Bolle safety glasses, agreed! Also agree about good gloves, but they’re called Mechanix, not Mechanics

Can anyone shed more light on the kitchen roll and the track pump approach to cleaning a bladder. I can imagine the idea but how to stop it getting blocked?

I use a straightened coat hanger and pea-sized wad of kitchen towel for camelbak hoses, btw. Made much easier by the realisation that the hose can be separated from the valve and bladder 🙂

Poundland puncture repair kit, never failed me.

Not available as a kit then with the ends and inners and whatnot?

Could do you a Clarks SP4 workshop set up if you like – we don’t normally sell this kind of thing but happy to get it for you if it helps you out:

30m reel of SP4 type outer
150 ferrules
500 cable end caps

£55 posted in the uk.

Ok no ones mentioned reasonably priced lights not those 200 pound piss takes!!

They all have cree leds don’t they!

Lidl Silicone spray – £3 – does the same job as other ‘fork’ sprays.

But then again I know someone who ran cooking oil in some of the previous gen XT brakes for about 3 weeks while touring across russia!

Hmm, I did it for two days in Scotland and ended up ditching the bike at about 25mph and thankfully sliding on my arse through wet ferns for a fair way.

The smell of the brakes was amazing though!

I’ll stick to LHM in future.

Best thread for ages. However, silicone spray for forks?

chestercopperpot – Member
Ok no ones mentioned reasonably priced lights not those 200 pound piss takes!!

They all have cree leds don’t they!
Mostly fairly likely not to explode on charge 🙂

molgrips – Not available as a kit then with the ends and inners and whatnot?

So all the convenience with none of the cost 🙂

30m reel of SP4 type outer
150 ferrules
500 cable end caps

These are easily available, buy in bulk for your savings.

Havent read through every post so this may have already been done, Everbuild or Soudal silicon sprays can be had for about £3 compared Fork Juice for around £8.

@benp1 -tapered/pointy airbed inlating adapter on end of trackpump, pump away. Moistened paper towel bit makes its own seal with the tube and the increasing air pressure shoots it out the other end in a most childish and amusing manner. Tighter the fit, the harder you have to pump and the more childish and amusing the result is. Forgot to say you need to take the hose off the bladder and fittings for this (but you might want to do this anyway to to get a good scrub in the corners if it was that mouldy.
Molgrips method posted just after you is undoubtedly easier of course.

Get thee to Toolstation for your sprays and lubes.
I use the silicone spray and brake cleaner which is around two thirds cheaper than bike Pacific stuff..

Decathlon ski base layers- £4 each – colours are a bit ‘vibrant’ but they are brilliant and better than the bike specific ones I have.

Dettol (the stuff your old school matron used to use) diluted right down to clean camel pack bags.

Freeze water bladders between uses so you never need to clear the inners.

Split bearing bushes instead of “Norglide” bushes for shock linkage pivots.

http://www.bearingboys.co.uk/?catid=1630&att1=&att2=&att3=&att4=Flanged

Off the shelf bearings for bottom brackets and frame pivots wherever possible.

2 pence O-ring out of my box of 500 whenever my “Out of Warranty” Reverb starts to lose air.

Fork oils and sprays I stick to manufacturers fluids and specific branded sprays. Forks cost waaaaay too much to get it wrong for the little cost of the branded fluids. That’s not to say that those above are incorrect and not identical.

Haven’t used them yet but I restocked on Clarks outer and inner cables 30m and a box of 100. At the cost vs Shimano there would need to be a rapid drop in performance to make up the difference.

I like split cables and I’m struggling to find decent sealed ends that don’t cost more than the cable and outer each.
Shimano SP40 can be had for 45-50p each.
Anybody got any other options that last better than unsealed ones?

@molgrips and @julianwilson

Unfortunately my Camelbak is pretty old and there’s no way of taking off the hose (well actually there’s no way of putting it back on again, its a one way street)

The need to keep drying it out (given how rarely I actually use it) basically stops me from using it

My freezer is already full of other stuff (including some fold up type plastic bottles)

Get thee to Toolstation for your sprays and lubes.

Nice tip 🙂

Asda’s own brand penetrating oil, “Multi-spray” is a great cheap alternative to GT85/WD40

Only way I got my camelbak hose off the bladder was to cut it off. Was the type with the PE inner layer that had all detached and rucked up at the bitevalve end, probably due to cleaning with the hose brush thing.

Unfortunately my Camelbak is pretty old and there’s no way of taking off the hose (well actually there’s no way of putting it back on again, its a one way street)

You sure? Mine are all old, and whilst it’s difficult to remove the first time it does come off. It’s just a press fit.

uphillcursing – Member

Best thread for ages. However, silicone spray for forks?

IIRC Fork Juice is a glazier’s product… Normal silicon spray is fine mind but fork juice etc are usually thicker.

Normal silicon spray cleaned the grease off my Marzocchi seals resulting in lots of stiction.. Fork juice does not do this.

Nail brushes. Sold in packs of four in our local £1 shop. Apply a drop of your chosen budget cleaner and sandwich your chain between two nailbrushes, spin the pedals back a few times while gripping the brushes together. Hey presto – sparkly clean chain.

People struggling to pull their hose off (steady!) run it under a hot tap for a few minutes, the hose expands more and goes softer, much easier to get it off.

To refit leak free, cut the expanded end off (1″ or so) run under hot tap, refit.

To remove and clean bit valve, soak in a cup of hot water first, will come off easy without stretching.

To clean tube, tie an elastic band in a knot round a gear cable and pull it through.

Cheap warm winter gloves – Skytec Argons (insulated builders gloves) for about £6.

Oh and for summer, dewalt fire mirror router specs.

About £8

them decathlon ski base layers are alright for uplifts n’that but awful on a hot and sweaty pedaller. itchy hell.

DezB – Member

Get thee to Toolstation for your sprays and lubes.

Nice tip

Asda’s own brand penetrating oil, “Multi-spray” is a great cheap alternative to GT85/WD40

Or stop the guy in the Autosmart van(shop on wheels)
For Brake cleaner, oils ,lubes etc Their G101 is an excellent non-caustic degreaser .
AutoSmart

To clean my chain I use Tetrion White spirits 2lts for less than £3 at screw fix. brush on with a cheap Antagen Dish pan/pot cleaning brush 25p or use in a chain cleaning tool.

Also got same brushes for cleaning bike.

Problem with white spirit for cleaning is that you have to dispose of it nicely. You shouldn’t do the cleaning on the patio and let it go all over, like I used to.

On the Clarks outer cables mentioned a bit earlier – I found that the outers were poor. The rubber/plastic coating on the outer shrunk by 3-4mm each end, steadily buggering up the shifting as the exposed cable weave squashed under load…

+1 for Helly Hansen LIFA tops, have had mine for nearly 10 years and it’s still good and wear it most days on the commute. Amazingly durable.

M&S long lambswool socks for winter, toasty warm even when wet and you can wear them to work after

I have almost tried the hot water thing, but figured its a lot of hassle to just dry it out (I rarely bother to clean it, just rinse as I only put water in it)

One day I’ll probably do it. The new ones have easy on and off hoses

Bike bottles work for me (at the moment)

Another +1 for Helly Hansen. I have a couple of long sleeve LIFA warm tops that I have worn in rotation for a few years of winter commuting, plus my winter night rides. Spot on and going strong.

Plus, they seem to regularly get price dropped on Amazon to about £8 each. Bargain.

BMX helmets are fine for snowboarding with a buff

An old ski or snowboard jacket makes a nice breathable winter riding jacket.

Silkolene RG2 grease isn’t strictly non-bike but it’s what most fork and hub makers user and a big pot will last for ages.

A stiff nylon brush for getting the worst of the mud off camelbaks/shorts/body armor.

An old fashioned foot pump is just as fast as a track pump and stashes in the car more easily.

Problem with white spirit for cleaning is that you have to dispose of it nicely

Use it to light bonfires

I can’t help but think that the whol silicon, juice or whatever fork spray thing, is just daft and another nicely marketed tin of stuff to sell us. Most seals don’t like stuff like this in the long run. If we are on the subject of cheap, a drop of fork oil onto the fork seal after cleaning your bike , allowed to circulate the seal, then cycle the for a couple of times, will lube the stanchion and clean the seal, probably better for the seal too. Don’t seem to suffer with stiction or worn forks.

B&Q protective glasses @ £5 three colours.
Poundland combinations locks..eerm £1
Local nut and bolt shop, hex head bolts by the hundred for pennies.
Local bearing shop for BB30 or linkage stuff, £5 at the most, usually less.
Oil whatever is about the right thickness, preferably on the shelf in my garage.
Grease big tin of LM handed down three generations.
Brake Pads Wiggle lifeline
Lights Wiggle Lifeline
Buffs TKMaxx
Baselayers TKMaxx for random merino or M&S who do great stuf for a tenner.
Tyre boots, milk bottle cut outs.
Bum cream, Palmers Butter
SPDsl cleats, wiggle lifeline (last much longer)

you can blow the savings on cake and petrol.

SportsDirect for cheap hydration bladders, Karrimor from £9 or Gelert for just £3!

I use chainsaw oil on my ss mtb and ss commuter in winter. It just about lasts the ride. Risk of serious crud buildup in summer though. I thin it back a touch with white spirit allowing me to put a bit less on.

Poundland combinations locks..eerm £1

Absolutely no way I would lock a £1.5k of bike up with a £1 lock!

An old fashioned foot pump is just as fast as a track pump and stashes in the car more easily.

Do they come with presta heads?