Today in the Brain Trust: Bike hacks

I love making bike hacks, for my bike and others' bikes.

Today, It was both.

1. Before handing off my Bridgestone to a new human this evening, I replaced the thumb shifters with pure friction shifters that would be reliable and smooth. But one of the plastic ferrules at the end of the cable housing broke into pieces, and I did not have a replacement on hand.
So I made one out of a Presta valve cap by carefully poking a small hole in the top, ran the cable through that hole and then through the housing and down to the derailleur. The cable tension holds it in place and causes no hangups when shifting, making it a suitable replacement for 4mm shift housing.

2. The primary flap straps on my Carradice Camper LF bag have been showing wear for awhile -- the bag is over 15 years old -- and so today I replaced one that was about to give way. I used an orphan leather strap left over from another saddlebag, cutting it down and making pinholes for the needle to pull through. I used waxed dental floss to sew it on. It worked well.
They don't match, but whatever.

Even as we prepare to open up more this summer, and I prepare to (hopefully) play out more, I'll be working on bikes all summer. So I am still here to take old, dead bikes and make them work again, to answer your bicycle questions, and to tune up your bike if needed.

Happy riding!