Tools and late night bike maintenance



D

David Waters

Guest
Excuse my rant, but basically it is 3am and I decided to do a bit of
bike maintenance to sort my head out before I go to bed after a
stressful evening of revision. The Galaxy has just undergone a major
overhaul with a complete new set of cables, new levers and new front mech.

I'll just put the front brake back together I thought to myself, a nice
easy task that should take 10 mins at the most and will chill my head
out nicely. All is set up nicely until I go to cut the cable down to
length. Being a cheapskate I have never bothered to buy a proper set of
cable cutters (and always have to "nip down the shop" to get outers cut
as I can't get through them at all)and so instead I am using some pliers
which can only be described as a piece of **** with a cutting blade that
couldnt cut a very cutty thing! Of course it totally shreds the brand
new cable to pieces. I then decide the best course of action is to yank
the shredded cable out so that I can bin it and start again tomorrow.
But of course the cable gets all tangled in the straddle thingy and rips
that to pieces as well!

So straight I goes onto Wiggle to buy a new brake cable, new straddle
wire and a pair of cutters that at the very least look a bit mean. Net
cost close to £35.

The moral of the story is thus. Buying decent tools saves much stress
and money! Oh and don't try and do bike maintenance at 3am when you are
feeling stressed and tired. Oh and don't then go and post a very stroppy
post about your bad experience on URC where you will rightly get told
what a prat you are for using **** tools and working at toally
inappropriate times!

Night all!
 
David Waters wrote:

> The moral of the story is thus. Buying decent tools saves much stress
> and money! Oh and don't try and do bike maintenance at 3am when you
> are feeling stressed and tired.

This is the First Law of Bicycle Maintenance: any maintenance operation
commencing after the local bike shop shuts will result in the loss or
destruction of at least one part for which you do not have a spare.

This is an immutable law, and applies even if you have whole bikes in your
spares bin (which I do).

As to tools, my rule has always been to buy a reasonably price kit
containing all the common ones, and to replace any that wear out with top
quality ones. I also buy any tool I need to do a job which, in my
estimation, I will need to do more than once, provided it costs less than
about £25.

The only problem with this is that I now have six large toolboxes (bike,
plumbing, electrical, motor, household and powertools) plus a number of
smaller toolkits on the bike, in the car, by the railway layout and so on.
Oh, and the odd vice, grinder, workstand and other odds and ends. If we
ever move I expect movement cracks to appear between our house and the other
half of the semi as the tremendous weight is lifted...

--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

Victory is ours! Down with Eric the Half A Brain!
 
"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email protected]>typed


> The only problem with this is that I now have six large toolboxes (bike,
> plumbing, electrical, motor, household and powertools) plus a number of
> smaller toolkits on the bike, in the car, by the railway layout and so on.
> Oh, and the odd vice, grinder, workstand and other odds and ends. If we
> ever move I expect movement cracks to appear between our house and the other
> half of the semi as the tremendous weight is lifted...

Isostatic rebound, innit?
Ye Shedde's that way ------>

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email protected]
Edgware.
 
Good luck with your exams!

A five-minute job is a description ONLY ever made in retropect.

Hope you get some decent cablecutters. Then you'll buy cone spanners,
block removers & who knows what. Uk.rec.sheds is thisaway... ---->

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email protected]
Edgware.
 
"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email protected]> writes:

>The only problem with this is that I now have six large toolboxes (bike,
>plumbing, electrical, motor, household and powertools) plus a number of
>smaller toolkits on the bike, in the car, by the railway layout and so on.
>Oh, and the odd vice, grinder, workstand and other odds and ends. If we
>ever move I expect movement cracks to appear between our house and the other
>half of the semi as the tremendous weight is lifted...

Or, being like that, try moving in with someone with the same approach.
Though I suppose it could be useful that we now have 2 almost identical
hammers but with a slightly different weight. And lots of spares of
everything. Nothing wrong with having a chain tool in every room of the
house :)

Roos
 
On Tue, 08 Jun 2004 03:12:41 +0100, David Waters
<[email protected]> wrote:


>length. Being a cheapskate I have never bothered to buy a proper set of
>cable cutters (and always have to "nip down the shop" to get outers cut
>as I can't get through them at all)and so instead I am using some pliers
>which can only be described as a piece of **** with a cutting blade that
>couldnt cut a very cutty thing! Of course it totally shreds the brand
>new cable to pieces.

T'other day I was about to try cutting some brake cable with pliers
(usually borrow cable cutters from a neighbour but he was out) when
electricians arrived to do some work on our block of flats. They are
bound to have decent cutters, aren't they? No. The cutters they lent
me mashed the cable worse than my pliers. Grrr.

A
--

email = audmad aaatttt hhhottt mmmaailll dddoottt ccccoommm
 
Roos Eisma wrote:
>
> Or, being like that, try moving in with someone with the same approach.
> Though I suppose it could be useful that we now have 2 almost identical
> hammers but with a slightly different weight. And lots of spares of
> everything. Nothing wrong with having a chain tool in every room of the
> house :)
>

Beats getting up in the middle of the night to sneak into the garage and fit
that new bit you haven't dared to own up to buying ;-)

Tony
 
"audrey" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Tue, 08 Jun 2004 03:12:41 +0100, David Waters
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >length. Being a cheapskate I have never bothered to buy a proper set of
> >cable cutters (and always have to "nip down the shop" to get outers cut
> >as I can't get through them at all)and so instead I am using some pliers
> >which can only be described as a piece of **** with a cutting blade that
> >couldnt cut a very cutty thing! Of course it totally shreds the brand
> >new cable to pieces.
>
> T'other day I was about to try cutting some brake cable with pliers
> (usually borrow cable cutters from a neighbour but he was out) when
> electricians arrived to do some work on our block of flats. They are
> bound to have decent cutters, aren't they? No. The cutters they lent
> me mashed the cable worse than my pliers. Grrr.

Electrical cables are hardly ever made from hardened steels....
--
Mark South: World Citizen, Net Denizen
 
On Tue, 8 Jun 2004 12:22:58 +0200, "Mark South"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>Electrical cables are hardly ever made from hardened steels....

oh. <blushes>

but. I asked them, I told them what I was going to be cutting and
asked if they had anything suitable I could borrow. They could've
said no ...

A
--

email = audmad aaatttt hhhottt mmmaailll dddoottt ccccoommm
 
In article <[email protected]>,
"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email protected]> writes:

> This is the First Law of Bicycle Maintenance: any maintenance operation
> commencing after the local bike shop shuts will result in the loss or
> destruction of at least one part for which you do not have a spare.

That'll be why I have the Round Tuit problem. LBS opening hours aren't
really relevant when you need the bike to get there in the first place.

> As to tools, my rule has always been to buy a reasonably price kit
> containing all the common ones, and to replace any that wear out with top
> quality ones. I also buy any tool I need to do a job which, in my
> estimation, I will need to do more than once, provided it costs less than
> about £25.

I used to take that view. But once you've lost a few tools, and put off
essential jobs while anticipating finding them, it seems to make rather
less sense.

> The only problem with this is that I now have six large toolboxes (bike,

Let me guess. You haven't moved house as often as I have. And you have
more space than I do.

OK for some ....

--
Nick Kew

Nick's manifesto: http://www.htmlhelp.com/~nick/
 

> Oh and don't then go and post a very stroppy
> post about your bad experience on URC where you will rightly get told
> what a prat you are for using **** tools and working at toally
> inappropriate times!
>
> Night all!

You're a prat for using **** tools and working at totally inappropriate
times!

But there again, I've done it, others have done it and we'll probably all do
it again.

Cheers
John
 
On 08 Jun 2004 09:25:19 GMT, Roos Eisma <[email protected]> wrote:

> Or, being like that, try moving in with someone with the same approach.
> Though I suppose it could be useful that we now have 2 almost identical
> hammers but with a slightly different weight.

You can never have too many hammers. I know the same is said of bikes but
it is even more true for hammers. I used to think that you needed just
two, a big one for walloping the f*ck out of things and a little one for
panel pins and window beading. Jobs requiring something in between could
be achieved with one extreme or the other depending on the amount of
collateral damage you are prepared to put up with. Having been on a few
blacksmithing courses I now realise the true value of a hammer's weight
and why you need lots of them. And that's before factoring in the
different cross peins, ball peins, bevelled edge, sharp edge,...

Colin
 
On Tue, 08 Jun 2004 16:41:02 +0100, "Colin Blackburn" <[email protected]> said:

> You can never have too many hammers. I know the same is said of
> bikes but it is even more true for hammers. I used to think that you
> needed just two, a big one for walloping the f*ck out of things and
> a little one for panel pins and window beading. Jobs requiring
> something in between could be achieved with one extreme or the other
> depending on the amount of collateral damage you are prepared to put
> up with. Having been on a few blacksmithing courses I now realise
> the true value of a hammer's weight and why you need lots of
> them. And that's before factoring in the different cross peins, ball
> peins, bevelled edge, sharp edge,...

Copper-faced, leather-faced, rubber, nylon, dead blow, the good old
wooden mallet, ...

http://www.thorhammer.com/

--
Alan J. Wylie http://www.wylie.me.uk/
"Perfection [in design] is achieved not when there is nothing left to add,
but rather when there is nothing left to take away."
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
 
On 8/6/04 4:41 pm, in article [email protected], "Colin
Blackburn" <[email protected]> wrote:

> You can never have too many hammers. I know the same is said of bikes but
> it is even more true for hammers. I used to think that you needed just
> two, a big one for walloping the f*ck out of things and a little one for
> panel pins and window beading. Jobs requiring something in between could
> be achieved with one extreme or the other depending on the amount of
> collateral damage you are prepared to put up with. Having been on a few
> blacksmithing courses I now realise the true value of a hammer's weight
> and why you need lots of them.

Too true. I started to mentally count my hammers and kind of lost the plot
at around a good eight or so (from teeny tack hammers to 14 pound sledge
hammers).

Love to try blacksmithing at some point. Looks like the right application of
brute force and skill combined with chemistry and lots of fire ;-)

...d
 
"audrey" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Tue, 8 Jun 2004 12:22:58 +0200, "Mark South"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >
> >Electrical cables are hardly ever made from hardened steels....
>
> oh. <blushes>

I know, it's not obvious to most people, which is why they try to cut bike
cables with electrical pliers.

> but. I asked them, I told them what I was going to be cutting and
> asked if they had anything suitable I could borrow. They could've
> said no ...

They probably just heard the word "cables". Like the dog in the Far Side
cartoon.
--
"I would recommend Iowa or North
Dakota for your dip into reality."
- Ed Dolan in alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent
 
"Colin Blackburn" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:eek:[email protected]...
> On 08 Jun 2004 09:25:19 GMT, Roos Eisma <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Or, being like that, try moving in with someone with the same approach.
> > Though I suppose it could be useful that we now have 2 almost identical
> > hammers but with a slightly different weight.
>
> You can never have too many hammers. I know the same is said of bikes but
> it is even more true for hammers. I used to think that you needed just
> two, a big one for walloping the f*ck out of things and a little one for
> panel pins and window beading. Jobs requiring something in between could
> be achieved with one extreme or the other depending on the amount of
> collateral damage you are prepared to put up with. Having been on a few
> blacksmithing courses I now realise the true value of a hammer's weight
> and why you need lots of them. And that's before factoring in the
> different cross peins, ball peins, bevelled edge, sharp edge,...

I hear the sound of trolling for Andy Dingley....
 
On Tue, 08 Jun 2004 03:12:41 +0100, David Waters
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Excuse my rant, but basically it is 3am and I decided to do a bit of
>bike maintenance to sort my head out before I go to bed after a
>stressful evening of revision.

Assembly of Japanese bicycle require great peace of mind.
--

Cheers,

Al
 
I did not think my life complete without a Dremel. I find no use for i
except cutting bike cables


-
 
In message <[email protected]>, "Just zis Guy, you know?"
<[email protected]> writes
>
>The only problem with this is that I now have six large toolboxes (bike,
>plumbing, electrical, motor, household and powertools) plus a number of
>smaller toolkits on the bike, in the car, by the railway layout and so on.

I've been experimenting to see what the optimum number is for the number
of the same tool you need to own before you can be sure of finding one
of them when you want one.

For tape measures it seems to be about 8 at the moment, though for head
torches, 3 seems to be sufficient. For garden trowels I suspect the
number is infinite though.
--
Chris French, Leeds
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

D
Tools and late night bike maintenance
Replies
47
Views
3K
UK and Europe
Graeme
G
C
Toting tools on/for a Brompton
Replies
8
Views
409
UK and Europe
Tim Hall
T
P
Park Tools' The Bike Book
Replies
1
Views
436
UK and Europe
Sam Salt
S
S
About those Lidl bike tools and a lumpy bottom bracket
Replies
12
Views
857
UK and Europe
David Lloyd
D
E
What tools do I need?
Replies
10
Views
394
UK and Europe
elyob
E
Top Bottom Back