Any question answered...

make sure you rotoscope the cog on...

Not sure how this would help
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotoscoping
But if it distracts him from rotafixing at least it will save his hub threads from premature destruction.

No lockring on the track is OK because if you kick back hard enough to remove the sprocket on track gearing, you either have crashed or are just about to.

Rotafixing is bad because it gives an entirely false sense of security and can easily damage threads, which are marginal for strength anyway. The 1.37"x24 sprocket thread may well be the last bit of bad design from the dawn of cycling history we're still using.

If you're in need of a laugh, go to the Tartan Weaving Mill & Exhibition, its so bad it's funny.

this

Am off to Edinburgh tomorrow for 4 nights for a bit of a mini-break type scenario.

what should HatBroad and I do while we're there*

I think deep fried pizza supper or similiar is definitely going to have to be on the list. any recommendations for places where i can stop my heart with fried food near to the city centre?

*asides from freeze our bits off obvs.

There's a chipper on the Royal Mile, head towards the castle from Cockburn Street, it is a stone's throw away from Hunter Square. You can get all sorts of fried nonsense from there.

Go to the Dean Gallery. Amazing building. [ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Gallery[/ame]

Most of the other stuff to do involves history. If you're not interested in history, you might as well just go to the pub. If you are interested in history, start at one end of the Royal Mile and walk along it. There is all sorts of historical shit there. They do ghost tours which involve people jumping out at you with Scream masks on but they are quite good for the gory bits of history like Burke and Hare and all them people locked in the graveyard and plague etc etc. Do visit the Vaults if you like underground stuff as they are great. Not as good as the Paris Catacombs but still great.

If you like comedy, go to The Stand: http://www.thestand.co.uk/

For the full authentic experience buy a bottle of Buckfast to share and drink it while loitering in The Meadows, reliving the events of cult hit Scottish junkie movie, Blade Runner.

Am off to Edinburgh tomorrow for 4 nights for a bit of a mini-break type scenario.

what should HatBroad and I do while we're there*

I think deep fried pizza supper or similiar is definitely going to have to be on the list. any recommendations for places where i can stop my heart with fried food near to the city centre?

*asides from freeze our bits off obvs.

Go to Lebowskis - A Big Lebowski themed bar with a White Russian menu and lots of other nice cocktails and it's a good bar.

The viewpoint next to the Forth Road Bridge was pretty epic but then I'm a sucker for a sea view and big structures.

Oh, also, the best pub is The Last Drop on the Grassmarket. There is History attached to it.

cheers all. some great suggestions so far.

I can't see the wood for the trees any longer.

Switching road frames and groupsets - Shimano for Campag, both shells Italian threaded, both double cranks. Was running an 118mm UN54 pulling 6 speeds - from what I can tell Campag come no wider than 115mm, which are for triples.

I'll have a double crank pulling 8 speed - is there an obvious penalty I can't think of from using a double crank on a triple BB? In any event 115mm sounds too narrow, unless I'm missing an appropriate, wider Campag spindle? I know I could use another brand but would prefer Campag for consistency. Will their 115mm be fine for a double?

My campag doubles run a 102mm bottom bracket, although I believe older ones used to run a 111mm. I f you run a 115 I would imagine you will have problems with your chainline.

Depends on which Campag cranks you're using, some were made for 102mm bb axle on doubles. Campagnolo.com has catalogues, instructions and parts lists back to the mid 90s, so check on there what you need.

Will do, thanks both.

For all those interested, and by that I mean me, Athena requires 111mm. I discounted that as it's the width I run fixed so couldn't have imagined using the same for a road-double, especially when I'd previously been using 118mm for a Shimano double without issue. But there you go.

I have an Alfine 8 hub and it seems a lot of the time when I ease of the pedals in certain gears, it re-engages about 2 gears lower and I start spinning/hit my knees etc as it takes me totally by surprise, it was adjusted perfectly (aligned the green dots), and it was doing it mainly in 4th gear, but I figured the dots may not be that accurate and have been constantly fiddling since, adjusting cable tension only seems to change the gear that this happens in, what is the problem? It must have only covered ~300 miles since new...

I have a ten speed Shimano groupset so 10 speed chain, but the only crankset I have is a 2300 8 speed. Is this going to work? Are the teeth really going to be too wide to fit into the chain? I am not at home, but just realised the mismatch - when I get home I will try the chain to see if it does fit. BUt even if it does, will it work properly?

Khornight2: possibly a rootkit? have you any av or antispyware software on there at all?

You could start by running netstat -a in a command window and see if there are any processes sending out loads of packets. Trojans/Rootkits tend to use your computer to send out spam and this slows the system down horrendously. If the computer is fine in Ubuntu and not in Windows its a tell tale sign.

For all those interested, and by that I mean me, Athena requires 111mm. I discounted that as it's the width I run fixed so couldn't have imagined using the same for a road-double, especially when I'd previously been using 118mm for a Shimano double without issue. But there you go.

Indeed, Campag Pista cranks run on 111mm BBs. As did lower end road doubles like Veloce, Mirage and Centaur. You could also run a triple on a 111mm BB, assuming you had a fairly narrow seat tube.

The 1.37"x24 sprocket thread may well be the last bit of bad design from the dawn of cycling history we're still using.

Would a courser pitch be better suited you think? Or are you saying other methods (bolt ons?) are a better solution.

I have a ten speed Shimano groupset so 10 speed chain, but the only crankset I have is a 2300 8 speed. Is this going to work? Are the teeth really going to be too wide to fit into the chain? I am not at home, but just realised the mismatch - when I get home I will try the chain to see if it does fit. BUt even if it does, will it work properly?

Possibly, depends how wide the chainring is on the 8speed crankset. Wrap the 10speed chain around it and see if it binds?

Possibly, depends how wide the chainring is on the 8speed crankset. Wrap the 10speed chain around it and see if it binds?

Yeah, I will try that when I get home. I wonder too if the amount that the 10 speed front mech moves will match the spacing between the eight speed chainrings.

other methods (bolt ons?)

Splines plus cassette style lockring.

Especially the halo ones.

I have an Alfine 8 hub and it seems a lot of the time when I ease off the pedals in certain gears, it re-engages about 2 gears lower and I start spinning/hit my knees etc as it takes me totally by surprise, it was adjusted perfectly (aligned the green dots), and it was doing it mainly in 4th gear, but I figured the dots may not be that accurate and have been constantly fiddling since, adjusting cable tension only seems to change the gear that this happens in, what is the problem? It must have only covered ~300 miles since new...

The various service instructions i can find mention red dots, yellow dots, and yellow setting lines, but not green dots. The dots are for attaching the 'cassette joint' to the hub. Cable tension is set by installing the clamp at a fixed distance from the end of the outer with the shifter set to 1, then fine tuning so the yellow setting lines match while in gear 4. Are they what you're referring to?

http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/SI/Alfine/SL-S500/SI-6M20A-001-ENG_v1_m56577569830657998.pdf
http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/SI/Alfine/SGS500/35Z0C-001_SG-S500-EN_v1_m56577569830613357.pdf

When you say adjusting the tension just changes the gear that slips, are you talking about large adjustments that change which shifter settings correspond to which gears at the hub, or small adjustments? If the latter, this could be a sign that the cable is not following the correct winding path at one end or the other so you're not getting quite the right cable pull ratio. e.g. the note on point 9 of the first service instruction, or maybe some build-up in the slot the cable's wound into.

How is gear 5? And 8? Could it be that gears 2-4 slip down into 1 (and 6-8 into 5)? That would be one of the roller clutches slipping, and re-lubrication might be the answer.

(My practical experience is limited to older Sturmey Archer hubs, but i've spent many fascinated hours on the web trying to understand modern hubs gears.)

The scroll wheel on my (very cheap) mouse has given up the ghost, it just makes the screen dance around. Is it worth popping it apart and seeing if there is any fluff/food/insects on the encoder, or is it new mouse time?

Not sure how this would help
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotoscoping
But if it distracts him from rotafixing at least it will save his hub threads from premature destruction.

I wish I could blame the rotofix/scope mix up on my spell checker, but totally my head.

Although i don't doubt your knowledge, my experience runs totally counter to what you are saying in that the three hubs I've threaded weren't rotofixed, and the last four cogs I have rotofixed are still fine... Two of the threaded hubs being system x and two of the hubs which are fine being system x... Not a statistically relevant number I'll grant you, but still odd.

None the less I recant my suggestion of rotoscoping (sic) if you think it's a bad idea.

Khornight2: possibly a rootkit? have you any av or antispyware software on there at all?

You could start by running netstat -a in a command window and see if there are any processes sending out loads of packets. Trojans/Rootkits tend to use your computer to send out spam and this slows the system down horrendously. If the computer is fine in Ubuntu and not in Windows its a tell tale sign.

Thing is, it's still buggered in safe mode, which does mean no Internet.

But I'll work from that end and see what I can find.

Cheers

My housemate is looking to replace her really crap old mountain bike with something that doesn't sound and feel as if it's about to fall apart. She wants to spend no more than £150, wants something easy to maintain and that can get her to and from work (6 mile round journey) easily. She likes hybrids and doesn't want anything "racy or girly".

Where should I suggest looking? She went to Halfords the other day - I wouldn't buy from there myself but would this be fine for her? I have no idea about these sorts of bikes but would really like her to stop riding her current bike asap.

Thanks...

Decathlon