Greasing Pedals made easy

Fitted grease nipples to the pedals today. Just before I started, I thought about another idea - just drill a small hole in the cap, and use a syringe to force grease in. A variation of this is what John describes here on his blog. I like the nipples with the ball bearing in the end - blocks water and dirt entry.

I've Shimano 324 pedals - SPD cleat one side, flat platform the other. I removed the cage around the pedals first. Drilled a hole in end cap 7.5mm wide. Used 8mm right angle grease nipple - and just screwed it into the hole. Refit the cage, and there is about 1mm gap between the cage and the nipple. When the grease is pushed in, the cap wants to pop off - but hits the cage 1mm later. I'm leaving it there. The whole job took less time then I've spent in the past trying to force grease into the pedal. Greasing the pedals is now soo much easier.

Added slash guards to the end of the mudguards. That bucket is coming in handy. Front guard, I'm not sure yet of the attachment - at the moment its hanging on with two bits of wire. Will see how it works riding before probably using cable ties.

Tried also to make a disk for the outside of the chain ring out of the remains of the bucket - but the curve of the bucket defeated me in the end. Need a flat piece of plastic. Still one piece of bucket left.

All the excitement yesterday on the Corflute - and decided today not to use it. The sign is thick, has more weight than I'd like, but mainly it will interfere with access to the hub. Instead of this, I'm thinking to get some nylon type fabric. This will not hold water, should be lighter than the Corflute, and let me be creative with where it is placed. By tying it on in a few places, I'll still be able to access the hub without having to undo bolts. The main aim of it is to reduce mud splashing onto the Go-Getter bags, so they're not as filthy when I take them into the tent at nights.

Made another 'h' spanner today and put a length of chain on the handle for a chain whip. Not 100% happy with the chain whip part. But used the two spanners to tighten the head-stem nuts - so proving that they work.

Action shot time:

Drilled hole in pedal after the cage is out of the way.

Blury picture of the grease nipple fitted. Didn't totally remove the cage - just the two outside bolts, and loosened the other two to swing it to the side. I left the nipple pointing slightly forward and is up towards the cleat side of the pedal. The cage is lower on that side. I wanted to use the platform side, but then there isn't much room to get the grease gun in.

Got enough grease in there now. If I can find a road racer tube, I want to see if it will go over the seal end of the pedal. That seal isn't the best on these pedals. Any help it can get would be good. Will hunt about for a length tomorrow when I visit the not so local bike shop. A thought I just had now, was to use a bit of coke can aluminium. Might try that first - coke cans are common, and means I don't have to take the pedal off.

Front splash guard showing its bucket origins. It can swing on its attachment point. Not sure yet if it will swing too much when riding at speed and be useless. If so, will weight it a bit. Also want to check if it will be a problem when going through pot holes. A piece of truck tube might be better here.

 Rear splash guard - not so obviously a bucket bit. My rear guard is just a bit short, and the light gets coated with mud. Not good. The splash guard should stop that. At the bottom is a piece of 19mm water pipe inserted in the end of the Mudo frame. It plugs the holes, and I have a vague idea of using it to attach a piece of  Corflute to - to extend the mud guard all the way down. I need to find a thinner sign first.