Although as per the other thread on disc brakes, I donāt fancy fiddling with hydraulic brakes.
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Funny you should say thatā¦
ā¦
Iāve just replaced mine, smooth like butter now.
Iāve built three or four bikes up.
Best one I did was a late/mid 90s Orange P7.
Fully stripped the frame and chrome polished it.
Proper pleased with that one.
Frankenbike build a few years ago, based around a Ā£40 frame and my box of remaining bike bits.
A road bike frame swap.
I also stripped my BMC down and rebuilt it, before wintering it this past season. I bought that new and the internal cabling is a doddle.
Iām proper scared of my TT bike internal routing, though, as that was second hand and Iām petrified.
Like some others, Iām wary of giving my pride and joy over to the LBS
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My remarkable level of mechanical ineptitude means that I restrict myself to cleaning the bike and perhaps replacing the brake blocks.
Saying that, I have an almost new Carrera road bike that was my sonās, sitting in the shed. I have this vague notion of turning it into a commuter. Chunkier tyres, new brakes, mudguards. No idea what he was doing but both the gear and brake cables have been loosened right off. The plan is to have a go at adjusting them, if I fail Iāll take it to the LBS. I can but try!
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Not sure if this is the right thread but I got told that our works have finally upped\removed the limit on cyclescheme today, but have kept a bit quiet about it so far.
The co-coordinator told my friend the limit was Ā£3k, but when he actually went online he was offered up to Ā£10k, new P5X solid gold here I come 
I think you still repay over a year, but if you want the 4 year agreement the final payoff is at that point and likely to be lower due to the value.
I wonder if they might reduce the value if possible, joking aside you can get a pretty good bike for Ā£3-5k including e-bikes. But I thought that the employee basically footed the credit while you are repaying? And if you leave after say 6 months theyāll have to chase you for whatever is outstanding.
Not much use to me as I CBA to actually ride outside ATM!
Jeff
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Carbon is pretty easy to cut with a junior hacksaw, just take it slowly and measure twice, cut once!
Most headsets these days the only thing you need a tool for is installing the crown race and you can make a DIY one for a few quid from plastic pipe fittings
Ah, my kind of thread, Iām currently building my first bike I have named him Frank, Bought a pretty lightweight Boardman Alloy frame on Ebay, the bike itās from was around 800-900 when new.
carbon forks unused.
all shimano 105 parts, 2x11 shifters.
new gear and brake bits and cables.
a new carbon seat post and new seat.
a new carbon handlebar and stem.
second hand wheels and new tyres.
Iāve spent around Ā£300-350 so far and not even started building 
the caliper tool was a best buy to get measurements right, itās taken 4 months to get all of the right bits so far, just need the time to build itā¦
Wednesday and Thursday evenings I have some free time, the mrs is staying up at her sisters so building shall commence. cannot wait.
Iāve cut loads of carbon steerers. I find a hacksaw blade with a 32 TPI works well and I have on of these:
If you use a cutting guide, donāt be tempted to buy one of those fancy ācarbonā hacksaw blades, as they wonāt fit in the narrow slot in the guide.
The trick is to cut very lightly, especially at the end. Also, i find a good tip is to wrap some white masking tape around the steerer and mark your cut line with a pen. That way, when you put it in the guide you can see the line, otherwise itās all a bit black.
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Plenty of vids on YouTube and also the instruction pages on the park tools website are very detailed.
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Iām glad iām not the only one! I wouldnāt trust myself to change a pedal!!
I am not mechanically minded (or handed) in the slightest. Not only am i crap at it, iām also hopelessly impatient and clumsy. I have never cleaned my bike after a ride ā¦ that may be part of the reason it fell to a premature demise! Iāve tried to fix stuff in the past, but i normally make it worse somehow. I fully accept my limitations; and it goes beyond bikes.
When the family gets a bit older, bills on the house settle down etc i would love to get a nice, shiny new bike that i would actually want to ride. I guess that would be the point to suck it up, stop being so lazy and actually learn how to care for it. But iāve got a good few years yet ā¦ running is easier. Come in, chuck muddy shoes in the tub outside, kit in the washing machine. Done.
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So you arenāt getting the Ā£10k Pinarello on cyclescheme then
I donāt feel so bad now! I do clean my bike though
I think thereās a knock on benefit of doing a certain amount of spannering and having a decent grasp of how things fit together or work. It gives you a bit more mechanical sympathy in terms of how you use things and avoid putting undue stress on components unnecessarily thus extending the lifespan.
Things like cross-chaining or forcing multiple gear changes under load are less likely as you can visualise what you are doing to the shift components or chain links (if youāve split/joined a modern chain youāll know there isnāt much holding those plates on against sideways forces)
Clutches in cars are another exmaple, I canāt slip the clutch as I can see those plates grinding against each other and wearing away whereas my other half has no issue sitting on a hill frying the thing within an inch of its life for 5 minutes 
Haha - trouble is i would still have to pay for it!!!
a 0% credit card over a few years would probably be a better shout anyway!
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I just use an old stem, clamp it in position & cut down the side of it with a hacksaw.
Can put the other end of the stem in a vice too.
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This 
Good tip!
Great tip 
Iām proper scared of cutting a carbon steerer.
LBS does it for Ā£25!!!
Just as an aside, why does every minor maintenance job turn into a major one?
Replaced my brake pads this afternoon on my commuterā¦ theyāre the old fashioned post/cantilever style, and I like them because theyāre simple and just work.
New pads should be a 5 mins jobā¦ and it wasā¦ bar the nut that had seized, and the cable that then was found to be frayed, and the replacement cable that was the wrong sort, and then the discovery that one of the bridge cables was knackered, so a second tripā¦ turned it into a 1hr job, and 2 round trips of 10 miles each to the LBS!.. 
Done now thoughā¦ all shiny, and working beautifullyā¦ thereās something really nice about well adjusted, powerful brakes!
I donāt think Iād risk letting my commuter bike get that close to light-coloured soft furnishings
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