ffm

Most recent activity

• Owning your own home

  in Miscellaneous and Meaningless • 2 days, 9 hours

  

  Are there any pitfalls if you want to raise a mortgage on a place (that was bought with cash) after you've bought it? I've seen advice that you may need to leave it 6 months after completion, but is there anything else to be aware of?

• Please report dangerous drivers to the police - Roadsafe. Report to plod, not just whinge here.

  in General • 5 days, 4 hours

  

  I've spotted a couple of LGV drivers on the phone recently and pinged an email off to the company. Most of the time I don't respond to phone use when driving (there's just too much of it to deal with), but seeing professional drivers on the phone while controlling vehicles of that size through busy public places absolutely boils my piss. The first company didn't respond, but the second company sent this back:

  "Good Morning [ffm],

  I can confirm our London Depot has now spoken to the driver and come back to me with the outcome.
  Please be assured that we do take any reports like this seriously and we do not condone our drivers breaking any laws in place.
  The driver has been given an official warning which has been logged onto their personal file.
  Thank you again for bringing this to our attention.
  Kind Regards"

  I'm chuffed that they've done something, but simultaneously concerned that they did so just on the basis of a description of the time and place (pretty precisely) and a less precise description of the driver, without any video/photo backup. Does anyone else worry that this could be open to abuse.

• Sort-of memes that are cracking you up at the moment

  in Miscellaneous and Meaningless • 2 weeks, 3 days

  

  Handling a lynx with bear hands is probably the only safe way.

• Coffee Appreciation

  in Miscellaneous and Meaningless • 2 weeks, 4 days

  

  Doppio coffees are about in that range. They're not as fresh or subtle as some other brands (Yellow Bourbon are definitely better) but they make a decent drink, especially if you're adding milk in one form or another. I've tried their Green, Blue and FairTrade blends and they're all fine.

• Freewheel chasing tool in South London

  in Wanted Adverts • 2 weeks, 5 days

  

  hub wobble on the drive side

  What does this mean? Which bit of the hub wobbles?

• Freewheel chasing tool in South London

  in Wanted Adverts • 2 weeks, 5 days

  

  Isn't an old-school BB lock ring the same thread? Since they're steel @Eseman might be able to hacksaw one in half, close the halves together on the intact section of thread, jubilee clip/zip tie the halves together and then clean up the thread by winding it off.

• Canti studs protruding

  in Mechanics & Fixin' • 3 weeks, 3 days

  

  Check my edit too.

• Canti studs protruding

  in Mechanics & Fixin' • 3 weeks, 3 days

  

  It's normal, if they didn't protrude a bit then the brass bushing would be clamped between the bolt head and base of the canti stud and the brakes wouldn't be able to move. That said, on cheap frames where the brakes are unlikely to be changed before the bike just dies in general I have filed tiny amounts off the end of the studs to reduce slop to the absolute minimum.

  You could check whether the canti studs are replaceable. If they are, then filing them down wouldn't be the end of the world if you got it wrong.

• Sort-of memes that are cracking you up at the moment

  in Miscellaneous and Meaningless • 1 month, 1 week

  

  Ok, I think we just crossed some sort of line there, but I'm buggered if I can define exactly what it is.

• Any question answered...

  in Miscellaneous and Meaningless • 1 month, 1 week

  

  If you're storing stuff in cardboard boxes in an outbuilding, what's the best thing to use to keep them off the floor to avoid any damp problems?