Category: Maintenance
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Dunning–Kruger effect
Last week, on the first ride for Kuroko since I started a sweeping round of maintenance in July, I thought the gears were making a bit of noise and the shifting was somewhat sluggish. I was nearly home before I discovered the issue: I’d routed the chain improperly through the rear derailleur cage. With rain…
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Breaking Bad
Today marked my second attempt to replace the front caliper for Kuroko following the hack job to unscrew the rounded bleed screw. I had no trouble returning the faulty caliper I’d installed a couple of weekends ago, and I received the replacement today, a day sooner than expected. Installing the new caliper and bleeding the…
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I’ve been told I’m cracked
Following the fight last weekend to release the bleed screw for Kuroko’s front brake, I rode the bike to the office on Monday. All seemed well at first except the front brake was pulsing: grabbing and releasing. This is often associated with a loose headset, and when I got to the office I had a…
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Splittin’ heads
It’s been seven weeks since I put new wheels, tires, cassette, chain, brake pads and disc rotors on Kuroko in one big maintenance session. After a huge fight to get the tires on the rims, the stopping point in the end was the front brake caliper, which wouldn’t expand enough to allow the wheel to…
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Hijacking José’s bike
The youngster and I are leaving first thing Saturday morning for a group ride (psst! Tour de Tohoku), so he told me earlier this week he’d be bringing over the bicycle beforehand, saving him the hassle of an early morning ride / ride on the train with the bike in a bag on Saturday. I…
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Almost ready to ride
After last weekend’s failure to get the rear tire mounted, which resulted in the shredding of the rim logo, I had a break to rest and think about next steps. I’ve seen some mention of the Tyre Glider recently, and after watching a video demonstration, decided to give it a try. I had to first…
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Jumping Through Hoops
I’ve been holding off on some much-needed maintenance on Kuroko while I completed Hornsby. At last I can get started on this project, aided by the fact it’s too hot to ride. The following are all slated for replacement, more or less in order of urgency: I’ve known the brakes (front in particular) have been…
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Almost Satisfied
The plan next Saturday is to have a guest join for a ride on a completely new route. I’ve had some outstanding maintenance issues for Dionysus, and since that’s what the guest will be riding, today was the chance to address those. The cogs have been a bit noisy since I replaced the original chain…
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Saddle No. 5
I wanted to install the new saddle and seatpost before today’s ride. I set the bits out on the table last night, and then got started this morning before 8, when it was just 6C in the Workshop in the Sky. Replacing the saddle and seatpost was straightforward. Of course I weighed the old and…