Bloody Stupid Johnson [(C) Pterry]

…newly forged United Kingdom on the slipway…

When you think about it, that’s the perfect metaphor given that forged components are generally solid, heavy lumps of metal that will sink without trace as soon as they’re chucked in water. :-(

I had a row of these (from an old hedge) ground out a few years ago, and while I can’t remember what it cost I do remember that it felt like a bargain compared to the effort of digging them out! Mine were probably only about 8″ diameter each, though.

If I was burning them out, I’d start with a few vertical holes drilled deep into the stump, and then try to get some in from an angle to act as an air inlet into the bottom of the vertical ones. Sawdust/shavings down the holes (maybe with a little diesel, or firelighter fragments) and light it up. The angled holes would hopefully allow the fire to draw air in a similar manner to a rocket stove and generate plenty of heat to sterilise the stump.

ETA: Ignore me – I’ve now seen your update re digging them out.

…but could never find a NW 33 or 35.

There’s a good reason for that, if you think about it! ;-)

Apart from the looks, isn’t that going to make your steering twitchy as hell?

On the hoods or drops, the OP’s hands will still be well forward of the steerer, so that won’t necessarily be the case (I can’t say it’ll be fine either, though!) There are plenty of heavily-swept bars which put the hands well-back too.

I’m not aware of anything like above, but a cheaper way of trying it out (albeit even more ugly!) might be to use something like this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/litepro-LP-Folding-Bike-Double-Stem-Bmx-Riser-Handlebar-Stem-25-4mm-Adjustable/293790349621?_trkparms=aid%3D1110009%26algo%3DSPLICE.COMPLISTINGS%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20201210111452%26meid%3D9d9bcf1840a6459f87a8d88c57654a50%26pid%3D101196%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D12%26mehot%3Dnone%26sd%3D303722086765%26itm%3D293790349621%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DItemStripV101HighAdFee%26brand%3DUnbranded&_trksid=p2047675.c101196.m2219

…to shift the bars back rather than up. If the geometery works, then it might be worth considering spending more on a real zero length stem.

Ultimately, though, it might be cheaper to just get another frame.

But if you’re charged more that the advertised price for a haircut – because ‘the vendor has changed their mind’ if you don’t have the right to buy at the advertised price whats your right to refuse?

The contract becomes binding as soon as anything of value changes hands. In this case, as soon as the barber’s scissors touch your hair they’ve committed to honour the agreed price, because their work has value. In a Supermarket, nothing of value changes hands until you reach the till, so the contract can still be re-negotiated.

https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=117987.0

Disclaimer: Not mine.

As someone whose job is actual surveys, I’m appalled that this will apparently be distributed to all MPs. How does this drivel get traction but my properly designed and fairly impartial surveys not??

I think that you’ve answered your own question there.

…the room light is behind my fat head so I get shadows on video meetings (no easy way to move desk).

I have this situation. I put a longer piece of flex in the existing pendant fitting and hooked this over a strategically-placed fitting screwed to the ceiling above the desk, a bit like this:

It cost pennies.

[Random image from I’net – not my actual set up]

Another fan here. Have a pair of Olympus trail shoes which are still fine (save for a bit of darning over the big toe nail) after 6-700km.

I still find it quite astounding that ‘foot shaped’ can be a USP for a footwear manufacturer!

‘Zero drop’ is less noticeable, but if I concentrate I can tell that heel-strike is lower. Which is good for my dicky knees. And I’ve never understood why shoes have raised heels, when the human foot has evolved to be flat to the ground over 100s of thousands of years. :-)

I’ve had a P1.18 equipped Helius for a few years now and absolutely love it. Ergonomically, I’d prefer trigger shifters but the grip shift is fine and has its own advantages – the main one being the ability to grab a huge handful of gears in one move (a panic down-shift can be 7 or 8 ratios in 1/4 second).

Servicing is a piece of cake: The annual oil change just requires laying the bike on its side for half an hour to drain, and then syringing new lubricant into the hole.

Changing the cables looks like it’ll be a horrible job, but I’ve not had to do it yet – cable oil-ports and full length outers FTW.

You can get spiders to use standard chain rings front and rear. I’d recommend this. I can’t use the front one as I need to have the chain tensioner and the spider moves the chainline outwards, but on a HT that shouldn’t be a problem. Having said that, the expense of a standard chainring is offset by its longevity.

It’s a measure of how fuss-free ownership is that the biggest irritation is not being able to oil the chain by back-pedalling! :-)

Picking up on some of the comments made above:

there was a bit of play in [the shifter] and I occasionally mis shifted.

There are cable-adjusters which can be tweeked to remove backlash in the cabling. There does need to be a small amount of free play, but not so much that it’s noticeable in use.

For me, it’s a winner because of the increased suspension performance. Not sure I’d be so evangelical about it on a hardtail.

I’ve also used a Rohloff in another Helius frame, and had derailleur gears, alfine 8 and SS on my 456. I definitely got far more pinch flats with the Rohloff/Helius combination, and on the 456 SS gave the best puncture performance, followed by derailleurs, with Alfine most prone to damage. All of which leads me to conclude that wheel mass savings still give a real benefit in a HT.

I also found the drag to be a …… 🙂 i just didnt coast well.

Drag is noticeable when new but after a few hundred miles becomes undetectable – choice of tyre, or even tyre pressure, will have a bigger effect. The gearbox doesn’t turn when coasting, so can’t cause drag in that situation – I suspect HYD1’s problem must have been elsewhere.

Two layers of Helitape?

I have a Nicolai with square-section seat stays and have used sections of angle UPVC from Wickes to provide a protective layer – you could possibly achieve similar using sections of plastic tube on round or oval stays?

Also, make sure that the cable-ties are bastard-tight to limit movement.

I think that’s that.

Bar the shoutingshooting, of which I’d imagine there will be quite a bit.

FTFY

If you have wide feet, swallow your pride and buy something from Keen.

+1, although I’ve noticed recent models seem to be built on a narrower last – BWD’s post above offers an explanation which I may investigate before I get my next pair.

Needing a very high volume toe box, Altra running shoes are now my preferred option but I’m not sure if they do anything waterproof. Having said that, in a low shoe waterproofness can be a mixed-blessing: if anything comes over the top it can’t drain away.

It’s a different style of case, but I have an SupCase for my Pixel which could be clipped to a rucksack strap in a similar manner. The S20 appears to be covered by the range: https://www.supcase.com/collections/galaxy-s20-cases

Well it means slightly less mechanical advantage on the first of four components that translate your effort into forward motion, and at least one of those elements can be changed to make more effective use of said effort irrespective of the length of the cranks.

^This.

It gets more complicated, though, because your legs are a collection of levers, and the torque applied to those levers by your muscles increases as your legs get straighter (imagine standing in a half-crouch for a few minutes).

A few years ago I swapped from 175mm cranks to 155mm in an effort to treat knee pain*. I expected to have to gear-down slightly to compensate for the shorter cranks, but in practice I found I was pushing a slightly higher gear than before – something that I put down to having the leg slightly straighter during the power stroke.

For me, the ‘feel’ of crank length depends on pedalling style. When in the saddle I barely notice the difference. OTOH, honking out of the saddle does make short cranks very noticeable. In those conditions the 155s felt too short. I eventually decided that 160mm is optimum for me, and have fitted 165s to all my bikes** as they’re easier to get than 160s.

* It worked.
** Not quite true – the 155s are now on my recumbent, where standing on the pedals isn’t really a thing! ;-)

As others have said, the star nut shouldn’t ever come under high loads, as the stem should lock the axial preload in place. But under heavy braking the radial loads on the head bearings will be a lot higher than the static load, and depending on the contact angle of the bearing that can result in high axial loads as the balls ride ‘up’ the radius of the raceway (imagine the bottom of the raceway as a gently sloping ramp up which the ball will run). If the stem isn’t clamped well enough to resist those axial loads it will move (a microscopic amount) up the steerer, increasing the load on the star nut and moving it an equivalent microscopic amount. Repeat several thousand times over a few rides and the headset is loose, so you readjust it, and the whole cycle starts all over again.

Short of changing the stem to one that clamps more securely, a head-doctor style plug would seem to be the solution. It won’t stop the movement, but will be effectively re-set in the steerer each time you adjust the headset, so you won’t get the long-term effect of the moving star nut.

Why don’t they have a fixed rear hub so you can lose a freewheel and reduce slop? The rear wheel would then weigh the same as the front apart from a sprocket.

Because if the rear wheel is driving the chain (and hence the gearbox) forwards during use it makes the gear shift much harder. For easy shifting, the ‘box needs to be completely isolated from load for a fraction of a second while you shift*.

That and a spinning wheel after a crash could drag a finger into the chain and remove it…

*For those who baulk at having to unload the pedals to change, rather than continue to apply torque through a gearchange, this pause needs only be for the tiniest fraction of a second, during which you can change 6 or 7 gears if you really have to. I can hit a bank that requires first gear at walking pace, discover I’m in 10th and unable to pedal at all, stop pedalling, shift to first and be back on the power before the bike comes to a halt. :-)

Stick a hex key/tyre lever/anything to hand between the back of the crank arm and a hole in the chainring.

You have to make sure that it’s in the correct half of the gear range before doing this, so that the chainring doesn’t overrun the crank as you go backwards. I forget whether you need to be in the top or bottom half of the range, but it should be easy enough to check. I just pop mine on one of those stands that holds the chain and seat stays when I get home and re-lube by pedalling forwards before putting the bike away.

I absolutely love mine, but then I also liked the Rohloff and Alfines I’ve used.

‘Drop-side latch’?

The cheap GPS devices are all very well, but the OP did specify “something that can be left on the bike”. I used an Aldi special wired computer quite happily for years – they’re all much the same so I reckon just get whatever is easiest/cheapest to lay your hands on. eg:

https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Cateye-Velo-5-Wired-Computer_965.htm
or
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LCD-Digital-Waterproof-Bike-Computer-Cycle-Speedometer-Wired/174263959960
etc.

The cheaper ones often have the clearest, simplest displays and while a wired one is a little more awkward to fit, the user doesn’t need to remember to switch it on each ride. Mount the magnet and sensor on the brake side of the wheel and spiral the cable up the brake hose to the handlebars for a neat installation, if you’ll excuse me teaching granny to suck eggs.

Two of our staff live in Caerphilly, they’re allowed to go to work, but also not allowed to leave the area and we’re in a different county so who knows.

The travel rules specifically allow travel for work if WFH isn’t possible.

I live approx a mile from the border, and often cross into Caerphilly when walking the dog. I assume that as before going out for exercise will be permitted, but I haven’t seen it made explicit. 🤔

this is a very weird thing to say…it sounds like those people who claim they went into a pub in Wales and everyone started speaking Welsh. Compared to a lot round here I have an “English accent” – my Welsh accent is very subtle, despite growing up here, and spending the last 20+ years here on and off. But I’ve never experienced distrust or judgement. I’m sure kids get teased in school for having an English accent, in the same way that a Welsh kid in an English school would get teased, but kids tease kids for any reason whatsoever.

Also my experience, having moved to Newport from North Notts 20 years ago. Nobody has ever commented on my accent. At all.

FWIW, I live in a very pleasant, if characterless, mid-70s estate just north of the M4. I’m less than a mile from the motorway, and can cycle to Cwmcarn in 30 minutes without going along a road. Direct trains to Cardiff are less than 2 miles away (not that I go much, being a city-hater). I struggle to think of a better spot for me outside the national park, TBH. Although for the OP’s purposes, this far east the beaches are in short supply – Barry is probably the nearest sand, Porthcawl is further but quicker to reach.

When the whole south-east of England is one giant lorry park and the economy goes into freefall, Joris and chums will own this mess 100%. They’ll try and blame the EU, obviously, ***but I don’t think that’s going to wash with most people***. So the real question is can this Brexit government survive what is going to be total chaos?

Oh how I wish I agreed with you, but we’ve seen clearly over the past few years just how many people buy-into the “it’s all the Eu’s fault” narrative. Maybe it won’t be most, numerically, but it’ll be enough. Remember, anti-Brexit parties got most of the vote last year, but with a unified blok in favour, a fat lot of good that did us. :-(

Thanks all! Definitely some food for thought there.
The Pixel 3a looks like a good option, but even that might be pushing the budget. What’s the panel’s view on a SH pixel 2?

I have no view on whether forced ventilation is a good thing or not here, but I wouldn’t connect it into the shower extractor vent. You risk blowing a portion of the dusty air back into the shower rather than out the vent. At the very least you need to make sure that there’s a non-return flapper valve to prevent this, and even then I don’t think I’d risk it.

+1 for sit/stand desk. I have a cheap Ikea one and while I sit 95% of the time it’s good to be able to stand and stretch occasionally. I can even park the turbo trainer under it and pedal while reading long documents** :-)

*that’s cheap-for-a-sit-stand-desk, rather than cheap per se, obvs!
** Probably not an option if you have to take regular ‘phone calls!

I’m 6ft/1.83m tall and use 165mm cranks. Anything longer gives me knee pain – in fact experimentation has shown 160mm to be about optimum for me, but they’re rare as rocking horse droppings.

Contrary to popular belief, the shorter crank doesn’t make it less efficient, as the shorter lever is compensated for by the fact that your legs are straighter during the pedal stroke (when seated). It feels slightly strange at first when honking out the saddle, but sitting down took about 5 minutes to feel perfectly normal.

YMMV, of course, but seeing as you’ve got a pair of cranks that you could try then I’d urge you to give it a go.

Something like a Rans Fusion might also worth considering; At the extreme end of ‘crank-forward’and verging on semi-recumbent. Might be hard to find this side of the Atlantic, though. (TBF, I doubt if that many are sold in Leftpondia either).

I went to Morocco with a mate ten years ago, and would definitely recommend it the way we did it – fly out and hire bikes.

We both rode (ride) dual sport bikes, but with very little off-road riding experience in the UK before we went.

Full story here: https://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/246257-Atlas-and-Sahara-loop-from-Marrakech

A new dog meant that we wanted something slightly bigger than our existing Fabia when we last changed. The Octavia was the obvious choice, but we had a look at Dacia, as they’re marketing themselves how Skoda were 15-20 years ago.
We got a low mileage 2 year old Logan MCV for the price of an average mileage 6 to 8 year old Octavia. It’s boot is huge, it does 70mpg driven gently (80 is achievable) and we’re well-chuffed with it. It doesn’t have any of the fancy electronic toys or motor-driven gizmos that you see on many cars these days, but if you’re coming from a T4 then you won’t miss those, and they’re only more weight and more to go wrong…

Do you manage that without touching your face? Sounds like you are swapping a tiny risk for a bigger one.

If masks become compulsory the purpose is to prevent asymptotic people unwittingly infecting others – its not to protect the wearer. – So a face covering is all thats called for – a buff would be fine.

You may need to touch your face to do that but you can also, you know.. wash your hands first.

Let’s consider that in detail… If you’re CV+ and asymptomatic, the mask will reduce the cough-radius, but get more infection on your hands each time you adjust it. So if you’re, say, shopping in a supermarket you’ll leave a trail of infected surfaces. If you’re CV-, then the mask won’t filter out air-borne virus, but you’re picking up shopping from the shelves which has been contaminated by earlier CV+ customers, and then adjusting your mask with those same hands. You won’t be washing your hands after every piece of shopping you pick up, surely?

A mask could help, as you say, but only if it’s well-fitted and the wearer doesn’t need to adjust it frequently. In the real world, how likely is that?

Having said that, I foresee that it will become compulsory at some point, so it’s as well to be aware of these things so they can be allowed for.

I’m another inner-tube user, but you might also consider spiral cable wrap: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spiral-Cable-Wrap-6-60-black/dp/B002M2JV8Q

November is still some time away however. I wonder what the public mood will be by then? I can’t see the public just rolling over and accepting a catastrophe. The tub thumping, flag waving Brexiters are not going to be the loudest voices come Autumn.

But by then it will be too late. An extension has to be requested by mid-summer (some time in July, iirc). Worse, the legislation already passed puts that decision wholly in Bloody Stupid Johnson’s hands; Parliament don’t get a say. We’re well-and-trulied already.

How long is long? The Fiskars Staysharp models go up to 100mm cutting height and get good reviews. I lust after one for my grass, but can’t justify the cost for a small suburban garden.

Clicky

As above, if you’re careful then you shouldn’t *need* to use a batten to resist the loads…

I used battens*, though, for the simple reason that it allows me to adjust the position of the hooks to get the optimum spacing and height with differing handlebars, wheelbases, etc over time. Once you’ve drilled the breeze-block you’re much more committed to one position. :-)

*actually, some cheap-and-nasty decking board covering a broad band of wall to allow for some vertical adjustment.

I’ve used a very similar set-up with bar ends inboard of the levers on Fleegle bars. I had them right on the bends, which I achieved by filing the inside of the clamps to flare them slightly on the sides to clear the bend. However, if I understand you correctly you’re looking to go even nearer to the stem? If you’re going right onto the taper then there’s no way you’ll get them to tighten without them moving axially outwards and loosening.

I’ve no photos to hand, but they’re visible in this video: Clicky

(Please excuse the mincing!)

Destructions = instructions.
Fairy Nuff = fair enough.

I didn’t see that one coming… Likeable character to arch-baddy in the space of three lines! :-o

Looks like Gavin has dodged the bullet then. Blake? Who’s Blake?