Any question answered...

I got stuck in a rip tide in the ocean, didn't know about not fighting it, tried swiming towards shore but kept going backwards. My cousin came and literally saved my life. I can't even imagine what it's like having one try and pull you under.

Rip currents don't pull you under, that is a myth. They pull you out, and then usually along after a bit.

So what do you do when being pulled under in a river?

Lie back and accept your fate?

I’ve had a good hunt and come up short on this one. Does there exist a carbon fork, straight 1 1/8” steerer, rim brake, mudguard mount clearance for 28c tyres? Want something for the front end of a fixed winter bike and everything seems to be disc brake in this category. Cheers!

Any of these work? You may need a deep drop brake caliper

https://www.dolan-bikes.com/dolan-carbon-road-deep-drop-winter-fork-matt-black/

https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m21b0s29p2625/SPA-CYCLES-Carbon-Alloy-Road-Fork

https://shop.vannicholas.com/en/producten/front-forks/VNT-Front-fork-ADX-Carbon-Alloy-Audax/11306

https://www.bikeparts.co.uk/products/m-part-road-bike-carbon-bladed-fork

https://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/frames-forks-c6/rigid-forks-c51/tifosi-1-1-8-carbon-mudguard-fork-p19817

Rip currents don't pull you under, that is a myth. They pull you out

Right, which is why keeping calm and steadily swimming parallel to the shore is advised.

So what do you do when being pulled under in a river?

Depends? I’m just saying that a fully clothed person who finds themselves in cold, murky waters will instinctively fight the current if it starts pulling them under. I don’t know the Thames well enough to say if that’s the best survival strategy or not.

https://paddling.com/learn/river-hazards

Thanks - you clearly are a better hunter than me. I’d prefer a straight blade if possible, rather than the curved shape on those links, but might be an impossible ask!

"Winter" and "Audax" tend to be the terms to find rim brake forks with mudguards but as you can see, they are mostly curved to suit the look on older steel framed road bikes

Thanks - yep clearly searching for the wrong terms as everything disc was coming up. May be an idea to run a disc brake up front in that case. It’s quite a modern beefy frame so the audax style might look a bit odd.

What buildings insurance companies do people recommend?

I want to play around with dual-booting with Win 10 on my Mac, but I balked at the price of a key... are the eBay key sellers legitimate/is there a way to avoid paying £120 for a key? (aside from torrenting)

you can download and use windows for free without activating it if you don't mind an annoying desktop background

Oh, that's ideal, cheers!

Question about Hope freehubs.

I believe they designed the new RS4 road freehubs to have two pawls to reduce drag and noise. If I wanted to reduce drag and noise in a pro 3 hub, could I simply remove two of the four pawls? What could go wrong?

The new Hope RS4 hub is a little different. These hubs have been created as a road/cyclocross hub right from the initial concept. They still maintain Hopes legendary reliability but by using a two pawl ratchet mechanism we have created a drive with significantly less drag and as a result, a quieter freehub.
– from Hope press release

Is there something different about the RS4 pawls or freehub shell that allow only two pawls to be used?

2 Attachments

Would it affect engagement?

I think so, but I don’t need rapid engagement. I should have said, this is for a road bike.

I already put a bit of extra grease around the pawl spring and ratchet teeth to quieten them down.

Ta, not quite £160 curious though aha

to quieten them down.

Is it because of this https://twitter.com/roadcc/status/1386620295692361731?s=19

I tend to agree with that sign. I’m not a fan of obnoxious hubs.

Do you think 4-pawl hubs are safe to run with 2-pawls?

This post on an MTB forum has given me the confidence to have a fiddle: https://ridemonkey.bikemag.com/threads/quiet-or-silent-rear-hubs.248367/post-3753763

Has anyone bought an Orange Seal refill recently? I bought one online this week and is only 2/3 full. There's sealant on the packaging and the paperwork.

The [unnamed retailer] tells me they're only ever filled to 2/3 to allow for shaking and that it can't have leaked. Before I go back to him, can anyone say how full the bottles are new? It's been six months since I bought one and can't remember for sure.

There's sealant on the packaging and the paperwork.

The [unnamed retailer] tells me... that it can't have leaked

Did they just toss some extra sealant in the packaging then?
I'd go back and say it clearly has leaked, it's all over the place.

That's my next step. Would be good to know if he's right about how full they normally are before I do though.

I normally get mine from here https://www.vip-scdkey.com/software/microsoft-pc-10-pro-oem_1227-20.html

How many ml are meant to be in it and how many are in it?