Any question answered...

Yep. fractured my tail bone in new york by landing on top of my lock.

I once had a ulock in a lock holder. I hit a herrace fence, flipped over, landed on my back and the lock. fuck it hurt. carry lock on pannier, in bag or on frame

not looking any better for lock holsters then :-)

Im wondering if a padded bag would have helped at all. The Chrome is notoriously non padded

Ride with it on the outside of the bag? It'll still hurt but the contents of the bag will pad it out somewhat.

Hammerite's black smooth metal spray is utter shite. It's like piss, barely sticks to raw metal (directions say it's to be used on bare metal, no primer), runs, takes ages to dry and flakes off. Expensive to boot. I'm now going to spray regular Halford's black primer over the top, hoping to have the corrosion protection of Hammerite and the look/finish of the regular car paint. Should have powercoated and probably will at some point down the line when this paint gets too battered to bear.

some discussion here: http://www.lfgss.com/thread96322.html

I had some acceptable results on motorbike frames and multi coloured tanks using Smoothrite spray in the late 90's (before ICI acquired Finnigans) but not since it changed to a 'more environmentally friendly' i.e. soft as sh version**.

I'm not going to say "I told you so"

I switched from an aluminium Nitto B135 Rando bar to a steel Nitto B125 bar, and had been using a Dia-Compe 188 reverse brake lever in the end of the drops as in the picture below. When I tried to move the lever over, the internal diameter of the bar end of the new steel drops was too big, even though they both have an external clamp of 25.4mm. I am thinking the expander at the end of the lever may have bent/squished in past installation and a new lever might sort this. So the question: would a new lever (£20 for a pair) indeed sort this, or should I find a shim for inside the bars (a la beer can)? Since I remove the lever at the track this would not be a fit-and-forget application so a shim is a less attractive option. Anyone know, or absent facts have an opinion?

Ride with it on the outside of the bag? It'll still hurt but the contents of the bag will pad it out somewhat.

This may have been essence of the problem. Lack of padding and nothing else in the bag. It was pretty much empty apart from the mini-evo and a few bits and bobs on the pockets either side. The lock might as well have been duct taped to my back.

Took what would have been a minor tumble on Sat. Ended up not being so minor because I landed square on top of the mini-evo in my bag and ended up in A&E for the rest of the day checking for broken ribs
Anyway, this has convinced me to never want to carry a ulock close to my body ever again.
How about lock holsters? Anyone that uses one ever had the experience of falling on top of the hip with the lock between your body and the pavement?

I was carrying my hefty chain locked across my chest (ie - along the same line as my bag strap) when I got ran off the road.
Landed on it and broke 4 ribs (also bit clean through my lower lip and, curiously, tore tendons in my thumbs).

T'wasn't pretty.

Ambulance man who attended also said that he has lost a cyclist who was carrying a chain in such a way because they had to wait for the Fire Brigade to come and cut it off before they could treat the abdominal injuries.
Shit me up enough to put it in my bag now.

I'm not going to say "I told you so"

I did read that thread and based on it, avoided Plastic-kote and went for the Hammerite.

Does anyone have a torque wrench or torque screwdriver that I can borrow for a few days that does small amounts? I need one that does small forces - 9 and 10 Nm - and can take hex screwdriver bits.

Damn, some pretty nasty stories regarding crashes and bike locks. Is it worth a sticky thread about this as a word of warning?, or is that too H&S for Lfgss.

In a related question.

What is the best way to coat aluminium rims, and cranks, black. I have stripped the coating from my crank arms, and will do the same on my white rims. I was considering plasti coat. As its simple and cheap. I also considered getting a cheapish home powder coating gun off EBay. Which seemed like a fun thing to own. But I think I need to cook the powder coated parts, and my rims wont fit into my oven.

Any better suggestions?

Damn, some pretty nasty stories regarding crashes and bike locks. Is it worth a sticky thread about this as a word of warning?, or is that too H&S for Lfgss.

Theres quite a few things you would'nt want to land on during a tumble though.

I still think apple coring is well worth warning tape free hipsters about.

I once rode with a 6 pack of beer bottles under my arm, had a mild crash, and needed a shite load of stiches, as well as an emergency common sence transfusion.

I did read that thread and based on it, avoided Plastic-kote and went for the Hammerite.

Just read back - apologies for the apparent smugness, it was intended to be more of a commiseration.

FWIW the tree hugging version of Smoothrite appears to harden after a year or two - don't know whether it's time or (summer) temperature that makes the difference - but if you're going to strip it off, sooner is better than later. It might even come off with cellulose thinners if you catch it in the next few days? I've had problems with compatibility trying to overpaint the stuff...

...So the question: would a new lever (£20 for a pair) indeed sort this, or should I find a shim for inside the bars (a la beer can)? Since I remove the lever at the track this would not be a fit-and-forget application so a shim is a less attractive option...
I'd give the shim a go. If it works, you could glue it in place (inside the bar), thus causing less fiddlage at the track.

Yep. fractured my tail bone in new york by landing on top of my lock.

Apropos of nothing - when I damaged my coccyx the bruising was so bad that whenever I bent over and exposed my builder's crack it looked like I'd shat myself. Ah the memories.

I'd give the shim a go. If it works, you could glue it in place (inside the bar), thus causing less fiddlage at the track.

Double sided tape for shim attachment: less mess, no drying time, predictable thickness, easily removed with readily available solvents should the need arise. Works well enough mixing & matching 'classic' (i.e. not original and sometimes worn) motorcycle components.

Thanks will try the shim before looking at new lever options.

Does anyone have a torque wrench or torque screwdriver that I can borrow for a few days that does small amounts? I need one that does small forces - 9 and 10 Nm - and can take hex screwdriver bits.

I have a 5-25nm wrench one with 1/4" and 3/8" driver options. You can borrow it if you can find a socket that will take the screwdriver bits, I don't have one.

My 2-20 Nm Norbar wrench has a driver that will take standard hex bits if you want to borrow that Niall?

Have you done any calculations to see what sort of length frame you'd need in order to avoid toe-overlap with midfoot/28c/mudguards?

Nope. I wouldn't use front guard and probably wouldn't use 28mm front tyre. 25mm Durano is fat enough. I'd take whatever I get now from BB to front axle and try and get more than that by a few cm. The old 58cm Ribble would probably be good for this.

To be honest the idea of a posh indoor trainer is sounding more appealing than a new, crappy, sorry 'winter', bike.

58cm Trek District would give you ~60 cm between BB axle and front hub.

Yeah unfortunately if i mount it on the bottle cage mounts, I'll have to remove the bottle cage that was there, so I'd be down one bottle. Although it would look much nicer mounted there for sure...

Is that mount on backwards or something?
Or is the pump just too big to still fit a cage on?

Nope. I wouldn't use front guard and probably wouldn't use 28mm front tyre. 25mm Durano is fat enough. I'd take whatever I get now from BB to front axle and try and get more than that by a few cm. The old 58cm Ribble would probably be good for this.

To be honest the idea of a posh indoor trainer is sounding more appealing than a new, crappy, sorry 'winter', bike.

Nope. I wouldn't use front guard and probably wouldn't use 28mm front tyre. 25mm Durano is fat enough. I'd take whatever I get now from BB to front axle and try and get more than that by a few cm. The old 58cm Ribble would probably be good for this.

Saying that, I now realised that the Pearson Hanzo with it's slack 71.5 headtube could be idea to avoid toe overlap.