Today I did something to my bike thread...

Alanstrainor

I replaced the pads on my hydraulic discs yesterday. It was a first for me and it went reasonably well. The process was simple really, nothing complicated at all, although I have changed the brakes on my car so it was pretty similar to that. My first set of pads lasted me around 2.5k km which is pretty good going, although I did keep them too long, they were very worn when I had the old ones out. That should mean that I need to replace my pads twice a year or so. Not too bad. The disc was in decent condition, but I'd say I'll replace them at the next pad change.

LollipopJimmy

I had switched a set of Mavic wheels onto my new bike and put the Syncros wheels over onto the aluminium bike, had to swap cassettes etc and all went well. Indexed the gears on the alu bike without issue.

On the carbon bike things didn't go as well, indexed the rear and all was well but the front wasn't shifting well - obviously not down to the wheels and when working on this the cable hit the tyre, end cap came off and it frayed every. Gah.

I'm out on the bike tomorrow evening and with college last night and tonight I'd no time to get a cable and fit it myself so dropped it in to Giant on the Long Mile Road who did a 'Gear Service' €36 including the cable. The chain was scrubbed - there's been a greasy type lube on it when I got it off the previous owner (well maintained but not what I like) so I'm happy now and it's shifting like a dream

tonytiger81

Red Wine + Ebay = n+1. Picked this up last week. Fitted wider bars, bar tape and a pair of 'get me going' wheels. Has me feeling like the King Lion. In time I might do a team spec replica. Time for a glass of wine

magicbastarder

are secondhand spinergys easy to come by?

tonytiger81

In a word....no

Weepsie

Changed the Jockey wheels on SRAM rival rear derailleur. Using the TACX ones as they were only 10 quid and immediate improvement. Old ones are shot, but will be thrown in a spares box

brownian

Got a 'tyrekey' thing for easier changing of punctures...mainly for the wife('s bike). tyrekey.com, of course.

TBH, it's not at all impressive for removing tyres (Conti 4000s on narrow road rims) - hard to get the 'dual groove' bit under the bead, and nearly impossible to twist, which is meant to help get the tyre off.

But, it IS impressive in getting the last six inches of tyre back onto the rim. Very bish-bash-bosh, no power or strong hands needed, no scope to pinch the tube. So probably worth it, for that, especially for people who don't want to learn the tricks of 'getting the bead into the bottom of the rim, etc etc'.

07Lapierre

Weepsie wrote: »

Old ones are shot, but will be thrown in a spares box

Their shot! Let them go!

magicbastarder

i've done the same. 'oh, i'll hold on to these worn out jockey wheels for that precise situation where i will need a worn out set of jockey wheels'.
i still have them. free to a good home, must collect.

LollipopJimmy

Just a good clean of both today. I put flat pedals on Scott Eile for now until I collect the other Look pedals. Swapped on some tyres too, the Michelin Service Course 4's are now toast but 5k kms on them and I'm heavy plus I always have them inflated to max recommended. No problem with punctures at all until this week when I got two but the tyres really have seen better days.

Definitely going to order them again. I do have a set with green sidewalls that only have a few hundred kms on them but couldn't bring myself to put them on the new bike


Also completely disassembled the rear hub, cleaned and lubed it up. I put gearbox oil on it last winter and it was still running perfect.

secman

After a bad 2 months of back ache, penned in last Sat for my next come back spin, up bright and early, took bike out of shed, pumped up the wheels, that bike was last used about a month ago. I usually back spin the pedals, chain jumped off, back on , back spin, off again. Took wheel off, cassette was stuck fast on the hub. Stock fulcrum wheels, out of frustration I sprayed a lot of lube on the cassette. Had been planning on getting a mid range wheelset for that bike for the spring/summer and holding stock wheels for the foul season. Had a few errands to do so managed to call into CSS in late afternoon, decided on a Zonda wheelset, ossie Mike said if I brought up old wheel he would swap the cassette. Back to house, couldn't believe the amount of lube on it, too embarrassed to bring up to CSS in that condition, decided a good cleaning was in order, guess what , the hub had unstuck and was spinning nicely . Back to CSS with the spotless wheel, Mike swapped out the ultegra cassette on to the Zonda and put a 105 cassete on fulcrum stock wheel. Too late to get out so brought new wheelset and a set of conti gp4000 and tubes to wexford and put them on on Sat night. First time ever to get a blow out in the kitchen with a pinched tube . Managed get out on Sun with a 40 km spin . Brought them back up and Look forward to trying out Zondas when the weather improves, I'll leave stock wheels on the Planet X for now.

Boscoirl

Stripped the bike down and cleaned the frame

Replaced the bottom bracket and replaced the gear cables

Still have to redo brake cables and put new bar tape on

triggermortis

Started my groupet swap. Stripped the Sora levers and bar tape off the commute bike and fitted 2nd hand Ultegra levers. Realised that these were previously set up with the rear brake on the right lever and so managed to figure out how to swap the cables over.
Couldn’t get more done as light was fading and there’s no light in the shed

TychoCaine

triggermortis wrote: »

Couldn’t get more done as light was fading and there’s no light in the shed

There’s plenty of light in the living room! She won’t mind. Honest!

magicbastarder

triggermortis wrote: »

Couldn’t get more done as light was fading and there’s no light in the shed

real mechanics do it in the dark.

triggermortis

TychoCaine wrote: »

There’s plenty of light in the living room! She won’t mind. Honest!

been there, done that. She does!

triggermortis

magicbastarder wrote: »

real mechanics do it in the dark.

I've a way to go...

triggermortis

Project just ground to a halt.. the dust cap screw on my new crank is missing and the old one doesn't fit. Used live chat with CRC to see if it should be there - they don't have one but have given me credit to get one. Also found that the clamp adapter to fit a brazo on front mech onto a band on bike is too small - I need a 34.9mm one.
Having trouble removing a pedal from the old crank as well, so it's off to LBS for help...

LollipopJimmy

triggermortis wrote: »

been there, done that. She does!

I was living with an old gf years ago. Got snared with a load of car parts in the dishwasher, it went down like a fart at a funeral. Still the bits were nice and clean

cdaly_

Washing oil off cobblelock bricks in the dishwasher was very effective. Unfortunately you could hear the wheels of the racks grinding on left over sand for about 6 months afterwards...

triggermortis

cdaly_ wrote: »

Washing oil off cobblelock bricks in the dishwasher was very effective. Unfortunately you could hear the wheels of the racks grinding on left over sand for about 6 months afterwards...

That's a good idea for cleaning my old parts - once she's left for work!!

LBS sorted me out with all I need. All I have left to do now is fit the chain and gear cables (and probably go back to LBS again for them to sort it all properly)

triggermortis

triggermortis wrote: »

LBS sorted me out with all I need. All I have left to do now is fit the chain and gear cables (and probably go back to LBS again for them to sort it all properly)

Crystal ball is 100%. Bike now in LBS after I lost all patience setting up new gears.
I did sort my good bike and the winter one before this so I don’t feel too bad, plus I like to support my local shop

magicbastarder

took my chain off this evening and gave it a good scrub with a toothbrush in degreaser (or whatever that bike cleaning fluid you get in dealz is - no complaints about how good it is anyway). the amount of grit and crud which came off it was quite impressive, even though i like to think i was operating a reasonably healthy chain cleaning regime. but the last few weeks have been really, really mucky.

LollipopJimmy

magicbastarder wrote: »

took my chain off this evening and gave it a good scrub with a toothbrush in degreaser (or whatever that bike cleaning fluid you get in dealz is - no complaints about how good it is anyway). the amount of grit and crud which came off it was quite impressive, even though i like to think i was operating a reasonably healthy chain cleaning regime. but the last few weeks have been really, really mucky.

Once I have this assignment finished this afternoon I'll be doing the same. Although I am hoping to have to change my chain soon so I can buy a gold one...

Luxman

I was reasonably diligent with my chain and cassette the last few weeks. However I was prompted to gave the chainrings a going over a few days ago. Oh my god, the crap that came out between large and small (right where the chain runs across) was manky, please floss between them, then floss again.

Alanstrainor

I've ordered a new chain/cassette/master link pliers and cassette removal tool. It'll be my first replacement of the lot on this bike. The chain definitely needs replacement, and maybe the cassette. I have about 3000km on the bike so far. I think I'll take everything off and replace the chain at very least.

MicktheMan

How do you know when your cassette needs to be replaced? Is there a rule of thumb?

Weepsie

When it starts looking like this



Sorry, no help.

It depends on how good your cleaning is, how much your doing and how often your changing the chain

MicktheMan

Weepsie wrote: »

When it starts looking like this



Sorry, no help.

It depends on how good your cleaning is, how much your doing and how often your changing the chain

LOL, I had many a "cassette" do that in my walkman back in the day:).

The thing is I regularly clean/lube the chain but was surprised to see my chain gone to 1% stretch with relatively few km's on it compared to previous chains. I'm wondering if the cassette needs replacement or are there any other reasons for short chain life.
I normally replace the chain at 0.75% stretch.

Alek

Shimano 10s 11-42 cassette + Sora 9s short (sic!) mech = works!

Its not perfect, but whatever