Tales From The Workshop (Embarrassing mistakes edition)

Two jobs to do…

1) Fit new brakes

2) 200h fork service

Decided I’d mount the new caliper on the frame to get it out the way, service the fork, then stick everything back together and finalise the brakes install. Everything was going beautifully till I came to the damper service. I carefully drained the oil from the fork leg into my perfectly placed catch tray, and pulled on the rebound damper shaft as instructed to remove it from the leg.

At which point, the remaining oil under the damper shot out of the top of the leg, across the garage and liberally covered the back of the carefully set aside frame. Because I didn’t check the damper was all the way out when I drained the oil.

And of course, I hadn’t removed the new pads from the new caliper, had I?

I sweated like a trooper last week stretching a cushcore and downhill tyre on. Went to pump it up and found I’d forgotten to fit a valve! Turns out it’s even harder to get a Cushcore’d tyre off than it is on.

I have a million of these.  Mixing Ilb/ft with nm and then buggering up threads on forks, all the way to rebuilding a Lancia twin-cam engine and forgetting to torque up a oil pump drive, then re-fitting the engine. Later that night in bed I had realised what I had done.  Early start, out it all came again and did it right this time…

 Turns out it’s even harder to get a Cushcore’d tyre off than it is on.

+1 I had a nitemare trying to get fit a cushcore and not damage the rim tape on a Hope wheel. I tried for 8+ times , and had a shop fit it, before I damaged the bead on my month old tyre…. new tyre please. I can attest that the cushcore Bead dropper and bead bro are very useful tools, as I ended up buying both during my attempts to get the tyre/cushcore on/off.

Trying to much about work a bargain dropper I got in the CRC fire sale so my son could use it on his bike. Worked out how to shim it right down, had the cartridge out. Realised the pin had dropped out of the shaft between house and garage. It was dark, no chance of finding it now.’fine’ I thought, I’ll just pop a spoke down there to activate so I can test.

1 punctured cartridge, oil all over me and my favourite hoody. And I still haven’t found a cartridge that will fit. Yay me

Replaced the brake pads on my commuter bike last night. It’s got these really low rent Power, (brand) brakes and I can’t 100% confirm what pads they need. Got some apparently compatible Shimano ones. Was a bit surprised how little the pistons had advanced for such worn pads and as a consequence have ridden to word today with the front one binding. >:-(

I reckon the OEM pads must have thinner friction material than proper Shimano compatible ones. Not got the tools to push the pistons back further, (not sure it’s even possible) or file the paint off the back of the pads with me so I’m going to have to ride home the same way.

@tthew A few more commutes and you will have worn enough material away that it wont be an issue 😀

Tyre lever could be used to prise the pistons wider…just try to make the wiggling even.

Spent 2.5 hrs last night failing to remove a lower headset bearing.

More accurately, I removed 90% of it, but it fell apart on removal and left the outer shell welded to the head tube.

Job that should have taken 20mins, is now 150mins in, with no immediate end in sight 🙁

Forgot to replace an oil filler cap and destroyed my mates Toyota Corolla. Probably did him a favour, really…

Didn’t take the front wheel and pads out of my front caliper when I bled the rear brake at the lever. I now know why a spillage didn’t appear on the garage floor

Forgetting to empty the air out of a reverb when servicing it. That was fun.

First ever time I bled sram brakes I diligently followed a YouTube tutorial. Spent about 60mins trying to work out why it wasn’t working before realising the tutorial was American  and I had connected syringes to the front lever and rear caliper.

Forgot to replace an oil filler cap and destroyed my mates Toyota Corolla

for some reason you’ve just reminded me of a good old school friend. On bikes, he couldn’t work a screwdriver yet alone an Allen key. When his dad finally conceded to buy him a decent bike to come ride with us (a lovely red spesh rockhopper if I remember correctly, late 90’s) his dad insisted on sizing it as per his own 1970’s roadie “top tube should be rubbing your balls” principles and it was basically unridable as an MTB.

Then when he brought his first really nice car, a Honda integra type R, he decided he’d best check the oil level. So he poured oil in the filler cap until it looked nicely brimmed. Perhaps slightly surprised it took two trips to the motor factors to fill it…

fired it up and promptly hydrolocked the engine. Complete replacement engine required.

Very nice bloke though.

Replaced the fuel tank on my Triumph Spitfire.  Transferred over the sender- there’s a fitment half way up the tank.

Put a couple of litres from a Jerry can & drive to the petrol station. Started filling and after a while thought hmm, this is taking longer than usual. Looked at pump & it was reading c60 litres- not bad for a 45 litre tank.

Opened the boot & it’s like a swimming pool.

Sticking to the Triumph theme… My dad told me of the time he came home from an overseas work trip at the end of the week to discover the diff had carked it on mum’s vitesse. He managed to source a NOS on Exchange & Mart on the Saturday afternoon. Picked it up and spent the freezing February night fitting it. Happy with his work he took it for a test drive and after *not very far* it seized solid. It always pays to put the EP90 in.

Replaced the fuel tank on my Triumph Spitfire.  Transferred over the sender- there’s a fitment half way up the tank.

Lovely thing with the GT6 is the sender goes in through the top… That way it’s just the fumes that make you realise the lock ring hasn’t been tightened but there’s no spillage 🙂

1. Spent several days trying to index the gears on my commuter after fitting a new drivetrain. Finally I put the bike back in the stand and worked through the gears and realized that I’d fitted an 8-speed cassette and 9-speed shifters.

2. Changed the stem on a bike, but someone phoned just as I was finishing up. Came back outside and took the bike for a test ride down the garden path. Got to the end of the garden path and turned the bars, only to discover that I hadn’t tightened the pinch bolts on the stem so the bars turned and the bike just kept on going. Face plant straight into the side of the house.

So it turns out that SRAM Stealth-a-majig olives can be fitted backwards, which results in them doing up perfectly when attaching the hose but not depressing the plunger in the lever to allow it to pass fluid through and therefore locking the lever solid.

No matter how hard you squeeze it or swear at it, all you’ll eventually do is force fluid out the lever bladder/reservoir cap…

GeForceJunky

I sweated like a trooper last week stretching a cushcore and downhill tyre on. Went to pump it up and found I’d forgotten to fit a valve! Turns out it’s even harder to get a Cushcore’d tyre off than it is on.

I can feel the frustration just reading that. Like putting a tyre on the wrong way round times four

Has everyone noticed how good i have been?

Has @Northwind noticed how good i have been?