Search results for:

Super-cheapo Phaart lights currently at Planet X ... Buy a ton of them and give them out to passing Ninja-idiots, random children etc etc.....

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/LIPHRMRL/phaart_red_mist_5_led_rear_light

Holy shit! Get one of these from wiggle and that's a complete light set for under £3 (not including P&P)

It would have to be custom anyway, since the design of your current saddle is based around a)ABS (probably) and b)injection moulding (almost certainly) - and this saddle would be 3D-printed PLA so its mechanical properties would be different. I won't charge anything for a fellow LFGSSer, so long as you don't mind me doing it in the evenings.

I wonder if you could offer a range of custom moulded/designed saddles by using the base of another saddle. This would avoid the problem of having to engineer in the rail clamps. Basically, pick something cheap and solid like a Charge Spoon, strip the padding off so you're just left with the rails and plastic shell and drill a couple of holes for mounting. Then 3D print the saddle outer in whatever colour, shape and texture you like, making sure that its inner surface is the same shape as the Spoon shell. Also include a couple of mounting studs. Pop the outer onto the Spoon shell, securing it with the studs through the holes you drilled plus a couple of screws and off you go.

Not 100% I understand what you mean

White = stopped; green = nodding; yellow = brisk; orange = caning it; red = Cav

So you could just switch it to show red permanently.

I have a DE89 too. It's very nice, but I find that it's a bit mild, I can't get as close as I'd like.

Yeah, it does have that reputation. I have fairly fair, light stubble so that's ok with me. On the plus side, being a mild razor apparently means it's a good testbed for really sharp blades.

The Edwin Jagger DE89 is a gorgeous bit of kit. The best £20 I've spent in a long time. I'd tried a Boots DE before and kept hacking my face to pieces. As soon as I bout the DE89 my nick rate dropped to basically zero. I'm currently working my way through a few different types of blades to see which works for me. Feathers are the last on my list as they have a reputation as being ninja sharp.

I'd highly recommend Mitchell's Wool Fat shaving soap too. Well nice.

Easy.

http://www.kitronik.co.uk/products/components/leds/leds/colour-changing-and-rgb-leds/5mm-colour-changing-led-high-brightness/

From the video, they are multicoloured anyway since he has them set up as a colour-based speedo.

Yup, quite neat. The rear facing lights aren't really a substitute for one mounted on your seatpost though since they could be easily hidden by your body. I'm sure thieves would pretty soon learn about the bars having GPS in them and just yank it out. So that's a marginal improvement at best.

Cheers for the details Vince.

Undibs the levers. Pm incoming re. the pedals

Possibly interested in the levers and pedals. Are the levers V-brake or canti/caliper?

awwwwwwww!

Amoeba risers? PM me.

Thanks for the info! Quite pleased with the shifters, they are down tube, though only the 7 speed side is indexed, so moving between the 3 cranks takes a bit longer as they don't click into place. Is this quite common?

Yup, perfectly normal, it allows you to trim the front derailleur to avoid chain rub. You may find that the shifter for the rear derailleur can also be switched from index to friction mode for maximum adjustability.

Well done on getting a Royal, they're nice bikes (but I'm biased).

TBH, with Shimano groupsets anything with minimal plastic content is at least worth trying. I ran a 90's MTB with a fairly low-end groupset for a long time and it was fine. Sure, it may not be the lightest but since it's mostly alloy it's not going to fall to bits on you. If you have downtube or bar-end shifters then you've avoided the problem of unreliable brifters in any case so shifting shouldn't be an issue. So, assuming it's in decent condition, I'd say at least try the Exage stuff (which from memory is fine) rather than assume it needs replacing, especially since the triple will be good for the hills of the c2c

The brakes are probably more of an issue if you're doing the c2c. If they're Weinmann centre-pulls like this then they are servicable, if a bit spongy. I'd highly recommend ugrading to aero-brake levers (like this) if you don't already have them and putting on some good brake pads. Side pull calipers will be an even better solution, but long-drop ones (which you may well need) can be pricey and you may be fine with the centre-pulls if you're not carrying too much weight.

Edit: velobase.com is useful, try it.

Edit#2: I'm not sure if your Royal will have eyelets for mounting a pannier rack. P-clips may be your friend if you're planning to carry lots of gear.

Christ that's horrible. R.I.P. little guy.

I don't have a front brake, so that won't happen.. I'll just try it like this, if the locknut will come off I will notice it and try thinking of a solution..
Untill then I'll just keep it like this.
Thanks for the replies!

You misunderstand. A front brake won't cause the headset to come loose, it will just throw up a nice clear symptom that it is loose. Do you have a rear brake by any chance?

Also, what ncjlee said.

Also, does anyone know what the danger might be when the locknut isn't tightened enough?

Couldn't say for sure, but it sounds less terrifying that riding a bike fitted with a headset that has had bits ground off it. A loose headset is pretty easy to notice as you'll get a clunk every time you use the front brake. If you're worried about sudden dramatic failure then go and spend less than £20 on a Tange Levin (which has a 33mm stack height vs. 39ish for Record Strada) and try that before grinding anything off anything else.

Though it only uses about 0.5 round of thread now, it does 'lock' the race, but I'm afraid the thread will break.

Is there another solution without buying a new headset?

Possibly silly question: have you properly tightened this all up, or just assembled it hand-tight?

I has similar issues recently trying to get the right number of spacers for a new headset. When I assembled it, the locknut only seemed to catch about half a turn's thread. But when I actually tightened it up with some spanners it went on 3 turns, which was plenty. This may have been partly due to the headset cups settling slightly and everything straightening up.

Sympathies to the bloke I saw this morning on a nice XTR-shod GT Zaskar LE. I complemented him on his old-school MTB and he replied that it was out of necessity as he'd just had 6 bikes stolen. Oof!

it's a plague

What, teh stupid? I think it might be contagious. I certainly feel slightly slightly dumber for having read all those tweets

Sad news. R.I.P.

Not over being a bellend though, still going strong on that front.

Is there a twitter black-list anywhere? By which I mean a list of twitter users who should not be associated with at any time due to the utter tools they have shown themselves to be on twitter. I'm thinking that it could be quickly searched by prospective employers, partners etc. prior to any sort of interaction. Of course you'd have to link to the original offending tweet and preferably have their profile picture to confirm identity. You could even helpfully index it: racism, cycling-hating, sexism, admissions of crime (assault/theft/fraud/drug-related) etc.

Just took the lockring off my head set on my gitane and the top of the fork steerer looks like this!

any suggestions?

The pressure of the quill stem expander bolt can apparently split steerers on the thinnest point If you didn't have the stem very far in.

As for solutions, if you ditch the centre-pull caliper for a side pull you could remove the steerer-mounted cable hanger, lowering the stack height be a few mm. You could then chop the damaged part of the steerer off and have nice intact threads to screw the lockring onto.

Shimano/Mavic wheels revised and some price drops. Bump!

FYI Tomo187 I PM'ed dangeek earlier today. Waiting for a reply.

I'll take the handlebar mount