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• Trek 820 rat bike/sleeper/sub-sub-wanker 26er?

  in Current Projects • 1 hour, 3 minutes

  

  Be careful then, making a dadbike will make you extra virile/fertile (mumbike?)

  Anyhoo, cool looking machine. I know @PhilDAS has a retro Trek in-build at the mo too.

  My two penn'orth:

  • get some V-brakes (canti's aren't worth the hassle, especially if they're the eye-bolt type);
    
  • stick an 8-speed cassette on (since that looks like an old LX? 8-speed mech);
    
  • get a rapidfire or thumb-shifter;
    
  • consider a quill converter to access to more stems and front-loading ones for ease of mounting swept bars
    
  • for swept bars have a look at humpert's range or copycat bars from On-One (I've also happily used the Fairdale Archer V2)
    
  • dynamo hubs are awesome for commuters
    
  • Keep the mudguards, add as many mudflaps as you can stand
    
  • Front-racks look cool but, in my experience, are best for light-but-bulky things so get a decent rear pannier rack.
    
• Trek 820 rat bike/sleeper/sub-sub-wanker 26er?

  in Current Projects • 1 hour, 33 minutes

  

  That's a lot of words to say "I'm making a dadbike".

• Owning your own home

  in Miscellaneous and Meaningless • 18 hours, 3 minutes

  

  Yes, I've heard that but I'm pretty sure that it is woodchip due to the pattern of the texture, the little fingernail-able cavities around the chips and the slightly dry hollow sound of them when tapped. It even has visible lines where the roles were laid side-by-side. That said I've read that even woodchip paper can have asbestos in it.

  More worryingly people also mention asbestos in plaster and plasterboard. How the fuck does anyone do any work on anywhere that was built before the 80s if even basic plaster walls can have asbestos in them?

• Deore / STX / Triple Groupset and Wheels / Aspide saddle, Look Keo Max, new Mavic A319 rims, Terravail Cannonball, Marathon Plus.

  in Components, clothing and miscellany • 23 hours, 18 minutes

  

  My old legs could do with a touring triple crankset, but it would need posting.

• Owning your own home

  in Miscellaneous and Meaningless • 1 day

  

  Internal asbestos in a 1950s home: The ceilings look like they've been covered in woodchip paper. Is this a concern? It's in good condition and the reading around that I've done suggests that removing it is a non-specialised job i.e., if it comes off in sheets it can just be steamed off as normal by a general builder.

  Beyond that is there anything in normal house construction that's worth scrutinising? Our surveyor didn't note anything other than the ceilings, but can general plaster or plasterboard be a concern, just because it's from that era?

• Bats in the belfry, windows are jammed - London flat renting, deposits & landlords

  in Miscellaneous and Meaningless • 6 days, 23 hours

  

  Quick legal(ish) query. If something has been repaired prior to to a rental starting and then fails during the course of the rental, under normal use, whose responsibility is it?

• Home DIY

  in Miscellaneous and Meaningless • 1 week, 5 days

  

  Just to add to the garage door thread (@Dammit), are the existing doors sprung or counterweighted? I ask only because every time someone on Reddit asks, "what's incredibly dangerous that nobody knows about?" garage door springs are always mentioned. As I understand it the sheer energy that they can hold and suddenly release if mishandled is potentially lethal.

• Skiing

  in Miscellaneous and Meaningless • 2 weeks

  

  True. I found that getting my own boots was a big step up (although I haven't used them in a good few years). Also wearing proper skiing socks, which are fairly thin and not big fluffy monstrosities makes quite a difference in terms of feeling in control.

• Coffee Appreciation

  in Miscellaneous and Meaningless • 2 weeks

  

  I think I finally worked out my grouphead leak issue. Weirdly it goes away if I dose back up to a very full basket. My theory is that having less coffee in the basket allows a water to sit on top of the puck ad force its way past the seal; when I dose it right up to the top the puck expands up against the face of the shower screen and the edge where the seal meets the portafilter and helps seal that gap.

• Guitar Nerds Anonymous

  in Miscellaneous and Meaningless • 3 weeks

  

  Any tips for improving bending

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tELIgr96­WcM