of years, there hasn’t been much reason to keep our Moultons in frontline service.

[campagman]

I occasionally remember to turn the water Stop Tap a couple of turns to stop it seizing. I did this today.   

[Mrs Pingu]

Had another go at trying to get the Roman blind at the top of the stairs back on it's fittings, which was made difficult by the stupid naff pelmet obstructing sight of said fittings.
Not that I was a particular fan of the blind but at least it's out of the way now rather than balancing on a teetering pile of boxes. Will try to remember not to use it in the hope it doesn't fall off again.