@trail_rat – Almost, built up about 7 years ago just when we moved house, so pretty much there. Hub was on the third rim that was scheduled to be replaced in the autumn as getting concave.

Made me realise for my bikes I’ve never actually gotten that far, either bought new fancier wheels or wrote them off completely before the 5 year mark (car hit my commuter a couple of weeks back for example).

I don’t think so, or at least she is keeping quiet about the new “roof drop” commuting route she’s be doing this year…

Will ask again as she is normally quite proud of doing random rough road bits or pothole narrow escapes 🤔

I would look over at Woolly Hat Shop/bike parts uk for their M Part range.

Assume it’s 135mm on the back then these, likely need extra grease and cones adjusting before use.

M Part Wheels Hybrid Front Wheel Shimano Deore hub Mavic A319 rim 700c black

M Part Wheels Hybrid Rear Wheel Shimano Deore Hub Mavic A319 Rim black 700c

@jimfrandisco – I found the troicas a bit narrower and the Velcro straps too short to fit around my wide feet, the lace up ones seem to be roomier overall but have loads more adjustment.

I’ve just bought another pair of Dorica’s after seeing them for £12.75 👍

I have massively wide feet and they are super comfy even going down to a size 8.

Not as good quality/stiff as the 10 years old wide fit Shimano ones they replaced but plenty good enough for commuting/road/gravel path stuff I do a lot of.

Thanks everyone, going for a 54cm Spa flat bar tourer with discs in the end.

@poolman – black looked the best with matching guards and racks, shame I might have to hide the decals under some vinyl stickers to make it appear a bit less flash!

Report back from the bike shop – front LX and Sputnik wheel, plus racks need replacing. Fork looks OK but the frame stays are have bent so now squint and the rear wheel dishing has changed. At the uneconomical point for a bike not worth much.

@jfab – All the parts are almost 10 years old, Deore 9 speed group set with a triple, XT v-brakes. Some bits I will salvage as spares or for a bike charity.

Big bro does look nice, just not a good match in terms of donor bike really and I would want a triple.

@lesshaste – I’m in London, thanks for suggesting, it does look more like a 52cm so too small. It’s also 8 speed, I would prefer to spend more for a disc frame which is slightly more modern.

Looking good, stapling/pinning some 5mm thick plywood could help as easily replaced and less slippy than white faced hardboard.

I find large size old baking sheets great for messy maintenance jobs, the lip stops you losing things and drips etc going g onto your work surface.

Edit – duplicate post.

@rustyspanner – Did check them but standover is ~20mm higher for the long version or it would have been on the list. I do have a soft spot for Surlys, but it looks like the current DT would be 500 to 600 quid more than the Spa disc touring bike which ticks all the boxes except no “lime pea green” 🤷‍♂️

@mccraque – I think I saw you post about that ages ago, it made me want to take my time to be sure. Police called today and confirmed it would be a warning letter if he’s insured, further action if not. Name didn’t match their records so ticking through their process.

@ton – I would have gone troll or ogre but they changed the BB standards a while back and the max ring sizes have gotten smaller since it was switched to single ring.

Sonder Santiago and that Ridgeback in copper look lovely. 👍

Local bike place picked up last night and will hopefully have a report ready early next week.

It was bought as a NOS frame off eBay ~9 years ago, has 9 speed deore group, with LX/Sputnik wheels I built in 2020 and tubus racks. With lack of receipts for a whole bike and depreciation I would expect £200-300 for it at the most.

Titanium/aluminium/carbon, single rings and integrated headsets are not what I’m after. I’m a cup and cone bearing tinkerer really, so would prefer things that are easy to service yourself even if a bit old fashioned/heavier.

@csb – Yes, filed a met traffic incident report and have a witness as well.

I have 3rd party cover through LCC in case of any funny business from his insurer making a claim over the dent I made in the car 😂

I was shaken up, so just got name and phone number (drop called to see genuine) not address and full insurance details unfortunately. Never had to do this before so a bit of a blur really.

Thanks for the speedy replies!

I will look at the builders mentioned so far, checked out Oxford already but they didn’t list the geometry and with discs it likely to be north of 2k.

Bridge club would have been perfect, but it’s got a single ring up front that rules it out unfortunately.

@stwhannah – I believe some installers in the past cheekily ran the bathroom hot water supply through the towel rails to avoid having to plumb it in properly to the central heating especially if it would mean surface pipes or chasing channels into concrete floors.

Definitely a bodge but might not be that uncommon, as domestic heating and hot water systems can vary quite widely in implementation! 😂

I have a battery powered 16ga second fix and a corded electric 18ga Brad/divergent stapler that I got for fixing a couple of rooms worth of hardboard for vinyl flooring which it did effortlessly.

I would heartily recommend the Dewalt flywheel based guns, they are really well designed in terms of angles and depth adjustment, but quite bulky.

Our local flooring place recommended the Maestri range, as “pro level corded” but a bit old fashioned and not cheap. Super compact and powerful though, but no depth adjustment so less finesse.

Maestri ME30 Professional Electric Brad Nail Gun / Bradder

Lathams steel doors held up pretty good against Eddie Hall in this video!

I would almost be more worried about how solid the masonry work is 😂

@kryton57 – That should be OK enough. How about trying maximum coarseness next time and seeing if you get under 5mins?

With the bloom you are looking for an evenly wetted sludge, it’s preparing it for the next pour to help the flow be more even. I usually give it a gentle stir with a teaspoon whilst doing that, after 45 seconds all the liquid has gone for me in most cases.

Two pour recipes are a lot more forgiving, especially with more entry level grinders and normal kettles.

In case you “need a bigger boat” ☕️🪣 Benefits from a really good preheat though

Hario V60 Glass Coffee Dripper Black – Size 03

@kryton57 – Which grinder are you using, as some produce oodles of fines even at coarser settings? Blade grinders for example give both boulders and dust, loads of clogging. Not sure how you can get 9 minutes 🤔

I use the water straight off the boil to be honest, light roast coffees really need it.

Loads of V60 nonsense but I like these two. You can do ~700ml two pour batches with an 02 size V60. Up to 1l or so with a size 03.

James Hoffmann – bloom with twice coffee weight to water for 45 seconds, pour one about 60% of the water in by 1:30 and swirl, wait a bit and put in the remaining 40% by about 3:00. Final swirl and a total drawdown

Scott Rao – single pour with almost espresso fine – bloom 3x weight coffee wait ~45 seconds and then do a single pour and swirl. Can’t scale the volume easily.

@racefaceec90 – I’m not really a snooker fan, but Ronnie was on fire there! Super impressive with his speed, I only saw him hesitate and readjust once 😂

My wife mentioned it to me tonight as well, shame as she really liked their colourful cycling kit and it made buying her presents so much easier! 😂

Shame though, I can imagine Brexit, inflation and less discretionary spend did not help matters.

From the 1972 olympics men’s Greco Roman wrestling, Chris Taylor (USA) pulled off a belly to belly suplex against Wilfred Dietrich (West Germany). Wilfred at the time was the most decorated Olympian ever in wresting.

Chris weighed in at 287lb whilst his opponent weighed 444lb, the sheer commitment needed to pull off the move is staggering!🫣

https://medium.com/five-guys-facts/10-12-16-brian-d2711dc552b2

Hope this works, Demetrius Johnson vs. Ray Borg. Arguably the greatest mma lightweight if not pound for pound fighter of all time in the sport.

Pulls off a belly to back suplex to armbar submission like it was a walk in the park 😂

Epic flying armbar! Demetrius Johnson vs Ray Borg! from gifs

AQ test I scored 43.

Interesting one here, I’ve also been wondering what difference a formal diagnosis would make for me.

End conclusion was very like TJ, in there are people who need the resources more. I need to be more accepting of myself but realise I need to be more careful about how other people feel which I find incredibly hard.

All came to a head with work this year with a bad review and getting a new manager who is further along the spectrum than I am really helped. She made a big difference actually, so the interpersonal and communications issues are coming up less often as I’ve taken on their feedback and tried to change the “rules” I use for interacting with people.

A lot of pieces fell into place about my coping strategies from childhood to now, which I need to adjust again as the results I’ve been getting in my relationships and professionally have not been the ones I want.

Came out ~200 on the RAADS-R test, science masters/PHD, now work in software financial sector. Would be very interested to see how the scoring aligns to industry.

P.s. my wife is a saint and the only person ever to ask me about my renewable energy PhD and really mean it which is how we got talking in the first place 😂

@poolman – will have a look around the street, a couple of good ones and a few that are shocking.

A roofer I called was a bit surprised when I politely fobbed him off when he said only needs a “couple of weeks notice”. Sounds like a very similar approach to the one you mentioned! 😂

You must have been lucky, as the cheapest people never seem to have the best reviews!

On the house stuff we’ve had done before the cheapest quotes were so much lower than the others that they didn’t seem realistic and made us worry about things being tagged onto it during the job or the overall quality being compromised.

@johncoventry – You made me check it again, I stupidly measured the extra insulation around the edges of the boards rather than underneath it instead. Looks like that needs adding onto the job list in terms of extra insulation.

@mugboo – Fair point, will ask around and not go with the cheapest quotes etc.

@squirrel – We had an asbestos survey done after buying it, as we have an artex ceiling (negative) and found a couple of old Lino tiles (positive). No problems with the bitumen felt, plus wooden fascia board and soffit.

This has been very useful so far 👍

Ah, had not thought about solar! Ironically the roof with all the leaks is south facing and seems to get all the hammer from the weather/sun. The boss also works in renewable energy actually! 😂

Good point on the details for the quote, will make sure any gutter bits are included.

Thanks, makes sense to have it all handled by them as one job.

Was this after the building regs changed in ~2005 or so about trying to match the modern insulation minimums?

I have no idea how it’s followed “in practice” against how the legislation sounds when you read up about it online in without any context.

Tied in our house for number one, which goes to Jacobs Cornish Wafers/butter puffs.

Then digestives and rough oatcakes coming in pretty closely.

Not bike related, but what do you buy for the ageing hipster in your life who both loves pizza and tools? 🤔

Well a pizza axe of course! 😂

Hi Richard,

That kind of machine uses a special portafilter that has a pin hole in it to create a coffee with a “crema like” head. You are spot on about it not coping with fine coffee, they are really only suited to pre-ground stuff you get in supermarkets and for people who don’t have their own coffee grinder.

Description says 19bar of pressure! That is a lot more than in more expensive machines that can vary from 4 to 9 typically with very fine coffee to create the pressure for extraction. Sometimes they are compatible with certain pods but it’s expensive.

Personally I would stick with the Moka pot. What kind of coffee do you like and how much faff can you cope with?

That sounds more reasonable, you would hope it’s not something people cheap out on!

@ratherbeintobago – Unless your work canteen has a professional barista, that is pretty good going!

To be fair not sure anyone gets to XTR unless you work in an actual coffee shop… 🤔

Acera – Hand grinder <£200 (some people like them!)
Alivio – Wilfa Uniform <£300 – espresso not guaranteed
Deore – Eureka Mignon £300-400
LX – Mazzer Super Jolly / Niche £500-800
XT – Mazzer Major / Lagom P64 / Weber Key – £800-1,500
XTR – Lagom P100, Kafatek, Mahlkonig EK43S, Weber EG-1 – £2,000-4,000

I agree with you there about the barrier to entry being high, also not 100% sure if a Niche would last 10 years actually…

You can get lucky with ex commercial equipment from eBay/gumtree, or at least you could before everyone was WFH.

This was an old super jolly I fixed up ages ago before eventually selling on, it was less than £50 and was easy to modify to single dose with an octopus batter funnel/camera lens hood puffer, plus new burrs etc. It is faffier though than a Niche where you pay for convenience and a small foot print.

@kingofhtefr – Worth checking how much you purge, part of the “sales pitch” for single dose grinders is on the cost of the wasted coffee. Might not be so bad if you go for cheaper beans, could be worse if you dabble in a few or use it for decaf and filter as well.

If it’s 6g a day, then ~2.2kg per year.

If your coffee is £30 a kilo, then over a 10 year expected grinder life it could be ~£660 in total on wasted coffee.

@kingofhtefr – Technically you risk leaving more retained coffee in the grinder overnight, which then exchanges with what you use the next day. Whether that matters to you in reality is another matter! 🤔

Most single dose grinders minimise the retained coffee volume, wipers/augers/grind path. So super easy to swap bean types and between say espresso/filter with more consistent results.

It is a bit of a rabbit hole…

The Guardian article was pretty warts and all, did not sound like a nice man even if he was very talented.

Child bride, “accidentally” shooting his bass player, domestic abuse allegations from all his wives and lingering suspicion of murdering wife No.5 when she somehow turned up dead after 77 days of marriage…