Any question answered...

If you have damp, the jars are useful for capturing it before it starts to nest.

Some sort of witchcraft...
http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/nov/05/witch-marks-king-james-i-knole-sevenoaks-national-trust

110bcd 52/36

I know about the compatibility issues between shifters and derailleurs, but are road cranksets cross compatible with other brands of derailleur? By that I mean: could I use an Ultegra front mech, Ultegra shifters and Campag crankset (with appropriate BB), for example?

I can't find mention of it anywhere. Lots of talk about crank/bb compatibility and lots about shifters and mechs. I'm only talking about double cranks here.

I think my question boils down to: "are chainrings equally spaced on all cranksets"

Yes

hooray!

Well, the exact spacing might be different but as front mech shifting is still pretty agricultural I'm sure it'll work.

It does on at least two of my bikes.

Hello all!
I did UTFS the webz but not too successfully, and without a very clear answer:

Wiggle just resent me a rear mech (Shimano 105), because I requested a medium cage, and as far as I could tell, it was a long cage. Not too surprisingly from a company where there's nobody to talk to on the phone (never using them again because of this), they have just sent the replacement one, and this time... in long cage again, from what I can figure out...

Am I completely mistaken and is what I believe to be a long in fact a medium?
Here's a picture of what I received the first time, that I measured to be 85mm from the jockey wheels (the One I just got measures the same). Looking at various pictures found online, the proportion tends to indicate I'm right...

1 Attachment

http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/derailers-rear.html

85(or 6)mm would suggest a long cage, as would the code.

Looks like a medium to me.

The shape of the arm matches the picture of the Medium, and the dimensions look about right for a medium.

^that guy has a point too.

Check this.

5700-GSL max sprocket is 28t.

5701-GSL max sprocket is 32t.

as would the code.

Based on that link I'd expect "SGS" in the code if it were a long cage. It says "GS" which the page says is medium.

I'd googled the code separately and got long cage, assumed sheldon to be an out of date resource for such things, as he is with a few others now.

For those who have access to a cycle to work scheme through their employer, is the amount you are allowed £1000? My workplace are lurching through the process and only want to offer £750 (not as a salary sacrifice, but as a loan), but I was under the impression that most employers offer the full £1000 (the limit set by the consumer credit license).

This: http://si.shimano.com/php/download.php?file=pdf/ev/EV-RD-5701-3297A.pdf

would imply that there's only a short or long cage version, so no medium. So you've got a choice of short or this one, and you can call it medium or long if you like, it's just not the short one.

Also the "L" in the code means "Black", as opposed to "S" for "Silver".

My last place did £1000. Current place doesn't offer a cycle scheme at all, instead they'll do you a tax-free loan for a bike of up to £5000(!)

In that case, the 5701 is really just a medium design for a larger sprocket without having to set the screw limiter all the way in.

Breaking bad/Game of thrones crossover merchandise.
*shudders*
Is there any?
A mug or something. Office secret santa beckons, and giving this person something that makes obvious how much I despise them is Bad Politics.

That's good to know. Our place is looking at a tax-free loan as well, and £750 seems a bit stingy, particularly as they offer up to £5000 for train and tube tickets.

FWIW ours also offers up to £5000 for train and tube tickets, but it's functionally the same loan - so you can borrow 5k for either season tickets or a bike, but you can't borrow money up to limit for both, or below the limit(s) for a combination of the two. One or the other (which should suit most normal commuters).

That's essentially what the beik-to-work scheme is.

Cycle2Work and their ilk are branded, outsourcing operations that do the job that any competent finance & HR* department could do.

Your employer purchases the beik, and hires it to you - the hire rate can just so happen to be one that covers the cost of the bike, less VAT, and this can be over any period (it could be a year, it could be 5). They can then sell you the beik at the end of the period, or let you use it for free.

The scheme just says that you can pay out of your pre-tax salary. You end up paying less PAYE, less NI, and no VAT, your employer pays less NI

*Competent HR. LOL!

Breaking bad merchandise.

You could just buy them a nickel bag of crystal meth?

@TW just remind me that there's a Breaking Bath soup you can get.