doh, long day at work, i meant mls not mm's. 😳

top story muddydwarf.

As they say on the intemernet, 'I proper LOLed'. 😆

I am at the poorest underachieving end of the otherwise 'oxbridge educated and funny vowel sounds' English side of my family, and so I can speak upper/middle to posh folk and happlily converse in the trashiest janner to everyone I went to (local secondary) school with. My little sister also delights in her 'sliding' accents: she is also able to do hertfirdshire/bucks as well. 😆

I earn well below the national average wage but I've graduated from university twice and do a job which I couldn't and wouldn't be considered for if I hadn't done so.

I like Proust, absurdist theatre and I LOOOOVE pot noodles and burger king.

As the direct reverse to my Oxbridge dad, I know loads about ale and like proper old fashioned pubs a lot, but know crap-all about wine and have never spent more than £6 on a bottle.

I am rubbish at cricket, never ever played rugby, not bad at football, ok at darts, quite good at pool and awesome at pétanque (proper working class 'where's me whippet' game for french men with bellies).

I read newspapers for the standard of journalism rather than the political leanings but I will poke my own eyes out before I vote conservative.

I suspect this all still plonks me pretty squarely in the middle of middle class though.

Are they 2010's? Manual says only 5mm a side for lowers which i am sure is less than for older versions. If I hadn't looked I'd have said 10 or 15. 😕

[edit] yes, according to the online manuals on sram site, it was 15mm for 2008 (old shape) and 10mm for 2009. Considering it was pretty much only the stickers that changed from 09 to '10, I don't know why they lost 5mm of oil in a year!

As long as the hub doesn't move relative to your reference point, it works as well as any.

agreed. I'm a big fan of proper tools rather than bodges, but I've built a dozen or so wheels on my wooden one. As long as you can clamp the axle ends between the jaws ('hang' it in using a qr or even just a threaded rod and nuts and then clamp your qr/axle up a wee bit) then you can do all permutations of hub. I haven't needed to do a 150mm one yet but I've done 20mm front and 12x135mm rears on mine with no trouble, and I have the width adjustment to do anything between 100 and 150mm.

The other nice thing about wood is that if you 'ping' your spokes to even the tension on them, it's much much easier to hear them on a wooden stand than a metal one. Especially on a wooden table on a wooden floor!

A proper dishing tool is a lot easier to use than a made-up one though, especially for offset dishing on gnarly bikes (had to do this for mates' Cannondale Gemini and Giant DH team).

And earlier today… 😆 Must be something in the mud this time of year.

are you getting a good 'angle' on the spring side nut when you hit it? The maxle 'dropout' (or whater its called) gets in the way a bit I find. I used the nut threaded on (but far enough out) plus a deep 10mm socket so I could get a good whack straight downwards. Oh and I managed it with a rubber mallet and not that hard.

Otherwise, ring TF tuned in the morning I reckon…

If you really wanted to fake a terrorist attact on the wtc, you could fly a plane into it OR blow it up, blaming terrorists each time. Why would you bother doing both?

Shirley the conspiracy theorists should put aside controlled demolition (even if the buildings had not fallen down it would still have been a collossal tragedy of huge international importance etc) and wonder:

-Was someone else behind or in support of the hijacking of the planes?
-If so, why did Bin Laden say it was all down to Al Quaeda?

Any wondering about how else the buildings fell down doesn't really get anywhere as the outcome of the tragedy was the same regardless of the means of demolition.

Just been on to have a look what it was I did last time: (sorry no idea how to do that screen-grab thing to illsutrate)

-if you look at your basket, (you need 1 or more items in it at this point) then on the left side of the screen there is a big-ish button marked 'update quantity' and then immediately below this is a small box for text, and just above it is says: "If you have an eVoucher code, please enter it here" and then click the 'add' button just to the right of the text box. Then it knocks the value of your voucher off the total cost before you pay.

On my screen this is immedaitely above the 'additional notes' field that you put your code into: I wonder if this is different for different browsers? I'm using firefox fwiw.

post mount front and rear shimano callipers are the same, its just the adapter, right or left hand lever and hose length that makes the 'front' or 'rear' when you buy them with any other parts. The only exceptions are some xtr's and 5+ years old ones. So yes you'll need the new calliper and a new olive top conect your existing hose back on, and re-use the adapter from your old calliper, keeping the front 160 mount for spares.

Otherwise most disc rotors are interchangeable, with the exception of vented or floating rotors (posh hope/magura) and some of the newer flashier shimano rotors with particularly wide aluminum spiders in the middle of them.

Personally I'd go for a replacement calliper, although its near impossible to 'fix' a leaky shimano rotor or lever, when they do work they are very reliable and easy to look after. If you're happy with the performance then stay with what you know.

If its a write-off anyway just take the bolt out, apply gt85 in the corners of the square taper if you can and ride it off kerbs repeatedly, hovering gracefully over the saddle so you land with a thump on your perenium when it finally falls off the bb spindle. Much more fun than the above (also viable) methods, but you won't be able to use the crank arm again.

Alternatively dremel through to the bb spindle (alu is softer so doesn't take that long.)

From the will self link:

I cling to the belief that it's important to maintain those businesses which put a human face on the exchange of money for goods and services. If we bought everything on the internet our eyes and mouths and nostrils would probably begin to film over with a tegument – one initially tissue-thin and capable of being removed each morning, but which gradually thickened and hardened until we were imprisoned in our own tiny minds.

Tegument, my new word for today. And let that be a warning to all us CRC customers. 😆

We have an old £190 Servis from Curries iirc.

Still making no ill noises after 2 children in washable nappies and 9 years. Apart from not having much in the way of features (ours is the old sort with a huge rotary 'switch' that ticks its way round rather than anything remotely computerised), we also mostly use the slower of the 2 spin settings which I suspect has slowed the process of shaking itself (and the kitchen!) to bits.

When that one packs up I'll be shopping for as near as I can to the same thing.

Tough crowd.

Indeed. See also 'books i didn't like' and 'will ferrell' threads this morning for STW'er who are difficult to keep entertained. These people probably wear t-shirts with in-jokes about computer programming languages on them, you know. 😉

I quite liked the cartoons anyway. Never seen a knob gag in a monster/godzilla context so that's a lovely brainless first for me anyway. 🙂

awww, I love both those books! ^^

nickjb – Member

Even less safe for work

Nathan Barley, first part

…lest we forget, Barley has a white Inbred (yes, the bike…) hanging up in his flat in one scene…..

I quite like a medium-trashy easy to read book for when I am on nights, either for the quiet 3-5am bit when your concentration isn't at its best, or to get to sleep in the morning.

I liked all the other Louis De Bernieres stuff, partiucularly the south american ones, but i found 'Birds Without Wings' really hard to get into: gave up after about 100 pages.

'A suitable boy' by Vikram Seth was also too much for me. I don't think I get on with 'sagas'.

We did Ferdinand Céline's alleged 'classics' entitled 'Death on the instalment plan' and 'Journey to the end of the night' in a literature module at university: couldn't get into either of those in French or English.

Halfheartedly chugging my way through 'interzone' by william burroughs this month: thank god its in short chapters/segments! Ideal toilet book!

ziggy +1, also Aladdin Sane
Marquee Moon
Kick Inside
Led Zep III and IV
Head On The Door
Our Earthly Pleasures
Seventh Tree
Music Has The Right To Children
Koputerwelt
Das Mensch Machine
His 'n' Hers
Dog Man Star
[DAD] Rumours, Hotel California [/DAD]

At work, then in respiratory/acute medicine. Unlike the boatman, I can't remember the patients' names but I had C and D bays on Hexworthy ward and I remember their faces like it was last week. It was before 'patient-line' so we had one telly at the end of each bay, and I remember watching the 2nd plane and the towers collapsing as I worked my way round the run-of-the-mill blood pressures/dressings/commodes etc just thinking how lucky we were to be half way round the world from it and how unbelievably easy my job was compared to anyone in an NY hospital. I didn't really think about the human cost, families etc at first, it just seemed all so unreal.

Derriford hospital is near an airport and between 7 and 12 stories high depending one whether you are at the bottom or top of the hill its built on. In the 90's one of the emergency plans/drills was based on the evacuation of complete stories or 'halves' of the tower part in the event of a plane hitting the building, using alternative lift shafts and fire control zones. I wonder what that plan looks like these days…

eh?

I used CRC gift vouchers this august (2010) and the one before (2009) and both times i entered the code in at checkout and it was then deducted from the total before I paid.

Did you see me taking sides there druidh? Just trying to raise the bar for people evidencing their aguments, innit.

[edit] If we want to start comparing tax vs gdp vs value for money public service vs quality of life, I would start with average lifespan, infant mortality (they don't generally commit suicide), percentage above/below poverty line (if you can find a reliable one), some kind of reliable indicator of literacy age 12 and general educational level at age 18. You never know, some of all that money we have spent on the EU mnight have gone into researching some of it…

Shame they have a higher suicide rate than the UK.

The frequently very fine line between deciding to record 'death by misadventure', 'open verdict' and 'suicide' in the UK (and quite possibly overseas too) makes that a very unreliable comparison.

Sorry.

Surely baggy look and hockey stick is the way forward:

Is the hotel local?

just roll the leg up to pee!!!!!!

combination of 'power thigh' and 'cycling winkie' means this is rarely and option for me!

NHS is not as 'protected' as it looks: long before the election, the whole of the south west SHA was signed up for 10% cost savings over 3 years. (google CRES, fact fans) I believe this is the case for the other SHA's too. That's about 3% a year (sorry can't do the cumulative maths off the top of my head) which in my team is 1.5 staff nurses per year. Or a consultant over two or three years. But we've only got one of those anyway. There is certainly no question of cutting costs anywhere else as we hardly spend anything on drugs (av. £250 per patient per year!) and have just signed up to an all-encompassing PFI deal. Yay!

there was some faintly funny and very STW macho engineering posturing on here a few weeks ago about whether or not powdercoating weakens a frame.

Near the end of this thread.

All.
2 old hardtail frames for t'wife and I in the loft for a rainy day/frame catastrophes, but they really are just bare frames rather than half completed bikes.

do you grease headset cups before pressing them in?

hell yes. Bonus points for using coppaslip if putting aluminum cups in steel frame, but any will do.

I've never fitted headangle reducer cups, but my cyclus one is waaaaay better than the B&Q verion I had before, whatever permutation of washers/spacers etc.

Its the stepped cups with a long 'shaft' to keep it straight on the on the threaded rod part on the proper tool that make it go in straight every time (I wonder if it didn't have the right sized 'step' on it for northwind's headangle reducer). Difficult to keep a stack of washers perpendicular to the threaded rod in the DIY one if you have a headset cup that keeps wanting to go in on the wonk.

The fine pitch thread is also better for the snugger fitting headtubes than a big m10 threaded rod too. Mine has done four of mine and wife's bikes plus three or four of my mates' ones so far. Little difference if your headset can go 3/4 way in by hand, but greeeat for more stubborn fitting ones.

All that said, the DIY one would be functionally about the same as a proper one with the addition of some home made machined stepped 'cups' and a thrust bearing to go under the bolt you tighten up. There must be someone on here that would machine off a bunch of cups in their garage and buy the other bits in bulk?

And when I was little I thought nikita was about the bird in this video. And not at all about Comrade Kruschef.

(from wiki)

Scenes showing the two together in various happy situations, including wearing Watford FC colours, were based in fantasy, and many were expecting a follow-up after the fall of the Berlin Wall in which they would free to be together, but it never materialised.

Oh my god, I would have wee'd my junior superman undies to see someone on TOTP in a Watford FC kit.

Who'd have thought this classic tune was about being blind? 😆

'Reel around the fountain' off the first smiths album is about something unsuitable for explanation on a public forum.

Yes, I was a seamster

aah, today's new word for me there. 🙂

Champion systems make a huuuuge range of their own cycling and indeed other outdoorsy/sporty kit (including wrestling! 😯 ) in a huge variety of sizes, cuts and materials. (not sure about proper seam sealed waterproof stuff though).
I'd have thought if the volumes were high enough they would be worth a look.

Say ten hail mary's and listen to the fall for a coupe of hours. That should do it! 😆

Spotify is great for getting music 'out of your system' without having to download/buy it. Last done with poison. Rocked out for twenty minutes then listened to something more sensible instead.

singlespeedstu – Member

Make the kit yourself.

It's what Nick Bayliss of Royal Racing did.

Nick Bayliss is a proper seamstress errr, whatever the man version of that is though, isn't he? OP doesn't make it clear if he can sew his own stuff but wants someone else to do it, or if he needs someone to work out all the cut/fitting etc as well.

Beware, ask for some more pictures IMO.

I bought some bargain 'team' bibs from a uk seller that shifts a lot of looky-likey roadie team kit.
Pluses:
-they look fine from a distance
-fit me very well (ordered my ususal shorts size) and done a couple of looong rides in them with no ass tatter-age.
-lycra material itself seems robust enough and stretches well.

minuses:
-print quality doesn't seem quite up to scratch
-pad is a bit basic (blue coolmax one like in aldi shorts)
-'mesh' straps are made of rather hot and thick material
-and crucially the waist is very high: impossible to go for a wee without completely removing shoulder straps.

yes if you want a poploc too then get that. Gives you adjustable compression and locout from the bar if you are a settings-fiddler. (mine is just on or off, I don't bother with the blue dial) Dead easy to replace and you can claw a few quid back selling your dead cartridge's lockout lever (plenty of people with poplocs go the other way and shell out £15 or so for just the blue lever 😯 )

still a nice clip though: 2cv and football terrace chants really tickled me. And the bit where the 2nd rider gets a cup of water chucked in his face.

It would have been a lot more expensive to him if he'd collided with a car or motorbike. And if you hadn't had a helmet on and been injured much more seriously, he would be explaning his actions to a police officer.

According to this old thread spesh do a crash replacement scheme. Sounds reasonable to get a new helmet out of all this, and your driver should take comfort in knowing (s)he is not having to shell out full retail. It would seem that rudeboy got his for £50 notes.

yes, 2 laps of 30k. Alarmingly rapid felling/clearing in Cann at the moment cos of the plague! (not just larch trees either: according to my forestry mate they are the worst for spreading it though) 400-odd riders riding back into newnham doesn't sound like great infection control hence the 2 shorter laps.

Most of the bits in Cann and Shaugh wood were a bit monotonous and like any other forest plantation (often passing annoyingly close to but not actually riding along some top cheeky and less cheeky singletrack). The only bit I will miss from last year was that nice bit along the plym right at the far end of cann/shaugh woods (and the old DH track in shaugh from the year before).

I would rather do the rest of it twice than Cann twice.

Anyone else doing the night cx race on the saturday?

Anyone remember those Pony NFL trainers, mid eighties? You could get them in Yank football team colours. Horrific.

oooohhh, yes. 😳 😳 😳
Black and yellow ones, with loads of knobbles on the sole here. Never played american football in them though. They would have been real leg-snappers on astroturf! And on anything icy i'd have thought.