The Tester Approves thread (see first post)

Thanks
Edit. It’s on its way from cyclebasket the only place I found with them in stock.

What is the Tester Approved caliper/vernier caliper?
For measuring stuff like, how wide is this tube for a FD, how much tyre width/clearance do I have.
Looking at spending £20 if you can get anything good new/second hand at that price

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/13917384/incontext

thanks :)

@mdcc_tester need some recommendations for wide rims which are as pretty strong in either 700c or 650b.

Thanks in advance!

mdcc_tester in reply to @Arawn
What is your favorite handlebar tape?

SRAM Super Cork, Deda Traforato, whatever is on special offer or comes in a colour I like.

need some recommendations for wide rims

Wheelbuilding thread is your friend, people over there handle rims a lot more than I do. In 700C the answer is nearly always Kinlin XR31

Need to replace the chainrings on my Look 695 with Zed 2 Cranks.

Currently have Praxis 110bcd 50/34 which I'm happy with, but is there a better alternative (maybe cheaper) out there? According to strava I have done 15,000km on them.

Otherwise I'll just get these

I have done 15,000km on them

Not changing something which works is #tester_approved

Go fancy

https://absoluteblack.cc/premium-road-chainrings-110-5-bcd-for-7950-6750-5750-round/

Interesting and pretty much the same price. Any experience of these?

None at all but look at the pretty!

There's a cheaper version without the cutouts too.

I think only Praxis and Shimano cold forge their chainrings so they are probably harder wearing than any CNC only rings

Thanks. I think I will go with @mdcc_tester and stick with what works. Plus I can pick up from Evans tomorrow and have them fitted in time for Sat. Looking at the ones on there now, it's amazing I can ride the bike at all.

if they are that fucked then put on new cassette and chain at the same time

your drive train will wear in to the extent of the most worn components

Any recommendations for a good wheelset for my commuter? Wide rims to use with 32mm tyres, rim brakes. No heavy touring wheels please. Budget 200 pounds, cheers!

Spa Cycles for Exal and Rigida rims, £20 or less each: https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m2b0s116p0/Parts-and-Accessories/Components-Wheels-Rims

Spokes, check Spa's prices since you'll be paying postage anyway, weigh that up against Cyclebasket's 21p ACI DB spokes.

Leaves about £140 for hubs, which is way too much. I'd get hubs with disc mounts so you can use them on a non-rimbrake bike later or just have more buyers if you choose to sell. Shimano XT hubs last ages if cared for. Another good option would be Hope Pro 2 or Pro 4 hubs, and your own set of cartridge bearing tools.

IS42/IS52 integrated headsets. Much of a muchness, and get whatever's cheapest, or are there Tester Approved models out there? I'll probably be running with a Tester zero-stack headset cover.

IS headsets are 99% bearings, if you're not getting TH branded cartridges you need to be sure of what you are getting instead.

Worth paying the extra for an FSA headset with TH bearings then?

If the alternative is a no-brand headset with unknown Chinese (PRC) cartridges, yes. There are PRC factories who can make great bearings, and there are ones who will happily recycle cheese into bearing shaped objects for customers desperate to save a couple of dollars by not buying from TH.

I bought an unbranded tapered IS headset from Merlin a couple of years ago and the bearings were TH. Polo bike has Cane Creek 40 bearings under the FSA IS-2 topcap because CRC had them cheap when I needed some last year.

I bought an unbranded tapered IS headset from Merlin a couple of years ago and the bearings were TH

Yes, TH will sell their bearings to anybody, they don't hog them all for their own FSA headsets.

Given that I'll be using a Tester top cover and steerer cap on this bike, I'm thinking I should just buy a crown race, top collet and some TH bearings now. No point buying a whole headset if I'm not going to use much of it other than the bearings.

No point buying a whole headset if I'm not going to use much of it other than the bearings

The benefit of buying a complete headset is that bike component retail pricing is weird, so getting a whole thing is often cheaper than buying half a thing in spare parts.

hello @mdcc_tester,
I purchased a new 1" threaded fork recently and just noticed that the fork crown (headset is ck gripnut) is going down all the way without the need to be pressed. I don't think the gap is very big, I though I could try inserting a kind of shim made of aluminium can for example between fork crown inner diameter and fork steerer diameter just to get it to sit correctly ; I think once the headset will be properly set-up this could work. any thoughts on this? would you recommend another method? I have seen that Sheldon recommend making dents on the fork crown with a centerpunch but I do not have the proper tooling to do it. Thank you in advance!

EDIT: I might as well try to do it more properly with this
https://www.avt.bike/chris-king-baseplate-crown-race-stainless-steel-1-inch-brbundersized-01mmb.html