(Mr MC posting) give the "fixed" On One wheels to the STWer who gave you them, or if they dont want them either pass them on for free as Juan says, or sell them on Ebay and split the return with the original donor?

I know the feeling, currently managing a fleet of 6 bikes (MC owns most of them!) and trying to figure out what to do with them. My old semi-retired bike has Hope hubs with fat,heavy EX325 rims on, but I have some unused 717 rims hanging up, so I could build them onto the Hopes and put them on MC's light hardtail, or leave the 325s on and put them on her burly full susser. I already built her a DH wheel out of a spare monster Sun MTX rim and a cheap but functional shimano hub for our alps trip as her original wheel (DT Swiss Cerit) needed new bearings which I didnt have time to source. She now has the original wheel back etc etc ad nauseum

totally agree. "it was a misunderstanding" says family. No, your daughters are so stupid they claim to have been robbed JUST before they are due to fly home (how convenient), but have their passports on them, and store their "stolen" kit in their room! I believe the internet phrase is epic fail?

(mr MC posting)

must admit I dont see the point in putting in an early bid and then walking away expecting to win it. Not how real-world auctions work-people bide their time to force someone to put in the first bid, and serious/regular auction types dont even bid until the other bidders have all but dried up-all you do is potentially drive up the final price you pay by encouraging a bidding war.

I tried http://www.auctionsniper.com a couple of times (you get 3 free snipes) when I couldnt be near a terminal for the end of the auction. I find the time the page takes to update, and the double steps required frustrating, if you try put a bid in the last, say 20 seconds, by the time youve gone through the confirm steps and youre screen's refreshed the auction's ended and a lower bidder may have won. I assume thats a benefit of using the sniping pages.

(Mr MC posting) TJ, as I'm sure you know the irony of BMW using their telever systems is that BMW pioneered the telescopic fork when everyone else was using leading link stuff.

Never ridden a telever BMW but one of the criticisms I often hear is a lack of feeling connected to,, and receiving feedback from the front tyre, expecially during breaking- possibly as riders have become programmed to associate fork dive with breaking force and front tyre grip?

(Mr MC posts) and if you want to be anal you can calibrate cheap scales with a known weight, as handily a litre of water weighs a kilo, and a plastic water bottle or 2 and a poly bag weigh next to nothing in comparison. As the OP said its useful to approximate for packing bike bags, rather than being a geek who used to weigh each component separately on calibrated lab scales. Ahem.

Why oh why would you say "we just want your company but if you want to buy us presents then get us some vouchers?" then screams to me as "we are trying to claim we don't want presents but actually we do"

Top top rant ROFLMAO after a hard day at work!!! Brilliant!

do you need to sell the 5, either financially or space-wise? Do you like riding the 5? See the bikes I regret selling thread. Ive withdrawn my 5" Coiler from sale-after buying a Nomad I had originally decided to get rid of it. They have similar travel and arguably fill the same role/niche, but the Coiler owes me nothing, is a hoot to ride, and I'd be less miffed if it got trashed jumping/playing or due to winter riding than the new-to-me Nomad. The Coiler is being kept in heavy, sturdy play bike build.

The only other option I'd consider would be Jonb's; put the Coiler bits on a HT frame for hassle-free winter riding. Except I gave up HT's due to a bad back, and I dont 'neglect' my bikes enough to benefit from that theory-I'm a bit AR about cleaning and maintenance. In any case I'd probably still mothball the Coiler frame not sell it.

(Mr MC posting)

the Big Thing in policing is neighbourhood policing. Local beat team officers meet members of the community, and the community set the local policing priorities.

I was a cycle-team officer on the blackbird leys estate in oxford a few years ago. the number one local priority was drug dealing in the streets. Brilliant; I got to sneak about the estate in plain clothes, jump on drug dealers skulking down alleyways, and raid their houses, put them in prison and deport them. The best 2 years of my career.

A consultation on blackbird leys last year had anti-social behaviour and littering, yes littering as the highest priority. So the entire neighbourhood team went onto the estate to pick up litter. An effective use of police officers? Possibly not. What the local taxpayers who pay their wages think is important? Apparently so.

their return policy in on their website, you pay postage and the recommend regular 1st class post (and fill in a form saying why youre returning it). I send a heavy full face helmet back to them as it didnt fit, and paid about a tenner sending it recorded/insured.

When I got my credit card statement through, they had refunded me the difference in postage between what I paid (off my own back) and cheapo 1st class. You can't complain about that! Still pleasantly surprised that such a large busy mail order house can still offer such good customer service.

Given the minimal weight of gloves youll be fine and it wont cost you much.

red and yellow spokeys in the garage tool box, all-in-one BBB tool in the camelbak, similar to this but think my is ally not cromo

http://www.ukbikesdepot.com/products.php?plid=m11b0s72p1334

comfy enough to use to build a full wheel, and should fit any wheel in my riding group if needs be.

thanks to thegreenman, I have withdrawn my Coiler from being sold despite it being broadly similar in performance terms to my "new" bike. I dont need the money, love riding it, have had some great experiences on/with it, and I MIGHT not like my new bike as much in which case I'd be a fool to let it go.

When I bought my first bike in ~'93, I always regretted not saving up the extra and buying my dream bike at the time the Kona Cindercone (in green-titanium, Im sure a retro geek will be along in a minute to correct the year!). I still have my first bike (GT Pantera) as a town/hack bike but it holds no place in my heart…

i guess thats a promotion, and not shoplifting? 😉

i run mine about equal height for all round riding, with bars much higher climbing would be grim.

neilnevill, cheers for the heads-up. After I'd knocked out the plastic cover I gave the bearing a few exploratory whacks and it clearly budged, so I thought for £4.50 compared to the cost of every other option its a worthwhile experiment. I like tinkering and fettling (Mrs MC refers to the "garage fairy" that seems to miraculously clean and fix her bike…) and if I also save a few quid then job done!

your'e welcome ;). I have DM as my homepage and love their satirical slant that usually hits the nail on the head.

tinsy, I went for cheap bearings from ebay, first one that popped up when I searched bearing, seller is GAP Bearings, £4.50 for 2 freepost.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/6805-2RS-61805-2RS-RUBBER-SEALED-BEARING-25x37x7mm_W0QQitemZ310125448454QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR?hash=item4834eacd06&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12%7C66%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C72%3A1683%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

couldve spent considerably more on SKF etc (£12+ each), but as its an experiment, and shimano and RF use cheap unbranded stuff I thought I'd give these a try. I was surprised how easy it was to open up following the instructions, on about the second tap with a screwdriver the plastic sleeve/seal popped out intact, and pressed back in with a g clamp.

(Mr MC posting)
the cheap ones in classifieds are road ones which are a mm or so wider than MTB (discussed in another thread by a frustrated buyer).

Ive just used the "fettling" link to service my XT HT2 (thanks z1ppy for posting it, I thought it might be that simple but hadnt tried it), and its obvious using the same procedure I can knock the bearings out. So I have ordered some bearings (6805 2RS) and will be rebuilding them myself, which I guess is what BETD/Enduro do.

For more anal examination see
http://www.peterverdonedesigns.com/bikebottombrackets.htm

I dont get ceramic bearings which still have a stainless race which will still corrode, you need either full ceramic ($$$) or similar coated races like the Token

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=38625

Trolling… agree!!!

TJ I think 1 day cricket is exciting! But let's face it in this country weather decides the winner 😉 anyway enough about cricket it's boring me already! 😀

Interesting I asked if Wiggo AND Cav got nominated who would people vote for! There's a lot of slagging off of cyclists .. why oh why? they are both awesome achievements in my opinion both completed in different ways, styles and efforts. I think I'd have to say Cav as I just love his ballsy, "who gives a shi**" attitude as so far he's delivered what he's promised!! Do still like Wiggo and think awesome achievement though .. oh dilemma …..

as for Ashes No NO NO NO NO!! women's perspective we loose by 200 runs yet it's still a draw … what a boring sport IMO (before people start slatting that too!).

(mr MC posting) in relation to cav v wiggo, wiggo achieved what he did out of his own effort with mininal support, cav was the final link in a very hard working chain (and has always been quick to say so himself). If he hadnt been there being towed, renshaw would have taken the final stage he had such a lead on every other rider.

For a satirical spin…

British Guy Did Not Win Tour De France

(mr MC posting)

used to vehemently dislike Oranges for their industrial, shipyard aesthetics (probably cos the first one I saw was a battleship-grey Patriot), but the more I see Fives and Alpines on here the more I like em. Only ever heard effusive praise on their ride quality and *choke* thats a really nice looking bike.

WTF and why? College project?

Apart from anything else the welds on the polished swingarm are abysmal, I believe the slang term is "chewing gum".

do they ship the 55eta's to you, or cut out the middleman and send it straight back to the importer to be repaired?

quietly in my sleep, like my uncle. Not screaming, like the passengers in his car…

cant find the original atribution for this, think its either Jack Handey's Deep Thoughts or Steven Wright.

great news, thanks for posting it up.

agree with sandwich, wiggo has done most of his own work this year, whereas astana have a strong team working for their "2 team leaders". Youd think wiggo was on a 2-man team.

He also needs to learn more race nous, how many times did he get caught out on the wrong side of a split in the peleton (even if he was hanging out of his arse) he kept needlessly losing chunks of time to LA for the sake of a few feet, after riding with him for hours.

IvanDobski, I hear Easton have superceded the offensively titled CNT range with the MTFU range for people with just your problem 😉

dont most full sussers come with a shock pump provided by the shock manufacturer? Some shops seem to "forget" to give the buyer the pack full of manuals, spares etc that comes with a new bike, and in my experience as a customer that pack invariably includes a shock pump.

Back to the OP's question, are their any trade shows you can attend to get a feel for the area? Have you researched new business loans, grants etc that are available in your area for start-ups?

in line with what twohats says, is that your lead foot when youre coasting? I'd expect the chain to drop onto or slap the top of the D/S arm as the lower run will hang looser, and if you predominantly lead with one foot then its logical to assume the 'top' side will get damaged.

I reckon the marks will measure the same as chain links and thats your problem.

measure the spacings between the pitting lines and compare with the spacings between chain link pins? Those marks look very uniform so this might identify/eliminate the chain as a cause.

Is it on both sides of the drive-side arm?

He's quite a good looking bloke with a comedy sense of humour! I would 😈

Maybe that's her new craving! Friend recently craved sellotape during pregnancy!! Yes new fresh rolls of sellotape that she could smell and inahel! weird .. having not had a kid and all!!!

Nope Cav reckons he got tested in excess of 60 odd times last year! Now that is pretty stringent testing and good IME.

(mr MC posting).

Gerrard is a local hero – Im sure if he'd been a local pariah they wouldn't have held the trial there as his defence would have argued he couldn't get a fair trial.

All his mates (who couldnt afford such experienced counsel) pleaded guilty. He said the complainant came towards him so he hit him in self defence. A pre-emptive strike is allowed in self defence, but the force has to be reasonable. How were the second and third punches reasonable?

i believe the SBD is linked to the fact that they have to have an alcohol by volume level stated. Beyond the SBD they can begin to re-ferment in the bottle and get stronger. Its fine to drink but creates issues with drinking guidelines etc.

When I was a student in liverpool our local (pikey area (cue joke about liverpool)) offy specialised in cheap out-of-date beer. Never made us more ill than drinking that amount would do….

sold a few things recently and only ask what i think are fair, bargain prices based on cheapest price they can be had new, and condition. I agree theres a moral difference between community sites like this and Bikemagic where I offer stuff "cheap" or swapsies, and Ebay. I bought and sold loads of stuff on MTBR in the late 90's when I lived in the US, and a guy in san francisco (>2000 miles away from me) posted me a Litespeed frame on trust, saying "if you like it send me a check, if you dont send it back"!

Had a NOS Fox FloatR shock on here for £70. Had a bit of interest which then fell through. Stuck it on fleabay with a low starting price and no reserve and it went for over £100. No wonder fleabay encourages profiteering (or people treating it like a business), and thats having a knock on effect on people who havent used forum classifieds.

ps I always post up pics!

(mr MC posting) as a bit of a former Ti geek, I'm pretty sure the KHS frame was made by Sandvik in Washington state, who made a lot of "own-brand" ti frames like Kona, Marin etc so its got a good heritage.

Only reason I sold my Litespeed (which had Ti just about everything) was a spinal problem which stops me riding hardtails. Still get sorely tempted when I see some of the nice stuff on here. It always struck me as the ideal material for MTB frames (no corrosion, bit of flex, good fatigue properties, hard wearing finish) and the fact that it is difficult to manipulate and build with properly was part of its appeal.

never occurred to me to shim the rotor, but when I got a second lighter pair of wheels (with Hope XC hubs) they held the rotor so much more inboard than the shimano hubs I had to shim the caliper mount, it'd gone beyond the range of sideways adjustment you get from post-mount brakes (running Hayes).

any softride bike

any slingshot bike, I couldve done better in my shed

what a waste of XTR..