Tools and late night bike maintenance

[David Waters]

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!

 

[Just Zis Guy]

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!

 

[Helen Deborah V]

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.

 

[Helen Deborah V]

"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.

 

[Roos Eisma]

"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

 

[Audrey]

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

 

[Tony Raven]

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

 

[Mark South]

"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

 

[Audrey]

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

 

[Wirral John]

> 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

 

[Colin Blackburn]

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

 

[Alan J. Wylie]

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

 

[David Martin]

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

 

[Mark South]

"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

 

[Mark South]

"Colin Blackburn" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[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....

 

[billlee]

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

 

[Al C-F]

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

 

[Sandy Morton]

In article <[email protected]>,
Al C-F <[email protected]> wrote:
> Assembly of Japanese bicycle require great peace of mind

Assembly of Japanese bicycle require great piece of mind

--
A T (Sandy) Morton on the Bicycle Island In the Global
Village http://www.millport.net

 

[Chris French]

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

 

[Nick Kew]

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/