Your life is not dark enough.

Oh, looks like my thread has been decapitated!

Car is too old for a rotating badge (but with enough frustration I might be able to).

Lever in footwell releases the catch enough to raise the bonnet about an inch.

Then you’re supposed to push a stupid idiot-designed piece of plastic, on the wrong end of a long thin flexy piece of steel wire. This releases it the rest of the way….

But the wire just bends, so nothing happens.

Next step is to take the grill off with a chisel 🙁

No, just a thin layer of grease (it’s in a Phil Woods EBB).

EDIT: just noticed in fact that the BB shell is cracked all the way around – it’s now split into two separate halves.

Usually can’t take a bike on at rush hour – i.e. before 9am towards London or after 4pm away from London (or something like that). Phone up and ask is best way to find out though.

Well, it’s not on their website, but that was the answer I got when I asked.

Maybe I should try asking again.

Brilliant event though, and really well organized, so can’t complain too much 🙂

But note that you can’t enter some MTB events with drop bars (e.g. D2D).

Anyone British is invariably the bad guy.

C’mon, the last time we were at war with the USA was 1815!

I used a Surly 3/32″ chainring with a 9speed chain, 1×9. I had no problems with it.

What rob said. Sheldon Brown’s site has a good explanation.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chainline.html

If you’re just going to be casually riding around you might not need to bother respacing the axle or redishing the wheel.

And you might also find that by moving the chainring at the front from one side of the tabs to the other that you get near enough chainline not to need to bother.

As for parts – you need a single speed freewheel. Charlie the Bike Monger has a good selection, from the ACS (perfectly fine but makes a stupid noise after a while), the Shimano DX (better sealed, eventually wear out), and White Industries (gold standard, rebuildable, indestructible but pricey).

You can often find them (and similar) on ebay.

Or, just buy a cheap second hand wheel with a modern freehub on the classifieds 😉

I went for a walk up Ben More (nr Crianlarich) and dropped my quite-new and quite-expensive digital camera on the way up.

Searched high and low, couldn’t find it.

Mentioned it to the B&B people, who mentioned it to the police.

And the following afternoon it was returned! Somebody found it the next morning walking their dog!

(Bit damp, as it was a cold foggy night, but recovered just fine).

How will moving a tyre from the front to the back reduce the rolling weight? Surely it will still weigh the same and rotate as fast?

Or do you mean rolling *resistance* ?

Either way, what nsaints said.

Skinny tyres seem better in the mud to me, but it probably depends on where you’re riding.

They’re on special at on-one if that helps you decide.

I like mine FWIW, but probably depends on what you’re going to use them for.

You’re not upset, just flouncing.

You can’t adopt if you’re a smoker?

http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/adoption_domestic_faqs

I smoke, will I be able to adopt?
<snip>
However, the use of criteria whose application is in reality to ban people who smoke from adopting is not appropriate.

I wonder what this does to evolution?

Is this the start of a future where humans can only breed and reproduce with medical intervention?

All those children born via IVF – some will be carrying genes that mean they in turn will require IVF to reproduce. Now EJ is producing a child using a surrogate mother and presumably some kind of IVF process. Will this child have the same need? Others like it?

So we’ll end up with a humanity which cannot breed except with the help of doctors. What a gift for unscrupulous governments. Where does it end? Or am I just being paranoid?

Probably very boring.

But if we wait about 2 weeks we can get the full decision online. Latest is from December 10th:

http://www.courtsni.gov.uk/en-GB/Judicial+Decisions/

But then that would mean there would be less scope for wild, factless speculation, which would be very un-STW.

Welcome back!

You’re right – that sub zero feeling is pretty grim. But at least with that I felt as though I had a good excuse for being rubbish.

This morning it was well above zero, so no such excuse can be used.

Sticks of week-old celery.

Chilli jam.

No, really.

Get a load of chillies. Remove the stalk and seeds. Chop finely (e.g. blender).

Bring to boil with a little water and a lot of sugar.

Leave on a gentle simmer for about half an hour till it goes jam-like. Pour into a suitable container and leave in fridge.

Eat with Green Chicken Curry. Delicious.

More sugar = less spicy.

EDIT: a small amount of fish sauce wouldn’t go amiss.

Go single speed!

You’ll have the pleasure of single speeding itself, with the added bonus of knowing that you’re giving Shimano something to think about.

The only part that seems to wear out is the chain (about £12 each every 500-1000 miles). I imagine one day I’ll need to replace a sprocket – but at £4 each I can afford it. As for chain rings – the Surly chainring I’ve got looks almost new.

I’m not even sure you go any slower than geared riders tbh, as so many of them seem to be completely ignorant of momentum. I’ve lost count of the number of geared riders I see stalling on quite gentle slopes – they’re just clueless.

And you spend less time cleaning your bike and more time riding it.

which infers implies that his English isn’t great.

FTFY.

bump

That lot are really unpleasant.

EDIT: removed, to be on the safe side.

OK, those people seem to be actually serious, and not being ironic at all.

Good Grief.

Seems that the sun is a mere 500 miles away and everything that Newton’s laws of motion explains can be covered with “intelligent falling”, “intelligent pushing” and “intelligent pulling”.

Yes, really.

Astonishing.

EDIT: surely they’re being ironic? In which case it’s pure genius.

Sprouts with chestnuts. Mmmmm.

33:18 which seems to work pretty well round here.

But – you’ve got an EBB surely on a Pegasus? So you can just adjust it to take out the slack rather than messing around with half links?

Merry Christmas!

Stan’s seems rubbish at sealing punctures in the tyres of people you ride with who still insist on using inner tubes.

So I keep going out on a ride and then sitting around while they all gather round some up-ended bike, fiddling with tubes and patches and pumps and such.

I might bring a book next time.

Silly bright light from Troutie.

Last time I came across a car driver struggling on an icy hill I gave him a push. Old fashioned I know, but he was very grateful. I realise now I should have videoed him in order to get a cheap laugh on the internet.

Although some of those videos are quite amusing I have to admit 🙂

Just near Linton, in Suffolk. The path goes down the stream.

There’s antifreeze (ethylene glycol) in all of these products, but at some point it’s not enough and everything freezes.

Putting more gloop in should help a bit, or adding additional antifreeze yourself.

Obviously antifreeze being dumped into the environment is not ideal, it being toxic. Perhaps a chemist or biologist could comment on the impact it has?

Thanks!

echo.

Go tubeless. I mean, really. Just do it already.

It’s a massive faff to get it to work. But you’re doing the faffing around in the comfort and warmth of your own home. Cup of tea? Cake? No problem. Beer? Coming right up.

Out on a night ride a week ago. Really properly cold. Lots of snow on the ground. Someone got a thorn. OK. Stop, and stand around shivering while he sorted it out. Then, just as we’re heading off, it turns out someone else now had a flat in their back tyre from another thorn.

So we stood around for another fifteen minutes (it’s not easy to change a tube when the insides of the pump have frozen). Finally this tyre was fixed.

And then we found his front tyre had a flat as well.

Hijack – I’m doing something similar on the 15th of Jan. Any offers of some pointers would be very welcome!

Thanks!
Luke

Santa Cruz is also famously the home of the Santa Cruz Operation. Made infamous by Darl McBride. I’m amazed no-one has heard of it.

Out with the kids.