What have you fettled today?

[The Family Cyclist]

Moved the wife's bike t'other day and it felt odd. The front dynamo wheel felt really notchy. Had a quick look and the front QR was undone. Annoyingly the dynamo wire had wrapped round the axle so had to unravel this and tighten the skewer up

Mentioned this to the wife and the eldest monkey said oh sorry daddy I caught the cable getting the bike out shed. Reassured her she hadn't caught it was because of wrapping round axle it had stretched

It then transpired the wife had noticed something was wrong a few days before and actually asked the eldest monkey to have a look. She didn't find the problem but as a 10 year old she's really good at fixing bikes and has often put a chain back on an adults bike

[ElyDave]

Fettling of daughters very underutilised bike, as she wants to start riding down to the swimming pool now that she's finished her a levels
Tyres swapped from knobblies to marathons. Front refusing to seat properly, so have left it pressured up overnight,and will try again tomorrow.
Both wheels were horribly off of true, so did a rudimentary truing vs brakes as reference. Laterally OK-ish, but radially horrid.  May put them on the stand at some point.
V-Brakes given a squirt of GT85 on the pivots, might need to change those out at some point
Gears checked, ok
Saddle levelled

I refuse to clean it, she can do that herself

[trundle]

Gave the Elan a deep clean - the Drovers Audax was very wet, and very muddy: One event brought about surface rust on the chain. That has now been given three coats of squirt.

Also fitted a 100mm shock stem to the Triban because it feels cramped after riding the Elan: The front hub now lines up with the middle of the bar when I sit on the bike. The 80mm stem will go in spares - that's the size I use on the Elan.

I need to take the Triban on an audax to prove it can be a backup bike: If it fails - I'll buy a 725 Elan frame, and swap everything across so I can fit much wider tyres.

[ElyDave]

Need to take another look at no-1 daughter's bike.  Front wheel has eaten 3 inner tubes and I can't see why, they've all gone in the same way, at the same spot with a split that looks very much like a point source rather than split. 

New rim tape
Nothing inside the tyre, no bead issues
The only thing that I can see in that location is that the rim joint is a bit rough, and there is a slight dent in the rim with no roughness.  May need to take it to the LBS for a look, but I can't understand why it would suddenly manifest with the Marathons vs the Conti knobblies that were on it before.

I've lowered the saddle and she's taken my sensible 90's MBT this morning

[Feanor]

Deep cleaned the Audax bike yesterday, following the Swedish Adventure.
Dusty offroad sections followed by hours of heavy rain make for an excellent grinding paste.

So total strip down, to frame and forks.
Cassette, chain, chainrings and cranks all in the parts cleaner bath.
Took all day, but its like new again.

[CommuteTooFar]

Chopped down some invasive plants.  Its a shame I only have one garden bin otherwise I would have committed greater planticide. 

[Kim]

IRTA "invasive pants"

[trundle]

The backup bike needs to prove it can tackle an audax without turning me into a crippled mess. So it will be used for this weekends Up the Downs from Reading. To help with climbing the steep bits - I swapped the 12-36 for an 11-40 comedy cassette.

It's a compact Sora with 28mm tyres, and a light, but unyielding Aluminium frame. It doesn't have clearance for the 35mm tyres I love (with mudguards), so I have found other solutions to increase comfort:

• Redshift suspension stem
• Redshift suspension seat post
• 11-40 9sp cassette to give 22.8" - nice and low!
• Gel inserts under gel bar wrap

In theory the Triban should be faster - it's lighter and has narrower tyres. But I have a sneaky suspicion it will be slower elapsed time, less secure, and much less comfortable. And of all of those, I suspect it's the less secure bit that I will miss the most: good quality 35mm tyres make descents a joy, no matter the conditions or road surface.

So this weekend is a test. If it doesn't cut it as a backup bike, plan B is buy an Elan frame and forks, and swap everything across.  I already have Sora triple in the spares, so I can get my 22.8" gear and return to my favourite 12-36 ratios. And the Elan frame has clearance for 40mm tyres with full mudguards.

[rogerzilla]

IRTA "invasive pants"

Is that the new term for hungry bum?

[MattH]

Over the weekend I was out riding with MrsH when I got a puncture. Was on the old school MTB with Schrader valves, so had dug my old MTB pump out. The adaptor for which didn't work (missing the bit that pushes the valve in) :-(
Luckily I'd got a gas inflator with me - hadn't realised that this one takes 20g cartridges though, so whilst it had one in it it is the only 20g one I had. I had a couple of 16g with me, but they are threadless and won't get pushed up to puncture/seal. As I rarely use them (bought a box of 24 a decade ago, think I've used 4...), and have a box of unthreaded 16g ones kicking around, I didn't want to invest in either threaded 16s or 20s. My other two inflators are the 16g type.

Having a couple of 3D printers at work that I've not used yet, this was the ideal opportunity to make a shim adaptor. It sits at the bottom of the cartridge holder tube, and has a hole in it so you can put the cartridge in upside down for storage, then flip it around to use.

[T42]

Nice^^^^.

You may recall that I bought a cheap HB bag a few weeks back.  Took it for its first ride today & kept catching my thumb in the netting pocket at the side, which gapes a bit.  Once home, I cannibalized a black FFP2 mask (left over from the last Satanic lockdown orgies in the cellars of N°66) and threaded the elastic through the mesh at the top. Might work.  Previously I had found a handbag organizer that fits perfectly into the main compartment, which is now nicely divided up into convenient compartments. Quite satisfied with that.

[Kim]

Moved the fridge and squeezed myself into the spider-infested woodlouse graveyard that is the void beside the washing machine in order to access its mains socket.  It is now fed via an extension lead and smart plug, in the easily-accessed gap at the side that accommodates the waste pipe.

If you're ever fitting a kitchen, make sure the power connections for white goods are at the back of an adjacent cupboard or similar, rather than behind the appliance.  It'll make the world a slightly better place.

[Mrs Pingu]

That reminds me, we got our roll of kitchen vinyl delivered today so next week we've got the joy of moving the fridge freezer and the washing machine, twice, to look forward to. 

[hatler]

Changed some pedals around today. Nothing remarkable in that, except that it was done remotely, over the phone to mini-hatler who hadn't performed pedal removal before.

And then, about 20 minutes later, remote brake unjamming.

[T42]

Swapped my old Topeak Fixer 5 HB bag brackets for Klickfixes.  Took mounting plate off old Topeak so that I can fit a Klickfix mounting plate and have Topeak available as well as new Sagmeister (hélas, but it's OK otherwise). Problem: BFO holes in Topeak now and I haven't any silicon glue handy.

Also took rack & saddle+post off eBrute and put threadlock on the levelling screws, put it back on and readjusted it, then remounted the rack. The work of a moment, not.

[ElyDave]

Replaced the BB and reinstated the drive train on my turbo trainer bike. Also liberally lubed the lever internals and front mech pivots to the point that it's working-ish.  I have a pair of very cheap friction shifters that will now lurk in the spares box until the inevitable.

Replaced V-brakes on No1 daughter's MTB, but it looks like one of the mounting bosses is not straight

[Mrs Pingu]

Yesterday I tapped a wine bottle cork into one of the old radiator pipe holes. The other hole was bigger so I found a beer bottle cork and pared the thick end down, shoved that  in and cut off the rest.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

HK’s Trice now has an Altus in place of the Ultegra rear mech, which will allow a granny ring to be fitted in the future without the chain dragging at any stage. There is more slop in the pivots than I’d like but we will see how it performs on the road. Replaced the rear gear cable housing. The Capreo cassette lockring was only finger tight, now tight, while removing the last wheel cover. The Rohloff cassette checker suggests the cassette is on its way out, so time to order a new cassette and many chains. The tyres were <20psi last weekend, now double that. Low pressures can be useful but it is possible to go too low.

Swapped the fairly elderly Pasela rear tyres on my trike with something quicker. Replaced the overly-worn chain and cassette.

Fitted some SPD pedals to HK’s MTB commuter.

Superglued the pivot pins on a pair of Cane Creek brake levers that will replace the wornout Ultegra brake levers on my trike. Still need to swap the levers, replace brake cables, retape the handlebars and space up the pads on the aerobars.

[Mr Larrington]

40 psi still sounds a bit low to this Unit.  I used to run my XL at around 70-80 on Marathon Racers.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Quite so but HK is somewhat lighter than you and I. I expect to sneak up the pressures over a few weeks. She complained of rattling her brains out on the Kojaks and this is the backlash in action.

[Kim]

There's definitely a sweet spot for Kojaks that's a bit lower than you think it should be.  Very different from a Marathon.  20PSI sounds extreme, though.

[rafletcher]

That reminds me, we got our roll of kitchen vinyl delivered today so next week we've got the joy of moving the fridge freezer and the washing machine, twice, to look forward to. 

Good luck! I’m sure I’d not be able to shift our (Bosch) washing machine, it’s got so much concrete in it.

[T42]

Cycle-trackside fettle to adjust the §$%&/() saddle yet again.  Damn thing was perfect for a couple of thousand km but since it came adrift earlier this week it's been a bastard.  Today's effort wasn't helped by wearing new Ekoi shorts - the fecking 250€ model - with a pad like a hair shirt crossed with a wire brush.  WTF do they think human underparts are made of, Kevlar?

[Andy W]

Myself. Please,  after 2 years I've finally tested positive for covid. 
Had flu in 1982, this feels very similar.  Had these  symptoms 11 months ago  and in April this year. 
I'm aware this virus generally doesn't discriminate between healthy and unhealthy individuals.
 My wife supervises with hawklike concentration and my covid sticks are both applied Nasally and tonsils ever since kits were available. Always definitely negative. Currently feeling very unwell,  and so via paracetamol and ibuprofen I'm fettling myself.
Probably the wrong topic / forum. I can't think properly 😕

[ElyDave]

a bit of team fettling today, whilst I've got the brakes into a semblance of order on No1 daughter's bike, the tyres are different case.

After three identical p*&!ture$ when trying to fit the Marathon on the front, I went into the LBS for advice today, took the rim with me.  He thought my concern on the rim joint was misplaced, but advised checking the bead very carefully whilst giving it some flex.  Lo and behold a small piece of wire from the bead is protruding inwards at just where the visitations have been.

Bugger! And of course the tyre has plenty of wear left (slight temptation to see if I could do anything with it, but the rest of my brainz is telling me not to be an idiot, that way lies a whole load of pain)

Wil consult with my customer on her preferred solution, carry on using my MTB with Schwalbe Black Jacks, or put the conti knobblies back on?