I hate

Stewart Lee did 'a' ar'icle (Nathan Barley reference) on this a few days ago.
Robert Smith ain't a fan of touts, which are apparently all bots anyway... Or sumfink

Driving/car hates in the I hate thread

I hate intolerance in the I hate thread.

I hate the way the cycle industry has treated its customer over the years. I suppose the motor industry is the same in that mechanics are made more challenging and everything is over-engineered to make you spend more money within that industry.

'Sorry mate, this has been machined so you can only run with this that' or 'You'll need a special tool for that, and that's £20'. Two years late, it's obsolete.

Here's an example; I've recently bought a second-hand CX bike. It came with a SRAM Force Chainset containing a 40T ring. As I am planning to use this bike on the road as well as off the road, I bought a SRAM Force 50T ring.

So, I've got the bike up on the workstand and have observed that the chainring bolts have allen key fittings on both sides; one side is 4mm, the other side requires a 5mm key and loosen when both allen keys are turned in opposing directions. I loosen off 4 of the bolts to find the 5mm side bolts have separate spacers so at this point I have 12 pieces of metal in my hand. I then turn to the bolt that attaches to the inside of the crank arm. This requires a TORX tool.

So, to recap, I need 3 tools, 2 hands and end up with 13 pieces of metal in my hand just to change a chainring.

The world's gone mad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tsk3zAZyLaQ

This is what I loved about building fixed gears.

You didn't have any of this nonsense.

Laughs in Miche

Italian for Edam

But I guess you did have to worry about BB spindle length, wheel dishing, chain pitch and bar width

I hate intolerance in the I hate thread.

No fighting in the war room!

You’d still have ten pieces of metal in your hand changing a chain ring on any track crank. And need two tools.

Read this quote from Margaret Drabble and thought it needed sharing

England is not a bad country — it’s just a mean, cold, ugly, divided, clapped-out, post-imperial, post-industrial slag heap covered in polystyrene hamburger cartons.

This is the shittest example ever. You require one extra tool and have three additional pieces of metal than the previous iteration. That doesn’t feel like it is the huge change in complexity you’re making it out to be.

Italian for Edam

Underrated 1-2 quick jab. Right in the labonza.

What is it about Facebook Marketplace that attracts total wasters?
I’m been after a few different things recently and sent out 12 messages to sellers, 7 of which haven’t replied. 5 of the items are still advertised for sale.
If I hadn’t got some proper bargains on that forum in the past I wouldn’t ever bother.
Tossers.

Thanks for your kind words!

No, two extra tools. You used to be able to simply use a 5mm allen key to release 5 chain ring bolts.

I was only trying to offer an example of over engineering.

You’d need to stabilise the rear chainring bolt, with one of those idiotic chainring bolt tools that would almost guarantee that your hand would slip and you’d cut your knuckles on the chainring before the 5 mm Allen key would undo them.

Honestly, whoever came up with the idea of switching the rear bolt to an allen key too deserves the eternal gratitude of the cycling maintenance community.

The double allen key bolts are a big improvement over the stupid butter knife/ flathead screwdriver/ silly bespoke chainring nut tool you used to need before - and an example of simplification since you surely already have an allen key set

Maybe he only had a 5 and had to supplement...

So much hate, in the hate thread.

Maybe find an appropriate thread....like the hate thread.

Wrong thread?

whoever came up with the idea of switching the rear bolt to an allen key too deserves the eternal gratitude of the cycling maintenance community.

Preach.

Yeah, I'm not sure who started with the 5/6mm allen chainring bolts (sex-bolts as I heard a fellow BMX kid in the 80s call them), but props to SRAM for making them something you're actually likely to come across. Shimano's fancy expensive 3D big rings with the torx bolts are better again, though... Although it would be nice if they used a softer thread-locking compound - I think one time it even actually ripped metal out of a female thread on me.

This is what I loved about building fixed gears.

You didn't have any of this nonsense.

You don't have anything! Nothing to sink my teeth into, too boring. A track bike is almost too simple to be called a machine; it's more of a pure concept, crystallised into a solid.

Sounds like this would be right up your street then
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MKNCKpfbLI

Hah, the complexity of that was hilarious! Hard to imagine Look got every one of those details right - is that brake cable clamped directly by a nasty little grub screw? Also lol at adjusting the brake with the wheel in crooked...

But yeah, I'd be in my happy place. Pretty damn into the full internal but rim brake vibe - don't mind if it's a bit of bastard to get the cables working smoothly as long as it's possible. For extra points I could try it first without looking at the instructions, or try to improve on the prescribed cable lengths...

Might have to get me one of those one day, largely for the fun of working on it. Just totally bananas.