What have you fettled today?

[CAMRAMan]

Raised the bars on my Orbit a cm or so, put the front Schwalbe Land Cruiser on the right way (after the LBS fitted it wrongly) and then failed to get the Shimano dynohub wiring to work properly and gave up when summoned to pick up Little Miss AWL.

[andygates]

Chain break fixed and rolling again in under ten minutes.  The Carradice multi-tool has a lovely chain tool (though its bamboo scales get feculent and vile in seconds). 

I have suddenly developed a great love of rubber gloves in my kit.

[clarion]

Last night, I changed the rear brake blocks on Butterfly's Galaxy, and refixed the mudguard.

Tonight, I was trying to track down & eliminate the ticking noise on my fixed (I know! ), and found that three chainring bolts weren't as tight as they might be, though only by a gnat's, so I don't think I've found it necessarily.  I did check the crank bolts too.

[TimO]

Not proper fettling, but I've persuaded a bluetooth keyboard to (more-or-less) work with my Android phone.  ...

Interesting, was there a particular issue (and solution) ?

[Kim]

Not proper fettling, but I've persuaded a bluetooth keyboard to (more-or-less) work with my Android phone.  ...

Interesting, was there a particular issue (and solution) ?

The conspicuous absence (or at least, incompleteness, depending on version) of bluetooth HID support in Android, mainly.  I can only assume they were smoking the same stuff as when they forgot to put a 'move to folder' function in the mail client, or caldav support in the calendar.

Discovered an app that fills in the gaps, but it seems to require a full killing-off and restart whenever you disable/re-enable bluetooth.  I can live with that, as it seems otherwise reliable, and it supports all the punctuation characters on the Fn keys properly.

[Ham]

The Muddy Fox which has previously been single speeded has now had its rear tyre changed to a smooth training tyre, and the Tacx skewer and cadence sensor seem to have magically appeared, as if from nowhere, and the rear wheel clamped in the trainer. It would have been rude not to see if everything still went round and round, only I'm not sure which was creaking more, me or the bike. (Those who met me on Sunday are aware of the curious line in scaffolding and footwear I have at the moment). I am now left wondering if it was entirely wise. Feet up with a beer is clearly in order.

[TimO]

The conspicuous absence (or at least, incompleteness, depending on version) of bluetooth HID support in Android, mainly.  I can only assume they were smoking the same stuff as when they forgot to put a 'move to folder' function in the mail client, or caldav support in the calendar.

Discovered an app that fills in the gaps, but it seems to require a full killing-off and restart whenever you disable/re-enable bluetooth.  I can live with that, as it seems otherwise reliable, and it supports all the punctuation characters on the Fn keys properly.

Interesting.  I'll keep that in mind, if I'm desperate to use a BT keyboard, but the slight issues which you've outlined, and the requirement for a rooted phone put me off trying it.  Possibly they'll actually include this in Android correctly, eventually!

[Feline]

Epic fettling fail!
Assembled a double garden swing seat and one of the critical pieces turned out to be so significantly bent as to make one of the legs 6" off the ground. Considered every possible bodge but ended up taking the damned thing apart again as it will have to go back

Oh joy, I will then have to assemble one again (it has a total of 10 different sized bolts that you need to carefuly identify before you begin, numbered pieces and instruction with no words only diagrams). I am pretty expert at assembling flat pack furniture, even do it for friends sometimes, but this thing was not easy. What a waste of my time!

[Adrian]

Mostly vegetation in the garden

[Wowbagger]

I have put brand new Marathon Plusses on the tandem. It was quite a fight.



This shows how necessary it was.

One of the retired tyres (not the one in the photo) was the specimen very kindly donated by Tubbycyclist, of this very parish, in April 2007 when we were lejogging.

[TimO]

... and one of the critical pieces turned out to be so significantly bent ...

Can't you just take the one bent piece back?

In the past with similar instances at places like Argos, they've been quite happy to just get one out of stock and give me just the missing / broken bit.

[Feline]

... and one of the critical pieces turned out to be so significantly bent ...

Can't you just take the one bent piece back?

In the past with similar instances at places like Argos, they've been quite happy to just get one out of stock and give me just the missing / broken bit.

I am going to try this tomorrow, but I don't want to make 2 trips for fuel-losing reasons so I will have the shole lot semi-assembled in the car incase they want it all back!
There were also 2 missing screws for the canopy and this seemed not to fit also, I am wondering if the whole box was under a container-load of weight coming from China or somewhere meaning it is squished out of shape!

[Andrew Br]

I've just changed the clip in pedals from the Rohloff bike to the MTB. Not a difficult job since they're EZY easy remove jobbies.
Rohloff bike is going to the LBS tomorrow to see if they can fix the broken spoke before Friday and I'll need the clip in pedals for a ride tomorrow and Thursday evenings on the MTB.
With luck, I shall change them back on Friday.

[Valiant]

And here are the pics.
Before:


After:


All bearings dismantled, cleaned, regreased. Coat of Hammerite on frame. New saddle, seatpost, bar tape and cables. Total cost about £40. I'll probably stick new tyres and tubes on it at some point but the old ones seem to holding the air, which, considering Sam said it had been sat there for 11 years, is pretty amazing. The old pedals will probably have to go too.

Nice job!

[mikeluke]

Removing annoying Shimano STI brifters and replacing with idiot-proof bar end friction shifters from Dia-Compe as well as cheap and cheerful Tektro brake levers on my new Dave Yates Super Randonneur. Also fitting skinny GP4000s race tyres ready for the Elenith. Have to finish it next week as still waiting for parts so for now it's stuck in my kitchen

[Tim Hall]

Decoded the regular knocking noise from somewhere in the house to be a motorised valve actuator on the central heating trying, and failing, to move as it should.

Further investigation found that it rattled when it shouldn't.  The other valve did this a few years ago, so I hada good idea what it was, and opening the case confirmed that a wee plastic nubbin had broken off, leaving the return spring untethered. A suitable diameter brass rod was cut to length and a groove filed in it for the spring to sit in.  I mixed up a dab of Araldite and glued the rod into a handy hole in the casing. Araldite should be cured tomorrow, until then it's extra jumpers.

[spokenword]

After 10,000 miles new ball bearings in front and rear hubs, new headset bearing races, M+ removed and last summers  Paselas back on now that hedge flailing seems to have ceased.
Sprockets stripped and cleaned but when I went to remove the chain I broke the chain breaker! Rack bag removed and panniers back on. Brakes stripped and lubed, I'm amazed that the Swiss blue brake blocks didn't need replacing after this mileage.
Two weeks until the first tour of the year so is this enouhg or should I replace the bottom bracket bearings, casette and chainrings?
Guss who's been "aquiring" bargain parts all winter.

[tiermat]

Fitted some Swisstop green pads to the Ridley, then of course had to go out on a ride to make sure they were ok.

What a difference from stock Shimano pads!  the Ridley actually stops when it should now, not 3 weeks later!

[Tim Hall]

Rebuilt the motorised valve mentioned up there ^. Araldite has cured nicely, no bits left over, no electric shocks, The Boy helped me, the heating works, Mrs. Hall is happy.

A Good Result.

[CAMRAMan]

I put up a 40m stretch of irrigation pipe at the kids' school this afternoon, plus the small bore piping for 11 baskets and troughs. Got caught in the rain and ended up with cold fingers, but it was all worth it for one of Karen on reception's smiles...

Still have to go back once the baskets and troughs are put up to install the drippers.

[groucho]

I cleaned each of the cogs of a 13-26 cassette, individually. I also found my Kryptonite lock and proceeded to test
the unlocking/locking mechanism and twisted the key in the lock. 
Where in the UK can I get a new key(s)?

[Adrian]

I've completed the handlebar exchange between Verdigris I and II by fitting brake levers to V I. It is good to go

[tiermat]

I cleaned each of the cogs of a 13-26 cassette, individually. I also found my Kryptonite lock and proceeded to test
the unlocking/locking mechanism and twisted the key in the lock. 
Where in the UK can I get a new key(s)?

Locks & security Q&A

[groucho]

I cleaned each of the cogs of a 13-26 cassette, individually. I also found my Kryptonite lock and proceeded to test
the unlocking/locking mechanism and twisted the key in the lock. 
Where in the UK can I get a new key(s)?

Locks & security Q&A

Cheers 

[marcusjb]

I've fettled nearly a whole bike last night - feel a bit of a wally though - couldn't work out what was going on with the Royce bottom bracket cups.

I couldn't get either cup in at all - I thought it was because there was still a bit of paint overspray in the threads.

I was trying the cup marked R.H. in the right-hand side, and the cup marked L.H. in the left-hand side - neither would go. 

Farted around for ages - until it finally twigged - R.H. did not mean right-hand side, but right-hand threading (i.e. goes on the left-hand side)!

What a wally!  Though to be fair, it's not clearly labelled, and maybe needs a little note in the instructions.