I rather enjoy a fettle, but will draw the line at forks and wheels as I'm out my comfort zone. Plus I've only got one bike, a hardtail, so it's a relatively easy experience in most cases.
When it goes well = fun. When it goes wrong it pisses me right off!
^^^^ This absolutely!
At present it all seems to be going wrong and stressing me right out; when it does work out as planned I really enjoy it.
I had a nightmare session yesterday just changing brake pads; the front change went just as expected (5 minute job) but on the rear the pads were too close to allow the rotor back in(after much cursing and considerable time I finally decided that somehow I'd managed to end up with too much fluid in the system and managed to force a bleed block in do a quick top down bleed and everything worked).
I don't mind it... But it always takes longer than expected (aka I never learn) and I usually start at about 11:00pm the night before a trip so end up doing it in the wee hours with tools and crap all over the floor (I use the hall). I have an irrational distrust of sealed bearing hubs so spend quite a lot of time regreasing and adjusting cup and cone bearings. I also have an irrational fear of rohloff cable replacement - even though it usually goes very well.
I love it, almost as good as riding bikes. Just need some loud music and a decent place to work. The added bonus is free beer from fixing other people's bikes..
I have just replaced the bearings in a set of shimano m520 pedals. Never done it before and it was so easy, a very enjoyable experience. Cost of bearings and tool was £7 so saved a fortune on a new set and now know how to do my other sets.
So tonight it's really getting my goat. Trying to get an XD cassette off the freehub and failed so far... Fitted with antiseize, torqued correctly and still the stubborn bastard won't shift....
Now soaking in the Muc Off equivalent of GT85.
Mostly I love it. I've been known to snatch colleague's old wrecks from them, take them home and tune them up. "Ah mate, this is a proper pre-Halfords Tufftrak, what a classic!" And the demise of the front mech's made my personal spannering much more fun 😆
I mean, I won't lie, I'm good at it and that's where most of the satisfaction is- a job well done, tidily and first time. But bike spannering's also fairly clean, never very heavy, generally not very rusty, or for that matter done lying on your back under your back getting crap in your eyes. I like any sort of mechanicking but bikes are really nice to work on.
Now soaking in the Muc Off equivalent of GT85.
Plusgas FWIW. Do the job properly.
I've come to the conclusion that I prefer to work on my bikes than to ride them. Especially in the winter. The few things I'd like to learn is wheel building and to do fork servicing. I need to buy a brake bleeding kit and have a go. But my Hope brakes have only required one bleed each in 8-9 years of use.
Like most, it's mixture of "Hmm" and "aaagh!". A lot is down to familiarity and having the right (or suitable) tools. Once you get the sequence worked out then it's all plain sailing, until then it's all a bit "how the hell ..." The hardest thing I find doing is indexing gears. Not serviced a set of forks yet.
Before the HT550, before the JennRide actually, I completely stripped down the bike to frame and forks and re-built it replacing what parts were needed.
Plusgas FWIW. Do the job properly.
Thought I had some. Seem to have mislaid it in the house move. Hence the MO96 or whatever it is. Luckily it worked, that and a tap all around the 42 sprocket in the direction of the hub flange. Loosened straightaway. Win! 😀
PPC mag did a penetrating oil test and GT85 performed almost identically to plusgas, I was surprised but nobody knows more about getting shitty bolts out of 40 year old shitty cars than them
Thoroughly enjoy it. It's very rare it's anything less than a great pleasure
Northwind.
I'm surprised at that. I've used all sorts at work and Plusgas works where others have failed. On the bike and car I make sure everything is lubed with appropriate goop so the use of fluids to get parts apart has become a very occasional pastime.
Its not enjoyable but it can be very satisfying, especially when you've got the bike set up just perfect and you don't really need to carry that multi-tool on the ride.
Cue annoyingly simple to fix "if only i had my multi-tool" problem, in the middle of nowhere (in a thunderstorm)
Late on a cold, wet winter night, when all you want us a shower and a cuppa...but a bike caked gritty,muddy paste that consumes all moving parts. It fast loses it appeal,
More enjoyable than the riding, half the time 😉
Seriously though, seeing the kids running around on bikes that you built for them is a great satisfaction and knowing that there won't be another one quite like theirs out on the trail, brings them a real sense of pride to their steed.
The more you do it, the better you get and the less things phase you. So when I split a rim two days before holiday, replacing it was no more than a minor inconvenience and a couple of hours in the garage. Same with fork and shock rebuilds - get your hands dirty and you'll soon realise than you can do a better job yourself than any bike shop! (Mostly because they won't spend a whole evening getting that wheel absolutely perfectly tensioned!)
I mean, I won't lie, I'm good at it
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🙂
Not one person able to explain the direct mount front mech fixing then?! Stupid bloody Sram.
That was the old me, JCA, I had to kill him
I mostly enjoy it.
I don't enjoy:
Changing 11 pivot bearings in the Jeffsy. 11. I mean, 11. WTF. Great bike when they are all done though.
Searching for a ticking/clicking/creaking noise.... Genuinely being over the moon when you find it after ripping the bike to bits practically.... Only to ride down the road to hear it again.
That is soul destroying!
Other than that, yes,I actually do enjoy bike maintenance. 🙂
Oh,I forgot! Bleeding Guides... Never look forward to doing that.
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That picture always cheers me up when I see it! 😀
Truly sums up the human condition! 😆
Time is limited and as much as I hate spending money being a Yorkshireman, some jobs aren't worth the hassle when I can be riding, I have friends who fettle more than they ride .
And even when their bike is immaculate they still want to change tyres and peddles for the weather based on a thumb in the breeze and look at the skies
3 hours faff and 1 hour ride plus an hour round trip drive to ride with Mates
or
out for 2 hours local a hose down and oil, shower and I'm done in 2hr45 hence I ride alone alot
I love working on bikes. Used to do it for a living and so got taught well by an old hand. Having a nice workshop to do your fettling in makes it so much more pleasant that trying to work in the kitchen/outside when the weather is so nice you should be riding. I've just converted a shipping container to use as a workshop which is actually very nice to work in.
It depends, if it's planned maintenance on the MTB then happy days doing it in the garden when the sun's out and a beer in hand. However if I'm having to fix a hub endcap that keeps coming lose on the commuter after cycling have home on it in the rain and having to stop every 15 minutes to tighten it up, then finding out that a gorilla without a torque wrench put the cassette lock ring on I'm less inclined to enjoy it. Especially if I've got home late and have to be out again on said bike at 6:30 the next morning.
But generally I enjoy a bit of fettling.
Oh,I forgot! Bleeding Guides... Never look forward to doing that.
Really? I have the older ones and have found them pretty easy to bleed.
I just managed to shorten a brake hose without needing to re-bleed. Truly the gods are with me today. 🙂
Yes, I know it's a piece of piss but I always seem to cock it up one way or another.
Never have I known time go so quickly as when I can't get something fixed / set up on a bike.
Satisfying when learning something new but ****ing infuriating when it just ain't happening.
used to enjoy it more when i had more time.
shame as i have a much nicer workspace now.
I cleaned the chain on my (fixed wheel) commuter last weekend; i'm not convinced that it had been done since the chain was replaced in 2013.
bike rides so much eaier that i need to put a bigger gear on 😳
So since my last post I have: -
- Finished the drivetrain install I had in progress
- Bled another set of brakes
- Installed a dropper post for a mate
- Bled yet another set of brakes for another mate
- Replaced gear cables & related adjustment and suspension set up for mate #3
- Completed another drivetrain install
- Serviced a pair of pedals
Busy week or so on the tools. I've enjoyed it because it all went smoothly - but I'm glad it's done!
I just managed to shorten a brake hose without needing to re-bleed. Truly the gods are with me today.
Balance has now been restored with some horrible rim tape/tubeless failures over the past few days. Riding with a tube in feels awful!
Balance has now been restored with some horrible rim tape/tubeless failures over the past few days. Riding with a tube in feels awful!
#prayingforatroubledbrother 😉
Being a vehicle tech by trade I enjoy it 🙂
Normally enjoy it as long as it's something I can do, last "quick fix" though was a total disaster...
Gears jumping on my Remedy, new cable inners and outers fixed it. Had also bought a new chain, may as well throw that on too. Measured against the old one and put it on, the wrong side of the tab on the bottom of the derailleur (oops), never mind whip off at the quick link - eh naw, quick on maybe but this thing wouldn't move 🙁 Broke the chain, re-routed and put it back on. Test ride the chain breaks. Take a couple of links out and add in the same length from the spare part. Test ride up and down the street goes well, turn into my drive the chain snaps again somehow trashing an XTR rear mech (it has had years of service on the old spare 26er but still). Bike is still sitting in the corner of the garage with no chain or mech.
i spend 48hrs a week with spanners in hand repairing hgv s , so I tend not to do any maintenance bike or car unless its got to the point where something serious is about to go wrong, the only reason I don't put either into the shop is I hate to think of wasting money on something a couple of hrs in the garage could sort out ,plus at the end there is still that little bit of pride in putting things right(especially if its one of those niggly jobs )
I can't remember the last serious 'mechanical' I've had whilst riding but those of my mates who don't DIY often have problems - sometimes catastrophic - that mean ride abandonment.
I enjoy all bike fettling/shed time, and same as dovebiker^^,I like my bikes to be ready to go, with the peace of mind that I am not going to get ambushed my a major mechanical during a ride. I don't race now,but when I did I was meticulous about having bikes 'race ready' well in advance. Same goes for cleaning, more chance of spotting things that could become potential problems later.
I must say I am one of those who enjoy fettling as much as riding. For me, it's all part of the experience. I learnt over the years that one of the reasons of having an n+1 fleet is that if I am working on my bike and get stuck, I always have the luxury of walking away and ride the other bike instead. A job that I get stuck on usually takes 2 mins after walking away and coming back another day.
Having to get something finished on a deadline is OK at work. It's simply no fun if it is part of a hobby. The only thing that I need to be disciplined with is not to work on 2 bikes at the same time, otherwise, I will have a garage full of bikes that don't work.
So currently stripping all the good bits of my old 26" frame for my new build and sticking all the old bits back on the 26" bike for my son. Yesterday in my rush I managed to put the old chain back on the wrong way round on the old bike, then on the new bike I was paying so much attention not to repeat my error with the chain I forgot to put the front deraileur on ffs. I only had 3 chain pins so now need more to put the chain on. Next I was changing the rear hose...all going well, the wee silver pin was a sod to get in but I got there.......ah ffs, I never shortened the hose first....
Despite all that and brake fluid everywhere I felt good when the job was eventually done.
i like the idea of it and as others have said when doing easy stuff (that goes well) like sorting out brake disk rub buy centring the calliper it's very rewarding. I would really like to learn more then just the basics.
Having said that earlier this week i managed to scratch the paint on a brand new (to me) second hand bronson while trying to take the peddles off while it was in my stand.
Not usually arsed about chips and scrapes but i was really pissed off with myself and ended up lobbing my bike stand across the garden 🙁
I enjoy a good fettle. What really annoys me is when you do the same thing, the same way twice and end up with completely different results. Case in point: XT brake bleed on the rear produces amazing feeling brake. Exactly the same process on the front produces the most spongy feeling lever in the world.
The irritating jobs which started this thread off, were certainly worth the stress. Bikes working faultlessly now
Been putting off a v-brake pad replacement on a retro machine. Not done that for years... scared.
.. i managed to scratch the paint on a brand new (to me) second hand bronson while trying to take the peddles off while it was in my stand.
After ****ting my knuckles many times removing pedals, I do it the same way as in this gmbn video. Stand over the bike with the rear wheels between your legs, saddle dropped...pedals loosen to the back, tighten to the front. Don't even need a bike stand 😀
Don't need to do much as a rider of a brakeless fixed gear other than wash the mud off and shouldn't really need to be doing that in August but still seems muddy in places.
Once a week degrease/wash chain, relube - done.
Once a year put on new chain.
Brakeless fixie? 😯
^^^ wonder how a velodrome bike gets dirty and needs chain washed and relubed... 😯
It is ridden about 80% on gravel/off road so gets muddy and dusty but even so the maintenance can't be more than 10 minutes a week so while not enjoyable is not exactly a chore.
And as I am currently running flat bars and 58 inch gear I may get lapped a few times riding it on a velodrome. It is not a fast bike....
