Random Musings > Skip Bike and Bodge It

Reader's bodges

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Si:
Here’s a thread for everyone to list their favourite bodges. 

What is a bodge?  I like to think of it as a repair or improvement that includes a little lateral thinking and doesn’t require buying an expensive new part from the bike shop.  Reuse, recycle, remanufacture.

Si:
Here’s oldie but a goodie to start you off. 

Keeping your hub bodies clean.  Why bother with all that agro with the toothbrush between the spokes?  Just put a strap loosely around the hub (an Armstrong L1vestrong wrist band works well) and as the wheel turns the strap will jump about and stop most of the dirt accumulating.

Si:
Things to do with old inner tubes #1.  Don’t spend your hard earned wedge on Marsas tape, just split the old inner tube open length ways, wind it around your handlebars, secure with a bit of electrical tape and put the normal bar tape on top.   Added comfort at no expense and one less tube on the landfill site.

Si:
Elastometers

You've either an old MTB with elastometer suspension, or a folding bike that has elastometor bump-stop/suspension.  But, woe is you, the elastometer has gone hard and your beautiful plush ride is no more.  You hunt around the net: but a new elastometor is nowhere to be found, what to do, what to do?

Boil it!

Fill a bowl with boiling water (get an adult to help you) and drop the elastometer in for around thirty seconds.  Carefully fish it out, let it dry and hey-presto, it's squishy again.

This isn't a permenant solution, you'll find that after a while it starts to go hard again.  You can, of course, boil it again, but the times between boilings tend to get less and less.  At this point you need to get your whittling knife out and make a new elastometer from one intended for a different bike.

Si:
If, like me, you rarely cut steerers on threadless forks, either because you might one day want to fit the fork to another frame, or you suffer from back problems and might need to raise the bars at some point, don't pad the steerer out with spaces, no, instead put two stems on it.  One points up, the other down.  One takes your handlebars, the other takes a sawn off bar.  Thus you can fit loads of bar furniture: computer, lights GPS, bar bag, etc with little trouble, and because they are at different heights the bar bag won't interfer with the lights.

As a used stem can be picked up for peanuts this works out both cheaper and stronger than a space grip.

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