What have you fettled today?

[Marco Stefano]

As requested, son received BMX upgrades on the 25th. Spent yesterday morning undoing his attempt at aheadset replacement. Now then, lad...

Tip #1: pay attention when you dismantle things, that way you have a cat in hell's chance of understanding how to reassemble them.
Tip #2: if you have a bit left over, it's probably supposed to be fitted somewhere. 
Tip #3: your mates are probably wrong. They usually are.
Tip #4: the allen key on top of the steerer does not need to be tight, it's for bearing adjustment as I told you. Which is why the star nut failed and I had to spend 90 minutes digging it out from underneath.

[L CC]

I am channelling Kim as I head, once more, unto the breach, to get the light & charger working off the dynohub again.

[jogler]

a Surly chain tug onto the Langster

[L CC]

I am channelling Kim as I head, once more, unto the breach, to get the light & charger working off the dynohub again.

and almost 36 hours later finally get the buggers working.

(Desperately trying to rid my head of the sexist stereotype thoughts that if there was a competent man in the house it would've been done in less than 5 minutes. Just putting my apron and curlers back on...)

[Kim]

Desperately trying to rid my head of the sexist stereotype thoughts that if there was a competent man in the house it would've been done in less than 5 minutes.

The corollary to that being that it would have been done in less than 5 minutes if there were a competent woman in the house...   

[L CC]

Desperately trying to rid my head of the sexist stereotype thoughts that if there was a competent man in the house it would've been done in less than 5 minutes.

The corollary to that being that it would have been done in less than 5 minutes if there were a competent woman in the house...   

Indeed. But my therapist has told me to stop dwelling on my negatives, and you live so far away!

[Quisling]

I've fettled my garage and made more room for the bikes, fitted a new light to one bike and pumped up some tyres ready for action. Win win win 

And I fixed my Dyson. Well, I say fixed but there is duct tape involved....

[Adrian]

And I fixed my Dyson. Well, I say fixed but there is duct tape involved....

It isn't a proper Dyson until bits of it are held together with tape.

[spesh]

And I fixed my Dyson. Well, I say fixed but there is duct tape involved....

It isn't a proper Dyson until bits of it are held together with tape.

I reckon Dyson must using the same plastic as CatEye did for their EL500 lamps - it has similar properties to toffee brittle, and will fracture if you so much as give it an old-fashioned look. 

[marcusjb]

Replaced the cartridge bearings in Brompty's bottom bracket (TA Axix Ti one).

Discovered that one of the rubber seals is missing - very weird, I really can't imagine having left it out on reassembly whenever I last had it out, but I must have done.  Might explain why the RHS bearing felt notchy and nasty.  So, spare cups ordered - all to get a rubber seal - ouch.  £30 lesson learnt!

New chain on Brompty as well - winter had taken it's toll and chain wear tool was showing .75%

Maybe after lunch, I will get onto the Pinarello - again, a new chain for him.  New jockey wheels too.  And new brake blocks for the rear, riding in the snow and slush had worn them past the grooves - oops.

Girlfriend's Cannondale needs new Jagwire cable set installing and bars retaping. 

Plenty enough to be getting on with.

[tiermat]

Tidied the garage, fitted brake cable to the fixie (which had prompted the garaged tidy, I had lost the little plastic bits for the Tourney brake levers).  Emptied the wheelie bin into black bin bags ready to take it to the tip.

Cleared up a mountain of "magic snow".  NEVER EVER EVER EVER buy a Moxir girlz magic snow chalet then let a 6 yr old loose with it.  polystyrene beads everywhere!!!!

[clarion]

Cleared up a mountain of "magic snow". 

I remember the dressing room after the Ramones...

[clarion]

I tightened & trued TGL's rear wheel on his Carlton last night.  I'm much happier with it now, though he might be faster

Got my Orbit back into riding mode.

[drossall]

Built a pair of wheels for the bike that I am putting together, as my wife puts it, to fit my winter tyres. Also fitted the headest, which I have never done before, so I fiddled a bit and took a while to get the cups lined up.

Still doing it in odd minutes, so looking like I may not finish it till the snow has gone

Finally finished building the new Pompino

It's taken ages, pottering at it bit by bit. As I said, didn't finish till the ice and snow had gone. Now waiting for more...

[vorsprung]

I did very well today

Not only did I finish fitting the bottom bracket to my commute bike but I also got something sorted out that has been an issue for years

My 2007 PBP bike had a B17 on a Use Alien seatpost.  When I got it the seat angle wasn't perfect and I kept meaning to alter it.  But the design of the Use Alien is utterly bizarre and initially I couldn't figure out what to do. 
In the end I got used to it and it became fine for long rides.
Undoing the obvious bolt seemed to have no effect.  At some point in the last 3 years I found an official manual for it online and this explained how it was supposed to work.  Last year I tried to shift the seat but the bracket on the Use Alien was frozen

I got a new bike but transfered the old saddle / seatpost to it.  Now the seat angle was totally wrong making riding 100km+ literally a pain in the arse.  So I took the seatpost off today and after 30 minutes of hitting it with a mallet, making a jig out of wood to hit it, spraying it with wd40, levering it with a screwdriver etc etc it went "ping" and came to bits.

I reassembled it with grease on all the touching parts and altered the saddle angle, it seems a lot better now.  Also it seems that with a spot of grease on it adjustment of the saddle is actually pretty easy to do.

[BrianI]

Just stuck the front licence plate on my Aston Martin DB5!  

(ok, its a 1:32 scale airfix model, not the real thing!)

Pic here:

Aston Martin DB5

[Butterfly]

  That's a cool model Brian 

[Tim Hall]

That reminds me, HMS Belfast is lurking under the bed. I'll get round to building it one day.

Today I have:

Made a stop cock key out of a lump of hardwood and a piece of re-bar.

Made sure the water was fully on before calling Southern Water to investigate the ongoing low pressure we have.

Fitted lights to Mrs. Hall's bike.

Remodelled the home made light mount for my fixer. <flash of inspiration> the new one is more or less permanently bonded to the bars, to stop it slipping around.

Fitted a new rear axle to the fixer. One without flats on the threads so it does up properly, rather than squirm around. 

[Kim]

The house.  It's now reasonably dust-free, and you can see the floor.   

[Quisling]

Garage fettling continued with a sort out of tools, and plumbing bits I'd be hanging onto in case they might ever be important.

Conclusion - way too few serious bike tools so would be unable to tackle any "basic" job like a bottom bracket replacement.  Most of my bike tools are only fit for a 1983 Raleigh Olympus.  Shopping list started.

Also, found a plastic pump peg and fitted it to a bike.  Felt like I'd earned a cup of tea by this stage.

[Adrian]

That reminds me, HMS Belfast is lurking under the bed. I'll get round to building it one day.

I was looking at that this afternoon and wondering would the Scenic look better painted in dazzle camouflage or is this a bad idea.

[jogler]

Just put the Langster back on the turbo.The few pedal strokes clearly indicate too many mince pies etc have been eaten lately.It's less than comfortable down on the drops with frontgut/thigh interface

[Clandy]

Changed the drops on the TSR for bullhorns.

[border-rider]

Just made a big dent in the pile of holed inner tubes that has moved house with us twice.  I've run out of patches now; time to stop.

[vorsprung]

Tightened up the cassette on the Roubaix as it was rattling.  Fitted a stem with more rise to the Roubaix and moved the saddle back a bit.  Took Mrs V's bike for a spin to try and find the source of the "gear rattle" but it started snowing so I retreated to the kitchen and a cup of tea