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I did a paper run for about 6 years... didn't have to deal with anything as serious as big ass rottweiler, but my approach was to fight fire with fire - if the dog ran at me, I showed my teeth, looked it in the eye and growled back louder and aimed for it. This tended to send most on their way.

If it still kept comming a really good boot under the jaw (in it's throat) tended to send it on it's way, or if I was wearing the right shoes I'd just ram my foot right in it's mouth (keeping the sharp bits away from my soft bits).

Soppiest dog on the whole run though was a great dane - about 4 times bigger than me. He's be waiting by the letter box most days to collect the newspaper. Owner said that the slobber and teeth marks made unreadable, but couldn't bear to ruin his pal's fun. Quite disturbing animal to have bounding at you with it's mouth wide open!

Hi all, maybe you can help me out with finding the next few parts for my build:

Rims: box section, polished, 700c, clincher

If you've got some you want to sell or know a good source I'd be very interested to know.

Ideally 32 or 36 hole - to keep the hub options as wide as possible.

I'm currently trolling ebay for Mavic MA2s or Campagnolo Lambda - since they sound like they might be the closest fit to my requirements. I've also met a set of Ambrosio's which might require a little elbow grease, but have got a bit of a shine on already.

Headset: French threaded 1"
I've got a number of options on this, but I just thought I'd check to see if anybody here had one they wanted to get rid of.

thanks!

thanks people!

Just to let you know I've ended up with a good deal on both a 48 and 52 (thanks Jos!). Which seems to give me plenty of range to play around with once it's rolling.

dogsballs street friendly, yet you spent big on just cranks. ummm!!

Ok, maybe not THAT street friendly.

i.e. I don't expect it's ever going to get cold. or wet. My other bikes can do that :-)

Joachim

provenrad http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250220806352
NOS Pista ring - Currently $50 + $14 postage to UK - you could go to $100?

tommid Look what I just found
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Campagnolo-Record-pista-track-fixed-gear-chainring_W0QQitemZ280204848901QQihZ018QQcategoryZ56193QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Yeah, I've been watching those, but thinking this isn't going to be a purely track machine, so as big as 52/53 might not give me many options for something a little more street friendly - like around the late 60" to mid 70" range.

thanks!

dogsballs wouldn't you be re-stricted to fairly big rings with a 151BCD??!!

Looks like about 44 is the smallest that would fit. But even with that it doesn't seem like it's hard to get down to around 60 gear inches if need be.

Or no?

thanks

Joachim

Hi all,

It seems I'm now the proud owner of a nice old Campangolo Pista fluted crankset (BCD 151). But no chainring.

Ok, so not the most common size in the world but it looks like I have a few options:

• http://www.campoldy.com has a 47 and 49 for £77. But maybe a bit small if I genuinely want to do a little velodrome work?
  
• http://cycleunderground.com.au/chainringdesigns.htm (model "three") will make one from $AUD58 for 3mm plate and $AUD77 for 4mm plate.
  
• http://www.highpath.co.uk/cycles/eggs/02.html ("re-enforced" model) will make one from £71. +£15 to polish it.
  
  

I wonder if anybody has words of wisdom regarding these options?

Or any other suggestions?

thanks!

Joachim

:-p

:-)

Simpson79 what about Drinking though?

OK, maybe I'm misunderstanding you but this is the sort of thing that (politely) dumbfoundeds me.

Are you seriously suggesting the harmful effects of 'moderate' smoking are even remotely comparable with the harmful effects of 'moderate' drinking?

Just in case you are, as suggested in my previous message, current scientific knowledge suggests that an 'average' smoker is 50% likely to be killed by effects directly attributed to smoking, or put another way, on average have their life limited by 10 years. 'Average' drinking? looking across studies, there is no clear answer either way as the effects are difficult to distinguish.

Compare these numbers - 50%/10 years with 'difficult to distinguish'.

[cite]BringMeMyFix:[/cite]doesn't mean that any of the other things I mentioned are any less pertinent.

Fair enough - but discovering other factors contributing shortening people's life-expectancy isn't going to change the raw statistics regarding the huge effect smoking has.

Like I said before, people want to think about other evils like environmental pollution (automotive, industrial, chemically based fixtures and fitting), cholesterol, food additives, crops and livestock and associated pesticides/growth hormones etc, stress levels, work-life balance, lack of exercise, alcohol abuse, blah blah blah.

This sort of comment dumbfounds me.
Yes, there are plenty of things around that can shorten our lives to various degrees and which we have varying degrees of control over.
But to even suggest those sorts of factors can have any comparison with the shear magnitude of harm caused by smoking just sounds crazy to me.
Somebody please show me the medical studies which prove any of these factors will reduce a user's life by anything like an average of 10 years or be anything like 50% likely to be the direct contributor to a person's death as smoking will. And that's not to mention the 'less serious' potential side-effects like bad skin, bad smell, lack of smell/taste, impotence, financial cost, reduced general fitness and such like. (OK, maybe serious alcohol abuse or obesity could be up there)
So my request: Smokers, I'm all for free will, personal responsibility and your right to do what you wish with your body, but at least be honest and realistic about why you do it and the potential for harm when justifying your choice to other people.
Then I can take you seriously. But when I see arguments like that I assume the person is either completely ignorant or in denial.

I've got a hard shell case you're welcome to use. I've been very casually meaning to sell it for a while. But I'm such a nice guy I'm happy to loan/rent/sell - just so long as it gets used rather than collecting dust in the corner of my bedroom.

When I've used this case for transporting bikes it's always been via the USA and with their generous 2x26kg bag allowance (used to be 2x32kg) I've never needed to explore things like the free sports equipment allowance. And it does weigh a bunch (like somebody mentioned above - it could be around 13kg-15kg on it's own - without the bike inside). Luckily my bike is titanium so still fits the allowance for one bag :-)

It is oversize though - so allow a little more time for drop-off and collection at either end.

email me at joachim (at) paradise (dot) net (dot) nz if you're interested.

(edit: hmm, maybe it's now 2x23kg)

More cloudy than not in my part of town.

But still managed to see some of the key stages. Had a few very peaceful moments sitting down by the river while watching it.

I'm really happy with the 'Slime' tire liner tape. I use the MTB width in my road width tires to get lots of sidewall coverage. Even does for a good temporary patch on tears in both sidewall and tread (at 100psi).

Double layer on my Bromton underneath Marathon Kevlar just because it doesn't come smaller than 26". Sure it weighs a bunch, but I really can't remember the last time I punctured (probably about 8 months ago) and I'm regularly picking chunks of glass the size of small children out of my tires. (I prefer Stelvios but the shop was out when I needed new tyres last)

Very unhappy with the kevlar felt stuff (I think it was Specialized brand)- didn't seem to make much difference at all (wasted money on this stuff first before getting the Slime liners).

Does anybody know where CM might be heading tonight? I can't join until after 9pm. Or does it even run that late?

thanks

oh, here's a trick to get a larger version if you want to get up close and personal

http://tinyurl.com/2dsnc5

oh and the blue squeeky shark wasn't stock either :-)

hmm, despite being my favourite little baby I don't actually many at hand. And nothing too close up...

For a start here's me doing a little delivery job (old fridge to the recycling depot)

http://tinyurl.com/2mrjzr (don't all hit it at once - it's hosted at home on my adsl link :-) )

Joachim

Hi all,

I've got a beautiful (in my eyes anyway) circa 1999 Litespeed Obed built as an MTB with Shimano XT all round. Only Marzocchi z2-xfly fork and Selle Italia saddle changed from stock.

I've recently acquired a 10 mile (each way) commute through central london (E1 to W12). Currently I'm doing the ride on my other bike (Brompton S2L-X), and while it doesn't happen often I hate being overtaken. I'm rarely grinding and spinning out a little too often. So I'm thinking I need to ditch the work clothes and get something light, fast and tuned for eactly this job.

So what do you all think of turning the Litespeed into a singlespeed? What would you change? what would you keep? If I take this route I'm thinking I'd probably get another hard-tail MTB frame (maybe an upgrade model Litespeed or Merlin) and use any left-over parts on that.

Or is the poor guy just going to end up a mongrel? Would I be better of leaving him to do what he knows best get something bred for road work?

I'm not going to be able to be quite so careful with parking the new bike. So whatever machine I get/build how much should i consider the bling factor? While it will be secure during the day, it might need to sit outside bars/clubs etc on the way home at night. Do theives know what they are looking at or do they just steal what ever and figure out what it's worth later?

Thanks in advance for your help!!

Joachim

p.s. I'm open to hear about things you might want to sell me to fulfil my need. I'm 5'11" and believe I'm about a 56cm road frame size, but I'm going to do the http://www.wrenchscience.com fit program when I have a minute and a friend to hold a book between my legs.

thanks people.

Just took your hint that TFL takes things more seriously than the police might and reported to them too.

They were pretty friendly and sure enough - while the driver is not particularly clear in the photo, the bus number and licence plate were.

And interestingly yes - there was a yellow card in the front window of the bus clearly visible in the photo which they say is the driver number - so with all that they should be able to triangulate in on the driver.

Hey,

Interesting thread to pop up just now as Monday night a bus driver on oxford st tried to run me off the road. Not like he didn't see me or anything I was riding smoothly (not over taking or anything) and he was tail gating me for a distance first, then as soon as there was room on the other side of the road he pulled along side and the moved left as he looked at me out the front passenger door.

I've been riding around london for about 7 years and of course get cut off and so on all the time but never so obvious and blatently 'attacked'.

I tried to get his details but he wasn't talking to me, so I took a photo of the bus (he blinked his headlights trying to ruin the shot)

Called TFL and they said complaints could only be taken during business hours. So I went to a police station (Snow Hill in the end) and filled in an 'Self Reporting Form for Traffic Collision/Accident' (or something like that anyway).

Has anybody else done such a thing? any luck? I would think the police are a higher authority that TFL, but maybe I should still complain to TFL anyway?

thanks!