Landscaping my garden before posting a photo of said bike on here.

Coyote…we need to swap some brain waves… 🙂

Finding a creak.

Bashing a push fit BB out.

Roadie bar tape, not difficult in itself but my OCD gets in the way by insisting the wraps should be equal in size and angle.

timmys…Forgot about that one.
Destroyed the one on my spicy getting it out.Even with the correct parktool.

Poxy rear derailleur set up. Always one gear wrong 👿

Adjusting front derailleurs, bleeding brakes and taking off my dual ply high roller, it’s snapped at least 2 tyre levers.

Avid hydraulic brakes (anything whatsoever to do with any of them – one of the worst bike products avalable IMO)

Anything to do with Tubs – horrible and pointless
old skool post mount cantilever brakes

as a bike shop mech, not a lot phases me. Avid can FRO though

Putting the little brass thing into the end of hydraulic hoses once you’ve shortened them…
Ann I missing something, out is this the toughest job on the planet!

DrP

Removing / fitting DH tyres – they’ve all been hateful in my experience. Especially on a cold wet day after a flat……

I always have issues bleeding Hayes brakes – looks so easy in the instructions, but never feels quite right.

I like stripping forks, but hate the mess. Everything else is OK.

I hated bleeding brakes, then I bought BB7s and never looked back.

For me it’s adjusting a headset when fitting/refitting forks. Too lose, turn the nut a smudge, too tight, loosen off a bit less than a smudge, too loose, tighten a smidgen, too loose, etc etc…

Cup and cone bearings. I can’t do them because I hate them. I hate them because I can’t do them. I actively seek to rid every bike I have of them, despite endless “They’re easy” comments.

Setting up cheap and nasty V-brakes was an old treat when I worked in a shop. (Thankfully, I only assembled bikes, otherwise I would have had to work with cup and cone bearings!)

And “needs bled” is perfectly grammatical (Kaschak and Glenberg, 2004). It’s just conforms to a different grammar, common in central Scotland and the American Mid-West. 😀

And “needs bled” is perfectly grammatical (Kaschak and Glenberg, 2004). It’s just conforms to a different grammar, common in central Scotland and the American Mid-West.

Thanks for that! I wasn’t convinced I was wrong. I started to check then lost the will to live and gave up.

Front mechs. Hate working on them, hate it.
Mud guards are a nightmare as well.
DH tyres are always horrible to fit.

Finding the no doubt small but vital part that went “ping” onto the garage floor and seems to have become invisible……..

Truing wheels & cup & cone hub bearings. Just thinking about doing these things makes my blood pressure rise…

I can’t/don’t fettle inside so it’s mainly in the garage or on the drive so …
if the weather is nice and the sun is shining and I have a cup of decent coffee and some decent music on and all afternoon to fettle then it’s all good.

If it’s wet/cold etc and I’ve little time then it’s all bad.

This year the plan is to clear out the garage and turn it into a bike fettling heaven and nice place to be.

cleaning dog poo off the tyre

Changing pivot bearings using random assortments of sockets, threaded bar, nuts and a hammer……….until I bought the proper tool.

Now it’s a joy. 😀

Giving you bike a thorough clean only to find the next day that upon drying completely there’s still a thin layer of mud left.

Something I’ll never have to do again: rebuild on a hayes 9 master cylinder. Fiddliest circlip EVER.

More generally, cleaning the drivetrain on a commuter bike. So I got a singlespeed and just replace the chain every year or two.

All of ’em.

I HATE fettling.

But my particular non-favourite fettling fenomenon is the stuck, rounded or sheared bolt that turns a two-minute task into a two hour orgy of swear-words and head-banging frustration, followed by an admission of defeat and another shame-faced trip to the bike shop.

rebuild on a hayes 9 master cylinder. Fiddliest circlip EVER

amen to that!

peeling a squashed bat of my head tube

Cup and cone bearings
front mech fettling

works of the devil!

Stupid tho it sounds getting the handlebars straight – It drives me crackers

Cleaning off dog shit! staple everyone of their arses shut so I would!!!

Indexing gears. I’ve wasted too much of my life fiddling with the rear mech only to make it worse than when I started, although to be fair having some Gore Ride-Ons makes it a less frequent and less horrific task.

I’m glad TJ said it ! me too 😳

Yep apart from cleaning bits of dog egg off I can’t think of anything I hate about bike fettling, some jobs are less satisfying but the end result usually brings a smile to my face.

peeling a squashed bat of my head tube

How the heck? Rather you than me!

+1 for cleaning dogshit. Judging by how hard it is to persuade the stuff to let go of my tyres and frame (and once, pedals too), they ought to use it to glue the wings onto airliners.

It’s also responsible for turning me from a dog person to a cat person.

Anything that involves fork removal without a proper workstand!

Wow I am feeling luckly then as I like all bike mainenance, maybe thats why I have setup a shop, it’s only been going 6 months so I have plenty of time to start hating it. I think it’s more the way I work that keeps the stress out. I do not rush jobs just working through them methodically while listening to Radio4. I think Radio 4 helps alot.

I have been luckly so in that only one bike in the last 6 months has had dog shit on it.

I actually enjoy most fettling, so long as its nice out.

Front mechs never fail to amaze me though. They are clearly total shite and a total PITA to set up (even when you know how!) but we perservere with them anyway. And it doesn’t matter whether they are cheap or not XT front mechs are just slightly lighter shite than Deore or Alivio

Gearbox rebuilds on motorised and non motorised bikes and any electrial stuff 👿

allen key pedal removal,f..k them.

oh and marathon plusses on 20″ rims.
and loose ball headsets,really loose ball,not the modern stuff.30yo ones.always find a bb on the floor.
chainguides can be annoying,fit,measure,remove,fit measure,remove,fit..file,measure.remove,fit..
honjo fenders.
brompton cable length,if you’re swapping hbars.
favourite?building wheels.

kona main pivot bearings the devils work

Taking pedals off – usually with taking skin off at the same time, when they finally give in!

Fitting mudguards, avid brakes, and trying to get the trim just right on road bike front mechs.