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I've just got some MRI results back. Apparently I have a "degenerative tear of the middle and posterior thirds of the medial meniscus" on both knees, plus some general degeneration of the joint compartments and "mild oedema in the basal layers of the hyaline cartilage on both facets of the patella" (on both knees, but the right is worse).

My general interpretation of all this is that I've been giving my knees some serious hammer over quite some time probably with poor biomechanics that have led to a greater than usual degree of wear and tear. Since I'm having no-to-minimal mechanical symptoms (locking etc.) I'm going to avoid surgery for the meniscal tears as I'm having ongoing physio and have a biomechanical assessment lined up. However, it would be useful to get a better picture of exactly where the tears are. Does anyone have the medical skills to infer a bit more detail from "tear of the middle and posterior thirds of the medial meniscus"?

Finally, does anyone have any experience of barefoot running with dodgy knees? Anecdotes are welcome, but serious collections of evidence would be more useful.

The Torc ground anchor is our product. FYI We asked the BikeRadar/C+ guys to replace the photo on that review as there's no way you should fit any kind of ground anchor to block paving - the blocks just lift up - Doh!

Funnily enough, that was my first thought too.

I'm after one or two rear panniers. Anything mid-capacity considered (big enough for a laptop, shoes and a change of clothes), but preferably modern, rather than old-school canvas, and waterproof.

London pickup is best, but I can pay postage if any really good quality stuff is available.

Selle Royal saddle added to post#3.
Proper photo of grips added to post #1.
26" rear wheel now comes with tyre and tube (you could throw in a beer for them if you're feeling flush).

Bump!

Man that be HOT'!

Ohhhhh yes! You owe me new pants Jimmeh!

I think a I have a fairly generic town/semi-slick tyre spare. Yours for a bottle of beer.

TBH I'd rather shift the lot as I know that if I split I'll end up with two LX shifters knocking around the parts bin :)

^vaguely tempted in those too. Have they seen much use?

Mental bargain! Vaguely interested in the cranks and BB if you split, but i don't really need them so hopefully it will all go to someone who does.

Have a bump.

I'll PM you with details.

I've got a dark grey Scape post on sale here (post #3). 27cm from the rails to the minimum insert mark. Layback is 25mm from the centre of the post to the clamp bolts. £4 collected in London or £7 posted.

Here's another photo:
http://static.lfgss.com/attachments/66092d1365419307-imag1361.jpg

I've got a rear MTB wheel up for a tenner here. Check post #3.

^ not that that isn't a serious comment but I think you might be wasting your time on this. It's not like you've got steel rims, etc. that you could easily drop kgs from.

It's hard to comment without knowing what your mates bike is, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's probably a comparatively stiff modern bike with a threadless carbon fork and what you think is weight is actually just a better modern bike.

^this. I've got a big 531 frame and it feels pretty flexy, but that adds comfort and is all part of its charm. Similarly, I reckon for bars and saddle comfort is more important than weight since, over any distance, you'll get fatigued by being uncomfortable. So stick with what you know is comfy rather than trying to shave the weight of a KitKat off here and there. Also, lighter tyres will be the biggest change but could lead to more punctures, so it's swings and roundabouts really.

It sounds like a nice bike so I'd just check your tyre pressures, bin any needless clutter from your saddlebag and enjoy riding it.

Someone who understands the plight of an ignoramus - I didn't know spacers were not splined & would fit UG & HG! I do indeed want to buy a kit of several spacers but no ebay seller has answered!

I do have the small threaded sprocket but would prefer a prettier solution - so I'll gladly try your lockring - thanks!

Ok, I'll try an existing sprocket & see before investing in a dedicated one.

No probs, just to expand further: Sprockets from SS kits (like this) don't usually have the wide HG spline and so will fit UG and HG (this also appears to be true of the spacers if they are splined). Velosolo are a good source of spacers, if a bit pricey.

I assume that you do have a cassette that fits onto your UG freehub. If you can deconstuct your UG cassette and use whichever sprocket suits you best that should work fine, but the sprockets are quite thin and so can bite into the freehub body. Better singlespeed specific sprockets (like this one) have a wider foot to spread the load.

A bit of reading suggests that the BB lockring may be slightly wider than a UG thread. It will go on, but won't be a totally snug fit. This may not be a problem since you won't be applying backward torque to it to skid, but a better solution might be to buy an HG freehub body to put on since a lot of the HG spacer kits come with an HG lockring. Either way you'll need the appropriate tool: a lockring spanner for the BB lockring or a HG lockring tool for the HG lockring (unsurprisingly).

If you haven't done so already, read the whole of Sheldon's page that Canaidan linked to. Then PM if you want the BB lockring.

Edit: Actually, if you have a UG cassette the first thing to do would be: buy some spacers, deconstruct your UG cassette, fit the sprocket you want with the spacers and use the smallest UG sprocket as the lockring (as you can tighten this using your chain by just applying your brakes or using rotafix - gently!) rotafix

Thanks for that Canaidan!

At the risk of outstaying its' welcome this thread is still bumping itself (sounds rude :) cos it still don't know if a HG spacer will fit a Uniglide freehub

Out of interest, why do you want to use HG spacers (and why do you think that the spacers are HG-specific)? Can't you just use standard smooth (unsplined) spacers like the ones that you get in kits like these? If you've got a UG cassette then you can use one of the sprockets from that. Locking the whole lot onto the freehub is the only remaining issue, if you want to try a BB lockring I've got one here for postage (in post no.4 under "Drivetrain").

26" rear wheel back up for grabs. A few further price drops on bits and bobs.

But I do think I could do better than what exists already, and what seems to be evolving. At least where ethics are concerned. But so could any decent person. Government and private sector policy that effects how our society operates is not formed around ethics, I think that is a big problem.

I do not believe anyone can or should try to build a utopia though, those ideas are dangerous. Nothing can be "perfect" but you can make things fair, honest and respectable.

I agree that we could do better than we are now, but the problem with trying to make things "fair" and "respectable" is that there are as almost as many definitions of those words as there are people. Think about how stifling it was for people to feel they needed to be respectable at almost any time before the 1960s. And fairness is almost impossible to create by any definition because imposing it just creates other types of unfairness e.g., positive discrimination.

It's think it's just impossible to create a situation that everyone feels meets those ideals ("honest" I think is more straightforward"). I think the best we can do is to arrive at some compromise in which as many people as possible are reasonably content, which is probably why we've ended up with political parties that aren't really that different from each other. I agree with you on the utopia front though, trying to get everyone happy in a perfect society has turned out to be far less workable and healthy than having everyone pulling in a different direction and ending up with a livable middle-ground.

You judge a society by how they treat the very worst of that society - the people for whom no rule or right or reason is sacred.

With your argument, you have turned the debate from a binary yes or no to a spectrum.

Killing four people and eating their brains is worthy of a death sentence, but raping and killing a child is not.

Raping and killing a child is worthy of a death sentence, but just raping or just killing a child is not.

Just raping or just killing a child is worthy of a death sentence, but...

I agree with you though - the whole notion of detention, punishment, and rehabilitation in this country - the whole notion of "Justice" - is confused, at least in the glare of the media. It's a little less confused in the eyes of the legislature and judiciary, maybe.

But people are idiots, and love to have their outrage salved with acts of atrocity to match acts of atrocity. And eye for an eye, and all that.

^ all of this.

For me the death penalty is not the answer. Aside from the risk of killing innocent people, I shudder when I think about what it would say about us as a society. We know that people are fallible; they're passionate, self-centred and impulsive. Sadly there may always be people that kill in a moments madness or as a result of some warped brain chemistry, it may even be that all of us have our breaking point. But the whole point of forming a society, and a justice system, is to make us better collectively than we are individually i.e., to remove the emotionality, self-interest and impulsivity from these sorts of decision. For us as a society to make the cold, calculated, clinical decision that someone should die because it's convenient for us makes us far too close to the most horrific type of pscyhopath.

On the wider question of punishment, hatred and free will, Sam Harris has some great stuff to say about this below from about 38:30, but it's worth watching the whole thing.

Sam Harris on "Free Will"

Confronting mental health issues, especially young men with mental health issues, is not really something people discuss or deal with often. It could be as simple as the father being genuinely concerned, but not knowing who to reach out to.

Sadly the police were not the right option. They don't have a great record of dealing sensitively with mental health issues and often confront the slightest criminal/threatening behaviour overzealous manner despite the fact that the "criminal's" mental health issue is obviously the real problem. I suppose their main avenue of action is through arrest and, when all you have is a hammer etc. etc. Still doesn't explain why this guy was shot though.

I've got a 15cm quill bolt up for grabs here, which might allow you to fit a top cap to the second one (If you can find a top cap that fits).

Shimano RX100 for £5 (post #4). Well used but working perfectly well. Was on a 2 x 7, but should be fine on a 6-speed.

PM me if you're interested.

PM'ed Brameses re. 26" wheel

Hey,

What wheels do you still have?

Would be interested in the 26inch especially.

Thanks.

Hi, the thread's up to date so all the wheels are still available. I think I have a generic 26" town tyre with a good bit of life left and new tube that I could include with the 26" wheel for an extra fiver.

I've got a Raleigh front wheel here (post#3). I think the hub is narrower than 100mm, but may not be quite as narrow as 90mm, perhaps 95/96mm. Might be workable especially with some respacing, let me know if you want me to measure it more precisely.

Charge grips added (post #1). Offers still welcome.

Oops. Belated undibs.