Any question answered...

I am looking to build a bike for my father in law, who at 85 has had a hip replacement so can no longer get his leg over.

Jokes aside, when did he have the hip replacement? Once the surgeon signs him off for full range of articulation, getting on a normal bike should be possible unless something else is preventing it. I'm sure Mercian would build a Mixte if asked, but you'd get about the same stand-over height from a rigid carbon 29er MTB, which would almost certainly be cheaper for any given weight.

Hip replacement was in Jan, I think it's more balance/strength than movement. Will have a look at carbon mtb's, cheers.

1% or deth

Yeah, but then you'll get the idea to buy a house... and then have kids... and then... bye bye 70k = rich theory.

Until you can buy a country or fly yourself into space with your own space program, you ain't shit.

Is not the point here that the term 'rich' is, as said above, very much a moving feast depending on who you ask? Therefore it has the potential to resonate with the 90%+ of the population who don't earn anywhere near that amount. It serves the same sort of 'them and us rhetoric' which serves anyone going for a populist vote, which is what I suspect most parties will be looking for.

Maybe look around for a Scandinavian or German or Dutch (them tall countries) second hand frame. They're not afraid to make low stand overs for men.

nobody that earns 70k is going to say that they're rich are they?
It's like admitting you're a tory.
But to everyone else that is on median income, it seems like a fuck load.

It serves the same sort of 'them and us rhetoric' which serves anyone going for a populist vote, which is what I suspect most parties will be looking for.

Yeah. Initially I thought why would he want to alienate those on that kind of money, but then perhaps he was trying appeal to people who don't earn that.

What's going on with my fork and axle?

I have an All City Nature Boy 853 that I'm about to build. It come with a Whisky 9 fork that supposedly takes 100 x 15mm DT Swiss RWS axles. I ordered one from Rose.

I've come to fit it, but it's way too long. 130mm from the inside of the clamp to the start of the threads, 143mm from inside of clamp to the very end of the axle. I figured they'd sent me the wrong one, but according to Bike24, the 100mm axle is supposed to be 143mm long and is "solely compatible with DT Swiss forks".

What's the craic?

Sounds like you've got a fat bike one.

Asking again. Don't care for fancy or brands. Is there any reason to avoid headsets like this ebay jobby? Is it really necessary to spend thrice the price for an ugly FSA one?

New road bike arrived and came with a bag containing these bits... what are they for?

The black rectangles are thin strips of foam with 3m on the back.

Depends whether ebay jobby is cheap and cheerful or cheap and shit. Difficult to know without having bought one. At that price I'd say it's worth a punt. Headsets aren't exactly the most sophisticated bits of kit, and the key part (the bearings) will be off-the-shelf mass-produced stuff regardless of who makes the rest of it.

Will have a look at carbon mtb's, cheers.

For easier mounting/dismounting of the bike, it might be worth checking out dropper seatposts too.

According to the All City website, you need a 125mm RWS skewer. Something like this, I'd imagine. I think the 143mm one is for suspension forks.

AFAIK:

• Cassette spacer
  
• Plastic bits to go in rack/mudguard mount holes
  
• Black things to go behind bend when wrapping bars
  
• Tape to wrap ends of bartape
  

Black rectangles look like bar tape strips to put behind your lever clamps when taping the bars.
White oval strips look like bar tape finishing strips (to go at the stem end of the wrap).
Washer could(?) be a cassette spacer?
Dunno about the little black things.

The circular spacer looks like either a 9>10 speed spacer or (more likely) an 11>10 speed spacer. Depends how thick it is. The former would be 1mm thick, the latter 1.85mm. The little black bits look like water bottle boss blanking plugs. The silver bits I'd say are chainstay protectors, but I'm buggered if I know what the black foam things are. Looks like they're intended to be some sort of frame protector, but I've no idea where they're supposed to go. Round the outside of the chainstay to prevent chain damage from a dropped chain, perhaps?

You're right, it is a 11 to 10 speed spacer.

Soma do:

http://www.somafab.com/archives/product/buena-vista

As I couldn't find a "any bike related question answered" thread, here I go!
I'm currently running BLB toe clips but I can't use them properly as the gates don't reach far enough into the pedal

So I'm looking for new ones. And I know that there are deeper ones! (Can be seen here http://www.pedalroom.com/bike/cervelo-t1-9348)
Are plastic clips any better or do I have to go for large clips?

That's what I thought, but mine is the same size at the only 100mm one on DT Swiss's site.

That's what I saw when I went looking for the One I got. The retailer never mentioned the overall length and I just assumed.

Odd that the official site doesn't like that one from Harris. Cheers, I'll start hunting for one of those.

The mks x-large clips work up to a eur size 48 according to their charts. Here's a wiggle link but these are for single straps:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/mks-steel-toe-clips/