Any question answered...

I know you basically said time is of the essence, but if you go see a physio/sports massage person type person and explain the situation, they'll probably get you to do a couple of movement screening exercises then recommend some stretching/back strengthening exercises.

If you literally only have 5 minutes I would want to make sure they count, and the best way to do that is probably to get a pro to help.

Good though because they stop you reliably in all conditions

Unless your chain derails or breaks.

and don’t make a horrible mess :)

When you get them really hot the grease gets runny and escapes.

Pffft user errors ;)

... or you lose the bolt to mount the arm to the chainstay and think, "fuck it, a few cable ties will hold it"

... which they do, until they don't. Then the arm spins and locks up your wheel as you're heading full pelt into the back of a bus.

the arm spins and locks up your wheel as you're heading full pelt into the back of a bus.

This is fine

Wouldn’t have it any other way

What is the RAL / auto paint code closest to fresh blood please?

Sourced from which orifice?

Simply borrow a RAL code book that has been stored carefully in a dark place, and a toolkit. Any of the pointy ones should do, or a claw hammer at a pinch.

If I were to gut a SRAM shifter to make it into a brake lever only, how impossibly fiddly is it to turn it back into a shifter should I need to do so (provided I have all the parts of course)?

I just watched a video on Youtube that shows the process of taking the 'shifter stuff' out and well, it looks like I might get very confused when trying to put it back together, though I'm usually not bad at this kind of thing. Anyone got experience with this?

I did it, it was fiddly but fairly straightforward. Just don’t lose any of the bits :)

how impossibly fiddly is it to turn it back into a shifter should I need to do so

Surely the only reason to gut SRAM Doubletaps is because you got them for nothing due to fucked guts? For the sake of the £30 each that S500 levers cost, I'd save myself the bother.

The original ballooner downhill race in Marin Co, California back in the mid 70’s was named the Repack, as after a couple of runs the grease in the old Morrow coaster brake would have boiled away and they’d need repacking with grease.

ha

Any TV-only Sky customers able to tell me how their pricing changes over time?

I binned Virgin for a freeview HD box a while back as the package that got me Eurosport in HD (and also ITV4 HD) was costing £46 a month.

For a variety of reasons, including ITV4 only being available in SD on freeview), I'm contemplating getting Sky.

From my initial digging, it looks like I can pay £20 installation and sign up to a £22 a month package (18 month min. contract), and add £5 for HD per month (rolling). This includes everything I'd want, including Eurosport HD, ITV4 HD and some other bonus stuff like Sky Atlantic HD.

However, it clearly states "Prices may change during this period." One thing that annoyed the hell out of me with Virgin, and was a big part of getting rid of it, is that they would write a letter every so often saying that the price was increasing by £2 - £3 for no other reason than their costs of on-demand content was increasing, which is how I ended up paying £46 a month.

Can anyone who's been with Sky for any length of time, just for TV, tell me if it's basically just going to be the same deal? Or whether I'm missing any other potential catches?

Thanks! Yeah not losing any of the bits is definitely step 1.

@mdcc_tester

Well that's basically the question, right - is it enough of a bother to be worth extra money to avoid it altogether ;)

Good thing I don't decend 400 metres in 5 minutes every day on my commute.

This is quite well known, especially since GMBN posted a video to YouTube about it this week.

Does anyone have an suggestions for a reading for a wedding? Non-religious and funny/amusing.

My wife is reading something Pratchett at our friend's wedding this weekend, dunno what specifically though.

I reckon just read some YouTube comments from wedding videos in an Adam Buxton voice though.

Ha, was just going to say.

My wife is reading something Pratchett at our friend's wedding this
weekend, dunno what specifically though.

I reckon just read some YouTube comments from wedding videos in an
Adam Buxton voice though.

mywife

Get one of those buffering wheels.

Ha!