Is the 685mm width a must? Could you cope with 660mm?

I got these Syncros recently and they are smashing.

You’ll be glad you don’t have Tennis Ball then.

Mmmm..the Jedi skills course might be just the ticket. Maybe Mrs Fruitbat could be persuaded along too.

Karrimor for me too. When you get fed up with walking you can modify them for SPD winter duties too :D

Get one of these and buy more bikes with the change.

Cheers oxnop

I’m going to click BUY – I’ve got birthday money burning a hole in my pocket.

Go to a sports retailer and ask for a pair of good sports pants. Mind you, you might be told that good sports don’t wear pants.

Bullshot[/url]

crikey fruitbat.
thats some garage bodging commitment going on there.

if i ever need a frame sandblasting, i know who to contact!

Strangely enough, I do have a sand blasting gun!

Just in case there’s any doubt, here is further evidence of serial bodge syndrome:

Compressors rule.

Mine resides up in the ceiling of the batcave. Its a compressor pump off a truck braking system, belt driven by a 2HP motor and the tank is a Calor Gas bottle. Bodgetastic.

We stayed here Oakwood[/url] and found it to be rather good. Close to Dalbeattie and other Stanes. Plenty non-biking stuff to do too.

Nescafe Instant Espresso. Two heaped tea spoons and a 1/2 cup of water – no milk obviously. Good Taste to Faff ratio.

Alfa 166 – Clarkson likes them but that should not disqualify them from consideration!

+1 for Stif. Used them lots of times and never a problem.

I’m currently using Bontrager Race Lite bars and they’re 630mm wide. The only minor gripe I have with them is that I can’t get the controls in far enough. I’m hoping that wee bit extra width will help.

I think I’m going to buy them. Now then, what 27.2mm inline CF seat post to complete the theme.

druid – yup I also remember these were quite expensive too. My digital is a Canon S5IS non DSLR so I don’t think useful (and economical) accessories exist for it..
I might give it a go during the holidays if I can find a big enough bit of white wall.

Is the following the acme of foolishness?

Set up a projector to show the slide on a screen then photograph the screen image with a tripod mounted digital camera?
I guess the white balance would need to be adjusted for tungsten light.

I tried one of those cheap scanners (mail order from the Scotsman) and the results were carp.

Perhaps 1 Series owners would be better off reverting to the items that inspired the design in the first place:

Actually there’s just 3 Alfas and the Fiat Bravo is a Motability leased car.

The 166 is a V6, so just 6 coil packs for it!

I do all the work myself so costs are not that crazy really !! :lol:

@Ade – Sorry old boy, I just can’t understand your aversion to Alfas.
Here’s my fleet :D:

There are diesel Alfas out there too http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/list.asp?s=697&dist=10&pc=&min=5000&max=7000&y1=&y2=&txt=&px=&filter=TP&o=p&Submit=Search

By all means ride with them on, but take them off for the photos.

donks – no I’ve never been in MK, ever. I am a mechanical engineer though!

Alternatively you could try Solid Edge – Free Solid Edge.

Miles better than AutoCAD – but then again I’m biased.

Left Denny at 07:15 heading for Dumbarton via Stirling A811 etc. Fiat Bravo Turbo – worst car I’ve ever had for snow driving.

Traffic stopped in Arnprior. I let quite a bit of air out the front tyres so that I’d have a chance to get up the minor hill through the village – success, definitely helps (must remember to blow them up again).

Following Calor Gas lorry, leaving a very big gap (about 1/4 mile) until just before Drymen. Lorry stopped at bottom of a ice covered hill.

Descending the hill brakes on – no retardation and in danger of running into lorry. Decide to steer into snow bank on LH side. This causes the car to spin 180° counterclockwise and stop neatly at the LHS but now facing the wrong way.

Reverse for about 2 miles to find a suitable turning place – traction much better in reverse. Get very sore neck.

Eventually get to Jamestown where I decide to abandon the car and walk the last two miles to Dumbarton. Arrive 10:50.

Returning home by the same route – A811 depart Jamestown 16:30 arrive Denny 20:30. Denny cross to Dennyloanhead (c. 2 miles) takes 1.5 hours.

I’m working from home tomorrow.

Morris Minor for me. Fantastic

Lots of mods to make it go a bit faster.

It was 36 years ago and I still remember some of the part numbers – 12G295 cylinder head, AEG510 Camshaft Twin 1 1/2″ SU Carbs etc…

Did you use an etch primer on the bare alloy? If not, I suspect that the paint adhesion might not be as good as you would want!

Courtesy of Tommy Cooper:

1. Phone answering machine message – “…If you want to buy marijuana, press the hash key…”

2. A guy walks into the psychiatrist wearing only Clingfilm for shorts. The shrink says, “Well, I can clearly see you’re nuts.”

3. I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day but I couldn’t find any.

4. I went to the butchers the other day and I bet him 50 quid that he couldn’t reach the meat off the top shelf. He said, “No, the steaks are too high.”

5. My friend drowned in a bowl of muesli. A strong currant pulled him in.

6. A man came round in hospital after a serious accident. He shouted, “Doctor, doctor, I can’t feel my legs!” The doctor replied, “I know you can’t, I’ve cut your arms off”.

7. I went to a seafood disco last week…and pulled a muscle.

8. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly. They lit a fire in the craft, it sank, proving once and for all that you can’t have your kayak and heat it.

9. Our ice cream man was found lying on the floor of his van covered with hundreds and thousands. Police say that he topped himself.

10. Man goes to the doctor, with a strawberry growing out of his head. Doc says “I’ll give you some cream to put on it.”

11. “Doc I can’t stop singing The Green, Green Grass of Home.” “That sounds like Tom Jones syndrome. “ “Is it common? “ “It’s not unusual.”

12. A man takes his Rottweiler to the vet. “My dog’s cross-eyed, is there anything you can do for him? “ “Well,” says the vet, “let’s have a look at him” So he picks the dog up and examines his eyes, then checks his teeth. Finally, he says, “I’m going to have to put him down.” “What? Because he’s cross-eyed? “ ,“No, because he’s really heavy”

13. Guy goes into the doctor’s. “Doc, I’ve got a cricket ball stuck up my backside.” “How’s that?” “Don’t you start.”

14. Two elephants walk off a cliff…boom, boom!

15. What do you call a fish with no eyes? A fsh.

16. So I was getting into my car, and this bloke says to me “Can you give me a lift?” I said “Sure, you look great, the world’s your oyster, go for it.’

17. Apparently, 1 in 5 people in the world are Chinese. There are 5 people in my family, so it must be one of them. It’s either my mum or my dad. Or my older brother Colin. Or my younger brother Ho-Cha-Chu. But I think it’s Colin.

18. Two fat blokes in a pub, one says to the other “Your round.” The other one says “So are you, you fat bast**d!”

19. Police arrested two kids yesterday, one was drinking battery acid, the other was eating fireworks. They charged one and let the other one off.

20. “You know, somebody actually complimented me on my driving today. They left a little note on the windscreen. It said, ‘Parking Fine.’ So that was nice.”

21. A man walked into the doctors, he said, “I’ve hurt my arm in several places” The doctor said, “Well don’t go there any more”

22. Ireland’s worst air disaster occurred early this morning when a small two-seater Cessna plane crashed into a cemetery. Irish search and rescue workers have recovered 1826 bodies so far and expect that number to climb as digging continues into the night.

I sent an email here ski drive and they sent me some, for a nominal fee. Can’t remember how much, mind.

Reminds me of the Simpsons where Homer ruins two jackets by cutting ‘fabric’ elbow patches from one jacket, and sewing them to his leather jacket…!

Good craftmanship though, as long as both pairs were originally gathering dust!

DrP

Yes indeed, you’d need to be very confident in boot anatomy to tackle this on a new pair. Mine were destined for the bin, ‘middle age foot spread’ rendering them no good for walking.

I spent several hours in the bat-cave on this project. Hopefully I’ve remembered most of the steps.
It’s a bit long winded, but here goes (I should have taken some pictures).
Sorry I’ve drifted into engineer mode for the following:

I also had an old pair of cycling shoes from which I removed the 4-hole threaded plate that fits inside the shoe. I suppose some other threaded plate design could be used.
You’ll need longer countersunk head M5 screws than the standard cleat screws, depending on how thick the sole is.

The boots had a stiff inner shank (thanks for that terminology TJ, are you a cobbler by any chance?) about 4mm thick and then an 8mm thick rubber layer and then the thick tread on the outer sole.

The original boots were quite stiff in the bending department BTW.

1. Mark off the area of the sole to be cut away – I used existing cycling shoes as a guide.
2. Mark the point (on the side of the boot) where you want the cleat to be.
3. Cut out a bit of the sole deep enough for the cleat and an extra 2mm for a steel plate. I used wood chisels for the cutting.
The cleat should be about flush with the tread of the sole, or a bit under-flush perhaps. It’s best to go too deep and then shim out later if needed.
4. Mark off the cleat position on the recessed sole and drill through the shank using a drill, Ø6.35mm, assuming a standard 4-hole threaded plate.
5. If using a standard 4-hole threaded plate, drill additional holes to allow the plate to sit flat inside the boot. I actually elongated the holes into a slot but that’s not really much use provided the cleat position doesn’t need adjusted.
6. Cut 4 bits of tube about 10mm OD x 6.5 mm ID to slightly less than the thickness of the rubber sole layer.
7. Make the holes in the outer layer of shank big enough for the tubes to fit into. The tubes act as spacers to prevent the rubber sole being squashed too much.
8. Cut a steel plate to the shape of the cut out that was made in the sole at step 3.
9. Drill two holes in the plate at the position where the cleat will be.
10. Now glue the threaded plate inside the boot – I used silicone RTV stuff. The threaded plate can be held in place by fitting the two tubes into the rubber sole and placing the steel plate on top and fitting two M5 screws to squeeze the lot together.
11.When the glue has set, remove the screws and outer steel plate.
12. Bend the outer steel plate to approximate the profile of the rubber sole – I simply but two bends in the plate forward and behind of where the cleat will sit. There’s no need to try to emulate the curvature of the sole
13. Now glue the outer steel plate in place using plenty of silicone stuff. The plate can be held in place using some M5 screws into the threaded plate that’s been glued on the inside. Make sure the sole is sealed all around the steel plate.
14. When the glue has set remove the screws.
15. Fit the cleats on top of the steel plate. put silicone around the screw holes to prevent water ingress. Tighten the screws to squeeze the whole lot together.
16. Cover over the top of the threaded plate on the inside and smooth it over so as to provide a gradual transition between inner shank surface and the plate. Ideally the threaded plate will have sunk into the shank when it was clamped in place at step 10. If the plate sticks up too much then a thin insole with a rectangular cut out could be inserted.
The silicone will help insulate the threaded plate too.
17. Fit the original insoles.

I think that’s it.

Gary Fisher Big Sur

Me and Mrs Fruitbat quite often use our local canal path and have had a few ‘moments’ with walking types. We don’t have bells and it can be difficult to get the tone and volume of a ‘shout’ right.

I’ve recently taken to using a Duck Call and the results are fantastic. A couple of ducky type calls, from a good distance away, makes the walkers turn round to look for the duck. While scanning for the elusive duck they usually see the bikes and any aggressive tendencies appear to be waived.

The Duck Call is plastic so it’s weight is not detrimental to the ride.

I made my own workstand, mostly from 40mm square section steel tubing (got free offcuts from work). It is heavy and consequently stable – so not really designed designed for use away from base.
It has many desirable features (for me at least) – especially useful are the castors (lockable) which allow the stand, plus bike, to be moved around. The head is adjustable for angle of dangle so that the bike an be positioned in the best orientation.
The vertical post is adjustable for height and it can be removed for reduced storage/transportation volume.
The clamp is a screw type – mainly because it is quite difficult to make an effective cam type with hand tools.

Here’s some pictures:

We have one of those mug rack things on the kitchen wall. I always have the mugs arranged in a symmetrical manner. If I take one mug off, to make the arrangement non-symmetrical, I’ll move another one on the rack to maintain the symmetry.

Zen here too.

What are these like Pace RC104[/url]?
They look expensive but rather appealing.

Get as much lift as possible. And use axle stands if you’re under the car.

I’ve got two like the MVP ones but badged as SIP. Then again I’m a bit of an extremist when it comes to car maintenance :lol:

Have a read at this Auto Express