11 speed road wheels are sometimes a bit silly in this regard, with NDS spoke tension being mid-40s % of the drive side. As others have said, it’s just the way it is, and as long as tension is nice and even, it shouldn’t cause a major issue.

you can raise the drive side tension a bit, then the NDS tension *has* to come up to get the right dish, but there’s only so far you can go before the rim cries enough

What happens when you slip shortening the hoses on the new brake and then have to bleed them? do you bin those too?

those ridiculous hot days over the summer? still saw loads of commuter types wearing their hi-viz plastic bags. People are weird.

Jtek do a bar end shifter for alfine

-Organise as a group, not a club. As soon as you have subs and elections and whatnot you start to get grief.
-Have a strong “arsehole filter” in place. No one is allowed to join the group until they’ve been for a ride with you and proved they’re not an arsehole.
-Be clear about the objectives of the group. If it’s for fat knackers mincing slowly round on singlespeeds, say so clearly and 7-inch-travel gnarheads who’ve just retired from riding professionally will go elsewhere, and vice versa

the group I ride with has a private forum and a facebook page. The facebook page is for new folk to find out about us, and come along. If they pass the arsehole filter, they get access to the private forum

How Chris Boardman keeps going in the face of all this BS I do not know.

His mother was killed by a car while cycling not very long ago, I suspect this has given him a deep personal investment in the matter

Even a lot of supposedly “pure” groupset bikes sneak in a cheaper bottom bracket or cassette a lot of the time

GT. Because back in the day I was Kona, and therefore it’s tribal.

Looking at Hunt etc I can’t really see what you are getting for your money. Apart from a Chinese rim built ‘with care’

Last time I looked Hunt’s alloy rims were Kinlin ones. They’re available from the cycle clinic among others

Specialized tried this on the Stumppumper concept pumptrack bike

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/specialized-stumppumper-concept-bike-2012.html

American vandal is worth a look. Most of my other recent favourites have been covered. Ozark is decent too.

I’ve done a few.

I use leather offcuts from ebay, you want fairly thin ones, and the spray glue for sticking down carpet tiles.

go slowly. Clean the saddle well. Use the old piece as a template, but cut your new piece bigger and trim it after it’s stuck. a handful of wee bulldog clips are useful for the edges

looking back at some notes I did on one before, I found 1.1mm leather a bit tough to fold into the nooks, so maybe a little thinner would be better.

There’ll almost certainly be at least one spot where it isn’t perfect.

a flite titanium I did years ago – second ever effort

it’s nigh-impossible to do saddles with “shapes”. I made a horrible mess of a fizik aliante

lots of folks doing this on retrobike

not since uni where we tried to emulate Fight Club which got messy.

This. Around the time we started drinking Tennants super. This may or may not be connected.

i’d be on the lookout for someone who’s smashed theirs into a tree and broken the front end now…

I’m a regular buyer and seller there. The seller is well known and can be trusted.

a certain Marin from a certain bike jumble near some docks perchance?

My other bike is a Scandal, weighs about 24lb, and the Kona is much faster for me on pretty much everything apart from rocky downhill.

I’ve had retros faster than the Kilauea, A Merlin XLM most notably. When I was absolutely on my game it was incredibly quick, but as soon as I stopped riding offroad every week it became a tricky sod. The Inbred is pick-up-and-go accessible for the every now and then that I ride offroad these days

I used to ride a 21lb Kilauea. My 26lb inbred (rebas, 1×10) is much faster everywhere except road climbs….

You could probably do something using subinacl

the cassette spacing is basically the same on all 11 speed, but campag cassettes are so expensive that you could probably buy a shimano one and a freehub body for the same money, and be quids in at the first cassette replacement

you can get LHD BMXes (it’s got something to do with which side the rider prefers to grind on) and the USA team rode LHD track bikes at the last Olympics (this one was because they always go the same way round the track and wind tunnel testing showed an aero benefit)

Geraint Thomas did similar in 2013 with a fractured pelvis. Nails.

a want ad on here recently netted me a pair of rebas in great nick for £100. That’d be the way i’d go.

The KCNC adapter from clee will do 160mm on at least some forks (my 2010 rebas would if I wasn’t using a number 5 180mm mono mini), but the hope branded adapter is +20 so requires a 180mm rotor on a 160mm caliper

@Rusty_Spanner Deda Piega bars offer the modern short reach, flat hood transition in a 26mm clamp. They’re not pricey either

i think a lot of new riders choose a small size to avoid being “stretched out”, forgetting that the smaller frame also has a lower front, so they end up with a big spacer stack and an upturned stem, kinda like a surly that’s the right size.

Similar scheme running in Bristol (YoBike). full guards and built in dyno lights

Bikes are too small though – i’m 5ft 10 and short of leg, and I have to have the saddle all the way up. They’ve also had loads of problems with theft. They’re trying to combat it by mandating parking close to recognised bike parking (which they’re showing in the app) and removing parking from areas where they’ve had high theft levels.

there used to be one on great western industrial estate in Yate a few years ago

Edit: Yate Car Breakers, Dean Rd

Linn ninkas in the living room, and an old pair of linn index 2’s in the kitchen diner.

IT’S TODAY!

Mark has the lurg so i’m taking things today – i’ll be wearing a brown Cheesy Riders t-shirt

IT’S TOMORROW!

2002 330Ci here. Do about 2000 miles a year now, previously 10-12. My specialist recommends dropping the oil every other year in addition to normal servicing (which I get done at MOT time, unless a service is due anyway) for a usage that light.

Cooling system will need major attention every 60000 miles or so, so try to pick up one that’s had it done relatively recently and you’ll be all gold.

Manual gearboxes are tough. Autos are “sealed for life”, and enthusiast forums are split between people who say it’ll explode if you don’t get the fluid changed at 100000 miles, and people who say it’ll explode if you do

Diffs can leak.

Rear subframe mountings can tear, this is more common on earlier cars
and will require remedial welding.

Handbrake is rubbish even when everything is new.

they’re quite picky on tyres. Fit a good named brand otherwise you’ll end up in tramlining hell.

If I think of anything else i’ll come back!

I’ve had it 6 years, done 40k miles in it, and during that time it’s coughed me two £400 bills outside normal servicing. Not bad really for a car that’s quick, comfortable and actually quite practical – two bikes in the back of a coupe with care