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I've used lots of spoke keys, and this is my favorite multi - http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/workshop-tools/tools/tools-workshop/fat-spanner-multi-spoke-key.html. I prefer using a single if I'm working on a wheel with all the same nipple sizes, but some of the frankenbikes I work on have varying sizes and a multi is essential.

Kudos to the maturity of this forum that no one has picked up on the juicy potential double-entendre of "the wife letting me slip another one in". Impressive!

If you don't have the right tools, take it to the LBS. It's very hard to straighten a gear hanger by eye (only pure-bred geniuses can do it - you know who you are).

The other thing is that the drop outs will almost certainly be out of alignment and you'd need a shop to do that for you anyway. It's a really quick job in the hands of a half decent mechanic and be the difference between fucked gear changing & imbalanced frame and sweet ride.

If you were crazy enough to try to straighten it yourself, you can use a standard 10mm wheel axle. Some people actually use a full wheel as the alignment tool, screwing in the end of the axle and then comparing this additional wheel to the wheel that's sitting properly in the frame, and adjusting accordingly.

If you have slime in a tube and you're letting air out of it or pumping it up, make sure the valve is at 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock otherwise, as Aggi mentions, you can get the slime trying to escape through the valve and clogging it up. It's easy to clear out (just remove the valve core) but still a pain in the rear.

Some wiseass pulled me up for using the term "mixte" inappropriately, so I'm passing it on to you, adoubletap. On mixte frames, the lowered "top tube" goes all the way to the rear dropouts, usually as a pair of narrower tubes, or sometimes a single to where it meets the seat tube, then doubling up from there to the rear dropouts.

I think the universe will now raise to your attention the next misuse of the term, and it's your job to pass on this piece of crucial wisdom.

Brass all the way. Length of nipple apparently doesn't matter that much - they all have the same length of thread, starting from the "head" end (according to one of the gurus, Schraner, I think it was).

I know it was a million years ago that you posted this, but do you stilll have the RSX wheels and is the hub an 8 speed? Ta. Ben.

kkkk - whoops, realise it's all for pick up only and I'm not in London. At ease. Ben.

kkkk - has the headset gone? Thanks. Ben.

Hub looks fine to me. Show us the lock ring.

I can't imagine anything being better than the ones here: www.cycle-systems-academy.co.uk/. Some of the courses are subsidised. The standard of teaching is exceedingly high, and the workshop is stunningly equipped. Very highly motivated staff, trainers and students. Plus you get a recognised qualification. I'm going back for a level 3 later in the year and I'm really looking forward to it.

BB not buggered. Just needs chasing. Any good bike shop should do it. It's a quick job using very expensive tools.

Not impressed that On One sent an unfinished frame out - they should bear the cost of putting it right. You might wanna contact On One before you go to the bike shop and give them a chance to make it good 'cos they might not pay up for work done elsewhere.

I read that threaded steerers are significantly weaker than non-threaded and that it was dodgy to clamp directly onto the threaded area. Terms like "stress risers" and the idea that stresses will be concentrated on the thinnest part of the tube (ie where the thread has been cut into the tube) make me very wary of doing this.

Makes sense to me.

I guess you could ask yourself this: "if the steerer tube were machined down so that the threads weren't visible, would I be happy to clamp on the stem?" - 'cos that's the true thickness of a threaded steerer in terms of dealing with the stresses that a clamped stem will exert on it.

In the Shimano jockey wheels there's a cylindrical bearing (like a small tube about 10mm across) that makes sure the cages can't compress onto the wheel and prevent its free movement. I'm guessing that Campag have something similar and that it's trying to secret itself under the sofa in your living room as I type.

Re motor oil homebrew, you can add some white spirit to it and it makes it more able to flow into the parts that it might otherwise not reach, then the white spirit evaporates leaving the oil where it needs to be - deep in the components, particularly the innards of the chain. I use it at 4 parts motor oil, 1 part WS.

Yeah, that knurled outer finish is for gripping by the hands to do up / undo by screwing. Mutter, mutter, aheadset generation, tut tut.

@ono: that's a cup and cone, for sure. With the right tools, you do NOT need to remove the crank in order to adjust the bottom bracket. You'll need a standard BB lock ring spanner (eg Park HCW-5) and a pin spanner (eg Park SPA-1).

Sheldon explains how to do things here: http://sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/bbadj.html. Just remember to loosen the lock ring before trying to use the pin spanner on the cups.

And if you want to service the "fixed" cup on the other side, you can do it without removing it (which can be really hard and uses a special spanner) by a) taking off the drive side crank and then b) loosening the non-drive side cup completely c) pulling the axle through so it comes out the non-drive side. Put an old t-shirt down to catch the ball bearings otherwise you'll be searching for them for the next couple of decades.

The length of the bolts I've encountered have been different depending on front or rear - front is longer. The diameter and thread pitch is M6 (6mm) and 1mm. If you take the one that's not buggered into the bike/hardware shop, they'll be able to find a replacement for you.

@Prince - difficult to say if it's "too much" tightening in your case. You may have Popeye's forearms, the grip of a chimpanzee and the body weight of this guy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWxlZ52O0rI
in which case I'd say you definitely are over-tightening. You'll just have to wait for the torque wrench and then look up the pressure needed using t'internet.

The bible for this sizing mess is here: http://sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html

Try tightening the pedals onto the cranks too. I did the whole bottom bracket thing (including taking apart a pair of sealed bearings) before figuring out it was the pedals. It's a really easy one to fix as well. (FYI, left hand pedal has a "left hand" thread).

My sockets (they're pretty regular) fit that configuration. Try a thinner walled socket - more likely to find that than a peanut butter thing.

Isn't this the kind of thread where there's an argument about whether Coke or Pepsi make the best shim? I'd go for Coors Light on the strength of endorsements by the Muscles from Brussels.

That does not look like a putting the chain back together fail. Manufacturing defect or mebbe something getting flicked up into the cog/chain and sheering it. I hear they're getting problems with destructive metal objects laying in the streets in the Pyrenees right now, so could be something like that.

You might never move it. You might wreck the seatpost trying. You could easily scratch/dent/damage the frame when you're putting massive amounts of force to get it to shift. You could get so pissed off you slam a lump hammer into the top tube. The good news is if it moves, your frame is probably OK. Aluminium corrodes if there's no grease at those contact points in the seat tube, but it's usually very superficial.

Sure, the frame may fail catastrophically, but it's extremely unlikely to be at the seat tube just because there's been some seat pin/seat tube corrosion.