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This is perhaps the best spanner set you will ever use...
£90 reduced to £40.. go and buy them now.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_229913_langId_-1_categoryId_165572?cm_mmc=E-Mail-_-Jan09-_-SaleEnd-_-RatchetSpanner

Open Toolbox will be most likely starting again come April if the demand is there.

Cheers

"Rack off" (Drazik)

"Capital Knob/Twat/Cunt"

If you want to try a 650 wheel out for a few days. i currently have one going spare.
Goldtec on Deep V... welcome to borrow it if you wish.. otherwise £75 and its yours.

which happens to be a very nice bike by the way...

France is really nice to cycle through. A few summers ago i did Calais to St Malo over about a week. Basically riding for about 8 hours a day by myself. As soon as it started to go twilight, i would just stop at the next campsite i came to... which was only ever a few Km's away.

Looking to ride europe again this year if people fancy getting together and doing a group ride.

Edit - Did this on an old peugeot that i had equipped with a combination of deore and 105. With the smallest pannier bags i could find, tent and sleeping back on top and tent poles along the top tube.

I didnt plan a route before hand, still didnt know where i would be headed when i was on the ferry. Best way to do it i feel. I started heading in a general paris direction, ended up taking a wrong turn which took me west rather than south and spent the next few days cycling along the coast of normandie buying michelin maps along the way.

Sometimes i love it, other times i hate it..

Can get boring and repetitive, sometimes you need an old 1960s SA hub service just to liven things up. All depends on who else is around you as well. Makes a fair bit of difference who else is in the workshop that you can sponge off.

Pay is terrible... fact. No matter where you go you will just about be scraping by. But then again, you can get heavy discounts on bikes and parts, clothing etc which does make up for it.

Most of the time you are dealing with people that have way too much money and not enough time.. they expect the bike shop to be run like an office... but when most of the workers are enthusiasts and not necessarily professionals, it doesn't quite work that way.
There is also the flip side of the coin.. a lot of people think that spending money on bicycles is a waste of time. Most people should expect to pay about £100-£150 for every year the bike is on the road since new. Factoring in new tyres, transmission, labour etc. But most people find this to be rediculous and get pissed off when the bike isn't running as smooth as it once was, even though it is caked in shit with about 2 rollers on the chain still intact and 5 teeth left on the entire 11-28 cassette.

A lot of people that bring in bikes to be repaired are not cyclists. just commuters.

Just realised i am ranting..

Would i do anything different, probably not. i do enjoy working on bikes. I like the challenges that they can bring.

so erm yeh.. carry on

Just got hold of a copy today, i think we get it earlier through advertising...

nice 4 page piece on Brick Lane Polo...

my favorite being a photo of object with the caption along the lines of ...each player perfectly colour coordinates the bikes to themselves.. well something like that, made me chuckle.

A few action photos of Dicki, Brendan, Iain etc.

Worth checking out if you can.

[add link]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rtcc/tags/plus/

Hey

Anyone fancy getting together for some jams?
Looking to start a shouty hardcore/emo type band. No MCR or BMTH here though..

I play bass, is currently collecting dust hanging from my wall. Sold my old orange stack nearlly a year ago. Looking to get hold of something smaller again.
I also have an attic load of recording equip, pre amps, outboards, mics etc.

My old band split up quite a while ago and i havent done anything since - www.myspace.com/episode. Did a few minor tours, played pretty much every venue in the south. Miss that live show feeling.

I have always liked the idea of multiple vocals and general live energy.

So any one fancy it?

Syn Error - Look what i found in the mailbox..
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gYEpAWw8HeE

Just a quick plug for my good friend Edd... he used to be on the laptop for my old band.

http://www.myspace.com/redbuttonbluebutton

Intelligent Glitchy type stuff

I make a point of creeping red lights if there are 4 wheels in the asl... if i ever get stopped because of it then i can always make it a point

at the time when i bought mine, halfords had massive discounts on them, mainly localised to the out of town megastores.
Also worth trying ot get hold of a trade card and looking out for dents and damaged corners etc as they can discount those.

Is worth spending the extra money for the ball bearing draws

I personally don't ride with them, i always have enough spare links and a chain tool so i don't ever feel the need to... However i do agree with Tim and that mechanically they are sound. Never really seen one fail.

When starting my workshop i considered something like this... but finding somewhere relatively central is pretty damn impossible. massive over heads for a shop front, and lock ups are hard to come by.

Ok well i am in dalston, That works for me.

Thursday anytime is also good, i should be up in my workshop but can easily pop out for a bit. PM me your number

50/50 split sounds good for me.

Awer.. where in the world are you?
i can pick up the front tonight. Don't have enough cash on me to pick up both though.. so dicki will have to do his seperately...

Future Cycles, Forest Row 01342 822847

Just install them and worry about it when you have to.

If you are ever around Sussex, my old shop has the tools for it.

i think the last time i checked, the set comes up at about £275ish. Though does include cutters for every part of th crank arm.

I have a machined Deep V, radial spokes, gold tec hub. All black.

£75

collect from hackney or holborn.

Would you consider splitting the hubs?
i only need the front..

or if anyone wants the rear, can go halves.

Hey

Basically, i will be losing the workshop space come april, its getting turned into an office for some woodwork type designer people. I have no say in it and they don't really want bikes being pushed past the new equipment they are bringing in.

The guy i was sharing with has just moved out. He was building frames, but after getting hit by a van and ending up with titanium in his collarbone he has been advised by the doctors not to do anything at all... so he is taking a break from it all until he can move his arm again.

So all this happening at the same time has kinda left me stranded. i cant really afford to keep the workshop by myself, but i know that some one probably wont want to move in for only a couple of months.

Sooo.. total rent is £300pcm. Inlcuding electric. Looking to go halves with someone.. so £150.

Currently has a full set up of bike tools. A few workbenches and storage.

Ready for someone to move in straight away.

Photos at www.thehubcycles.co.uk

Hey Max...

Did you get my voicemail the other day? I've tried calling a few other times but goes straight to divert.

Let me know what you are thinking

Is it on the ground foor?

The powers that be have decided to turn my workshop into some designer offices... so as of March i am out of the cocaine warehouse on shacklewell lane.

£25 for an full assessment is maybe a bit steep. But when you think that most shops have an hourly rate of about £50 - £60... it doesn't seem that bad if it is all done properly.

Bike shops don't operate as a voluntary based charity. People are trying to make a living from doing something they enjoy. If that makes them bastards, then why don't you just go out buy the tools and do it yourself?

Most shops should have a frame alignment guide. Measures the alignment of the frame from the head tube to the rear drop outs on one side and is then compared to the other side of the frame. Though most of the time the damage can be seen by eye.

Clean the frame as best as you can, and check for signs of stress around the seat tube and chain/seat stay junctions. Any paint that looks like it is starting to crack or any raised areas. If you want to get really involved.. you can remove the paint for a better look, though this isn't always needed.

Good luck, a lot of the time the frame can withstand a lot more than you may think.

Other give aways are that the wheel won't go back into the drop outs as well as it may have once done. Check the space either side of the tyre to the frame, top and bottom. It would be obviously over to one side if it is damaged.

There is a DIY method of checking frame alignment, i think it may be on Sheldon Brown or George French. From memory i think it involves string and pencils.