New chain and chainring on the Jones (just shy of two years for a connex 808 before it started splitting rollers) and on with the placcy wheels and light tyres in my continuing spring-isation of my bike collection. Cue wettest Spring in living memory....

Still procrastinating over the brakes

ScotRoutes wrote: ↑Tue Mar 15, 2022 6:14 pm The front wheel on my Fatbike is now wobble-free after replacement bearings were fitted.

cryo genic Bike tech
have you now room in the freezer for oven chip?

ledburner wrote: ↑Tue Mar 15, 2022 8:23 pm

ScotRoutes wrote: ↑Tue Mar 15, 2022 6:14 pm The front wheel on my Fatbike is now wobble-free after replacement bearings were fitted.

cryo genic Bike tech
have you now room in the freezer for oven chip?

I use the same technique for other press-in things (like headsets) too. Just makes the job a wee bit easier.

Spearfish's got a brand new gear cable (with apologies to James Brown).

Camino now back on 650b/27.5 x 47mm, and fitted with very lovely Velo Orange seatpost which i've had for a while but not fitted.

Having bought Cath a new derailleur for her birthday a couple of months ago I finally got round to putting it on her bike So new gear cable as well.

I moved it out of the garage so that I could put several paint pots in the right spot and then moved it back again. Go me.

whitestone wrote: ↑Thu Apr 07, 2022 12:17 pm Having bought Cath a new derailleur for her birthday a couple of months ago I finally got round to putting it on her bike So new gear cable as well.

you spoil her

Trying to change the read pads, as they're totally toast. Can't get the bolt out, and it's starting to knacker.

Borrowed an impact driver from a friend in the village, but all that did was knackered the head of the retaining bolt even more. Faced with spunking £72 on a new caliper, I suddenly realised that my big drill might be worth a shot, so dug it out. Hammer action on, reverse drive engaged, it danced all over the place gouging the caliper body, but amazingly had the desired effect and the bolt released. It was so knackered that it took a further few minutes of careful un-screwing it get it all the way out, but out it came.





No wonder the rear brake wasn't doing anything...



I've run some new mineral oil through the system from top to bottom, and it's currently sitting there waiting for any bubbles to make their way up and out.



I've fitted new pads to the front, and will fit new ones to the rear in a few hours.

Boab wrote: ↑Wed Apr 20, 2022 6:15 pm I suddenly realised that my big drill might be worth a shot... , it danced all over the place gouging the caliper body, but , but out it came.

In the Automotive field, thats called Re-Styling (unscheduled).
its cost you a favour and not £72!

Finally fitted all the Garbaruk components I bought six / seven months ago. Given the cost of that dinner plate ring, I wasn't going to trash it riding it through the winter slop. Would've preferred to have had it all fitted at the start of the month, but a week before the WRT at least give me a chance for a couple of test rides. It's certainly better than fitting it all on Friday afternoon then driving to Wales, like I did before last years BB200, and we all know how that ended...



The shifting up into the big ring is fine, but it keeps wanting to shift back down, then changing it's mind and staying put. I've fiddled with all the adjustment screws, but I'm going to have to have another fiddle tomorrow.

Having given the Rooster it's annual half hearted wash, I thought I'd check the excessive travel in the rear brake lever.... turns out the pads were totally goosed, nearly down to the metal... new pads fitted and the lever travel it fine again ...who knew !?

Made it easier to get the bike in the car...
I made a raised floor in the boot. box of stuff has magically disappear under the floor. almost flat locating space. it only cost me for hinges & eye bolt to fix side rails in place to existing loop lugs. And it quiet when I drive .

When fiddling with the brakes last week, I noticed that the brake hose was knackered. Not sure what's happened here, maybe It got caught in the stem face plate or something, sure I would've noticed.


So a whole new hose has been fitted, new oil pumped into it, and it's currently sat there waiting on any bubbles slowly making their way up the hose.


Test ride tomorrow lunchtime to see if I have a working rear brake again...

Dug out my old fat bike front wheel, gave it a bit of a scrub. Then set it up tubeless, with some old Decathlon sealant, which promptly pished out of various holes. It seems to have sealed, so will check in the morning to see if its held the air and is thus usable...

I've just finished setting up the double mullet drivetrain on my gravel bike. It took me a week in the end due to various life things (work and family left me limited time to troubleshoot issues). I need tonperfect the index and remove a couple of chainlinks, which should eliminate most of the noise. But, it shifts into the gear it is supposed to, when it's supposed to, so I'm happy with that. I'll remove the chainlinks tonight, and have a friend who is much better with bike maintenance than I am popping around at the weekend. My experiment of "I have no idea what I'm doing" panned out well. Before this week, I had never replaced a gear cable or removed/replaced and indexed a derailleur from scratch, so quite pleased with myself.

rivers wrote: ↑Thu May 19, 2022 8:02 pm Before this week, I had never replaced a gear cable or removed/replaced and indexed a derailleur from scratch, so quite pleased with myself.

It's quite satisfying when you get it all shifting nicely...

Started bolting stuff to the Scandal...

Had a fettle with the rim brakes on my commuter this morning - not really needed it in two years and counting now. New pads and adjusting the cables seems to have done the trick but after two years of only using disk braked bikes I'm going to have to relearn when to brake.

Double post

Project Dog Bike Packing started today.

After buying the largest frame from Keep Peddling it still needed extending to fit over my 29er+ rear wheel.


Luckily the welders at work did it for me (for free )


Now with plenty of room


Shoot me now, Mr I hate pannier racks has fallen

I've ordered the same basket as Shona and Rich of Keep Peddling use for Olive their Border Terrier.

It's gonna be interesting

Single chainring crank bolts were supposed to arrive on Thursday, but are AWOL. So I broke out the big file and set to work on some double chainring bolts. Quite some faffing later, we have a working 8 speed drivetrain.


A few times up and down the High Street to check the indexing of the gears, heigh of the saddle, etc. Worrying, everything feels pretty spot on at the first time of asking...


Felt good to have a proper fat tyre out front again. Hopefully I'll get out tomorrow morning for a proper test ride around some local bridleways...

Did my rear to a Maxxis 650b 3 inch on last weeks ride at Chapel en le Frith. This morning have swapped the front too to a Chronicle (from Schwalbe Roclet Ron also in 3.0 inch flavour). Not sure I'll notice much difference but first impressions at just lookig at em seems like I'll have less grip but better for rolling resistance.

Hopefully get out for a ride this week.

Looks nice does that Fat front wheeled bike there Bob...

Faffed around trying to get to the bottom of a mysterious creaking noise on my fat bike. Saddle tightened, seatpost cleaned and regripper pasted and tightened, cassette tightened and bottom bracket checked and retightened. Hopefully it'll be gone now, we'll see though. Also fitted a Minnion FBF to the front in place of the Surly Edna that I've been running for a while.