Cycling UK Forum

Thanks Brucey,

I'd not come across the concept of rolling out dents before so that's very helpful. I've got a reasonable pillar drill and woodworking set-up so I might try and make some wooden frame blocks.
Cheers for the pointer, i'll let you know how I get on.

Dave

Hello all,

I bought a lovely second-hand Joe Waugh some years ago, and have ridden it daily in all conditions, and as such a respray is (long over-) due.
After stripping it down I've noticed a ding in the top-tube (not sure how I missed it before), and it would seem that is a perfect time to get it repaired, so I was just wondering if the collective wisdom of this board had any recommendations for frame repair, preferably in the North East and roughly how much I should expect to be charged.

Oh, and its a 531 frame.

Cheers,
Dave

Agreed, it was bad manners, I certainly admit that, and won't be doing it again.
Interesting to the case see it from a clamping angle, and might be worthwhile mentioning if, heaven forbid, something similar happens again, it should provoke a slightly more appropriate response from the police. Cheers folks.

Obviously, this is not a [i]how to[/i] guide, but something I experienced recently that I thought I should flag.

My girlfriend and I had cycled over to a friends house one evening, and locked our bikes up (with decent locks) to some railings outside a nearby house, there really weren't many other options. Several hours later, we leave and go to unlock our bikes and realise that my girlfriends bike has an [i]extra[/i] lock on it - a thickish cable around the top tube, attached to the railings.

We rang local police, who were about as helpful as you'd imagine, basically warned us that if we left the bike someone might come along in the dead of night, break our locks and unlock theirs - which is what we suspected - and that if we started to break the other lock, we could be liable for damage to property.

We went ahead with breaking the lock, basically very slow progress with a borrowed, fairly dull junior hacksaw. We were about halfway through when a man approached and asked what we were doing - we explained, and he said that it was his lock, his house we were outside and he had put it on there objecting to the fact we had used his railings. We apologised and said that a note would've sufficed and we wouldn't do it again. He got a bit angry and tried to demand cash for his lock, we flatly denied. His whole demeanour was suspect, and confirmed in my mind that after he was persuaded to remove his lock, he simply carried on walking up the street rather than entering his house.

Now this may well be common knowledge for some folk, but it's the first time I've come across this, and to be honest, I find it hard to know what can be done about it. I'm just glad that a) it wasn't a big d-lock and b) there were two of us when 'the owner' appeared.

Has this happened to anyone else, or is there anything that people feel could be done about these kind of actions?

Cheers,
Dave

Hello all,
I'm looking to build up a cheapish tourer that is sturdy but won't get nicked, and so I've been looking at a lot of old 531 frames.

I'm finding it difficult to get hold of frames in my size that have rear rack braze ons. Now i know there are alternatives, I'm currently riding an old Sun Solo with the rear rack clamped onto the seat stays, which works perfectly for smaller loads around town and so on, but I am concerned about their limits.

So I've got a couple of questions really, has anyone done any fairly serious touring - 25kg plus on rear rack - without braze-ons? If so, what did you use, and how was it?

Secondly, if braze-ons are very important, are there any shops/frame builders that still add them to frames and if so, is this worthwhile or should I just wait for the ideal frame?

Any help or opinions would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks,
Dave.

Ah Cheers.
I've tried some similar looking blocks but not found much difference, guess they could've been low quality though.
Let me know how you get on though.

Am considering getting hold of some alloy rims and building the wheel onto them, although i'd like to avoid that if possible.

Hello,
A while ago I was given an old Sun Solo Road bike (i'm assuming its a pretty low quality bike - is that correct?) which after a few tweaks has become my 'getting around town fast' bike. I use it pretty much daily, but never for long distances.

The bike was in some state of disrepair and I've managed to fix up most things, including the gear system which is now a shimano 7-speed sti jobby, which i've always found helpful in traffic.
One thing I've never managed to get satisfactory however, is the braking. Now I've know and have read that braking with wet steel rims is a bit of a pain - but it can't be impossible... can it?

I've tried changing brake blocks and all that, getting ones with wee leather strips etc, but to no avail.
I am beginning to wonder whether the brakes themselves would be the source of the problem. They're the original units (and therefore i imagine cheap and rubbish) which are unmarked but might be sachs-huret, as thats what the derailleurs are/were.
Any thoughts on that?

The short of it is, has anyone had any success with steel rims and brakes, if so then how?

Cheers,
Dave.

you have pm. Cheers.