I’m impressed with your commitment.

Or impressed by my naivety? Reality kicks in when the dreaming stops and the costs hit home. Some of the guttering is cast (incl. the section that broke this winter) but most is plastic. But if I’m having lime work done I might as well get the guttering sorted too whilst the walls are being sorted out.

Don’t give up the day job for the comedy circuit just yet, Sandwich.

Found their site, thanks.

C’mon aP – any pictures of the sort of thing you’d recommend for me then?

How about guttering? Was thinking of cast (from Longbottoms) but the prices are pretty steep; then saw Brett Martin plastic look-alikes. Any experiences / thoughts?

Midlifecrashes – Now that looks nice! Mind me asking who did the windows? PM me if you prefer – addy in profile.

The openings aren’t really right for traditional sash (in my v. limited experience). Probably do have space to recess them upstairs (suspect the previous windows, or ones before them, were recessed).

Hadn’t heard of Critall before … not convinced but worth considering anyway.

Still struggling to “see” what it all might look like.

Rotting wood, looks don’t really work – panes too small etc. Plus bow windows would be difficult to do double glazed.

Fair cop.

Picture here

I’m 49, the house is about 300.

Budget comes later; for now I want to work out what would fit in and look in keeping (not necessarily in a purist restoration sense).

Are you in a conservation area?

No, thankfully. But still want to have wood frames, good quality etc. but main thing I can’t fathom is the design – what would look good and appropriate?

Yes, strangely enough.

Only 25 seconds!!

No one took that in the sweepstake – 1 minute was the shortest guess.

Yep – sorted. Need 180mm. Thanks for the help.

Cheers – will check. Think they’re 04-06 style (as they’re the same as my old 04’s that I misguidedly sold). Certainly looks like 180 would be right.

Stop being idle and look at CRC! £156 plus spider plus rings, but you’re budget seems unlimited so go for it – I fancy having a go fitting them anyway 😛

What patentlywill said

How come riding the bike will seal the bead properly then?

Installation involves sloshing the wheel side to side to get solution on the beads, and when you ride the solution will be flung to the outer surfaces. When you’re faffing with the valve the wheel will be stationary, solution runs to bottom of tyre etc. When you deflate the tyre there’s no solution being pushed through the valve. Innit?

Just to voice some heresy, I had a Kent Eriksen sweetpost, now sold.

Very nice to look at on my Ti frame, but at the end of the day it’s just there to keep a saddle in the right place and did the job no better (or worse) than a Thomson or other decent post. It certainly made no real world difference to the ride; a couple of psi difference in tyre pressure – possibly caused by different temperatures day-to-day – made as much difference.

So, if you do it, do it for the right reason which is that it looks nice … which leads you to Kent Eriksen, Moots, Black Sheep etc.

Had 3 wheels, all fine. Always used Wheelpro before but JRA seem just as good and a bit easier to deal with!

Sold mine, no regrets. I never could get used to the weight out back, and the whine in gears 1 – 7 just made me want to push so I didn’t have to hear it. It might or might not have been less efficient in the low gears but it was demoralising to ride.

I am just such a lodger (Monday – Thursday or Tuesday – Thursday depending on what I can get away with). Work in London, home in Yorkshire.

I have a couple of draws in a chest of drawers to keep clothes (all cycling ones) and a laptop – nothing else stays there. Bike gets parked in garage when I’m there but it’s my transport round London so comes home with me.

I use a bit of fridge space during the week, and other than wireless braodband that’s all I need. I’d have thought most weekday lodgers would be similar?

Anyway, glad for this post as those sites look good for when I want to move.

Late 05 vintage Horst, now with Thomson post and Maguras. All the bike I’ll need until/if I break it.

Can I be the first to say Wheelpro? Never anything but excellent wheels from Roger.

Just bought these Gaerne boots– for some reason the price has gone up £50 in the last few weeks!

Having had Lake MXZ300s (stitching fell apart) and Sidi Invernos (Velcro fell apart), these seem as well made as the Lakes and very warm, but only time will tell. Don't look as Frankenboot as Lakes too.

… can't believe I have to resort to silicon sealant to get these things to do what they're meant to.

Never had that work for me. Usually a desperate attempt to tackle the valve which has never been a problem. Have you looked for any minute split in the rim tape elsewhere which will let air out? This will almost inevitably come out at the valve even if the leak is far away.

Had similar experiences.

UST rims – never any trouble.

Stans – Arch front was fine as was Flow rear, but flow front a nightmare. None were as easy as UST rims & tyres though.

Mate's 355s caused fun with air apparently coming out from round the valve. no amount of tightening sorted it out. Eventually the penny dropped – there was a small cut in the rim tape that was leaking air which was then escaping round the valve. The valve was seated fine, so just because air is coming out from round it doesn't mean the valve's wrong. A new run of rim tape solved it – and the tape was also as fitted by the wheelbuilder. Worth checking yours?

Mosquito is a registered participant in the governments 'tax-free bikes' scheme administered by Cyclescheme.
There is a hefty charge of 10% to us on all sales through Cyclescheme however we only charge a nominal 5% to account for this and the increased administration involved.

Direct from Mosquito's website[/url]. Plain for all to see, so no complaints but makes me think twice about whether I really, really want that Fixie Pure Blood.

Lockring uses a BB installation tool, not a cassette lockring. If it did it'd be fine.

Only 20mm bolt thru uses this – the rest still use the cassette tool. Never aware that 20mm ever used the cassette tool – there wouldn't be enough room for the axle? And as I'd imagine most Ventis are on 20mm hubs it seems like a design flaw rather than a Shimano change to me.

The fins are for cooling (I think) and not strength so a dremel to them might be the best way if I can't bodge a tool…or just some 6 bolt rotors, but that's giving in.

OK. Seems plenty of people like them, plenty don't and plenty haven't a clue how to fettle them.

So where is there any guide how to sort them out properly? I've got XTRs that work a treat but I have no idea how to maintain them correctly. And I bet I'm not the only one. 😳

Bare eSSentials
Mincing Machine

… and I'll be selling my 2008 Ti456, sadly. Bought to be used properly, but then circumstances changed and it ended up as a Ti4569 commuter – a total waste. What little proper riding it did get was fun, mind.

Thanks all.

Plan is a disc-ready CX frame, so will not have any trouble with brakes or 135mm spacing.

Now, any recommendations on good road wheel builders?

Not really – just tells me that 700c is 622mm, not what the radius is with a seated tyre. Or am I missing something?

Will do, Joe

You can buy it in the UK. What size are you after – I have a 34.9mm not in use?

Have done the same with 2 x NNs in 2 weeks. But not in 3 years with Fat Alberts. Came to the conclusion that it's the NNs.

From this …

… to this …

… as it morphed to a commuter. Bit of a waste of the frame TBH but it allows me to tackle the challenges of London's towpaths fearlessly and manfully. Fleegles now replaced by boring risers.

Maytag (re-badged Asko).

My Asko washing machine is 17 & going strong so just ordered the Maytag as a result. Mind you, my Bosch dishwasher lasted 19 years so I'd have been OK with one of those too.

Had a long exchange with Eric at FC – non-drive side is optional, so you don't need to grind down the chainset (mine was a 2009 EBB – earlier versions might differ I guess).

Retracts earlier post 😳

33%, again IMHO! Still don't see what Tuesday has to do with it.

Still 50%. Tuesday is irrelevant. All IMHO.

Mrs F has horses. The cost of them scares me – buying them, feeding them, shoeing them, vets, stables, fields, tack …

They can be out of control, but then quite a few bikers can be too – are we all in 100% control all the time? Never fall off? A bit of consideration and the world can be a nice place 🙂

I guess as we ride on bridleways we ought to be glad that horses get ridden. No horses = no birdleways.

Being practical, human + bike = 60 – 100 kg (say, ignoring Ton).
Horse = 350 -700 kg roughly, has 4 rock hard feet with knuckle dusters attached, and a propensity either to (a) kick first and ask questions later or (b) accelerate way faster than you as it tramples over you as it flees a plastic bag.
Options – argue about how wrong it is to bring a half-controlled lunatic onto bridleways, or make way.