It really annoys me when ‘agreeing with the lockdown’ is equated to ‘wanting to be locked down’

It’s such basic thinking.

I hate being locked down. However, I think that the government didn’t do it quickly enough, sufficiently enough and did not execute it well enough.

That’s why we still can’t see our friends and family. The governments incompetence (and no doubt reacting to the whims of business lobbyists, which is a sign of incompetence in itself) has strung this pandemic out.

Hopefully people remember that next time they place their X, but I guess once again they will think that Labour are coming to rule like Stalin and vote for the silly haired idiot because he let them kill their own grandparents at Xmas.

Government ignoring scientific advice to chase vaccination numbers to make themselves look better in the short term. They don’t give a shit whether it’s the correct long term decision.

Same as Xmas

Same as the kids going back to school (for a day)

Populism rules again…

Do you think Boris cares at all that people WILL have died today because of his narcissistic will to not be the PM who took away Xmas.

Because I don’t think he does.

Otherwise he wouldn’t have done it…

He thinks it makes him look strong. It makes him look so so so weak

1,820

I hope Christmas was worth it.

I hope that 1 day of family mixing sending all the kids back to school will be worth it as well.

Perfect time to have a populist as a leader…

They will just be cells, but you need to connect the BMS up correctly.

If you are good at soldering…take the existing pack apart and see how it’s built

My lumi has had a new set of cells, although my soldering is naff so a friend did it for me

Need a log in to view stories on Instagram. Which I don’t have 🙂

Large amount of porn in a bush next to a an old quarry pit on the downs.

Lady giving her partner oral pleasure in the backseat of their car at entrance to Lordswood. My front light lit the interior up nicely as I bumbled past 🙂

Significant amounts of flytipping (tossers)

Burnt out car X 2

Out walking:

A rave

A photoshoot

Empty dildo packet on a cliff in Malta

Doggers

Bolt tool to crank with crank bolt.

Clamp tool in vice

Use frame as a lever.

I had to do this with an ISIS BB that had been in for years. It sounded like a gunshot when it finally released!

As an aside – I did a crankshaft bolt once with a 0.5″ drive breaker bar with a 10ft scaffold pole on the end. Took 11 stone hanging on it to get it to give!

From experience:

Bikes with just a cadence sensor only are clunky as they don’t modulate the power very well. On or off, and with a powerful drive this can be difficult in some circumstances

You can torque sensing BBs for some hub drives, which improve them.

Mid drives are not really any more difficult to fit, can be torque sensing and you can still remove the wheels from the bike easily.

Zee cages are good. Managed to get a decent sized bottle on a Jeffsy with a modified one

I live in kingpins…

But they are too soft for flat pedals for me. You need some support or you get achey feet

I ride in Adidas Trailcross shoes for flat pedals. 5 ten sole but a lighter upper.

Can’t really see much benefit unless it fits you better

I read somewhere they are IP44?

Well, the shed is tidy and I have a list of bikes to spanner, so hopefully I can get the bike apart and work out what I need to do.

It’s working fine though, but definitely needs some general TLC. I think several months of wet commutes hasn’t done it much good 😉

Looks like a fun bike.

It will feel slower and a bit more ponderous than your old bike at first, but that makes it significantly more capable on proper trails. Modern trail mtbs are longer, bigger wheels, wider bars, longer travel forks.

1x sacrifices outright top end speed as generally on trails you don’t need massive gearing. It’s quite easy to put a bigger chainring on if you are spinning out, but will give you a harder lower gear as well for climbing.

Tyre choice can make a big difference, as can pressures

Haven’t companies like genesis and cube made basically the same bike for years?

I like the idea of a CX bike with slightly fatter tyres, but the marketing around ‘gravel’ like it’s something groundbreaking really bugs me for some reason. The niche between CX and an XC hardtail is pretty small

That it’s got rebound damping

A little reading suggests its common and is poor tolerance in the shell/bearing.

I currently can barely get to my workbench in my shed as it’s full of decorating equipment, a door and a half started kids bike project (and a Jeffsy with no shock fitted that’s a pain to move)

Need to sort that lot out and then I’ll get the Rig on the stand and take the BB apart and report back 🧐

Just discovered this:

https://www.electrifybike.com

They do some smart TSDZ2 bits, including a nice display:

https://www.electrifybike.com/store/p157/SW102.html#/

and some lights

https://www.electrifybike.com/store/p70/TSDZ2_Light_Set.html#/

and also some nice, albeit pricey, chainrings

800 miles in. Lockring came off on a ride over xmas. Tapped up tight with a drift and some loctite.

All the nuts holding the battery tray together rattled lose – fortunately they stayed captive, but bit random,.

Chain is about 60% worn, which is impressive.

However, its knocking – i thought it was the motor moving slightly, but all tight. Turns out its the BB bearings as there is play in the crank.

So need to work out how to replace those, without messing up the torque sensor or the wiring.

26″ DJ bike sounds best bet

I ran 32-34 (possibly 36) top end for years on my hemlock. It did suck on steep stuff 😃

Just going to 1x on my Jeffsy (for simplicity more than anything), so that will be 30-42 as keeping the rest of the X2 GX drivetrain

A Bionicon turns up in my works bike shed occasionally. No idea whose it is though so can’t ask about it.

I’d like to try a Christine. Must be draggy with that extra drivetrain though

I’ve got a Mi A2. It’s fantastic and the camera is very good. Pure Android so no skin

Have to use iPhones for work. Absolute rubbish in comparison

Fork crown mounted guard is best bet

I have no idea what length the cranks are on any of my bikes

BJ seems intent on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory

Has the track and trace system been completely forgotten about now?

True until:
a) you build with funky wheel/hub sizes or spoke counts
b) you realise how cool radial wheels look (on rim brake bikes)

😉

Actually, I’ve also used coloured aluminium nipples in carefully chosen places, but I’m a sucker for aesthetics

Definitely 😜 I want to try some fun builds

Little bit of chain lube on the spoke thread so the nipple tightens rather than binding.

No threadlock as you need to be able to adjust after spokes have been destressed, and I want to be able to tweak them in the future if I need to.

I used nipple washers on the last wheelset I built, but that was only really as it was a non eyeletted rim.

Not built loads of wheels, but the ones that I have built have handled multiple uplift days at rocky places like antur without an issue.

Oh yeah, and 3 cross, j bend, double butted and brass nipples for everything 😉

So all the kids have met for one day, swapped their infections they picked up over Christmas, given them to the teachers, and then taken them home…

Well, I suppose if there isn’t a press conference, he can’t be late too it…

So, the lobbyists won until the forecast looked grim enough for Boris to defy his master’s….

Wales 469.4 per 100000
England 476.9
Northern Ireland 394.9
Scotland 188.3

Population densities will be a factor to some degree, although what I’ve found from a quick google is not really fine enough detail. Wales has a lot of empty space as an example:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/281322/population-density-in-the-united-kingdom-uk-by-country/#:~:text=United%20Kingdom%20(UK)%3A%20population%20density%202019%2C%20by%20country&text=As%20of%202019%2C%20the%20population,432%20people%20per%20square%20kilometer.

If they’ve forced some schools to go in today, and then decide tonight it’s too dangerous…

Sweepstakes – I reckon BJ turning up at 8.45pm for his 8pm appointment, with some clearly hastily thrown together slides, and at some point they will share the Zoom window by mistake.

Economy – I dunno about shielding my parents, seems there is a chance I might be moving back in with them

Never had a problem with using a press and fitted an Angleset twice with it.

I lay a piece of string from the seatpost over the headset markers to make sure it was all straight, and press one cup in at a time.

Easy

Kinesio tape over the areas that rub. Sweaty week in Morzine with no kneepad rubbing.

I also use it on my hands to stop blisters if I’m riding consecutive days of gnarly stuff

Air leaking to the wrong side of the piston increasing the negative air pressure

What sort of service have you had done?

I’d get a quote from jtech and/or tf tuned and explain the issue. TF sorted a similar issue I had with a twin air rev a few years back , despite the fact they were full of Welsh grit 😉

3 years in – the bike is fine.

However, everyone I ride with is now on ebikes for the same type of riding…

A photo of the bike with your current setup would help.

But…be aware of maximum extension on the seatpost (it will be written on the post and/or frame)…this is important and shouldn’t be dismissed

Yep that’s right. With the saddle at the correct height you won’t be able to touch the ground. As a rule, heel on the pedal with crank at 6’oclock with your leg fully extended is about right. You very quickly get used to it, and as said above, a dropper post can help off road to stop the saddle feeling like it’s trying to eject you over the bars on anything steep.

I don’t see this as really any different on a road bike – with the saddle at the correct height I can’t see how you could reach the floor unless you have a really low BB

If you have a frame that works fine and you like, then that is brilliant. It’s worth what it’s worth to you.

For me, the big takeaway (based on what we have been told at face value) from the Hambini / Open debate wasn’t the quality of a single frame, but Opens response to the criticism.

Hambinis approach is what it is, but to come back and defend yourself by saying that they don’t build to a given standard and going legal immediately is quite bizarre. As a customer it would not fill me with any faith in them if I ever had an issue with their products.

If they had responded by saying “we haven’t seen this frame, we take things like this seriously, we are going to investigate this frame and the process by how it was released to the public” and then share the results of that process and their response, it puts them above reproach. Especially as they should be doing that anyway.