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Those Surly ones work well (although they're expensive). You need to turn the screw the other way, but you say that doesn't do anything. It might be that you have the axle through the wrong hole. The Surly tug requires you to use one of the two holes depending on where in the dropout the axle is. Give that a bash and it might work.

hippy Just for the record, don't think "made in taiwan" is bad. How many frames do you think they make? More than a custom builder is for sure.
You will find large numbers of very well known frames built in Taiwan..

I wasn't trying to imply any problem with build quality - more showing the similarity of the frames. I also like to support small local businesses if possible and BJ are more local than Taiwan.

My Gel280s also look like a brake pad would go through the wall in about 20 seconds! I'm sure they were used on road bikes back in the day but I wouldn't fancy it.

MrSmith- totally agree with your last two posts. A forum where we all just agree with each other is gonna get really boring, really quickly.

When I was looking for a new frame a few years ago I bought a Bob Jackson instead of a Surly because I thought the Surly was overpriced. I put the Surly frame on par with the Pompino which is much cheaper. They are both good bikes but are both welded, generic steel made in Taiwan - only things is the Surly is £300 whereas Pompino frames were £125. A BJ is lugged 631 made in the UK with loads of customisation and paint options. A lot more what I would expect for the price.

pip Two dodgy things about that video:

1) They didn't buy the chain so theres no guarantee its a krypto fug chain. They were given it by their customers.

2) Even if it is a Krypto fug chain, the age of the chain is not mentioned. Krypto fug chains have been seriously upgraded in recent years.

Still the video shows why D-locks are better than chains, but chains are damn easier to use. In the cycling plus test Krypto links to, the chains only lasted 1 minute 19.6 seconds against power tools.

True. But they break a lot of equally good, brand new chains (e.g > £100 Abus ones) that are rated the same as Kryptonite chains. Can't believe that Kryptonite have access to chain making technology that no one else has and so I imagine that results would have been similar with a new NYC chain.

I think the thing to remember is that all locks can be defeated but that the better ones are more hassle. If there is an easier target than your bike then the thieves will go for that instead. I think that following follow Winston's advice is the best way to avoid a bike being stolen.

the-smiling-buddha

I don't do long down hill decents - and I ain't taking the Mercian out in the rain if I can help it

I thought it was going to be for long day rides? You going to be long, flat rides with a guarantee of no rain? I think that brakeless riding is ok for flattish, shortish journeys, but not having a brake or decent braking ability will really limit you on longer rides.

If you want a classic looking box rim then there are some that look nice and are clincher. I would suggest Mavic Open Pro in silver with the labels taken off.

joe_b
i saw a guy riding a fixed near westminster and he was with a lady on a fixed. i thought
it was uber cool!

Was the guy on a black bike and the girl on a blue bike? Coulda been me and my girlfriend. She isn't really into bike geek banter but she likes riding and is generally quite hardcore. We went fixed gear touring at Easter and had loads of fun.

They were using prison slang. Brooklyn = strangers' bodily fluids.

[cite]mashton[/cite]I'm kind of hoping that was directed at Jack, not me

Mainly directed at Jack - I'm not as easy as him.

JimmyP - Can't remember the name - was behind the big post office depot near Condor

The sprocket threads are very slightly different, but the sprockets are interchangeable. The lockring threading is very different and lockrings are not interchangeable.

Just so that you know, Miche and Campag hubs use Italian threaded sprokects, most others use English. They are similar enough to be interchangeable, but they are not the same. The general rule is that you shouldn't swap between Italian and English threaded sprockets on a hub because it can apparently damage the threads after a while.

I found a pub with brooklyn lager here. We should meet up and swap bodily fluids.

I just looked up Vicky Pendleton and found out that she's a track racer. Nice one. I thought it was just some marketing bullshit style pretty bike+product deal. Not that I was complaining much about that.

Do they really think we're shallow enough to fall for that old trick?

Gilles berthoud (who make thos CF mudguards) also make lots of classic styled stainless ones as well. As the name suggests, they're a french company and I think a SS set costs about 35 euros. I would have some if I had any way of screwing mudguards to my bike - looks like race blades are the only option.

Lois Einhorn
Hmmm- thanks for that - and yes i did mean carbon steering tube on the fork...
i think i do have a star nut- looks a bit like this:

but with an extra downward pointing star bit on the bottom.

it came with (inside) the campag chorus threadless headset i just bought - does that sound likely?

That's a star-fangled nut (best bike part name ever) and it does sound right that it would come with the headset. You shouldn't use them on carbon steerers because the star bits create gouges when you hammer them in (even on my steel steerer). Gouges on carbon are very bad news as they can lead to cracks and failure. Not what you want on a fork steerer!

You need an expanding bung like this:

Did you get the forks new? I'm surprised the instructions didn't mention this.

Stef

I'm interested - what's the site?

It's the drive side that comes undone on Italian threaded BBs. I know because it happened a few weeks ago on my bike. Basically the bearings go the opposite direction from the axle rotation (ie they go anti-clockwise on the drive side) and this undoes the bearing cup. That's why British threaded BBs use a reverse thread on the drive side (because British engineering rules the waves - the Italians do nicer paint jobs though).

One option is to have a bike fitting somewhere and use that to determine stem position. Everyone who has a bike fitting seems to rate it as money well spent. Another option would be to get an idea of the highest you would want, cut it and use loads of spacers to play around with different heights. Once you have an idea then hammer the star nut in further and cut again.

Just one thing - you said you have a placcy fork. I guess you mean carbon so make sure that it doesn't have a carbon steerer. carbon steerer + star nut = dead fork. If it has a carbon steerer you need an expanding wedge thing instead of a star nut. You could use one of those on an alloy steerer and take it out to cut the steerer further (ie instead of hammering the star nut down all the time).

Roberto Wow the headset looks cool - Edco maybe?

I reckon you're right dude. Or a CK :-)

Talking of different applications for bike tubing, I think that a lot of the Cro-Mo tubes were originally developed for aeronautical use and they are still used for this. I read a thread somewhere about a guy who built a bike frame using aero Cro-Mo tubing. I seem to remember it was plain gauge but significantly cheaper than a comparable bike tube set.

I read a thread on the BF.net framebuilders section (I think) where some extremely high level materials science argument developed around the fact that 953 isn't truly stainless, although I think for all intents and purposes it is.

I dooubt many London lights use induction anyway since there are always cars at all the lights on a junction. They probably use timers or something. Plus I don't think emergency services have any kind of special light changing gizmos since they always just go through red lights with siren and flashers on full bollocks.

Sorry not to reply sooner. Happy for the alter love to be spread as widely as possible. Will dig it out obver the weekend and email/whisper details and we can sort out meeting up. I might chuck it in my bag tomo if I find it tonight so could meet up around TdF or in London Fields.

That bike looks awesome, but brakeless on a converted hub might need some bravery!

I sincerely hope that the Eddy merckx gets built up with gears.