Cleaned it, first time for everything

I only bloody well rode the thing didn't I!!!

Needed to pick up some hinges (for a work project) so I got my paperwork in order and rode the 12km round trip into Chamonix and back in the glorious sunshine and on empty roads.

Aaaaahhh!!!

Felt like that scene in Shawshank where the cons all get to drink a beer on the roof and feel like free men for ten minutes

Lovely!

gairym wrote: ↑Mon Apr 06, 2020 4:26 pm I only bloody well rode the thing didn't I!!!

Needed to pick up some hinges (for a work project) so I got my paperwork in order and rode the 12km round trip into Chamonix and back in the glorious sunshine and on empty roads.

Aaaaahhh!!!

Felt like that scene in Shawshank where the cons all get to drink a beer on the roof and feel like free men for ten minutes

Lovely!

Well done Gairy... sounds like a nightmare*... the pprwrk , not the ride...

But renewing a passport for me is nightmarish too so maybe I'm overreacting... But well done for getting together your stuff (dont you love this cheery thumbs up chap)

Not mine but a neighbor is new to mountain biking and got a bargain 26er full suss carbon Trek. No idea what model but the bloke he bought it from weighed 20 stone so the forks and shock where set up for him. When David rode it the suspension barely moved so I set it up for him. Will need further tweaking on a ride though. Also adjusted the brake lever reach and the rear indexing which was out by one cog. Ordered some spokes for the rear wheel as a couple of them look very fragile. He's over the moon in the ride difference.

Cleaned it with a view to commute on it. I just can't convince myself to do so.

Not all that happy with the SRAM Level brakes that came on my Brother Cycles Big Bro, which as well as having overly short cables are just a bit on the spongey fadey side, I just fitted the Hopes Tech3/E4s from my full susser. It's not had a lot of attention in the past year - and won't be seeing much action for some time - so won't miss them.

Stripped the front fork and installed new seals, foam rings and renewed the oil. A much easier job than I imagined, I really ought to do it more often (first time I’ve touched them since fitting 18mts ago)

Really there’s nothing more maintenance wise left to do, the Brompton front hub could do with some love

Finally built the Flyxxi carbon I got from Al a couple of years ago. Got screwed on a set of CrossMax hoops...ended up with Splines...and even those came with XD body instead of Shimano...grrrr! Threw on some old Nano and Nineline tyres that were laying about. I've never had such a struggle...the last 6" of bead was a bugger to get on. But they inflate with a handpump and I doubt will ever roll off the rim.

Bloody heavy for a bike that's 80% carbon...the bouncy forks may have to go to slash another kilo off.

Greetz

S.

I tried to install some Jones SG 2.5 bars on my old hybrid, and then realised that the bars are too big for the stem. Fortunately my LBS (Twelve50 Bikes in Frodsham) are open and had a suitable stem in stock. When I got home and fitted the bars I then realised that the old cables were too short, so another call to the LBS and they supplied me with all new inners and pre cut outers. I fitted my old levers and shifters, with some experimental grips cut from the foam off my old butterfly bars.

One 14 mile spin out later along the River Weaver to Acton Bridge and back, with a good mix of road and easy off road, and I'm loving the bars. I lowered the angle of the bars a bit mid-ride and I think that I've found the sweet spot. I want to change the current combined right brake lever and shifter for separates, and when that's done I'll fit the ESI - XXL 8.25" Extra Chunky grips. When that's done I've got some tape for the top loop too. I'm also waiting for some fatter tyres, it was a bit of a bone shaker on the off road sections.

Carbon layback seat post fitted to the Arkose.

Pump holder thing fitted.

Wrapped the inboard bar ends on the KTM.

Following the n-1 rule I finally started building the second bike (now my first and only, erm, road bike). A worlds first (for me) on them new fancy front mechs in mechanical form so will look up the dealer manual a bit for the r7000 front mech.

Other than that everything seems to be going swimmingly. So, work in progress...

Ootini... your little man looks excited that he has plenty options t choose from when he becomes 5ft 10 (or whatever the going hieght is to ride them there lovely things)

I finally got a chance to use the new tools and took the chain off to give it a good clean. Instantly lost both sides of the quicklink and spent a while finding those. I then grabbed the chain whip and cassette tool to take the cassette off but no dice. Then I thought about the fact that I'm left handed and I'd automatically just transposed which tool was in which hand and I was trying to go the wrong way. The cassette came off pretty easily after I swapped I'd half expected the cassette to disintegrate into mass of cogs and spacers but only the top two cogs were separate and the rest was a solid lump. I gave the cassette and chain a good scrub before drying them all off and putting everything back together. The teeth on the cassette look quite worn but not sure how worn is too worn but the shifting still seems fine.

There's been a bit of clicking from the BB area on the Solaris on recent rides, especially when standing up, so I thought I'd give it its post winter clean.

Cranks off, BB out, clean, replace BB, swap 30T oval chainring for 32T oval (which meant finding the correct bolts because the 30T uses special ones), replace cranks.

Sat in the garden and trued both wheels and disks to the extreme, surprisingly I could tell the difference at speed.

BigdummySteve wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 5:43 pm Sat in the garden and trued both wheels and disks to the extreme, surprisingly I could tell the difference at speed.

How'd you manage to true discs tot he extreme please Steve... Just a matyer of using that tool and pinching a little at a time??I always assumed its a bit of a 'get by' job and needs a new disc to properly be spot on straight

RODE IT!!

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 6:22 pm

BigdummySteve wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 5:43 pm Sat in the garden and trued both wheels and disks to the extreme, surprisingly I could tell the difference at speed.

How'd you manage to true discs tot he extreme please Steve... Just a matyer of using that tool and pinching a little at a time??I always assumed its a bit of a 'get by' job and needs a new disc to properly be spot on straight

Well there is a tiny gap between the disk and pad, possibly .50mm if you get the light behind it you can then mark the high spot with a sharpie and tweek it back, I’d guess the total run out is now under.50mm you’d need a clock gauge and a lot of patience to get it any closer.

BigdummySteve wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 7:10 pm

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 6:22 pm

BigdummySteve wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 5:43 pm Sat in the garden and trued both wheels and disks to the extreme, surprisingly I could tell the difference at speed.

How'd you manage to true discs tot he extreme please Steve... Just a matyer of using that tool and pinching a little at a time??I always assumed its a bit of a 'get by' job and needs a new disc to properly be spot on straight

Well there is a tiny gap between the disk and pad, possibly .50mm if you get the light behind it you can then mark the high spot with a sharpie and tweek it back, I’d guess the total run out is now under.50mm you’d need a clock gauge and a lot of patience to get it any closer.

well done on that patience front

Cleaned them all within an inch of their lives, dragged out the fixie I threw together a few years ago then ignored and got it sorted, put the summer wheels on the straggler, did some tyre swapping, adjusted brakes and gears (only 3 out 7 have them mind), cleaned under the seats, re-taped the road bikes bars, spun the wheels and worked out which one spins the most out of all my bikes (pacer - ultegra hub)
Tomorrow I'm taking all the ball bearings out and polishing them.....

Not quite at that level yet but tweaked - ok bent- the fron disc on the commuter to stop it rubbing
My bikes have also never beeen this clean - and it will be dry and dusty out there

Mainly called it names for having a cracked rim. Mk3 arch, again. 2k km on it at best. Only just got another for the front too, which obviously is just build and not even rodden yet, but now cant be trusted. Buggeration.

Lots of broken Arch 3s out there now.

ScotRoutes wrote: ↑Thu Apr 23, 2020 7:52 am Lots of broken Arch 3s out there now.

There is it seems. Even if its replaced on warranty I'm not sure I'd trust it and head out into the hills proper with it, which is the biggest issue for me.

FLV wrote: ↑Thu Apr 23, 2020 8:48 am There is it seems. Even if its replaced on warranty I'm not sure I'd trust it and head out into the hills proper with it, which is the biggest issue for me.

There are quite a few that have done it but I've never heard of any wheel failures* because of it. Once it's spotted people stop using the rims rather than keep going to destruction so there's no data on how long it will last with the cracks.

I've no idea how long I was riding mine with the cracks, the bike hadn't had a proper clean and a close inspection for ages. In the winter, if I have washed it off it's too cold outside to be examining it and too dark in the shed.

Also, how many Stans arch rims are there in use worldwide? It may only be only a tiny percentage that fail? Hopefully the Mk4 will fix the issue, or they could just out the Ex back into production. My 650B Ex rims have had a harder life than the Mk3's without any issue.

But, if it's going to play on your mind then another brand of rim would be better.

* Obviously there will now be loads of stories of total and instant wheel failure in the middle of nowhere.

If talking about Stans Rims... Dont forget that it's not neccesarily the fault at the manufacturing end (not trying to stick up for Stan at all). Remember with these lighter rims the recommendation is to run the torque precisely and its lower than standard rims tolerances...

Hence you'd have to build with the torque meter thingy (I forgrt the name) to be absolutely certain that Stans is at fault...