This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Must be that Monday - gave the 'wagon a clean on Saturday. Persistent rattle on the way in. Despite two stops I've yet to find the culprit.. Grrrrr..

Ive had a rattle/crunch for the last week which despite completely taking apart, cleaning, lubing everything, and replacing the bottom bracket is still as prominent as ever, the only thing left is the rounded off chainring bolt and if its not that then i am going to have to accept the bike is haunted and set it on fire!

Took the slack out of the chain this morning - no rub on the mudguards! Huzzah. Although the back mudguard needs some padding at the seatstay bridge to get rid of a little squeaking.

Does the fettling ever stop?

Does the fettling ever stop?

No

Very annoying 'cause I'm only just back on the ss after the accident and loving riding it because it was absolutely silent. Now it rattles every time I go over a grain of dust. Serves me right for cleaning it.

I'm not ashamed to admit i was close to tears on Saturday after taking the bike apart for the third time and the noise is still there. Every moving part is clean and smooth until they are asked to cooperate with each other.
I feel like the new stepmum who no matter how hard she tries just cant get the child to behave!

I sometimes think that a nice thick layer of grime insulates everything and keeps those tiny rattles quiet!

Every moving part is clean and smooth until they are asked to cooperate with each other.

The most annoying noise source in my experience is the one from non-moving parts, because you can't really replicate it well at home. One source of faint rattling I found at some point was one of the stays from my rear mudguard: the bolt holding it place is absolutely bombproof, there is zero movement there, I thought it couldn't possible rattle. Turns out that the end of the stay that sticks out a little bit passes the rear reflector, apparently a bit too closely. And when there's a bit of road buzz, the mudguards start vibrating sideways a bit. Not a problem anywhere else but at that specific spot, where the sticking-out bit of the stay starts to hit the plastic reflector every so often.

Fixed it with two layers of electric tape wrapped around it, so that part was super easy. But finding that bastard was so annoying, because you just cannot get it to rattle when standing still, and it doesn't look like it would be able to cause noise. (Plus the mudguard is plastic and I for one tend to look for metal bits making noise...)

Green wave all the way from E&C to Camberwell, glorious...
Then rear wheel slips at the top of a hill, no tools, have to get taxi home.
Swings and roundabouts...

Yeah, this. Had a fettle at lunchtime. Not sure what I did but was silent again on the way home.

Have you tried tightening your skewers ?

erm, im not sure specifically but ive had the back wheel on and off so many times this last week i would have thought id have noticed if they were loose? maybe not though as i have noticed the chain being more slack when getting to work vs when i left?

i nearly tried throwing it in the river earlier when i got a puncture and had to walk 4 miles home.

so road bike out of action, track bike best not spoken about. lets see if my converted £10 ebay dad bike is any more reliable. first ride on it a 10 miles commute, whats the worst that could happen

my brooks cambium is making an awful noise recently. I've stripped it down and given it a thorough clean but it's still noisy. irritating.

the stupidest bike fettling mistake I ever made was forgetting to unlock my trp hy/rd disc calipers (there's a small screw you can wind in to lock the piston arm when the wheels are out) after cleaning the bike one weekend. my drive slopes down towards a fairly busy road. not a nice sensation when you're clipped in and grab the brakes and the levers don't move...
luckily there weren't any cars coming past at the time.

Maybe worth a look, incurable noise has turned out to be incorrectly seated /not quite tight enough rear QR for me in the past.

Was a glorious day when a mechanic sussed that for me.

cheers, will give it a look when my last bike no doubt falls apart underneath me in the coming days

Decided to take a different route to work today, to have a go at some fun little trails in a woods near my house. The second half of the route involved riding along a different main road to usual. Encountered:

• Someone riding like a complete prat, cycling along the pavement, cutting up other riders, hopping on the curb to undertake a bus which was pulling out.
  
• A huge bunch of riders (uncommon in Leeds) essentially taking the whole lane down into town - the cycling provision is wholly inadequate, & drivers barely get above 20mph anyway.
  
• New signs on some student halls promoting free communal bikes for residents. Seems like a good idea, but I bet most will just be nicked/abandoned.
  
• A rider cutting right across me without a shoulder check, very nearly clipping me & ending up coming off. Thankfully he was alright.
  
  

Eventful one for a change!

First test ride completed. For a bike that weighs as much as me (a lot) and was put together for about £30 this bike can certainly do a job. And in it's original state a couple of weeks ago. Just need to sand it down and give it a spray, true the wheels up a bit and it'll be good as new

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fistbump for vintage MTB commutez...

(‘89 Marin Franken-bear Valley)

Shared an unexpected high five with my father in law as our cycle commutes passed each other today. 9/10 would high five again.

No place in the bike racks at work + queue at the shower. First sun problems!

This made me smile. Why only 9? Was it one of those slightly off-centre high fives?

Score was for overall commute. The high 5 was a definite 10, possibly 11 (!), dragged the commute up from a fairly average 6/10.

I'm imagining the both of you cycling toward each other with no expression, no hint of acknowledgement until the perfectly timed high five, leaving passers-by wondering what just happened, did they know each other? do they do this every day?

Checked out a PaddyWagon coming the other way yesterday. Wondered why the owner called out. Realised was because I was on a PaddyWagon. Konappreciation.

+1