Tools and late night bike maintenance

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?" 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:
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:
Edgware.

"Just zis Guy, you know?" 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
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" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 08 Jun 2004 03:12:41 +0100, David Waters
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"
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 ,
"Just zis Guy, you know?" 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/