Author Topic: What have you fettled today? (Read 2213073 times)

LittleWheelsandBig · « **Reply #13250 on:** 29 September, 2018, 05:23:02 pm »

Set up the tubeless Almotion tyres on HK's new Tripster AT and it seemed easy enough. The front snapped into place with a track pump but the rear needed a pressure tank to seat it. Stans sealant 60ml, so will probably need to top it up in 6 months or so?

Once I find the carbon hacksaw blade, I can trim the steerer, fit the bung and then swap over saddle, seatpost and mudguards from her Condor.

LittleWheelsandBig · « **Reply #13251 on:** 02 October, 2018, 10:47:40 pm »

Fixed a sticking non-return valve on an old Silca Pista pump.

Kim · « **Reply #13252 on:** 03 October, 2018, 03:12:59 pm »

Fettle-fail

My long-suffering Maplin WG-022 multimeter had a dicky input socket. I sorted out the solder joint (which had failed because the through-hole pins of the socket weren't long enough to go all the way through the hole

) and gave the rotary switch contacts a good cleaning, but it was still widely inaccurate. I discovered that the trimpot that looked like it ought to adjust the LCD contrast was actually a general calibration thing, and after some unsuccessful tweaking, gave it the contact cleaner and repeated wiggling treatment. That sort-of helped, in that the reading no longer changes when you thump it, but the adjustment still seems to drift all over the place (having reassembled the case it's now reading 5.86V from what three other meters^[1] and the power supply reckon to be 5.0somethingV).

The LCD contrast is getting pretty marginal too, and doesn't seem to have any adjustment.

So it's getting retired (or perhaps relegated to continuity-testing duty - that still works). I have much better meters now, but after 24 years I've become rather attached to it.

_{[1] One of those two-for-a-fiver meters is letting the side down with 4.8V, but we hardly expect precision from those.}

T42 · « **Reply #13253 on:** 03 October, 2018, 03:35:54 pm »

Fettle isn't quite the word, since I wasn't fixing or furbishing anything; but I made a Gibson-style truss rod for my current build, and used an offcut from the same rod to make a gouge wherewith to impart to the bottom of the routed truss-rod trench the correct curvature. By doing this I must have saved myself, oh, at least 6 euros.

Ham · « **Reply #13254 on:** 03 October, 2018, 06:15:07 pm »

Quote from: Jurek on 29 September, 2018, 03:21:12 pm

Decommissioned a pair of 500watt halogen floodlights from my garden - on the basis that they required their own, dedicated Drax B to run them.
Replaced them with a pair of PIR activated 30watt LED ones.
I think they may be a little dimmer than their predecessors but the planet may feel a little less slain, and the foxes will still be able to see where they are shitting.

Given that the normal LED->incandescent guideline multiplier is 10x, it's no surprise that they are dimmer.

rogerzilla · « **Reply #13255 on:** 05 October, 2018, 07:50:19 pm »

Half built the big yellow Harry Quinn. It's going to be the best of the lot. Also put the resprayed not-Holdsworth fork on the Holdsworth, along with a slightly nicer headset.

chrisbainbridge · « **Reply #13256 on:** 05 October, 2018, 07:59:09 pm »

replaced the supplied sleeve anchors made of chees with some decent ones for a set of pull up bars.

Then took my newly built wheel and fixed the sprocket to it (having unscrewed it from the previous wheel) added the disc and then added tubeless tyre before reassembling in the bike.

The tyre inflated beautifully easily with just a track pump. Allowed to deflate before adding new finishline goo and reinflated.

Feanor · « **Reply #13257 on:** 05 October, 2018, 08:12:51 pm »

Quote from: chrisbainbridge on 05 October, 2018, 07:59:09 pm

replaced the supplied sleeve anchors made of chees with some decent ones ...

That's SOP for any supplied wall mountings for anything.

Bin them, without even looking at them.
Then use something appropriate for the task in hand.

LittleWheelsandBig · « **Reply #13258 on:** 06 October, 2018, 10:08:12 am »

Recently trimmed HK's new bike's carbon steerer, fitted the Condor's seatpost / saddle and taped the bars for a maiden voyage. Topped up the rear tyre afterwards. Seems to have been a success. Time to order silver seatpost and shorter stem and fit the Condor's dynamo lights and mudguards.

Kim · « **Reply #13259 on:** 06 October, 2018, 01:45:09 pm »

Quote from: Feanor on 05 October, 2018, 08:12:51 pm

Quote from: chrisbainbridge on 05 October, 2018, 07:59:09 pm
replaced the supplied sleeve anchors made of chees with some decent ones ...

That's SOP for any supplied wall mountings for anything.

Bin them, without even looking at them.
Then use something appropriate for the task in hand.

I tend to just stick them in a drawer in case they come in useful. Occasionally they turn out to be appropriate for mounting some much less demanding item.

LittleWheelsandBig · « **Reply #13260 on:** 06 October, 2018, 06:26:05 pm »

Swapped the Cyo, pump and mudguards from HK's Condor to her Kinesis. Replaced the broken mudguard taillight. Reshaped the rear mudguard for a better fit. Straightened the big chainring and tweaked the front derailleur. It all took longer than it should but nothing was bodged, which is something. HK should have fun on the mini-tour over the next few days.

chrisbainbridge · « **Reply #13261 on:** 07 October, 2018, 12:09:44 pm »

Washed the good bike and decided to send it for a service. Could do it myself but whilst I am earning, it is worth supporting my local bike maintenance team.

Then looked at the tubeless tyre I fitted the other day to find it flat. Pumped it up again and found a steady leak round about a 1/3rd of the circumference. Realised it was quite an old tyre and been standing in funny positions for a while so removed and binned it. Next newish tyre seems to be holding pressure.

Spent a couple of hours last night with the France by velo St Malo to Nice book and transcribing it into 200km chunks on RWGPS for a planned ride next summer.

rogerzilla · « **Reply #13262 on:** 08 October, 2018, 09:55:01 am »

Got the TSR as far as I could without brake levers. Have also increased the preload on the fork, as I think I'm heavier than the previous owner, and dropped bars put more weight on the front too.

Next on the list is to fit mudguards to the yellow Harry Quinn. Not my favourite job. Nothing involving a hacksaw ever is.

LittleWheelsandBig · « **Reply #13263 on:** 08 October, 2018, 09:58:48 am »

Consider swapping to the progressive rate, stiffer 'race' spring. It made a big difference for me, along with more friction damping than most folk.

rogerzilla · « **Reply #13264 on:** 08 October, 2018, 06:41:53 pm »

Where can I get one of those springs?

The yellow Quinn is now all done. Also roadified the track Quinn (it needs a longer allen nut for the brake because of the spacer I had to add to clear the crown race) and straightened the slightly wonky 56T chainring on the TSR.

slope · « **Reply #13265 on:** 08 October, 2018, 06:56:19 pm »

Quote from: rogerzilla on 08 October, 2018, 06:41:53 pm

Where can I get one of those springs?

that them there - https://fudgescyclesonline.com/index.php?p=170253

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #13266 on:** 08 October, 2018, 07:02:21 pm »

Something I didn't fettle at the weekend was my bars. I was going to drill holes in them. Woah! Weakening a safety-critical component is a drillium too far! Fear not, I wasn't going to use them. I was going to play them. Old bars (Salsa, so good quality but the shape never suited me) that came as fitted to the Pacer, I've discovered they make a surprisingly passable musical instrument, but somewhat lacking in range... so if I drill some holes, they become a DIY trumpet.

Okay, it's probably best for all, especially the neighbours, that I just abandon this idea.

LittleWheelsandBig · « **Reply #13267 on:** 08 October, 2018, 07:18:46 pm »

You can get a race spring direct from Moulton if you can't find a local shop to supply one. Use moly grease.

rogerzilla · « **Reply #13268 on:** 09 October, 2018, 12:02:08 pm »

The good news is that my 1 x 9 setup on the TSR all lines up properly, with the 56T chainring in line with the 5th sprocket. The bad news is that, with an 11-30 cassette, it needs another 2 inches of chain to be comfortable (the rear mech isn't fully stretched out in the 30T, but it looks very wrong). No-one sells 9-speed chains of 120 links, so I had to join two together.

Other weirdness: I had to put a 10 x 1mm washer under the rear mech because otherwise the protruding rear mech bolt fouled the chain in the 11T sprocket.

Just need to cable up the brakes and tape the bars now. It's all temporary because I have some oversize Ritchey drops I really want to use, but the particular silver 35 deg oversize stem I need is on back order. In the USA.

LittleWheelsandBig · « **Reply #13269 on:** 09 October, 2018, 01:26:25 pm »

All the derailleur TSRs need that washer because of thin dropouts. The upmarket bikes have contoured dropouts which avoid needing a washer.

I needed Moulton's very expensive 150mm stainless stem (welded and silver brazed) to get the bars in the right place. AM was tall but liked short top tubes. I'd prefer it if they had long and short frame options but that'll never happen. Such is life!

rogerzilla · « **Reply #13270 on:** 09 October, 2018, 03:04:01 pm »

slope had fitted a 135mm 35 deg rise stem, which puts the bars in a perfectly acceptable position for me with my slammed-back saddle, but I want to use these Ritchey oversize bars and the closest stem match I could get was 110mm 35 deg rise (puts the bars fractionally closer and lower, which is better for me). There is a 135mm 35 deg oversize stem made by IRD but the stack height of that one is unusually high and I have very little steerer to play with.

Anyway, it's all built now so I've off for a ride with an allen key in my pocket to tune the front damping. Currently built up with the Moulton 135mm stem and some ITM 25.8 bars I had hanging around, which are 2cm too narrow and black, so they're very much a temporary fixture.

LittleWheelsandBig · « **Reply #13271 on:** 09 October, 2018, 03:40:21 pm »

Put some Loctite on the damping bolts. They tend to loosen off over time.

rogerzilla · « **Reply #13272 on:** 09 October, 2018, 07:11:52 pm »

Well, I thrashed it as hard as I could without a proper warmup, including a short 1 in 6 hill, and it all worked perfectly. The main thing is that there is no propensity to chain drop from the 1 x 9 setup, which was a slight concern with no front mech or chain watcher. I even deliberately hit all the speed cushions through the local sink estate and ploughed through potholes to test it. slope's wheels are very good (i don't normally like to ride wheels I haven't built myself).

I also took the big* Harry Quinn fixie for a short ride up and down the road and, happily, the brake doesn't squeak. This is quite remarkable as it is (a) a Gran Compe GC700 centre-pull using pretty much all of its 70mm drop (b) is fitted with Kool-Stop salmon pads halfway out on their studs and (c) has a headset-mounted brake hanger, which sometimes give a nasty pulsing effect if flex under braking causes the distance from the hanger to the brake to reduce. Having said that, centre-pulls are generally the best caliper brake option for extreme reach, provided the bridge part is stiff enough.

*23 1/2" frame but, in 1970s bike sizing, a perfect fit for me: the SR Laprade seatpost salvaged from the components it came with is exactly on the MAX mark.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #13273 on:** 10 October, 2018, 01:44:38 pm »

Fettle thwarted yesterday. Noticed one of the neighbour's kids was riding around with his front brake cable disconnected. Lever was there, brake was there, cable was all wrapped round the noodle. I'll sort that for you, I said. Kid said the cable was broken, I didn't think it was. Managed to reconnect the cable but only then noticed the problem was that the arm of the V-brake was broken; the slot that the noodle clips into was mashed up, as if someone had tried to remove the cable by simply pulling as hard as they could rather than unclipping it. I think I've got some spare V-brakes somewhere which I'm unlikely to use so I said if I see him again, I'll fix it for him. "Say thank you," said his mum. "It doesn't matter cos I've got the back brake anyway," he said, but he seemed quite pleased. Trouble is, she's got three other kids, so I might have let myself in for a lot of BSO-fettling now.

ElyDave · « **Reply #13274 on:** 10 October, 2018, 01:57:31 pm »

While waiting for a bus, I saw an oik riding through Cambridge last week with both V-Brakes similarly disconnected, I didn't offer my fettling services.