Doesn’t the front mech have a screw to open the mech cage? I know that every one of mine do, but they’re all Shimano.

How do you arm/disarm it? Is there a switch on the sounder?

Can confirm those Mottez (boriselbrus’s Halfords link) are capable of taking a 2.4 29er as I’ve just build up a rack using them and one of the bikes is a 29er with 2.4 tyres on.

Bonus was they were £3.60 at my local hardware shop!

Only problem is the bike, stood up vertically, is nearly the same height as the garage…

Cheers guys. I’ve contacted CRC and going to see what they say; they’ve been excellent in the past, but these were gifted to me so I dunno how they’ll handle that.

I got this one from Amazon. No problems to report. Certainly not loose, or “vibratey”.

My understanding is that you can’t get tax without insurance and an MOT. You have to SORN your vehicle and take it off the road or have it taxed. Failure to either tax or SORN will result in a fine.

However, if you’re taxed while the MOT is run out I think the tax will still be valid, and you can keep it on the road but not drive. You’re allowed to drive a car without an MOT to get an MOT, but no other time.

Not sure how the insurance stands with a run out MOT, but I imagine it would invalidate it.

Again, this is my understanding and may be entirely incorrect.

You can get 30m reels of Clarks stuff from various sites for about £15, IIRC.

Midlifecrashes, you’re an excellent human being! Even has room for a dérailleur, which is fantastic. Thank you very much. I’m sure the transparent colour will be short lived.

Finkill, my limited research suggested otherwise, but I’ll take your word for it.

Maybe a Brompton chainguard?

Unfortunately they’re specific to Brompton chainrings, which have a non-standard BCD, by the looks of things.

I’ve got SKS Bluemels 42mm. My 35mm Kenda Small Block 8 is an excellent fit. My “35mm” Schwalbe Marathon Mondial, that actually comes up 37mm, is a bit tight and I get some minor spray off the tyres in really wet conditions.

Another vote for Mint here. Like others have said; their “flagship” Cinnamon UI can be a little resource hungry. One of the joys of Linux is you can give it a go and, if you don’t like it, switch to another.

I use Mint on my 7 year old laptop, with MATE instead of Cinnamon, and it’s great.

Yes

The problem with FTTP fibre (a la BT Infinity) is that you need a VDSL modem. Luckily you can now get aftermarket routers with VDSL modems in them, but they’re not cheap.

I currently use the OpenReach modem I originally got with a TP-Link WR1043ND (first gen). When I moved to my new house I got the new HomeHub with the modem built in. Mostly been reliable, but lately it’s been failing lots, hence my OpenReach+TP-Link setup.

Thankfully, applying hot water expands the metal enough to loosen it. Until I poured hot water on it wasn’t budging at all, and it wasn’t even a year since fitted.

I stripped my crank puller when I first attempted.

Junkyard – lazarus

XTR cranks?
Square taper cranks?

Square taper cranks is correct!

Unscrew the bolt partially. Apply hot water to crank arm mounting hole. Rest bike using bolt on bricks. Take mallet to crank arm.

Not quite pedals, but close. No bearings, either.

Bonus points if you can describe the type.

There is some vertical adjustment available. Or there should be, at least. There is on mine. Just loosen off the bolt holding it on and adjust accordingly.

Look at the lumens. For reference 1600 lumens is about 100w of traditional incandescent power. 60w would get you 800 lumens.

For LED bulbs you’ll probably want to look at >=12w.

I’ve also found that LED bulbs that only emit from one side tend to make loads of shadows and don’t fill a room up very well.

I’ve got a Reverb with Shimano brakes and levers. I’ve found positioning the lever the right way up is easy enough, but positioning it upside-down (like I do) is hard to get in a good position.

I want it upside-down to protect the lever, but I’m yet to find a decent position for it. I may give in and have it the right way up.

I just chuck the padding in the washing machine with my other kit every so often, typically when I can start to smell it.

Try searching for Clement tyres instead.

I got the SanDisk Ultra 32GB for mine and it’s been fine with it. I got my camera a month or two before that thread came up, if you want any time reference.

They look pretty clever! I might have to get some for my new build!

Fair enough, thanks. I thought by more performance you meant it handled terrain better or something to that effect.

So it sounds like there’s little difference beyond greater configurability.

Who’s the retailer? All I’m trying to do is work out if the RCT3 is worth the extra cash over the RC. LoCo has claimed there is a performance benefit, but hasn’t said why. While I’m appreciative of the help, unfortunately I can’t go on “because it is”.

Uhh…. I’ll be honest; I have absolutely no idea what to make of that.

I’m only really interested in the purported performance improvement and if it’s worth the extra cash.

LoCo – Member

Different top end, and internals, performance on RCT3 will be a bit better.

How are they different? And what kind of performance improvement is there?

Sorry if I seem a bit sharp with the questions, I just want to make sure I get what’s right.

If it’s just for commuting, why not a touring tyre like a Schwalbe Marathon?

Slap some electrical tape on there and you’ll be fine. All that’s rubbed off is the paint.

Great link tomaso. It’s a shame they have nothing in large. I’ll keep an eye on that one, though.

granny_ring – Member

OP these any good, just need to source a shock?

I mentioned the Cube AMS in my original post. I’ve specifically been looking at this one.

The AMS appeals because it’s only a bit over £400, with shock, and has internal routing. The Unveil 9 appeals because it can take 160mm forks without much determent to geometry. Merlin are currently doing 160mm pikes for £475.

I don’t know enough about suspension designs to determine between frames on that merit.

That deal with the pikes is super tempting. It’ll financially push me back further than I’d like, but it’d be worthwhile.

My research suggests it’s a threaded BB. It’s a direct mount derailleur frame so I don’t see why it can’t take a triple.

Nice one! I’ve never heard of that. The same site lists the Thumber as £20 cheaper. Not only that but it’s got an option with 140mm Pikes for £1100!

Seriously good suggestion, thanks!

I accidentally dismantled mine. It was a bit tricky to get back in, but I managed it without too much hassle.

First off, make sure you’ve removed the spring. No point fighting against it. You can reinsert it later from the bottom. Next make sure that the latch mechanism is released by fully tensioning the cable with the barrel adjuster at the lever.

Get a bit of grease to help stick the rods to the inner post, stick the rods in place and then attempt to insert (make sure you have that brass ring in place beforehand, too). When inserting be gentle and slow, much like you would with a lady. Giving it a bit of slow gentle a wiggle can help. Just keep persisting, in and out, until you can get it all the way in.

I found the front rod gets caught on something, a lip or whatever, whilst inserting so small movements can work it past the obstruction. Just keep trying.

I’ve done a bit of research in to this. My findings include two main points:
1) Hub motors do not do hills well. You want a mid-drive (mounted at BB) for maximum effectiveness. Mid-drive can take advantage of gears.
2) The “best” mid-drive aftermarket unit goes by Bafang BBS02, but is hard to get in the UK and is also illegal for road use. However, the BBS01, its predecessor, is. The BBS01 is also regarded as an excellent aftermarket kit.

You can manufacture your own batteries for conversion kits, just get a load of 18650 cells and wire them up and house them correctly. This will probably be cheaper as you can order them in bulk from China quite easily, but it requires DIY of course.

But in all respects, get a mid-drive (crank driven) conversion kit as they are far superior for power output.

Edit to add: I think the BBS02 can be limited to 250W (making it road legal) through the controller, but I can’t find anything concrete on that.

If you can get Linux on a USB drive and boot from it you can issue the following command in a terminal (this is probably the easiest, and cheapest, way to do it):

sudo dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb

Where sda is your HDD and sdb is your SSD. This command will copy your HDD contents EXACTLY, bit for bit. This should work, but due to SSD multi-level flash this could be a little risky (as in data integrity, not bricking SSD (as far as I’m aware)) so make sure the data is ok before you wipe the HDD.

Also; if you’re using the HDD for general storage you’ll probably get away with saving some money by buying smaller. I’ve got a 256GB SSD and have only used about half for general OS and programs (games are stored on a 4TB RAID config) after about 2 years of use.

What about safety glasses? Some can look pretty reasonable, and kids sizes are probably easier to get hold of than kids riding glasses. The main draw point, though, is they’re super cheap so you’re not spending £20-£40 on something that could potentially last no more than a day.

Get incident ref number from police, include as much detail as they’ll allow. You’ll get an appointment to recant your full story in your own time later, but it’s good to be thorough when it’s fresh.
Take photos of injuries to both yourself and bike.
Ideally go to A&E now, don’t wait for GP.
Go to bike shop for damage report/valuation.
Legal advice always good, there are some cycle incident specialists.

Don’t hang about with medial issues, this is super important.

There are some that fit to the saddle rails, though I’m yet to find one I like.