Thread To Tell Everyone What Fettling You've Just Done

biondino

A companion thread to the "buying bike gear" thread...

Today, I used a chain cleaning machine for the first time. I hadn't figured out what a knack it is! Luckily I had laid down a lot of newspaper, and now I have a by and large clean chain on the Focus, ready for Wales.

I also indexed my gears. Took a bit of trial and error to get it right, but on the stand at least all the gears (in the big ring, anyway) seem to work. Might ride it to work tomorrow just to check...

Oh, and I also pumped the tyres on the fixie, and had an unscheduled deflation when the front tube - replaced about 60 miles ago - failed at the valve about 2 minutes after I pumped it up. What this did mean, however, was that I ahd to replace the tube - and for the first time ever I maanged it without using a single tyre lever!

Dazzza

Did a good job of mullering my mtb wheel, spend two hours playing with spoke tension to get it near straight as i can, quite chuffed as i reckon i can save this wheel, most places would have given up with a traditional wheel trueing.

Given time i reckon i can have it back straight again, fingers crossed!!

bracketed

Stopped my seatpost from squeaking loudly on every. single. pedalstroke. Largely by cleaning and greasing everything in sight. Cleaned out the seat tube, cleaned and greased the shim, cleaned and greased the post, cleaned the clamp, greased the clamp bolt, and tightened it all up.

Silence.

Bliss!

biondino

bracketed wrote:

Stopped my seatpost from squeaking loudly on every. single. pedalstroke. Largely by cleaning and greasing everything in sight. Cleaned out the seat tube, cleaned and greased the shim, cleaned and greased the post, cleaned the clamp, greased the clamp bolt, and tightened it all up.

Silence.

Bliss!

I need to do that on the fixie. I was worried I'd pulled the seatpost too far out of the frame and was in imminent danger of crashing with splintered aluminim shards up my censored . But I've got about an inch of grace as it turns out, and a little bit of teflon grease on the bit where post meats seat tube seems to pretty much do the job.

acidstrato

i thoroughly cleaned the bike and all components, adjusted front mech, lubed up and went out for a 25mile blast to find the rear mech completely out, came home adjusted rear mech..all is well again and the bike is much smoother with all the muck gone

good times

stuaff

biondino wrote:

A companion thread to the "buying bike gear" thread...

Today, I used a chain cleaning machine for the first time. I hadn't figured out what a knack it is! Luckily I had laid down a lot of newspaper, and now I have a by and large clean chain on the Focus, ready for Wales.

Got the Park Tools one, couldn't get on with it. Knocked the chain off a couple of times, unpleasant-sounding noises when I ran the chain through were rather unnerving, and the thing seemed to fill up with gunk without actually getting anything off the chain. Went back in the box, few months later had another go…same results. I stick to the manual method now.
The Viner will be getting its first going over some time this week, now I've actually put some road dirt on it....:)

P-Jay

Changed the oil & seals on my 36's on the Enduro and fitted a new chain stay (actually I had mt LBS do the chain stay).

Stripped the Codes and 888 WC's off my Shocker, Bled the brakes and cleaned up the forks, punted them off on eBayready for some 2010 Boxxers and some Hope M6 Techs come spring.

cjcp

Re-fitted a cassette on the nice bike after giving it a good clean, and fiddled with the front mech on the commuter again.

redvee

Swapped the spacers on the brakes around on my Tricross Single and the improvement in the brakes has been wonderful. Might splash out on some salmons next.

amnezia

I re-tensioned the spokes on both wheels on the commuter trying to eradicate a mysterious creaking noise. Ride quality is definitely much better today but the creaking still remains. :x

R_T_A

- Readjusted saddle as it was pointing towards the sky :oops:
- Pumped up tyres back to 100psi from 60
- General clean and oiling of chain

Was going to flip the stem to get a bit of a lower profile, but a list of other things to do that I knew nothing about appeared :roll:

Kieran_Burns

Well I got a new Hope Vision 2 light set and needed to do some readjusting of lights to find the best fit. In the end I took everything off the handlebars and started again.

I was using a small extender bar, but this twisted with the weight of the Cateye and was never quite right, so:

Cycle comp now on middle bar thingy (I dunno the name! :oops: ), Hope Vision on left tight up against middle clamp, Cateye Single Shot plus on right, likewise as near to middle clamp, extender bar removed and bell next to Hope and just out of the way of my hand when riding.

p.s. = Oh my GOD there is a lot of light out the front of my bike now! :shock:

_Brun_

Swapped double chainset on the roadbike for a compact to make Welsh hills easier.

Swapped 18T sprocket on the fixed for 17T to make London's roads faster.

Carlos13

I changed the BB on my singlecross yesterday in an attempt to remove the knocking from my drivetrain. It didn't work and I dislocated my thumb in the process. I've not done that for at least 20 years.

The main suspects now are the rear hub and the freewheel.

My thumb is sore.

choirboy

Pumped tyres
Fiddled a lot with rear lights and couldn't decide on best setup
Adjusted front brake which was oh-so-slightly out of alignment
Adjusted front mech - and then re-adjusted it...
Cleaned and lubed the lot

And then recorded a PB on my way in this morning so it must have all been worth it!

symo

Fitted new pads to rear disc hydraulic brake. Washed both bikes. Fitted Grmin mount to commuter.

Ride in on commuter this morning revealed all gears need re-indexing

Also tip for those changing hydraulic dosc pads; Remove pad and then before attempting to fit new pads, take a thick bladed flat scredriver and prise the pads apart against each other.

Garou

Thorough clean and lube - as i live in a small flat this involves taking the bike to bits and cleaning it in the bath.

Removed the cassette and chainset to apply anti-seize and some grease, which i didn't have when i replaced the drivetrain a few weeks ago.

Fiddles with the gears to sort out the one-gear-that-just-won't-quite-shift-right, seems to be ok for now.

Changed from commuting tyres to mountain tyres, then didn't actually do any off-roading, so changed them back. (I will be doing some come the next weekend though.)

Trying to make sure my bike is all sorted for when i go to Scotland end of next week.

Jamey

Brilliant thread idea, this.

I had been planning to spend a couple of hours fettling yesterday but late on Saturday I got a better offer (all-day event/BBQ with free booze) so in the end I had to make do with a quick saddle adjustment (slide forwards a bit, tilt forwards a bit) and a top-up of the air in the tyres.

My brakes need a little tightening/centring though, and I would've liked to have given it a once over with baby wipes.

I left the lube out to remind me to do the chain this morning before I set off for work but didn't have time in the end.

The Hundredth Idiot

I'm on the old MTB at the moment as the roadbike is being rebuilt (see this thread).

I dug the MTB out of the shed where it had been languising for a few months and, after a couple of days riding it, decided the suspension forks felt a bit stiff. So on Friday night I thought I'd take them to bits, clean and grease. But something went wrong

Couldn't get the bolt out of the RHS fork - couldn't decide whether I'd somehow cross-threaded it or if the thing it is attached to in the fork was just spinning around so the bolt wasn't unscrewing. I gave up in the end and just squirted a bit of oil around the top of the forks so it could work its way down. Forgot all about it until this morning on the way to work when there was an ominous rattling from the front forks which wasn't there last week.

Bu99er! Looks like that little bit of fettling isn't over yet.

M005

My rear brake at lunchtime, due to finding out that it binding was the cause of the harder than normal ride in this morning.

It was binding due to a buckled wheel after running 1" slicks on Wiltshire's less than smooth rural A roads.

Expect being a cycle commuter now I'll find myself fettling at lunchtime a lot

UndercoverElephant

Forgive me, Brothers, for I have sinned. It's been many years since my last confession.

I rode my lovely new BeOne back home on Friday, through torrents of rain and enormous puddles and popped her in the garage. On Saturday, I thought I'd give her a wash down, and I'm saddened to say, there were slight spots of rust on her chain. An immediate de-grease, clean and re-lube was carried out - chain looks fine now, gleaming in fact. My only excuse is that due to her being my first good bike, I'd bought some "proper" bike oil, and it obviously wasn't good enough. I shall go back to used chip fat forthwith.

I'm racked with guilt, and throw myself on the mercy of the fettling community. How may I serve my penance? :oops:

redvee

I've got to sort the rear cones out again Tightened them last week and play has developed again Only need the wheel for another 2 weeks till the Pru comes good with a surprise £300

Roastie

Saturday: Gave the commuter a minor-major (not quite a full strip-down), and removed the guards and rack for yesterdays Sportive.

Today: Fixed a puncture.

tailwindhome

Best new thread idea for months.

Bravo

biondino

Thanks! Though it's not even close to being original (Jamey inspired it, along with the bike-bit-buying thread). I just thought it'd fill a need in all of us to boast about what great fettlers we are

chris281192

won a hillclimb!

+1 great forum.

Specialized Needs

biondino wrote:

Thanks! Though it's not even close to being original (Jamey inspired it, along with the bike-bit-buying thread). I just thought it'd fill a need in all of us to boast about what great fettlers we are

With the added advantage of not having to spend to contribute to it

Hmm, so my contribution. Last night mended the puncture caused yesterday by riding over an industrial staple (for wood?) 2 miles before the end of my extended pootle home from Regent's Park. A new type of 'snakebite' :?

Tonight I investigated the rattley sound coming from my front wheel when I accelerate, turn or lean on the bars - think I will need a general tighten of the spokes this weekend. Shame, as it is very 'true' at the mo. Bet it won't be by the time I finish :roll:

linsen

I repaired a p*ncture on the roadside (well, replaced the inner tube) and used CO2 to refill the tyre.

To my amazement it has almost all leaked out.

I believe in the PF - that incident happened just when I was telling LiT how great my tyres were.

Grrr

cjcp

linsen wrote:

I repaired a p*ncture on the roadside (well, replaced the inner tube) and used CO2 to refill the tyre.

To my amazement it has almost all leaked out.

I believe in the PF - that incident happened just when I was telling LiT how great my tyres were.

Grrr

Linsen - check there's nothing stuck in the tyre, or that the rim doesn't have a sharp-edged "dink" in it.

el_presidente

linsen wrote:

I repaired a p*ncture on the roadside (well, replaced the inner tube) and used CO2 to refill the tyre.

To my amazement it has almost all leaked out.

I believe in the PF - that incident happened just when I was telling LiT how great my tyres were.

Grrr

It does that, always need a proper pump after a couple of days if you have filled with CO2.

I replaced my knackered FSA MegaExo BB with a Ultegra unit last night at 11.00. And adjusted the rear wheel to tighten the chain.

prawny

I finally cure my last creak, inspired by this thread. I thought it was coming from the cranks first so removed cleaned and re-greased - no.
Then the bars remove wipe and retighten - no.
Pedals tighten up the tension and squirt with WD40 - better but not quite, hmm whats left ahh well.
I wanted to raise my seat a bit so I removed the post cleaned and regreased and lo and behold - silence

Also gave the chain a quick squirt of dry lube, it doesn't last long does it :?