Hah. First link I clicked on from that was a bike that seemed to have the whole world attached to it 😆

I'd prefer to avoid a rucksack if possible – I'm sure I saw someone on here with a some kind of rig to attach a dry bag to the back of their bike. It might have been on one of those seatpost mount racks though.

Is it CV or Application form?

Personally I'd write a person statement / profile at the top of the CV along the lines of "A keen cyclist with experience of [all the stuff you know how to do in order of impressiveness] and strong communication skills blather blather".

That way you can get all the stuff they need to see at the front of the CV, instead of being buried at the bottom of page 2 under "Hobbies & Interests".

+1 for the 8mm allen key for brake calipers. They take some serious abuse.

I don't believe the convenience argument for supermarkets really holds up. They're convenient in that they open long hours and have a car park, but almost everything else is run for the supermarket's convenience.

If I want something from Tesco, I have to drive there and park up, wander around a few acres of shop and then drive back. I'd be lucky to do it in much under an hour, even when I go with a specific item in mind. That's pretty much been the case for me wherever I've lived – cities, towns and relatively rural places – supermarkets do a lot of GIS (geographical computer wizardry) work, and I suspect they know what travelling times people will put up with, then make a trade off against economies of scale.

Somewhere that's actually local has the potential to be hugely convenient for their customers – little to no travelling time and no 5 acre shop to wander through.

Eh? 1980s Raleighs came with plastic and vinyl saddles in the main. Closest thing I can think of today in terms of shape would be the Selle San Marco Rolls.

Check out the AWD system. Some of the Volvos need all 4 tyres to match in order to avoid cooking the 4WD system. I seem to remember being told this was the case with the XC70 and T5R AWD, which uses a viscous coupling or electronically controlled centre diff if I recall correctly.

The XC90 might use a different system and be more tolerant.

A mate once bought an entire ball of Edam for a dutch lass' birthday.

Male rape is a significant problem too. I was just looking for protection.

So it wasn't a bicycle accident?

Any other ideas? Had another look at it today – doesn't seem bent.

Population ecology in action.

The frame appears straight enough when checked over by eye. It's as if the rear end has been respaced, but I can't see why anyone would do that…

A bloke up our way had a nicely restored MF 135 nicked. The bloke had got to about Retford on it before they found him (20 miles or so at 12mph)…

I've found the text checks to be fine. A lot of the stuff you get on a real HPI is pointless – someone put a personalised plate on 5 years ago etc. What you want to know is if it's been written off and if it's been nicked. And that's what you find out for £3.

Best thing for me is that it's become worthwhile to do these on cheap cars.

However, you don't seem to get credit checks on them, so if it's pretty modern, you might want to try another service.

Quick google says that https://www.mycarcheck.com/ do check for credit…

You can buy high performance / race DOT 4 fluid with a higher boiling point than normal DOT5.1.

But compare the stuff that's vaguely normal and you'll find that things are exactly as Coffeeking says – as the numbers get higher, so do the boiling points.

I'm thoroughly amateur.

Brake and clutch cleaner (some will tell you car stuff is different, I doubt it is) and a bit of 400 grit sandpaper.

I did open this thread thinking it would be someone getting a hard time off his wife / mates for being a pauper…

Fair enough. I'd be inclined to get a 2WD vehicle and good knobblies.

Some people are just like that – "Why's X want to do Y". Simple fact is that they think they've got life sussed, and anyone who deviates from the way they'd do things is a mug. Not generally a jealousy thing in my book.

I suspect you'll only get a pretty shagged out vehicle for a grand. Vans, pickups and diesel estate cars hardly ever get below a grand, because they're too useful.

I've always found it too much of a faff to get stuff over to the HTPC. End result was it hardly got used.

Book. No idea what restaurants are good round there, but everyone else has the same idea during graduation week.

Just bleed the 5.1 through. There'll be a little bit of mixing where the 5.1 and 4 meeting the pipes, but not so much that you'd worry about it. DOT 5.1 and 4 are compatible. Never heard of 4.1 though 🙂

It's pretty rare for someone to completely drain a brake system – only if going from glycol to silicone fluid (ie, DOT4 to DOT5) and changing all the seals. Even cars are done by putting the new fluid in whilst draining the old fluid out.

Is reading the Guardian a pre-req for being middle class?

And those stupid corkscrews a scourge on all humanity by the way.

This is the one true design of corkscrew:

I do not think this is remotely true, sorry. Have you heard of the rational and irrational man arguments in economics? People in the luxurious western world do not buy things like this because they need them.

You need a certain number of people who are willing to pay your price for your product, or you do not have a business. That is simple maths. You have certain costs in developing a product and creating a business. If the total sales revenue does not match or exceed that figure, you're in trouble.

Doesn't matter if your customers are rational actors or irrational, they need to think they have a problem that your product can solve.

You'll note that I didn't mention need VS want in my post. Nevertheless, these days a lot of people will be focusing more towards needs rather than wants.

I think a low cost portable bike washer has serious potential as a product – your car stays cleaner, your cleaning process can be quicker as mud doesn't get to dry on, etc. I can also see the potential for lucrative exit strategies. But it seriously pays to think about the basics before you invest time and energy in working on the product.

PG Tips? You want Yorkshire Tea.

Although I did spot a Lancashire Tea in the shops a while ago. Home Bargains I think it was 😆

+1

EFI is the reason we have cars with 10000 mile+ service intervals, 40mpg in stuff that weighs tonnes and astonishing reliability.

As an extra upside, town centres don't reek of petrol.

My Schwalbe Fat Alberts don't run true. The first one just went completely to pot when I took it off for a tube change – wouldn't stay on the rim after, and the other one is a fair whack out too, despite not having been taken off the rim.

I think it may be a Schwalbe speciality.

When I was a kid I had a newish front wheel just fold up. It split at the joint and just collapsed. This was riding on level tarmac…

£1 a day? Most student union shops sell papers for 20-30p…

AND you can do the crossword.

It's a VW Polo underneath. Should be fairly decent.

But then why ask about it? Just do it and find out.

Because my mate gave me the bike as a frame and a carrier bag full of bits. The guy who had it before him had managed to fit the wrong mech hanger, and my mate had managed to lose the mech hanger bolts.

And beyond that, it hasn't got any wheels yet (still waiting on the post). And I haven't got an 8 speed powerlink. So just doing it wasn't particularly practical.

Thanks.

BigJohn, have you tried it? It's a difference in external width of under half a mm.

It sounds like PP may have. You just sound like you're trying to have an argument.

Because I haven't got the bits together to try it! Like I say, external width is different – so in theory the plates could foul the sprocket either side of the one they're running on.

A WW2 pistol is still a perfectly viable weapon. I know a bloke who's got loads of this gear, but it's all de-activated. Everyone knows that this kit needs to be deactivated. So why didn't she take it along to a gunsmith and get it done?

I know that by the book you need a 9 speed chain on 9 speed drive, but I wondered if anyone has actually tried it – plenty of stuff that shouldn't work does.

As far as I can see, the difference is in the external width of the chain – pitch (as in link length) and internal width are the same.

Sorry, to clarify, it came with a mad mix of speeds – the bike had been owned by some kind of mechanical lunatic in the past.

I want to run 9 speed parts – mech, shifters & cassette, and I'm wondering if the 8 speed chain will work tolerably.

The most significant things I discovered were

The innovation process has been fairly well codified by a lot of research. And they pretty much proved the bleeding obvious:

A strong, well defined problem really helps you to create successful innovations.

Most people tend to jump to solutions first, but you still need that defined problem in order to sell the idea to investors and the product to customers.

Or in other words, you can have the best solution in the world, but if that problem doesn't effect enough people badly enough, you haven't got a viable business.

So if your problem is "people want to wash their bikes without electricity" you might be looking at a small eco-mentalist market.

If it's "people want to wash their bikes without electricity, using any water they've got, for a third of the price of a dirtworker, and also don't want to have to lug a 15 litre tank of water around" then you've suddenly made things a lot broader.

Enough to get a decent bike. Google BNC share price.