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 twatting 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….

……. and for the 20% of the time it’s not on gravel/off road it’s on the road ? Without a front brake ?

Don’t need to do much as a rider of a brakeless fixed gear

Can we let you know that a brakeless fixie is illegal on the road (even on Shoreditch) so that you can’t then claim ignorance of the law if you hit and injure/kill someone…

I’m not a huge fan of bike maintenance but I really enjoy building and upgrading bikes. Had a very enjoyable day on Saturday rebuilding one of my TT bikes – for once didn’t even have any issues threading the internal cable routing on the bars or frame.

Blimey, forgot how easy v-brakes were!

It’s part of the appeal of cycling to me. A simple bicycle is such an elegant machine. I love building up a new bike or an existing one after a strip down.

There are however a few things necessary to make it enjoyable:
A decent bike stand is a must
As are the correct tools
And enough space to work
And a little time, unhindered
And perhaps a nice bottle of beer or two

That’s the basis for a satisfying evening of work

However the internal cable routing of my son’s Five is the devil’s work

I spent 30 years wielding spanners (and grinders, welding torches etc) for a job – now I’d rather have a bike that does not need tlc after every ride, so its outside cables for me, an externally routed dropper, threaded BB, 2×10 XT all over and two stroke oil on the chain in the winter.

an externally routed dropper

Broken a couple of cables off external droppers, so would consider this a net-negative for maintenance, I’m afraid.

…… and for the 20% of the time it’s not on gravel/off road it’s on the road ? Without a front brake ?

Sure is. On roads with no pavements and no pedestrians, no roundabouts, no traffic lights or crossings and very few junctions (I can do a 20 mile loop on road and only have to stop for 4 junctions)

Anyway, still very low maintenance leaving more time for skids….

In recognition of your post on the other tinkering thread DezB…

this should get you up to 100.

101.

I was once the subject matter for a Scandi-Noir missing person walks back into town after 5 months type drama.
I’d been fitting full length guards.

😀

I’ve bought a cutting guide for fitting forks now cos I always cut them crooked and have to file for half an hour afterwards. I was only a fiver.

I love doing jobs on the bike. I’d be fiddling all the time if I could.
Unfortunately I’m living at my mum’s and there’s no room to do any maintenance so my bike is not feeling loved.
Can’t wait to get in the new garage and have a full strip-down/clean/grease etc 🙂

Here’s a classic – last night we put new stickers on my son’s Fox forks. We look at them unstuck and I say “That’s the right way round yeah?”. The boy agrees. We peel, we stick. We look. Oh yea, wrong way round!! 🙁 Everytime, if there’s something that can go the wrong way round, I’ll do it.
Can’t get the stickers off, so had to order a new set!

After the relative joy of fitting a couple of external droppers at the weekend, I’m a fan. Even the tiny amount of internal routing on the Rocket when I had it (gear cable, through the seat stay- why? What possible benefit is there? Tidy can **** off, I want easy) did my head in. Get in the **** sea with your internal routing.

The chain gets a waft of two stroke oil and a wipe down every so often and I tend not to clean my bike so the BB rarely needs looking at, same with the brakes. I’ll replace pads as and when but the pads tend not to get contaminated because I don’t wash the bike or spray it with anything.

You need to get some cable sleeve for internal cable routing…

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/291815722816

Just push sleeve over the old cable from the mech end.
Remove old cable.
Thread new cable through sleeve.
Remove sleeve.

Also means you can thread the internal cabling from whichever end is easier if there isn’t a cable in place

I love it. I always have. To me the best thing is something totally new and quite complicated that I can screw my head into for a couple of hours. I just loose myself when that happens. I can’t believe I’ve been doing it for a job for nearly 5 years now. I can’t imagine how I used to sit inside behind a computer all day. How the hell did I manage that…? It’s like a different life now.
Yep, sometimes it can drive me up the wall, but the more you do, the more you CAN do. It’s a constant learning process and I love that because it keeps me fresh. One day last week I had the workshop to myself and a Yamaha motored ebike in bits all over the place, I was a happy as a pig in poo! 🙂

Two observations from me –
If it’s going wrong, walk away from it for an hour or a day. Don’t get mad as you’ll start doing something stupid.
If you have a sticky problem, flip it on it’s head. Turn it round. Do the opposite. Something like that. Don’t keep doing the same thing that’s not working over and over again.

I actively seek tricky jobs to do sometimes, I don’t know why?

The Tricky jobs always seem to go better than the mundane ones

i enjoy it, i look forward to a new task ive got lined up, but it inevitably takes miles longer than it should or its a colossal phuckup and i decide to never fettle again – much like boozing