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my other half bought a fuji se (43cm) on the bay, new for about 150. stock wheels ok after a tweak but she got some narrow mtb rims built onto track hubs anyway and they fit very well (virtually no adjustment of brake blocks for the different wheels). so now she has 22/23mm tires (not too easy getting anything else) on the lighter 650 wheels and a set of 25/26mm tires on the narrow mtb rims, which is what she uses mostly. she's 5'1" and she's had fun playing with an adjustable angle (giant) stem to get a ride that works best for her.

hassanr that was a good idea, stoopidly executed. oh yeah, no one steals bikes in newport, so lets go to compton where they have black people. they'll steal it for sure! @sshole

damn straight!

it's not like it was even locked. why not go to some poor neighborhood, glue money to the floor and secretly wire it to the mains?
this looks like a product for and by the aryan brotherhood of america. who was laughing?
bet you wouldn't see this posted on youtube if the kid had got run over by a truck.

the hour or so i spent cycling in the hard shoulder of a swiss motorway (at night) before falling off and breaking my ankle in 2 places. talk about lucky.

nice thread.
this year; after a reasonable ride from dieppe we crossed the bridge at poisy and entered some kind of fracture in the time space continuum ie got hideously lost in the paris suburbs including 20 minutes in the car park under la defense, took us about 3 hours to do the last 20 km - really frustrating more than tiring. not helped by loosing map, needing a piss every 30 mins and asking middle aged couples for directions and having to stand around patiently while they argued about their directions. 1 guy even told us that we were crazy for attempting this "giro" (if i had known what he was saying i think i might have punched him), finally got showed the way by an african guy working in a petrol station. getting onto the champs elysées made it all worth while (felt like we had new legs bolted on).

totally bonked out on my first (and only) club ride (round st albans). was on a bike bike i didn't like (a harry hall that was slightly too big), with a bunch of nazis who seemed to cycle really slowly (which i found really tiring in it's self). started to feel tired round the 60 mile mark so went and bought chocolate bars and fizzy drinks from petrol station, felt great for 20 mins, then absolutely nothing in the tank. got the train home. i was only 20 at the time, hence my ignorance about sugary hits. now i know, calvados or brandy is the way to go :)

sapim spokes meant to be the strongest (according to them).
for a given weight a mass produced cold forged hub should be stronger than a boutique cnc'd (only) hub (goldtec ?).
need wheel jig AND dishing tool OR a jig that you can check the dish with to diy.
£ for lb the best thing to invest your money in are the wheels, followed by the rest of the transmission because the mass goes forward AND around.
ymmv

saturday c.1645, arrospok, blue jacket, knitwear hat, no mudguards! rounding aldgate 1way. i said hello as i went past on commercial st. i wasn't trying to be flash - just didn't want to be late for my daughter and it was pissing down.
i saw about 20 FG riders in the space of 10 mins on old st on wednesday evening (too many to detail) except buffalo bill (west to east past the reliance) who seemed to have a small rain forests worth of spoke cards in both wheels and grimace to match.

or first against their own railings even.

good of itv to make a 'how to doc' for budding bicycle thieves! couldn't load vid on my computer, but i don't suppose they went on to make a point about cctv bike parks or the numpties that put signs up saying not to lock bikes to railings etc. come the revolution that lot will be first against the wall if i have anything to do with it.

yeah i got 3 allen bolts and that 1 was the best fit and left it at that.
most of the guys i work with have leathermen and use the knife to make a pigs ear of cutting gels instead of using a gel cutter. i guess i just like being a bit anti them cos so many people have them. for me they are a kind of symbol for guys who want to be an 'alpha male'/'utility man' (that was once what swiss army penknives were before the 'septics' got in on the act). although the alien has a knife, if i've got to carry 1 i like the opinel. it's cheap, light, comfortable, well balanced, nice lock and even though they can rust they sharpen up really easily. great for picnics.

bo11ox! tried to add a photo but it's not how i intended. another time.

hippy It shouldn't be on your bars.. that'd require a serious head on accident..

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/pain.html
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/frame-sizing.html
http://www.discovermountainbiking.com/ekg/settingup/handlebar.asp

Nah, that bar aligned with front hub thing is a VERY rough guide. Most rules of thumb should be taken with added salt.

true, the hub relationship to the bars is not just about how far forward or backwards the bars are but also how high or low. i wasn't asking because i thought this was the problem/solution. more out of curiosity.

to change the formula hubs to allens would mean changing or cutting down and threading the axles unless there is conversion kit i've not see. i use the mavics (allen) mostly but i've got to sort something out for my spares and my girlfriends wheels which are all formula hubs she's carrying a DA pedal spanner presently.

i got a really cool pouch for tools, tubes and co2 pump:) just want to make it as light as poss.
the da caliper is actually a rear, since i put the front on girlfriends fuji, so the extended allen nut(?) on the back of the fork engages about 3mm of thread and goes out of adjustment easily (but it's not that serious).

still like the idea of purpose designed fixed multi tool. what does the leathermen do for you? never saw the need myself.

phil woods and goldtec are allen i know, just looked at the soma site they seem to be 15mm track nuts.

couldn't find a reference to soma phils.

my mavics are allen, my spares are 15mm. i don't need the 13 for my cones but to adjust my 80's dura-ace caliper.
3! tire levers, what rims and tires do you have?
what i like about the multi tool is that it's just 1 thing to find and then put back into the bag when you're finished.
i agree that a multi tool with a 15mm wheel spanner would need to be longer than an alien for example, more like a peanut butter spanner, that said, the surly is not that long.
a socket with a lateral hole through for an 8mm allen would be good.
it's a bit ironic that we ride minimalist bikes but then carry multitools with stuff we don't need and then carry an extra tool to get a wheel off (when running track nuts).

shame no one's done an allen option for use with the hollow axles on formula hubs.

some 1 will do a fixed wheel multi tool and we will all be buying them, it's just a matter of time.

TheBrick(Tommy) Try the road morph pump, or turbo morph pump (I think that is the fastest), they are kind of like a mini track pump. I have heard nothing but good things about them. Not co2 I know but ment to be quick and gets you up to a decent pressure. It says it will do 160 psi so getting up to 100 should be easy and quick.

http://www.allterraincycles.co.uk/product/105933.html

Platini Cycleair

good for pressure and probably ease of use, but too big and heavy for me, i'm carrying a largish rucksack weighing at least 16kilos for upto an hour. barley have room for a decent lock and tool kit, it's got to be a pocket sized pump that can do the trick and quickly if needed, thanks tho.

Thought I might try one of these....

i've used the cycleair a few times (when doing cycletraining) it too is not bad, it's a bit bulky and slow, works better if you got long arms. thought they should do a spd version, so the thing stays on your foot while using it.

think i'm going to give the second wind thing a go. geez, if only i was real man (and full of hot air) i could put my arsehole around the presta valve and save myself carrying a pump at all :)

i have an alien something which has a 15mm pedal spanner but i'm wondering has anyone heard of a multi tool with a decent 15mm spanner for doing wheel nuts (no1 say dumbbell please). you'd have thought with the current trend for fixed wheels there'd be a market for such a thing now. if such a thing doesn't exist, does anyone know what it'd cost to make a bunch (maybe brand them lfgss).
for riders of fixed wheels what would be the specs of the ideal multi tool?
for me: allens 2, 4, 5, 6, and 8 on 1 side and the other spanners 10, 13 (cone), 15, maybe a flat and/or cross head.

shame no one does a customise-able multi-tool (shame vanilla doesn't have UK english option).

good to know you're paying attention, i was just checking through my posts to see which one was the give away ;-/ as funny as the macho bullshit can be (and i do indulge) i like the idea of at least trying not to do it.

the 1 and only time i used the co2 in the last 12 months (fade up emotive music/explosions) it was a real life saver for me; back on the road in c. 2 minutes with a fully inflated tire. instead of cycling another 10 miles on a soggy front and having to be apologetic all day to despots because i was late and didn't drive to work.

we don't all have office jobs and flexi-time. not to mention several bikes and the room to store them:)
the thread was asking if anyone had used said pump, it was not asking folk to chuck stones around cos they had nothing better to do.

as it happens i agree that an expensive metal container of co2 would not be my first option for tire inflation but it does save time and in some contexts it is justifiable. even if you don't get it.

judgmentalism aside,
thats why i use a track pump at home and make sure my tire pressure is correct so i get very few punctures and carry at least 2 ways to inflate a tire, despite carrying 16 kilos of kit. un fortunately the nature of the industry i freelance in means that being late for work means i don't get paid and don't get hired again so my belt and braces approach is totally appropriate, especially when most of my colleagues look down on people who don't drive to work.
in short i am in a race - a rat race, where the finish line is a long way off and with a child to feed i'm giving myself every chance i can to 'do well'.

btw, who said i was a man.

actually, over perplexed mind going of the rails.

We're all consumers (even loaded Japanese designers). We just have more choice than ever how to spend our cash. Some people make better choices (hybrid engines and sweet track bikes) others don't. Before we bitch about boxfresh track bikes, let's not forget the conspicuous consumption that is in bad taste (I'm thinking premiership footballers and their WAGs as by way of comparison).

when is consumption ever inconspicuous? when the informed consider it to be no more than necessary? the life style of most westerners is a result of surplus and excess. our landfills may bury yesterdays modest technology but half the world live in another century (with perhaps a mobile as a symbol of an epoch to aspire to). it's never been better and it's never been worse. and really we're just meant to enjoy having our heads turned by the options and then no more than nod our heads for perspectives on this?
but hey, at least we no longer force people to do stuff - we now help them (force themselves) to do stuff.
if the the conspicuous consumption (of people, products and atmosphere) caused by the nuclear attacks on japan didn't galvanise people against capitalist agendas (consumerism being the 'friendly' face of these) then a few WAGs getting dressed up is to bad taste what farting is to a hurricane.

anyway talk about thread drift, gotta dash now, spend some dollar, consume some product, maybe spot me on the way with not a care in the world (i just off loaded:)

anyone tried this pump:
http://www.cyclestore.co.uk/productDetails.asp?productID=10099&categoryID=118

i'm using a (non hybrid) co2 thing at the moment but feel bad using it when i'm not in a rush.

very good deal on shimano a520 spd pedals too, not much more than crank brother cleats.

CHUG_IT rohypnol

or ask her for a pompino and deduce from her reaction if she's italian.

fatbloke Now now, don't be haters...

It's a petrol-electric hybrid, like a Prius. Drives electrically, silently and emissions-free some of the time in town, but more importantly stops its engine when stationary at the lights or in a jam. But I'd still rather use a bicycle to cross the English Channel than use a car of any kind to cross London... But if I have to get to some tiny village in the back of beyond, then it's car all the way...

what's the deal with the battery?
ie:
how many miles before replacement?
and what happens to it when you replace it?

not having a go or anything, i've owned cars and sometimes have to drive 1 for work.

that's like something out of "the wicker man" (original version of course).

just curious:
when you're sat normally on the bike and you look down at the front hub does it appear behind or in front of the flats of the handle bars? what type of bars do you use?