The Tester Approves thread (see first post)

Wire strippers / crimps ?

Pretty sure mine are RS house-brand. If you're just doing your own bikes rather than assembling 1000s on a production line, it doesn't really matter as long as it's the right tool for the job.

Yeah, looks fine.

This thing arrived.

You can do all sorts of weird shit with it - remove bearings from a unfitted PF30 cup? Why not? Want the cup and the bearing out of the frame? Sure thing! Just the bearing? Sure! Press new bearings in to empty HollowTech ii cups? Not a problem. Etc.

Cool. Disclaimer - none of the above necessarily Tester Approved.

Can it remove hollowtech ii bearings?

Yes, if that’s your thing. Suspect that’s not tester approved.

Ive seen it recommended by August (i think) on insta because its 5% of the price of a whole new hollowtech bb. @mdcc_tester thoughts?

5% of the price of a whole new hollowtech bb

A whole new HT BB is typically £15 for a BBR60, a bit less if you lower your standards. 5% of that is under £1
Obviously, if you could actually save £14 every time you needed new bearings, that would be a good thing, but probably not a good enough thing to justify buying tools and spending the time on it for a typical individual cyclist.

Also getting the plastic hats out of the bearings non destructively is a massive pita

Tester approved FM mechanical disc brakes? Trp rl 951 with trp spyre slc calipers. Thoughts?
Thanks

Tester approved mechanical disc brakes?

No, he did not

So I thought.
Then its hydro with fm to pm adapters right?

/Edit: to clarify,
I want a run a flat bar conversion while my hoods are undegoing warranty claim.

Surprised to hear that. Why not? I think they have place.

You get all the benefits of disks over rim brakes.

Compared to hydro discs:

You might lose a little bit of power, but aside from maybe MTB, cargo bikes and touring, you have more power than you do traction anyway, so that's irrelevant.

You massively gain on simplicity, maintenance, cost - they never leak, cables cost £1 and are replaced in 1 minute, you can always find spare cables and levers in shops/parts bin, you aren't tied into a groupset/ecosystem by piston sizes and brake fluid, you can adjust them with a hex wrench, they don't fail if your bike gets turned upside down, you don't get cancer if you accidentally lick them, they are less likely to fail on a long hill due to heat build up.

You might lose some modulation, but I think there's an aspect of snake oil to that for the amateur cyclist.

❤️ Cable discs 4 eva ❤️

Why not?

Because you can get hydraulic ones, which are better.

The entry level Shimano ones are terrific value for money, much better than Spyres, way cheaper, and do not require special maintenance IME (despite being on a bike that live outside, in a wet country that use a lot of grit in winter).

£1 cables are shit, but the amount of hydro fluid in a system probably doesn't cost much more.

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

What if it's a Cane Creek 40 headset instead?

Tester approved 1/8 chain? Not for actual track riding, just commuting and riding around London.

Wippermann 1z1.

and Halfords have them for £8.50. 10% British cycling discount as well or 20% if you know a Deliveroo rider.

Is there an equivalent for 3/32?

Wippermann 7z1

great if you like your chains looking like they've been decorated with christmas silver spray paint.

these are 100% fizzy SSCX approved also, tho they seemed hard to get when I last looked.

They're not pretty, that's for sure. But make up for it in function.

I used one on my London station bike for a good couple of years, never rusted.

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

What if it's a Cane Creek 40 headset instead?

Or a Hope headset?

My comment related to generic/no-brand headsets. Obviously Hope, Cane Creek and Chris King can be trusted to pick decent bearing cartridges