Current Projects chat and miscellany

Yeah agreed but I think the spicers are probably a good balance of durability, cost and performance for her. Not like she's on Kendas or Cheng shite. Also I need to provide some more mechanical training for her (not 100% confident with tube replacement)

This is it, I had considered trying to improve the bike further but she seems to be getting on just fine for now.

Photo censored to prevent any uncomfortable comments.

Ohh so that's what they're getting at!

Inshallah.

#rep

Amazing

Sorry to interrupt, but just threw some bits on my un-@jdmitch'ed GT Edge. Needs a -17° stem, some cables and some bartape. Maybe a stupid rear wheel as well...

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Gonna try something very close with the holdsworth path I picked up here. Liking the bar choice

You see a mech hanger bolt, I see opportunity.

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opportunity for what TM ?
make a hole to put mudguards ?

track-ends for that tiemeyerstreetcred

@TM censorship is brilliant, not to mention professionally​ executed. Got a similar intention for Madame Jambon, been looking for a Dawes Galaxy for what feels like an eternity. Great stuff.

I can't say I'm not tempted

Anyone here in North London have an M6 tap? I want to tap some threads onto an alu axle, its 10mm wide and has about 2mm of meat on it.

or @mdcc_tester where would be the best place to pick up a decent value tap set m2-8 online? Prob wont be used much so nothing too expensive please

So most important things I've found that have built her confidence are flat bars with easy to use shifters/brakes, gear displays on shifters to show what gear she's in, triple chainset and wide range rear cassette (even if she doesn't need the granny gear often it builds her confidence to have it as an option), comfortable position and saddle, good brakes, light and responsive enough to feel like a road bike rather than a tank.

All sound pretty obvious but to you and me, we can live with DT shifters, drop levers, looking down to see what gear we're and different positions etc. We tried different bikes over last few years but she hasn't taken to any like this one.

we can live with looking down to see what gear we're [in]

Who does that? If it feels too hard, change down. Gear number indicators are the start of the slippery slop which leads to spending your whole ride looking at your power meter instead of the scenery :)

Awesome !

Rather selfishly the addition of gears on her Dawes are a thinly veiled attempt to get Mrs B. wanting to do more adventurous and serious rides with me. She rides day in day out, come rain or shine, but really it has been confined to commuting or an occasional weekend canal jaunt on the single speed. She's agreed to come out for the Dynamo, and we smashed the London to Brighton run a few weeks back, which I wouldn't have imagined 6 months ago — she just was not interested.

Next step will be moustache bars for the Dawes and a sly transition to proper foot retention ... she doesn't know that yet

its 10mm wide and has about 2mm of meat on it.

Making the bore 6mm :) I'd want the pilot hole to be pretty close to the nominal tap drill size of 5.0mm if I was tapping M6×1.0 into aluminium.

If you want a tap set to use once or twice hand tapping soft materials, you might as well take your chances on ebay, where you can get a generic set of M3-M12 taps and dies for the price of one branded tap.

"Proper" foot retention is a myth. Let her ride flats if that's what she wants.

I sometimes check on a steep climb to see if I've got options, or to see if I'm cross chaining.

As far as power metre risk factor I would say I'm at the bottom end of the spectrum.

Bollocks, it's for Sidi cafe style points, she'll understand some day.

Sounds like she's doing well - when me and mrs TM first met we did some long-ish rides (she wasn't ready for them) and it killed the fun for her - it's taken a long time to get back to it.

Unless she's keen to try SPDs it seems a gamble - not like flats are much slower for recreational riding and also there's a risk of damaging that new confidence with sod fails - Unless it's "her idea" I would be careful.

If you're going for cafe points she'll need full wapah as well.

On the subject of cheap tap sets.
I picked up a budget box set from Lidil/Aldi ages ago, about £8 2-10mm taps + handle + pilot drill bits.

More than paid for itself on cleaning up bike part and frame threads. Maybe blind luck i got a good kit, sure it was German branded and TUV passed (may not stand for much)

A good rule of thumb is that for any picture of anything you post on the internet, there is someone somewhere in the world that will mastrubate to it.

That, and 'measure twice, cut once', is all the advice you'll ever need.

Very good point, it's easy to forget how comfortable we all are with drop bars and clipless pedals etc. My intention was to get a classic touring bike that's comfortable for all day jaunts spending quite a bit of its life on canal paths. Classic looking it should carry a bit more favour than a modern aluminium bike but if a pretty 1" head steel tourer isn't the answer then will go down the same route as the Cannondale.