Hmm, maybe I will head over there if I'm not doing anything else, and see what it is about. (not that I need any bicycles repaired, lol)

Upcoming Event: Bicycle Repair Workshop
Next Meeting Details
📅 Date: March 7th (Saturday)
🕙 Time: 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
📍 Location: Dos Vientos Community Center
4801 Borchard Rd, Newbury Park, CA 91320 

The Bicycle Repair Workshop begins at 2:00 PM in the Dos Vientos Community Center at 4801 Borchard Rd, Newbury Park, CA 91320.

https://www.toaksatp.org/project-status

#BikeTooter #ConejoValley #ThousandOaks #NewburyPark #BikeRepair

#ScarboroughON - #PortUnion #RepairCafé

Saturday, February 28, 2026
10:00 am – 3:00 pm

Port Union Community Recreation Centre
5450 Lawrence Ave E,
Scarborough, Ontario

Repair Café — Fixing
- Small Appliances and Home Electronics
- Housewares
- Jewellery
- Clothing & Textiles
- Computers
- Bikes
- Books and paper

FMI and directions:
https://repaircafetoronto.ca/rc-events/port-union-repair-cafe-2-3/

#SolarPunkSunday #RepairCafesToronto
#RepairCafes #FixIt #RightToRepair #Mending #RepairReuseRestore #ComputerRepair #BikeRepair #BookRepair

Regarding the dangerously defective RiderACE bike chain, which was worn out after 4 days of use, I filed a complaint with the German consumer association.

The fact that the chain is worth nothing isn't the problem. A master link breaking under load, however, is a safety issue.

Let's see what happens.
#bikeTooter #cycling #bikerepair

@calum

That's been 90 Euro incl. shipping for the upgrade.

@pws no experiments with cheap chains this time ;-)

#bikerepair

The rim of my spouse's e-bike's rear wheel is broken and is need of #bikerepair.

Not everything went as planned:

The bike has a Shimano 8 speed sprocket in a frame designed for a 142 mm hub. I've got a new wheel for up to 10 speed.

It turned out that, with the old hub, the shifter reached the inner side of the sprocket "just so". With the new hub there is no way to make that work.

Now my choice is to either convert to 9 or 10 speed, or to re-use the old hub with a new rim.

@pws any advice?

Seth came out with a banger yesterday. Loads of useful bike care and maintenance info here.

https://youtu.be/ityKI9CLvJw

#Cycling #BikeRepair

@ascentale @bikenite A8: This was TAX WEEK for me, but I did turn out (by bike, of course) for the first day of 2 Line trains on 1 Line _tracks_, which is an incredibly important train and bike infrastructure upgrade here because our trains are _also_ bike carriers and now there are twice as many trains running over the majority of the system. (Every car of every train has two bike areas, all of which take multiple bikes.)

Next month they start crossing the lake. Rides are already planned.

But also Berm Peak dropped a really good video on "easy" bike repairs that are actually "difficult" except they actually _aren't_ difficult once you know what you need to know. I definitely recommend it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ityKI9CLvJw

#BikeNite #BikeRepair

A RiderACE 10 speed Chinese bike chain after 316 km, or 4 days, of use.

This chain makes the Chinese TANKE chain, which lasted a bit more than 500 km, look good. An ordinary budget chain, like the SRAM 1031, lasts 5-10 times as long.

Don't buy Chinese bike chains: they might be, quite literally, "single use".

Edit: the pin fell out (!) of a RiderACE master link bits after I opened it. The chain was about to fail in a bad way!

#bikerepair #cycling
@pws we have a new winner! :msdbang:

Last Sunday evening I installed a 2nd Chinese TANKE 10S chain.

Today, after just one week of usage, and a distance of 580 km (370 miles), it was worn out.

I had cleaned and lubricated the chain every day.

What I observe is:
* the chain is only moderately lengthened (less than 10mm over 112 links)
* the rolers are worn out (0.075 to 0.08 mm)
* the links with the "TANKE magic buckle" are badly worn out (> 0.1 mm)

This is not a chain - that's a sham!
#tanke #bikerepair #chinaTech #cycling

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/

#bikemekanik #bikemechanic #SheldonBrown #bikes #bikerepair #cycling

Winter is bad for cycle chains, that's well known. Road bikes, where chains are fully unprotected, used on dirty or even gritted roads, are a real stress test.

I rode more than 5000 km from 1 Dec to 6 Feb; clearly my road bike is a very bad place for a chain to be.

A budget SRAM 1031 lasted short of 3000 km. That's not much.

For the first time I used a a cheap Chinese TANKE chain: it lasted less than 1000 km under similar conditions.

Don't buy TANKE chains. I'll test others.
#bikerepair

I'm still experimenting with Chinese bike spare parts: so far sprockets, chains, bottom brackets and brake pads were all good.

Cheap inner shifter cables from China, however, didn't work well in winter: due to salt on the street, zinc oxide appeared on the surface, creating a lot of friction in a matter of days.

Today I replaced the outer casings, and used one of the coated, slightly more expensive inner cables. The cheap ones are still good enough for summer.
#bikerepair

How many Bike kitchens and framebuilders are on fediverse? 🚲 :fediverso:

We know @pyorapajahelsinki
in Helsinki
and @BikeKitchen in Mainz
and
@flinta_bike_kitchen_graz and
@FahrradkuecheGraz Graz
And
@cyclescattin
Grenoble
And
@stolenmanufacture
Paris
And
@starfishbicycles
Svendborg
And
@christianiabikes
Copenhagen

If you know more, please comment.

And if you want to help spread this, you're very welcome to boost.

#bike #cyclist #bikecoop #bikekitchen #diy #repair #bikerepair

#RepairCafé #PaloAltoCA

Next date: Sunday, January 25, 2026 | 11:00 AM to 03:00 PM

Museum of American Heritage, 351 Homer Ave, Palo Alto, Palo Alto, CA, 94301

"The Repair Café Palo Alto is a volunteer-run, community service dedicated to encouraging the repair and reuse of goods rather than dumping them in landfill. Bring broken things and repair volunteers will help to assess what it takes to repair them for continued use and life."

"Repair Café is a free event all about repairing things (together). We have tools, materials, and volunteer experts to help you make any repairs you need on clothes, furniture, small appliances, bicycles, crockery, electronics, lamps, toys, and lots more. Our goal is to extend the life of everyday items and keep them out of the landfill.

Repair Café Silicon Valley started over ten years ago as separate organizations in Palo Alto and Mountain View and has grown to encompass all of Santa Clara Valley. Interested in hosting an event near you? Get in touch and we’ll help you get set up."

FMI - https://www.paloalto.gov/Events-Directory/Public-Works/Repair-Caf%C3%A9-Palo-Alto

#SolarPunkSunday #RepairCafes #RepairCafesCalifornia #RepairCafesPaloAlto #FixIt #SmallApplianceRepair #LampRepair #ElectronicsRepair #Mending #BikeRepair #ToyRepair

I'm thinking the topmost layer might just be dirt. It's thin and while some spots are pretty dark, others aren't, like it's barely there.

The yellow layers... one might be contaminated water? This was also used to quick-lean chains before being used to degrease, and that involves water. The bottom layer, tho', I got nothin'. CB-4 still bound to something?

The thick pale layer is probably factory chain oil, since that was two chains' worth of factory oil removal. Maybe with some other oils, but what?

And that's all I got, so that's it for this episode of Bike Goo Update.

Next time I do this I might set up a webcam for real-time goo monitoring. Those Pitch Drop Experiment bigwigs won't even see it coming.

#BikeGoo #BikeRepair #BikeTooter

BUT ANYWAY

The recovered CB-4 is, while amazing, just CB-4 and is going back in the bottle for re-use.

The remaining goo layers are kind of interesting though. There's like _four_ layers now, which means all that physical disturbance did some shit.

Lit from the side, you see a thin top layer (which is not just meniscus it has shit going on), a yellow translucent layer, the thick core goo layer, and another yellow translucent layer.

Lit from the top, you can see the weird irregular top layer with various formations.

I have no idea what is going on with that part.

#BikeGoo #BikeRepair #BikeTooter

I remind everyone of where this nonsense started roughly eight weeks ago (November 29th):

https://mastodon.murkworks.net/@moira/115636842563036855

That's when @pws told me that he leaves stuff like this to sit for several weeks and then just reuses it, being careful not to disturb the bottom layer. So I thought "let's see what happens!"

I absolutely did _not_ think this would happen. I was kinda serious about the centrifuge but I didn't think I'd get 70% of the degreaser back. This is nuts.

#BikeGoo #BikeTooter #BikeRepair

Now here's the part I REALLY don't understand: the yellow layer, once separated out, became clear. You can see objects clearly through it. What the actual fuck.

But on the plus side, it's like... this is CB-4 Degreasing Fluid again. This is what it looks like. We got like 70% of it back by letting it sit around like eight weeks. What the _other_ actual fuck. O.O

#BikeGoo #BikeTooter #BikeRepair

here's a shot for all you hardcore goo fans coming over from OnlyGoo

#BikeGoo #BikeTooter #BikeRepair #SporesMouldsAndFungus

At this point my "what the fuck" is high, because the top layer is distinctly clearer after being pipetted. I do not understand this but it is stable.

Technique note: I was pipetting with an eyedropper off the top level of the yellow layer, because I don't have a proper pipette tool.

#BikeGoo #BikeTooter #BikeRepair