What did you do TO / WITH / FOR your bike today!

Oddjob

Merry fucking Xmas to you assholes
Almost ended up in the fuckwits thread, but ended up feeling really good about my investment in tools over the years.

My main roadie is about 8 years old now and hasn't had a proper service since I built it. The original carbon fork had an alloy steerer which I was starting to get worried about. My integrated bar/stem was also starting to lose paint around the alloy stem section so I decided to give the bike a full refresh.

My Lynskey Sportive disc was right at the end of straight steerer era, so sourcing a new carbon disc fork was hard. Managed to get a Carver full carbon fork that was advertised as being 150gms heavier than it's predecessor, and looking at the amount of material in the steerer you can see they were aiming for strength above all else. Fitted the new fork and full carbon bar/stem combo now problem. Serviced and bled the brakes and replaced the cables.

Then went to refit the mudguards to the fork. Started to wind in the m5 bolt into the leg eyelet. Hmm this is a bit stiff, they probably didn't chase the threads. Then I literally twisted the head off the bolt with 6mm of the bolt shaft showing. Normally I leave the tricky jobs to the former F1 engineer who co-owns the lbs, but of course the lbs is shut for lockdown. Uh oh.

My first plan of attack was to use an adjustable gripjaw, no joy. Next was to dremel a slot into the shaft and use a flathead screwdriver. Nope. Dremel a cross slot. Nope. Out comes the Milwaukee drill, first I break a Hitachi 2.5mm drill bit, then a 3mm drill bit. Finally find a Sutton 3mm hss drill bit that makes some headway. Spend 20 mins drilling through the bolt in the hope of chipping out the bolt. Nope. Have a brainwave to use an easy out. It works!

I then use a 5mmx0.8 thread tap to clean up the threads in the eyelets and they are unsurprisingly gunky. Ponder whether I should have started with this step. Anyway final result is below. The old girl scrubbed up pretty well.



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Also a notable postscript to this story. The Ultegra BBR60 that I originally fitted to the bike is still running silky smooth. This is after 8 years and god knows how many watts and kms that it's seen. All this for 1/5 of the cost of the equivalent CK bb.

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Oddjob

Merry fucking Xmas to you assholes
Remind us again where Chris King touched you? :p
This bikes got a CK headset which is still going strong... but the tightening the collet in the top assembly is a giant pain in the ass.

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Cardy George

Piercing rural members since 1981
First mountain loop in daylight for months. Was actually a bit sublime after doing it 3-4 times a week under full lights. Night riding really slows my pace, not just descending, I find it much more mentally and physically draining.
I regularly 'get lost' riding the same trails I ride home on everyday because the visual references are totally different. I can't see thru bushes so I have to assume the trail behind it is clear. This time of year every ride home is in the dark though so I'm recalibrated.
 

moorey

call me Mia
I regularly 'get lost' riding the same trails I ride home on everyday because the visual references are totally different. I can't see thru bushes so I have to assume the trail behind it is clear. This time of year every ride home is in the dark though so I'm recalibrated.
Yeah, even on my home loop...which I don't do much in the dark alone, because no one would find me if I had an incident....I get completely disorientated at times, and am surprised to discover where I am at times. When I did my first Youies night ride with @beeb @fjohn860 @Jpez and @wkkie a few months back it was like it was the first time I'd seen the place, despite 100's of laps there over the years.
 

beeb

Dr. Beebenson, PhD HA, ST, Offset (hons)
Yeah, even on my home loop...which I don't do much in the dark alone, because no one would find me if I had an incident....I get completely disorientated at times, and am surprised to discover where I am at times. When I did my first Youies night ride with @beeb @fjohn860 @Jpez and @wkkie a few months back it was like it was the first time I'd seen the place, despite 100's of laps there over the years.
Note to self for next night ride...
"Let's go ride Travs!"
Ride to bottom of Travs. Send @moorey on his way.
Ride off in opposite direction... :p
 

hifiandmtb

Sphincter beanie
Knock knock on my door, WFH again - there's 10yo Lara from down the road as I said I'd help her repair her new from 99Bikes MTB, she rode around with a loose pedal until it fucked the crank threads and fell out. I knew of a dumped bike up the road with similar square taper cranks so I told her to get her mum to pick it up & drop the two at mine.

After using my crank removal tool for the first time in likely a decade, she's back on the road. Buggered if I know how she'd have got it fixed otherwise.
 

creaky

XMAS Plumper
Knock knock on my door, WFH again - there's 10yo Lara from down the road as I said I'd help her repair her new from 99Bikes MTB, she rode around with a loose pedal until it fucked the crank threads and fell out. I knew of a dumped bike up the road with similar square taper cranks so I told her to get her mum to pick it up & drop the two at mine.

After using my crank removal tool for the first time in likely a decade, she's back on the road. Buggered if I know how she'd have got it fixed otherwise.
Shame on you for not upselling her to XTR
 
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