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

[elantra]

Bicycles need a place to rest without falling over

So I made a bicycle stand, tailored for any drop bar bicycle, with front wheel removed.

Easy to make these from suitable lengths of stray timber, a few screws, a battery powered drill, and some conduit clamps.

[foo on patrol]

Easy set up to make for anyone that there.

Foo

[antigee]

swopped a wheelset and a quick test ride revealed the disk and therefore the pads on the rear contaminated...cleaned the disk with alcohol...pads out and sanded as couldn't find a spare set I know I have...test ride and it's fantastic...praised myself for a job well done...back in garage put bike away turned round and there was the bike with the filthy squealing brakes...a job well done on a bike that was already ok...log that one as a senile moment I think

[OnTrackZeD]

...a job well done on a bike that was already ok...log that one as a senile moment I think

I didn't see that one coming.

[elantra]

Easy set up to make for anyone that there.

Foo

Made another one today… the collection of leftover lengths of wood is now seriously depleted




The base frame is 1.2 metre lengths from a broken billiard table. Not sure what type of timber it is but nice quality and not heavy.
It has some 8mm diameter through apertures at one end.
So I used 2 quill stem bolts to attach the rear cross beam (rear wheel platform) to it.
These were from quill stems that I am never going to use because they are too short for me and not worth trying to sell.

[ningnangnong]

Don't laugh, but I just replaced disc brake pads for the first time - I thought there would be a lot more faffing about, but I've gotta say, it seemed even more straightforward than replacing rim brake pads!

[elantra]

Finally got around to deconstructing an old bike from the tip shop.
Specifically the Tweed tip shop, which usually sells pre-loved bikes for fifteen dollars.

This one is a bit of an enigma.
Big frame, with Repco markings, and stickers say “Tange 900” and “made in Australia”
With 27 inch wheels.

Chain super rusted. Cranks won’t turn- not at all !
Tyres incredibly perished.

But there’s usually something worth $ 15 on just about any old bike.

Cranks came off fairly easy.
BB cups came off fairly easily.
BB spindle and bearings were a gooey mass of rust

Stem out no dramas, headset turns surprisingly smoothly.
Seatpost a minor struggle, and when out revealed a little shim in the frame. Hard to understand how this came to be, and I suspect that this might be the reason why the BB is such a disaster.
The shim was only partial, leaving a slender gap for water to enter into the frame from the area of the seatpost bolt.
Handlebar looks pretty good, will probably use this on another bike as it is a good width- 42 cm- and a nice shape, none of that early 1990’s ergonomic nonsense.

Overall pretty good fun for an investment of 15 dollars !

[Scott No Mates]

Finally..... Swapped out the cleats for flats AND Master No Mates rode the roadie around the new Rozelle Parklands and across to Darling Harbour and back around to Blackwattle Bay.

He is starting to get over the additional height, narrow tyres, aggressive position (no longer upright on the BMX), gear lever position.

What stunned me more was he backed up for a ride along the PVC with a little more pace.

Not totally unscathed, he complained all the way about his knees, ligaments.... Dang youth of today.

[foo on patrol]

Tried to find the chargers for all of my lights. Found none and can't remember which container or box they are in.

Foo

[stevenaaus]

....Master No Mates rode the roadie around the new Rozelle Parklands and across to Darling Harbour and back around to Blackwattle Bay.

Good work.

[Scott No Mates]

Master No Mates may just become a convert.

6 days, 4 rides.

Today we did a very gentle (flat) 30km along the Bay Run, mostly on bike paths, several laps and both directions.

He's not shying away from it.

Now he's thinking about taking the bike on the train for day trips. We took a trip to Newcastle earlier this week, it cost myself $9 including the metro, train, light rail and ferry to Stockton beach. Last of the big spenders (he's a student concession, so he paid ½ again).

[familyguy]

Serviced the $10 Silca Pista to see if I could solve the perennial 40PSI problem it has.



Gauge reads 40PSI when standing still. I suspect it's had a knock or drop that has adjusted the gauge. It seems to be close to pressure if you add 40 to the number you want. 140 on this read near to 100 on the other pump.



Such a cool piece of gear.



Decided to try to fix the leak under pressure in the BBB as well, following a head change. Took all the bits apart, redid an o-ring, regreased a couple of parts, seems to be better under load, only a minor air leak from a split o-ring I will have to source.



Recent Lezyne dual head to replace clapped out BBB head:


Not sure if I''ll put the Lezyne ABS head on the Silca or leave as is. The other one is the dead BBB head.

[elantra]

Serviced the $10 Silca Pista to see if I could solve the perennial 40PSI problem it has.



Gauge reads 40PSI when standing still. I suspect it's had a knock or drop that has adjusted the gauge. It seems to be close to pressure if you add 40 to the number you want. 140 on this read near to 100 on the other pump.



Such a cool piece of gear.



Decided to try to fix the leak under pressure in the BBB as well, following a head change. Took all the bits apart, redid an o-ring, regreased a couple of parts, seems to be better undre load, only a minor air leak from a split o-ring I will have to source.

Well done on trying to keep these critters going !

Air pump devices must be the weak link in technological advancement.

Bicycles last decades with a bit of TLC.
Cars usually last a decade and a half.
Vacuum cleaners at least a decade.

But in my experience track pumps usually are all flogged out after about 5 years.
My current one is several yrs old and was a prestigious brand (a “Pro”) but the pressure gauge hasn’t worked for years.
Before that I had one with a funny name (Jet black or something like that) which only lasted 5 yrs.
But I did use it a bit to top up the car tyre pressure which probably didn’t help.

Don’t even get me started on the little twenty dollar car tyre ones that you buy in the Auto stores that run off 12 V electricity. They might work if used to inflate the tyres on 1972 Mini Minor but the size of modern day car tyres soon finishes them off.

[familyguy]

They can live hard lives. I realise on further analysis that I've only ever bought two floor pumps. The BBB (new) and the Silca (used).

Yet I have 5 around the place, including an Axiom Kompressair 160 I found being tossed out, which is a great unit. I've given away 5 or 6 to friends and family. Tossed a couple. They all came in with lightly used bike purchases or were found on council clean up piles. All working after a clean and occasionally a pull open and lube down the tube (insert Rik Mayall nasal snort here).

[P!N20]

Serviced the $10 Silca Pista to see if I could solve the perennial 40PSI problem it has.

Replacement gauges can be purchased, but they're not as cool as your with the reference pointer, and you probably don't want to spend that much on it. (Possibly we've had this conversation before.)

I'm wondering if you could transplant the face and pointer onto a new gauge?

[familyguy]

Replacement gauges can be purchased, but they're not as cool as your with the reference pointer, and you probably don't want to spend that much on it. (Possibly we've had this conversation before.)

I'm wondering if you could transplant the face and pointer onto a new gauge?

I did some digging and, critically, the replacements from Silca appear to be a larger diameter (63mm v 50mm). There are reports of them not fitting on the outlet due to fouling the pump tube. I've organised a 50mm replacement, not as cool though. I'll relocate the needle to zero with the watch hand tools as well.

[familyguy]

Did some work on the pump while I await the new gauge. Buffing wheel and Autosol on the heads.





Paint stripper on the base, buffing wheel and Autosol action. May yet repaint it. It looks good, but mismatched now.

[redsonic]

Pulled the cranks off, removed the chainrings, and cleaned them before popping them in to my lbs for the Shimano recall. Apparently, there is a very small de-lamination (one that I didn't see). Getting a new crank, which is kind of a bummer, as I have a spare set of new rings hanging around to put on the original Ultegra one.
While it is up on the stand, I'll give it a service and change the bar tape.

[redsonic]

Well... with the bike on the stand, I'm giving it a thorough going over, and discovered this inside my bottom bracket:



I rode through salt water about 9 months ago (high tide at the Lota boardwalk). I hosed the bike down at the time, but noticed corrosion of the wheels developing between the stainless eyelets and alloy rims, so took them apart and treated them. This is the first time I've been in the bottom bracket since then. I didn't think the water was that deep!

After cleaning and some judicious use of steel wool:



I had this rust chelating gel ready for my Healing restoration, so it will be interesting to see what it does.

[foo on patrol]

^^^^ ^^^^

I've never seen that before in any of my bikes. I would be sealing that cable bracket screw with a spot of clear hot glue on the outside and a coating of grease inside the bb.

How long were you in the water because for?

Foo

[elantra]

Well... with the bike on the stand, I'm giving it a thorough going over, and discovered this inside my bottom bracket:

Yikes !

That’s a healthy growth of rust.

Is that a fillet-brazed steel frame ?
I guess that the water at Lota would be basically seawater, with a bit of mud added.

I was out riding with a friend at Tumbulgum yesterday.
Leaning against the post at the coffee shop we noted that his nipples (on his bike) were really badly corroded.
They are Shimano RS road (rim brake) wheels less than 10 yrs old, aluminium nipples I presume.
He does a lot of riding in the rain and lives near the beach.

On another note I ended up in the garden yesterday, which was not pleasant because it was about 30 degrees hot.

But I commissioned my home-made Campagnolo plant pot, put a coffee bean bush in it and filled it with potting mix.
The plant pot is made from plywood bits secured into the spoke recesses of a 1990 Campagnolo Nisi rim.
This was a nice rim that was “retired” due to brake track wear and small crack.
It certainly makes it easy for 2 people to lift the pot with a plant in it !

Only problem was that the dog later dug it up and there was potting mix all over the place.
So I had to do it all again.

[redsonic]

^^^^ ^^^^

I've never seen that before in any of my bikes. I would be selling that cable bracket screw with a spot of clear hot glue on the outside and a coating of grease inside the bb.

How long were you in the water because for?

Foo

Thanks for the tip Foo, I'll do as you say. I rode through the water for about 20m. I later found water inside my wheels!, but didn't think of the bottom bracket. It seems to have come up nicely after soaking in the Metal Rescue overnight.

But I commissioned my home-made Campagnolo plant pot, put a coffee bean bush in it and filled it with potting mix.
The plant pot is made from plywood bits secured into the spoke recesses of a 1990 Campagnolo Nisi rim.
This was a nice rim that was “retired” due to brake track wear and small crack.
It certainly makes it easy for 2 people to lift the pot with a plant in it !

Elantra: coffee plants are lovely. I have grown and propagated them for over 10 years, and even made coffee from the beans (it was drinkable). The idea with the rim is a great one. Mine are currently in rocket pots, but I'll be putting them in the ground soon. They are the dwarf type, that only grows to 150cm.

[redsonic]

Yikes !

That’s a healthy growth of rust.

Is that a fillet-brazed steel frame ?
I guess that the water at Lota would be basically seawater, with a bit of mud added.

Yes, it is a Ritchey Road logic steel frame. Lovely bike, best I have ever ridden and it's a keeper (I hope).

The Lota water was entirely sea water. Very tidal, so you can ride through often with no problems then hit high (king) tide and encounter what I did. I should have turned around.

[familyguy]

I was out riding with a friend at Tumbulgum yesterday.
Leaning against the post at the coffee shop we noted that his nipples (on his bike) were really badly corroded.
They are Shimano RS road (rim brake) wheels less than 10 yrs old, aluminium nipples I presume.
He does a lot of riding in the rain and lives near the beach.

One of the worst marketing decisions ever made was aluminium nipples. Why not save 5 grams of weight but at the same time make it impossible to true most wheels after they've been used for a few years and the nipples haven't been turned once per week?

I've noticed this on a couple of my wheels, so will be rebuilding another set from alu to brass in the near future. Meanwhile the brass and stainless spoke wheels from the 80s are still looking good.

[P!N20]

One of the worst marketing decisions ever made was aluminium nipples.

Amen, brother. Had to replace every aluminium nipple on a pair of wheels and most of them crumbled when I tried to unwind them.

In recent news, the braking performance of my front brake on my fixed gear commuter has been slowly degrading over the last few months. Was intending to replace it, but thought I should probably give it a clean and service before banishing it to the spare parts bin.

Of course that also meant replacing the cable and housing, which also meant replacing the bar tape.

Well what do you know? After a good clean and with new cables braking is back to normal. The perforated BBB bar tape went on without too much fuss and looks and feels great.

Worst part of all that? Removing the residue from the old Cinelli bar tape – nothing seemed to dissolve it, only manual labour consisting of a finger nail and green scrubby.