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Providing you have shoes with a reasonably stiff sole, then no. Double sided SPDs are easier to clip into on a fixie.

It's a weight thing.

Road riders, on the whole, ride with cleats so don't need the ordinary side, and unlike mountain bikers, aren't clipping and unclipping regularly so don't need double sided SPDs.

I'm a fan of SPDs and have single sided on my road bike, dual purpose on my tourer and double sided on my fixie (easier to clip in on the move).

A question about chainsets rather than cassettes:

Any reason why I couldn't use a campag compact UT chainset with an ultegra 6700 groupset?

Apart from the horrendous aesthetics!

No, apart from the style police will be after you.

Yodel isn't really a delivery company in the normal sense. Their delivery drivers are self employed who use their own cars/vans and get paid per delivery. Hence, quality of service varies tremendously. Personally, I have not had a problem receiving stuff delivered by them but that doesn't mean a thing.

In Holland, they use the same delivery model for ordinary mail. They target the unemployed, the elderly, housewives etc with promises of easy money for part time work but in reality, they pay so little that to get a decent income these people have to spend hours delivering letters. It is not unknown for some of these people to be so overwhelmed by this work that they have thousands of undelivered letters and parcels stashed in their homes.

That's capitalism for you!

If you are on their mailing list, you will get a voucher code on almost weekly basis.

You can always ask Joe. You'll find him at M Steel Cycles in Gosforth.

That axle is from an early cheap Japanese chain set where instead of crank bolts to keep the cranks on, they used nuts.

I'd forgotten about Fudges. I used to use them in the 70's when I lived nearby. Didn't realise they were still there.

What about adding some of those copper rivets, or that a silly idea ..... ?

I am assuming the OP was going to use stonewashed pre-faded denim, like the jeans :-)

Frame sizes used to be fairly straightforward, the size was the seat tube length from centre of BB shell to top of seat lug (or centre of seat lug if Italian). Top tubes were horizontal and were either the same length or very similar. This generally worked except for very large or very small frames which gave frame builders headaches as compromises with angles had to be made.

This has now gone out of the window with sloping top tubes (compact geometry). Frames are sometimes sized in 'effective seat tube length', where the measurement is from the BB shell to where the seat tube would have ended if the top tube was horizontal. Sometimes frames are sized small, medium, large etc. In essence, seat tube length is irrelevant as you can compensate with seat post length. Top tube length (or effective length) is probably more important with compact frames.

Shimano PD-M324 is worth considering. One side is SPD, other side ordinary pedal.

Most bar tape isn't actually adhesive in itself. It has double sided sticky tape, one third the width of the tape applied to the centre of the of the underside of the tape. So it would be quite easy to replicate this with your denim. The only query I have is how you would stop the edges of the denim fraying?

There's always Condor cycles in Gray's Inn Road.

Unfortunately, the best cycle shop in north west London, Whisker's of Kilburn Lane, closed down a while ago.

With a chain fully enclosed in a chain guard, it's easy to forget it and too much hassle to actually adjust. Also, a fully enclosed chain stays much cleaner and doesn't wear as much.

Ok, I get it :-)

Quick question: if building a front wheel with radial spokes, do the spoke heads need to on the outside of the hub flange, the inside, alternate or does it not matter?

Ta.

One of my friend chose to ride with white shorts and no pants. His arse tattoo was then clearly visible.

any ideas what the team name is/who rides for them?

Ag2r La mondiale

You'll have 2 other problems. Firstly, the dropout spacing for wheels with disc brakes is wider than for wheels without, and secondly, you need mounting points on the frame and forks for the calipers (though you may be able to get bolt on fittings, I don't know) so you may find the overall costs of conversion outweigh the costs of a new bike)

The great thing about cycling is you can tour on just about anything. It all depends how far and how long you want to go for. The only time a steel bike is a must is if you are going around the world. If something breaks, you'll always find someone who can weld it back together. Dawes bikes are fine.

The brown shorts worn by one the current French teams.

This type of BB was common amongst early cheap square taper chainsets. Rather than bolts to hold the cranks on, it used nuts. I had a bike with a SR chainset like that in the 70's. As said above, I just used a standard crank extractor screwed out a bit further.

So how did the frame turn out yoav? Intrigued by the Dave Yates course, always wanted to do it.

Turned out ok, thank you. Frame is now away for painting. I'll post a picture of it when I get it back.

Building the frame was an interesting experience; physically and mentally exhausting. As someone with no previous experience in metalworking, apart from metalwork classes at school 40 years ago, I had to learn basic skills such as cutting and filing tubes from scratch, as well as how to use oxy-acetylene to braze. It was a matter of being shown how to do something then trying it myself, over and over for each step of the frame building process. Until now, I has now idea of all the steps required to hand build a frame.

Dave is a builder of the old school. No computers here. Everything is done by eye. An ex-metalwork teacher himself with years of experience, he does a very good job of imparting his knowledge of frame building as well as anecdotes from his years in the business. By the end of the week, I was hearing the same stories for the second time :-)

I built a conventional lugged road frame and forks. You can build a fillet brazed frame but that is more time consuming and probably suits someone who comes to the course with more experience.

My frame is far from perfect, if you look closely, you can see where the finish is a tad scruffy but it is straight and true (so Dave said) - probably more so than some mass produced frames.

It is an experience I highly recommend.

It's an interesting idea, a frame building tool for the masses. Trouble is, amateur frame building is for the serious cycling geek. I suspect many purchasers of this will end up with half finished frame languishing in the back of the shed.