What Euain said basically – BHP is the peak power of the engine measured by the water (or magnetic etc) brake when it is dyno tested, rather than the power that ends up at the wheens or the theorical/historical number of horses that the machine could replace.

There seems to have been a bit of move to quote power in PS or Pferdestärke (horse-strength in German), or kW, (presumably to standardise with base SI units)….. those pesky Europeans ;-)

EDIT: Damn my slow fingers….

There are companies that can straighten alloys – had a few done, but that looks quite bad. Worth an ask, though they may just confirm it’s bin fodder.

…and there won’t be for a while. If you’re lucky you might get a design and build project after the exams. A-level physics (and maths to a certain extent) is such a step down from what is required at degree level now that you have to think of yourself as being just about able to crawl by the end of the first year, stumbling like a chimp on two legs by the end of year 2 to be running by the end of year 4.

If you’re really lucky you’ll get a job doing it really for real at gone 8pm on a Friday evening…. ;-)

Aye, Solidworks is a good choice.

Let me guess – 1st or 2nd year?….. the maths is worth it/necessary come the 3rd+4th year and beyond….

‘Normal’ in what context – ‘normal’ for other employees of that company, ‘normal’ for an Far-East sweatshop? If you think the remuneration is OK, surely you just have to decide if this particular ‘normal’ is acceptable to you, no? (39hrs here…)

Salomon XA Pro + lots. Current pair are nearly bin fodder after nearly 4 years of daily use….

Usually works out ~£125 per 1.5m^3 for a local pick-up delivery around Bristol…. given how much we burn each year (year before last was ~15 m^3), I recognise that I’m unbelievably lucky to have a free source of ash/oak/popular/hazel and enough space to season/dry it undercover off-site before bringing it home to burn…. if I had to buy it then a combination of less fires, more jumpers and a higher gas bill would be the result.

15 miles each way commute – big bowl of porridge at 6:45, out the door by 7:15. Don’t feel hungry until about 12, so seems to work for me….. but I may be odd :oops:

I get the feeling the demand will take the industry by surprise when a mainstream manufacturer launches their hydraulic road discs. I’ll be in the market for some for my winter trainer/crosser/tourer.

I’m hoping the 5700 mechanical group on my commuter, currently operating with BB7’s, will hold on until 105 goes Di2 and hydraulic disc…….

I often see a very flappy, hovery BOP over the central reservation on the M5 towards Somerset. Is it likely to be a sparrowhawk?

Kestrel, shirley?

Your backside is going to feel that if you genuinely have to lump it all around everyday. Can you not leave clothes/towel/shoes/smellies at work (and do a once-a-week refresh of clothes by some other means)?

Personally, I’m no great fan of panniers for general commuting, but they woudl seem to be a better way to go if you do have to move all of that on a day-to-day basis…..

We host a couple of hives through our local beekeepers assoc. Works really well – we provide space in the garden and generally keep and eye on them and the bee keeper has a key to the garden gate and lets himself in and out to do most of the work and processes the honey, whilst showing us inside the hive etc when he’s there.

Get ‘paid’ in honey each year which is brilliant. The intention was to use this as a stepping stone to having out own hives, but TBH, the arrangement suits all of us at the moment.

EDIT: Cost of even starter colonies is pretty mad at the moment (compared to what they were a few years ago) – one of our colonies has bu$$ered off in search of (I suspect literally) pastures new as spring has been so late, so we’re wating for more queens to breed rather than restocking from scratch.

+1 for the Vox Amplug (another Classic Rock user here… ;-) Use it way more than my full size practise amp now…..

You can get it in Travis Perkins (may have to order) or B&Q. Comes in lengths to about 2.5m and various widths up to 650mm

I think you’re talking about Premboard? Have used this before on a few DIY projects and whilst it gives a nice ‘wooden’ look (think cheaper Ikea shelving) it’ll be pretty pricey in the sheet sizes and quantities you’ll need. Painted MDF would prob be the better option, unless you specifically want to leave it as bare wood?

Pair of Hayes HMX-1 hydro-mechanical brake calipers. Regular brakes cable operates a master cylinder in the caliper body. Both need seals, which I’m sure I now have zero hope of finding, but can#t bring myself to get rid of them.

My experience is they are very narrow. I went up a size, still a bit narrow, but with a bit of room in the toe

Up until about 6 months ago, I would have said this was internet bobbins…. but having had a go with several other brands in that time I realise I’ve probably been riding in (Shimano) shoes too narrow for me for quite some time without realising/admitting it to myself. :oops:

He seems to be talking over here —>

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/no-triple-dip-1

I was debating brining some nice whisky for the examiners

Thought it was an urban myth, but the internet says otherwise so it must be true.

http://spaceandspaceability.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/whisky-clause.html

Laterally stiff, vertically compliant.

You’ve got a few hundred words at most to work with. And you expect the reviewer to waste them by saying “the frame was very stiff in a side to side manner, especially while pedalling hard, yet it was remarkably comfortable in a vertical manner when riding over bumps”.

I think the point is, the term itself is meaningless bobbins – as a structure, a frame has both an amount of lateral stiffness and an amount of vertical compliance (you could equally talk about lateral compliance and vertical stiffness and that still tells me exactly the same amount of sweet-FA about the performance of the frame) – if you’re not going to qualify that statement against something else (either hard numbers or qualitatively compare it against a similar product) then it’s lazy writing (probably copied and pasted verbatum from the manufacturers hyperbole driven press release), a waste of paper and ink and – most importantly – a waste of my time.

Looking for a bike for the wife, advice please

Go on then, I’ll do it ‘…sounds like a fair swap…’

IGMC

As they’ve said, depends what you want to do and company access policy…

…if I just want to check a file, then LogMeIn or similar
…need a bit more functionality or access to multiple file systems at the office, then I use a VPN connection and Windows Remote Desktop
… if the application is graphics heavy then run the software locally and use the VPN connection to remotely access the licenses.

(All on Windows BTW, so Windows VPN and Windows Remote Desktop)

4 years til submission for mine, 3 months til the external was available. A week before it, broke my elbow. Was offered the chance to put it back by another 3 months or just get it done, so did with the help of some pain killers.

I actually found the viva the best part of the whole process – you finally get to engage with someone who, while an expert, has only a working understanding of what you’ve done and have a discussion about it as it stands, rather than constantly fighting the day-to-day battles to get it written.

Had “minor” corrections, but as I was working full time by then took another 3 months of evenings and w/e’s to tie up the loose ends and sign it off. Random thoughts: hated at the time, glad I did it now, wouldn’t do it again in the manner I did (obviously alot more savvy, if not wiser now), looking back at the thesis as a written document it is a pile of poo but I still see it/the subsequent papers referenced every now and again which raises a smile…. ;-)

EDIT: Saxabar speaks the truth – it’s in everyone’s interest to (ultimately) pass you, so you’re provided you’re not a complete ar$e and play the game to some extent then it’l be OK.

Thanks all – looks like the The Alamo and the river walk keep turning up. It’ll also be the final weekend of the annual San Antonio festival while I’m there, so just bimbling along with the crowd for the day should be pretty entertaining in itself!

Downtown was a ghost town early on a Sunday morning

Agreed – got a Metro bus (quick way to make the locals look at you funny is to say you’ve used the Metro!) from Greenspoint to Downtown to get a Greyhound at ~6am one Sunday….. it really did feel a bit 28 Days Later… I’m assuming you’re talking “25-35 miles” by bike?

you could head for the coast but Galveston is a bit grim

Good tip – was going to try Galveston on some future trip when we’re staying that side of town. Is there anywhere nice for a day trip on the coast, south of Houston?

Have they actually reamed the frame back to 27.2, or just tried to clean it out the oxidation?

I tried REALLY hard to like and get on with Win8, but got so frustrated with it I ended up buying Start8, as per the link, after a couple of weeks. Probably the best $5 I’ve ever spent.

Genuine question: why titanium? You could get lighter carbon ones of equivalent capbilites for ~1/3rd the price

You don’t work with me do you – colleague did Brighton at the w/e in 4hrs….?

We now want to hire an au pair: flexible

I see where your priorities lie.

The silver bit in the centre will accept a Torx bit

+1, plus all the stuff they’ve already said – as much power and modulation as I can reasonably deal with from both my road BB7’s sets.

The cash is now in my biscuit tin landfill.

:lol:

Looking at the state/cost of care of the elderly and how the graphs of life expectancy and quality of life seemed to cross a long time ago, I’ve already told my wife that provided I can afford a one way ticket to a Swiss clinic then there’s no need for pension provision for the X years that medical science will be able to keep me alive for in the years to come beyond the point my body/mind are useful.

House will be paid off in under 10 years at current progress (currently 36) which will be a nest egg for the kids and via various private pensions there will be enough keep me in coke and hookers until I decide it’s time for the one-way-trip-to-the-land-of-cuckoo-clocks-and-cheese.

I’m finding the ‘piles-within-piles’ effect of the second photo unreasonably pleasing…. time to go home……

Old lengths of inner tube pulled over the seat collar….to keep the wet out of the frame on the commuter

I like that…

porter_jamie: Whilst I agree with sentiment, it is relatively easy to do limited testing and (statically) guarantee you won’t yield the bolt and get the clamp force required for the joint PROVIDED that you not only specify the torque, but also the full assembly procedure that must be used (this included lubrication, material grades for bolts/washers/flanges, torquing procedure, etc etc. Specifying the assembly procedure is the bit that is often neglected.

In industrial situations where you are talking BIG torques, so interface friction is a big issue, you wouldn’t even torque the bolts at all, but use a hydraulic puller to stretch the bolt to the required load, nip the nut up ‘finger tight’ and then let go. Doing like this means friction is a non-issue to the clamping force and the axial preload is controlled directly.

I’m a principal engineer – does that trump a senior engineer? Although in an engineering cockfight the one with the best looking equation will usually win…..

Likewise here – I get trumped only by the director I answer to….. and the I completely agree, some of the equation-fights have become legendary ;-)

Ooooo – VDI2230 – light bedtime reading, esp making sense of some of the English translations from the German source ;-)

I think, purely in this simplistic example you’ve described:

One arguement was that the additional friction has already been factored in by negating the rundown torque

No

when you are applying the ‘actual tightening’ torque so the unlubricated one will still have less clamping force.

Yes

….. but as noted above it’s pretty complex in reality.

If the additional run down torque is simply due to friction, then the clamping force will be less (how much less depends on loads of factors) in the ‘stickier’ bolt for the same applied torque (the additional resistance is still there when you are putting on the torque to preload the joint, which is still working against you in generating an axial preload in the bolt).

Torque is a very blunt tool for generating what you actually want to control – i.e. the axial clamping force in the bolt. Axial bolt force may be +/-50% for a given torque depending on friction at the threads, washer, heads etc etc.

Agreed ( I think we’ve done this before?). Think I paid £150-ish for the 11-spd ones when they first came out and, whilst still perfectly usable, there is a bit of slop in all the pivots already. I do like the position of the downshift button even if the overall feel is a bit last-century.

Waiting on pricing on the Shimano electronic versions before deciding what to do next…..

Would you lot just stop it!!…… my credit card is looking at me nervously.