rsbob 

Thought it would be interesting to see how people maintain and improve their rides. This could include bike builds, how to, and tools used. Could be learning or just interesting what people are doing. Pictures highly encouraged.

Today, I added new Cinelli bar tape/plugs and adjusted the seat back 3 CM and raked the nose down 2 mm.

BobsPoprad

Rode it.🧐🤣

rsbob 

Not quite in the spirit of the thread, but a good half-hearted attempt. . Nice attempt though!

Airfehr

Cleaned and lubed two chains. After I rode one bike. What do I win?

rydabent

Wiped down the chain, topped off the air pressure in the tires, and went for a ride.

rsbob 

Most sarcastic? Sorry but this is not a contest. Please re-read entry and participation rules.

indyfabz

Put on new tires for my upcoming tour.

JohnDThompson 

Pumped up the tires and went for a ride!

Phil_gretz

I've been building up a fixed gear, and it's in the final tweaking stage. Following the last two rides, I've: rotated the bars very slightly to level (forward maybe 3 degrees), re-taped the handlebars center-outward to eliminate the adhesive strips, added a 2 mm spaces above the stem to enable better headset pre-load, re-tensioned and trued the front rim (new, machine built wheel), moved the rear wheel slightly to increase chain slack just a bit, and attempted to solve the real problem: slipping in the seatpost-to-saddle rail clamp.

This one is a bugger. Here's the as-built original seatpost. Note the miniscule actual clamping area on the rails. While highly adjustable, these tiny wings provide insufficient clamping force, no matter torqued I make the bolts.


Because the bike is all black and intended to be very light, I went with a carbon seatpost.

Here's the temporary fix found at my local co-op. Bead-blasted aluminum is not the look I'm after, but it does (at least) function.

shelbyfv

It's early yet, but my plan is to pump the tires and ride it. I may wipe the chain after. Would you like to know what I'm having for breakfast?

Phil_gretz

Here's the latest solution to the seatpost problem, a new carbon post with a larger clamp surface. All carbon clamp parts (aside from the fasteners), and they were slipping on a brief test ride last night. So, complete disassembly and cleaning of the saddle rails and clamp, and then liberal application of carbon paste.



Although (in theory) only the rear bolt needs to be tightened, I decided to torque down the obscured bolt by cutting down the working end of a spare 5mm hex key and working it into place to tighten. All torqued down now. Another test ride this evening, and this should (could? might?) work.

kahn

Yes, what are you having or have you had for breakfast? I had Wheat Chex with 2% Lactose free milk.

shelbyfv

Thanks for asking! I had a bagel with peanut butter, a banana, grapefruit juice and coffee. I pumped the tires, attached the rechargeable blinky and Wahoo, went for a short ride. I really should go back down to the garage and wipe the chain. I'll get to it before I ride tomorrow.

mstateglfr 

3 Uno stems from Amazon were delivered yesterday. I plan to use one on a road bike I dont ride often as it needs a longer stem, and take the quality stem thats currently on it and switch it to my gravel bike.
Then one of the other two will be for one of my kid's bikes as she needs a bit of rise and length due to growing. Hopefully the stem makes it possible to keep riding that bike for the rest of the year because there is 0 chance we are buying a bike or even a frame right now.
Return the unused stem.

I usually only buy the lightweight Uno7 stems off ebay, but I cant find a single seller with the length I need.

Oldguyonoldbike

Not today, but on Sunday and Monday I converted my daughter's bike to an ebike. It's a mid-mount 500w motor and 48v battery. I'm not as comfortable with electrics as with mechanical stuff, but it all went surprisingly smoothly. I still need to figure out how to tidy up all the wires.

Phil_gretz

Could you comment on how much the kit cost and from where you sourced it?

rsbob 

Impressive

Oldguyonoldbike

It's a Bafang conversion kit that I got from Greenergia, sold on Amazon. I'm not a big fan of Amazon, but I'm new to ebike conversions and I felt safer knowing Amazon's return policy. The kit included motor, on/off switch, thumb throttle and a light for $470. No instructions and practically no product information came with this. I then discovered Ebike Essentials, Bafang's US storefront with a decent website. I ordered the battery, a gear shift sensor that kills the motor during shifts, acting as a sort of clutch, a brake sensor that kills the motor while braking, and the speedometer/controller from them. An Australian shop called RevBike has some very good videos on the installation process. All in, I spent a little over $1000 for the system with a 500w motor and a 48v 12amp/hr battery with Samsung cells. That's more than I initially intended to spend, but I'm happy with the results in terms of power and expected battery life.
One could save hundreds of dollars by going with a smaller battery or a less powerful motor. There are also hub-mounted options, but the price difference is not great and I imagine that the mid-mount motor feels more natural and has less of an impact on handling.

Vismund B

I looked at it sadly and said “sorry, I don’t feel like getting wet today, I’m gonna take the subway.” and then quickly left the apartment before either of us had a chance to say anything else.

Iride01 

I lubed my chain and wiped off the excess prior to my ride. Since I rode yesterday and had aired up the tires then, I only squeezed them to make sure they had enough air.

Sorry, no pics or video of such an exciting thing to watch.


Are these the rules?
Last part seems to leave a lot of lattitude IMO.

kahn

Yesterday I moved my new saddle about 1/2 to 3/4 inch rearward. I THINK it felt better for the 30 hilly miles - I think my butt is none the wiser today "butt" I think my perineum appreciated the change!

Cougrrcj

Got it dirty. Very dirty. I decided to ride to work, and pick up my wife's car at the repair shop near where I work at lunchtime. It must have rained overnight briefly in a few spots along my 12.5-mile commute since the roads were still wet in a few places. BOY, did I get road splatter, and those old-school TireSavers really flicked off any moisture/dirt from the tires! Just a few miles of wet road and the bike is a splattered-up mess! It is gonna take me hours to clean properly. Well, since it will likely be the last time I commute by bike this year, I might as well just give it the good-ol' off-season detail overhaul.

Oh, and when I got home I ordered a couple of rechargeable 120 lum LED taillights since the one of the bike must have given up the ghost. It was working when I left the house, but less than a half mile later it was dead. Not just dead from no charge - just plain old dead.

shelbyfv

Today, I again wiped the chain and pumped the tires. I think I'll lube the chain tomorrow, may have heard a chirp.

epnnf

Besides the usual before-the-ride cleaning & inspection, after my ride on my Kona today, I tightened the water bottle cage screws, which loosened during the ride. tmrw, Im gonna adjust the front der cable.

Flatforkcrown

I had been having slow shifts with a rear Sachs New Success derailer that I bought on eBay, so decided to take the pulleys out and clean and lube them. I soon noticed why my shifting was bad when I saw the guide pulley was wobbly, made by simplex, and missing the side plated that cover the bushing. I had some sealed bearing aluminum pulleys in my parts bin so I cleaned them up and installed them. Once everything was back together I made some adjustments to the cable while shifting through the gears and it seems to be working great now.