I have a Pentax digital SLR, so am able to take advantage of the lovely old lenses I find in charity shops – I have a 28mm and a 50mm 1.8 lens, which while being fully manual, work perfectly in my camera (once I used nail varnish to paint over the bit where the contacts on modern lenses would be so as to dis-confuse the camera – it was shorting the contacts and refusing to take photos before).

They were a couple of quid each, if I remember correctly 🙂

For anyone wondering where Hullavington, Stanton St Quinton or Malmesbury are, they’re in Wiltshire (I looked it up).

Just in general, when advertising events, where they are is at least as important as when or what.

Shame it’s not in Yorkshire. I like the sound of the cause and the event. In my experience, they need some decent bike bits in Africa. Especially tyres. And wheels. And everything else.

That sounds like useful advice. I shall investigate when it’s not 3 in the morning. Ta chaps.

Cool. Ta. I think I’ve seen the manual from the website. I shall return to it and read it every day for the next week 🙂

As it was leaking oil when I acquired it, I imagine it must need new seals – is there another explanation for this problem? I’ve seen seal kits for sale online, but I’ve also seen people say that if you know what to buy, you can get generic cheapo seals that do the same job. Is this sensible, if I can find out what’s required, or should I go with a proper kit?

Hopefully the parts and tools will be worth buying if I can fix it. It seems to be in decent nick, apart from the relentless boinging.

RestlessNative – Member
on the flip side what is the point of a big ring unless you only have dull fire roads to ride?

I suppose some people live in houses that are already off-road so they don’t have to cycle along roads to get there, but I unfortunately do live on a road, so I have to cycle along it to get to the off-road.

HTH 🙂

gusamc – I ended up going with your solution, after making a mess of tapping to M6 (should have used a smaller drill bit – used 5mm and ended up with a hole too big!). It works perfectly, and should be tougher, what with being steel instead of aluminium. Ta!

Oh go on then.

My favourite:

Hmm. Why is this not working? Should be Jibber and Twitch, and the URL works.

Ooh Cardiacs 🙂 Tim Smith 🙁 poor lovely chap.

I’ve always wondered what a vegan tastes like. Fairly bland I’d have thought?

Cows are vegans and they taste great.

I’ll watch out for it too.

Whereabouts in Sheffield was it taken from?

My girlfriend got me out of bed on Thursday because she was late for work and her wheels (which she’d just put back on) weren’t spinning properly. The bike was already upside down. The back wheel wasn’t on properly – just undid & redid quick release – sorted. The front disc rotor was catching slightly on the pads – no big deal, I should have left it – but half asleep I decided to fix it, since I was up. Undid the caliper to line it up properly. Put my right hand on the caliper and with my left, spun the wheel as hard as I could. At this point, I discovered there isn’t quite enough room between the spokes and the caliper for a thumb.

There was lots of blood and the world went fuzzy for a bit and I had to lie down on the floor. Fortunately she’s a doctor and always has some steri-strips handy, so she stuck my thumb back together for me before she left for work.

GlennG: I can’t think of any appropriate word that’s 5 letters long and ends in “t”. Give us a clue, go on.

I’m intrigued to know what counts as “off road” – in Ghana, this is a high quality tarmac road:
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And this is a relatively smooth minor road:
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I’m trying to think what I didn’t take with me but wish I had… Gloves would have been useful – most of me was adequately protected by factor 50 sun cream (which is incidentally unavailable in all the shops I visited!), but my hands just got really sweaty and then burned when I was riding all day.

Take photos of home with you, the local people you meet will be really interested to see what your world looks like.

And yes I am jealous.

cynic-al
They won’t break.

I appreciate your optimism, especially given your username :). I’ve had racks break at the bolt-hole before (I spent a “fun” hour “drilling” a new hole in a broken strut with a swiss-army knife somewhere on a desolate moor in North Yorkshire a few years ago), but they were the early aluminium ones that just weren’t chunky enough. The modern ones are much thicker and more rigid so you’re probably right.

dropoff
Drill the hole out at 5.2mm, countersink the inside face of the hole and fit an m5 countersunk bolt from the inside ?

That’s cunning. I’ll consider it but I think I’m sold on the 6mm plan now

coatesy
it’s still feasible to tap to M6x1.0, and be able to fit the M5x0.8 helicoil at a later date.

I’d convinced myself that wouldn’t be possible, but that sounds ideal. A plan, even. I’ll give that place in Attercliffe a call in the morning to see if they have a 6×1 tap at a sensible price.

Can’t see how a M6 x 1mm could ever ae helicoiled to an M5 x 0.8.

If I’ve understood helicoils correctly, neither can I.

My only concern at using M6 is that racks won’t necessarily come with big enough holes for M6 bolts – I’m pretty sure the disc specific one on my bike didn’t. I know I can drill them out, but if they then break, shops will just blame me for modifying them.

Cool. Ta.

Another question: If I go with Jeremy’s solution of just tapping an M6 thread, can I then later insert a helicoil to make it an M5? My suspicion having looked at pictures of helicoils is that they convert (for instance) an M6x1.0 into an M5x1.0 thread – is that correct? If so, I guess I have to tap a 6×0.8 thread to convert into a 5×0.8 thread, so I have to decide what to do right from the start.

Of course, if I can tap a 6×1 thread and convert it into a 5×0.8 thread later, that’s fine, I’ll just get a 6×1 tap for now and use a fat bolt.

(I am liking this forum)

I apologise for my mis-use of the word “bodge”.

Coastsy: I just called in at Buck & Hickman on my way home (I live in Pitsmoor) but they were closed. I’ll try phoning them tomorrow.

Thanks for all the replies, folks. I’m at work so can’t address everything in depth but:

No, not room for a bolt head on the inside. Good thinking but already been there.

Helicoil – never heard of this before, I’ll look into it.

I guess it’s a 5mm thread, same as a bottle cage and just about everything else. I think I’m probably best to continue to use 5mm bolts for future compatibility so it sounds like I want to drill, tap a bigger thread and then use one of these helicoils (Google time).

I’m in Sheffield – does anyone know where I might be able to find these (tap and die and helicoil)? As long as there’s a solution, I don’t mind a problem – generally I end up better skilled after, and I do enjoy a good bodge!

I don’t have a photo of it (yet) but I did a similar thing – I used a length of inner tube stretched between the two struts.

You should see the mudguard I made for my girlfriend’s bike if you like a bodge. I used a length of an old tyre, attached to the rack with cable ties. Looks proper shoddy (which may be why her bike didn’t get stolen from work yesterday when her colleague’s bike parked next to it did).

I too reckon that the weight of the rack is mostly insignificant while riding without panniers. I think it’s worth having a rack just as a mudguard, even when I’m not carrying stuff (though obviously /proper/ mountain bikers just get wet and muddy).

Bizarrely, I’ve never heard of Mad Season before right now. Looked them up on Wikipedia and it looks like I should investigate further. I was well into AIC in the early 90s, and rediscovered Dirt recently – Facelift is a bit too cock rock for me, especially the production and particularly the constant explosive reverb on the snare drum, which makes it hard for me to listen to.

I’ve been rediscovering bands I’d forgotten all about lately, too. I hadn’t listened to Nine Inch Nails for ages and about 6 months ago discovered that they (he) had made about 5 albums I’d never heard, all of which are excellent! So I’ve listened to very little else since.

What are these frames made of?

D0NK

uncut steerer (!) check

Apart from any aesthetic consideration, I’d be worried about giving myself a kidney-ectomy if I came off over the handlebars.

Is part of an inner tube protecting the chain-stay? That definitely scores points if so.

The “garden” is actually not bad considering all they have to work with is sand and dust.

Not sure what you mean about “V and disk brakes front and back still in place” – the frame isn’t even V-brake compatible (though the wheels and forks clearly are). Also don’t quite agree about the forks being “pointless” – the roads would probably have hurt more with rigid forks – but they are truly cheap and nasty. I’d probably rather have rigid forks for general use on balance.

Anyway, I’m not here to defend it, I’m here to see if anyone can out-ugly it. G’wan, lets see yours 🙂

Here’s the stick bodge:

I’m sure you’ll agree that the plastic chainguard also contributes to the overall aesthetic je ne sais quoi.

Still, it coped with 4 weeks of Ghana’s “roads” admirably.

Aye, I was responding to the bit about “dependable” rather than “beautiful”. Apologies for that. My bike probably looks too small and has lots of headset spacers, but that’s because I ruptured a disc in my back last year and had to go for something more upright.

Maybe I should start an “Ugly hardtails” thread. Yes I think I will…

My lovely bike in Ghana

And again:

Not as pretty as everyone else’s, perhaps, but dependable. I totally love my bike. Obviously 🙂

Happy ending! She found the cover in the car park at work.

Meanwhile, the Cat Eye distributor customer services people had emailed back clarifying that it was the cover off the front light that I was looking for so that they could “assist you further”. A good argument against el cheapo accessories (and specifically in favour of Cat Eye).

(and they’re not paying me to say this either, honest)

Progress: I’ve emailed Zyro, the UK distributor, and they’ve replied to clarify that it’s the front light that I need the cover for! Wonder where this will lead…

Not that my problem’s the same as yours, and I’ve never had to have surgery, but I ruptured a disc in my back last year, pretty much had 6 months off life and best part of a year off mountain biking.

I had to ditch my Rockhopper frame and got myself a smaller, shorter Trek 4500 frame and an adjustable stem adjusted for a more upright position. I came back a month ago from cycling round Ghana and apart from the odd stiff day, my back’s fine.

I realise on re-reading my post that I’d be losing my lowest, not highest gear, oops 🙂

Is Whinstone Lee Tor where you get to if you ride up from Cutthroat Bridge? I love it up there, and the ride down into Derwent Valley.

Do I gather that park rangers have been stropping about bikers on the bridleway that curves down from Stanage? I’ve never had a problem there.

I’m not desperate for a new cassette at the moment, probably won’t need that for a year or so, but will consider the offer, since I’d probably use it eventually. Though I’d rather have a higher, not lower top gear than my current 30 sprocket.

On Ebay I’ve looked at completed listings can’t quite make sense of how much these Ultegras go for. Seems to be anything between £30 + minimal postage within the UK and £50 + postage to the UK from USA.

Worcester: I’m there next weekend visiting my girlfriend’s family so maybe not so inconvenient after all!

Thanks for the advice guys. I’ll stick with my current setup, which does work very nicely, though the 9 speed mountain bike I built for my girlfriend seems smoother, but that’s probably down to the ancient Deore LX derailleur (I have a knackered Alivio with a Deore waiting to replace it when it gets too floppy) rather than the gears. I digress…

Mboy: I’m in the process of listing it on Ebay, but if you want to make me an offer, go for it. Where are you? I’m in Sheffield.

GW: “you won’t find anything above XT equivalent anymore” – I don’t know what this means, please do explain.

12-27 actually (so pretty much what you said). And my current 8 speed has (goes downstairs and counts…) 11-30. So I’d reduce my range at both ends. I wouldn’t mind not having such a low gear, but wouldn’t want to lose the highest, so I’ll sell this cassette. Ta!