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Many thanks to @superbagneres who sent me (i.e. to France) a small and unobtainable Shimano small part out of the goodness of his heart and out of his own pocket!

Thanks so much, it's been driving me a bit mad. I'll PM you!

Is anybody planning on ordering on SJS soon and feeling very charitable? I need to order this little thing, but I live in France, so shipping would be 17£.

Could anyone simply send it to me via a small envelope, which I'm sure will cost, all included, a fourth of what SJS is asking? I'll PayPal you, ofc.

I've tried 4 different local shops, and none of them have a broken right shifter I could gut. They couldn't find the part on Shimano's B2B website either, even with the part number provided by SJS. The Shimano sales rep they had on the phone told them that nobody has ever ordered that part in the world, so there's that...

I am a bit confused as I know Di2, but not EPS. Let me know if I'm getting that correctly: you can fit the cable through the hole from the outside, but then you're left with a connector that you can't reach, somewhere in the middle of the chainstay.

If I got that right, I have two suggestions :

• if that big connector can fit through the hole, which don't you add an extension cable, and then feed the whole thing through? Alternatively, if it is possible to disconnect the cable from the battery, use that instead? This seems obvious so I'm sure there's a reason it won't work, but I'm curious to know why!
  
• Make two tools out of a wire hanger. What I have in mind is a long straight section, with a loop at the end that could go behing the connector, so you can hold it in place. Then, same tool for the cable coming from the battery, so you can push the connector from the battery into the one from the derailleur inside the chainstay. If that's not clear I can make a basic drawing, let me know!
  

You can't re-radius stainless steel mudguards anyway. I've tried with no success, and emailed Berthoud about that, who confirmed that without specialized tools you can't re-radius them like you can with aluminium ones.

And don't mount them with stress like I did (i.e. don't push or pull them into place with the struts), they will crack.

Re-read it once or twice, I'm sure you'll figure it out!

Don't you dare disrespect Homogenic like that!

Atopos struck me as very self-caricatural though, even though I don't dislike it. Biophilia left me with the same impression. I haven't listened to her work since, so I might be terribly wrong, but I feel the very minimalist production puts the emphasis on her vocal idiosyncrasies, which makes every recent song of hers sound very similar and, as written above, caricatural.

For commuting or as a backup, very happy with my Cateye GVolt 50 on the front and Lezyne Strip Drive Pro on the rear, and I tend to be very particular when it comes to bike stuff. Let me know if you need a full review. They're not exactly small though, so as a backup for audax I just take a dainty Decathlon light and hope for the best.

An option to consider might be the Elkhorn by Old Man Mountain.

Thanks a lot for your input! If the framebuilders I got in touch with can stay in that price range, that'd be a huge relief.

(Sorry if there's a better thread for this, wasn't sure where to put it).

My very shitty year doesn't look like it's ending anytime soon. Today, I rear-ended a car that stopped abruptly in front of me (my fault entirely, I know) and completely destroyed the downtube of my high-end steel frame, and, I assume, the toptube as well (though it doesn't show any visible dent, it looks ever so slightly bent, so it probably is).

Did any of you have a front triangle completely replaced (without any modification to the geometry), and if so, how much did it cost? Please let me know whether your price includes paint.

I'm currently very broke and unemployed, so I'm trying to evaluate my options, i.e. will I be able to afford a repair in a semi-distant future, and is it even interesting financially vs buying a whole new frame.

I've sent a flurry of emails to local (i.e. French) framebuilders, but they generally take a while to reply. As my brain is racing through the options, it'd help if I could have an idea of the average cost of the repair right now.

Tubing was Velospec 75, with the following characteristics :
Top tube 28,6mm - Velospec 75 - 0.7/0.4/0.7 mm
Down tube 38,1mm - 0.7/0.4/0.7mm
Head tube 44 mm - CrMo CNC

Frameset (CK headset and noname carbon fork included) was 1594€ (in December 2020, when I bought it), if that matters.

So, after rambling in the bikepacking thread, I'm seriously considering adding a rear rack to my audax bike. Something like a Tubus Fly, mounted on standard eyelets. I'll be using micro-panniers (I'll probably have to make them myself), and I don't think the load will exceed 5 kg (and will probably bit a fair bit less).

Will this change the supposedly magical ride quality of my high-end steel frame? Because of either the weight itself, or the fact that the rack itself might stiffen the rear triangle (not sure if that can actually play a role!).

Here are the tubing specs, for those with a lot of framebuilding experience :

• Top tube 28,6mm - Velospec 75 - 0.7 x 0.4 x 0.7 mm
  
• Seat Tube 28,6mm - Velospec 75 - 0.85 x 0.6 mm
  
• Down tube 38,1mm - Velospec 75 - 0.7 x 0.4 x 0.7mm
  
• Head tube 44 mm - CrMo CNC
  
• Chain Stays - CrMo - 425 mm length
  
• Seat Stays - CrMo - 10 x 0.9 mm
  
  

Here's what it looks like, except I've had standard rear rack eyelets brazed on the dropouts and at the top of the seatstays (and I have a generic carbon fork). As you can see, the seatstays are very thin.

You're right, I looked at the pictures a bit too quickly. Once modded, it could be an option to accomodate a small dry bag. I'll think about it though, to be honest, I just find it ugly as fuck.

Having looked a bit better at the attachment system, I don't think so! Maybe by running a cord through the slots made for the waist strap?

I said Ortlieb AP because I saw some people on bikepacking.com doing that, but if there's no good way to attach them properly to the rack, I'll just sew my own.

Fair enough then! I'd still need loops for my saddle (I'm using a SMP Vulkor), but honestly if I end up using a standard rear rack like you, I'll just put micro-panniers on each side rather than a Carradice-style saddlebag.

I also like stiffeners in my bags, but the Zeitgeist already had one :)

You'll regret asking me to elaborate, I tend to be a little too loquacious on bike forums ;)

I tried a Swift Zeitgeist on a Bagman Expedition QR support, on a 200k and a 300k.

Regarding the bag:

• It fit everything I needed, however the bungee cord opening makes it difficult to access the contents. Having a single huge space makes it a pain in the ass to find anything. Basically, I'd prefer a bag with a U-shaped zipper (and maybe a storm flap, for style) that allows it to open completely, and movable, internal dividers (like a photography bag).
  
• Because the weight is placed fairly high and the bag is wider than my handlebars, it makes it difficult to rest the bike somewhere and look into the contents of the bag. It's a detail, but an important one during audaxes for me.
  
  

All of this could be fixed by having a custom bag made. However, my main criticisms are about the Carradice Bagman:

• The clamp is huge and limits the range of adjustment of the saddle. I don't want to start relying heavily on a support that I might have to get rid off in the future because of bike fit. I'm seeing a fitter in September: if he brings my saddle forward by more than 3 mm, I just won't be able to fit a Bagman anymore.
  
• It's made my saddle move backwards several times, on a properly torqued Thomson Elite. I'm not sure whether it's a slow process due to the vibrations, or something that happens when I hit a big bump, but I'm not willing to buy the additional struts to find out, due to my other concerns listed above.
  
  

I know alternatives exist, such as the SQR from Carradice or the Unirack from Manivelle, but given that my thighs are touching a seatpack, I'm fairly certain they'll touch these supports as well.

@Tijmen : Thanks! I had considered it but decided against it because it still touches the seatpost, so I don't think it'll solve the issue. My thighs are avoiding my seatpost by less than 5 mm on each side, basically.

@Samuli: Oh yeah, the Gondola might be perfect. Unfortunately I can't find a shop in EU that sells it (I'd want to try it and return it if it doesn't work for me) :/

I might actually go with a rear rack and slap Ortlieb accessory packs on each side... It seems that's what every ultra racer is doing with the Tailfin rack nowadays anyway.

If for some reason nobody wants to pick it up and you can ship to France, I'll take it (I'll pay for shipping, obv). Beautiful frame at a very nice price, glws.

I'll make sure to consider it after my next move ;)

All jokes aside, my dad owns a Cincinatti lathe and a mill, wish he'd put them back in working order, alas I'm too far away to help him!

The back of my thighs is hitting my small Zefal seat pack. Am I the only one with this problem? It's fairly narrow (6 cm wide where it attaches to the seatpost).

Is there by any chance a commercially available seatpack that'd sit way further back? Not anything too big, 5L would be perfect. I tried putting foam spacers between the Zefal and my seatpost, but even with 4 cm of spacers this isn't enough, thighs are still rubbing. Any more than that and the attachment system doesn't work anymore.

I'm not interested in Carradice-like saddlebags, I dislike them for other reasons, but that's for another post ;)

The cheapest set I can find online in France (19 bits, TiN coated HSS) is 86€. Is that normal?

Gotcha about the leather. I have a few pieces of wood laying around, a cutting mat and some EVA foam, so I think I'll be fine for now.

And yes, a pillar drill would be dreamy, but alas as an apartment dweller who greatly needs to reduce the amount of things he owns, I'll stick with the hand drill for now. It's also not super practical for mudguards, we have two big ones at work and I couldn't drill them with the pillar drill, I think the curvature made it impossible because it was hitting the body of the drill.

I was hoping I could get by with a pointy bit at the end of my Ikea screwdriver for now, but if it doesn't fare well I'll definitely buy a spring punch, I like them too :) I've been meaning to buy a single sheet of thick leather for a while, but I think it makes more sense for me (in terms of cost) to just buy 5 or 10 VO leather spacers instead of leather + a punch.
I won't be fitting that many metal fenders really, 2 pairs at most in the foreseeable future, but I want to fit them properly because the half-assed job I did with my previous Berthoud just led to them cracking within 2 years. I will buy VO ones this time and plan to adjust their radius by hand.

Thanks for the discussion about drill bits, though I feel a bit overwhelmed by all the different possibilities. I think I'm just gonna go with a fairly basic Bosch HSS-G kit for now, as I'll be using them exclusively on a hand drill and, really, they won't see much use.

Thanks for the recommandation @dbr. I read on reddit that people had problems with this kind of bits, because they had a tendency to wander around/drill oval, but you seem to say otherwise! I probably will never be using anything bigger than a 6 anyway, so it looks like it wouldn't change much, as the special "end" on the Dewalt seems to be only on size 6 bits and above?

Funnily enough it looks straight out of your drawing a few messages above, especially the headtube and stem!

Yeah, I thought about doing that but then it becomes this gigantic thing, I'd also have to keep a wood clamp somewhere, etc. Honestly I'll think I'll splurge and grab the York, it looks exactly the same as a RS 545-525 vice we have at work which I've tried and is exactly what I need.

@withered_preacher : I used to own a dremel (Proxxon IBS/E to be precise) and absolutely hated it. Very hard to do any precise work, it was terrible for cutting through struts as the body of the tool very quickly gets in the way, etc. I think people have a tendency to see the dremel as the ultimate versatile tool, while I think it should just be used for what it was designed for : a very niche, handheld milling tool to work on weird shapes, i.e. sculpting, model making, etc.

Thanks a lot! I'll grab a full size hacksaw :)

Regarding the files, do you think I should grab other shapes/dimensions, or is my selection good enough for what I plan to do?

For vices I'll look around, we don't do Ebay much in France as we have another website for second hand sale, but every second-hand vice that can clamp on a table that I found so far looks very dainty and low quality.

Hey lufguss, could you help me choose decent tools for metalworking ?
Some important details :

• They will mostly be used for mounting metal fenders, and some hacks/bodges here and there.
  
• I’m an apartment dweller who needs to move fairly often due to work. Compacity is thus my number one priority
  
• I’m broke atm, so if anything should definitely be downgraded or bought second hand, please let me know. I have the bad tendency to always buy the best available thing when in doubt.
  
  

Here’s what I need:

1°) Files: I was planning to buy a round one (ref 704926), a small flat one (ref 705040) and a big flat one (ref 705192). Glardon/Vallorbe was recommended by some framebuilders I talked with.

2°) Metal saw: Do I have to go with the big ones if it’s mostly for small jobs (fender/rack struts, cutting aluminium plates or steel brackets), or are there way smaller one that’ll do just fine ?

3°) Metal drill bits: I have a Bosch GSB 18V-55 drill. Should I go for Bosch metal drill bits ? The wood ones I bought from them kind of suck, they’re not straight.

4°) Portable vice: I need something small that can clamp on a Ikea table. I won’t put too much force on it, it’s mostly to bend struts and hold pieces when drilling, cutting or filing. Should I go for this very expensive one ?

Thanks in advance !