What have you fettled today?

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

An old mirror that was in my grandparent's house.  I have had it for years but it had serious woodworm damage in one corner of the frame that I'd intended to fix for years before the glass fell out.

When I disassembled it, I found old newspapers behind it dated August 1898.  Apparently the Czar of All The Russias was inviting European heads of state to meet up and agree to stop re-arming themselves. It was his fear that there would be a major conflict in Europe if they carried on the way they were going. It was kind of time-capsule.

Anyway, I rebuilt the damaged corner having reinforced the damaged timber with casting resin, without losing the external gilding.  Next I will replace the mirror glass and put the old newspapers back where they lived*, having photographed them.

*to avoid bad luck.

[MattH]

Together with a copy of a current newspaper (if there's room)?

[Tim Hall]

Saturday, helped fix or seven punctures, replaced one cleat bolt and had breakfast in Whitstable.

TEC on the FNRTTC innit.

The cleat bolt was weird. We were just crossing the river in Rochester and spotted a rider hopping at the side of the road. He explained he'd lost a cleat bolt and was pleased and amazed that I carried a spare. I dug a countersunk socket head bolt (setscrew actually) out of my little box of bits. He then proceeded to have a large amount of trouble fitting it. I took a closer look. For unknown reasons, I'd given him an M6 whereas he needed an M5. Indeed all* spd cleats use M5. Fortunately I also had an M5. Fitted it and we were on our way.

I can't work out why I had an M6 countersunk caphead screw in the first place or what it might fit on a bike.

*Probably.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Together with a copy of a current newspaper (if there's room)?

Good idea! It should not cause any problems.

[T42]

Put chain B on the eBrute and am heating up the wax for chain A.

[Mr Larrington]

Replaced the bog seat on account of the old one being b0rked.  Required the use of a l33t hacks@w to get it off.

[rogerzilla]

I got Quake II running on Windows 11.  There goes the next few months.

[JefO]

Yesterday, within 2 miles of the start of a 100mile plus ride, one bottle cage disintegrated and the bottle fell to the road, while I was crossing a road via a zebra crossing for bicycles. Fortunately the approaching bus driver saw the bottle and half of the cage, and stopped while I retrieved both from the middle of the road.

The bottom part of the cage, which does all the weight bearing, simply dropped out of the rolled sheet part which is bolted to the frame.

So, today, I reassembled the cage and drilled through the rolled sheet (and the legs inserted within it) from one side to the other with a 2mm drill and screwed in a 2mm spoke, cutting off the non threaded end so that both ends were just proud of the outer side of each rolled tube.

As both cages were the same, I did the same to the not yet broken one too!

[Wobbly John]

Earlier this week I replaced the outer only on the Allfine gears-in-a-can on the commute bike. Achieved by cutting the outer just before the clamp and cutting the new outer 40mm shorter than the old one. 
The old outer had been fraying at the changer end, where the ferrule had split.
I thought it was going to be really difficult to set the gears up, as you have to fit the cable clamping bolt to the cable before clipping it into the hub. There is probably a way you are supposed to get the position right, but I just guessed at it , and got all gears on the first attempt! 
I needed to tweak the adjuster about a turn during the first ride, probably due to ferrules bedding in, but I am pleased at how much more positive gear selection is.

[mzjo]

Earlier this week I replaced the outer only on the Allfine gears-in-a-can on the commute bike. Achieved by cutting the outer just before the clamp and cutting the new outer 40mm shorter than the old one. 
The old outer had been fraying at the changer end, where the ferrule had split.
I thought it was going to be really difficult to set the gears up, as you have to fit the cable clamping bolt to the cable before clipping it into the hub. There is probably a way you are supposed to get the position right, but I just guessed at it , and got all gears on the first attempt! 
I needed to tweak the adjuster about a turn during the first ride, probably due to ferrules bedding in, but I am pleased at how much more positive gear selection is.

Shimano do have a free cable figure for the length between cable outer and clamp to try to make this easier - but although I have seen this somewhere I haven't a clue where and so have guessed it the only times I have had to replace cables. Given the right measurement one could probably make up a little gauge to make life easier. ISTR measuring the cable with a tape measure while trying to fit the clamp was very fraught and NAGI!

[Paul]

So, today, I reassembled the cage and drilled through the rolled sheet (and the legs inserted within it) from one side to the other with a 2mm drill and screwed in a 2mm spoke, cutting off the non threaded end so that both ends were just proud of the outer side of each rolled tube.

I really enjoyed this post, JefO. Good fix, lovely pics.
I can't visualise what is to stop the spoke pieces coming out. Did you somehow flatten the ends? Or did the spoke threads bite on the cages?

[JefO]

So, today, I reassembled the cage and drilled through the rolled sheet (and the legs inserted within it) from one side to the other with a 2mm drill and screwed in a 2mm spoke, cutting off the non threaded end so that both ends were just proud of the outer side of each rolled tube.

I really enjoyed this post, JefO. Good fix, lovely pics.
I can't visualise what is to stop the spoke pieces coming out. Did you somehow flatten the ends? Or did the spoke threads bite on the cages?

Glad you enjoyed the post Paul. It is when I am doing fettling like this that I get most pleasure, but not everyone can get it.

And yes, sorry, should have gone into greater detail.

2mm Spokes have rolled threads, so the peaks of the threads are greater in outer diameter than 2mm.

I drilled a 2mm hole through the six layers in one pass, then simply forced the threaded end of the spoke to bite in the aluminium of the cage parts.

I will be testing the bike tomorrow and will give feedback here if the repair is not as good as it seems!

[Paul]

 

[chrisbainbridge]

noticed the dishwasher was not working very well, so took apart the rotating arms and cleaned them out.  big wadge of gunk was blocking each end leading to reduced water flow.

[Tim Hall]

Yesterday at work, the New! Shiny! washing machine, installed a several of weeks ago , was finally put to use. First look sd (logoed table cloths) came out wringing wet. Running the machine empty on a spin cycle resulted in much vibration and water in the bottom of the drum. (I think it adds water to break up clumps of laundry)
Some skirting was removed to allow the machine to be pulled from its alcove.
Transport. bolts x4 still in position. These get removed. Vibration gone, as the suspension is free to work. Drum still has water. Pull waste pipe off the spigot below the sink. What's this? Is it plastic bung that should have been removed by the numpty contractor that installed it? Why yes. Yes it is.

[drossall]

Earlier this week, one of those jobs that just keeps giving more.

Set out to spend a few spare minutes swapping the chain ring and chain on my Pompino. Had ordered in new parts, but quickly decided the sprocket was too worn as well, so checked the spares boxes in the loft and, as expected, found a suitable one. In removing the chain ring, noticed how badly the bottom-bracket and chain-stay area was rusting, so started on applying coats of green Hammerite. In between other things, bouts of rain, etc, that took several sessions. Found also that the rear mudguard, which we patched up years ago at the start of a Kelvedon Oyster event, was now split quite badly. Happily I have quite a few spare ones of those as well, so raided the loft again. Thought that, while fitting it, I'd better add the ACME mud flaps that I had put by for that bike. Finally started on the original job. Overall, several days.

Repeated the process on the single speed I use on Zwift - chain ring and chain again, sprocket fine this time. Fifteen minutes maybe, which is what I had planned for the Pompino...

[JefO]

Not exactly me fettling it, but me giving lots of info to the audiologist so that he could adjust the fine tuning of the hearing aid, to help me to hear cars approaching on the left of me while I am turning right, while cycling... and hopefully without producing a device that I want to rip out and throw away after 4 hours of listening to the wind noise that cycling and hearing aids are very good at injecting into one's audio canal.

[zigzag]

cleaned and re-lubed the freehub pawls and ratchet (good for the next few thousand km), also cleaned the cassette off dark wax by dunking it in simmering water and wiping cogs clean with a cloth.

[Kim]

Reversed the polarity of the zip pulls on the inner compartment of our new Big Tent.  They were, for inexplicable reasons, the stupid way round (opening from each end, rather than from the middle).

The zips on the fitted groundsheet are also stupid, preventing you from partially unzipping them and folding up the end of the groundsheet near the door to control water ingress, but are far too industrial to respond to the same treatment.  Workaround is a Mk 1 doormat, which isn't actually that silly on a heavy car-camping tent.

[T42]

We had a 5-minute power cut this morning, which meant that all the clocks in the house had to be reset.  Not only that, but my coffee machine lost it's hard-won settings, so this morning I opened up an out-of-service UPS and extracted the battery. Will presently order a new one.

Horribly awkward casing to reassemble but a luthier's clamp and a rubber hammer vanquished it.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Swapped the tubes in HK’s recumbent to better match the tyre width, adjusted the brakes, fitted rim valve spacers and refitted the rear rack.

Swapped the BB, chain and chainring on my fixed.

Swapped out the front wheel nuts on my Brompton for shiny Ti and pumped up the tyres.

Fitted a DeWidget to HK’s Kinesis to minimise the floppy top tube bag problem.

[T42]

Thought twice about UPS for coffee machine: it took about 3 minutes to get back to the old settings.

Knocked together a bit of 3mm ply, a couple of bits of 5x18 strip and a Velcro strap to make a cradle for my spare bike battery so that it doesn't go walkies in my rack bag. The GCN boyos would hate it, it must add 100 grammes or more. 

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Swapped the cassette on HK’s shiny trike for something slightly tighter (for big cog chain clearance at the hoops) and fitted clip-on aerobars.

Trued the wheels on my trike and filed the brake mounting holes for better alignment of the brake pads on the disc (almost full contact now). Trimmed the steerer tube and fitted a frame pump along the top tube.

Refitted the second bidon cage to HK’s Kinesis. Still to swap out the cracked rear rim and top up the sealant in the front tyre.

Stripped my dead trike of useful components. The trike-specific bits are being passed to others.

Swapped bidon cages on my fixed but need to swap one back because my calf now rubs against the new seat tube cage.

[T42]

Swapped the 2007-version proprietary mounting plate on my lovely old Topeak bar bag for a Kick-Fix-compatible basket-mounting plate.  Back in 2007, Topeak bags were still of decent quality, but since then they've become nasty thin floppy things, so I'm pleased to have this one operational again.

[Tim Hall]

Cleaned the Pretty Bike utterly to DETH, including gjving the chain a Sheldon Shake, fitted the rack, mined the tyres for flints, pumped up the tyres. All this in preparation for a long weekend in ABROAD ,where dwell the FORRINS, with The Blokes.

Also cleaned the Bloo Fixer.

It's much too hot for this sort of behaviour.