Author Topic: What have you fettled today? (Read 2166625 times)

T42 · « **Reply #12675 on:** 03 January, 2018, 03:23:19 pm »

Funny you should mention that. I just put a plywood panel in one of the cellar windows that Windy Eleanor pushed in. Like panelling up a loophole, the wall down there is a metre thick and the window a foot square. Had to use wedges to hold it in place. Hand stinks of 25-yr-old black stain now.

Kim · « **Reply #12676 on:** 03 January, 2018, 04:28:35 pm »

Sorted out some lightning damage. Turns out that DS2438s aren't rated for the full 1.21 jiggawatts.

zigzag · « **Reply #12677 on:** 03 January, 2018, 06:21:58 pm »

after going through four chains (to 1% stretch) the chainring and sprocket started creaking when pushing harder on the pedals. so i flipped them around, installed a new chain - the drivetrain is as quiet as new. i reckon it can still go through another 2-3 chains before teeth start bending/breaking

ElyDave · « **Reply #12678 on:** 04 January, 2018, 09:05:34 pm »

Wired up the rear Dyno light on the Giant, all working ok, which is a miracle for me and electrickery.

T42 · « **Reply #12679 on:** 05 January, 2018, 09:57:05 am »

What drove me scatty at that lark was getting the tags on the leads going into the Secula far enough open to go onto the contacts inside, but tight enough not to slide off at the first bump.

Asterix, the former Gaul. · « **Reply #12680 on:** 06 January, 2018, 04:00:13 pm »

Fastened the cleats to my lovely new cycling shoes. Trouble is, I don't want to get them all wet and muddy

andrewc · « **Reply #12681 on:** 07 January, 2018, 09:04:13 pm »

Got my fathers swivel chair going up & down again. The gas cylinder is stick in place, so if I want to replace that with a new one I'll need penetrating oil & a big wrench, but the several whacks with a rubber mallet I gave it have obviously loosened it up internally. Problem caused I think by my sister sitting in it & hitting the adjust lever at the same time, she's no lightweight....

Also got sisters iPhone & iPad updated to the latest version of ios.

LittleWheelsandBig · « **Reply #12682 on:** 07 January, 2018, 10:52:36 pm »

Replaced the front tube in HK's MTB commuter with Alfine 11 hub. A nasty thorn had caused a very slow leak for most of the Poor Student 200. At the arrivee, it got completely flat and the thorn stopped plugging the hole in the tube. She had to walk back to the car because air was coming out faster than we could put it in.

clarion · « **Reply #12683 on:** 08 January, 2018, 09:57:12 am »

Got my big plane working, thought not entirely correctly.

And managed to damage the prop doing so

Sooooo close to finishing my new bike, but I need to wait till my parents are away, since I will need the kitchen space to work in.

rogerzilla · « **Reply #12684 on:** 08 January, 2018, 02:25:18 pm »

Stripped and serviced the pedals on the commuting bike. They hadn't been touched since they were new in 2009 and had developed a bit of slop. The only major challenge was unscrewing them from the cranks, to which they had seized themselves rather firmly.

I'm a big fan of the M540 SPD - I find they run a lot longer before becoming loose than the cheaper M520. These were fine inside after about 20,000 miles and zero maintenance. I fitted new balls and packed them with Phil Wood grease. They should run for another 20,000 miles now. I won't be riding the bike to work for as long as that!

Tim Hall · « **Reply #12685 on:** 08 January, 2018, 04:45:59 pm »

A car radio back into life. The car in which it resides had been to Half-Rods for a new battery, but the naughty monkeys didn't do the necessary magic to keep the radio alive. Inputting of the Magic Code was needed. Rifle through the glove box to find the Book of Words. Read the instructions, read the Magic Code from inside the front cover. Press the buttons. Error. Wrong code. You have n-1 goes left. Arse. Try again. You have one fewer go left.

This suggests the Book of Words isn't the one that came with the car. Arse.
Read the Magic Internet and learn how to retrieve the serial number of the radio without any dashboard surgery. The serial number doesn't match the one in the Book of Words, confirming my suspicions.
Read the Magic Internet a bit more, send a couple of quid by paypal and an hour later get a new Magic Code. Do the buttons thing and hurrah! the radio works.

Write right Magic Code in the Book of Words in large friendly letters (or numbers).

T42 · « **Reply #12686 on:** 10 January, 2018, 04:56:24 pm »

Cut a longboard-shaped spat out of the plastic back of a notebook, fitted it to a spare Raceblade front mudguard and bunged it on the bike. It's much lighter than the original longboard so hopefully it won't fatigue the mudguard to death like the old one did.

robgul · « **Reply #12687 on:** 10 January, 2018, 06:04:23 pm »

I had to remove a minute, angular-shaped bit of grit that had somehow managed to lodge itself in the "wear line" on the rear wheel of my venerable Galaxy - given the wheels have probably less than about 1,500 miles in them the wear line must still be quite deep? It took quite a bit of poking and prodding with an engineer's scribe tool to get it out.

Rob

Polar Bear · « **Reply #12688 on:** 10 January, 2018, 06:40:13 pm »

Papers. Lots and lots of papers.

T42 · « **Reply #12689 on:** 11 January, 2018, 08:39:26 am »

Replaced the screws holding the spat onto my front Raceblade with pop rivets.

Quote from: robgul on 10 January, 2018, 06:04:23 pm

It took quite a bit of poking and prodding with an engineer's scribe tool to get it out.

Rob

One of my favourite tools. $9 in Sunnyvale, 30 years ago, and one of the best things I ever bought.

PaulF · « **Reply #12690 on:** 11 January, 2018, 09:24:21 am »

Put new strings on my new, to me, mandolin. Plays even more sweetly now

rogerzilla · « **Reply #12691 on:** 11 January, 2018, 08:06:46 pm »

Fitted some SPD-SL cleats to my bargain R170 shoes.

Kim · « **Reply #12692 on:** 11 January, 2018, 08:20:53 pm »

Mostly finished overhauling the Streetmachine, which I've been doing in dribs and drabs over the last few weeks.

It was overdue for the annual fork service and cable replacement, plus it needed new bar grips, brake levers, shifters and mirror. Also, since I was replacing the shifter, I opportunistically upgraded to 10 speed. Just brake adjustment and replacement of a dozen cable ties or so still to go. I expect it'll feel like a new bike, whenever I feel confident enough about the state of the roads (in combination with HS420 Marathons) to take it out without worrying about crashing and expensively undoing half the work I just finished.

rogerzilla · « **Reply #12693 on:** 13 January, 2018, 10:03:17 am »

I had some 3/32" bearings left, so I did the M520 SPDs on the touring bike. The only others with a bit of play are the A520 SPDs on the fixie, but they haven't got wet much* so will prob just need an adjust and regrease.

Also replaced a blown sidelight bulb on the car. It would fail its MoT otherwise.

*the notable exception being DD 2007, but I bailed before the worst of it

T42 · « **Reply #12694 on:** 13 January, 2018, 01:14:18 pm »

Right SPD pedal, sort-of. On my last outing it had one of those notorious right-pedal clicks that often go away for no good reason. So I looked at it hard this morning and decided to do nothing.

Beardy · « **Reply #12695 on:** 13 January, 2018, 04:02:52 pm »

The shower diverter valve that was diverting, but at the same time as not diverting. And the thermostatic valve body in the living room that needed turning so that the closing bit faced the incoming water rather than not doing so.

LittleWheelsandBig · « **Reply #12696 on:** 13 January, 2018, 06:00:36 pm »

Tweaked the front brake and headset adjustments and swapped the (nearly dead) Solidlight to a Cyo Premium on HK's MTB. It is likely to get a new 1 1/8" threaded headset in the next couple of months because it is quite rumbly and difficult to get rid of play.

Kim · « **Reply #12697 on:** 13 January, 2018, 10:16:22 pm »

A couple of run-ins with the Ministry Of Crap Design:

First, set up my friend's Ortlieb back rollers to fit their Racktime TOURIT rack. The rack - which is otherwise excellent - appears to be designed to be exactly the wrong shape for an Ortlieb back-roller, with the lower hook fouling the rail it's supposed to be hooking to, even if you invert the hook runner on the pannier. Given that these are the quintessential pannier, it seems almost like an act of deliberate incompatibility. Managed to arrange it with the hook pointing upwards over the corner of the dog-leg, which is secure enough, but means that attaching and removing the pannier is faffier than it ought to be.

Then attempted to adjust their Magura HS11 rim brakes for pad wear. Unlike discs, this requires twiddling a twiddler. Which has a T25 torx head. So far, fair enough. Except the lever itself fouls access to the screw, so that you can't use a screwdriver or multi-tool (which is surely how most people have access to a T25 bit, particularly at the roadside) to do it. Managed to improvise with a sufficiently small Allen key.

rogerzilla · « **Reply #12698 on:** 14 January, 2018, 08:19:47 pm »

Did the last set of SPD bearings. Turned out I'd done one pair many years ago because they had stinky blue Park grease in them.

essexian · « **Reply #12699 on:** 17 January, 2018, 08:44:02 am »

Sigh.....

My rear derailleur wasn't selecting the 32 cog on my 11 speed 105 set up so that's an easy fix isn't it.....

Sigh....

Two hours later it now goes in 2 out of 3 attempts but is still a struggle. So, to "help" CBH watches a video on Youtube and comes out to the man cave to tell me how to do it.

Tips on how to say to your beloved of nearly 30 years that that is what you have been doing for the last 2 hours without using rude words gratefully received.

Author Topic: What have you fettled today? (Read 2166625 times)

essexian