By the Power of Greyskull I do resurrect this thread!

Any more opinions and comments on Love/Hates? Specifically:

1. What’s the longest fork you can get away with…? I’ve always had good times by putting slightly longer forks on frames that were meant for 100mm forks and wonder if this’ll be the same.

2. Is the ride/EBB/tubing/build worth the extra cash over a slot-dropout “you-know-what”?

3. Any more photos of builds?

4. Any medium/17.5″ frame-onlies for sale? (‘Cause obviously that would be glowing praise!)

Cheers!

The very best of luck to ya!

A friend and were all set to see through our dream of opening a bike-repair-cafe in London (until just a few days ago …) and it truly would have been a very satisfying life.

So, here’s my tip: if you need an extra hand from someone who…

1. Is a jolly friendly-with-the-punters, Cytech 3-qualified, been-doing-it-a-while mechanic.
2. Has capital and has recently spent a lot of time looking into the bike/cafe industry.
3. Is eating some very tasty cupcakes of his own making which would be welcome fayre in any fine eatery.
4. Will work for peanuts in a dream job (’cause peanuts are tasty).
5. Is quite keen to leave the Big Smoke behind and relocate anywhere, especially Angus.

… bear bananaworld in mind!

Also, serve these… ;-)

Most GPSs will tell you your rate of altitude gain/loss. Not sure if that’s of any use to you…

That statistic was quite interesting when I had my GPS running for take-off and landing in a jetliner. (The plane didn’t crash, BTW, despite their warnings to turn electronic stuff off.)

Sorry, should have made it clearer that the attempt at trolling was mine: I hoped a post going on about how the future of music & movies lies stored in computers would bring people out to post about how they prefer having the physical article.

Oh wait… ;-)

Anyway, I love my CD collection, but never actually listen to a CD, or watch a DVD: it’s just so much more convenient (i.e. lazier) to click the desired entertainment on a computer.

it creates jobs and wealth

So does coal mining…
 

it’s not like you use it once and then chuck it in a landfill

True, but the argument is: should it have even been created in the first place when, these days, we don’t need a physical copy…?

Blimey, Shibboleth, you’re one weird dude.

such an adult theme should not be discussed posted when children are listening reading

Hmmm, should I move to Edinburgh…?

(Ooh, ooh, potential “I like to hold the physical thing in my hands” trolling opportunity!)

But surely all music and film will very soon just be streamed directly to us as and when we need it? And when we do want to buy a copy, won’t it just be downloaded from the supplier rather than waiting for a wasteful hardcopy to arrive?

or Tina Deheley getting spit-roasted by brothers

I wonder what my brother’s doing this weekend…

(I hope this comment appeals directly to the Chris Moyles Show listeners out there – if you’re reading: there are better radios shows, a great many better radio shows. In fact, there may be few that are not better…)

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Gonna attempt to hijack the thread slightly…

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I’m studying a part-time one-year “Certificate in Higher Education” (basically two A-Levels) in Maths and Physics at the moment and pretty soon have to decide if I want to go to uni at the end of it.

Not sure what to study.

Not sure uni is worth the cash.

Pretty sure there won’t be an opening for another wannabe rocket scientist if I ever get that far…

Anyone got any advice they feel like dumping on me? Would be most appreciated… :-)

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Also: 1999-2003, University Of Reading, BSc (Hons!?) Horticulture, 2:1. Have made precisely sweet effay use of it since then, but uni was a doss at the time. I wish I’d used my freetime more productively (as others have said) to pursue useful extracurricular stuff, rather than just coming out of it owing the SLC £16,000 with basically no chance of ever paying it off…

Would I recommend it? No idea! Hence the advice-begging above!

Kindle owner here:

After muchos umming and ahhing I finally plumped for the 3G model about a month ago.

I shall never look back.

It’s lovely to look at, hold and read from; there are lots and lots of free books to be had, as well as being able to read PDFs, etc; and the free internet is extremely useful (at least, for someone like me whose phone is from an era when ‘smart phones’ were phones that had a shiny aerial…)

Yup, I could’ve bought 149 books at Help The Aged. Given that reasoning, I can’t justify owning a Kindle, but it is marvellous.

This may have affected my decision…[/url]

If you want any tips and tricks and links and things, gimme a shout.

shitty Hayes HFX-9’s

Amen to that.

There’s still something about this seal theory that doesn’t add up for me. I don’t wish to appear rude, but I’m going to do some reading up on it before I accept it.

But not now; now is time for sleep.

Interesting, does this work with Avid Juicy brakes?

theoretically easy solution… used to good effect… especially those awful brake-shaped-objects that the purveyors of SRAM seem to want to stick on every cheap bike going…

So, yes.

No offence intended…. ;-)

Wait, so with a theoretically uncompressable seal, the brakes wouldn’t work…?

Blimey, they say you learn something everyday.

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(Glad it worked out for you, wheelz!)

Tee hee hee, the complications of the 40% tax bracket are not ones that I ever imagine myself having to worry about!

Thanks for your answers, guys.

Hats off to crispy bacon who, after immediately realising that I’m lazy and incompetent, even supplied a phone number!

Woah there, bikewhisperer! I’ve, coincidentally, just read the whole thread on wheel tension etc. for the first time and would hate this thread to head the same way.

Before someone declares utter-wrongness, please explain what you mean by

with increasing back-pressure from the rotor equalling the pressure pushing it outward as well it grabs the piston and deforms

…

(Also: the seals have NOTHING to do with pulling the piston back in – the only thing pulling the pistons back in is the piston in the master cylinder retracting and ‘pulling’ the fluid back from the slave, thus retracting the caliper piston (I know, I know, it doesn’t really pull, but let’s not confuse things…))

EDIT: Another also: not wanting to blow my own trumpet or piddle on TJ’s fire, but the reason you’ve found your fix to work, Fluff, is nowt to do with the seals, and simply to do with there now being more fluid in the ‘closed’ section of the system, leading to the caliper pistons resting in a further-out position. Glad I could help, and that you’ve sorted your problem.

Also: The amount of fluid in the reservoir of an open system has NOTHING to do with the actual operation of the brakes (unless there’s too little, of course). This is because, as soon as you press the lever just a tiny amount, the brake effectively becomes a closed hydraulic system until you release the lever again.

Just wanted to clear that one up as it seems to be a popular misconception.

There is a theoretically easy solution to this, which I have used to good effect on many brakes from many manufacturers (especially those awful brake-shaped-objects that the purveyors of SRAM seem to want to stick on every cheap bike going…)

1. Take the rotor (whole wheel really) out.
2. Observe the pistons/pads.
3. Squeeze the lever slowly so the pistons creep out.
4. Let go of the lever.

What we’re trying to do here is fool the system into believing there’s (effectively) a narrower rotor in there. Sounds simple, right? Well, the tricky thing is to do it just enough that the pistons are set in a new position (i.e. further out than they would be if you did this procedure with the rotor in place) but a place that is not so far out that the pads rub on the rotor (touching is fine, and even a little bit of ‘brushing’ noise is fine – it’s not slowing the wheel down in the grand scheme of things.)

That probably wasn’t explained too well, so shoot any questions you might have… :-)

Maybe you can get a £10 eBay lead and freeware software to diagnose PS3 faults…

Sorry, I’ll shut up now.

What are the consequences likely to be?

A visitation by an alien plague.

Failing that, nothing. They only “recommend” that ratio, they don’t say “YOU MUST”. I suspect that recommendation is simply to emulate a regular mountain bike/commuter gear range – if you want higher ratios, go for it. Remember Dr Pepper’s advice….

Time for a new one?

My landlord’s just got a new one and, having played Wip3out in 3D I feel qualified to say, yes, time for a new one. And a new telly. ;-)

If you’re bored and waiting for your 11-speed Alfine, why not browse the Service Instructions:

Hub/sprocket/cassette joint

Shifter & gubbins

Hoorah! It’s now easier & quicker to detach the cable for wheel removal.

Oh this horse to drink wants to, but colleagues insist on instilling confusion: as the debate goes back & forth more random ideas are exuded and so it continues.

Thanks for the answers though – it's clear that the fair integrity of drawing straws is alive and well. Not sure how the odds are affected by the conveyor though… ;-)

Oh, and rock isn't dead, but the odds of paper scissor stone are certainly affected when the fourth option (orbital ion cannon) is invoked.

The plot thickens, as does my skull….

The above explanations seem to ride upon the game ending as soon as the short straw is drawn – the argument raging here is now concentrating on the game continuing until all straws are drawn and THEN revealing who has what.

This would seem to remove the advantage of the people who draw later (where previously they had a diminishing chance of even having to draw).

Does this affect the odds? Or does the chance of a previous drawee having already removed the short straw affect the later drawees' probability of not drawing the short one? Is anyone still reading at this point!?

Thank you, gang, I think it's finally been explained to my satisfaction and in such a way that I can pass on the explanation to straw-drawing-doubters.

Once again, the collective might of STW's hivemind wins the day – cheers everyone! :-)

Blast it, now I'm even more confused…

Allthepies (or anyone!): can you explain why the people who draw earlier DO NOT have an advantage…?

Jam bo: an excellent answer sir, well redeemed. (Although we do rather need to know the state for the game to work, but I guess, by not looking, no cats are harmed in the making of this decision. Or are they…?)

Ip dip and R/P/S are fine suggestions, however, I am rather interested in the validity of drawing straws.

Rock on, peeps, rock on.

Thanks for the replies so far (apart from allthepies: "FAIL" with no explanation is no answer at all, in fact, I think it's actually a fail…)

The idea that people who go later in the game might not need to draw at all seems to make sense! Maybe…

EDIT: also, Jambo, I may indeed need a better grasp of probabilities, but if you could enlighten us all as to where our knowledge falls short, that would be gratefully received.

I use 'em on a 29er, 2.1" tyres. They're great: nice width, double-eyeletted. What more could you ask?

Do it. Do it now.

sounds to me like the poor wheel build weakened the wheel and allowed the ding to happen.

Not true (no pun intended…). A little dent to the rim, as described by the OP, could happen on any quality of wheel build. As he's said, the little dent isn't really an issue.

The issue is that the wheel simply should not have loose spokes, after any amount of time, unless it actually gets properly flat-spotted (written-off rim). matthew_h is on the money: re-truing after a few weeks is a myth. The spoke tension should be checked and perfect at the time of building, if the wheel builder is any good (and, not to blow my own goat, but I'm a pretty fair wheel builder).

Sounds like the wheel build was a little shonky in the first place. I'd get them to re-build it, and not use cheapo plain-gauge spokes. There's no reason to ever use plain-gauge, other than cost.

Nah, they aren't woried, because they know NATO will protect. Good ol' NATO: the yanks with the piles and piles of every nuke you could ever need; the French with their, er, whatever the French have got; and the Brits with their rusty nuking subs hiding under the Arctic.

Nuclear war is dead, Trident is pointless. No nation on Earth would use nuclear weapons whilst the USA is still THE nuke-force to be reckoned with. The only threat from nukes is subversive terrorist bombs in densely-populated places – not something a nuclear deterrant can deter…

EDIT: oh, Northwind, you beauty, that actually brought a nostalgic tear to my eye… What a game, what a game!

Buzzlightyear – Member

Reckon I can answer this one. I spent a week last month camping next to a Eurofighter Typoon equipped base and came to the conclusion that the Typhoon has three major roles in the modern warfare theatre:

1) Firstly, it's absolutely the most **** awesome plane to ever leave the ground. I mean, REALLY incredibly, sky-burningly, outrageously-expensively amazing.

2) Secondly, it's a Spitfire deterrant:

3) Thirdly, its raison d'être is to distract Dave Yates into leaving his workshop at critical moments when you're just about to burn your frame in half.

I don't think camping next to a Trident base would be as exciting, soTrident should be scrapped and the mighty NATO net can catch us if we fall.

Used caustic soada in the past to remove aluminium seatposts seized in steel frames. The seatpost completely dissolved.

Think about that before introducing caustic soda to your handlebars…

Well said, Nuke.

Ooh ooh, and from cleaning my bike in various bathtubs I've learnt that Muc-off, whilst being a merely average bike cleaner, is an excellent bathroom cleaner. I mean really first rate at shifty soap scum and grime. Shame it's more expensive than Jif Cif.

GT85 is absolutely the best carpet cleaner EVARR!!!1!!

Every rented place I've ever lived in has seen the end of my days with many bike-related stains all over any and all carpets. A quick (occasionally generous) squirt of GT85 and rub it in/out with a rag. Not sure which way the dirt goes, but who cares, it disappears…

I guarantee you shalln't be disappointed.

Just seen another one. Same heading, but much higher (30,000ftish, but my altitude estimates seem to have been proven to be useless…)

I thought about shouting at this one too, but after the last snub I decided to save my breath.

Maybe collecting trolleys is not such a bad idea…

Thanks for your replies.

I could live for around a year, I reckon, with no job, hence the desire to train in a new field. I'm not as young as I wish I was, and certainly feel older than I am…

Ah yes, sorry Si, should have said. I alluded to it with "Any job" and am indeed very flexible on that front. I just wonder if there's any field in which one can complete a vocational course (of a year of so) and actually look forward to a career at the end of it.

(And frequently, no, a warranty job is not just fixing a bike, it's a headache as all parties concerned (supplier/customer/me) are unhappy with the situation.)

If you have a problem; if no one else can help…

Yes, yes, nice idea. However, not sure how battling Morlocks will help in this case, but thanks anyway. :wink: