You can get the correct tool from CRC.

Take your tapir, headset that you got cheap off Wiggle along with the biscuits that arrived in your Ocado delivery and SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BIKE SHOP!!!!1!!!

Reusing old spokes is fine so long as the length is the same and they’re not damaged, e.g. chain going over the back of the cassette and gouging them.

(Hmm, is there an echo in here…?) 😉

The only thing new I would add is that I’ve reused many old spokes but do rather like to use new nipples as older ones tend to be a bit corroded/cracked/rounded, especially aluminium alloy ones. They’re cheap as chips, just get the correct diameter, measured near the start of the thread (usually 2.0mm, though über-lightweight ones might be 1.8mm). I may be set in my ways, but tend to avoid alloy nipples unless someone requests them – they’re not a great idea for long-term wheels.

Good luck, and remember the advice that has got me through building hundreds of wheels: “It’s not rocket science!”

You best be trollin’!

You might get away with it, but it won’t do you frame any favours and will slip just when you need it not to.

Get yerself to eBay or CRC or your LBS, get a cheeeeeap 26.8 post and rest your bum easy.

Yeah, well, yeah, I mean, what good is a lid if you, like, get hit by a bus, man???

Also:

not since FlounceGate.

Anyone care to expand on that incident/point me in the direction of the flouncing…?

A fifth of scotch is what the ‘doctor’ ordered…

Thanks for these pics, sharki; one of the loveliest, randomest and most intriguing threads I’ve seen a while.

Also: that’s a read I want to check out, cheers qwerty.

Also: the free checkover you’ve just had done on your bike doesn’t really count as a service (it’s just that – a checkover) and often only takes 10-15 minutes to accomplish. A lot of jobs take less than the time they’re charged for, some take longer. Quickie things can be done for free if you go about asking the right way…

PSA: we like biscuits and clean bikes.

PROtip: if you keep your bike clean, it lasts longer.

I’m a mechanic and I get paid (not enough…) to fix stuff at the shop. So they need to cover the cost of that. Then there’s the tools (which are neither cheap nor replaced often enough…) and the costs of heating us, lighting our working area and keeping us fuelled with tea.

When all these (plus various other) costs are totalled, the company then decides how much above that total they can get away with charging people for replacing an innertube (£14 – who would have thought it) and that’s how servicing costs are worked out.

I shall repeat: I’m a bike mechanic (i.e. not an economist, hence the vague explanation).

‘Ope that ‘elps!

I shall go kindly, for you are young here. 😀

how much does a service actually cost?

Perhaps the shop in question could answer that…

There are definite supply ‘issues’: I have an eleven-speed hub and sprocket, but no shifter or fitting kit. If anyone can find the logic in them bringing into the country different numbers of hubs and shifters you are a wiser rider than I…

Slight hijack: anyone know if the 8-speed fitting kit will work with the 11-speed…?

Possibly cheaper – depends where you work and who you get trade with… 😉

Interesting… I’m talking about these racks:

which definitely aren’t very friendly with Ortliebs. Let’s see your rack! 😉

OMM racks are indeed very nice, but I have some lovely Tubus front racks that work very well and just need a decent fork to bolt them properly to.

And yes, I do carry spare shifters, mechs, cranks, stems and legs, not to mention a spare Rohloff hub and, just for giggles, a 11-speed Alfine too. These are all, you see, things that rate just as highly as brakes on the likelihood-of-going-wrong:criticalness ratio scale.

Eek, dunno how I missed those Troll forks – I think it’s cos I was only looking at the Ison website – but they seem to be exactly what I’m after. Bit long, but that’s no bother: slack is good… I shall get in touch with ID and the wonderful Brixton Cycles. Thanks for the suggestion, psling!

Those mounts are good, hero, but they only really work with the Blackburn lowrider rack which, in turn, don’t work too well with Ortlieb panniers and others that need to clip around a horizontal bar (that big plate of metal gets in the way…) but thanks for the hint – those clips have a multitude of uses.

The idea of having both canti and disc mounts is that if something should happen to the disc caliper/rotor/whatever the tour can be continued by fitting an easier-to-source rim brake. I read of a couple of chaps touring with disc brakes who carried a spare HS33 rim brake with them for just that eventuality – that’s what inspired me.

Any more suggestions always welcome!

Overkill FTW!

Thanks for the tip, but it’s 26″ wheeled goodness with off-road capability that I’m looking for, none of this mincing around with drop-bars on 28mm-deep tyres 😉

And Surly, you’d think, would be the perfect place to look, but they don’t do a fork that matches all those criteria or, indeed, even with just the two main needs of low-rider/disc-brakes. Thanks for the tip though.

That’s not actually a bad plan! I suspect getting that done and then the forks painted might come to the price of a set of forks. I’ll certainly think about it if no other options pop up. Cheers!

Woo, and indeed, hoo!

Also, brakepadsbrakepadsbrakepadsbrakepads in case of wetness.

Ah ha, the wise words I’ve been hoping for! Thanks, bass.

Also, is it worth having a ‘soothing’ swift drink before hands to calm you down? And what did you talk about…??

Blimey, I’ve wanted to rub the jowls and scratch the belly of every dog pictured here! What a pack of beauts. With sich inspiration and advice I’m sure you’ll find yourself the perfect pal, Cider!

I hope to be in a living situation in the near future that is dog friendly – I’ve always wanted one, mainly for the companionship and runs we could go for. Trouble is, I’ve never had a dog before. Any ideas how rescue centres react if you rock up and mention this…?

An excellent decision, sir.

I’ve been looking into it some more and realised that new Pugsleys don’t even have canti bosses so the Magura idea is out.

That’s probably for the best though. You mentioned that you find discs fiddly to set up but, believe me, the fiddliest brakes ever are Magura rim brakes! Get yourself some Avid BB7s (it’s what everyone will recommend anyway) and marvel at how lovely and easy they are to set up. 😀

A little bumpity-bump to see if the weekday workers have any sage advice 🙂

I seem to recall that the kits come with the blue and green washers as well as the white trackend dropouts. Yes/no…?

If my memory hasn’t failed me this time and this is indeed the case, perhaps some kind soul with vertical dropouts could sell/give you their white non-turn washers.

I seem to recall it was actually to do with a bar-end-mounted satellite shifter that allowed you to change gear without moving your hands from the bar-ends.

You can fit cantilever brakes, but not v-brakes as the tyre gets in the way of the cable between the arms.

I’ve not tried it but, when I can eventually justify a Puglsey, I’ll be attempting to fit Magura HS33 rim brakes. These’ll need to be easily modified with a longer hose between the two calipers but it should work a treat.

Probably won’t stay with rim brakes though as they aren’t really as good as discs and Pugsley rims are not exactly rims you want to be wearing out…

EDIT: just googled pugsley hs33 and this thread is the first result… 🙄

As an immigrant I find these images highly offensive. They make me question why I came to this intolerant country with its confused measuring system and inconsistent weather.

Blimey, if it wasn’t for that link I would have gone the rest of my days thinking this thread was about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_rocket and wondering what “frame colours and components” had to do with it…

Oh drat, I was hoping you were being serious. I’m very concerned about the immigration problems this once-and-future great nation faces and wished to engage in scholarly discussion as to how our British Bulldogs might scare off Johnny and his foreign chums.

TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR –

Maybe we should re-introduce freedom to dogs – it might address our immigration problems somewhat more effectively than any current measures.

Utterly fascinated by this passage. I’m dying to know what immigration problems we have/it might solve and also, even more intriguingly, how it might solve these problems.

Do expand upon it.

37 seconds from when your eyes first meet until the time the messy divorce is signed?? Wow, you are good.

(Thanks for the hints, Spacehopper. I find takign anything seriously a struggle so no danger there. Actually, that might be part of the problem…)

The flak on here was hilarious and, I will contend, basically from jealous people who couldn’t/wouldn’t go.

I wonder if there’s a way to combine mountian biking and speed-dating…?

Maybe groups of two (1 male, 1 female; or whatever you fancy) could head out for ten minute rides and then desice afterwards who they’d like to ride with further based on hill-climbing ability, lycra-clad curves and gnaarrrr factor. This idea could fly!

I’m not sure if I’m thinking of going simply to talk to ‘available’ ladies or just as a tool with which to rekindle my confidence at speaking to strangers!

Talking of which, how’s Swinley looking for this year’s Singletons’ ride, CG…? 😉

All contributions welcome, thanks guys, though I must admit I hadn’t even considered tyre choice for the event. Cheers, Sturmey! Also, if you happen to know the half-life of speed-14, let me know ay?

Our finishing piece was a medley:

Breathe (Pink Floyd)
Can’t Get You Out of My Head (Kylie Minogue – hey, it IS Friday!)
Ace Of Spades (Motörhead)

Went down a treat (my rose-tinted specs are firmly on) so I recommend you give it a go. Good luck! 🙂

Oasis… their mega status of a few years ago is a total mystery to me.

Knucklehead’s that read Loaded magazine have a lot to answer for

Blast! I told myself not get involved with this thread any further but I do need to clarify that whilst Oasis do attract a certain class of fist-dragging, tracksuit-wearing, Loaded/Maxim/FHM-loving missing links, some of their fans are actually in it for their music. And I don’t read that sort of mag, or drive a Saxo! Yes, believe it or not!

I’ll lose all the respect no one has for me when I say this, but Oasis are one of only two, maybe three, bands who have songs that can prick out tears from my eyes.

makes me wonder whether they have actually listened to any of their albums.

Exactly, Woody, exactly.

DON’T BUY THORN. …it handled horrendously.

It appears that handling is in the hand of the beholder. I’ve ridden mine for thousands of klicks, loaded, on and off road, and it’s been truly brilliant.

It’ll work fine.*

* Although:
– You’ll be using a 7/8-speed chain which is a smidge wider than a 9-speed chain so at the high end of the cassette, the chain may rub on a larger chainring. Not a big deal.
– Are the chain and cassette worn out? If so, you are replacing them aren’t you?

I was dragged to endless Clapton concerts by my parents in my youth. Staying awake as a child whilst listening to rather dull music was… tricky. I ‘remember’ one concert that was devoted to his very bluesiest of blues that actually had me wishing for unconciousness. I put it down to inexperience and a few months ago actually made an effort to listen to all the Clapton my folks love.

Turns out it’s rubbish.

(Have I been judged yet…?)

If not, let’s see how this attempt at defence goes down: my favourite band of all time is Oasis. I’ve no doubt that opinionated keyboard warriors across the country are currently thinking variations on ‘moron’, ‘prick’, ‘uneducated fool’, ‘deluded monkey’, etc. but I stand by my love for their music. I’ll concede that behaviour has not always been, er, exemplary, but the attitude is often crucial to the delivery, and live shows have always been truly magical experiences.

I really hope this thread dies ASAP. It’s utterly pointless and simply fuelled, not by jealousy, obviously, but by those people who see something distateful to them become popular and hate the fact. I’m not going to blame them, it happens to be too, but this sort of subjectiveness is never useful.

Hur hur hur, she can ‘knock me off’ any time she likes.

just being unhelpful

Ah, what a relief. That goes someway to restoring my faith in this mass.

Woah, like ten replies and no one’s judging anyone yet for driving without insurance!

Whatever happened to the STW we knew and loved…?

Second Level Imports Sport

[pedant]
FTFY
[/pedant] 😉

It’ll mean the same sort of levels of service that used to mire me down when dealing with Cannondale and currently lead to hair-extraction when trying to sort broken/creaky/just-plain-rubbish Bianchis, to wit: making sure the forms are filled out in triplicate and having to explain to customers that it’s taking ages because “it has to come from Europe”.

There’s no reason for stuff to take more than a day longer to come from the continent, but the bigger the distribution centre, the longer stuff seems to take to happen.

Paligap aren’t that bad compared to some, and I always thought the Hawaiian connection was ‘nice’.