Thread To Tell Everyone What Fettling You've Just Done

bendertherobot

Given I have a break of about a month from CX, stuck mudguards on there for the time being given the forecast.

Remarkably easy (Vitus Energie CX with 40c tyres). Much easier with flat mount discs.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

After ~4600 hilly miles over ~16.5 months, I've just replaced the L02A resin pads on my Cube with the new ones that arrived from CRC ~30mins ago (£18 a set before BC or "new customer" discounts), plus a quick fettle with the caliper alignment.

Knew the original pads were getting a bit thin at the end of July, but there was barely any resin left when I removed the old ones just before 1100 this morning. If you've got hydraulic disc brakes, please check on the state of your current pads and order replacements if necessary, it's the only thing you need to normally do with them.

The original chain also needs replacing with the one in the spares box, as original now measures ~12 and 1/16", but that can wait for another day... Too nice outside on a day off work to not head out!

DeVlaeminck

Cleaned the gravel/easy ride bike and found there is play in the Tiagra hollowtech bottom bracket Flipping thing only has a couple of thousand miles on it tops.

Cups seem tight and the bolts that hold the non drive side crank aren't loose so I'm assuming the bearings are on their way out? - never actually swopped an external bearing bottom bracket before but ordered a new one plus the tool (why does every job on a bike these days require a new tool?) so fettling will commence in a day or so.

timothyw

You might be able to remove the play by increasing the pre load- so loosen the bolts on the left crank arm, then tighten the black preload cap a bit, then tighten the bolts again.

redvee

Got my rebuilt wheel back from the local wheel building wizard, so now have matching wheels on both bikes which meant swapping the cassette and tyre over but now have to get the bearings sorted on a Deore XT hub with just a 5mm allen key and 17mm cone spanner, tried quickly tonight and need another attempt over the weekend.

UndercoverElephant

Replaced the 10 speed chainrings on the Scott with some 11 speed ones I had lying about. The bike is 11 speed but I never realised there was much of a difference in chainrings. Turns out there is, front shifting much improved.

Fixed front mudguard on the Pinnacle, which was rubbing slightly. Wheel much spinnier now.

Replaced a drop link on my car also.

Tashman

Won a free service at my LBS in a Facebook competition. Happy days

veronese68

Stripped the old steel bike I bought to pinch all the components off. Swapped the wheels on the CX bike as I'm actually entering a CX with it. Had to swap cassette and fit discs to the old wheels but no major hassle. Might try to set it up tubeless on the good wheels.
Biggest job was fitting a rack on the lads bike as he has decided it's the easiest way to get around at uni and panniers would be useful. Only when fitting the rack did I remember the used frame we bought off Fleabay some years ago had a screw broken in the mount hole by one of the dropouts. Had to drill it out and tap it which made it a bigger job than I expected.

veronese68

Rhodrich wrote:

I'll stick with rim brakes for a while yet....

Discs would look rather out of place amongst your fleet.

keef66

Trying to turn number 1 son's skip-rescued '80s Peugeot into a ghetto singlespeed pub bike for number 2 son. Derailleurs and DT shifters removed, as was the 53T chainring and the 39T fitted in it's place to check the chainline. Just need some shorter chainring bolts to make it properly secure. Chain shortened and it seems to be running OK on the 3rd smallest sprocket of the 7 speed freewheel without any kind of chain tensioner. No idea if it's a usable ratio till I try it. Drop bars wrestled out of the quill stem and an old set of straight /riser bars from my MTB days appear to fit perfectly. Looks a bit odd, but I won't be riding it. New flat bar Tiagra levers and some lock-on grips, and it's starting to look like a bike again. Just got to cable up the brakes and fit my old Spoon.

Annoyingly the front wheel is a solid axle / nuts, while the rear is a QR. It's an internal cam skewer and seems to have a grip like a pit-bull, but I won't know if it will hold the wheel in place under hard efforts till I try it out.

The other thing I'm not sure about is chain retention. Although the chain and freewheel were replaced when it was first restored, the 39T chainring is fairly worn, and I can see that unless chainline and tension are spot on it may drop the chain over rough surfaces.

Would I get bigger teeth with a proper singlespeed freewheel and chainring? And would I then be better replacing the current 7 speed chain with a single speed one? And is a singlespeed freewheel going to put the sprocket further inboard and require a BB with a shorter axle? And if all of the above, would it have been cheaper to buy a used singlespeed bike.....

keef66

DeVlaeminck wrote:

Cleaned the gravel/easy ride bike and found there is play in the Tiagra hollowtech bottom bracket Flipping thing only has a couple of thousand miles on it tops.

Cups seem tight and the bolts that hold the non drive side crank aren't loose so I'm assuming the bearings are on their way out? - never actually swopped an external bearing bottom bracket before but ordered a new one plus the tool (why does every job on a bike these days require a new tool?) so fettling will commence in a day or so.

If you're confident there was no play when new, this does often mean the bearings are on their way out. If you drop the chain off and spin the cranks does it feel gritty or notchy at all? Nothing to lose by applying a bit more preload as suggested I suppose.

FWIW i think the slightly dearer Shimano BBs are better sealed / longer lasting than Tiagra. I just keep my eye out for Ultegra BBs in the sales. I have one of those that's done 8 years on the winter bike.

wolfsbane2k

Swapped the lights over to the MTB, swapped the wheelset over from the winters ( still with spiked tyres on) to the new set with gravel tyres on, refettled the brakes calliper position , then discovered the rear brake needs a bleed.
Swapped the lights back over to the road bike, and came in on that one.

redvee

redvee wrote:

Got my rebuilt wheel back from the local wheel building wizard, so now have matching wheels on both bikes which meant swapping the cassette and tyre over but now have to get the bearings sorted on a Deore XT hub with just a 5mm allen key and 17mm cone spanner, tried quickly tonight and need another attempt over the weekend.

Had another look at the axle etc and couldn't get the bearings right so stripped the hub down and cleaned and regreased it all and found the NDS cone pitted so bought a new one and replaced the bearings on both sides.

bikegangster

Got some non-scratch or scratch-proof surface pads stickers from Pound Land. Stuck them on the mudguard and the seat stays. Keep rattling noises to a minimum and stop the paint job from being rubbed off by the mudguard. Yet to test them out. I am expecting a noise-free bike ride.

Going to Evans or another bike workshop this wednesday or thursday to cut off two centimetres off the top of the steerer tube.

timothyw

BikeGangster wrote:

Going to Evans or another bike workshop this wednesday or thursday to cut off two centimetres off the top of the steerer tube.

Honestly, all it takes is a junior hacksaw, a ruler, perhaps an old stem to help guide your cut, this is an easy job.

You can even do it with the bike assembled, just lay the bike on something soft and take your time (put down something to collect the dust, especially if it's a carbon steerer.)

Fitting a crown race, fitting a star nut, those are tricky jobs that need proper tools really, trimming the steerer is easy peasy. It's covered with spacers and the top cap so no-one can tell if you do make a mess...

redvee

TimothyW wrote:

You can even do it with the bike assembled, just lay the bike on something soft and take your time (put down something to collect the dust, especially if it's a carbon steerer.)

Did my last steerer with the bike stood up, found out the length and marked the area with black marker pen then scribed a line with the back of a stanley knife blade then went round that line with a dremmel till I had made the full circle then kept going round till I had cut through fully.

TimothyW wrote:

Fitting a crown race, fitting a star nut, those are tricky jobs that need proper tools really, trimming the steerer is easy peasy. It's covered with spacers and the top cap so no-one can tell if you do make a mess...

My last headset fitted had a split crown race so all the assembly on Full Monty was done at home

rhodrich

Replaced broken spoke on rear wheel of Pete Luxton bike. I've had 2 break so far on that wheel, which makes me think I built it with too low tension (I'd heard bad things about Mavic MA40 rims, and how they couldn't take high tension without failing). Then again, they're second hand spokes of unknown origin, so it could just be that they've had a hard life previously. I've wound up all the spokes another 4 half turns to tighten it all up. Let's hope I won't have any further failures.

ugo.santalucia

Rhodrich wrote:

Replaced broken spoke on rear wheel of Pete Luxton bike. I've had 2 break so far on that wheel, which makes me think I built it with too low tension (I'd heard bad things about Mavic MA40 rims, and how they couldn't take high tension without failing). Then again, they're second hand spokes of unknown origin, so it could just be that they've had a hard life previously. I've wound up all the spokes another 4 half turns to tighten it all up. Let's hope I won't have any further failures.

Building with second hand spokes is asking for trouble. I've never done it myself, but it sounds like a complete waste of time

timothyw

I was thinking that. Cyclebasket. Spokes are 22p each - even for a front and rear 36 spoke wheelset that's less than £8 (admittedly plus delivery).

There's being thrifty and there is putting no value on your time spent repairing/rebuilding wheels that later suffer from spoke failure.

Old spokes go in the recycling.

rhodrich

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Rhodrich wrote:

Replaced broken spoke on rear wheel of Pete Luxton bike. I've had 2 break so far on that wheel, which makes me think I built it with too low tension (I'd heard bad things about Mavic MA40 rims, and how they couldn't take high tension without failing). Then again, they're second hand spokes of unknown origin, so it could just be that they've had a hard life previously. I've wound up all the spokes another 4 half turns to tighten it all up. Let's hope I won't have any further failures.

Building with second hand spokes is asking for trouble. I've never done it myself, but it sounds like a complete waste of time

Well it depends. Spokes theoretically should last a lot longer than any rim - otherwise there would be no point re-rimming a wheel. I retrieved these spokes from a wheel that had very little in the way of rim wear, so they should have been OK. That said, it can't have been a great build, as the spokes crossed over at the valve stem, and who knows if they had been used previously.

This donor wheel was free. The hub cost me £3 at the Ripley Cycle Jumble, and I bought the rim (which looked unused), a matching front wheel, and an unused Gatorskin tyre for £25 from someone on LFGSS. So overall, the wheel has cost me virtually nothing. It's done 2500 commuting miles so far, with a couple of breakages, so not the end of the world. It's a 36 spoke rim, and fixed gear with no rear brake, so even if a spoke does break, there's no problem getting home. Then it's just a 10 minute job to replace the spoke (with another second hand one!). I'm happy with that.

veronese68

Rhodrich wrote:

Well it depends. Spokes theoretically should last a lot longer than any rim - otherwise there would be no point re-rimming a wheel.

Not sure how true it is, but I vaguely recall hearing that if spokes are being reused they should be in the same position. So if replacing a rim like for like they should be alright.

CitizenLee

I converted the Cube to tubeless last night.

Schwalbe G-One Allrounds in 700x38, Tesa tape, generic eBay valves and some Stan’s sealant. Jury seems to be out on weather one or two layers of tape is best but I just went with one.

The tyres were such a good fit on the rims that when testing them out to seat the bead they inflated first time with just my track pump and no tubes or sealant. I did get one small air leak from the rim weld on each wheel, but once the sealant was in it sealed itself up no problem. I then covered them in soapy bubbles (Carex Bubblegum Handwash :P) and left them at 50psi overnight and they seem to have held up nicely with no loss of pressure this morning. They roll really nicely too, although I’m going to drop them to 35-40psi for the commute home. It’s absolutely chucking it down this afternoon too, so will be good to see how well they perform in the wet.

Also adjusted the brake pad alignment, cleaned and lubed the chain and raised my saddle by around 5mm... although I think I also need to slide it forward a few mm too.

ugo.santalucia

WInterised my modest fleet

Mudguards on the geared bike and a 16 T (bigger) sprocket on the single speed work horse

timothyw

Fitted the Roadracer Mk3's to my Hoy ahead of the commute today - went on easily enough.

Seem a bit better than the mk2 model - certainly look a lot quicker to remove for dry days, the Mk2s on my other bike obtained permanent residency as it was such a hassle getting them set up.

Just hope they don't self destruct too quickly, a bit unnerving when they rattle around.

asprilla

Finally fixed my squeeking bottom bracket. I've changed the BB, pedals and crankset with no joy, but yesterday I changed the wheelset.

Silence.

I have a cunning suspicion that when I remove the cassette from the old wheelset there will be a comedy boing noise and bits will fly off the hub in all directions.

wolfsbane2k

Asprilla wrote:

Finally fixed my squeeking bottom bracket. I've changed the BB, pedals and crankset with no joy, but yesterday I changed the wheelset.

Silence.

I have a cunning suspicion that when I remove the cassette from the old wheelset there will be a comedy boing noise and bits will fly off the hub in all directions.

I've had that issue a number of times, and indeed have the same issue today - have previously found it's a little bit of grit that's got into the axle/wheel mounted interface. A quick wipe of the dropouts and axle points and a tiny drop of oil on the skewer and dropouts and it's all gone.
It's caught me out 4 times before -hopefully today when I do the same ( as I didn't do that after Thursday's downpour) i'll be back into silence again.

elbowloh

So, accepted that it was no longer summer (in spite of the relatively nice weather in October) and fitted the Raceblades back on the commuter last night. Also adjusted the brakes, front and back, to correct for wear on the pads.

Tested the wheels and they span nice and smooth.

Get ready to leave and the front brake is locked on, spent a few minutes trying to work out wtf was happening.

Finally realised that i had mounted my front light (underslung Cycliq 12CE) in such a way it was fouled the cable and was pulling it tight. By which time I had already loosened the brake cable. FFS.

keef66

80s Peugeot skip find "restored" on a budget by No. 1 son, now converted to a singlespeed shopping / pub bike for No. 2 son, on an even smaller budget. (flat bar brake levers and some chainring bolts for the single ring)

Glad I didn't take it for it's maiden ride last night; as I heaved it into the work-stand for a last fettle, the front wheel dropped out and went bouncing across the garage :shock:

redvee

A friend asked me to replace the pads on his Shimano hydraulic brakes, he tried and could get the new pads in so I told him he had to push the pistons back in but he was worried about causing damage, went round today and done both ends in 10 minutes and used the old pads to push the pistons back in.

inbike

keef66 wrote:

Glad I didn't take it for it's maiden ride last night; as I heaved it into the work-stand for a last fettle, the front wheel dropped out and went bouncing across the garage :shock:

I forgot to tighten the front QR on my wife's bike after we came home from a cycling holiday in July.

Discovered this week that she's been commuting to work with it like that!

Need to teach her some basic maintenance skills.