A friend works for Hysterical Scotland and tells the tale of the grounds at one of their properties being tended by inmates from the local penal institution. Come spring and the bulbs planted in the grass flowered to read F*** Off in rather large letters visible from the upper floors.

I imagine if you’re prepared to put up with the sort of bodgery bad design that requires holes drilled in roofs then you can fit any rack to any car.

Somewhere on you tube there is film (taken by his pal in the back seat) of a young guy hanging out the open door intending to “contact” a cyclist. How we all laugh as his head strikes a parked car.

Tandeming along the towpath we passed a couple, who looked to be about 70, in an open canoe and of course he shouts “She’s not pedalling at the back”. Just too late did the ripost “She’s not paddling at the back” occur to me.

I suppose acupuncture is preferable to the quantity surveying he trained for right enough.

Signed

A Quantity Surveyor

“MOONT was a homespun bike mag/flyer produced by among others still on here, Leffeboy, Italspark, CynicAl and myself. “

Anybody know if Wallace Gilbraith is still on the go then?

Actually Essel, I’d left the three plastic boxes and the crate back at the tent along with the coolbox and the two holdalls of clothes, not to mention the cooking gear and wash up bowl.

I couldn’t make out much of what was being said and, as a Scot, I thought the BBC was taking the P when they had subtitles once when they were travelling in the cab with a South Yorks train driver. Maybe I’m geting auld and daft.

Especially for the Pre’65 as it solves the parking problem for the roadside stuff and opens up more distant sections for spectating.

Still struggling a bit here Essel with no time to look at maps but I’ll see you there.

Don’t go near Rain-X. I used it on a visor and it damaged the anti scratch coating – I had to replace it within two months. It may work on glass windsceens but the glass coating (3 microns thick) on a plastic visor can’t cope. This was widely coverd in the motorcycle press many years ago.

There’s a skill in tendering such that you get the most out of the final figure, using the contract conditions, as opposed to the tender figure.

Unfortunately the Government always puts the wrong people in charge of assessing tenders and they are not sufficiently experienced in the right fields to be able to suss what the tenderers are doing.

All things taken in to account, I’ve always thought that Keith Richards has looked pretty good over the years.

It had nothing to do with Kaesae actually, pure marketing, summer is now officially over in Edinburgh!

I must say I’d like a source of compressed air for various purposes but I’m not impressed with filling a small workshop with aerosol polish from umpteen bikes – still I suppose it means he won’t need to worry about his pension.

http://www.tinycampsites.co.uk/ Get the book.

If you look at the latest Rose catalogue (if you can lift the thing) there is a choice of no less than 21 bells!

Yes, but not back to a car – unless they have changed the law. Years ago folk saved up numbers by storing them on mopeds but the media had a field day with Sir Gerald Nabarro who had a barn full with NAB numbers on and a law preventing transfer from a bike to a car was brought in.

If you suffer from insomnia I can recommend Hugh Porter’s “Champion on Two Wheels”.

“Tales From the Bike Shop” by Maynard Hershon is amusing.

“Winged Wheel” by William Oakley celebrating the centenary of the CTC is interesting to see how attitudes were in the old days. How cyclists did fight against the introduction of rear lights.

Thanks, I’ll investigate that.

Thanks guys but…………..Glede Knowe booked out by the folk I’m meeting, don’t really want to be above a bar that goes on ’til all hours (I’ve suffered that before) and while Peebles obviously has more places I’ve no intention of cycling back there after a night of socialising in Innerleithen, especially if it is peeing down.

If you have the dremel then cut a slot across the head of the screw and use a screwdriver.

That’s a handy looking bag on the right couldashouldwoulda, where do they come from?

I get two bikes and a tandem in the “old” Berlingo car, tandem front wheel off to allow attachment to a rack thing to support it upright, bikes all wheels on.

I’m equally mystified. Years ago I phoned a “smaller nearby shop” when I was looking for a bag for my piece and had this conversation.

“Do you have any musettes?”
“Hang on a minute.”
Sounds of conversation amongst staff in background.
“What kind of bike is a musette?”

My experience is that the CT system in use is incompetent, not necessarily the staff. After some months (they took me to court when they owed me a thousand, not the 100 they said I owed them but were unable to explain) got my coucillor involved one afternoon and had an answer in my inbox before 7 the next morning. Somebody obviously had to burn the midnight oil.

It’s why you vote them in so use ’em.

I’ve known plenty wheelies done on shaft drive bikes – even those with an inline crankshaft.

I had similar with a rounded countersunk screw in a rear mech. I used a dremel type tool to cut a slot in it – easier than a hacksaw and does not cut the surrounding area.

An interesting read and I can recommend “Team Suzuki” by Ray Battersby for further reading on the subject (now reprinted apparently).

Returns – I bought a dynamo at about half the price of UK suppliers but they sent the wrong hand – very quick resolution of the problem and they can’t have made any profit on the deal.

My tendency would have been to agree with Northwind but when a careless stoker allowed a pedal to unscrew and knacker the thread in the crank I took Loctite’s advice and it’s been OK for years now, so go ahead – but the stud idea sounds even better. And it’s amazing what can be done with epoxy these days in extreme cases.

Compared to the equivalent motorcycle stanchions £80 is peanuts, but competition motorcycles can go for decades without such wear with very little maintenance indeed. Ie there’s a basic flaw with the Fox set up.

Err, motocross is a very specific form of racing and far from a generic term for “off road biking”. I suppose if you are young enough to accept the term “biking” then “off road biking” would be the generic term. But then, by definition, green laning is not off road.

It would be criminal to waste good beer on those forks.

Sorry, can’t get photo to appear.

The thin end of an undesirable wedge, though most of those affected won’t be cyclists. At least it’s not as bad as the enthusiasm some were expressing elsewhere that we should be indicating to the Council that we are keen to pay to park our bicycles in Edinburgh.

Yes, one of our supply chain banned rigger boots on site due to lack of ankle support. You can still wear safety wellies or safety shoes under their rules though……….

They can be prone to wear on the rear axle (bad design not providing a grease nipple)so look out for rear wheel or wheels off the plumb.

but I also drive modern diesels as company pool cars and they don’t like it. If you don’t change down then they increase speed thinking a stall is coming up – they can fight quite hard against the brakes if you do this

I will do 5th to 3rd (or 2nd) as the engine gets near idle and before it starts pulling, I just meant if you’ve stayed on the throttle a bit too long, there is no point using dropping additional gears to scrub off speed without the brakes “

I wasn’t criticising you – just pointing out that, to my dismay, the modern car takes over and does not allow me to drive in the manner I have done for decades (and generally managed to better published and friends’ MPG figures).

I could get 55 mpg out of a petrol Renault 6 back in the day and not be holding people up.

“It’s the lack of length that put me off buying one. Great car, but just that little bit too small.”

Early Berlingo – It does not take long to remove and replace the seats but as I seldom carry more than one passenger I just leave ’em out. Like this I can get a tandem in (straight, not diagonal) so bikes should not be a problem.

I keep meaning to take a picture when I have two motorcycles in it which is similarly no problem.

The Doblo is about a foot longer internally.

For a minimum cost toe in the water with no need to get a road licence I suggest you have a go at trials riding. Don’t know where you are but there’s bound to be a few events fairly close. Beware though it can be addictive.