Cycling UK Forum

A leather saddle can be dipped in hot water and the leather will shrink and harden, the hotter the water the more it will do it, anything in the ranges of hand hot to just stopped boiling, I don't know the best temperatures though, so anyone who tried it would have to risk the saddle. I wouldn't apply anything before, just Proofide after it had totally dried out from the water.

There are bad possibilities, I once had a 26x2.3 tube in a 26x2.50 tyre and had a big blowout miles from home. Luckily it was a summer day and I fixed it with 5 puncture repair patches.

I ordered these from ebay today, haven't heard anything about them, they take two AA batteries each, seemed to have been replaced on their website by unbuyable USB lights.

I have used tyre pieces to do partial resoling of worn skate shoes, with the right glue. As tyres are more grippier than shoe soles I thought about totally covering skate shoe soles with pieces of tyre. I have used an inner tube to wrap some handlebars that were cheap but very bright green. I have used inner tube pieces to protect frame paint from brackets or to pad out handlebar for front light brackets.
I saw a Grand Designs episode last night, Brittany 2009, where a couple were building a house with used tyres as a big part of it, they were saying there are strict environmental rules about old tyres, I think they were not allowed to build it in the UK if I remember right, it was after 3am and I was tired (tyred!).

Brucey wrote: ↑12 May 2021, 3:05pm well here I am sat in Hospital, still alive (but not exactly kicking normally). I just wanted to thank everyone for their kind words and best wishes :however they might have been expressed. I would have responded be fore now but I have not been able.
My future participation here is in some doubt; more as time goes on.
cheers all
Brucey

Great to hear from you, get well soon ☺☺☺

Yes, it depends, some will coat whatever you hand over as it is, so if you don't mask it , it will coated. And I have heard of those with no experience of bicycles, sandblasting through a frame tube when getting the old paint off.

Thanks for the answers.
Yes, nickel, doh! I was wondering, that thing where people did stuff in the past that they were fine with and then it turned out that it was bad years later.
Silver colour coinage from 1920 to 1946 is 50% silver, I think a half crown from that period may be worth about £3 for the silver content?

There is a lot of stuff around the internet about the nasty toxicity of nickle, but I can't find anything about handlebars. Are they actual nickle, not just a nickname, is it a nickle compound that is safe, or treated in some way to make it safe?
My chromed steel handlebars broke today while I was riding along!!!!!!!!!! I have some nickle plated handlebars in the garage that I last used years ago, so I could put them straight on, if I wasn't wondering.

I ordered a 26x1 3/8 tube, had it a few days now, seems fine, not badly porous like some tubes.

I had never heard of them until a few days ago, but have seen various listed now, are they good or rubbish?

Brucey, best wishes from me

I have thought for years that they should try hub brakes, at least up front it only takes seconds to put a wheel in, that could be improved with the securing clip replaced by one integrated into the fork during manufacture, that the brake arm just slides into.. The rear would take longer to change but it can't be impossible to invent a quick way of securing the brake arm.

I like vintage stuff, sounds way more appealing as it is to me.

One of my bikes started as a 5 speed hub gear with 26in mtb wheels and v brakes. It evolved into a fixed gear with 650a wheels and caliper brakes. When I needed new forks I bought rigid forks, it had them anyway but no way would I buy suspension forks. I would not buy any tyres that were not commuter/road bike either. So you can change it bit by bit if you want to.

I have had an alloy stem snap, I prefer steel stems and bars on all my bikes. Use common sense judging a rust situation.