Jobs you love and jobs you hate

[feetabix]

theres very little i dont enjoy in putting a bike together, but i hate the feeling at 2.30am when you realise you are four hours from the morning alarm going off after you thought 'i will just sort that before i go to bed' at 9.45 the previous evening........... :shock:......it cant only be me!?!....

 

[Tazio]

Something has gone very badly wrong here at Tazio Towers.

Just fitted (brand) new front and rear mechs and shifters to a bike. Did it all as you're supposed to according to the instructions.

And it all seems to work straight away :shock:

Maybe it's just old stuff I'm useless with.

 

[shogun700]

Great thread.

I'd like to add a vote for cantilever brake setup misery. I must say it warms my heart to see others share my aggravation.

I'm an engine builder, and can split apart, check, clean, prep, and re-assemble a fairly complex modern 2-stroke engine in an afternoon. I've had it take just as long to set up my Avid Tri Aligns. No matter what cantis I set up I always seem to be right at the limit of pad angle and height in order to hit the rims square and not be dragging on the tire and leaving a nice old impossible to remove black line (on my UmmaGummas no less!) on my sidewalls. If I get that right, it's a sure sign the pads are toed in the wrong direction, and I have to back up and do it all over again.

Cabling isn't too bad, unless of course I'm using some NOS period correct outers, in which case the chance of cutting them too short nears 100%.

Why is it no matter how much I loosen clamp bolts, my brake levers/shifters always scratch the hell out of my bars when I take them off? I dread swapping stems for this reason.

What do I like? I like it when I've put my nose to the grindstone and taken a bare frame to a rideable bike in a single session-despite the aggravation and always-present 'why is this taking so freaking long' thoughts. I like polishing stuff, I like removing stuck seatposts (Victory!) and stems, and grinding out frozen-in bottom brackets-I have some expensive hand-held rotary tools for doing engine work and have saved many a frame this way.

 

[makster]

I find cabling up a build to be my favorite part. I think it's the point where it all comes together.
I'd not had any front mech issues, until recently. Now I seem to get issues every time :roll:

I find old stuff so much easier to set up than modern

 

[Exeter Man]

Great thread!

I love stripping down a bike to a bare frame, then bringing the frame back to life with a good clean and polish. So much easier when there are no components on it.

Dislikes? Bolts that do not want to move, trying to get between spokes to clean hubs, and front mechs :evil:

Regards

 

[We_are_Stevo]

I think any job is the proverbial piece of p*ss if you have the right tool, and the space and time to do it...

...in the past I have had nice, big, warm, well lit garages to work in; with all my tools easily to hand. When I lived in Cambridge I built my bikes in my room.

Now I have a 10 x 8 shed that is full to bursting; I have to move stuff out to get at other stuff; it all gets piled up on the table on the patio; then it starts to rain; then SWMBO starts whinging about the amount of time I spend on my bikes; etc; etc; etc...

 

[Baldyz1]

I hate

Doing a job and then finding you have to do it all again as you left something out or getting half way through a job only to find you are missing a part or an elusive part that you spent loads on breaks.

I like buying new tools and using them for the first time. Polishing things and taking pictures of the finished build.

Cheers

 

[02gf74]

the 2 syringe method for bleeding brakes.... ARRGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

anyone got advice on how to bleed formula oro - no matter how i try, both are still spongy (i follow the Avid method - fit syrtinges, push fluid through, tie off lever, bleed hose then finish bleeding master). going to make a 5mm bleed nipple and see if i can bleed is by pumping the brake lever.

 

[xerxes]

I think any job is the proverbial piece of p*ss if you have the right tool, and the space and time to do it...

Good point, when I was a teenager, I had to pay for everything with my Saturday job money, so my tools were a motley collection of cheap bike tools and what I could borrow from my Dad. Needless to say, most jobs were a chore.

Now I have pretty much everthing I need and jobs are far less hassle. Added to that, the proliferaration of cartridge bearings, a-headsets and the use of allen bolts everywhere make 90s and later bikes much easier to work on than earlier stuff anyway.

The 4th hand/cable puller gets my vote for the tool responsible for the greatest reduction to the amount of swearing in the shed.

 

[Inzaman]

the 2 syringe method for bleeding brakes.... ARRGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

.

Damn i have got to bleed my rear brake this week for use on Saturday and i am not looking forward to it.

I too hate setting the old canti's up and could just never get it right, they seemed to move different distances, never square to the rim, rubbed on the tyre, needed tweaking after every other ride etc. In the end i gave up and fitted V Brakes and have never looked back.

After that is was the rear mech but having adjusted a few of these the past month or so they just seem to work well. I now find i prefer to tweak the rear mech rather than the front.