Hacks / Bodges

Not a good idea to do this with steel cable. It can gouge the pin in the link which can then cause an intermittent and infuriatingly-difficult-to-diagnose skip in the drivetrain. Use string or something similarly soft.

the utter pointlessness of the @reply function.

You need new material.

New hack:
Turn off reply notifications and get back all the time in your life you spend telling people not to @ reply to you

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Tongue in cheek intention there. Don't hate me

It's a new page for me, so I have no idea who you're replying to.

I have no idea who you're replying to.

Who, me?

Phil, it's not e-mail notifications. Why the fuck anyone would want an e-mail notification at all is just too bizarre for me even to think about. It's the way they clutter up my 'following' section. We should be able to opt out. But then again, the ignore function also clears them away.

Fair enough. I tend to scroll aimlessly through Today because I've commented in so many threads that my Following page is full of stuff I don't actually want to check back in with and read

Why the fuck anyone would want an e-mail notification

If you don't regularly check threads?

It costs Velocio a not-insignificant amount though, so ideally you should turn them off, sub to the thread, and just check the site

Tool is good but you can also pinch the link so one roller is poking out like a little triangle, wrap the chain around the big ring then twat the side of the quicklink in the right place to pop it open. Kinda hard to describe but works a treat if you're stuck without pliers.

Little picture tutorial to help.

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Ah! That’s useful - absolutely no idea where my quick link pliers are since about a month ago

I have some cheapo pliers (about 10 euro I think) and I got a couple of these knocking around in saddle bags.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001322504950.html

^^ was going to suggest this also - the 'triangle and twat it with a rock' method has saved me on tour before.

(But those ^ tools look v handy for an on-bike kit; will have to investigate.)

Available here if you don't want to wait for them to arrive from China.

https://www.weirdosonbikes.com/product/ultralight-chain-link-tool-quick-links/

I've bought a couple of things from Joe, and they've arrived pretty promptly.

It's a few days later and I've a few things to report. First, I'm not dead.

A DIY QR stem conversion.

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Looking at that, I might just buy some ping pong paddle rubber covering next time I think about buying new bar grips.

Out of a lot of hacks/bodges in there I liked the current state of play best

This week England is going back into lockdown so it's likely I won't have access to the metal workshop for a while. As a temporary fix for the lack of clamping force, I added an extra shim between the brass and aluminium – a strip of ordinary paper.

tbh that is quite smart

would legit use that if it was not soooooo sketchy looking lol

The weld is onto a solid chunk of lathed aluminium rather than the nasty butt weld it looks like.

It's awfully close to doing it properly and not belonging on this thread.

650b rando-fixie

16mm^2 ring crimp flattened in vice, drilled and bent to make light bracket, bolt to brake pad
https://www.kent-marine.com/media/gf/13095-equi117.jpg

3mm p clips in triangles of drop out

Draw bolt to long bolt through brake bridge to hold mudguard

strong bike.

Intriguing: multi speed fixed gear ...

This guy Czernysz has truly some amazing framebuilding skills;
https://www.flickr.com/photos/137178031@N06/with/51027852286/