Any question answered...

looks like I might have to splash a bit of cash.

You should easily get enough for the doubletaps to cover new brake levers, so you'll actually be the one getting splashed. If you want to be even further ahead, get the S500s, the tiny benefit of 900s over 500s makes them well into #tartmode territory

Is this brake lever a rebadged tektro r200 / cane creek scr5?

https://www.richardsonsonline.co.uk/Catalogue/Components/Brakes/Brake-Levers/Drop-Bar-Levers/XLC-Road-Aero-Brake-Lever-Set-BL2500357000

Given that the rubbers are clearly embossed with the Tektro logo, I'm going to say yes. Also, XLC are not a manufacturer, so they must have got them from an actual manufacturer and Tektro would be any reasonable person's first port of call for brakes 🙂

clearly embossed with the Tektro logo
Ta, I thought so too, but it seemed a bit too convenient as I thought that model had been discontinued for a few years.

that model had been discontinued

As a Tektro aftermarket catalogue product - if they still have the tooling, I'm sure they'll happily take people's money for OEM runs

is that different to the Tektro RL340 then? (looks the same … and available from Spa Cycles for £17).

https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m7b0s103p2006/TEKTRO-RL340-RL341-Brake-Levers

is that different to the Tektro RL340

Yes, they are different shapes. If you wanted to characterise them, the R200 is more Campag and the RL340 is more Shimano

Easier to see in the big pix off of the Tektro site

2 Attachments

Confusingly, the RL341 seems to use the body of the old R200, not the longer squarer body of the RL340.

the tiny benefit of 900s over 500s makes them well into #tartmode territory

I'd convinced myself that I deserve something nice like the s900s, but you're right, I don't. Putting carbon levers on a mid-range steel frame and fork seems pretty stupid. Speaking of stupid, I sold some excellent condition s500 levers on here a couple of years ago for £25 (forum rate at the time), so it looks like I'll be standing in a puddle of my own splash.

Is it worth tarting up the deep drop calipers from Tektro to TRP, or does brake pad replacement (which I'd be doing anyway even with the TRP's) make the difference negligible?

Tektros work fine with decent pads and cables, but TRP are worth the upgrade in my opinion, especially if you can get a set on here.
Tartmode is fine, it's your bike, spend as you see fit.

Yeah, thanks. Reading more about the TRP's, it seems like they are designed to be more durable than the Tektros, so they seem a reasonable investment. I guess Tester's point about the s900s is that they provide no functional upgrade in terms of mechanics or durability and the only real difference is £. A fair point considering the cost of the s900s is roughly equivalent to value of the frame (a 14 year old Paddy Wagon).

Yeah as @gbj_tester says they're different hood shapes.

I like the R200 shape because it matches the cane creek tandem stoker levers, which means you can run a real lever one side and a stoker hood on the other on a fixed front-brake-only fixed.

Confusingly, the RL341 seems to use the body of the old R200, not the longer squarer body of the RL340

Looks that way to me too, but to create further confusion some retailers claim the hood shape is the same, for example Velo Orange and Cycle Clinic.
https://velo-orange.com/products/tektro-r341-aero-brake-levers-for-small-hands

These RL341 levers use the same body as the RL340s, but a different lever blade

Ah, interesting about the stoker hood match.

@gbj_tester cheers for the explanation up there.

Because I needed a quick fix, I just hit BUY on the 340 last week and didn’t bother comparing the two levers side by side. I was also a bit surprised to see that they are different yet again to the 520s I have on my bike with v-brakes. The 340 is okay, 341 probably would have suited me better but eh whatyergonnado.

I'm almost out of nail varnish remover so thought I'd get some actual isopropyl acetone this time.

Anyone know where the cheapest place to get a bulk quantity?

(average domestic bulk size, rather than domestic terrorist bulk size)

Cheers

Edit: hang on, are isopropyl acetone and isopropyl alcohol two different things? And which one do I want?

Isopropanol or acetone? What are you looking to do with it? Nail varnish remover will be acetone or ethyl acetate, so I suspect you mean acetone.

Edit - you must have edited before I replied

They both should be pretty readily available in 1L bottles (or bigger).

Quick Google search reveals the below (I looked in the RS catalogue and the prices were, erm, inflated).

try here for acetone:
https://apcpure.com/product/acetone-99-5-bp-conforms-to-bs509/?attribute_pack-size=500ml&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqu3U0NvC9QIVvey1Ch0M_wVLEAQYCiABEgIk5_D_BwE

or here for IPA (though you probably don't need ACS reagent grade):
https://apcpure.com/product/isopropyl-alcohol-99-9-acs/

Edit - Even Am*zon will sell you some, apparently.

But make sure you dispose of solvents correctly - talk to painters, other trades, etc. as they usually have to dispose of them.

I'm looking to buy a second hand duel fuel stove. Any reason from a safety perspective I can't/shouldn't transport it horizontally in the back of a car? I don't believe there are any hugely delicate internals that could be fucked by lying down for a couple hours but would love to hear if anyone knows otherwise. It would be a relatively expensive mistake in both time and money if I got it home to find it didn't work....

Cheers.

Evaporation is my main method of disposal.

car

Have you checked the weight?

You haven't said how big it is, but a standard middle class wood burner weighs a fuckload. So double check the weight capacity of your vehicle and that you'll be able to slide it out the boot rather than having to lift it over a sill(sp?).

Or borrow someone else's vehicle.

I think I could have said 'oven/range' rather than stove. It's one of these, 72kg so weight not a problem, it's more whether any damage could be done to the oven/range itself from being laid down?

https://www.safeerappliances.co.uk/products/smeg-symphony-sy62mx8-dual-fuel-cooker-stainless-steel

Sorry my mistake.

damage could be done

The actual change of orientation won't break anything, but trying to get something that big and heavy into a car could damage you, the car and the appliance. Get a van, it's what they are for.

Hiring a van would negate the financial advantage of the particular deal I've found and I'd still have to lift it in! Hiring a van with a tail-list would be massively overkill. Is rotating a 72kg lump over a boot-lip really likely to do me or the car that much damage?

Today on my run I was accosted by a woman on a horse who demanded that I not run laps up and down “her driveway”. The track in question is a paved farm access road with a footpath running the whole length and a riding stable at the end. I pointed this out and a long debate ensued about the rights and wrongs of public access. I emphatically reject most of her arguments (tractors will run me over, my high viz tshirt and trundling red buggy scares wildlife, the village is getting ruined by newcomer townies etc) but her main point was less clear cut…

Her primary argument was that a) me running with my buggy scares horses and b) that many of the horse/rider combinations are vulnerable in some way (eg someone was about to take a “half doped up” horse out, or her daughter was about to go out on a particularly skittish race horse that they weren’t sure she could handle).

These have given me pause for thought and firstly I think point “a” is in most cases simply wrong… we often meet other horses, we stop and walk past courteously and none have ever expressed concern. If we are a hazard to horses then it seems to only apply to the most skittish cases. Point “b” however is more complex - a skittish horse would be dangerous to both me (and my baby) and the rider. I wouldn’t want to go victim blaming if a rider had an accident inadvertently caused by me, but surely people shouldn’t ride potentially dangerous horses (or horses that are beyond their skill level) in public areas, especially if that horse might be a danger to other people? Since getting home I’ve checked and I feel vindicated by the new Highway Code which explicitly places pedestrians above horses in the hierarchy of vulnerability stating that horse riders have responsibility to avoid dangers to pedestrians (and cyclists for that matter). That doesn’t give me free reign to be a dick around horses but so long as I am reasonable and courteous, it’s not on me to stop running on a public footpath because it scares her horses?

Not much of a question, just a rant, so have I missed something or made an error of interpretation? It wasn’t only me, I also heard her berating another woman running with a buggy who happened to be nearby.

If it is a public footpath then you have a legal right to be there. If a horse is half doped up or skittish or can't be handled then it shouldn't be on a public footpath in the same way a farmer isn't allowed to keep a dangerous bull in a field with a footpath running across it. The local council should have a footpaths officer/department and you should report the incident to them for them to speak to the farmer.

it’s not on me to stop running on a public footpath because it scares her horses?

I wouldn't run close past the horse just like I would slow down and overtake widely in a car.