What did you do to your crosscheck today?

Found a set of new Ritchey Kyoto bars at the coop for $10 so I lopped a bit off each end and installed them on the commuter


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I thing I did to Cornelia’s crosscheck a week ago but was only discovered today:

Last week I reinstalled the fenders on her bike.

Today we’re getting on bikes to ride to the library by way of a French bakery. Her cranks won’t turn. We try lots of things. They’ll drive the chain for a second and then lock up. We can’t find anything at all. Take the bikes back upstairs. I’m expecting to walk or catch the bus but she throws her bike in the repair stand and wants to get it sorted. Pull the wheel, look around, spin jockey wheels, spin freehub, push the derailer side to side. Nothing looks bent. She suggests getting the spare derailer hanger we have. I put the wheel back in just in case something we did fixed it. Then she asks if the chain is supposed to be so close to the frame at the dropout. I look down and notice a fender bolt protruding out the back side of the braze-on that is just close enough to catch the chain in the smallest cog. Took the bolt out and replaced it with a shorter one and everything is fixed.

Then we rode to the bakery and I got a croissant stuffed with raspberry pastry cream.

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I’ve been caught by that one before too!

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Def happened on hunter gatherer. Was confused for a few minutes, mostly because I rarely found myself in the 11t.

I’ve done that too.

also done that, by my solution is to use a valve nut as a spacer, since it can be hard for me to find a shorter bolt these days.

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any bolt can be a shorter bolt with the right washers

Or judicious use of a hacksaw

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Chill out, MBS

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sometimes you don’t want to spend extra time, clean up threads, or do it full #custom.

if i am shortening a bolt i am likely going to want to give it a flat end and file/grind a gentle lead in before removing that extra nut i put on there to chase threads. if its only a mm or 3 i’ll probably use washers to pick up the slack if it’s not on a fancy application

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Yep, I’ve done that too haha.

if you think that’s bad, I will have you know that when I put on a new chain because mine was about to explode, I ended up doing the thing with the tab on the derailer cage. Even though I was thinking about not doing it. Kind of feels like I have gone a full circle to just being a regular ass person who can kind of work on a bike instead of a mechanic who has worked on a lot of bikes destined for nationals, and in one case worlds.

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You’re still be better mechanic than me. I just took 3 hours to put wheels and a rack on my new frame.
Then I realized that I’d put a 30.9 seatpost in when it needs a 31.6. I don’t think I clamped the tube down too bad. Put a 31.6 in now and it was a struggle, but went in.

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My ex’s bike was purchased from a shop with the chain on the wrong side of that tab. That mistake comes for everyone atmo.

Connected the brake and shift hoses to finish up the unnecessary brake and drivetrain swap on the Jones yesterday. The stock mech brakes felt bad so it’s fine.

And on the topic of mistakes I successfully continued my streak of forgetting the connecting bolt cover on the first brake installed (always the right/rear).

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WTH… replacing my broken axel and of course I can’t get my 6bolt conversion locking off.

The dtswiss thing is just a standard locking tool right?!?

Dt Swiss Center Lock 6-Bolt Disc Adaptor | Jenson USA?

Yes but they are frustratingly thin compared to better designed lockrings. Zipp and a few others are guilty of this too. Thin ones go in the recycling bin and get replaced with Shimano, Problem Solvers, or Wolf Toot in fancy colors (as a treat).

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just about gave my palms blisters putting tires on my new wheels. broke not one but two levers. ouch. I hate bikes.

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I’ve had the best luck using Park (BBT-9) or Pedros (16x44) BB wrenches with the DT Swiss adapters.

Mounted some Challenge Strada Bianca tires to coffee grinder. So tight and new on rear I of course eventually mis-aligned it by a few mm. When doing front, noticed a hole in it. Was doing dry mount for now. But hands a bit worn all the same. Its like you get used to larger volume mtb tires you can actually grip and tug on sometimes. These felt like dh tires the way the rear was like 1/4 of the way off the rim, needing you to inch it on bit by bit.

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