First sale principle, or digital rights? Right to repair controversy over farm tractors

Wheels of Happiness

A tractor manufacturing company and farmers reached a deal about right to repair.   Before farmers could not repair their tractor because of lack of access to parts number and codes for the tractors (just like in cars).   A repair of about $500 can cost $5,000 in the dealer just because it cant access the repair codes.

Farmers were up and arms and as you know it because of the first sale right.  When you buy something everything that is there is yours.   And you should be able to repair it.   Now companies in order to earn more invokes the "digital rights" Ie that the repair codes or codes running the car/machinery is theirs.   (It should be in the deed of sale)

GM says it owns all the cars its sells (dont sell just lease  - is GM still around hello?)

With record profits, probably the tractor company backed down, and also in the spirit of patriotism and oneness with the customer.

I saw a video on a buyer of a luxury car, who surrendered repairing a salvaged car, just because the manufacturer refused to lend him a source code for the car.   That is carrying the profit motive too far.  It wont be long before the manufacturer probably would be history.

How about bikes?  Do sellers maintain their rights over the bikes we bought?

       

Shimano Ultegra 6700 shifter repair/rebuild

Wheels of Happiness

I used to have these shifters:    6700 and 6800.   I never had difficulty with these shifters.  But this is a guide in case something turns out bad.  It turns out with ridgid training one can do this.  One needs good memory and good spatial logic

Do not try this.  Let the mechanic do this repair.

DIY carbon frame repair

Wheels of Happiness

One need not worry about repairing carbon frame.  No need to bring to rush this to CNC near Sta Lucia for 4 to 6 figure repair.  You can do this yourself.

Steps:

1.   Do the coin test;   Tap the part you suspect to be broken.  If the sound changes and sound becomes dull, then it is broken.

2.  Remove other parts.   Cover the other parts of the bike, paper, masking tape to prevent epoxy from spoiling other parts of the bike.  Use safety equipment:   face mask, gloves, if needed respirator.   Carbon fiber dusts are bad for the skin and lungs.   

3.  Sand paper the broken part.

4.  Cut the carbon to fit into the broken part.

5.  Mix the epoxy.  Some say 1:1  (hardener to epoxy) some say 1 to 2.

6.  Apply epoxy with a brush (tooth or paint) to the broken part and the carbon fiber.

7.  Paste.  Apply more epoxy.  To be sure, you make this three layers.

8.  Attach compression  tape.    Secure with electrical or duct tape.

9.  Shrink the shrink tape with heat gun or hair dryer.

Carbon fiber repair kit at Shopee. P700+

10.  Leave overnight.

11.  Sandpaper

12. Paint.   

Training to be DIY mechanic trains your mind to be meticulous and detailed

Wheels of Happiness

This post has maintained that sports and business are similar in approach   you have to train,  you  have observe a process, you have to have a goal, you have to prepare your inputs, study your processes to improve your ride and strength.   You have to watch what you eat and many more.

Same with business.  Above you all, you have to be passionate.

Same with being DIY mechanic.  As I disassembled the Campy crank, I have to observe very well the sequence of removal (to aid me in reassembly)  observe what is abnormal with normal.  I observed the bearing and the axle to be grimy and filled with grit.  There were gaskets that are probably interfering with the rotation of the crank

I had to be meticulous and observant.  Same as in business.  If it is failing, I have to know what are the factors that cause it to fail.  

I know I have continue doing this, ie being vigilant of what can go wrong, Otherwise, I I  will wreck the bike

Not all repair jobs are perfect - you have to redo this and you must be patient

Wheels of Happiness

We have experienced that even your best shops and mechanics foul up in the jobs you ordered.  There could be many causes:   wrong part, wrong diagnosis, the parts were reinstalled properly, too tight or too loose tightening.  A part was missed.

You must be patient and humble enough to admit the mistake was made and you have to redo the job.

This happened in my recent attempt to regrease the bearings of the headset.  I am on my third back job.

The goal at the start was to regrease the headset bearings and make it smoother.  I soaked the cage, and the individual bearings.   Cleaned each and every bearing.

However actual use of the bike showed the steering to be binding and abnormal.   I found out one ring at the bottom was missed out    The steering again was not 100%

So a washer was missed at the top bearing, and another one at the bottom.    So I added the missing part, and the binding disappeared.  However, I have not tried yet on actual ride.   

Hmmm that is what you call experience.   And maturity.  Surely, this will not happen again.  

Happy and satisfied with self (DIY) repairs on MTB

Wheels of Happiness

During the last few days, the MTB, both the SAVA and Twitter had difficulties subject to repair. These were done by myself and the LBS.

1.  The FD of the Sava Ti bike would not switch.

      I thought the FD, an XT was toast.   I brought this to the LBS, who sprayed degreaser on the pivot

      and reinstalled the cables which prayed.    However this was a short lived solution

      This post tried another tack before pursuing a replacement.   I removed the FD from its mount to have a better view of the crud that accumulatetd and the pivot (bearings) of the FD. And saw the culprit  end cable cap jammed the mechanism which I dutifully removed.   Ergo the FD worked again.   

2.  Worn out front disc brake pad, new one would not fit

     The SAVA bike showed hissing sound whenever this post braked downhill.   And the disc seemed to      be warped as the  brake lever was pressed.  However, upon examination, the brake pad was worn out       and  there was all ready a metal to metal contact.   The other piston was all ready out by about 2 mm      due to  the brake pad wear.

     It was good that I had resin pad with fins at hand.  However as I reinstalled, the caliper would not fit 

     into the disc.   What could be solution.?   Reinstalling the worn out pads, this post pried open the              opening so that the piston would sit flush to the caliper.   That did it.  I was able to reinstall

      the pads without further hitch

 3.  Repairing the flat with very tiny puncture

      The Twitter bike rear wheel got a flast.  However, I could not find the site of puncture at the

      exterior, and the interior.  The bike has been used by another member of the household.

      I installed a new interior.   As soon as this post got home the tire was soft again and then became

      flat again.

     How to find the hole.  ?

     It took me one whole afternoon to find the puncture.  The culprit was a fine staple wire that protuded

     from inside teh interior.  It took a long nose plier to remove the culprit.

     The next difficulty was finding the puncture at the interior (I had two punctures).   It was not

      visible to ordinary water submerge test.   Reason, the bubbles were tiny and came at out very

      slowly.  It was difficutl marking the puncture.   But the will power prevailed.   And eventually

      solved the puncture porblem

How to make a one piston, mechanical disc brake to work better.

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines

4.05.2021

This looks outdated and anachoristic now.  And looks unrepairable to some.

Final adjustment of the Shimano XT hub?

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines

4.03.2021

I am about to buy a new  rear XT hub (BN) or buy from Lazada (but unfortunately its the front being sold) just to get over my difficulty in the rough rotation of the rear wheel.   I have spent about 2 weeks trying to figure out myself how to get this right.  

It all started when I overhauled the rear hub.  I might have missed some steps.

My problem is:   if I adjust the preload too tight, the wheel wont turn freely;   if I adjust the tighetining nut by 90%  (or quarter) then the wheel plays laterally.   

I planned to go to a super mechanic to get this right.   But before doing that:

    1.  I consulted again Google how to do the disassembly and assembly

    2.  I disassembled the hub again  -  found out:

                1.  That some of the bearings  fell off the races;

                2.   The cone at the non drive side had scores on the surface

                3.   That the bearing  cover on the drive side were not properly pressed in

                       hence the drive side cone cant be tightened well by 2 to 3 threads, and hence

                       there was no correct tightening and loosening

   3.  So I reinstalled and regreased the bearings

        Pressed the bearing cover;   regreased the non drive side;

   4.  Refitted the cones,, and followed the advice of loosening again the nut by 3 to 6 minutes

This time, the wheels spun freely even if I tightened the locking nut full.

And so I can smile again and not go to the mechanic anymore

My bike is teaching me a lot on mechanics, patience and analysis.   

        

My carbon fiber wheelset can be repaired by a local Fiberglass fabricator

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines

3.26.2021

Our colleague whom we sent to scout for the carbon bike wheel repair just came and reported that the wheelset can be repaired.  All that they have to do is to build up the rim and sand paper to be flat.

That is nothing compared to big job repair of cut and/or broken wheelset, stays, and even tube.

The workers according to the staff are very young,, and hopefully they will not charge much.   

I can only surmise this is their site?    https://rj-bodykits-carbon-fiber-fiberglass.business.site/

However I was quoted a steep price P2,500 for the job.    I negotiated.  Last price is P2,000.  But they will make sure the repair leaves the wheel balanced and flat/even.  

                                                    The more high end alternative

However, I just learned that all that they can do is:

1.   Build up the rim;

2.   With another color (not the original one) and the friction part cant be redone

3.   The wheel seem to be a bit twisted (arising from the motorcycle collision last February 1 2020  at Mabalacat.  

Hub Preload adjustment learning

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines

3.24.2021

Preload adjustment from Park Tools

This post believes that in the hub repair, the preload adjustment can be the most difficult part (in my case the cone on the drive side is defective.     

If it is too tight, it is difficult to pedal and drive the bike, if it is too loose, the wheel wiggles from side to side.  It is challenging to get this right.    Sometimes the tighter tightening of the QR can solve the problem

Temporary repair of STI hoods

Wheels of

Rizal Philippines
February 12, 2018

                                            Made cut from old unserviceable MTB interior

I came across the suggestion/post of Bobby Cruise on how to make temporary repair of STI hoods, especially if  you cant find the hood. The hood also costs a lot: P550 to P600.00 if you find one.  Orlando Mendoza, and Mr. Cancejo sell these stuff.

I wanted to buy a new GS (while mine still works fine) for the simple reason that the hood is ugly,sticky, it soils the mitt and I feel uneasy about this.

The  kapadyaks made recommendation to invest in a new group set. (kay Per Marquez of 168 P21.499 only? Mas magaan 6800 kaysa RS8000)

But that desire to buy a new one has diminished because  I made a great repair. Hindi na ako agressivo na magcanvass ng bagong group set The first try was disaster.  As they say, try and try until  you get it OK 100%

Being a biker trains you to really do a lot of repairs yourself

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines
October 15, 2017

Being a biker trains you to be a Mr. Handyman.  Kasi if you have everything that goes wrong with your bike to be done by the mechanic, you are in for a lot of abala and expenses.  Sometimes all you need is patience, focus, pair of pliers, allen wrench (hex) and a little understanding of mechanics of the bike.

Today:   I fixed the following on my bike:

1.  Tightened the cables for the front and rear derailleur of the Sava MTB and the Bianchi road bike
2.  Removed the grating sound of the rear derailleur of the Bianchi (a little 1/4 turn of the low screw of the RD)
3.  Adjusted the cables of the Sava MTB so that it can shift to the biggest rear sprocket (34)
4.  Put loctite on the crank tensioner bolt so that it wont fall off again (as it has several times)

I also washed the bikes and removed the grime from the chain ring and the sprocket.

In the house I was the handyman, the DIY guy:

1.  I replaced the LED bulb outside the house on the western side;
2.  Replaced the bulb of the lighting fixture inside the house

Tuning the front derailleur could be frustrating

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines
June 23, 2017

On my birthday bike ride, I was only able to use the small chain ring;   the front derailleur wont shift to the large chain ring.   Yesterday, I had the opportunity to tune it for it to work on large chain ring.  The lack of large chain ring slowed me down on flats and going downhill.

I spent almost 30 minutes  trying to get the fd work right.  Armed with a 5 mm allen wrench screw driver and pliers, I tried my luck.   First thing I did was to get the slack off the cable,  Then trying to get the shifter a little bit out by turning the low screw clockwise until I got the chain go to the large chain ring.  However the chain was jumping off the ring.   So I had to turn the lower (high screw) about 4 x so that the limiter will prevent the chain from over reaching.  After wards, I tried the shifter and it would not shift again.  I had to turn the lower screw cc about 3 turns to get it right.  

I think did trial and error of the adjustment about 4x;  I nearly gave up to bring the bike to the mechanic. The patience paid off and was rewarded with a functioning front derailleur.

Fixing the damaged bike from the crash last Sunday

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines
December 10, 2017

While my wounds were still aching, I attended to the fixing of the bike that was damaged in the crash with kapadyak Alan in Jalajala. The left side of QR (that is the direction of my fall)  the left pedal were badly scratched.  The handle bar and the wheel were misaligned (not at right angle)  the STI were misaligned and the cover of the STI,  The rear wheel and the axle has a slight play also (the plastic that are coated metallic) was badly scratched too.  No use crying over these ugliness that has befallen the bike.

So although limping, i picked up the hex  wrench and adjusted the STI, handle bar, removed the rear wheel set and tightened the  axle.  It was opportunity to clean the chain and the cogs.

I hope I can have painless knees soon so that I can join the ride this coming week end.  I may use an MTB maybe.

Repair of head post of the Bianchi bike

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines
December 23, 2016

Before I rode out yesterday with the Bianchi bike, its handling and safety was suspect.   The head post and the steerer were loose.  I tried to tighten this but everything came loose.  The flower together with the bolt for the headpost came out.

So I removed the stem from steering post, and examined the flower.  The flower petals were all tightly compressed. So I took a long nose plier and tried to straighten out the flower by 2 to 3 mm or about the same amount of degrees.  Then having determined that the flower were exact or slightly tighter fit, I drove down the flower using the long nose plier, and the head post bolt to drive down the flower.

I tried reinstalling the head post and the stem, and everything was nice and tight.  I was able to ride today using the Bianchi bike and saved about a P100 in repair bills.

How nice

Carbon fiber cheap repair

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines
December 19, 2015









Do it yourself.  You need time though and patience to do it.







Have it repaired by a shop (for a hefty fee)

Robust repair of Campy front derailleur

Wheels of Happiness

Angono, Rizal  Philippines
June 1, 2015

                         It looks like its an electrical prong

Yesterday  I used the Fuji bike with Campy groupset.  Twice, the chain was derailed:  one before Cardona Iglesia and another after descending at Namay.  I was even trying to catch up with Richard and Ariel.  (VM passed me at the last derailment)  The culprit - the repair on the front derailleur using fiberglass broke down and so the chain was jumping.

So after going back via the Cardona diversion (strengthening ride) , I put all my efforts into having the front derailleur repaired. I found copper prongs of an broken down socket which needs little cutting and drilling.  I used snip to trim the excess metal and scissor to enlarge the hole.  It took some time to enlarge the hole so that the attaching screw will fit.

I now have a robust repair (vs the old  fiberglass repair which set me back by hundreds of pesos and which was pretty fragile).   So sometimes, relying on others to repair your bike may not be a good idea after all.