I’m swapping some Hope hubbed wheels over from QR to thru-axle and decided to take the opportunity to service the freehub.

The whole thing can be taken apart by hand and comes out with a satisfying pop. Although the internals were in a decent state I took out the springs and pawls, cleaned the whole thing spotless and regreased it.

Popped it back together and it’s lovely and smooth and clean – although it’s still clicky because it’s Hope.

No idea how long it took, just a simple but totally absorbing, tactile task that reminded me that time spent with bikes can be good for the mind and body even if you’re not riding them.

Anyone else have a therapeutic spannering experience to share? This is a safe space.

I changed the brakes and all cables on my winter road bike. It didn’t take long but it was a really enjoyable task. I’d not thought of it as a mindfulness activity but I find it very calming.

Spannering is always therapeutic when (a) there is no time pressure, and (b) it goes well. If not well that’s when the swear words come out.

Finally got my Marzocchi 66s working perfectly after 12 years of ownership.  The actual job wasn’t particularly special but the sense of relief having excised that nagging issue from my brain is brilliant.

Wheel building in silence.

Wheel building is very therapeutic, especially with a bottle of wine (PS were running true).  I quite often do preventative maintenance – decided to re grease the cartridge bearings on my through axel hubs, not had any like that before, but they are so easy to work on – most difficult thing was getting the caps off – don’t use the rock shox cheese through axel – I used an old pedal axel to pop them off.

Oh, and a regular re-grease of the GXP BB and Sram Jockey wheels.

Serviced and oil changed my X-fusion Hilo SL (dropper) a few times to make sure I was happy with the job – not touched it in months now.

I love tinkering and maintenance, I’ve even been known to refurb sealed bearings just for the hell of it and feel the satisfaction with no intention of using them but I may have to stop if it’s a “mindfulness” activity.

Nothing seems safe anymore …  you find a nice relaxing activity and BAM… someone is lining it to mindfulness.

I’m so upset I’m going to have to go off and strip and rebuild something before my blood boils over.

Yep. Currently invisiframing a new bike. Into day three (still waiting on parts, so no rush). Couple of pieces a night. It’s very satisfying.

The new forks will be cut to size with the csu off the fork so that swarf can be cleaned off and oil levels checked. Might as well do a proper job.

Same as the op but with a Chris King hub I’ve been riding for 13 years, find it highly cathartic stripping it down for a clean and regrease job and then the satisfaction of that smooth feel and buzzy sound on a quick spin round the block.

@stevextc just do that refurb being fully in the  present moment and it’ll do wonders for your blood temperature.

I know mindfulness is a thing right now and there’s a lot of bollocks around about it but there is a lot to be said for just doing one thing at a time and being involved in only that.

As for other jobs – I’d agree about helitaping / invisiframing. The only way to do that is to have all the things you need to hand plus time and patience. Wheelbuilding sounds like the ultimate though, I keep meaning to try it but have never made the time.

Wheel building or, more specifically, tensioning and truing.

Nothing but the quiet sound of an occasionally spinning wheel to keep you company into the small hours while you grind your teeth, determined to get that last 0.1mm of imperfection out of the rim… 🙂

What truing rigs are you guys using ?

I’m thinking 142×12 and 15mm more than  just QR.