historians will mark this as the precise moment that fixies died. But it was a beautiful death, after so many good times.
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Yeah it’s Summer of Tinnies for me now.
…Once I install a new trailer hub assembly of course…
Someone selling a 4 arm Ultegra crank set with right crank only. I have an older 5 arm set with worn ring I don’t think I want to replace. Can I use the left crank from mine?
The splines would be the same?
Yes
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Cutting down a fork and forgot about moving the star nut lower.
Evveerr so slightly shaved the top of the starnut as I trimmed the steerer.
Threads still worked. Yay!
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I’ve cut down star nuts to use as fender mounts before
Not really a pro mechanic story. But after spending a night swearing in my shed I’m just putting my dislike of pressfit BBs out there.
BBs wear out, a regularly replaced or serviced component, who the hell thought it was a good idea to make them so fiddly to install and then impossible to remove.
What’s wrong with a threaded BB? Takes a minute to take out. Don’t need to bring a hammer to your fancy carbon frame. SRAM seems to have figured out how to use a bigger spindle and bearings with DUB if that’s a reason.
Rant over.
The story is I got a new frame, ordered the BB (takes 2 weeks with covid mail), mashed the bearings on the install (too many pro mechanic beers), ordered a new BB (now I wait two more weeks), then had a hell of a time removing the mashed one (in fact it’s still in there, another job for today).
Oof. I never had any issues installing them back when I rode BMX… This wasn’t on carbon frames though.
Next beer name sorted.
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Sunday clear head and it turns out it may not have been my pro skills at all, but buying a cheap ebay BB with poor tolerances and flexible nylon cups. When I took it out, bearings spin perectly; put it back in carefully, bearings don’t move at all. Time to try a better quality BB, and maybe relax on the pro mechanic beers and late night bike maintenance.
I feel this is relevant for here.
I took the BMC in to a reputable LBS, needed the steerer chopped and the topcone replaced, as well as some spacer adjustments.
Nothing i cant do myself, but couldnt be arsed with the internal hydro cables through the bars again.
They bike came back without the 10mm spacer i asked for, effectively slamming the stem as well as super spongy brake levers.
To their credit the bikeshop did offer to buy a new fork if i wanted.
Bit disappointed about the brakes though, i went home and rebled to get it nice and firm again.
Oh man, don’t get me started on internal cabling routing …
I actually googled up a few handy tips when i was installing it the first time myself.
- using some fishing line and some brake cable ferules, you can make a handy DI2 cable routing tool.
- using some inner brake/gear cable, you route that through the handlebars first, then insert the inner cable into the hydro cable, hence acting like a guide when you try and push the hydro cable through the handlebars.
still fiddly as fuck, but worked pretty well if i do say so myself
I had to deal with a pressfit BB on a neighbour’s bike. What a pain in the arse that was.
I happily only own bikes with threaded BBs. No mess, no fuss.
endorsed, curse those bulging, creaking nightmares.
Stripped thread on crank arm so my crank puller wasn’t helping.
angle grinder to the rescue. 
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The cheap Shimano hydraulic disc brake calliper on the back of my Spicy Curry blew out and I picked up a set of near new modern SLX brakes to replace them all with. The SLX had a banjo connection, but the local MTB shop fortunately had a 2m long B90 banjo hose so all good. I swapped it all out and realised that the newer style levers weren’t going to work with the shifter that I had cos of the way they connect to the bars, so I had a quick look around and then ordered a new one and a new tandem length gear cable. I also miscalculated that the grips would be too short so I cut one down, but the lever geometry is really different to the old ones so there was no need, so I ruined a grip for no reason.
I had heaps of trouble getting the rear with the new hose to bleed properly. I was reverse bleeding with a syringe at the bottom, pushing upwards, and I must’ve tried like 8-9 times and it just wasn’t bleeding out. I should’ve stopped and had a bit of a think about it much sooner because when I eventually did, I realised there was probably a fair bit of air in the calliper after swapping the hose out. I remembered a fair bit of fluid leaked out of the disconnected calliper. Anyway, a regular bleed the other way sucked a heap of air out and I was like woohoo! But then I went to seal it up and realised I’d stripped the thread in the bleed port on the lever, so it was never going to seal up again. I was so pissed at myself. It should’ve been so straightforward. Anyway, I left it for the day and went back in the morning to swap both levers to the shitty old ones with the new 2-pot callipers and it went together like I expected and bled through first go no worries. It meant I could use the old shifter too. New grips though.
I felt like such an amateur. It’s been ages since I’ve done some half difficult bike mechanics and I totally made a mess of it and took ages doing it. I wonder if I could even build a bike these days. I like to think I could setup some cantis quick smart but who needs those skills these days
You lost me at banjo.
What’s the difference between a banjo and a trampoline?
You take your shoes off to jump on a trampoline.
Pete, I relate to your experience. I love working on bikes but I’m at the point where I basically only do maintenance, so when I need to do something more complicated I tend to fuck something up. I nearly ripped the dynamo wiring apart on my NFE while servicing the headset last week…
love to fuck shit up