Who are the highly regarded people on here when it comes to techie bike things

Him >
and matey boy

Depends.

Loco for suspension, Petter poddy as well especially for rockshox forks.

Several people who think they know it all and actually know diddly squat

Trout for LED stuff

Brant
Cy
Mike-at-dialled bikes
Lots of other people in the business on here

For epic bodging cynic-al

WCA for ‘what not to do’ advice.

For bikes – brant, cy, mike, singularsam

For cutlery – cynical

TJ for legislation & bureaucratic prowess. 😆

there’s loads of people who know what they’re talking about

as someone once said “it’s a bicycle not the space shuttle” very simple machines that anyone with the inclination can easily repair and maintain

and for some* their knowledge is by proxy 😉

* no names

anyone with the inclination can easily repair

*hollow laughter*

having recently received some forks that the previous owner had used a file on to reduce the size of the steerer tube so he didn’t have to hammer the crown race on can I disagree?

There is some very good technical advice on here – the problem is the lack of filters 🙂

having recently received some forks that the previous owner had used a file on to reduce the size of the steerer tube so he didn’t have to hammer the crown race on can I disagree?

There will always be fringe cases. Years ago, The company I worked for accidentally sent a customer 72-pin SIMMs when he needed 30-pin.

The customer rang us when they didn’t work. His first issue was, they didn’t fit the sockets, so he’d hacksawed an inch off one end…

anyone with the inclination can easily repair

OK I’ll qualify that to ‘anyone the right side of a half wit with the inclination’
but as Cougar said, you can never discount the possibility of someone merely giving the impression that they should be trusted with anything more technical than a paper clip

What a strange question. FWIW there’s a mine of info and knowledge on this forum across broad spectra. Assuming you have half a brain you can spot most of the chaff a mile off, but ultimately unless we’re talking suspension dynamics/kinematics there’s not much on a bike that’s technical at all.

The customer rang us when they didn’t work. His first issue was, they didn’t fit the sockets, so he’d hacksawed an inch off one end…

Isn’t this part of the problem though, you’re happy to mock the customer on an open forum, but don’t have the mind to offer the correct method of cutting an inch off! 🙄
I imagine that a Stanley knife would have given a cleaner cut, no?

the trick is knowing which inch to cut off, not the right tool to do it, surely?

*nods head knowingly* Got you. It would be pretty stoopid to cut out an inch in the middle… 😛

1/2 inch off each end 🙂