Any question answered...

oh wow

Why should I buy a Chris king headset?

Because you want to show off

You can sell it on for a tidy profit.

I've never used one - and I've never thought whatever headset I was riding needed improving on - just looked at them and was wondering how good a headset can be to pay that much for them.

wondering how good a headset can be to pay that much for them.

It can't really.

Ck headsets are one of the few over priced bike bits that I've been actually impressed by. I used on on my turbo bike being dripped sweat on regularly for a few years. I thought I should change the bearings, took it apart and they were still perfect, nothing got through the seal. Years ago I remember seeing a photo someone took of a bike they salvaged from a river, bike was fucked, rusted through but it had a CK headset that was still perfectly good, even still had grease inside.

That said, the bearings are not replaceable* so once you do manage to fuck them, bin and buy again.

*Technically you could get them out with a bearing puller or something but they're a pressfit in the cups so they're supposed to be in there for good.

I used to have a couple of pairs of 5/10 Minnaar shoes that were great (pre Adidas). Used to wear them all day as shoes and then be able to jump on, click into SPDs and ride home.

The 5/10s I’ve picked recently up seem really plasticky. Is there a current sort of stiff soled skate shoe with well recessed SPD clip that you wouldn’t mind walking into the casual office or pub in?

You can service them by popping the seals, cleaning and (obviously only using the special grease) regrease them though. But it's way easier to just whack new bearings into something cheaper and there's really no benefit in having such wonderfully engineered bearings in something that just goes left and right a little bit. Obviously if you've got the money for the hubs and want matchy matchy then they're very nice but completely unnecessary.

Am keen to hire a bike in France but am visiting a part that's not well serviced by hiring operators. Approaches I'm considering are as follows:

Contacting local cycle clubs asking them to put a message out to members
Looking to see if there's any Airbnbs for things in France (any suggestions?) which might enable hiring of bikes

Any other thoughts?

Buy a cheap bike and resell or donate when you leave?

Scrapping a car? Are those "Cars wanted" adverts any good or are they in any way dodgy?

Last year the garage said that my car (a 2001 Citroen Saxo) won't pass its next MOT due to corrosion - it was fine to drive for the last year according to them, but won't pass again, "Catastrophic failure" was their words.

So it's time to give it up. Insurance is due to expire Jun 25th and then MOT is due 1st July, so I want to aim to get rid of it on the 24th so that I can save the faff of insurance renewal (although it's just £157 for fully comp!), on street parking renewal, or dealing with it without an MOT (as it has to be stored on the road).

What I don't want to happen is that it gets sold to someone who then flogs it on to some poor sucker with only a few days left on the MOT.

I've no interest in trading it in as we're not replacing it (we'll just use public transport, Zipcars and hire cars from now).

Any suggestions or just call the first "Cars wanted for scrap" that I can see and find out what they'll give me for it? (Not expecting much more than £50.)

Are those "Cars wanted" adverts any good or are they in any way dodgy?

Is the advert on TV or a lamp post?

Stick it on ebay. That's what I did with my old Panda. Got tons of offers. Buyer came and took it away and all.

Any suggestions or just call the first "Cars wanted for scrap" that I can see and find out what they'll give me for it? (Not expecting much more than £50.)

Local breaker? I've had about £300 from breakers both times I've got rid of dead Berlingos. They take the reuseable parts and weigh in the rest at a metal recycler. A Saxo will be less because it's lighter, but I'd expect somebody to give me £100 and take it away. End-of-life cars are currently about £150-£160 per tonne as pure scrap, so if it's drivable and you have a local metal recycler, it might be worth asking if they'll take it and save yourself the deduction a breaker will necessarily make for picking it up.

See if any local bike shops in the area have anything, or know of anything?

Lamp post.

Just wondered if they were more often than not dodgy, and how.

wondered if they were more often than not dodgy, and how

Not dodgy, they just use people's laziness and ignorance to generate a margin by paying less than you'd get from a breaker or metal recycler. If they're paying you money, they're recouping it plus their profit by selling the thing on to a breaker or metal recycler. The dodgy end of disposal is people who want paying to take stuff away, you need to do your due diligence on them if you don't want your rubbish to be fly tipped.

Anyone on here that could turn some alu to make two 7" record adaptors for me?
Similar to the one photographed below but a few mm taken off the top and flattened. No where seems to stock the exact style I want, which would match my TT .

can anyone tell me what these are / how they are used?
They came (2 of them) with an old set of canti brakes. they have hole through the middle with a small hex grub screw so I expect they must clamp a cable but I'm not sure exactly here / how...

Cable hangers? For the cable to the two arms?

No, can’t be. Ignore me.

Cable clamp for one end of the straddle wire, a bit like so:

ah yes, that's it. thanks!

https://www.removemycar.co.uk/

I've used these before.
enter your car details and you get no obligation quotes from salvage dealers.
accept the best quote and they come and collect and give you some money.