You can sometimes reuse a secondhand olive if you wrap it in PTFE tape.
Defo works with mineral/shimano, not sure if it works with dot/scam

Fun story,
my brand new GRX 8100 dropper/brake lever seemed to be missing its olive, no problem as I had a bag of spare uns.
Hose was just the right size out of the box, joy.

Barb and olive installed I proceeded to nip it up, no torque wrench?no problem as I’m an experienced fetler.

Couldn’t spanner the olive home, scratched my head and thought ‘I’ll give it one extra little turn’

Shattered the assembly as I didn’t see the new olive was already installed inside the assembly.

Cost £150 for a new one ☹️

What’s the longest current running single track thread ?

I’ve often wondered why anybody would want to be stuck on a floating Blackpool but after chatting to a work colleague who was a time served cruiser I thought different.
Sailing of an evening with a different destination in the morning sounded cool.
After researching I found a bloke who does the cruise ship malarkey on a shoe string by paying for vacant cabins on commercial ships, no all inclusive indulgence, more a proper adventure.

Wish I could find the bookmark 😠

35mm stem on a steel LLS hardtail
90mm stem on a Ali LLS gravel bike.

No noticeable difference.

JUST RIDE 😁

Would you ?

http://www.humanleather.com/

Oven ready deal.

Often wondered if ‘chainsaw pants’ material can be bought per meter.

Wrap locks and chains in it with a couple of zip ties, hopefully the thieving bstards won’t realised until the grinders clogged.

After having my DH and HT bikes stolen from the garage a few years ago I built a 2X bike size cage in the garage around the insurance replacements using rebar foundation grid sheeting and an aldi welder with substantial locks.

PITA to access before and after each ride but would seriously slow down a smash and grab thief.

Keep my bikes in the spare room now (bungalow), much easier to access and a much better deterrent,also fully insured. Mrs got used to it… eventually 😉

Is it an ebike?

I’m still chortling at the drones comment😁

STOX
I’ve got a £40 Titan varivac wet and dry from screwfix for the garage it’s very basic but far better suction than the dyson in the house,

I got this ALIEXPRESS tool for about £3, size of a lipstick and it works fine.

￡2.05 36％ Off | Bicycle Tubeless Tire Repair Tool Tyre Drill Puncture for Urgent Glue Free Service Repair Optional 10/30/100 PCS Rubber Stripes
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mLMyTXj

I read that as oven gloves, then thought joy division… I’m going to bed now.

I know a lad called bry, I don’t class him as a friend.

Went from 170 on the last HT to 175 on the new (12mnth) one, both have ‘as good as’ same BB drop, can’t feel the difference.

Got 170 on the gravel bike I’ve had for last 5yrs as well, shorter rigid forks and lower BB drop, can’t feel any difference when swapping between bikes, both 1×11

For ref:- if my saddle height/angle, brake lever angle, gears not shifting perfect etc I cannot cope and spend at least 6cans in the man cave trying to fix the problem.

If uk manufacturing could extend the interest free credit on a uk made frame then i would be happy to pay.

In my head I’ve always justified a payment in the region of £50pm over for a frame over 18mnths, extend that an I can’t see a problem.

I don’t judge people now a days I wasn’t an angel in my first 30 years of age.

I feel better about myself as a result

Used to regularly service/full strip down 2010 boxxers, no probs.

Not serviced forks in a while as they are usually sold waaay past the recommended service date (is that bad ? 👀)

BUT, Price of forks nowadays is silly and I have reached my ‘I’m not paying that for them’ post midlife crisis age.

Recommend me a cheap 2018 pike full service kit 😐

Prep slow cooker in the morning.
(Beef stew, Dahl, veg soup)

Come home to a kitchen full of mouthwatering smell.

Left overs can be grazed on during the week or taken to work.

Start small with basic tools before you regret spending big and realise you may not have the time or skills.

Speaking from experience (trained joiner as well)

Edit, that said, I have recently built a man cave/lean to/work shop that I intend to use more in later life when I have the time and skills to make ‘stuff’

Yellow foam off some local scaffolding, a knife and a normal seat tube/rubber band mount.

Works fine.

( I did it for a mate )

Failing that I’m sure exposure do a teardrop mount, might have to buy an exposure rear light though.

I bought in the £20 2019 sale a 2.6 butcher, hillbilly and 2 others I cant remember name of.
They size up like a maxxis 2.35 compared to my kenda hellkat 2.6 which struggles for room under a mudhugger on a 2020 rockshox pike

CONS,
I am not designed to look after a 5 year old in lock down whilst the Mrs WFH.
suffering raynauds for the 3rd winter and it’s escalating.
Lacking motivation and pretending I’m not suffering depression.
I just don’t have the energy to ride as much due to 5 year old minimon.

PROS,
Minimon can now ride a bike.
I’ve been diagnosed with raynauds and now I understand it I’ve bought stuff to tackle it.
I know that lacking motivation and depression are not constant and I know I will have good days and bad.
I’ve saved enough money in lockdown to clear silly debts and taken on more (bike related) debts before brexit prices kick in.

STATS.
Gravel bike 1743m
Hard tail 658m

Elevation 109,989ft

RIDES 124

TIME 218hrs

Been using strava for less than 18mnths and it’s a good motivational tool for me, not arsed about KOMs.

Raynauds sufferer here,

Galibier deep winter gloves are better than the sealskin gloves I’ve tried (can’t remember the model)
Endura flat pedal overshoes are very good but a pain to get on.

I occasionally carry a Zippo electric hand warmer that doubles as a power bank as well.

Heat pads are ok but need to be sticky otherwise they can dislodge and bunch up.

I’ve recently been looking at cheap AliExpress heated gloves/socks, and found that you can buy just the heating element for £1. Thinking of getting some and gluing them to a liner glove/sock of my choice, powered by the zippo.

A Future project will be to build an outside drying cupboard for wet kit.
Found this interesting.

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php/Clothes_dryer

I’ve found a paracord key fob and a SAK are all I really need.
I’m a tinkerer, the type to make do and mend rather than accepting a problem, chuck kit away and buy new.

The amount of ECD I chose has come in quite handy over the years, in normal life, during hobbies and at work. It all depends how willing you are to tackle a problem.
I work in social housing, My job is to fix things, I like it, Id hate to sit behind a desk for employment.

I’m not in a position to buy Uber reliable/expensive kit if I go bike packing for eg, my budget stuff can and has failed whilst in the middle of nowhere and at inappropriate times but I’m content to know that I have a few tools handy to fix it to help get me out of a pickle and I find it quite satisfying if I can.

I’ve also found It very frustrating when you don’t have the tools to fix a simple problem but you know you could if you did.

I carry one as I never know when I will need one, A bit like not taking a multitool on a bike ride.

Carried a pocket knife since I was 8 years old when grandad gave me his MOD issue pig knife and stone and taught me how to keep an edge.

I used it for making bow and arrows (cave man club 😁) and carving my name in trees… highest climber got kudos… early Strava maybe 😁
Never ever though about it as a weapon, still don’t.

Victorinox rambler on my key ring daily and 90% carry a huntsman, best victorinox for EDC in my opinion.

Intrigued to know how people cope without carrying a quality pocket knife.

Bought my brother an officer last Christmas, lives in Croydon was scared of carrying… he now uses it every day.

When was the last time you got stop and searched by PC who didn’t understand the carry law FFS

HOW DID I NEVER CONNECT THESE, big fan of chilli jam.

Got a Couple of cheap decathlon hammocks for me and minimon to hike to a destination, set up camp, warm up precooked sausages and enjoy the woods, works well for us.

He’s not old enough yet (5) but will be getting the ‘child friendly’ victorinox when the times right.

I’ve got lots as I combine riding with Urbex especially during the last year. I CBA working out how to post pics tho.

I wouldn’t risk hammer/wood on a aluminium frame,
Buy the tool or use LBS for peace of mind.

Ted knows his onions

https://www.ridinggravel.com/components/wtb-resolute-tire-finish/

https://www.ridinggravel.com/components/wtb-sendero-650b-x-47mm-tires-checkpoint/

Found this recently as I’m planning to build a drying cupboard in the garage.

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php/Clothes_dryer

http://homelaundrystudy.net/design.html

HOPE for for investing in long term cost justification. recently bought a service kit for some 2008 pro2 hubs for an old wheelset destined fon mini mons bike otherwise it would have been the cost of a new hub + wheel build.

Maybe Irrelevant if SS or DT offer same service but I’ve owned hope hubs since almost day one with no complaints, rims are shyte though.

Every cloud !

Tell the Mrs you need to buy lots of new winter kit 😁

Got a new frame due in March, was sposed be arriving in jan.
This has extended the window of buying shit I don’t really need, as a result I have justifying the expense to myself of 2x stainless steel cages with posh tool Bidens just because I can keep a spare set of dry gloves in them that I will probably never need.

It works for me

The mrs doesn’t need to know the cost 👀

I had it for years after a back injury (worn vert and 2x squashed cartilage resulted in awkward posture to relieve the pain)
Had a few painful sessions of physio but never went back after the embarrassment of my package falling out of some particularly loose box shorts.

My mother persuaded me to try some of ‘that reiki nonsense’

Cured it after 2 sessions and sticking to the advise given on posture correction 👍

WTB have some new SG2 casings arriving soon (if not already) supposed to be longer wearing, less seepage, more supple and puncture resistant.

Reviews seem positive.

I would also recommend looking at the kenda website for ease of choosing a light weight puncture protection tyre (use the slidey bar scale thingy)

I occasionally run the hellkat/helldiver or nevagal combo when riding certain routes in winter (deep mud followed by square edge rock) and ‘snakebite’ puncture protection seems excellent compared to other tyres used in the past.
So impressed that I will be trying a kenda gravel/mud tyre when funds permit.

Looks promising

https://www.leakproof.co.uk/products/ion8-leak-proof-cycling-water-bottle-bpa-free-black-750ml