Bike jobs you loathe

I’m 100% with you on this.

I’m 100% with you on this. Currently putting off replacement of the outer loop at the rear derailluer as it’s carrying a little damage. I know I might as well replace the inner while I’m at it (inner will definitely try to fray going into a new section), but really just can’t be arsed.

Then there is trying to

Then there is trying to balance them. WHatever you do, one moves and the other sticks. Ah, I’ll tweak the tensioner – problem swaps over.

When I was pro, the worst to adjust were the cheap Apollo brakes where the legs were plastic so you could not get any brake pressue, they would just flex. I used to be able to get Tektro V-brakes for about £1.50 a set in bulk. Any time I had an Apollo in I would simply refit those as I reckoned I would spend far more than £1.50 of my time not getting the Apollo originals to work.

As for adjusting – it became easy with practice several times a day – firstly reset adjuster on lever, you just learned the sequence of the 93 odd shaped objects you had to juggle onto the brake bolt, do a test swing to check whether it was thin or thick inside (generally MTBs thick inside, hybrids, thin inside), grasp the brake together against rim, pull cable through, back off about 1/4″. tighten, spin wheel, tweak, job done.

The rhombidish ones. Kona put

The rhombidish ones. Kona put them on some of their top end MTBs, I reckon someone had insisted on Vs, the shop Cycology in Crowthorn, gave them to me as I was moving up to Birmingham. 

I had to make my own straddle cables out of 2mm brake cable (difficult enough to find, the XT braided one was better than the standard twist) filing down the perpendicular barrel to a smaller in line one.

The rears were always easier to set up, for some reason, and once I’d fitted the brake booster to the front, it could take many frustrating hours to get those right. There were occasions I would have to give up, set up the Good Bike for the commute and try again later in the week once I’d built up a bit more will to try some more.

Pop the springs out and bring

Pop the springs out and bring the arms together with an elastic band. Adjust the pads with that bit of pressure, then tighten.

Now my Curve cantis, took about a decade to get really good and develop a bit of a system, and I had to fettle them a lot to get anywhere near the best out of them. But my bike shop gave them to me, and they looked so cool, and done right, they did have more power than the Shimano units they replaced.

Replacing V brakes.  Maybe I

Replacing V brakes.  Maybe I don’t get regular enough practice?  Theory – you can just fettle until you get there.  For me it always ends up more effort than I think it will.  Seems to be a 3-handed job, with parts which get brake crud all over you.  You’ve got a tight nut to loosen, the spring of the brake arm pushing against you – oh yes, disconnect that first.  All the parts move a bit and in several axes.  Which way round do I need the spacers?  Now I’ve got it nearly there but then I have to loosen the nut to adjust – ah, the whole thing falls out of alignment again.  The bike seems to get in the way as you move about – note to self get a stand again.  Then you discover the cable’s too short now, adjust that, seems OK, then you notice that the brakes still catch – ah, the wheel’s not centred in the fork for some reason so the arms aren’t parallel.  Or maybe one pivot has corroded a bit and is sticking, or the spring adjuster screw that needs a twist is totally rusted stuck, do I want to sort that out now?

They also seem to require more regular fiddling than the various sets of cantilever brakes that I’ve owned.

Rebuilding a Campag ergopower

Rebuilding 11 speed Campag ergopower shifters… the only official video shows the earlier model and only the RH shifter, while its the left ones that seem to go. I’ve got quite good at it, now I’ve got the special hooked tool you need to attach the springs, although it’s always a complete faff. Grease gets everywhere and then it always seems to be that I’ve put the downshift lever on at 90 degrees to the way it should be. Still, I’ve brought some dead ones back to life, and that’s quite a saving these days, and quite a sense of satisfaction!

It bothers me that you can’t

It bothers me that you can’t inspect them, and nobody seems to sell cable guide tubing (that may have changed in the last few years, haven’t looked recently). All it takes is a frayed cable that you pull through and you can easily damage the guide. Some don’t have full guides, just a lead in, but again, try finding spares.