Home brewed Woodfordes Wherry. A lovely smooth Norfolk ale.

. This is one of the local beers here in Lowestoft. I cannot stand it. Fermented bath water! Still, they serve in just about every pub for 20 miles so perhaps I’m wrong?

Just finished a Bateman’s Dark Lord (very nice ruby) and moved onto a St Peter’s Organic

If you cannot under do the other nipples without rounding them then there is no point replacing the broken spokes. You’ll need to adjust the other spokes once you’ve replaced the two broken spokes to get the wheel true.

I would start by putting a drop of plus gas (or similar dismantling fluid) on each nipple (hub side of the rim) and then spinning the wheel. Leave it for 30 mins to soak in. Use a good spoke key and fingers crossed too many don’t round.

I use this for all my wheels.
Wheelpro Spoke Calculator[/url]

Also bought and printed the PDF book. Tensionmeter is handy, although not essential. You can order different spoke lengths from CRC. Just state how many of each length you need in the notes bit of the order confirmation.

The most critical bit is the Rim Diameter as this makes the greatest difference to spoke length. You really need to measure it yourself as there is no agreed standard between rim manufacturers. I also always measure my own hubs – these are supposed to measured in the standard way. However I’ve found Shimano are often different to what they state on their website.

they’re all just thinking “well ARE you going to buy something?”. Though I’m sure this is my problem, it still stops me going in.

I get the same feeling – you can’t browse in LBS these days. Probably because they think that people are just looking to see what the product looks like before they buy it for half the price online. Which I usually am.

After 6mths in a LBS and then 8 years at Halfords I don’t buy anything from either. There isn’t a single job I cannot do myself in terms of maintenance, so have no need of the service side and neither can compete on price with online.

The one thing LBS could offer is a proper demo. I was think of going full sus until very recently. However, before I slap down £2k I want to ride the thing – I cannot afford to make a mistake that expensive. I couldn’t find a single bike shop that could offer a demo. One offered a ride round the car park, but that won’t tell me anything. The normal reason is they don’t want the tyres to get dirty!

As above, I’d be quite happy to pay a fee to have a blast round a trail on something I wouldn’t normally get the opportunity to ride. And again, who knows.

P.S. mark up on most accessories is about 2/3’s. On the bikes it’s much less. That’s why a good salesman will often offer you a discount on accessories if bought with the bike, rather than just the bike :wink:

Monday – Friday
Specialized Sirrus Comp (2010)
Full Tiagra groupset
Mavic Open Sport rims

Saturday/Sunday
Carrera Fury 08 (soon to be replaced I hope)
SLX drivetrain and discs
Hope/ Superstar shiny bits
Easton Havoc 70mm stem

Pub
Carerra Subway 2
Avid juicy 3 brakes (which are rubbish)

Specialized Sirrus (700c) for work back in November.
26″ Steel HT frame ASAP for an interim project

Then a pause to a) let wife calm stop shouting and b) see what the verdict is on 650b.

How does the quote thing work??

[ firestarter – Member

I dislike selling via paypal as I got ripped off buy a buyer ]

How did you get ripped off? I use paypal for most of my ebay selling. I’ve heard that you can be ripped off, but never been able to work out how?

One rule of thumb I read (possibly in the shimano docs) is wrap chain round big cog, big chain ring, but not through the rear mech. Add two links for a hard tail or four for a full sus.

Presumably the expenses are for MP-related work like train tickets to meetings, meals when away from office etc. Which is the same as any other job. So they don’t get any extra money from expenses (excluding the fiddlers). If I’ve read correctly MPs get £68k. 4 of my friends from school are GP’s. They are earning about £100-120k a year. For 4 days a week work. None of them do home visits.
I would of course agree that GP’s are needed and should be paid well. However, £100k for fours days work referring people to hospital?

Still considerably less than a GP….

The proper way to remove a bearing cup like this would be to use a blind bearing puller (like the one Konastoner pictured) and a slide hammer. Here’s a video how:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02m47EZqonc

Looking at your pics though I suspect you might have some fun as the bearing puller may not be able to force its way in between the frame flange and the top of the cup. You may well find it slipping. If this happens then you may need to start on the outside of the frame. Tapping a small pen knife blade between the joint of the frame and the cup. Work slowly round the head tube, little by little. You should get enough of a gap to the use the bearing puller. This method works on metal frames. However, I’ve never tried it with a carbon frame……!

We have this one:
http://www.mamasandpapas.com/range/sola/4928/?cm_re=WinterSale-_-Pod2-_-Sola

Currently £200 in the sale.
We’ve had it for 16 months with no problems. Handles off-road issues without complaint including a log bridge. The only time it gets stuck is on the shingle beach, although I suspect all pushchairs would be same. Goes flat so usable from birth. You can also get car seat adapters (£22) to add a maxi cosi cabrio fix car seat if you want a travel system. Goes in the back of my Focus no problem. I’ve also seen someone putting it the back of a clio (previous model), although I cannot remember if they took the wheels off (two-second job).

Didn’t really like the baby bjorn. I’ve got wide shoulders and couldn’t get the straps to fit comfortably. Plus they tend to kick you in the nuts every five mins.

The cables on my Carrera Fury run on the underside of the downtube. I’ve got the Thule 591 and never had a problem with the bike falling off. I normally drive Lowestoft to Bury St Edmunds – about 1.5hrs. I did once find the bike was quite lose, however, this could have been me no tightening the clamp properly at the start.

Once the bike’s clamped in give the bike a good shake and then re-tighten the clamp. Then lock it to be on the safe side. The lock takes seconds to break with a small screwdriver so don’t leave the bikes on the roof though!!
Don’t forget to wipe any mud off before you clamp up (baby wipes are good here), otherwise you’ll wreck the paint in a few miles.

thanks everyone, I’ll give the grease a try.

Been nine years since I serviced a fork and all the old products seem to have disappeared. or at least got a lot more expensive. Servicing 1x Rock Shox Tora is working out at nearly £55 including the seals and o-rings. And the manufacturers wonder why people don’t bother!

Had SLX M665 since they came out. Still on the original pads (incredibly) not had a single problem with them.

I’ve got fed up of using chain cleaners – they just make a huge mess.
When I did use one I found Hope Sh1t shifter worked pretty well. Not as well as Muc Off, however, I stopped using that when they filled it full of nano particles.

No I just use a KMC power link, 1 litre squash bottle and some petrol. Works far better and doesn’t result in mesh everywhere!

You can buy it Halfords or any other motor shop. It’s sold as brake cleaner. Isopropanol Alcohol is a degreaser that evaporates leaving a spotlessly clean surface. It’s very good at dissolving build ups of oil/gunk etc. It won’t damage o-rings, seals etc. (otherwise it wouldn’t be safe on brake calipers). Isopropanol / brake cleaner is quick and fast – just don’t soak your hands in too much or you’ll end up with cracked skin.

One comment though. For servicing forks it isn’t really necessary. All you want to do is clean off the old oil/grease and make sure there is no grit when you reassemble. I used to use Muc-off pink stuff to degrease and then rinse well with lots of clean water (just make sure everything is fully dry before reassembly). Other degreaser should be fine also.

I wouldn’t recommend white spirit or petrol as both leave a residue which could react with the new oil/grease. Meths is OK, however it doesn’t clean particularly well Meths is just 90% ethanol and 10% methanol. The only thing added to meths is purple to stop tramps drinking it! It won’t do any harm to o-rings etc.

You are unlikely to die. Worst case scenario is the axle snaps but even then the wheel should stay in place. There is a good chance of trashing the cone surfaces in the bearings and the bearings. A good LBS should be able to get replacements. However, by the time you’ve added labour etc. it’ll cost a few pounds (£30ish when I worked for Halfrauds although that was 7 years ago).
As others have said I recommend getting a pair of cone spanners (I use Pedros over Park now) and learn to adjust them. You tube should show you how.
I’d also recommend ditching shimano hubs if you have the moment in favour of something with cartdge bearings like Hopes. Saves a lot of headaches in the long run.

Unless the bearings are worn then its more likely to be brake related. Juddering when brakin suggests a worn/warped disc. Check the disc is true first. If thats ok check for uneven wear. This isn’t always easy to spot – you might to measure the thickness with a micrometer in several places to check for uneven wear. If it isn’t the disc then the pads could be at fault. If neither then it could be the caliper needs a service. Failing all those then check for any lose caliper bolts (should be really obvious if that’s the problem) or worn frame bearings/bushes if you’re on a full sus.

No recommedations on which company to use. However, Martin Lewis website moneysavingexpert.com was saying that some insurance companies now class Spain as outside Europe?! Read this just before Christmas. Probably something to do with rise in medical costs since the credit crunch?
Probably worth checking if you’re about to throw yourself down a Spanish mountain.

Not sure how this is 1/2 the price, it’s £4.99 (£39.92/l) for 125ml ( when the proper Shimano oil is £16.99 for 1l from CRC.

That’s true. However, for most people will never need anywhere near a litre of mineral fluid. Mineral fluid isn’t hydroscopic (unlike dot fluid) so you only need to bleed when you crash into a tree or pop the pistons out when you’ve got the bike in the car.
That said I am the only one of my group of mates who ever has a bleed kit. Could be worth getting a litre if you’re likely to be fixing your mates bikes as well.

I would agree with the others on epicbleedsolutions.co.uk I used a couple of syringes from ebay and a short piece of PVC tubing from B&Q. Personally I would recommend using a toe clip strap or similar to hold the lever in place – frees your hands up.

There are lots of videos on Youtube showing you how to bleed. I recommend this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKueHUBM0J0

The only problem you might have is if you’ve lost all the fluid and have then squeezed the lever a lot. This results in thousands of tiny bubbles which can take several bleeds to get them all out – lever will go rock hard when you’ve fully bled the system.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=29899&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Shopping&utm_name=UnitedKingdom

Just as good as Shimano and half the price. Just as good as Shimano only it’s green rather than pink (just in case you have transparent hoses)

Altura Attack 3/4’s. Had them for two seasons now. Never bothered washing them – I just wipe them down with the kitchen cloth when the wife isn’t looking. They feel quite flimsy and the popper button above the fly bothers me – I’m always worried it’ll come undone. However, it never has and I’ve not ripped them (despite lots of SPD related crashes). Been out in the pouring rain and round the swamp of Brandon High Lodge track and not once got wet. Would recommend.