Thanks sharkattack. I’ll get down to the LBSs as you suggest, got to be worth a go.

The non-powered full face mask/respirator I have (3M 6900) doesn’t steam up. There is a seal around the shield, and a separate seal around your nose and mouth (and a one-way valve between the two parts). The filters are in the shield, so when you breathe in, the air is pulled across your face then into the lower part, and when you breathe out, it goes straight out the bottom. Expensive compared to simple mask and goggles but cheaper than a powered respirator (less than £60 on ebay for the mask and a pair of filters).

I’ve used it for boarding lofts and it’s certainly a lot better than not wearing it. If I was woodturning all day though then a powered one would definitely be on the shopping list.

+1 for Blackburn MTN

As others have said, it doesn’t matter whether the hub is square with the stand, because the stand doesn’t measure dish, only trueness. I think part of the argument is that even if you’re using a conventional stand with some kind of self-centering gauge you’ll still need to use a dishing stick towards the end of the build, because they’re so much more accurate. The way I see it is that the stand is much easier to make, and has various minor advantages in use, if you let the dishing tool do the dishing. It is a system that works but isn’t necessarily for everyone. I built one of Roger’s jigs years ago and am more than happy with it, but I’m sure I’d build to the same standard and at about the same speed (slowly) with any other type. If you’d strongly prefer to keep an eye on dish without having to remove the wheel I’d go for one of the modifications suggested above, or an off-the-shelf jig.

A while back now but had a top time riding from Bilbao to Bourg St. Maurice, after a ferry from Portsmouth. No shortage of hills, rode under the Millau bridge, all good fun. Train back from the Alps. Also done a couple of shorter routes from Clermont Ferrand, once to the Alps, once a sort of lap of the Massif Central. There and back by train. Never had a problem with bikes, just said ‘avec velo’ when buying tickets at the station and it seemed to work out. Happy days…

Rajput always good, takeaway is collection only though I think. The fact that you can bring your own beer when eating in, and the Dram Shop is just over the road, makes it a winner in my book.

It’s a few years since I’ve been to Zara’s so wouldn’t like to compare to Jaflong, always used to be good though.

*makes note to try all others recommended on this thread*

Jaflong in Crookes hasn’t let me down in 20 years… That would be my choice at the studenty end of S10, plenty more to choose from though.

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A mighty fine day’s racing from @steelcityseries yesterday, here’s my pick of my pics, plenty more on @rootsandrain #sheffield #theoutdoorcity #downhillmtb #grenowoods #steelcitydh2018

A post shared by Duncan Wiggins (@ninewhilefive) on May 6, 2018 at 4:38am PDT

Another splendid day out, couldn’t believe the litter at the end of the day though. The marshalls definitely earned their goody bags (as ever).

Wood recycling place on Burton Street, always worth a look

http://greenestaterecycling.co.uk/home/timber-recycling/

https://m.facebook.com/greenestatetimberrecycling/

18bikes sorted me out with some Pacenti SL25s, and later, Pacenti Forzas, for two pairs of wheels for this purpose, and they built up very nicely. Not scary-light (440g and 475g respectively) but good for tubeless and a decent width.

Winner! First ‘racer’. Happy times.

Another vote for b-tension. Confused me because I’d never had a situation before I went 1×11 where adjusting it in the biggest sprocket didn’t mean every other sprocket was then fine.

Of course it’s never a bad idea to check hanger alignment too.

http://www.wheelfanatyk.com/store/pk-lie-standard05-truing-stand/%5B/url%5D

Don’t forget to buy a nipple shuffler while you’re at it…

More helpfully perhaps, I can also add myself to the list of satisfied Roger Musson customers, built one to his design a while ago and it works as promised. It isn’t to everyone’s taste as it’s fairly unconventional but it does have its advantages. But then, I had some offcuts of 25mm ply, some free time and access to a bandsaw, so it was an easy choice. I’d probably do something more traditional out of metal if I was making another one, just to try it.

The only thing I’ve ever used my 7mm allen key on is the one-key release on some old Campag C-Record cranks, like these

And a neighbour borrowed it once for his car (as above).

Naturally, I had to get it specially because it wasn’t supplied with the set I had…

Falafel King on Glossop Road. Admittedly the prices all went up 50p after its recent refit, still cheap though. And really good falafel, as you might hope. They’ll throw some chicken in there as well if chickpeas aren’t your thing.

No complaints here, given the price, and the type of riding it was designed for. My large is around 7.5lbs without shock, full build nearly 33lbs with a sensible build (XT, Reverb, Hope hoops, 1kg tyres) so no lightweight. But the money saved by not getting something similiar in carbon has paid for a load of skills lessons, trips away, uplift days etc. and I’m very happy with that choice.

Re. high front end, I’m currently using 1/2″ rise 760mm bars, 50mm 10deg stem without spacers, have been meaning to swap for a 40mm zero rise but two years in still haven’t bothered so it’s not upsetting me that much.

First 29er and first bike with new Pikes and a CCDB so I don’t have any useful comparisons to make really, it just feels faster and more stable than anything else I’ve ridden.

Mine’s a 12 x 142, yes.

Off the top of my head (well my Spotify recently played…) how about: Dominik Eulberg, Clark, Kode9, Ghost Culture, and perhaps the Kompakt compilations. Oh and Plaid’s new album seems promising. Not exactly an expert on techno and some or all of the above might best be labelled otherwise, but I reckon they’re suitable for the purpose you describe anyway…

Another vote for 248 here, very easy to apply, and used for that exact purpose and no pins lost yet.

Used 243 for years previously though with no problems.

Wow, I’d forgotten that thread…

When I built my Codeine I asked 18bikes for a 2 and an F and got everything I needed.

Loved his style. He will continue to inspire anyone who reads what he had to say on bikes and biking for many years to come. Riding road bikes off-road, big days in the alps, lightweight touring, proper wheels, questioning marketing nonsense, all good.

Crikey.

Where I come from (Cambridgeshire) bellringing has got bugger all to do with religion. At least, not in the minds of the bellringers, anyway.

To answer the original question, I guess I do quite like them, in a nostalgic sort of way. Now I live next door to a football stadium though…

I’m a big fan of 90 or 100mm macro lenses; I used to use a Tamron on my T90, and now use the Canon L on my 5D, but I like them because they do macro as well as being very capable for other purposes. It’s certainly been proved above that extension tubes and other budget configurations will get you stunning true-macro images, but not being able to focus to infinity, not to mention loss of automatic control, does make them rather specialist. I had an extension tube with the Tamron and only used it once because I didn’t have the patience to get the tripod out the cupboard and put the invertebrates in the freezer. It’s just nice to be able to take decent close-ups of plants or whatever with the same gear you’re using for just wandering around taking ‘normal’ shots, I think. All depends how much planning you put into your photos really.

This thread just keeps on winning.

Photos below are the consequences of asking my Dad ‘do you want to go halves on a metal lathe?’ about 18 months ago… He has been putting it to good use doing bits for cars and motorbikes. All a lot of fun. A milling machine has recently been added to the workshop…

Bearing tools for Meta 5.5:

Tamper for friend’s espresso machine:

Headset for new BFe:

Drawbar for the lathe:

Bushing and seal tools for 36s:

Best lunchbreak ever, very glad I got to see this.

Some great photos on here, thanks to all for posting.

Results (and a couple of thousand photos) are now up on Roots & Rain:

http://www.rootsandrain.com/race1904/2013-may-4-steel-city-dh-greno-woods/%5B/url%5D

A most excellent day out. Thanks to everyone involved in organising!

Signed.

Castrol CL for all cup and cone bearings, suspension-specific stuff for suspension.

M970 22/36/bashring

I put cantis on mine, partly to avoid these issues – whenever I’ve seen pictures of any with mini-vs and proper mudguards I’ve wondered how there was enough clearance. I have to admit that cantis don’t exactly go on perfectly though. You have to stick a hanger on the seat clamp at the back, and at the front the cable fouls the gear cables (because the braze-ons are on the headtube instead of the downtube) which can be annoying. Still a very nice bike to ride though, especially for the price.

I make two bootable images of the whole hard drive onto external HDs, one kept at work, one at home. I only do it every now and then but as an additional safety net with photos I’ll leave them on the memory card until they’ve also made their way onto the backups.

I don’t think it matters a great deal what media you use or even what method, there’s such a huge variety of solutions of varying cost and ease of use and no single solution is right for everyone. The important thing is just to have at least two copies and to have them on at least two sites.

Sounds like a fine plan. I passed through that area on a tour a few years ago, only on the road but they were fantastic roads. Much quieter than the more obviously popular regions, but no shortage of campsites and restaurants etc. (not that I’ve ever found an area of France lacking in campsites and restaurants but you know what I mean). Anyway, our route: from the Pyrenees, went South of Toulouse through Revel, zigzagged North-East to Millau, took in the viaduct (riding underneath along the river was as close as we got, still amazing though) then East across the Cevennes to Ales, before heading up to the Alps.

I’m sure most people would tell you that with only a week to play with you should go straight to the Alps and just tick off as many TdF cols as you can stand (and stop off at a couple of resorts for some VTT of course) and although that would obviously be a great way to spend a week, if you’re after something more chilled, quieter, less touristy, but still challenging and interesting, then your route would be ideal, I reckon. And the bridge is just cool.

Another satisfied customer of this thread here. Followed the OP’s instructions more or less exactly, used 4.7mm ID windscreen washer tubing (which I already had for bleeding brakes) which was a very tight fit but just about ok. Mole grips to hold the tube worked well. Needed 60psi in the bottle to get a slack old High Roller to inflate on a Flow, with rimstrip. Didn’t blow my face off or destroy the house, which was a bonus. Cheers!

Another vote for wider bars here, or at the very least try moving your brake levers further inboard. Increasing the width of your bars and moving your controls inwards at the same time results in your hands being in the same position but no longer hanging off the end of the bars.

More here:
http://duncanwiggins.zenfolio.com/singletrackweekender2011

Got pretty much everyone here:
http://duncanwiggins.zenfolio.com/singletrackweekender2011

High res versions are available, just post here or email me, in return donations to RPMRT are strongly encouraged http://www.rpmrt.org.uk/fundraising.php get well soon Dave!

DT Swiss calc gives 258 left 260 right for me with the dimensions above (which are correct as far as I know). Only way I can make it say anything like 245 is by setting it to 1x lacing instead of 3x. Still, always worth trying a couple of different calculators before buying spokes in my experience.

I think any extra padding there would make calluses worse not better, I’ve tried gloves with all different kinds of padding over the years and always get calluses there no matter what.

Anyway they’re a mountain bikers’ badge to be worn with pride I reckon, like tan lines. Having been off the bike for three months mine are very nearly gone, I can’t wait to get them back! If there’s someone in your life that objects to them you can always smooth them off with a bit of sandpaper and apply a bit of moisturiser to soften them up, but I generally leave them be as they serve a useful purpose.

I like that, looks like a proper bike for proper riding. You see a lot of very pretty very posh bikes on here but it’s very rare that I could honestly say I’d be as happy riding them as my own bike (which is not particularly pretty or posh) without major changes. That one passes the test though. And not just because it’s slightly cleaner.

When my 110s gave up I went for a pair of Shimano AM31s, just because Eighteen had them going cheap, not because I’d been unhappy with the 110s, and I guess because having used no spd shoes other than Specialized for several years thought I may as well try another brand.

I’ve got no complaints with the quality or design of the AM31s, they are very similiar (apart from the lack of strap at the very top because they have three rather than four straps) but I found the fit to be slightly narrower across the ball of the foot, which took a while to get used to.

If I was to replace them I’d go back to Specialized. Unless of course Nike reintroduce the PoohBahs with a sole that doesn’t break, but that’s another topic…