Cycling UK Forum

I on the other hand am a metallurgist and I tried to keep out of this but as someone flashed the technical expert card I couldnt hold back any longer.
Strength will not be your limiting factor, toughness will. The stainless will be enourmously more corrosion resistance, but if you start to consider the properties in petty detail you would have to consider their susceptability to crevice corrosion in the depths of a thread under tension. Dont bother nothing compares to the test of actual use in the specific environment.
in other words 'I have used it for years'.
Now stop and think a second. If you overload your rack etc. What do you want to fail? Your rack at £30, your frame at £? or a little 20p bolt? All of the mentioned bolts are more than strong enough and they are more than tough enough.
So the only real effect of your choice of material is the corrosion resistance. Unless you decide to get a bit heavy handed with the spanner and strip the threads in your frame with a high strength/hardness bolt. Or if you have a lot of money to spend on saving a few grams then buy Titanium.

I use SRAM PC48s on my shimano 6 & 8 speeds. They cost £6 each (Spa cycles amongst others). They are a different, possibly better, design of link pin which keeps the clean lubricant in the bushes of the chain more effectivly.
I got through my first shimano chain in 1300 miles and it was much extended.
I used the SRAMs to 2000 each with no noticable extension but at £6each I retired them while swopping the rear deraileur. However they do get a full wash and soaking in gear oil every 100-200 miles which takes some time.
This is made much easier as they come with the special 'power link' which you can undo without tools very quickly.
This is one of the rare occasions where you dont have to spend a lot of money for a very useful component. The chains are so cheap compared to the chainrings and cassettes it is hard to justify not changing them on financial grounds but to avoid waste I think I will use the present pair of chains until I can detect some extension.

I have swopped from doubles to triples. I did all my calculations and tests for the right chain-line by selecting a bottom bracket as small as possible to clear the frame. Everything went together well and worked fine in the workshop. On the first steep hill it wouldnt go on the inner ring even when the front deraileur was up against the seat post. So dont follow my mistake and make sure the front deraileur can still push far enough to the left.
Yes it was a triple front deraileur.
I had considered the left crank as the frame was very wide on the chainstays and the bottom bracket needed length on both sides.
I had remembered space for the chainring bolt heads

The life of the inner tube will be severly reduced if it was exposed to the light while it was being stored. The light will make it perish just like an old tyre does.

I had exactly the same sort of puncture repeatedly (around every 70 miles!) until I got rid of the rubber rim tape. It was quite a thick one with a rectangular section. I keep it for use as washers or spacers! I used insulation tape after that with no problems at 60psi. A different story at 95psi when I had to buy the proper cloth tape.
I stopped to help a kid with a puncture and I recognised the same type of puncture. After a little chatting we discovered the shop who had just replaced his tyres (and tapes) for him was the same one who supplied me.
I hope he took my advice and ditched the tapes too.
The bike shop in question is a good guy but he did not want to believe his rim tapes were to blame, if I was the first/only one to have a problem then I cant really blame him.

My favourite came with my Jazz Album by Queen. As they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

You dont know what you have started, in a year you will start thinking about 200k and then...

My son gets by with the smaller strapless toe clips. Especially as he likes to wear wellies a lot.

You are undoing it the correct way. However the last idea may work as sometimes tightening a bit can break the 'weld'. Also if you are trying something a bit destructive you can try tightening first to break the rust and you will still have some sort of shoulder to get a grip of when you undo.
If you are willing to throw the BB away in the end and have access to a welder then you can put a circle of weld following the circle of the part of the bottom bracket cartridge or cup screwed inside the bikes bottom bracket..
This will give the rusted threads a thermal shock and give you something to get a grip on. Also when the weld cools it will contract and help to pull the two apart.
while trying to undo a car suspension strut I welded a car bumper to the lockring in order to get enough leverage. I still had to use a 2lb hammer to shock it.
Try using lots of easing oil and TIME for it to penetrate first.

Tony Blair isnt gagged. Nobody is stopping him from answering back.
He could happily answer our questions to his satisfaction and if we are so misguided as to disagree with him then we are probably to blame.

I think lorries often have to make the choice between a dangerous overtake or staying behind a cyclist forever. What were the teachers/examiners like on this point and about showing real consideration to cyclists in general.

I agree with you JB but would you consider a modification from paying by miles driven to paying by fuel used?
I dont know about the rest of you but I loved the fuel blockade. The people in my village came out of their houses and all congregated on the road and got to meet and talk to each other in some cases for the first time.
The peace and quiet was wonderfull.

I guess you are pretty hacked of at Wiggle esp as they didnt answer the emails. I think all the probabilities are in favour of them having despatched(or thinking they have despatched) the order and the item having disappeared in the post. As an ex-delivery driver (not Royal Mail) I can tell you a lot of stuff goes missing in the system. I know how it feels when your order goes wrong but you are probably accusing the wrong people.
The order of less than £20 is not worth them lying over and if you give the impression you are a good potential customer they may accept losing the £20 and postage to keep you sweet.

Is a witness who goes looking for an offence independant. When the words rape or peidophile are used there is a public clamour to make sure someone is punished for such a horrible crime and in this enthusiasm a lot of innocent people have suffered.
Personally I would love to stand on a corner, a straight or anywhere with a speedcamera and record every speeding motorist and phoning driver for prosecution. I would do it as an unpaid volunteer. I am just trying to think of the reasons why a government with an endemic crime is not willing to utilise an army of eager volunteers whilst making statements about wishing to encourage the voluntary sector.

I would like to apologise I didnt phrase it right. I said most of the old drivers did this thing and it was a mistake for me to say that.. I am not against any type of road user except bad ones. I often get in trouble for defending the right of drivers (especially when the accusation is against old drivers) to drive below the speed limit.
However I stand by the observation I have made, that this strange occurance happens quite frequently and I have only ever noticed it with older drivers and I think they were probably all older than Gordon.
Far worse than that behaviour is the people who drive past equally close but without slowing down. They on the whole do not appear to be over 60 but between 30 and 60 (gross approximation) and driving luxury cars (esp AUDIs). So I find the behaviour of the older drivers preferable to that group. I guess the reason for their behaviour is that such vehicles are very stable even at high speeds and keep their occupants very safe in the event of a crash. Now I suppose I will get an unfriendly reply from some Audi drivers. If I have to drive it is a VW Passat so let out your fury on VW Passat's I know it doesnt apply to me!