A Few Useful Modifications

[Bruiser1]

I took a nap for too long, and now it's very late and I can't sleep.

So I thought I'd make a topic with some bodges I've done for my bike, to help you

guys save a few bucks (or pounds). I'm a very thrifty person, so I don't spend

money unless it's aboslutely necessary. That, and I like bodging stuff. So, here we

go.

The pedal bodge

After a good year of hard use, the pins on my platform pedal were loosing their

grip, which made riding a bit too slippery. Rather to spend $18 on new pedals, I

spent a cool $2.50 on materials, and after some 30 minutes of work, I was left

with these.

This is what I did:

- pull out the stock pins with some pliers

- drill the existing holes with a 1/8” drill bit. I used a drill press which made it lots

easier, but it’s fine to use a normal drill.

- Get some ½” long sheet metal screws, with a round head.

- Using a drill, or a ratchet, screw the screws into the holes in the pedals, from the

inside. Tighten them down a bit.

The grip on them is extraordinary. Absolutely unslippable, no matter if they get

wet, muddy, whatever. As you can see, they are as dangerous as they are grippy.

I can’t suggest enough that you wear shinpads with these. You’ll get mangled if

your foot happens to come off the pedal... trust me on that one. My shin pads

have some gnarly gashes in them from the screws, and after getting them into my

leg already once, it’s not pleasant at all.

Also, your shoes might get worn faster from these pedals, but nothing serious.

Pics:

The derailleur tensioner

It seems that a common problem for normal single speed tensioners is that the

spring tension on them is not as good as it could be, and the springs themselves

are somewhat weak. My shop gave me the remains of a mint condition XTR

derailleur, which some xc’er shifted into the spokes, so I decided to try the bodge

on that. If you have a derailleur laying around, or if you happen to luck out like

me, give this a try. I saw a picture of a derailleur tensioner, and decided to try it

for myself, and I was very impressed.

I didn’t have to do very much work at all, since the previous owner of the

derailleur was thoughtful and removed the lower part of the cage for me, using

nothing but his spokes.

If you’re starting from a whole derailleur, this is what you can do:

- take off the inner cage and pulleys, and cut the cage plate that is attached to the

derailleur, so that it ends up in a good shape.

- Then, just bolt the pulley back on. I got myself a cool Dura Ace pulley with

sealed bearings.

- I left the b-tension spring in the derailleur. It’s the spring that most riders take

out. This way it has 2 springs pulling on the chain, and it works better like that.

With the spring removed, there will be a lot of tension trying to move the derailleur

up, so every now and then it will loosen and it will need to be repositioned. This

doesn’t happen at all with the spring left in. you can also dial in the spring tension

screw, and get lots of tension on it. The whole setup makes no noise, the chain can

barely bounce up and down which is cool.

- Shorten your chain, and install the tensioner.

The tensioner has tons of spring tension, which keeps the chain tight all the time. I

know a lot wouldn’t be interested, but this thing can also change a few gears. for

this, you need to put a piece of steel strapping or any sheet metal after the pulley,

so that it can push the chain down to the next gear Since the cage length is... zero,

there isn’t much to take up a lot of slack in the chain, so its best to limit the setup

to 3 or 4 gears max. it worked with 5 gears, but the tensioner got too vertical so

the chain wouldn’t wrap too far around underneath the cog.

You can use a shifter, or just the barrel adjusters. Give it a go, it works awesome,

makes everything silent, and is cooler than a stick with a pulley. A lot of people

run single speed with their derailleurs anyways, and you can make it work with

gears if at comp time your bike gets checked.

Pics:

The pad bodge

Most of you know this one, it’s to use narrow rims like Mavic D521’s etc on wide

frames like Koxx LevelBosses. From the pics I’d seen before, riders were

permanently gluing the backings onto new pads. I wanted to be able to reuse the

backings, so I used only bolts to hold everything together.

To do this,

- get an old pad, and cut the remaining pad material flush with the plastic backing.

For one of my pads, I decided to countour the pad material to the shape of the

backing, just for fun.

- Get some wood screws, ½” long ones with a flush head, and that have enough

threads on them to hold the two pads securely.

- Hold the backing onto the back of whatever new pad you’re going to use. Put the

two pads in a vice, with the backings facing upwards.

- Using a small drill bit, drill out 4 holes for the bolts. Having the backing and the

pad held together ensures the holes are aligned. Make the holes ½” deep.

- Then use a ¼” drill bit to carefully shape the top of the holes to fit the

cone-shaped heads of the wood screws.

- Use a screwdriver to screw the backing to the pad using the wood screws. Take

your time, so you don’t strip out the holes, and so that the screw tips dig into the

pad material, instead of pushing it out.

The 4 screws give each pad a huge amount of strength. The backings won’t fall or

break off. Also now that there’s screws holding everything together, you can reuse

the backings,

Pics:

Well, I hope these bodges are of some use to anyone. I think I covered all the

essential details. If anyone has anymore questions, just ask.

Roman R.

[Rob Thomson]

That pad one is gonna come in use for me, as I can't be arsed buying a koxx rim...cheers thats helped a fair bit hactually......

[Unreal Rider]

that pedal bodge is scarey.... make sure u deffo whear shin pads :P

[X-Lite_Rider]

that pedal bodge is scarey.... make sure u deffo whear shin pads :P

lol can u imagine them drill bits sticking into you're shins and not coming back out they look dangerous.

[Tomm]

The mech bodge looks sweet. And your bike is too clean :P

One question... I thought most mechs tensioned UP, because normally the chain run over the top jockey wheel (The lower jockey wheel tensions down)? Maybe I'm wrong though ?

[Jonno]

that one with the derailer is pretty cool, might go try it :P

Jonno

[JTM]

Pedals...oh dear lol.....thats gonna hurt. They will actually rip the skin I reckon?!

Love the mech bodge, have thought of it myself a few times but could never be arsed to cut and file the cage etc. Looks even better cos its an xtr aswell hehe

nice one

[ben]

the pedals are crasy but don't the screws wear down fast? but I spose it doesnt matter if they do you just get some more for a couple of pence

[Jang]

FAQ topic me thinks :P

[andyzplace]

lovin them pedals!

may have to file the screws down a bit though.

(top topic btw!)

((more like this please)) :P

[Rob Thomson]

Erm, about the pad bodge......how much spare pad material have you got left if you use half inch screws?? Can You use shorter screws or is half inch the best size....?

[joker]

mech bodge--------------looks like though that the chain isnt wrapping around the cog as much so is more likely to skip

[Lee_Buchanan]

Why bodge a set of pedals after a a years worth of riding.Christ a set of vps are only £15.pointless if u ask me.and them screws wud go threw you're shoes.Lee

[Bruiser1]

Glad to hear you guys like these.

For the pedals, yes you could use some shorter screws if you wanted to, some 3/8" long ones, and even cut the tip off them if screws like these scare you. Yes they are super sharp, I've taken a few hard hits to the shinpads and they have gouges now from the screws. Don't try to ride these without shinpads, unless you want to risk getting seriously mangled.

about the pad bodge......Can You use shorter screws or is half inch the best size....?

You can use some 3/8" screws if you want. I had the 1/2" ones on hand, so I used those. I think the extra lenght of the 1/2" ones give them a bit more holding power, but with 4 screws per pad, some shorter screws should be fine.

Why bodge a set of pedals after a a years worth of riding.Christ a set of vps are only £15.pointless if u ask me.and them screws wud go threw you're shoes.Lee

Oh yea because VP pedals are so grippy. Oh wait...

One question... I thought most mechs tensioned UP, because normally the chain run over the top jockey wheel (The lower jockey wheel tensions down)? Maybe I'm wrong though ?

Nope the b-tension spring pulls the derailleur down. You can see this when you take the rear wheel off and the derailleur swings towards the back of the bike, if you don't have the derailleur locked out that is. Also the adjusting screw for the spring lets you choose how much tension you want for it.

mech bodge--------------looks like though that the chain isnt wrapping around the cog as much so is more likely to skip

Unless you have it with up tension, how is a singulator, tension seeker, etc any better?

[David]

Can I have more pics of the mech bodge please, im very intrested in trying it!!!! Maybe some more from different angles like the metal piece behind the jockey. So you just leave the spring in the bolt on the mech in?? What about the spring in the body of the mech?

[joker]

Unless you have it with up tension, how is a singulator, tension seeker, etc any better?

true but a 2 jockey wheel mech with the same bodge would give better chain wrap

[JonMack]

I know a lot wouldn’t be interested, but this thing can also change a few gears. for this, you need to put a piece of steel strapping or any sheet metal after the pulley, so that it can push the chain down to the next gear Since the cage length is... zero, there isn’t much to take up a lot of slack in the chain, so its best to limit the setup to 3 or 4 gears max. it worked with 5 gears, but the tensioner got too vertical so the chain wouldn’t wrap too far around underneath the cog.

Can you describe in detail how to do that bit please?

[Freddie]

Good helpful post:) Nicely set out also and your bike is well clean :)

[Alexx]

All very sweet bodges.

I have my pads bodged EXACTLY like that, same screws, same thinkness, same frame and wheel to mount them on too :P

That bike is lookin' mint BTW :D very classy. And finally someone who posts up details on TF :D thank youuu! :)

[Bruiser1]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Here's another picture of the XTR, this time from behind so you can see what to use and how to make the plate that lets you shift gears.

The spring question, yes the b-tension spring is left in, as well as the spring for the cage. Another thing you'll have to do to get the cage spring to act as a second spring, is to remove the stud that keeps the derailleur cage from rotating too far backwards. On XTR derailleurs, it's a black bolt that unscrews. On other derailleurs, it's a stud that's riveted in place. hack saw it off or grind it off. This way both springs will be pushing down on the chain.

The plate question, you can see in the picture what I used to be able to use gears. It's just some steel strapping that I bent to go over the pulley. You can use whatever sheet metal you have. The strapping comes with holes already, so that's a plus.

Jon, you run 2 gears right? This bodge will work great for you. Just make sure the chain is as tigh as you can make it around your trials gear, this way the derailleur will be able to hold better tension when you shift into the small cog.

Everyone else, thanks for the comments.

Any more questions, just ask.

[STEVE-0]

Nice bodging

the pedals are crazy but not as much as those pads...hah....that looks so funny the rim must be tiny

[JonMack]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Here's another picture of the XTR, this time from behind so you can see what to use and how to make the plate that lets you shift gears.

The spring question, yes the b-tension spring is left in, as well as the spring for the cage. Another thing you'll have to do to get the cage spring to act as a second spring, is to remove the stud that keeps the derailleur cage from rotating too far backwards. On XTR derailleurs, it's a black bolt that unscrews. On other derailleurs, it's a stud that's riveted in place. hack saw it off or grind it off. This way both springs will be pushing down on the chain.

The plate question, you can see in the picture what I used to be able to use gears. It's just some steel strapping that I bent to go over the pulley. You can use whatever sheet metal you have. The strapping comes with holes already, so that's a plus.

Jon, you run 2 gears right? This bodge will work great for you. Just make sure the chain is as tigh as you can make it around your trials gear, this way the derailleur will be able to hold better tension when you shift into the small cog.

Everyone else, thanks for the comments.

Any more questions, just ask.

Might have to try it with my spare XTR mech in a few weeks after college is over would be rather cool, I think it is semi-broken at the moment, so hopefully it can still be used for this!

[David]

Could you please point out where this 'stud' is. I want to try the bodge on an old sora mech

[Lee_Buchanan]

I so the pad bodge about 12 months ago! Lewis poytnon! Lee

[Jang]

I so the pad bodge about 12 months ago! Lewis poytnon! Lee

Are you a complete ass or something?

he never said These are the first bodges ever to be done hes just being helpful and showing his with a explinationi