Fettling before Mille Cymru

[vorsprung]

I am not a major fettler and will only do it when the occassion demands

Well that moment is here with the Mille next weekend

Step one, cleaning and swapping the chain went fine
Step two, putting on the Michellin tyres fine, but as I was doing this I noticed the front gear cable needed replacing
Step three, replace the brake blocks..I decided they didn't need replacing
Step four, fixing that dicey brake cable
Step five, it won't shift into little ring big sprocket.  Oh dear and on closer inspection the rear gear cable clamp is holding the cable in a useless insecure way.  What was I thinking when I replaced the cable?  So adjust everything and redo the gear derrailluer step up
Step six, have another look at the brakes.  I was gonna just take a little slack out of the cable but as I was doing this I noticed that one of the front blocks was disintegrating.  No problem, I have spares but...
Step steven, the screw on the shoe holding in the block is frozen and the hex key hole goes round under pressure.  So I remove the shoe and hacksaw a slot in it

Then it's teatime.  More tomorrow.

[mattc]

So far I've been pretty restrained (1 new tyre, 1 nearly-new tyre, front brake inner).

New front blocks should be OK.

D'ya think tomorrow (Monday) will be early enough to commence new rear gear inner? Surely nothing can go wrong with that?

(BB has, this week, decided to exhibit slight play - I'm just not going there before returning from Wales, no way Hoe-zay ...)

[I must be pretty nervous about this ride - I've even been testing spare tubes  ]

[vorsprung]

I bought some new (cheap) brake shoes from the LBS and fitted them with koolstops last night

The bike now has brakes, and subject to a quick test ride, is fully operational

[Hot Flatus]

I haven't done any fettling as washing my hands and checking the gas cooker is switched off seems to take up most of my day

[vorsprung]

During the Mille Cymru

1) my front wheel deflated in the car before I even got it on the bike.  It also deflated after a severe downhill with a lot of braking.  I suspect heat pushed the inner into an internal sharp on the rim.  I had to borrow a tube from a passing rider (thanks Peter)
2) rear hub destructed despiting being checked and regreased just days before.  Rain and mud gets in the hub, then the inner bearing in the freehub is broken, then there is play in the freehub, then the gears get a bit tempremental.  The wheel still rolls however, which is a good job as this happened as I was leaving St Davids
3) the headset is feeling a bit nasty
4) bottle cage bolt started to undo itself but I noticed

to iron out these problems for the next ride

1) wet n dry on the front rim, new rim tape
2) new rear wheel.  I have all the parts, I just need to build it
3) new headset from the LBS
4) put loctite on bottle cage bolts

[Panoramix]

I think the dragons were on my side, may be my celtic background confers me some form of immunity!

Before the ride:
- Changed the brake pads
- oiled the chain

During the ride:
- Lost 2 bolts on the road (my bike now looks like it has been assembled by an electrician with zip ties)
- Jammed my chain in the front derailleur without damaging anything

May be excessive maintenance attracts the wrong kind of mechanicals 

[simonp]

Before the ride:

 - removed and cleaned chain
 - replace BB bearings
 - new insulating tape to prevent GPS vibration issues
 - new front brake blocks

During the ride:

 - front p*nct*r* descending rough surface in Tenby
 - had to re-true rear wheel on the road at the start of Day 3, putting me even further off the back of the field