Thanks for the tip, matthew_h. I’ll give that a whirl.

Looks like a lot of bending? Any piccies of a successful version like that – I have a rare capacity to break stuff when trying to improvise.

Many thanks all, esp. Crikey for the details and piccies.

Bars are Easton EA70 Ergos, bar tape Easton too. Shifters are new 105s, so both cables get wrapped … keep thinking it’d be easier to have gone for older style levers with the gear cables exposed.

Will see what You Tube has to offer too.

Thanks. Chromoplastics it will be unless anyone has any views on SKS Longboards?

I thought it was just me …

Had no trouble with 819, Arch or Flow rims with Vredestein Killer Bees but it was only my steel tyre lever that would be the same tyre onto the Crest. Not a newer version of the tyre either, one of a batch bought together before they went out of production.

Strangely emboldened by the tight fit, I inflated it (a 2.3″) to 50psi where it was happy for a week. Then it blew off the rim, nearly killing me an some innocent passers-by of shock with the noise and explosion of white fluid.

After that the same tyre seated by hand, and has run tubelessly at 30psi witout problem.

Thanks for that OCB.

Road chainsets & BBs don’t use BB spacers (68mm as cynic-al says) and chainsets axles are a bit shorter. I might be able to get a single spacer on the driveside BB [I’m using a MTB BB anyway) but will have to see if the cranks will bolt up properly.

Want to use road cranks as 50/34 works better than 40/28 (or whatever MTB doubles are) for a set up that will be weekday commuter and and weekend ride-what-I-find lanes and double track in the Yorkshire Wolds.

Cheers … fingers crossed once I get it done that it’s all OK.

Clearance around what? I’ve tried out the chainset and the rings clear the frame OK – and the picture on the Beardedman website appear to show a road chainset which is why I got one. Just concerned about the chainline.

Thanks Iain, but not for me – I want steel with EBB or sliding / horizontal dropouts, hence the original Genesis / Singular / Pace shortlist.

Thanks for the Day One support. I’m anything but fast so the gearing would not be an issue.

Looked at the Cotic & CDF, but want to be able to run SS or hub gears without a tensioner.

I’m going to assume that opening a window is not an option?

Correct. It seems to have been painted shut a few decades ago. We do have a skylight which we open anyway but even with that and the asthmatic fan there’s still a condensation problem.

Shower / fan / light just sounds dangerous

Fan / light is a combo, above the shower. Not in my wildest nightmares would I be looking for a light than also spouted water!!

It’s getting more & more complex …

Pipe run will be small – in fact, the challenge will be fitting it in. We’ve got a custom tile with hood built in, and there’ll be about 15 – 30cm of pipe to connect it to the fan, if that.

…also all it would do it move it about the room (/house) and not extract it, which is really your requirement?

The ceiling is also the roof, so an extractor over the shower would go straight up and outside, hopefully getting the moisture out of the room & house.

That’s what’s going in the wall of the room (to replace the current one); I was thinking of an integrated one directly over the shower too (the room configuration is such that the wall-mounted one is lower than the top of the shower.

Similar issues here … only CRT Mitsubishi here.

Thinking about this Sony, based simply on the fact that 1TB is bigger than 500GB and so must be better.

No idea how I’d get recordings to DVD from it as I’m a numpty on all these sorts of things.

@Farticus: I can’t understand how you’ve had problems. I certainly have not. Maybe a drop of Loctite would help you out…

Me neither … defeated me completely, and I hate giving up. 3 chainring bolts destroyed, and always 1 or 2 loose after a ride no matter how tight they were done up. Same whether SS or 1×9.

Won’t touch them again, but it could have been me.

Thanks for that.

Any more recommended?

I’d avoid the Renthall.

I’ve tried:
Salsa – lasted ages,trouble-free.
Cycle Dynamics (Ti) – lasted ages, trouble-free.
Thorn – lasted ages,trouble-free.
Renthall – constant aggro. Chainring bolts kept undoing themselves, chain dropped as a result, teeth chewed up. Tried numerous different bolts of different lengths and they all needed tightening daily to keep it working. Same cranks (XT HT2) and bolts had no problems with any of the other rings.

As for a tensioner, I’ve got a Yess ETR-V and Rohloff going spare, either of which would be fine, but anything else sprung seems designed to fail. Currently running a DMR Tension Seeker which sought tension and failed to find it, so it’s now held in place with a thick zip tie. Can’t get the right chainline with either the Rohloff or Yess (as running a big ring) otherwise I’d use one of those.

Thanks all – just got back to the thread but we seem to have a consensus.

Does anyone leave their bike in the guards van quite happily?

Yes. Travel between York & KX weekly, and other than the odd jobsworth demanding to see the reservation (which I always have anyway) I’ve not had a problem. That’s with an Explosif or Ti456, so not any old tatt.

IIRC if you have a ROT clause (or a Romalpa clause) AND you can ID your goods unabiguously then you’re in a good position legally.

Not sure how you’ll stand if you just go and take them back. But I’d rather be arguing with the liquidator with the goods in my possession than theirs.

It’s in my garden. I’ll check out your suggestions slowoldgit & compare. Cheers.

The tree’s outside the bedroom window and at the edge of the car park – hard not to spot the fruit when we see it many times a day!

I haven’t seen a hawthorn with leaves the shape shown in the picture although that doesn’t rule it out. It has had some thorns but very few, and only a handful on the trunk (nowhere else).

So, crabapple- or hawthorn-related it is, so it seems. Just need to get a precise ID now. Thanks all.

Thanks – will have a look. SO much easier being lazy!

The blossom looks right but there’s no fruit.

Hawthorn – leaves are completely the wrong shape but the rest of it fits.

I did think about crabapple but the absence of crabapples threw me. Are they ever absent? The berries are big but definitely not crabapples – plus they come in January.

Will look at almond & cherry to see if anything matches.

Don’t know where you’ve been to see a honeysuckle like that!

Flowers have no scent, and this is a tree – almost no thorns but just the odd one on some smaller branches. Makes me think it might be related to a hawthorn, but “Tree” is as accurate as I can get at the mo.

I’ve got a Mont Blanc. And a Sheaffer, a Cross, a Parker and a Waterman. None beat my old 1970s Sheaffer (sadly RIP), and the Mont Blanc isn’t worth the cash.

Best bet – a vintage Parker 51.

Simplest to illustrate by going through all the options.

Assume you pick the one in bold in each of the 3 options below. Whatever you choose, Monty opens a goat* door (the one crossed out). So, sticking means you win 1/3, switching means you win 2/3.

G G C becomes G G C. Stick = Win. Switch = Lose.

G G C becomes G G C. Stick = Lose. Switch = Win.

G G C becomes G G C. Stick = Lose. Switch = Win.

As far as i know this should work with sheep, cows or anything else. I’m surprised questions weren’t asked about Monty’s interest in goats.

Had something very similar on my 819 rim – so tubeless and no spoke as fully sealed rim.

First off it refused to hold air, with air leaking out around the valve, so i thought it was the valve. Ended up sealing the valve in, but air just came out from round the spokes.

So, popped a tube in and all was OK for a while, then a puncture … then another, so I blamed the newly surfaced towpaths.

Tyre changed to a proper commuting one, so nice and tough. Still got a puncture every other day. Eventually realised the punctures were all on the inside of the tubes, and then I found what I thought was a big scratch along the rim (running along the bed, not across it). So I filed it, thinking it was burrs rubbing through the tubes.

And another puncture … so I took the rim off (OK, I cut all the spokes with wirecutters, so “took” might not be accurate) and sent the hub off the JRA to be built up again. Once the rim was off what looked like a scratch was a big crack that was expanding – as I say, along the rim bed around the rim rather than across it. So the crack was opening under load and “biting” the tube.

First rim I’ve every had fail. Worth checking yours?

To save me for trawling through all the “iDave Diet” forum entries the search will throw up, does anyone have the link(s) to the diet details that they can post here?

I did.

My son got a XS Turner XCE when he was 7. Fitted it with 60mm stem, 165mm cranks, reversed post to shorten the reach & 24″ wheels – he was fine. Now he’s 13 and has an inline post & 26″ wheels, and there’s plenty of room for further growth.

My daughter got a 14″ Explosif when she was 7 – same idea as above, but with shorter (cheapo) 152mm cranks. Worked a treat. She’s move up to 26″ wheels too now.

Both bikes have been properly ridden (proper hills, Thetford, Dalby, Chicksands etc.) and are still fine – not trashed or abused in any way.

Thanks all – will investigate links. Bit chaotic at work so haven’t been able to check back.

Asko – Swedish kit that last ages. Washing machine 18 years old & has never missed a beat. Dishwashers are branded Maytag in the UK – pricey but built to last.

Had a Bosch dishwasher which made it to 17. New ones are just not built as well, so after looking at Bosch I went for the Maytag / Asko. Good for 17 place settings, so pretty mahoosive.

aP said …

side opening casement windows

What I call Yorkshire sliders, then. I agree they’re a possibility and probably my favourite option right now. I’ll look into those Crittal things a bit more (with some suspicion).

Thanks for the guidance, and apologies if I seem slow on the uptake; I had to do Latin instead of Design at school and that – coupled with a complete lack of talent – put paid to any flair I might have had.

geetee1972 – see post 2. Original gags only, please.

Anyway, back to windows … I prefer non-bow anyway (Mrs F prefers them, so if they’re impossible that’s a good thing otherwise I’ll end up being overridden). Sashes would be difficult to make fit the shape and look good, plus seem to be v. pricey. Don’t want plastic windows.

So, some ideas on what won’t work, but still no idea what would look good / flatter the house, other than aP’s words of wisdom about adding verticality (so far all I know is Tesco don’t sell this).

A thread revived – many thanks Gary & bagpuss72 🙂

with regards the dimensions of the apertures sashes might look out of place

Agree that sashes might not look right as the apertures seem too “squat”. Plus I suspect sashes will be quite a bit more expensive, especially as Mrs F. would insist on “proper ones” (lead-weighted). But Yorkshire sliders (think sash on its side) might work better?

English Heritage may be worth a call they pointed my old boss in the right direction

I’ve thought about EH and the local conservation officer but am a bit reluctant in case they decide to list the place – probably escaped so far as the front looks like a pebbledashed monstrosity. But might be worth a call provided I don’t give any details away. Not averse to it being listed, but only once I’ve got some of the work done.

Thanks all for advice / comments so far. Feel free to post piccies of styles of windows you think would look good in my house – clearly I need help before I make it look like it’s been transported to Surrey.