I use a pound shop filter wrench. If you want quality then go for a Park tools one.

£70?

I’d buy a Ferrari 348 TB in blue with tan interior. Eighties metal like this is about to have its day, and cost surprisingly little to run if you are handy with the spanners. Sell when you are bored for zero loss.

Put the rest into the mortgage / house, maybe take some unpaid extended leave and travel for a few months.

thanks all – anyone want them?

Had them for years but not worn much because (not sure I should admit this) my eyelashes are long and annoyingly brush the inside of them.

Looks right to me thanks! (although valve doesn’t ring any bells).

http://www.oakley.com/products/1228/2518

How do I tell if they are black iridium lenses – these are black, and kind of silvery which hasn’t come out in the picture – the kind of lens that people can’t see your eyes.

It’ll be fine as it is!

Back in 1994 I raced XC on a rigid gaspipe Orange P7 with 1994 LX groupset and I didn’t lose!

Slick drive train is a must so new cassette / chain, cables (and poss rear mech) at the most Deore is plenty good enough if you are saving money – doesn’t sound like it tho!

Oh and go tubeless!

+1 for the NC17 from CRC, no ghost pings for me.

I found it difficult to get feel for the size of a road bike, having never ridden on drops before.

I preferred smaller bikes “in the car park” due to them being shorter.

In the end I took the advice of people who ride them all the time and specced a larger frame with an inline post, thinking I could always swap the post or stem.

Getting used to the position now and and its gelling better. Still ride on the tops a lot though.

My “weapon(s)”?!

Budget did not stretch to a black groupset…

Um I’m not sure mudguards are often a matter of life or death!

if its muddy or wet enough to warrent mud guards, then i’d be washing my kit when i get home anyway, with or without mudguards so a rear one is pretty pointless.

Aside from saving you from slogging round the remaining 20 miles or whatever of your ride with a wet arse.

How about one of these:

“Ass saver” £7 from http://www.xcracer.com/shop/viewproduct.php?productid=242

http://ass-savers.com/

If you’ve got a Decathlon nearby you can’t go wrong with one of these

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rear-700-wheel-freewheel-id_8005015.html

That needs a screw on cassette though, and is only one wheel!

That is cheap. I see no reason why not except they seem slightly unsure if the hubs are actually made by shimano.

I’d be concerned about freehub longevity but for turbo use its not really a problem.

I got a pair of Tiagra on Omega Mach1 recently £60 from planet x but they must have sold out.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=16840

This one, but mines a nicer colour.

The plastic is a bit odd, I expected it to be flimsy or brittle but its neither. Its very flexible and survived a few crashes so far.

My setup:

TBH for a hardtail I would try and get one of those original crud guard rears like pictured above!

Ask on Retrobike.co.uk

I always ride with an old crud race guard rear (looks better than the big newer ones) to stop my ass getting wet.

Its never bone dry round these parts….

I used to always ride with a crud catcher front, but then got one on these:

which is a million times better as it obviously turns with the wheel.

Double / Triple refers to the number of chainrings (2 or 3)

Compact or non compact refers to the size of the chainrings.

A compact has smaller rings as above.

You can get doubles and triples in both compact and non compact.

Marginally :) its a narrower less trodden ‘path’ rather than a track.

I tend to alternate!

Hi everyone,

Rather than leaving your email address in this thread (not sure how conformant it is to STW rules), please subscribe to email updates on the website – http://www.bigmassive.co.uk – which had some issues earlier in the week but is fixed now.

Alternatively email me directly at: will@bigmassive.co.uk

I promise I won’t spam you, you will just get notified of stock arrival!

+1 Topeak alien. Mine is ancient like cp’s and still going very strong.

I got it to replace a 90’s Cool Tool (which I still have somewhere):

The very first TTs (1999) came with smaller front wishbone bushes. They allowed less movement and better handling. When people started crashing them (lift off oversteer at high speeds) Audi recalled them and fitted bigger baggier front bushes and the boot spoiler.

The best thing you can do to tighten up the handling is replace the front bushes with stiffer ones (or use “defcon” adapters and the original bushes).

Lots of R32 suspension fits -ARBs (which rust on Mk1 TTs) etc.

I had a Mk1 225, great car – good materials, good interior, great design. Great in the snow too.

I had a genuine roof rack for carrying bikes and sofas.

As said though, not a sports car, its much more comfortable! My 350z now is much more of a sports car handling and power wise, but its not quite so well made and not as comfortable on british roads.

Listing looks like its been pulled!

Merlin fans, if you’ve not seen this, take a look: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/think-your-shedgaragebike-cave-has-some-cool-old-stuff-in-it

Imnotamused – weird lots of “specialists” don’t know about the faster starter….. Although the reason behind it being needed is the poor cold compression (which is due to worn / gummed up rotor tips). Once up to temp the compression usually becomes fine (hence no loss of power).

Rotor tips can be cleaned or replaced to repair cold compression issue but it means engine out. As its a rotary this is much easier than a piston engine! They are much lighter and simpler.

Another plus for the rotary but lots of mechanics are scared off as its “different”.

Its a bit like asking for the VIN number of my car – some people think such should be kept secret!

Ask for a pic with some digits obscured?

They had a few issues with compression meaning as they got older they were reluctant to start.

Mazda did a faster starter motor which addresses this somewhat.

imnotamused – did your brothers turn over on the starter and not fire? before it failed did it sometimes take a lot of turning before it fired?

Fix is to use the faster starter, then when that stops working rebuild the rotor tips!

The 110 would be 420mm total length.

I like the idea of a 25mm drop and a 110mm drop, although I do like the simplicity of the basic version.

Will see what I can do – watch this space.

Part of the whole point of the RX8 is the rotary engine.

It absolutely screams up to 8000 rpm :)

It is a compact unit and is placed low down and far back in the chassis, this lends the RX8 its great handling.

Sticking a boat anchor V* or inline in there would remove a whole chunk of character and miss the point!

They are an absolute bargain, and if you are are no doing many miles are great fun. Get a pre-06 model for cheaper road tax.

Mate is selling his as he has just started doing bigger mileages.

PS check out the prices of RX8s in germany where they are much rarer:

http://suchen.mobile.de/auto/mazda.rx-8.html?scopeId=C&isSearchRequest=true&sortOption.sortBy=price.consumerGrossEuro&makeModelVariant1.makeId=16800&makeModelVariant1.modelId=20

20MPG isn’t *that* bad for a car as capable as this, but is scares the crap out of the car buying public!

Price would be a little more though….

What do people thing of this:

These TrailDrop / Forca posts have just one drop (90mm)

Would 2 drop heights be appealing (55 and 110mm)?

Here the trade off will be the dropper part is slightly longer – so you need to have 200mm post showing before you can use one.

Thanks for the headsup on the website, now fixed-ish.

Will let everyone know when they are back in.

Or £6.95 delivered for the IceToolz tool that does both here:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250980492382

£1.49 delivered for the correct tool here:
http://www.tweekscycles.com/Search.do?method=delegate&n=3339&p=33901&s=tl-fc16

This is nuts.

If something arrives faulty send it back. You can’t expect a company to refund you or send another out before you return your item. Thats crazy, people would always be trying it on!

Normal procedure:
Item arrives faulty
Contact company
send item back
company inspect it to see if its been run over or used incorrectly
company send replacement or refund

Why should disc rotors be any different?

Just send them back to whoever you bought them off if you bought them online. Distance selling act says they will give you a refund / exchange for any / no reason – you will be liable for return postage though.

This looks like what you need $75 USD:
http://www.e-hongfu-bikes.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=71&products_id=220

Have a chat with them on Skype to double check but the review says its 1.5″ lower.

Will do.

The TrailDrop is 400mm http://www.bigmassive.co.uk/traildrop/

Sure, they will all be 27.2 – shim to fit if you need.

I’ve got some more TrailDrop posts coming soon, in any colour so long as its black with red bits. Planning to offer both cable entry options this time.

Will update when they arrive.

How odd. He / She successfully sold a similar setup for £102 previously.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/carbon-fibre-bike-frame-/260962357804?pt=UK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item3cc291922c#ht_499wt_1416

Seems (s)he only does carbon front ends and road forks.

I think it depends on the width of existing axle end caps – those mavic ones might do the job.

If the bontrager hubs come out of the “chosen” factory in taiwan then DMR convertible end caps might work.

See if your hub looks like this:
http://shop.upgradebikes.co.uk/Catalogue/Hubs/DMR-Convertable-Front-Hub

http://shop.upgradebikes.co.uk/Catalogue/Hubs/DMR-Front-Hub-Converters
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=69085

or

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=22977