Self build…… hmmm…. in Ti…. hmmm…. first time….. hmmm…. with my reputation… 😉 Would love to try it, but I think I’ll leave this for the pro’s

Interesting that some of the exhibitors on the Bespoked list will build in Alu as well…….

Bespoked Bristol is very much on my to-do list next year….. 🙂

You see, this is where I begin to lose the plot. Does anyone remember being especially poor in 2006? I certainly don’t remember selling fewer bikes than I do now. So while it might be a drop in disposable incomes, it’s not exactly getting us back to post-War levels, despite all the hyperbole.

Equally, why is it a God-given right that incomes should rise year-on-year. For whatever reason, growth cannot, surely, continue on an upward curve indefinitely?

I realise this is going to be complete thumb in the air stuff, but how much could we be talking? My rough budget-ometer would like to think it’ll be somewhere between £1000 and £2500, depending on who does it/final spec – is likely to be wildly out?

I am not looking at making money, just looking to reduce the ammount I would have paied in intrest vs net gains against savings/ pension. If i can become mortage free ASAP the better.

That’s fair enough – What I meant was that I’m not prepared to just sit on property as my long term plan – my natural worrying nature coulnd’t take it (didn’t mean to come across as having a go at your situation). Generally when the interest rates are high the pension/cash savings does well and the mortgage costs alot and when they are low, the other way round. Having a spread keeps me sane in most situations (barring total economic collapse, when I sahll rely on a shotgun ;-), even if I’m not maximising my investments at any given moment in time.

Is it possible for the element to be knackered with no obvious visual clue, because it does look fine.

Yep – my money is on the element, but as I say mine had all the hallmarks of a blown element and it turned out to be the thermostat wiring to the switch, and a quick wave of the DVM across the element confirmed this, thus saving on the cost and time of waiting for a new one to arrive…..

Yep, personal one that I don’t really pay enough into at the moment based on it’s current performance, but it’s just a part of a bigger portfolio to mitigate the long term risk rather then putting all the money on red and rolling the dice just relying on equity in property.

Might work, might not – my crystal ball seems as cloudy as most when making financial projections 30+years into the future, never mind the other side of Xmas 😉

As a quick test (if you have a DVM to hand), check the resistance of the old element – see if it gives a reading that ties up with its rated power. If that looks OK, it might be worth a dig elsewhere in the wiring while you wait for the spare element to arrive.

Drivers, why don’t they just bl00dy well look?!?

Anyway, he failed the breathalyser test

Probably didn’t know which one of you to aim at! 😉

Seriously – glad you’re relatively OK and a good results all round by the sounds of it.

Check the connections at the control switch – my oven ‘died’ and turned out that the thermostat control wire was not making contact withthe switch.

Umm, I’m not asking you to write it for me, I’m just asking for a little advice one what order to put things in?

Surely how you lay it out is part of the assessment as well – do what you think, perhaps get it wrong, talk to whoever is assessing it and learn from their feedback. There you go – advice freely given.

Full of people who have apparently never asked people for help, and presumably, have never helped them in return.

Asking for help is fine, and freely given here – that is not what your asking for. You CBA to do the assignment and want someone else to do it so that you can take the credit. Can you not see that? :-S

Oh yeah, I forgot, people are born with an inherent ability to write a good CV and cover letter, and never have to refer to other people or sources of help for guidance

And out in the real world you would pay for that experience – leading up to your assignment you will have had at least some teaching/been asked to do some background reading on this, in order that the assignment tests/demonstrates to whoever asked you to do it what you’ve learnt, no? Tend to agree with FunkyDunc.

Oh, and spellcheck is your friend 😉

Proper old age…. and all that will come with it.

+whatever for DHB – cheap as chips (relatively) last forever, comfy and warm. Have three pairs now, collected over the years.

Durano Plus – not quite as bomb proof as a the Marathon Plus, but roll better and lighter. Think they come in 28’s

Put my first puncture in a a Marathon Plus last night. 2000 miles on that tyre and a large sharp of toughen glass did for it. Shocked, I was… 😉

Ooooo – I quite like that. ‘Indicators’ may be overkill…..

<adds to Wishlish>

Clubber +1

Plus (and this may be just me), because it’s dark both ways now, I can’t actually see how hard it’s raining (unless it’s truly Pissing down, then I can’t see FULL STOP) so in my head it never seems as bad 🙂

Tomaso – you and Reggie should talk……

tomaso – not cartridge bearings, heavy hubs, heavy spoke

my thoughts too…

Only trying to help…..

Kind of agree with anto – Foxy Shazam are a sight to behold live, but do wonder if the unbridled energy/spectacle of the show translates onto ‘just’ a record.

It’s on my list of things to try on mine next summer, so interested in this.

Thinking of building it up with a 6-bolt MTB SS hub, rather than a (centre lock) Alfine?

<Interested Pompetamine owner pulls up chair>

A few years ago someone once broke into my car and pinched the fuses. Nothing else was damaged/taken, apart from a broken window to get in. Put it down to ‘kids’, but even so……. (EDIT: and not really opportunistic, hmmm…..)

Tomaso – you and Reggie should talk……

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/29er-front-disc-wheel-for-road-commuter-options

im from stockport in manchester so its hardly Nigeria

That’s exactly what a spambot would say.

blimey, a chatty spammer. that’s a first.

It’s a robot…. in Nigeria….. probably 😉

So, your first post…. no ‘…hello, I’m new here…’ to kick off?? The Mods can decide – either way, I’m out.

SPAMTASTIC

There’s mortar this than meets the eye…….

By ‘throwing a wobbly@, do you mean

Microsoft VBScript runtime error ‘800a0009’

Subscript out of range: ’66’

/INCLUDES/GENERIC/FORECASTS/48hr_generic.asp, line 19

?

If so, been like it for months and every now and again the front page alludes to the fact they are having major difficulties with no end in sight just yet.

You mean the daily forecast pages? Been like that for AGGGEESSSS.

If it’s rim weight your worried about, go for Halo Aerotracks – at-or-just-under 400g a pop and can be had on Ebay for about £20, or £30 retail (again, currently using these on a 700c disc bike and, despite the lack of eyelets, they have been absolutely fine, stiff and true for over a year).

Build your own? XT or Deore hub and an Open Pro rim and spokes of your choice. Works for me (one one bike – Speedcity’s on the other…. they are really nice :-).

Ta very much – any others?

About 2.5K all in for ours for S/S liner, stove pipe, register plate, hearth and all fitting with a 1.2K-ish stove.

I think it boils down to it all being the rounding really and the number of variables makes it tough to quatify.

In a similar vein, I percieve my Alfine 11 speed commuter to be very draggy compared to my similar specced geared comutter. I can’t split out if it is the Marathon plus tyres being dead/draggy and weighing a tonne, or the hub itself, but that bike is consistently a couple of minutes slower than the geared bike over the same commute…… and headwinds or steep hills are a complete PITA. It is pretty much zero maintenance though, so you pays yer money…. etc.

Would things like PowerTaps not work though if there was a significant loss through the system as they measure power output ‘at the road’ as it were? Serious question like…

TBH, if the the drivetrian is maintained and changed when things obviously need replacing then the transmission losses from crank to hub are pretty small – so the effect on a PowerTap reading will be fairly constant and in the noise, but it must be there, even for things like running full chain cross-over ratios etc. Constant, straight, chainlines and the ability to run more robust rings/chains so it all works better for longer are the only advantages hub gears can offer over mechs in getting the power from the ring to the cog via a chain, I think…..

Not a lot, chain driven bicycles are extremely efficient, IIRC it can be anything up to 99% of the input goes into the wheels – hence things like PowerTaps working. That decreases as things get more shagged!

I recall reading a paper many moons ago where that oft-quoted 99% was quantified – yes you can get 99% when running a new chain between two large, equally sized, rings on a straight chain line with the system being constantly lightly lubed. Out in a muddy field, meanwhile…… 😉

There will be some uber geeky IT people to advise you – but personally I’d use google mail, and probably never go back to the admin hassle of SBS for a 5 person company.

Our place (of 10 people) has done exactly that. I am aware there may be data-control/security issues, but we don’t deal with anything particularly sensitive and the flexibility, lack of admin hastle and up-time (not a flicker in what must be 6 months now, which is tantamount to magical compared to outages that used to occur – both within and beyond our direct control….) has all been positive.

Never had a problem with the standard durano, but I would imagine the Plus would be getting on towards the Marathon Plus in terms of puncture protection, so if you are particularly prone then certainly worth thinking about.

Not so much that – I have a hub gear at the back and a dyno at the front…… I REALLY don’t want to be faffing with that lot on a dark night just to change a tube. ~3500 miles so far on a pair Marathon Plus (before I discovered the Durano Plus – doh!) and adding a little air each month is all I’ve had to do.