I have been doing a lot of repairs, on my Look and my new Trek Madone 5.2 but I will stick to the more innovative (?!) repairs.
I got sick of losing handlebar end caps. I lose them a lot because I use standard tubular covers on my drops and I pull on my drops in my new recumbent on a road bike (is my latest description) style of pedaling. So I have bolted end caps on. This works, and the bolt, which I was going to grind to size, gives me something extra to hold on to. Recommended. Bar tape and non bolted end caps are ********.
Bolted Bar Caps by
Timothy Takemoto, on Flickr
I also had a lot of difficulty getting some cheap jockey wheels for me rear derailleur. Shimano ones are really overpriced, or don't contain bearings. The ones from China come in all sorts of thicknesses
Jockey wheels by
Timothy Takemoto, on Flickr
but they have to be 7.5mm for my RD-5800. Too narrow and the cage grips the chain. Too wide and the chain drops off into the gap and the thread in the derailleur gets damaged. I damaged the thread so much it would not longer allow me to change to the jockey wheels of the right, 7.5mm, size which I got here
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003493369582.html
so I used an ordinary nut and bolt. It works.
This shows the bolt
Patched Chain Stay by
Timothy Takemoto, on Flickr
and this shows the nut on the other side. I think it is M5.
Nut on the other side. by
Timothy Takemoto, on Flickr
I also wore down my chain stay with the heel of my shoe
Worn Chain Stay by
Timothy Takemoto, on Flickr
And the second photo in this post shows the patched chain stay. I used a piece of carbon fibre sheet and just epoxy because carbon fibre resin in poisonous and I don't have a lot.
I have been waxing my chain these past couple of months. It is nice to have a non dirty chain. But how to clean it? I put it in detergent and shake it with a whole body shaker exercise machine.
Chain Cleaning by
Timothy Takemoto, on Flickr
I don't use the machine as an exercise machine but it is good for shaking the dirt out of my chain before rewaxing.