If I were going to go for a carbon frame, it’d be something like a Giant, Spesh or Trek, or from a composites specialist.

I’d not chance my front teeth on a carbon frame from any of the small brands. I doubt any of them have the expertise or cash to test frames as rigorously as the big brands, or audit their suppliers anywhere near as often.

RT76. Bought a Superstar rotor, it was rubbish. Ground in one direction only, with fair gouges.

Merlin again. Cheaper than buying the parts yourself, and a nice build.

You’ll do well to get a fun 4 seat convertible. The hole in the top’s just too bloody big to make a light and rigid bodyshell practical.

Pass like a train innit. If you need to announce which side you’re going for, you’re not really fast enough to be passing…

Bud 66. It’s grim stuff, but this is the last bottle to get through!

Find somewhere local and non chain. Preferably run by a pleasant but giant geezer.

I suspect it works out better to just buy the cheapest and replace it a bit more often.

Teflon coated inners are nice though.

I think the figures are that an average middle class kid overtakes a clever working class kid by 7.

You’ve about as much chance of dodging that bullet as taking up a different religion to your parents.

Don Simon, the best predictor of a child’s academic achievement in the UK is social class. Not pretty but it’s true. Free schooling is not the be all and end all.

Nah don Simon, she’s putting new seals in the brake calipers whilst I’m fitting new brake lines…

Genuine bloke to me means practical – should be able to top up the cars oil and do basics like putting up shelves etc. Should have at least one proper practical skill, say fixing the car, DIY or woodwork etc. Must have his own tool set.

The other thing is that he looks after his family. Puts food on the table and spends time with them.

I’d go for the cheapest hydraulic shimano brakes from Rose Bikes or Woolly Hat Shop.

BBG bash guard and a jump stop should cover things.

iI suspect that a quick rub with a grey scotchbrite pad will be all that’s done to prep it for paint if the current finish is ok. Gives a 1200 grit or so scuff to the surface.

Pashleys aren’t cheap. If you look at internal hub town bikes, you can pick them up for a couple of hundred quid. Pashleys start at more than double that…

A relative had a Technica telly from Tesco and it died very quickly.

Get a cheap telly from Richer Sounds or
somewhere. Cheap extended warranties and branded products. Or Aldi – probably out of the same factory as Tesco’s kit, but you get a 3 year guarantee.

Gave on-one a buzz today – it is an old frame, but that mount hasn’t moved since I bought the bike.

Looks like I’ll be DIYing a mount 😆

I’m not keen on having a bunch of washers waggling about and falling off every time I need to adjust the caliper alignment.

Could I Araldite some aluminium blocks to the top of a F160 mount, drill and tap it and expect that to last (using long bolts to go down into the mount proper)? Or would I be better off drilling the blocks slightly oversize so all the thread contact is in the proper mount?

To be honest, I’m not sure there’s much stopping me tapping two holes in a bit of aluminium for the IS mount, then hacking and filing away until I’ve got a half decent mount. Except for the fact that it’d look ugly and probably still weigh more than a factory 160 mount with some alloy spacer blocks glued to the top…

Pack rash is what the spare inner tube in your camelbak has whenever you need it. Abrasions from rumbling around the bag.

I’ve started putting my tools in a stuff sack in my bag. Keeps everything together nicely and costs very little.

Wrap your spare tube in cling film to stop pack rash.

It’s pretty scrapheap challenge style at the moment! It’s hitting the right part of the brake, but there’s no point tightening up a load of hex head bolts onto a V-brake washers!

I’ll get a proper set of M6 allen bolts and see if there’s enough slack in the caliper holes to align everything.

Blue Loctite. If you live near an airfield, I’m sure there will be a stall on your local car boot sale full of Loctite and exotic greases etc. at surprisingly keen prices.

It has an expiry date on the bottle, doesn’t seem to “go off” at all (and Loctite have said as much), but you’re not going to chance a plane crashing because you used a bottle of old Loctite.

To be honest it doesn’t matter much, so long as you’re using removable threadlock compound. If you use stud grade (ie, for fixing studs into engine blocks etc, not for manly men), then your discs will be staying on the bike for a very long time!

FWIW Blue normally means “medium” or removable, Red is stud grade…

There were some Fat Spanner flats in the bike shop that looked identical today.

Kona Wah Wah is pretty bloody similar but not as machined down.

A bit of clarification:

1) It’s the right adaptor. I checked it side by side against a mate’s known good Shimano 160R last night.

2) The old brakes had the same issue, I just never noticed as they were second hand, so the wear pattern on the disk didn’t show. You also can’t see in through the back of those calipers. I pulled the pads out once to bleed the brakes, and they had a fair old step in them.

3) All the current braking kit is brand spanking – Rotors, Calipers, adaptors, bolts and pads. There are no steps in the pads etc.

Anyway, I’ve been out and had a mess with some of the old Magura mounts (160F/140R type, as my old Magura calipers seem to have +20mm built in), and some long M6 bolts. Put it together with 9mm (!) of washers like Avid used, and everything runs as it should, with the pad acting on the correct part of the disk. By that point, you’re adding leverage to the threads on the mount etc. No idea how much impact that makes, cos I’m not an engineer.

Hmm. There doesn’t seem to be an off the peg fix then.

Thanks for the info Andy!

Would a front 180 adaptor used on the back move the caliper back or forwards?

Just checked it against a mate’s adaptor, and it is the right one.

I can see where you’re coming from Jim, but I’m pretty sure it’s the right adaptor. It came already attached to the rear brake, which was brand new, and if you hunt about a bit the blurb says the SLX rear brakes come with an IS to PM 160mm mount.

Unlike the other Shimano adaptors I’ve seen, it isn’t all labelled up. I’ll see if I can compare it with a mate’s one later…

I had a crack at taking a photo of the callipers set to the correct dims, but you couldn’t make much out of them at all due to parallax error.

Measuring up, I’d say the two mounting holes come out at ~82/42mm from the centre of the drop out. I think the only way to be 100% would be comparing with a jig or facing tool. The IS bolt holes are 51mm apart, otherwise I’d have noticed a long time ago!

Assuming that spec from Hayes is correct (does anyone know otherwise?), my IS tab is welded on in the wrong place…

I don’t think it’s that either – I’ve grabbed a spare 180 rotor, and there’s no way it would fit together with that adaptor. The caliper needs to be about 5mm lower down than it is.

TBH as I had a similar problem with my old Maguras, I’m beginning to wonder if the mounting tab’s in the right place…

Off to the shed with a set of digital calipers and this:
http://www.hayesdiscbrake.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/98-17886_6inch.pdf

Just been and tried that. Swap the adaptor round and the back of the caliper fouls the disc.

No arrows on it like there are on most Shimano adaptors, but it came assembled with the caliper that way round…

STR, the kit cars round your way must be astonishing.

F40. Anyfule knows that.

Elfin proving he’s just off to wind people up as per…

BMW 3 series
Merc 190 in any of the quick guises
VW Corrado
MK2 Golf
205 GTI
Mazda MX5
Porsche 959
Ferrari F40

All cars that were built in the 80s and you still see decent numbers of the cars that were built in volume. The 80s is a golden age for fast cheap cars in my view. EFI in hatchbacks made going about at a decent pace accessible. Add that to the likes of VW getting rustproofing sorted, and you’re onto a winner.

As an example, a MK2 Golf 16v will start on cold mornings, whilst going faster than an 3l Capri, rusting less and using far less fuel…

The “Best Joke of the Fringe” is always poor. I suspect it’s selected by vote or committee, and so something that’s fairly widely mildly amusing gets up to the top.

A bit like how PR would be good for the Lib Dems 😉

edit:

Shortlisted then online vote. Think what kind of person is loitering around on the Dave website waiting to place a vote…

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/873375-nick-helms-snow-white-gag-named-best-joke-at-edinburgh-fringe

I have the extended wear lenses – stick them in, take them out a month later. No bother.

I do always ride in glasses though, as I find having something in your eye when you’ve got contacts in is far more irritating than normal.

As for which glasses – whichever ones are a cheap. Current riding glasses are a set from Aldi, and cost around a fiver.

Aye, but £10 off £75 is more than 10% off…

singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/crc-10-off-75-voucher-1?replies=3#post-2900924

bump again!

Bump!