r/BikeMechanics

Stretch skewer springs over the rod. They stay put.

Buy a 1/4" hex bit (SAE tool, gasp!), connect your two torque wrenches together and peep the max deflection.

Them cores can slice ya! This puts a nice smooth bevel on the inside of the core.

HSS screw extractors for an impact driver. Drill on one side, extractor on the other. Great for cleat screws. u can get a decent set at Harbor Freight.

Japanese screw head pliers, have successfully used on stripped rotor bolts.

Dull 90° pick, slide and pull away. My new favorite tool for popping tape.

Seriously wish I'd have bought one peak pandemic when we shipped a lot of bikes. A few years ago I was asked to ship a tandem and wanted to ensure I could make a suitably sturdy box from two bike boxes.

Found one real cheap locally on Facebook marketplace with a box of nearly 10k staples. And while it doesn't "shoot" staples like a traditional staple gun, using it is definitely one of those Tim the tool man Taylor moments.

This is mostly relevant to shop or co-op folks. I finally found an affordable axle spacer (washers to go between cones and locknuts for correcting OLD spacing, for example when replacing worn cones with new ones that have a slightly different stack height, or respacing a hub). ASMC Industrial sells 3/8 x 5/8 x 0.063 and 0.032 washers in stainless. These are roughly 9.9 ID x 15.9 OD x 1.5 and 0.5mm thickness in dimension. They fit all axles cleanly except 10mm axles you'll have to hit the ID with a rat tail file or a dremel with a conical stone or sanding drum. Left is the thin one, middle is the 1mm expensive $1+ each wheels mfg spacer and right is the thick one. They're 16 cents a piece shipped, sold in packs of 100. Part numbers: 0000-101700 thin, 0000-103969 thick.

Customer complains about noisy crank or bb on giant road bike
Needed a good amount of cleaning, retaining compound and a new BB86.

Really curious on how all that sand ended up in there?
How’s that even possible?

Hi All. First ever post for me. I made a motorized bike stand and it worked out pretty well. The first iteration had a counterweight inside which was good but I added a motor and it's definitely a big improvement.

Here's a short video of it in action: https://youtube.com/shorts/xxaxBPmopz0?feature=share

Parts list below (prices in CAD$).

• Base $30: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0BHL5SZ3D?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1
• 7ft 2.5" O/D main pole $120
• Two slightly wider metal tubular pieces - 12" to hold the clamp and 4" for the top $30. Each of these has a 3D printed collar to take up the space between the main pole and the wider pieces. This makes sliding a lot smoother and took a couple of tries to get the right thickness. My guess is they will have to be replaced once in a while as they wear down.
• Two short right angle pieces for the top and some flat bar to mount the clamp and tool holder. These were all from the scrap bins and cost $20
• Bearings for top $13: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CG45TCTD?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title
• Internal "bearing" near bottom is a metal collar on a bolt.
• For this installation I drilled holes in the concrete and used 1/2" drop ins. This way when I put it away for the winter there will be no bolts to trip over. $10 total.
• The motor is a engine hoist from Vevor $116: https://www.vevor.ca/electric-wire-rope-hoist-c_10453/vevor-electric-hoist-crane-winch-440-lbs-328-ft-wireless-14-ft-wired-remote-p_010407513183 You can get one for $104 but it only has a wired remote and the wireless is way better for an extra $12.
• Park Tool PRS-4W-2 $475 https://www.parktool.com/en-int/product/deluxe-wall-mount-repair-stand-prs-4w-2?srsltid=AfmBOopwQ5v82VF-vvS0Tk5Rzgbo7Ds2r7MvyTAoxmG-FgEZQShcS_Oy This was obviously a splurge but you could use a variety of attachments. My thinking was I needed a new bike stand and for one with a clamp of this quality I'd be paying $800-1000.

Metal was all from Metal Supermarket in Burnaby BC. https://www.metalsupermarkets.com/ For the welding I used a cheap Amazon one which I got for $130 https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08CBBHFX5?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title I was keen to learn how to weld and my learnings were that it's pretty easy to stick two pieces of metal together but very hard to make it look good and even harder to do it in a manner that you'd rely on it for safety. I have new found respect for welders! Anyway, my Homer Simpson quality welds are holding up very well and you can make them look much better if you put a flap disc on an angle grinder to clean them up when you're done.

Anyway, this was a fun project and I'm happy with how it turned out.

So I built up some new wheels for a friend, Paul bolt on hubs w/ Pillar rainbow spokes and some old, but decent Mavic 26” rims. The rims were in overall good condition, minimal wear and straight, except one valve hole had been attacked with seemingly a dull step-drill bit… Not homies fault, just how he received em. Anyway, I couldn’t rest knowing this was the case, so I set out to fix it with my 3d printer. I modeled a simple insert to take up the space and give a nice presta sized hole again. Printed from TPU and then simply taped over as normal.