…at the Paintworks in Bristol’s Creative Quarter[/i]…

Seriously?!?!? 😆

Get a cat – next.

….better still have mine – the bugger is bringin all kinds of small mammals at the moment….

what are my chances of it freeing up and not being fubarred….

If it’s seized, it’s either completely devoid of grease, or (as in my case) the seals had perished and water had got into the joint and rusted/pitted/worn the pivot axle and bearing. IIRC, you buy the trailing arm and bearing as one complete unit and the amount of spacers/washers/shims makes the whole job a bit of an ar$e.

So, in direct answer to your Q….. not great….

My experience of Pug radius arm bearings is that once there is any play in it, it needs doing. Costs sounds about right. If you manage to free it and there is signficiant play you will very quickly understand the meaning of ‘bad handling’…..

Two ‘Holy Hand Grenades’, a 1/2 Watt, soon to suppliments by a further 1/2 Watt rear dynamo light… is there an upper limit to rear light brightness?

Google for “felt track bike”, second shopping link Only appear to have 56cm left, though: http://www.evanscycles.com/products/felt/tk3-2010-track-bike-ec021711?utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=froogle&utm_campaign=froogle

Please don’t put up links like that – I really don’t NEED another bike…..

If you intend to use it on a track, check what the min BB height is for that track before you buy….

Why leather?

For a level of water-resistance – the micro-fibre backed ‘high grip’ things do a good impression of a sponge.

The first season, I did try it without gloves…. but 5 solid days in December moving cords of tree around the woods left me with hands like (excuse the hyperbole) bleeding lumps of meat. The bark of large Oaks and particularly Poplars is more effective than sandpaper.

<cough> fence </cough>

I’m in Bath and we used to do a Bike Maintenance Course at my local youth club, I’d love to have been given this kit..

Hmmmm…. I know a guy who voluteers at the Boys Club in Horfield….. I wonder…..

If you’ve been so ham-fisted that you’ve not only cracked the surface epoxy/gel coat layer but crushed it to the point that actual tows of carbon are wandering free on the surface then I think you know the answer already.

Even if it’s not quite as bad as that, but the surface is cracked then the chances of water being absorbed between the plies and aiding delamination is high, so it’s still bin fodder.

The fact that it’s aluminium cored is to give you some residual strength if the carbon ‘rod’ fails (the aluminium tube will bend without the post just shearing off) – it won’t have enough strength in and of itself to compensate being damaged to the extent you describe and carry on working safely.

+1 for Sands….. been very helpful for me personally and friends in similar situations.

All I can add is a simple ‘Chin up fella….’

Surely you buy all 26 yourself from work, then come back on here a while later and personally sell them one at a time with a small mark-up to cover your time and expenses (Read: contribution to the bike find). Everyones happy, no? 😉

Edit: I know a guy who did this with 3 credit cards, his garage and several pallets of imported mini-motos and pit bikes direct from China…. never paid any interest on the CC’s and came out a few grand up over 6 months…..

Yep, got two pairs – as Al, only run them up to 25c with mudguards, but bags of room at that.

Nice and smooth ride, not as direct as I thought they might be with the straight blades…. the mudguard mounting eyes halfway up the blades with discs is their real party-piece – tidies eveything up nicely.

Last year, had the entire downstairs of the house replastered. Ceilings down and new boards up, all walls and ceilings re-plastered. Think it was £1250/1500 ish all-in.

Well, Wiggle for one…. and a load of folks on my other thread……

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/alfine-11-12

I had a cunning plan to make a simple shifter that wraps round the bulge of road bars near the stem clamp – got all the way to building the CAD model and casual enquiries with the local machine shop for prices for a one-off.

Thought better of it and was going to go for one of those ‘space maker brackets’ to mount the standard MTB shifter to the road bars until something like a “Versa VRS-11” comes along ….. but now it looks like the 11 speed hubs aren’t going to be here until after Xmas, I might either go back to ‘Plan A’ or simply lose the will to live in a pit of disappointment…. 🙁

Actually, a bit more focussed googling reveals that Humax do make additional bars for odd/small frames – £16 on these will be cheaper than a whole new system. Just got to try and find someone who stocks them now……

Ar$e – the wait goes on then. Just had the ‘…very sorry…. late December…’ email from Wiggle….. Not happy 🙁

…or GP 4Seasons… the list will be extensive, the “debate” will rage and your budget and requirements need to be a wee bit more specific to narrow it down.

Edit: I just checked. Feb 2006!

Whoa….. Not surprised they’ve needed a bit of TLC in that time, esp touring with 28-hole wheels 😉

Spokily, I have a Carpe Diem almost identical that is my commuter at the moment, as with Flange, it’s running discs, so doesn’t look as clean as yours. Very much liking the ‘industrial chic’ of the chainset….

Blimey, how many years is it since you bought those wheels off of me on Ebay?!? 🙂

Yeah, saw that this morning – I emailed Wiggle directly a few days and they (rather unhelpfully) quoted verbatim what was on the website, rather than actually tryign to find out.

I also see that Fatbirds is offering the 11-speed hub for “25% off” , or around £285 quid, which is quite a lot cheaper than elsewhere…. no stock mind 😉

If it was me, I’d get it skimmed before tiling…. or get a man in to tile over the existing surface. Depending on the area, condition etc, costs may work out to be about the same either way.

What I am trying to say is that you can learn lots about this and still know **** all about your bike’s lifetime…

Amen to that – the only thing I can add is that fatigue life is generally much worse around the welds due to the poorer post-weld material properties and the stress concentrations due to the weld material itself. In this area – even for steel – for design purposes, the “safety net” of the endurance limit doesn’t apply.

This is a can of worms that we could kick around all day 😉

Budget? VN Amazon ticks most of your boxes, at a price…..

I’ll take the alien plague any day over a borked kilo of metal now not worth £350…. though point taken 😉

At the moment, it would be a means making contact with a view to roping in work….. perhaps moving to a ‘seeing what’s out there’ role in the job market in the future….. 😉

Interesting – the notes say the ring/sprocket ratio should be around 1.9. To do what I want, I’m going to end up with about 2.55 (46/18). What are the consequences likely to be? Is it just the reaction torque on the dropouts will be higher? It’s for an exclusively road commuter…..

…but they have since spoken to Madison who told them it’s been put back by 3 weeks…

Oh FFS 👿 I think I’ll just singlespeed it for now then – really want to try out the dynamo lights now it’s getting dark on the way home 😉

Shimano now have partial information about the Alfine 11 on their website…

You’re not kidding: ‘….er, here’s a picture of the new group, that is all…’

On one bike it’s XT on Mavic Open Pro’s. Over nearly 6 years, they’ve been bombproof. Rear hub was swapped out after 3 years (15000 miles), front hub needs doing.

Latest bike has Halo Aerotrack rims as it’ll be discs again, so don’t need the braking surface. Lighter than Open Pro’s, though we’ll see about durability. For the money ( I got them for £20 each), even if they only last a couple of years they’ll be good value. Others to consider might be Alex XD-Lite 700c (if you can find them – OEM only IIRC), or the Condor ‘Uno’ rims which look good for the money.

go back to school 4*3=12 not 23

I thought that as well, but gave the OP the benefit of the doubt that he actually meant 23m^3, not ^2.

I have a shed the same size (ish – it’s an odd shape and a bit smaller) that accommidates my 4 bikes a bench, shelving and wall spikes to hang wheels and tyres. Big enough to house this (and our 3/4 size chest freezer) and still be able to fettle. Floor is done with garage floor paint, has a small electric heater for chilly nights, and the next project will be to add a small corner sink and electric water heater for hot and cold water.

dan – were they Ti Nitride coated Alu?

Don’t get it, just another fashion/fad.

Call me cynical, but surely it’s more a case of saturation in the target market, so lets try and force the same crap with a different name and less smell on the other 50% of the population on the basis of some “new” multi-peptide-poly-**** formula…. oh, and because you’re worth it.

Why not just phone your local garrage? Local KwikFit did my housmates focus with 4 new uniroyal’s for less than the online sites could supply them unfitted, came to about £210 all in!

I tried this last time I needed a set – so quite a bit of cash. Took the time to go to a mix of ‘names’ and independants and asked if they would price match to the best I could do on line. The Indy’s would move, but were still pricey, but the names just said take it or leave it. This was for an 07-plate Focus, so nothing out of the ordinary. Quite shocked – they must be making money out of people who can’t be bothered to shop around….

What am I looking at here?? There appears to be a dirty great brown turd next to that fence??? ….none intended 😉

I’ve used Etyres the last couple of times – mainly for the ‘free’ on-site fitting. Fill out the form on the website by 5 (I think it is) and – provided it’s nothing too fancy – they’ll come round and fit them from 8am the next day. Their local man-in-the-van is a lovely bloke to boot.

http://www.ironsky.net/

M’be…. 😉

Shimano’s brand new 11 speed Alfine hub is due to be with us very soon

Stocks are expected here this week

That’s not quite as good as someone from Madison posting to say they are looking at the retail bits leaving the warehouse to the shops….. but it gives me some hope 😉