What have you fettled today?

[itsbruce]

I've never had a single problem with them on tarmac.  Wet drain covers and paving stones a different issue.

[MattH]

Fitted a chain catcher to te Roubaix, trued a wheel that was marginally out, and went through all the cleated shoes in the house pulling the bolts, cleaning, regreasing and refitting, but too late for one in my winter shoes, which has siezed solid  Luckily they aren't an expensive pair (being winter shoes purely by virtue of having been bought in a big size so I can fit thick and/or waterproof socks in them rather than them being goretex), but they were the ones that had prompted the "must get around to looking at my cleats" session when I noticed that they were getting quite worn and I thought I'd throw some new ones on.

Ah well, I'll continue to use the old cleats for a while, then see if I can drill out the seized bolt or turn the plate around.

[GruB]

Put a spacer into the non drive side of the fixed wheel to obtain a better chain line.

[mondobongo]

Cleaned and refitted BB after riding through a couple of lakes on Sunday. Successfully trued a rear wheel for the first time.

[Dibdib]

Lots of pens I've meant to use and have ignored/forgotten, which now (all but one) work. Damn procrastination fountain pen thread...

[CrinklyLion]

I appear to have anti-fettled Valencia  

ETA - although I think I've found what the problem is...

[Kim]

Ah.  Oops.  At least it's an easy fix with a pair of wire cutters and some indexing-fu (or CAKE equivalent).

And the cable was probably thinking about fraying anyway, so better that happens while bike-wrangling at home than halfway up an optical illusion or whatever^[1].


_{[1] An excuse I've honed to perfection through repeated tyre-swapping induced punctures and similar acts of anti-fettling.}

[CrinklyLion]

Unfortunately I have neither cutters nor indexing-fu.  At least I found what was causing the strange noises

[interzen]

Unfortunately I have neither cutters nor indexing-fu.  At least I found what was causing the strange noises

I've already given you Indexing-fu 101 via PM
Get yourself a pair of Park cable-cutters - they're not cheap, but have myriad uses around the home for things other than bikes. Especially if you like cutting things into little pieces ...

[Kim]

Unfortunately I have neither cutters nor indexing-fu.

That's where the CAKE comes in

Indexing-fu is a skill well worth developing, at least to mediocre levels, as it's the sort of thing that can come in handy when you're out on a ride and have to deal with a cable or mech hanger problem Deaf person who has no idea his indexing is way off fellow rider on a poorly maintained BSO.  I'll happily demonstrate the never-fails patience-is-a-successful-subsitute-for-mechanical-aptitude technique some time if there isn't someone more convenient to teach you.

Once you have indexing-fu (and its less fiddly relative, brake-tweaking-fu), there's nothing to fear from cables.  Armed with some decent cutters and a couple of spare inners (a quid a pop from Wilko!) in case it goes horribly wrong you can fix anything.

[Andrij]

Brake-tweaking-fu is a doddle (unless we're talking about cantis).

OTOH, indexing-fu is a mystical and dark art.  To date I have learned which bits to adjust, but repeatedly fail to get teh desired result.  Perhaps a blood sacrifice is required first?  Would an AL driver be OK, or will mowing down a careless pedestrian lemming suffice?

Until I master indexing-fu I will rely on beer-fu (a cousin of cake-fu).
 

[clarion]

Yesterday, I managed to fit new tyres to TGL's road bike.  Hilarious fun, as they were very determinedly folded.

Then I did a quill stem transplant on hos fixed.  Sadly, the current bars wouldn't fit, so I had to find the old stoker bars from the Super Galaxy tandem.  They didn't fit.  So I searched further and found the old stoker bars from the Orbit tandem.  They are a bit old, but fit perfectly, giving a slightly narrower profile and a shallower drop, which should suit him.  Better bar tape on there now.  Hope he doesn't have another off.

Then I sorted out my commuter, tightened the chain, and tweaked the cable a bit so the S3X didn't get neutral too easily.  The inner cable that came with the gear was really brittle, and has lost strands already, after just a coupleof adjustments.

Oh - and I cleaned that bike with baby wipes.  In the hall, since we had a guest and I couldn't use the kitchen, or open the kitchen door to wash it outside

[tiermat]

I appear to have anti-fettled Valencia  

ETA - although I think I've found what the problem is...

If you need some gear outer and a borrow of a pair of cable cutters, I can bring them into work tomorrow for you.

[CrinklyLion]

Thanks Tiermat,

I'm being a wuss (who wants her bike back).  Booked into the LBS who will get it sorted by tomorrow, at no notice, because they are lovely.   And because I feed them cake....

[Woofage]

Lots of pens I've meant to use and have ignored/forgotten, which now (all but one) work. Damn procrastination fountain pen thread...

Aye, put some daily users through an ultrasonic clean. Ground myself another custom nib. Lubricated the piston of one of my test pen bodies. Probably some other stuff too...

[CrinklyLion]

When I walked in and said "She's broken," the tame mechanic at the corner shop said, "that's not brok... ah, yes it is, isn't it.  Hmm....".  He then looked at it and said "Ah, full length and internally routed.  Thanks for that!".

And we figured out what happened (probably) - there's a marked kink in the cable (about 6" from the shifter), so it's probably got caught on something, which has pulled it sharply and broken it at the far end.  It was fine when I left Darlo, and wrong (probably) when I was in York so I'm blaming the train!

I can pick her up tomorrow lunchtime 

[Feline]

Result CL 

[Tewdric]

I appear to have anti-fettled Valencia  

ETA - although I think I've found what the problem is...

If you need some gear outer and a borrow of a pair of cable cutters, I can bring them into work tomorrow for you.

One of the most common faults with bike builds is mechanics cutting too-short an outer for the bit that enters the derailleur.  It should leave the mech in a straight line, not at an angle.  I tend to go over the top the other way, as it makes for smoooth changing and you can take a bit of cable off should the inner lose its ferrule and fray.

[Kim]

One of the most common faults with bike builds is mechanics cutting too-short an outer for the bit that enters the derailleur.  It should leave the mech in a staright line, not at an angle.

Well said.

This is especially important where the shifter is of a kind (bar ends, twist grips) that's conducive to applying somewhat more force than strictly necessary for getting into the lowest gear - the force has to go somewhere, and if the cable isn't entering the ferrule/mech in a straight line, that's the weak point.

One of the first things I did to improve the shifting on the StreetMachine was to lengthen this section of cable (which was low-level knackered in a manner not entirely unlike the picture above).  Being a 'bent, it's fairly crucial to be in a low gear when you stop if you ever hope to get moving again, so stopping at short notice in traffic tends to result in some fairly brutal bar-end-shifter yankage.

[Feline]

Washed my bike this evening, it was really filthy after last weeks rain and riding in cow shit on my commute. It is now drying in the kitchen and will get lubed before I go to bed 

I hope there isn't ice in the morning, I want to go for a ride with the Bristol Thursday old time cyclists tomorrow
   Home

[CrinklyLion]

As penance for my wimping out to the LBS with Valencia, I have just cleaned the second filthiest bike* you have ever seen (using the patent Kim 'wash the wheels in the bath when they aren't looking' method).  And polished it all shiny.  And oiled the chain.  And removed the gigantic lunp of glass from the rear tyre, and fixed the puncture that it caused.  And stood on said piece of glass, and punctured my foot.  Disadvantage of fettling in front of the telly in the nice warm living room!

Now I need to see if I can find an appropriate size spanner to sort out the rattly mudguard.

Then I need to clean the bath and the living room floor!



*the filthiest bike ever, which belongs to Dearly_Beloved, is still standing next to the window, looking at me reproachfully.  Its time will come.....

[Feline]

After lubing my bike I got in a fettling mood and took off the IQ cyo, which seems to have developed a switch fault after the recent rainfall and wired up my other one instead (I have 2 of these since one will go on my new bike). The new one works fine confirming it is not the hub dyno at fault. I will have to return the faulty one for repair, when I turned it upside down some water ran out of the switch area. I have a nasty feeling this light cannot cope very well with being mounted on the canti bolt because it is at the side of the mudguard and so is getting some upwards spray underneath it. I have mounted the new one on the fork crown for now (which means I can't use my bar bag). I'm glad I have found this out when not riding a long Audax.

[andygates]

A storage heater back to life! 

Turns out there's a thing called a fusible link, which is a heat-operated fuse.  When the temperature goes too high, the link melts and power is cut.  The 22-year-old heater had a sufficient build-up of fluff on the thermostat that it couldn't release, so the fusible link fusibulated, killing the heater.  Multimeter play revealed that it was this part; a rough scrub cleared the problem blockage; a fiver to a parts dealer online got a replacement link and I have a warm bathroom again for the first time since before Christmas!

[Andrew Br]

I've repaired yesterday's puncture.
It proved to be easier than I expected

The only negative is that changing a rear p*nct*r* looks like it will be an almighty faff because of the way they've had to fit all the gubbins for the torque arm, chain tensioner and the spacers to get the chain line correct.

and the only tricky part was getting the wheel back in because the tyres are very tight in the frame.


Strange puncture though; there was a large hole on one of the seams of the tube with no signs of anything in the tyre.
At the opposite side of the tyre there was a huge staple stuck in but it wasn't penetrating the tyre or the tube.
I've fixed the hole that I found in the tube and I've pumped it up and it hasn't gone down yet.

[Kim]

I will have to return the faulty one for repair, when I turned it upside down some water ran out of the switch area. I have a nasty feeling this light cannot cope very well with being mounted on the canti bolt because it is at the side of the mudguard and so is getting some upwards spray underneath it.

Ugh, that's a bit suboptimal.  I admit I've wondered about how easily water could get in through the cable entry if it were mounted on the fork crown without the protection of a mudguard immediately below it.

Sounds like it's either going to need a little mudguard of its own, or a re-think of the mounting strategy.  Some sort of handlebar bracket, maybe?  I know there's a rather nifty bracket that takes the place of a headset spacer, but I assume that'll be blocked by the bar bag too.