Cycling UK Forum

The paint on the seat stays of my 15yr old trek was bubbling so I removed with stripper,rubbed down with fine wet and dry,polished with autosolvol(by hand),came up brilliant.Could you employ the same method?

When I had to p--- on the freehub to defrost the pawls

whilst living in the lake district and being a mountain biker,the predominance of slate acted like grinding paste on the rims.I used to replace them by taping the spokes together so that,on removing the rim,the spokes remained in place ready to recieve the new rim.Worked pretty well as far as I remember.

Larger tools in an old chest of drawers,smaller tools in some old roasting tins sitting inside each other.Cost peanuts from charity stores.

after breaking 5 drills,bashing things,smashing things,eventually came off with a hammer and sharp chisel.Thanks for suggestions

Recessed,8mm allen key,crank bolt siezed and partially rounded-Any ideas welcome.

Had an Arthur Caygill steel frame made with "Extralight" tubing,Italian I think.The unicrown fork broke on one side,scary.Fair do,s, he replaced with a lugged fork no questions asked.

Interesting variety of approaches on this thread .I,ve had a few issues with weight since stopping fell running 16 years ago and then retiring in 2010.Weight went from 11.25st ,settled at 12st(acceptable) whilst cycling and working but has,more often,been in the region12.75st -13st.I,m still very active,cycling,wooding etc,just not as active as previously.Probably in common with most athletes well past peak ability,limiting age related deterioration in performance whilst keeping motivated can be a challenge which leads back to the thread.For me,cycling is the"last chance saloon" ,the only "sporting" activity remaining which can still be done to a personally satisfying level and assumes an important part in overall wellbeing.I,m ever so slowly losing this ability with the insidious drip drip of a tiny calorie surplus day after day,year after year so,therefore,I,ve spent the last 2 months preparing the MIND to accept the challenge,recognise the culprits(usual suspects).My approach is:establish ground rules;mine will be,no butter,chocolate,only fruit or homemade flapjack between meals,exercise every day.I,m dividing each day on a large wall planner into three sessions,split between the meals and will tick the boxes if that sessions goal is achieved.I,m giving myself 60 days to lose 14lbs,realistic,achievable and have entered a hilly audax in May which will be the focus of rides between now and then.This may be of some help to you,it has certainly helped me to put this down in print as a "mission statement".

Great idea;our local forestry commision wood is starting to get overun with gorse,wonder if anybody might be interested in clearing.P.S. I do have a vested interest in this as I use this wood to go offroad and punctures have stopped me using some routes.

Anybody out there have any unusual alternative exercise off the bike?Since getting a woodburner,mine is sourcing,transporting(wheelbarrow),cutting ,splitting and stacking wood,all by hand i.e.bowsaw.What a nice way to exercise;peace and quiet of the woods or seashore,satisfying ones foraging instincts;real exercise with a point.Strenuous too,try pushing 120lbs up a short grade or bowsawing 15in of oak.Back,arms,core ,legs all get a workout and the end result?sitting in front of your fire burning your own logs,nothing like it.

Slowly slowly catchee monkey.1 mcvities digestive less a day,700 cals a week,3500cals(1 lb of fat) in 5 weeks,10lb in a year and you,ve hardly noticed a thing.This principle of small,incremental changes in all aspects of ones life means big changes longterm.Works for Dave Brailsford,works for anyone.

As far as a degreaser is concerned,I use white spirit then decant in an old jamjar.This can be used again after settling.I would then wash in boiling,soapy water and let dry.I,ve also used a blowlamp to hasten drying.Someone is going to say this is a bad idea ,any takers?

where and how would you fit a lube port?

Out of interest,would water getting in a hub cause premature failure and why?

Re;reason for failure,ridden through some pretty deep water recently,didn,t reach the hub though.Never serviced it after last winter,something I will start doing with the new components.