ksisler

Brifters on the cheap...

Seem to be a lot of posts in the various threads regarding fixing or adapting flatbar shifters, brakes levers, etc.

Noting that there seems to be a glut of Shimano 7,8,and 9spd Brifters on Amazon for cheap.

Search on Shimano EF65 to get started... others searches probably get other variant. But basic point is that a complete set of namebrand brifters with full cable sets for about $28-30 bucks is sweet!

Amesja

Ever try and disassemble malfunctioning brifters on the road 100 miles from nowhere?

This is why people like bar-end shifters and down-tube shifters modified to work on drop bars with adapters. Brifters are great for road racers, not so great for distance riders and touring types.

Hendo252 

Hi Kimmo -- True!

But.... I think the pedal thread comment comes from not remembering which pedal is RH and which is LH. So the "forward to tighten/Backward to loosen" hint is a good one that is easy to remember, especially when trying to remove a recalcitrant pedal.

-Tom in SoCal

Amesja

Bottom bracket threading direction is the opposite from pedals.

Backwards (towards the back of the bike, over-hand) to tighten, and Forwards (towards the front of the bike, over-hand) to loosen.

The reverse-thread pedal is on the left (non-drive side) while the reverse-thread bottom bracket cup is on the right (drive side.)

(Except for some weird old out of date standards like Italian and French)

metalpossum

I've got a goody for all those quill stem aficionados out there, I just have to share it!

So today I picked up a second hand "Frank Herety" frame, boutique lugged/brazed construction. It was advertised as having the quill stem wedge "stuck" in the steerer tube.
I bought the frame thinking "easy fix, I'll just drive it out from the bottom". The fork is of an odd unicrown-esque construction but fillet brazed or similar and there is no opening at the bottom end of the steerer tube.
My solution to removing it was simple.

(Optional) Pour some penetrating oil (Kroil works well) down the steerer tube.
Put the headset locknut on the top of the fork to take any pressure or stress and prevent damage to the steerer tube and it's threads.
(Optional) Place a matching socket on top of this to take up some of the slack (explained in the next step)
Add some washers on top and drop in the quill bolt.
Start tweaking it up, not too violently, just keep tweaking.
Presto, you've made yourself a "wedge puller" using easily accessible parts.

And that's how you get a what once was probably a multi-thousand dollar boutique frame for $151 NZD.

jowilson

If you're tired of grips getting holes in the sides and replacing them, try fitting some wine bottle corks in to each side of the handlebars. Corks can also be used as bar end plugs on aero bars.

Josh

TromboneAl

I want my water bottles to always be open. They are either on the bike or standing on a shelf, so I never need to close them. That is, I don't want to have to open them with my teeth while riding, and some bottles have a tendency to close.

To fix this, I cut a small section of inner tube, and place it in the gap of the nozzle.

TromboneAl

My even feebler mind needs a mnemonic, otherwise I'll wonder "Is it 'forward go' or 'forward no go.'"

So instead I use the system "Right side of the bike = right hand thread."

Also, you say your system works if the bike is upside-down. But if the bike is upside down, if I have the wrench on the pedal spindle, with the handle up, moving the handle toward the front will loosen, correct?

RubeRad

Lots of talk on here about surgical tools and other replacements for third/fourth hand tools. I use vise-grips. Clamp it on to the brake cable, use one hand to close the brakes (weight of vise grips pulls cable somewhat taut -- be aware of where the vise grips will move if you are worried about banging your fork/frame) and I have a hand free to tighten the bolt. Also, if I tighten too far, then I clamp the vise grips onto the cable with a 2-3mm gap to the pinch bolt, loosen the bolt, let the brakes expand to meet the vise grips, and tighten again.

Has your youngest child outgrown the family crib? Make yourself a bike rack! Mine is currently holding all 9 of my family's bikes. (Well, 8 right now because I have one at work with me)

Speaking of homemade bike racks, why spend $$$ for Thule/Yakima specialty bike trays? You've already laid out long green for the towers and maybe even crossbars (unless you made cheap crossbars from the advice above), so why not make yourself a roof-rack or two like this? It's strong enough that you can pull the frame and rock the car. And note I destroyed a bike (thankfully a cheap MTB from CL) that was in this thing by plowing (slowly) into a balcony. The fork was spaghetti, the thule crossbar was bent, the thule clamp was bent, my honda oddyssey roof-rail fairing was cracked, but this little rack came out unscathed!

Have you recently fixed/adjusted some part of your bike? Take the corresponding tool(s) on your next ride, in case you jacked it up and need to fix it on the road. (I liked that guy way back that used a guitar pick to remove a busted FD -- I could have used something like that!)

Somebody up there said about using egg cartons to hold a variety of small parts; that gave me the idea of using an egg carton to keep small parts in order, like if you take off spherical-washer brake pads. Of course there's always zip-tie or twist-tie. (If you have kids or grandkids, at Christmas time grab up all the plastic-coated metal twist ties used in toy packaging nowadays -- that stuff is strong and long (that's what she said!))

Another idea I recently had but haven't tried yet. If you use chain-L and really want it to get deep in there, empty your bottle into a tough gallon ziploc bag, and let your chain marinate overnight. Or for months, if you are a multi-chain-rotator. You'd also have to hang the chain above the open bag for quite a while to recover all the extra lube. Or maybe not the best idea, as you'll contaminate your entire supply of Chain-L -- unless that is just your new-chain treatment.

A few people have mentioned I think SB's homebrew BB fixed cup tool, but I'm not sure anybody mentioned you can make a similar headset press out of a long 1/2" bolt and nut and stack of washers. And somewhere on BF a while ago I saw Dave Moulton's cool homemade headset extractor made simply by splitting some copper pipe.

I think my number one tip/trick is the principle -- don't buy bike when you can buy generic. Anything custom-marketed to the bicycle market is crazy expensive. For instance, instead of a bike light with a custom handlebar clamp, I use a badass 1600 lumen (allegedly) CREE LED chinese-made flashlight I got for about $25, held rock-solid with two interlocked hose clamps. I don't think I can get that much lighting in a "bike light" unless I get up into the triple digits. Also, from BF advice, I hacked (er, custom fabricated) a bracket to mount my rear blinkie onto my rack, out of plumber's metal tape (used for holding up long stretches of pipe, or strapping water heaters to studs as per CA earthquake safety regs).

Speaking of metal tape, I also had a problem where I was using a seatpost rack and my pannier straps couldn't reach all the way down to the dropouts to hook into the threaded rack hole. Bolting in a few inches of metal tape though (folded over for double-strength), hook the straps into the top hole of the tape and cinch them down tight, and that seatpost rack becomes as good as a full rack.

Sixty Fiver

My professional grade stand...





Rear wheels get mounted to one side of the DIY stand or get put in my old school Hozan stand.

Sixty Fiver

I may have posted this already but due to many a request:

Uncle Sixty's Easy V Brake Set Up

Release the brake cable at the brake arms.

At the brake lever, turn the barrel adjuster all the way in and then turn it out 6-7 complete revolutions... I find there is a little variance between brake models.

Make sure that all the cable ferules are seated properly and that none have slipped out.

Going back to the brake arms, snug up the brake cable so that both brake pads are hitting the rim and then tighten the cable, the wheel should not move.

Go back to the lever and screw the barrel adjuster back in and your brake spacing should be nearly perfect.

The wheel should spin freely, if not, the brakes may need to be centered.

Make any needed centering adjustments at the brake by using the small adjustment screws on the caliper arm, these control the return spring tension. You usually adjust these in tandem in that if you loosen one, you also tighten the other a little and with new brakes both screws may need to be tightened to increase the spring tension. If the springs are in similar condition the screws should be close to each other in where they are set.

If this adjustment is problematic you may need to take the exposed spring on the weak side, unclip it and bend out out a little to increase it's tension.

After all this is done the brake lever should max out at no more than 50% of it's travel, braking should be quick and firm, and there should be no issue releasing the brake by detaching the noodle.

Give the lever 10 hard pulls to ensure that there is no slippage and that no ferules have unseated themselves.

RubeRad

That's a pretty cool setup 65er, tell me about those gauges. Are those standard equipment for some other purpose that can be cheaply purchased separately? Or do I have to buy a whole regular truing stand, take the gauges off, and mount them onto a fork?

Sixty Fiver

They are basic dial indicators with magnetic bases, trueing stands normally do not come with dial indicators although Park does offer them as an extra. Mine read in 1/1000 increments with my happy place being between 5-10 thousandths for new builds while used wheels might never get that close.

Consider that I build wheels as a profession and that neither my partner or I has a commercial stand save for my old Hozan which is a commercial grade stand used for factory building.

Made a little movie... shows the gauge at work on a wheel that had seen a good 5000 km of hard use which was still within 6/1000. It can also be used to dish wheels as you can get a very accurate read on the lateral position of the rim and make accurate adjustments without needed a separate handheld gauge which is not as accurate and more time consuming to use. As the lateral gauge is fixed to the stand it does not move out of place while the vertical gauge can be moved about.

Wheel Trueing

You can see I still use zip ties... I also affix these to my bicycles and just leave them there in case I have to do any on the road servicing and they serve as little warning indicators as if a rim goes off it's alignment they start making noise.

RubeRad

Cool, I never knew about those, although a little googling reveals they are standard equipment for machinists, and for truing automotive brake rotors. This goes right along the line of "don't buy bike when you can buy generic". Harbor Freight has very well-reviewed models for $15+$15, or $35, (vs >$100 for Park)

jowilson

Hope this helps...

DoninIN

Noga magnetic bases are what most of my fellow machinists swear by, although even inexpensive ones will work nicely for this type of application. Peacock or even cheaper 1" travel indicators are more than adequate for this kind of thing. Don't waste your money on some $100 indicator to use to true bike wheels. (I'm not even sure why machinists buy them, as I have a couple of cheap ones that have survived to antique status, despite being used quite frequently.)

thegreatbelow

I remember this very similarly 'right is right, left is wrong'

thegreatbelow

When disassembling a part you aren't completley familiar with take lots of photos beforehand.
Lay out all the parts on your wrok bench or surface in the order that they were removed.

TromboneAl

Cache it.

I often ride from cold fog to hot sun. So, as it warms up, I take off my arm warmers (actually old wool socks with the tips cut off), and hide them somewhere. Then next time I come by with the car, I pick them up.

A good place is the "attic" of a sign like this:



but a hedge works fine in a pinch.

In the same vein, I cache u-locks and other locks at different places, so that I don't need to carry them with me (I get cheap ones at garage sales).

noglider 

Al, that's excellent!

RubeRad

Thanks unkl 60! I used this today! For me actually 7 full revolutions was not quite enough slack, but it's a good rule of thumb, and it's easy enough for me to use my vise-grips trick above to slip a small, measured amount of brake cable back out.

smasha

not mine...

Very cheap speedplay grease gun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x1hst38NpA

Low Cost Speedplay Grease Injection
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2RWuzq-mFg

Speed Play Lube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa8Dv-V7a8Y

apparently it's best to rotate the pedals while putting in the new grease. i think i'm partial towards "marine grease", but i'm sure your favourite grease will work fine.

of course, DX has cheap syringes.

woodcraft

"For any thread, let alone pedals, stick out your right hand (or your left for a left-hand thread), and point your thumb in the direction you want any fastener to go.

Turn in the direction your fingers curl. *BAM*"




Read this previously: confused.
Just read it again: confused.
I just end up staring at my fingers......

Amesja

Bam!

2wheelspeeding

You can save money airing up flat tires by buying C02 cartridges for pellet guns from a sporting goods store like Dick's. All you have to do is put a small washer or a smidgeon of dirt in the bottom of the inflation device to make up for the 2mm difference in size between a cycling C02 cartridge and a pellet gun C02 cartridge. A cycling C02 cartridge goes for $3-$4 compared to a pellet gun cartridge you can usually get for about 50 cents if you buy in bulk. I have put together a lot of rides and always end up helping people with flats and have found this method to save tons of money.