Today I did something to my bike thread...

I've had what I think is a chest infection for almost two weeks now, so in lieu of getting out on the bike, I thought I'd do some shed therapy.

One of the (many) unfinished projects I have lying around on the work bench is a bearing press I started making a couple of months ago. Figured I should get on and get it done. While it's not quite there yet, it is starting to look like what it's supposed to be

Pictures?

As mentioned in the stupid questions thread I spent today fitting some carbon aero handlebars. I'm not sure why I chose today as the bike will sit on the trainer for another couple of months anyway. I never really believed how much of a faff people said internal cable routing was; but now I do. And I only had to get the cables through the handlebar. Also had to drop the bike to the LBS to fit new nipples and olives to the brake lines. But she is all back together now. Old handlebar had a 20mm raise built in which was one of the reasons I wanted to swap out.

Also controversial call with the white bar tape but we shall see how it holds up.

I put a new saddle on the turbo bike today which was long, long overdue. The Fizik Arione that was on it seems to have been designed by the devil

Make sure you torque that correctly (which is quite high if I remember correctly). I've learned that the hard way...

I couldn’t possibly break UCI rules.

I couldn’t possibly break UCI rules.

Have my new bike about 7 months now. I've never cleaned it. The last 3 months particularly it's gotten covered in a load of road shite, so this afternoon I decided to get out a bucket and sponge.

I started cleaning before I took this photo, but the rear wheel should give some indication as to how bad it was.

Not quite a full strip of the frame.

Last photo is in the dark, but you can get the general idea

Ive heard you need to be careful clamping a carbon frame on the workstand, as the bike usually moves a fair bit and as it's only clamped in the middle of the crossbar that becomes a pressure point. Since I heard this I tend to clean bikes without the stand. Curious to hear if thus is still the case ?

Cranks and all off? That’s dedication, at best mine gets the hose and a bucket + brush

I was taking the young-lad to football on Saturday and on the way back my rear derailleur started giving gyp, not shifting down. Closer inspection found this horrorshow:

Since I've been a lazy so and so and not bothered changing cable housing when replacing the cable, and given this is the wet weather bike, I'm guessing water made its way in from the cable stop and rusted the housing on the inside. I'm puzzled as to why it failed suddenly rather than degrading over the past few months. Anyway, I'll hang my head in shame at any rate and am now convinced of the benefits of changing the housing.

So as it happens the Croix de Fer was due a big service anyway and I've been assembling bits over the past few months, so this made me pull the finger out and Sunday was spent giving it some TLC which involved replacement of gear cables and housing (ahem), taking off the TRP Hy/Rd brake calipers and bleeding them (I think in future I can probably get away with leaving the calipers on and laying the bike flat on a bench), new set of Jagwire brake cables for the Hy/Rds, and a new easier cassette (up from 32 to 36 small sprocket). The latter is pushing it a bit as the derailleur is rated for a 34, but I'm banking on Shimano's reputation for being conservative. As it happens I ran into trouble with sizing the chain as I did that last when I was tired and hurrying too much, but I'll take that over to the maintenance thread

Got a new commuter ready today. My first time commuting with a road bike in a while (previously I've used a Brompton, a Canyon Urban, or an e-bike) but I want to have the possibility to extend the commute home as the evenings get longer

Even though I have a nice fleet of bikes, I needed something new as they were all too nice to risk locking up if I stopped somewhere on the way home. So I was looking for something sub 1000€ and ideally sub 500€. First choice was to put together a Genesis Croix de Fer but that was difficult due to Brexit duties on any frameset.

I came across this neglected Triban RC520 and got it for 400€. 105 11-speed and TRP HY-RD hybrid disc brakes). Added a rack (35€), a bottle cage with built-in toolkit (12€ but a gimmick which I won't use as it doesn't look solid enough) and a set of mudguards which I had lying around. Chain still needs a good clean

I want to change the wheels and tires (probably lowest end DT Swiss or Mavic running 35mm tubeless - not the easiest to find QR 6-bolt disc wheels these days) and the mudguards that are on it are just a placeholder until I do that, but happy with what I have now and hopefully will end up under 600€ for the final set-up

Thanks Tom - that is very kind of you. I live in the Netherlands so won't be able to take you up on your offer unfortunately