Any question answered...

Anyone ever sold stuff at a bike jumble? I have loads of medium quality bits and pieces that are probably only worth £10 or £20 each, barely worth posting, but if I could get a table and make £100 or so probably worth a morning of my time. But are buyers at these events more interested in higher quality stuff, rather than bits for another parts-bin build or a pub bike?

I'm trying to speak with Zipcar's Appeals team, having had a fine put on my account for a traffic violation*. I want to challenge it - legitimately - but they're ghosting me. I have spoken with their CS team and they say "you need to speak with our Appeals team and here is their email address".

I have had a very short email conversation with Appeals, explaining why I shouldn't have been fined and they responded once - misunderstanding - saying "oh you can avoid being fined here, by accessing the parking bay from this junction"... turns out their advice is exactly what I did.

So... anyone got a number for Zipcar's Appeals team? Or know a way I can escalate this and have someone at least listen to me?

*Camden Council have basically put a traffic order in place which makes returning the car literally impossible without receiving a fine**. My guess is Zipcar aren't aware of this. Zipcar have passed the £65 fine (+£15 admin fee) onto me. Which makes them a solid bunch of cunts.

**The road is physically blocked at one end, and at the other access is only granted during a handful of hours that don't match up with the available car rental periods. Which is too late, once you've legally driven out of the road.

The Bristol one usually has a mixture of high end older stuff, middle of the road older stuff, and even some excess stock from the bike shop which hosts it in the car park.

I think medium bits will sell because bike nerds like us go along to them to have a look around

This probably isn't what you want to hear but I've never successfully appealed a fine once a rental company has paid it and passed it on. I've used a couple for work and even if the actual traffic violation is very contestable, they've taken the attitude that once they've paid it and passed it on, we owe them the money for it. I've never used Zipcar so you might have more luck though!

Class A shithousery!

Class A shithousery!

Indeed, right from the start. A hire company (or any registered keeper) is supposed to tell the competent authority who they believe was driving the vehicle at the time, so that the authority can reissue the PCN to the driver. If they had done that, you could have appealed directly to Camden and you'd only be out the admin fee. I've had plenty of success with multiple boroughs appealing incorrectly issued PCNs.

IANAL so you need to ask somebody who is whether Zip are even allowed to pay off PCNs without first letting the authority pursue the driver, and whether their policy of doing so even if legal amounts to an Unfair Term

I had some DT Swiss wheels with ceramic bearings, they're still going strong after 20,000km or so...

Thanks for the information, I appreciate it.

I will have a read of the Unfair Term text and see if I can make any sense of it!

I have had a dig around on Zipcar's website and...

"What happens if I receive a ticket after my reservation has ended?

If the ticket was issued as a result of your reservation, you are responsible for it. Once we are notified about the ticket, we will charge you a £15 processing fee. If we can, we will redirect the violation to you. If we can't redirect it, we will pay the fine, along with any late fees and bill the total to your account, provided that there are no grounds to appeal. You will be able to appeal the fine provided the issuing authority allows you to and that you have valid grounds to do so. You will be informed of the process via email."

So I have emailed them again, asking why they couldn't redirect (they have all of my contact details) and also pointed out that although Camden are shite*, they do allow PCN appeals.

*I didn't say this bit. It's true though.

If we can, we will redirect the violation to you

They can, and they didn't. If they had passed your name and address to Camden, then Camden would have sent you at least three letters before giving up and returning to Zip to collect the money. We know they didn't do this, because if they had your fine would now be £195 (no early discount, and a late surcharge). That looks a lot like a breach of contract to me, but what do I know.

Yes, I have asked them pointedly why they didn't. Because it's obvious they didn't - for the reasons you state.

I’m going to repaint an old steel frame. The old paint is chipped and scratched and there are bits of surface rust.
Paint stripper then rust converter,acid etch prime, paint? Not sure about the paint stripper?

Might be easier to get it blasted?

I was tempted to take it to I Cleenz Machinz but this is a bit of a budget job.
I’ve actually got a compressor and detail grit blaster but my neighbour borrowed it and knackered it….

Just bought a Shimano Sora FC-3550 crankset second hand, that came without any shims and BB.
Ordered the Shimano BB-MT501 but I believe it will come without shims.
My frame has a 68mm wide BB shell, so if I followed correctly what I found onlibe I have to use shims to accomodate.

But I am not sure I understood what shims I need, I think I need 2 on drive side and 1 on non-drive side but I don’t know if that is correct nor the thickness needed.
I plan to use the crankset as a 1x, on the outer ring, paired with 9s rear wheel that is TA (if that’s of any help).

Can anyone advise on what shims to purchase and how to set them up please?

You'll need a BB RS500 or R60 as your crankset road spaced. No spacers needed as it 68mm only.

Ah ok, much simpler. Cheers!

The difference between Shimano ROAD and MTB bottom brackets is the length of the threaded portion, the sealing and the width of the "outboard" part. MTB bbs are a little bit thinner.

MTB 10.3 mm vs 11.3 mm ROAD.

If you put a 1 mm spacer on each side you can just use the MTB bb cups with your ROAD crankset. :-)

I'm sure the cups are the same on the recent ones, but the spacer/axle sheath jobby between them is longer on the MTB ones. When parts were impossible to find I fixed a couple of road bikes with MTB cups and the old spacer from their road cups. I thought the cups were slightly different before then but they looked the same, worked fine too.

Anyone know of a metal worker/machinist who might be able to take on a small job?
I need about 4/5mm taken off some aluminium mating parts and it's difficult finding someone around London.

Any recommendations for layback seat posts with lots of layback without risking horrifying injury ?

https://freshtripe.co.uk/velo-orange-grand-cru-long-setback-seatpost/

Thanks - will try.

The BBC used to have a very posh politics expert, very distinctive looking and for the life of me I can't remember his name.

Does anyone know who I mean?

nick robinson?
andrew marr?