Any question answered...

So much play that the cups are rubbing on the axle? Can you make the play go away? What happens then?
Dustcaps / labyrinth seals mis-installed and rubbing?
Cup and cone bearings just aren't that great?

Cup&cone bearings are fine.

It could be your races are worn (the bit in the hub)

Suggest a good song to sing which is restricted to but makes the most of, the range between Ab below C3, to C4.

axle bent?

If it's just down to poor bearing surfaces, and you have far more time than sense, try stripping all the grease out, then repack with a bit of toothpaste. Spend a couple of hours spinning the wheel, changing how you hold it so it wears evenly. With luck this will bring the bearings and races up to a mirror finish. Clean thoroughly and reassemble, keeping track of which bearings go with which cup and cone. (Has worked for me, but really not worth the effort.)

can some one please recommend me a good waterproof rack bag?

Never had a leak with Ortlieb, but holy hell they are expensive.

i don't need it to be super duper water proof just mostly waterproof.

i was looking at something like this

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/altura-dryline-rack-pack/

that'll be fine, I used to have a carradice one that come with a yellow waterproof cover, very useful to keep the bag dry.

can some one please recommend me a good waterproof rack bag?

Lidl did some Ortleib clones for the past 3 years or so. This year was the first year they had a different (inferior) design.

I have several of them, just as good as ortleib. You can see if you can find some second hand, they were labelled "pro cycle".

QI says I'm right.

I agree with you.

Its like a cadburys whisper innt. They sell a foamed chocolate spread up here. Tastes amazing, and thats compared to the exact same spread in an unfoamed state.

Science^

i don't need it to be super duper water proof just mostly waterproof.

i was looking at something like this

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/altura-dryline-rack-pack/

OverBoard do great waterproof stuff. I have rear + front panniers, and a barbag on the way.
http://www.mytravelbits.co.uk/search_results.php?keywords=overboard&x=0&y=0

Are Token bottom brackets any good? Wondering about what budget options I have for an english threaded ISO BB. The Campag Veloce BB for £20 seems OK, but Token have a few options at £30 which sound OK too.

I have a token ceramic BB with Ti axle together with my Campag Pista cranks. Its a very nice BB.

I'm guessing that's a bit more than their £20-30 options!

I've been using one of the cheaper token BBs for a couple of months, seems fine.

axle bent?

If it's just down to poor bearing surfaces, and you have far more time than sense, try stripping all the grease out, then repack with a bit of toothpaste. Spend a couple of hours spinning the wheel, changing how you hold it so it wears evenly. With luck this will bring the bearings and races up to a mirror finish. Clean thoroughly and reassemble, keeping track of which bearings go with which cup and cone. (Has worked for me, but really not worth the effort.)

amazing. not sure I can be arsed, but good to know! I knew toothpaste polished silver up nicely, didn't know it worked with other metals.

So much play that the cups are rubbing on the axle? Can you make the play go away? What happens then?
Dustcaps / labyrinth seals mis-installed and rubbing?
Cup and cone bearings just aren't that great?

varying play makes no difference.
not sure I have any of these...
mebbe.

Will putting v brake pads on the crappy single pull flexy tinfoil punched brake callipers on my shopper bike improve braking performance?

Will putting v brake pads on the crappy single pull flexy tinfoil punched brake callipers on my shopper bike improve braking performance?

If they are BETTER pads they may slightly. But in my experience the pads on basic side pull calipers are very soft which helps them stick to the rim with inferior clamping force. Soft pads also stick better to chrome rims.

V brake pads are generally harder compound, to both last longer and work better with the greater clamping force and alloy machined rims.

I'll just leave them as is then, thanks

best bullhorn* + brake levers that go at the bar-end but don't plug in** combo?

• pref available in silver (the bars, not bothered about the levers)
  ** I haz bar-end shifter
  

best bullhorn* + brake levers that go at the bar-end but don't plug in** combo?

• pref available in silver (the bars, not bothered about the levers)
  ** I haz bar-end shifter
  
  
  

I dont think there is any such thing. If you dont want them to go IN the bars. You have to use a regular flat bar level clamped to the end.

I see what you want to do, but I think a downtube shifter would look/work better. Also you might run into problems with the bare end shifter where the cable comes out goes straight at where you want to put your brake lever.

Like so -

No real way of avoiding that without putting your levers/shifter on a wonk.

There are notches (dents?) in the rails on my Flite Alpes (so basically a classic flight) from the saddle slipping back in the post and the front edge of the clamp marking them. The saddle has now been moved forwards another 10mm or so, so the clamp is no long applying pressure to the notches.

Two questions:

1. How likely are the saddle rails to fail (it's on a MTB)
   
2. When they fail, is it more likely to be in a "christ, that's snapped/bent, need to change it" or "There goes my anal viginity, call an ambulance"
   

It won't be too bad when/if it breaks because the rear half of the rails will still be attached to the saddle and the clamp.

Without seeing the damage I wouldn't say its that likely to fail. The rails on my SLR were kinked, I rode on it for 2yrs without problems until I crashed and it folded.