Car Jobs, Setting up the Turbo Trainer and pump problems

I have used Topeak track pumps for many, many years now. I have always bought the Joe Blow in various models and never had any problems. Since I bought the fat and semi fat bikes I bought a Top Peak Joe Blow Fat pump, the first one lasted one go and the needle stopped at around 10psi and would not go back to zero again. The shop replaced straight away with no problems. Ever since then the replacement one has been spot on. At the back end of last week I used the pump on the fat bike and needle was stuck again at 6psi this time. I was busy at the time and did not have time to look at it. Angus bought a new one in the meantime through his second job for £24.47 instead of the £45 rrp. Yesterday I went to unwrap the new pump and thought I would have a look at  he old one first. I turned it upside down and there is a small black turn cap. I loosed it off and then nipped it back up again. After I turned the pump back up the right way the needle was back at zero again. So I have kept the new one as a spare now and will keep using the old one until it breaks.

I have not used my Turbo Trainer in many years and always get bored so it has been in the loft and never looked at. Due to numerous factors I cannot get out on the bike at the mo so decided to rig the turbo back up again. I found the turbo, riser block, sweat net and turbo tyre. I set away setting the Super X as it is not used at the mo. Once I finished and went to mount it in the clamp the rear drop out fouled the turbo on the mech side so could not clamp it up. ggrrr onto plan b so I dragged out Angus's Supersix and checked that in the turbo clamps and it cleared with no problems so time to get a few miles now!
Whilst tinkering in the man cave I also adjusted the bottom limit screw on the Ultegra Di2 rear mech on the Mason as it was not dropping down onto the 11t cog properly. All good now and I have full range of the rear cassette. Not that I use the 11t very often lol.

Angus's second car Corsa D was recalled by Vauxhall and was in the garage last week and they carried out a health check at the same time. I was not expecting anything on the check as it has just passed it mot three weeks before. Well low and behold the front brake pads are 70% worn and need replacing. How much well they quoted £119. I checked to see how much I can buy a set of four pads - £14! and they will probably be able to get them cheaper than me. So that's £105+ for the lab, not bad going. I have booked Angus's first car in for a 4 year service at the same garage- labour only £115 to do oil and oil filter, air filter, pollen filter, spark plugs & brake fluid. In my eyes it just does not add up. The car only does approx 3,000 miles a year so we will hopefully get another two years out of them!
One job that was needing doing was the hinge pin on the glove box had dropped out and gone missing, when you opened the glove box everything kept dropping out. I was going to put a bolt through but checked the price of the Vaux proper plastic pin first - £15, thank you but no thank you. I googled a replacement and found out that there was common fault on the glove boxes, splitting hinges. I watched a lad who has done a video on YouTube on how to repair the problem with zip ties instead of replacing the whole glove box.
So I set away removing the box - 4no screws and discovered the hinges had also split so took less than 5 mins using the zip tie method of repairing both the hinges and also using the a zip tie to replace the missing pin. Whilst I had the glove box out I also decided to replace the pollen/cabin filter as it is located behind the glove box area. The one that came out was jet lack on both sides! Fitting the new one (£7.87 Eurocarparts or £5.70 from Ebay if you are not in a rush) was fiddly but sorted in the end. Cover back on, heater pipe refitted, glove box back in and jobs a good'un.

Fresh Goods Sunday - Park Tool SD-0 Phillips Screwdriver

A few Fresh Goods Sundays ago I mentioned this was the one screwdriver that I did not have from the set of four so decided to buy it, not that I already don't have a few Phillip's 0 sized screwdrivers! This is a perfect size / length for most screws you find behind Shimano sti hoods on caps for removing renewing gear / brake cables or removing plastic hoods to reach brake reservoir cap bolts. As ever with small head screwdrivers you have to take it steady and not overtighten the screws / damage the heads. As like all my other Park Tool screwdrivers / other similar tools the handle feels very comfortable in your palm and will no doubt be used many times over the up and coming years.
RRP £4.99 and I paid £4.49

Manufacturers Blurb -
Shop quality screwdriver designed for comfort and durability. Featuring dual density grips and heat-treated tips and shafts.
The #0 is a 1/8" shaft, for those small computer cross-tip screws and many hydraulic brake reservoir caps.

Might be time for a larger tool box before long!

Day out to Whitby and Weekley Catch Up

Today Arran set off on  trip to go skiing with the school and Angus was working again so me and Jane had a drive down to Whitby for a day out. After some delay early morning in Toolsation and Euro Car Parts we hit the wet and dark A19 which was quiet for a change. Even the road over the moors to drop down into Whitby was quiet. We parked up easily enough and coughed up £5 for 4 hours. We were going to park further out of the town centre and walk in but we wanted to do some shopping first and drop it back off so not humping bags around all day. The rain had dried up but was still real cold but no wind for a change. As you can see in the photos below there was no sun or much daylight come to think of it. It was lovely and quiet to start with but picked up after dinnertime and the car park was full when we left. Just as we were on our way to the chippy it started raining and by the time we left it was quite heavy and never stopped on the drive back.
Also on the way home we called in past Bike Scene, both NRG's shops and Greggs for a cuppa. I was pleased to get back home as I had been up since 5.30am and on the roads from 7.10am. Sorry for the lack of cycling blogs of late but I have had bad man flue again all week and also had a small op on Tuesday to remove four growths so quite sore of that still. Hopefully get back out soon.

And this weeks delivery -

More of this is up coming Fresh Goods Sundays Blogs after some testing / man cave use!

Hunt 650b wheelset - converting to tubeless

After buying some more Stan's and a Park Tool value core remover tonight's job was to convert the Hunt 650b wheels / tyres into tubeless set up.
I had already applied the gold rim tape a while ago when these was a safety recall on the rim tape but I applied a fresh couple of sections for the valves to go through. I left one side of the tyre wall seated and removed the inner tube. Soaped up the non fitted tyre bed and inflated the tyre through the new tubeless valve. Once seated I let the tyre down again and removed the core with the new Park Tool. I wish I had bought one ages ago instead of using pliers, so much easier and less damage. Injected 90-100ml of Stan's per tyre. Screwed the core back in with the new tool, reflated the tyre and did the usual spinning wheel both ways, upside, shaking wheel, bouncing wheel, left to settle etc. I then cleaned off the valve area and rim bead and there was no problems. I did the rear wheel first with the Panaracer Comet Hard Pack tyre then the front with the Spec Fast Trak tyre. No problem's with either of them airing up or seating.
Tomorrow morning will tell if there has been any major air leakages. If they end up the same as the Hunt 700c wheelset I own then I only have to add a small amount of air each week but they have Panaracer Gravelking tubeless tyres fitted.

Tubes for spares now when going out on a ride, just in case!