What did you do with your bike(s) today?

[foo on patrol]

Thanks Bunnos have them too. Will grab one
https://www.bunnings.com.au/craftright- ... e_p5860161

That's the one I've got too warthog. It's very low cost and doesn't work too badly, but does have a few shortcomings. Generally "Craftright" at bunnings is their lowest possible cost option, and some of their stuff gives acceptable performance home use, but also some of their stuff can be utter junk. (I bought a 12 pack of craftright hacksaw blades for about $3 there once, and all the teeth literally broke clean off every blade on the very first use, LOL.)

That DP vice is ok except for the metal plate underneath that controls the slide. If it's too tight then the jaw wont slide, and if it's too loose the moveable jaw has too much up/down play, which effects it's ability to hold things square. The problem with mine was that over time the screws holding that plate would loosen and/or the plate would bend a bit, so it always ended up having too much play in the jaws. I ended up beefing up and modifying that slide plate on mine to make it work better.

BTW. The slide plate is a bit like the one on the left here, but a lot more flimsy on the Craftright.

Hmm. Thanks for that. I'll have a look before purchasing. There is a more expensive one available too.

Pretty sure that there are magnetic ones also that don't require a positioning slot for the vice to sit in. A lithium grease on both surfaces can help with sliding also but the secret is not to over tighten things, just pull it up until what you are drilling is firm.

Foo

[g-boaf]

Cleaned the brakes, then went out and tested them thoroughly.

They were bloody horrible this morning - obviously something got on the discs and contaminated them. They are so much better now.

[g-boaf]

Wrapped some bar tape and changed the shifter batteries (the coin batteries) which are absolutely irritating to change on old 11 speed SRAM E-Tap:



Reverse wrapped the bar tape so it looks clean and neat.

This might now be an older bike but it's still lighter than nearly everything else you can find easily.

I have a feeling it might eventually need converting to newer groupset since the 11 speed E-tap is so old.

[warthog1]

^^ Very neat bar wrap! Well done.

[Retrobyte]

^^ Very neat bar wrap! Well done.

+1 Almost looks as good as Mercedes Benz workmanship

[familyguy]

I have pretty much narrowed the shifting issues on the 11s bike down to a misaligned RD hanger. I took it off to photograph it to assist with finding a replacement item, given the results of a search for 'Cube Attain GTC thru axle RD hanger' show about 9 differing visual versions with two for QR, go figure. Decided to put it in the vise with a long bolt in the RD tab and give it a twist. What's the worst that could happen? I didn't give it much, it didn't snap, so I put it back on. The shifting was a lot better this morning. I'll still buy a new replacement though, to fix it properly.

Fitted a new RD hanger. Shifts way better. Now needs a tweak to undo all the faffing around I did to work around the poor shifting before, but it will be back to normal once I do that.

[familyguy]

Some fresh centrelock rotors and tubes and new temp wheels (temp for this bike, anyway) are on.





30s look a bit lost in the Cube fork, but once the merry go round stops this will have 35s or so on it again.

[ironhanglider]

Can you help a mate change cranks from one bike to another? Sure says I.

Mate drives for an hour to get to my place...

Current bike - FSA Isis-type cranks. No problem I have the top-hat bung to allow the crank puller to push against the spindle. Relatively easy, although someone had applied loctite to both the bolt threads and the spline. Then I discover that my BB-spline tool doesn't reach far enough to engage. Neither does my son's tool. Find a bike shop open on a public holiday, buy tool.

'New' bike - Miche square taper cranks. Shouldn't be a problem... Right crank comes off relatively easily. Left crank, threads are munted and there are witness marks to someone else's frustration. Not enough space to get a bearing puller behind the crank. After a bit of thought 'I know I'll pull the BB out the drive side and pop the left crank off'. Then discover that the drive side cup is really stiff, an extension bar was required but I managed to move it and the plan worked.

On the home straight now. Fit Isis BB to new bike. Fit cranks to BB, which slide all the way on to the end of the splines suspiciously easily (explains the loctite), and immediately discover that the cranks don't turn. Turns out that despite being marked as Pista cranks, the spider arms have a ledge as if for the installation of a second chainring, and that is enough to interfere with the chainstay on the new bike. Running out of options I elected to put the Isis BB and FSA cranks back on current bike so that it at least can remain operational.

Not total waste of time but didn't get the job done...

After that I successfully managed to build 16 spoke wheels with 32 spoke hubs, the mis-aligned offset in the holes meant that for the rear wheel I had to lace one flange differently, using shorter spokes and a funky lacing pattern. The front wheel with (almost) radial spokes wasn't as much of an issue, though if you look carefully, you can see that the spokes on one flange are trying to pull the hub forward, whilst the spokes on the other flange are trying to pull the hub backward. I call it a half-cross lacing pattern.

Cheers,

Cameron

[stevenaaus]

> Not total waste of time but didn't get the job done...

The good old days... those rusted in isis and square taper BBs

Good work with the wheels.

[familyguy]

Wondered why I was hearing pinging. Now I know. Replacement 470 ordered.

[g-boaf]

Somehow the front brake disc was loose!

I took the wheel off a tightened that thing again.

[fat and old]

Wrapped some bar tape and changed the shifter batteries (the coin batteries) which are absolutely irritating to change on old 11 speed SRAM E-Tap:



Reverse wrapped the bar tape so it looks clean and neat.

This might now be an older bike but it's still lighter than nearly everything else you can find easily.

I have a feeling it might eventually need converting to newer groupset since the 11 speed E-tap is so old.

JHC that's neat!

[Mr Purple]

I was absolutely clobbered by rain on the gravel bike last week (including finding a puddle I ran into was about 70cm deep) so wasn't surprised when there was a new 'clunk' on my ride yesterday.

Seemed to be drivetrain related, so went through the whole thing end to end before finally removing the rear wheel to check the brake disc and cassette.

Turned out it was nothing to do with the rain, the cassette was somehow loose despite being torqued to spec a couple of months ago. At least I know what that sounds like now!

[elantra]

I was absolutely clobbered by rain on the gravel bike last week (including finding a puddle I ran into was about 70cm deep) so wasn't surprised when there was a new 'clunk' on my ride yesterday.

Seemed to be drivetrain related, so went through the whole thing end to end before finally removing the rear wheel to check the brake disc and cassette.

Turned out it was nothing to do with the rain, the cassette was somehow loose despite being torqued to spec a couple of months ago. At least I know what that sounds like now!

One of the (very few) advantages of the “old” screw-on 5/6/7/8 speed freewheels.

With time and riding they inevitably get tighter !
One less thing to make funny noises

[open roader]

Today I changed out a flatting tube.

Nothing earth shattering from the outside looking in aside from the fact that the last flat I had was a latex tube pinch flat in............. October 2009! Considering how many wheelsets (maybe 5 or 6) and bikes (maybe 5 or 6) I've built up or owned since then I'm a little surprised and also ashamed as the tube was actually perished at the valve base from old age after only 155km of riding and nearly 6 years of sitting on the sofa in my study!

So it was actually a joy to whip the bead off one side and pop in a freshie - the rapid 28km ride after was even more joyful!

[g-boaf]

Rode this one today:



Not 100% recovered but happy to be out in nice weather. It's a real change to be back on that bike and not on an extreme aero bike.

[am50em]

Decided the bike hasn't been cleaned for a while so gave it a good clean. Found a tiny wire in the rear tyre. Had to deflate the tyre to remove it. Then while cleaning and checking the tyre for anything more notice some white spots. Realised it was sealant and tyre was worn so replaced it (bought spares 2 months ago). Pretty painless but needed 25g CO2 canister to pop the bead. Front tyre still good. Finished up with waxing frame and wheels. Looking good. Now have a week of rain so its unlikely to get ridden!

[warthog1]

Decided the bike hasn't been cleaned for a while so gave it a good clean. Found a tiny wire in the rear tyre. Had to deflate the tyre to remove it. Then while cleaning and checking the tyre for anything more notice some white spots. Realised it was sealant and tyre was worn so replaced it (bought spares 2 months ago). Pretty painless but needed 25g CO2 canister to pop the bead. Front tyre still good. Finished up with waxing frame and wheels. Looking good. Now have a week of rain so its unlikely to get ridden!

Found 2 bits of tyre wire in my rear conti 5kTL at one point. Found it was losing a bit of air overnight so investigated and found them. Just rolled the to the bottom and no more required.

[am50em]

I have mostly found shards of glass in my tyres and usually not causing any deflation. The item today was about the thickness of human hair and less than 2mm long. Only found it by feel while cleaning. I should check more regularly.

[elantra]

Weather over most of Australia has been various forms of bad in recent days.

But wasn’t too hot/ too wet/ too anything else, at least in northern part of NSW earlier today.

However if conditions are less than perfect, the local Railtrail is the best option for getting the legs working.
Especially when rain is on the way, or it has been raining, or it’s hot (plenty of shade)

Yesterday it was bucketing rain - what better to do on a rainy arvo than work on a bike ?
Especially when the bike is a substantially updated 1983 KogaMiyata.
And what better thing is there to do the next morning than take it for a test ride.

This “gravel” bike felt pretty right as soon as it got moving, after replacing stem and handlebars and repositioning brake levers and gear selector last night.
Pretty happy with the outcome, although the novelty of a resurrected Suntour Command handlebar mounted indexed gear shifter will wear off sooner or later ??

Riding back to Murwillumbah along the Railtrail in light cooling rain was magnificent.

[g-boaf]

Rode the old Canyon 200km this weekend.

It’s just more comfortable to ride and a lot lighter.

Unfortunately since the heavy storm last night it needs thorough cleaning. Had to ride through flooding this morning. The chainring bolts need to be taken off, cleaned greased and fastened again - they are creaking like hell.

Aside from that it is running nicely.

[familyguy]

Ripped apart the old tourer, pretty much the entire drivetrain was cactus, which I sorta suspected. Basic Tourney-level FD & RD, 6 speed freewheel, cables, cranks, 2/3 of the chainrings, all binned. Fixed middle chainring was heavily shark toothed, big ring going that way, granny ring clearly had been renewed and can be saved for spares. Plastic shifters may be usable for something, but not much call for 6 speed SIS nowadays. Chain measured 12 3/8", which I think now holds the record for the most over-length chain I've ever seen still in use!

Bonus of coming to work this morning and spotting a Yakima hitch rack in the council clean up piles. Appears to be complete!

[warthog1]

Took the 35mm Panaracer gravelking slicks off the LB WR50s I have for the gravelly.
Got back from work and the rear was flat and unseated. My wife has been cleaning the garage and had moved everthing around. Dunno why it went flat though. They measured 37mm wide on those wide rims.Anyway decided to put a new Vittoria Corsa N.ext on the front 28mm and a 32mm Michelin Power Road on the back.
Those wheels are 25int, 32ext and hookless. Needed the compressor to seat them and 70ml of Orange seal in each. Put the calipers on the front tyre when inflated to 55psi. About 31.2mm wide so a very good fit on those wheels. Didn't measure the back but it looks ~34mm wide. Matters less on the back for aero as it is dirty air anyway.
The bike is a 1kg heavier than the TCR and I sit a touch higher. Not faster but there aint much in it. Did a road hunjy today and it was comfy as, nice and grippy with the wide tyres too. Bloody windy though. Good on the way out but a big block headwind on the way back.

[P!N20]

Starting to think the fixed gear commuter needs a new bottom bracket:

[warthog1]

^^Yikes!