Any question answered...

It is safe to use a 41 mm headset (take out spacer) on a 39 mm headset fork?

The Miche headset that came on the Balk is, even by my lowish standards, an eyesore.

Stripping an arione. Who's done it?

What's the current stem length?

I've got some spares kicking around, one 110mm and loads of 120mm if you want to test before committing.

Some old Pro PLT stem should do the trick, unless you're looking for a more aggressive -17mm stem.

thinking Thompson stem

Yes, the Thomson is an ideal stem for anybody who wants to spend 3 times the price of a superior forged stem.

All the Thomson stems I've ever bought have been via eBay.

All but one of the Thomson seatposts I've bought have been via eBay. The other was heavily discounted at CRC.

I would rep you if it were still a forum function.

I'll have to dig out my old copy,
recommended at secondary school for General Studies essays back in the '70s.

Meanwhile the pdf you found will be loaded onto sons laptop.

Does anyone make a 1" expander bung? My steerer is a bit on the short side, about 37mm, so can run a Thomson x2, but thought if am expander bung could give me an extra 2 or 3mm up top, would open up my options...

yeah, yeah

Any suggestions for the best free PDF program that allows you to manipulate PDFs. Inserting, re-ordering and deleting pages at least. OCR and watermarking would be nice.

I use jPDF at the moment which gets the job done but isn't the friendliest to use. Cheers

This stem is -6*.

So you want a longer stem with more than 6 degree angle. Perhaps a 10?

Look on Ribble for Pro PLT, ProVibe, 3T, Thomson, Zipp and Deda, Fizik.

IME the shiniest, most expensive aren't always the best.

Is it illegal to jump the ticket barrier at a train station if you DO have a valid ticket?

Probably not. Unless there is some weird railways byelaw.

Penalty fares are issued for the act of travelling without a valid ticket
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/46592.aspx

You can't get a penalty fare for hopping the barrier, but why would you do it if you have a valid ticket?

To stick it to the man, man.

To stop them tracking you...

Each time I go through the station on my commute I have to pass through the barriers 3 times. In an attempt to stop people passing their tickets back over the barrier for someone else to use, the barriers are limited to 2 ticket-reads per hour so I end up stuck on the inside of the barrier every time.

This means I have to go & queue with the people that didn't buy a ticket as they go through being served by one slow guard at the gates. Not a huge problem I know but it happens twice a day to most cyclists using the station & has caused me to miss the train a few times. I obviously wouldn't do it every time but when it's touch & go to catch the train it would be useful to just jump over since my ticket is definitely valid.

Cheers for the answers though.

@Lw. if you get stopped and they are extra anal then I'm sure they will claim you didn't validate your ticket somehow. Kinda like having a valid oyster but not touching in to use it. Most train operators have really weird terms and conditions so you are almost always in the wrong.

They'll probably let you off if you swan dive over the barriers and do a commando role on the other side.

Each time I go through the station on my commute I have to pass through the barriers 3 times.

Why? (Just out of interest...)

.

Somebody should ask tommy what he thinks about all this.

The staff have no powers to enforce anything

They've never had any powers.

Except since 1889...

@Lw.

Is it illegal to jump the ticket barrier at a train station if you DO have a valid ticket?

You're not Brazillian looking are you?

Somebody should ask tommy what he thinks about all this.

Why don't you ask him?