Tip Top Top Tips & Little tricks..

Buy tools and components intended for the purpose you need them for. Then use them for their intended purpose.

Are you tired of always having to look for your tools? Does it seem like the one you need is always missing?

There is no practicable solution to this, so just deal with it!

If you telecommute and have voice conferences, get a wireless headset so you can work on your bike on company time. Remember the mute-button.

Plastic bag stuffed under your saddle, so when you have to lock it up in the rain it'll be dry when you come back.

struggling here..

when you split finger ends on full finger gloves (happens all the time to me) - cut all the fingers down and keep em for summer gloves

When I was riding a conversion, a little bit of black insulation tape over the rear brake hole stopped a lot of crap being thrown in from the tyre.

If you use Raceblades, keep spare lengths of the elastics (pre-cut to the desired length) in your toolbag.

In the mess of spanners in my toolbox I can see the 15mm at a glance as I gave it insulation tape stripes.

When you need a tool, buy it; there's nothing better than having a collection. Then you can smugly lend people tools and be like 'oh you should buy tools'

One more thing for any new London riders reading this, DON'T USE A FUCKING CABLE LOCK!

Most puncture repair kits have patches that are too big for your 23c inner tube. Cut the patches in half/quarters and save yourself some frustration on the road.

Do I even need to say that obviously you shouldn't cut ALL patches as sometimes you will get a big tear blah blah?

Don't listen to advice.
If you don't make mistakes, you never really learn.

When I was riding a conversion, a little bit of black insulation tape over the rear brake hole stopped a lot of crap being thrown in from the tyre.
Can you emplain this in slightly more detail. Sounds interesting though not sure what you mean...

If it ain't broke, don't fix it...
...but you always have the option to break it first yourself.

Can you emplain this in slightly more detail. Sounds interesting though not sure what you mean...

Exposed brake hole from removing rear brake, riding in the wet without full mudguards, rear tyre throws wet crap into hole which probably isn't good for the frame. A neat piece of electrical tape covered it up. Actually it was so neat it looked like there was no hole at all (black tape on black frame)

A rule for remembering left-hand threads:
If it is near your drivetrain and is not the fixed sprocket lockring; think hard should normal use loosen it, if it had right-hand thread. The right answer is the opposite of what you just thought.

Exposed brake hole from removing rear brake, riding in the wet without full mudguards, rear tyre throws wet crap into hole which probably isn't good for the frame. A neat piece of electrical tape covered it up. Actually it was so neat it looked like there was no hole at all (black tape on black frame)
Damn... Not what i was thinking... I was hoping it was an impromptu mud flap to stop my bum getting wet...

A rule for remembering left-hand threads:
If it is near your drivetrain and is not the fixed sprocket lockring; think hard should normal use loosen it, if it had right-hand thread. The right answer is the opposite of what you just thought.

I'm sure this could be put more succinctly... :)

I always just remember: pedals tighten towards the front, BB tightens towards the rear.

I'm sure this could be put more succinctly... :)

I always just remember: pedals tighten towards the front, BB tightens towards the rear.

Wow, so the pedals tighten in the same direction in relation to the frame, but in opposite directions in relation to themselves. A mind boggle!

I suggest Nobel Prize of bicycle mechanics for hanged_up.

You can make any garment or any part of any garment a rain garment by applying duct tape on the surface of said garment.

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '99: Wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you can imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blind side you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't know.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And then you do you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look like 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it.

Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more that it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.
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you don't need to salt aubergines anymore. the bitterness has been bred out of them.

it's possible to do some restriction digests in the microwave and not a 37 degree water bath. saving you over an hour.

don't skip on sonicating gold beads and DNA.

Salting aubergines is done to remove excess water.

Something useful if you are trying to make crispy aubergine fritters.

Photoben, did you really just write all of that?

Very insightful. Top stuff there. Most of them have eluded me, but im working on it.

Ladies and gentlemen blah blah blah .... sunscree.

Wise old head on young shoulders

Photoben, did you really just write all of that?

Very insightful. Top stuff there. Most of them have eluded me, but im working on it.

Baz Luhrmann innit.
Although he stoled it from someone else.

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The capital-T Truth is about life BEFORE death.
](http://web.archive.org/web/20080213082423/http://www.marginalia.org/dfw_kenyon_commencement.html)

Said by someone much much much smarter than me.

never, under any circumstances - attempt to eat an entire washing bowl filled with butterscotch flavoured angel delight. it'll end in tears.

Sunscreen causes cancer.

everything causes cancer