Working on a bike can be a deeply satisfying thing of course, as long as things go well at any rate. When they don't go to plan for me, well then the Back Road Bimbles Swear Box is likely to see some action, along with the first aid kit to patch almost severed fingers and bruised foreheads and so on.
This last couple of days both my chunky tyred house bikes have received some attention, and thankfully, both the small jobs required went well... so far.
First up was the Marin. A couple of days ago I was giving the chain a wipe down with the old hand towel I keep just for this purpose (a clean and shiny chain is a thing of beauty don't you think?) when I noticed the rear cassette had come over all wibbly-wobbly.
Ah Ha! That would explain why, towards the end of the last ride, I'd been thinking the gears maybe weren't quite their usual selves. I thought I'd detected a clunky change or two, and a bit of slop when pedaling again after coasting, but dismissed it as just me being paranoid (as usual), or the road being bumpy and my right thumb being a bit ham fisted or whatever. Turns out my initial instincts had been right though, obviously.
Now this of course, is a very simple job - whip out the back wheel, tighten up the lock ring on the cassette and lob the wheel back in. Which is essentially what happened. The spring in the rear derailleur is a feisty beggar mind you, it was after my fingers for sure, but all was done and shifting swiftly and silently again in about ten minutes. Hopefully, it'll stay that way now too. With only 163 miles under its wheels, the bike is still pretty new so it maybe wasn't torqued up properly in the factory. Whatever, it's no hardship to fix.
I forgot to take any photos of this fascinating operation though, so here's a general photo of the cassette in question, just in case you want to see what one looks like or something...
Sunrace cassette loveliness recently.
The Marin wasn't the only bike in need of some TLC though, as the Fatso Floater tyre saga continues, or rather in this case, it was a new tube that was the issue.
The On One Floater tyres are well known for their lack of enthusiasm for getting seated on the rim properly, they are in fact, a bit of an arse to be honest, and I had only recently done battle once again with the issue when I swapped the tyres around and decided to fit new tubes to see if that solved the problem (it didn't, not entirely).
The tubes fitted from On One are 26 x 2.75 I think, which seems a tad odd for a 26 x 4.0 tyre. So a few weeks back, with Fatso needing a new chain, I also took the opportunity to swap the tyres around and fit lovely new 26 x 4.0 tubes from Schwalbe.
Here we go, the proper tool for the job... Or so I thought.
All went well. The new chain went on easily (quick links are the Mutts Nuts) and tyre swapping and inflating went well. I lubed the tyre beads with Gt 85 this time, which may not be a good thing to do where rubber items are concerned, but there we go. The tyres were over inflated to aid seating and I enjoyed near success. Both tyres were better than they had been, but both still sported small areas where the tyre still wouldn't sit properly. Knickers to it, I don't notice it while riding so I left it as is and set about enjoying some rides.
But... I then noticed the front tyre had come over all incontinent, and was losing air over a period of days. Bugger. A quick Google found Schwalbe tubes do this sometimes, it's the valve apparently and some just need everything tightening down, others just keep on leaking whatever you do. Bums.
With the bike living in the house, I took to pumping it up again with the pump I carry in my rucksack for on the road emergencies:
The Lezyne Micro Floor Drive HV pump - A superb little bit of kit.
Now I got this pump as it was recommended on Fat-bike.com as being good for inflating the high volume tubes of donut tyred Fatbikes. It's not the pressure that gives you a work out, it's the volume you see. Now this pump is designated HV for High Volume and is better for the job than the HP model, which is for High Pressure. I must admit, lovely piece of kit that it is - all shiny and nicely made, I was a tad sceptical. Just look at it, it's pretty small really. I imagined inflating a Fatty tyre would leave me with arms like Popeye on steroids and gasping for breath.
Not so! It really is an amazing little pump to use. It has a small fold out foot on one side so you can stand on it, but I generally kneel down, hold the pump with one hand, and pump (very easily), with the other. I don't know how many strokes it took to pump the tyre from flat up to about 20 psi, but it wasn't hard work at all and the tube inflated remarkably quickly for such a small pump.
Pumpety-pumpety-pump.
Easy to inflate it may be, but it wasn't right. The bike was flawed, the slow deflation needed fixing.
Not having a valve core remover I just thought sod it, and looked around on the net for more tubes, just not Schwalbes this time, and this morning 'they' arrived. I say they, as the ones I went for come as a pair, and with extra valve caps too, shiny metal ones to replace the plastic ones already fitted to the tubes inside the boxes. These came from a seller on Amazon and were £9.97.
Now near as damnit a tenner for two tubes might seem a lot to those folk who are used to paying a couple of quid for a tube, but such is the Fatbiking life. Tubes and tyres cost an arm and both legs. Think a tenner for two tubes is a lot? My neighbour went into our LBS to buy a spare tube to carry on his Specialized Fatbike, and came out twenty quid poorer, and with just one tube (also by Specialized as it happens). Yikes!
Anyway, back to the story, so the tubes duly arrived this morning and I quickly whipped out Fatso's front wheel and took it out to the operating theatre (the shed).
Over inflated and hard as a bowling ball on Sunday, soft and squidgy on Wednesday.
Right, we'll give one of these a go and keep t'other one for spare.
Woo get me and my posh tyre bead lubes...
Last time I used GT 85, this time I went for some shower gel, a substitute item on a recent shopping order. It's ok stuff but I prefer Radox for smelling fresh after a shower. So I wasn't too upset to 'repurpose' the Imperial Leather. Neat, it's more slippery than a well greased Weasel, so should aid correct tyre fitment...
Pumpety-pumpety-pump...
This time I used the Topeak Joe Blow track pump that lives with the spiders in the shed, and although it too does a decent job, it is actually harder work than the mini pump! This pump aggravates my upper back issue with the up and down movement but I'll survive.
Well the Imperial Leather did much the same job as the GT 85 - just a small spot where the tyre bead is still not where it should be. I've bunged 30 psi in the tyre, refitted the wheel to Fatso and will leave it overnight as it may improve given time.
Now, as long as the cassette stays wobble free and the front tyre stays up on Fatso, then it will have been a pleasant time spent doing those two jobs. Fettling your bikes is almost as good as riding them for satisfaction and enjoyment I reckon.
I've also now got the best smelling Fatbike you'll ever meet!
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