Hacks / Bodges

Thanks for the comments. Frame is good quality built locally to me. No braze ons, non recessed brakes. Pictured with a rear brake on front and recess nut inside fork. All the bodges. Will start a project thread in due course.

Wait, doesn’t this mean that applying the brakes actually accelerates the bike?!?

#inverseshim

Don't worry I think those tyres will probably take care of any acceleration gains

You can of course drill out the back hole in the fork crown to make your front brake way less dodgy...

Regarding the rear, when drilling out plain old tubular brake bridges, I would include a couple of those ally spacer things, concave on one side. One of them I'd drill out to fit the nut. It worked and looked okay... The sleeve on the nut would be a snug fit in the hole on the lower side of the brake bridge. I'd also taper the spacer towards the head of the nut to make it a bit tidier.

If yours is also a plain tube, I'd look at whether it's feasible to open up the hole on the lower side to correct the angle of the hole as it's enlarged to take the nut sleeve, and just slot the upper hole so the brake spindle can be tangential to the wheel. Dremel, or rat-tail file plus a bunch of patience would be required for this.

Under braking, the spindle and nut sleeve would bear on the new edges of the holes you've made, with everything a bit better supported with those spacers, and on the off-chance it ever saw any load from the brake being applied with the wheel turning backwards, the lower hole on the nut sleeve would be enough to hold it.

IKEA chopping board update... a version 3 could probably extend beyond the rack area and catch a little more mud at the back. It did something but isn't win wing or mud catcher good..

Really, just need to find a guard that will slip under the rack..

1 Attachment

Now you have a that nice big rigid plastic slab that's easy to drill through, why not fit a cut down chubby SKS bluemell?

Fix it to the middle of the board, then two more fixings with spaces at the other ends. Get a dremel, give the whole guard a rattle with your hand, trim a bit, rattle, trim a bit, rattle, trim a bit, rattle, etc. until it's sufficiently stiff.

Im back again with another bodge request, open to ideas! I bought a couple of these wall hangers to store my wheels - they are pretty cheap at £3 a piece, but despite the product description theyre the version where the hook swivels. Thats not good for me, as the wheels are high up where I can only reach the bottom of the wheels, not the swivel to fold it into position when putting up the wheels.

As far as I can tell, its stamped steel. I considered:
blast the hinge with a heat gun and then solder it (no paint on the inside of it)
fixing it in position with superglue then epoxy the inside of the hinge

Any clever bodge ideas?

2 Attachments

Crude, but you could just whack two Tek screws in it, through the outer sleeve and into the bit that swivels

Bash the outside of the hinge with a hammer and/or a punch (or improvised versions thereof). It shouldn't take much to create sufficient friction.

The end of the tongue on the back would be a good place to start.

Crush that bit in a vise?

This^

Tie a bit of string on so you can fold the hook down.

Another vote for crushing. I've done it on some of mine for similar reasons - used mole grips I think.

This is the most elegant solution.

I want the opposite, I want the hook to stay up when I take the wheel out! I think crushing it in a vise will do, I can also drive a small screw in the hinge that does the job too.

Thanks all!

Mount it the other way up, with the hinge at the bottom not the top, so that the hook defaults to open when it is down.

Then apply string.

Well. That was a pain. Went to replace the broken barrel adjuster. Realised it was snapped and seized in. Bolt extractor didn’t work. Too tight to drill in situ. Drill out rivets. Remove and retap. Rivet it back (badly). That ate a lot of time to sort the bike for tomorrow that I don’t have. Fuck. Lol.

4 Attachments

Coffee grinder upgrade coincided with getting a Nitto front rack and wanting the light mount to be further forward. The Hario wasn't a great grinder but its handle was looking mighty useful. A bit of drilling later we have a nicely shaped light hanger thingy.

3 Attachments

I want to watch le tour at work. I need to bodge together a phone stand. What things around the office could I utilise?

Late to reply, but don't you always carry spare spokes with you? (Me neither, though i used to in my Carradice saddle bag)

1 Attachment

.

1 Attachment

Used a bit of welding rod to fix the glove box handle for my van

1 Attachment

Very neat job, nice.

Found on fb. Saved someone from having to drill a hole I guess.

1 Attachment

Bumpy cobbled roads of saxony broke my butt, then finally my frame.
Clean through snap but jagged edges line up so…..
If you can’t fix it with zip ties it’s because you didn’t use enough zip ties.
Needed to last 20km to train station, but it worked so well got me 200km to berlin. Bike became a lot more comfy on cobbles!

2 Attachments

DIY SoftRide..
What a heroic fix!