What about that cyclist in the first picture – did you tell him to get his seat up about 6″?

This here clamp on stub shaft (what I made) to park your handlebars while forks are removed for servicing –

XC Bike – The Bimbler

2. [delete as appropriate] He / she / it looks just like mother / father. Aww.

Looking like Dad

@fruitbat – No condensation/damp problems that you noticed, the manufacturer was pretty keen on having a decent air gap and not laying directly on the roof?

No problems here – the sheets are sitting directly on the original roofing felt which is on 16mm T@G roofing. I guess there would be some condensation issues if there was nothing between the inside of the shed and the sheet metal roof.

PS – I’m in Central Scotland so always a good bit of cold moist air around!

I did the roof of my 13′ x 7′ shed with corrugated galvanized steel. I just added the steel sheets over the top of the existing felt. You can get moulded filling pieces to block off the undulations to prevent birds etc visiting.

It’s been no problem even with 10″ of snow on top of it.

I’m a bit of a pedant when it comes to these things and have spent rather too much on them. Recently I’ve been using a Topeak Smarthead which was good (if a bit stiff) for a while but it became unreliable when connecting to car valves (it failed to depress the Schraeder valve pin).

I ordered a similar SKS unit and it was sent back because it didn’t work with car valves (the recess is not deep enought to depress the pin). This was sent back.

I have a dual head SKS head which was awkward to use and very hit and miss when connecting to the valves and often allowed air to escape throught the other valve hole.

I’ve got a new Topeak Twin head and it is very stiff in operation and does tend to lose a fair bit of air.

Finally I found this here Beto head that is most economical and is very easy to use on both Schraeder (car) and Presta valves. It has a much lighter action than the Topeak Smarthead which I had originally.

You might try here – http://Covanhill Powder Coaters

I’ve used them for car wheels and the standard is excellent. I don’t know if they’ve done bikes but there’s a motorbike frame in their gallery.

Done

@Twodogs

I couldn’t think of anything I would need/want to make!

Here’s some of the many thing’s I’ve made (on a Colchester Student – so a bit bigger than some):

Pulleys and shafts etc. for this belt sander

Shiny gearknobs for various cars (mostly Alfa Romeo)

Holder for a DE Razor (a must have for the avid shaving enthisiast)

A thing for piercing jacket potatoes

A bracket to hold handlebars when forks are being serviced

An aluminium oil filler cap for an Abarth Punto Evo (the plastic ones break)

PSA – Biketart have 5 Ltr Fenwicks for £36

and if you’re worried about the potential errors in that diagram above you’re using the wrong tool to take a measurement

The diagram what I made is not quite right but to prove a point of principle it’s OK – the OP is looking for an absolute measurement of the size of the bore so is proposing to use the wrong tool, QED 😊

Never known an error outside the tolerance of the caliper using the internal jaws, unless they’re worn to buggery or damaged.

This picture shows the principle of how the error would be manifested (it may be small but it is there none the less 😊):

There’s always an error in measuring Inside Diameters with a caliper – it doesn’t matter if it’s digital or a real old school Vernier Caliper. The error is due to the thickness or width of the measuring anvils.

To do it properly you need an Inside Micrometer which would have convex anvils or you can use Inside Diameter Tool and then measure the result with a Caliper or an External Micrometer.

In the interests of keeping the average rating low, I’ll go for it – Chess.com username =  KevinPhilipsBong

This is Mrs Fruitbat’s car – Abarth Punto Evo

Klaus Nomi – nuts but in a good way – Simple Man

The other car what I drive more often than my 159 – Seat Leon ST FR Sport  1.5, 150

@a11y – here’s a picture of the Busso from my 166 (pictured in the Classy Cars thread) preceeded with a picture of the GM (!) engine from the 159

Straight out of the Classy Cars thread:

159 3.2 Q4

166

159

+1 for the Draper 57768

Isn’t the purpose of that ‘little plastic fixing bolt’ purely to preload the bearings? While the cranks are held in place by the two M6 bolts on the non-drive crank arm?

Too slow!!

After the Viva/Alfa above I became a full Alfista and got a red Bertone GTV – and another has been on my wish list ever since.

I’ve also had GTV6, Alfa75 V6, Alfa 155, Alfa 156 (2x), Alfa 166 V6 and currently have Alfa 159 3.2 Q4

Just for Northwind – here’s my HC Viva. Fitted with an Alfa 1750 engine and gearbox…..

Not tried it myself (too much faff with deep fat fryers) however I’ve heard Buttolene is great and lasts forever in all conditions 😁

Can I play too?

KevinPhilipsBong

Another one to consider – Silkolene Pro RG2 

I buy a 500g tub and it lasts a few years (2x MTB and various car duties).

Would TRP Slate T4 with 200mm rotors be worth considering?

I call it “bry.”

Top draw thinking their!

A blob of This stuff from Halfords or similar will do the trick.

Surprised nobody has mentioned https://www.ffordes.com/    I’ve used them in the past for hassle free transactions but maybe they won’t be offering the best prices.

Thanks for the feedback folks. It would seem that even if spending a fair dollop of cash it’s still a bit of a lottery!

Two bikes at Clackmannan Tower

Another vote for Seat Leon ST here (1.8 Turbo petrol in our case). Our 3 year old one with 25K miles is £10850.

Getting a 1.5 Turbo petrol next month as they don’t make the 1.8 any more!

This here Jotun stuff is superb

With rear monted carriers on estates/hatchbacks – beware if you have a rear wiper that automatically starts when you engage reverse gear with the front wiper activated.

I appear to have joined but I don’t really know how! Username – KevinPhilipsBong

Mrs Fruitbat has an Abarth Punto Evo which has the same 165bhp engine. I can confirm that it’s great fun to drive and has been very reliable in the 9 years we’ve had it (from new)