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I had a helicoil put in my crank by an engineer years ago when I stripped a thread in my race face mtb cranks. It was the left one and they had a hell of a time trying to find a left hand helicoil in the right size but managed to do it in the end for a reasonable price. It was still going strong 4 years later when that bike was stolen.

Tempting - but thats the place I brought my wheelset from - and the back rim folded after less then a week of not excessive thrashing

Well solution found to the problem. I complained to that guy about the crap wheelset he sold me and said I didn't want my money back could he just give me some forks instead - done! Destroyed the front rim too yesterday on the side of a taxi so I spent today building up a half decent wheelset.

Just buy a new fork and rattlecan it to match:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BANKRUPT-700C-RACING-A-HEAD-BLACK-BIKE-FORKS_W0QQitemZ170265410597QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR?hash=item27a49bfc25&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Cutting up a unipac = deathtrap

Tempting - but thats the place I brought my wheelset from - and the back rim folded after less then a week of not excessive thrashing

+1

are they ahead / 1 1/8"?

Yeah 1 1/8"

I've built up a half decent bike with one of those cheepie create frames. The forks I've got on at the moment are some non threaded aluminium ones off a giant but the steerer tubes a bit short. The frame has quite a long head tube. When fully assembled the steerer goes about halfway through the stem so its ridable but flexes when you sprint and the headset tends to loosen every few days even doing the clamp bolts up as tight as I dare.

I know I could get a lower profile headset but expensive and I don't think it would be enough.

I've seen a couple of options for steerer tube extensions but they seem to be more aimed at converting a threaded fork to take a threadless stem.

A more drastic idea I had involves a pipe cutter. My head tube is quite a bit longer then it needs to be sticking about 30mm beyond the top tube. I was thinking I could cut it shorter with a pipe cutter smooth it off and put the headset cup back in. I know that sort of thing should be faced precisely but perfection is not necessary - we are talking about a frame I paid 20 for.

Would it be hard to get the steerer threaded with a suitable die and then use a threaded headset.

Or lastly if someone has a fork thats not too crappy with a suitably long steerer tube (and drilled for a brake) would they like to swap for my aluminium one.

Just take the crank bolt out and ride it hard for a few days til the crank falls off

I noticed today while lubing my chain that as I the crank turns the chain gets tighter and slacker. It does this at the same point of the pedal rotation each time which indicates that the chainring is the cause (ie. its not in time with the rear wheel rotation which would suggest sprocket problem or at random intervals which would suggest tight point in the chain). No matter how carefully I look at the chainring as it rotates I can't see it bobbing up and down so it is obviously a very small off roundness maybe .5mm but does make the chain go noticably slack then tight. The chainring seems to be centered on the crank arm ok and the crank isn't crooked on the BB. I should add that these are cheap no name cranks I got off ebay.

Being new to fixed gear is this something I need to sort out or is it just something I have to live with using cheap components with poor tolerances.

Hey cheers guys for a good night - and a new tyre of course!

Yeah fair call but I already have a good selection of components sitting around gathering dust and have all my own tools so I don't think it will cost me much more then a wheelset and cranks. Can always pick up a better frame if I spot a good deal on one later.

How is this going to cost me heaps more money mobidog? The frames built like a brick shithouse and for what I'm doing couldn't care less if its heavy. Even if it does break once built up I'll have all half decent components to put on something else. Much better then just buying a cheapie off the shop floor.
It would be nice if we all had that seatpost guage bud sadly if we did I wouldn't be asking the question. Don't even have verniers. Being a gambling man I think I'll just try a 27.2 if no else has a better guess. It looks a tad over 27 on my ruler

Hey I just brought a cheap nasty singlespeed frame with no brand name 2nd hand (25 pounds). I'm building it up with mostly 2nd hand parts to make a cheap bike for courier work.
It has quite thick tubing looking like an aluminium frame but is obviously steel when you pick it up and it weighs a ton. I suspect its one of those cheap create or unipac frames - it looked very similar when I compared it to a photo. Of note the rear dropouts are spaced at 115mm which struck me as unusual. Perhaps they've been squashed together a bit?
Wondering if anyone knows what size seatpost I should try. Would 27.2 be my best guess?
Also wondering what offset bottom bracket I should get to get a reasonable chain line or is that more detirmined by the crankset I choose? Some cheap single cranksets on ebay come with a BB

I got arrested for it the other week. I wasn't that drunk though I probably shouldn't have been riding but I was unfortunate enough to stop at the traffic light in front of a cop car and forget to unclip and fall over with my feet in the pedals. I didn't give them any attitude though so they just kept me overnight and let me out in the morn with a stern warning

does anyone attending have a headset press or good improvised one?

Just ignore this as well

When is the next event like this planned?