[The Photography Thread]

Target acquired.

My face whilst pressing that blue button felt it looked like this.

Now I've got that same nervous buzz that you get in the aftermath of oh so nearly eating it when you miss the front wheel on a sidehop or heading straight towards a tree on the mtb at point blank range

 

[The Photography Thread]

All your comments are being taken on board lads.

I want to have a setup that has the capability to produce this (even if I can't)

©Stephen Davison

but have the budget for something that could be described as this.

 

I jest...

Ultimately I'm wanting to do prada on an asda budget, as an Irishman I know would say. I'll get there though. Shame Aldi don't do copy canons eh? 

[The Photography Thread]

 

19 hours ago, DrEvil270183 said:

If I was starting again with the kit, I'd go second hand. So many people buy a camera and slowly stop using it.

I see a lot of facebook groups with  Canon 5d MkII or even better the 6d mk1 or Nikon d700's (just checked and these are under £500. full frame beast.) for £500/600.  Pick up a 35mm and you're away.

Grips just make cameras heavy so sack that off and invest the saved money in a lens.

Battery grip want was based off the (loose) idea of spending 10+ days camping on the IOM with no leccy supply and up to 10hr long race days of pics and now fancypants DLSRtastic video. S'pose I could just take a shit load of pre-charged amazon batteries and have em kicking round in the cam bag.

I remember I bought a basic slr camera after a bridge, then plastic 50mm. Then a massive shit zoom. Then a fisheye. Then a Macro Lens. Then flashes. Upgrade camera to something mid range. Better zoom lens. Switch fisheye for wide, more practical. Invested in better 50mm.

As well as all the cheap trigger, old flashes, macro filters etc. I'm pretty sure this is what a lot of people do. Speed up the process, save the money long term and don't do this.  Read and noted. I'm hardly going to be grabbing accessories like it's a trolley dash, still a valid point though. Fisheye idea was for videoing of trials/MTB/Mototrial in a tight corner with no other access. No need? And what to use instead?? 

Still want to do remote flash stuff though. That and copious amounts of fisheye video so everything is like 2006era TGS  

If I could do it again, I would invest in a full frame asap and go for a nice 35mm or 50mm. This limits you a little but you can really hone your skills until you can afford different lens. For artsy stuff like car shows sure, I'm doubtful I can do the "walk more, shoot primes" meme thing holed up in a Manx hedgerow. Should think I'd need zoom for such situations. 

My camera shoots 100,000 plus images a year, get them serviced once a year and I'll only upgrade when I see massive changes in the camera bodies.

A couple of years ago my 5d MkIII died mid-shoot, went to my back up mkii and was a little worried about the results but the images were still spot on. Way better than any entry level camera. Limited a little in low light but nothing to worry about. Surely anything is going to be an upgrade at this juncture? 

If this is still above budget, I go second-hand midpoint like a 7d. Budget? What Budget!?? 

I used to shoot Canon so know the older range fairly well and the 7d was a great camera. Better than an entry-level new camera I'd say. Again, noted.

As mentioned, a slight curveball and not something up to full frame yet but closing the gap with different advantages are mirrorless. (lighter, silent,) I know so many people jumping to Sony or Fuji but to be fair, its usually the fuji xt-2 or Sony a9 so pretty pricey. 

Worth a thought.

Certainly is worth a thought. Mirrorless also suits the travelling requirements rather well, size and weight wise it's like a better version of my bridge cam i guess?

 

[The Photography Thread]

On 2/8/2018 at 10:19 PM, MadManMike said:

I don't do filming, so can't really comment, other than why go to a high street retailer for £599 when you can get one for £459?

https://www.hdewcameras.co.uk/canon-eos-750d-kit-18-55-stm-3224-p.asp

Just picking on the 750d as an example.

Because idly flicking through said retailer's catalogs was the nub of the idea in the 1st place. Convenience of aftercare is a consideration also, but not the be all & end all.

150 beans off though is quite a chunk off a cam I'd ideally have but I thought was out of range £££wise. That 70-300mm offered with the 700D as well as the usual 18-55 was what drew me in to be honest, I think I'd be happier long term with the 750D, but again thought I couldn't stump up the coin. 

Have you used that site then @MadManMike or was that just off google? And would you recommend??

(Hear that? That's a sound of shit getting real way too fast and the part of my brain that goes "arrgh f*** it you know you want to" winning the powerstruggle that is my head )

[The Photography Thread]

(I'd like to run a hypothetical past the group, if you would.)

You would like/are willing to splash what is still rather strong money at this point in life going down the no doubt irreversible rabbit hole that is making the jump from your capable, loved, best you could afford at the time, but ageing bridge camera (F u j i  S  L  2  4  0) that you feel you are pushing the limits of, to a DSLR.

You are not even remotely Larry Chen but would like to take pretty pics of summer car and bike shows, motorsports (potential TT/MGP/Manx Rally trips etc.), the odd camera in bag wander to nowhere in particular (resulting in pint-on-picnic-bench shots, landscapes, sunsets, that kinda sh*te). I might even take piccys and HD video of them stupid bikes with no seats that need to oil their brakes, don't know if you've ever seen them or not.

So, as a starting point for your 1st big boy camera bag, do you pick:

A. Nikon D3400 w/18-55 kit lens (NOT VR). £329 out the door with a clickncollect voucher code for 100 pounds off but scared of being dissatisfied long term in a buy cheaper buy twice scenario. Scrubbed because there is no input for external mic. Forgot about that. Mirrorless will now be in the running also.

B. Nikon D5300 18/55 kit lens £549 

C. Eos 700D, 18/55 AND 75/300mm kit lenses (definite front runner I have to admit; Feels like the natural step from the 600D/T3i I have been handed the use of when "ere yar lad, film this for us yer" was being uttered in my direction a few years back) Also £549.

D. Eos 750D 18/55 kit lens. £599

All from the same high street retailer, 5 letters, blue and red livery, begins with A.

Looking into buying flash guns, batteries and a grip. a prime lens or 2, polariser/filters and possibly some fisheye action in the not distant future, but I need to take the 1st leap before all that carry on happens. Want this to be a "forever" purchase too, as I've outgrown the cam I have now [took the greater part of 5yrs I might add], and the stage after this (eos 5Dmk3 for example) is completely unobtainable for me at the mo - I'd have to setup a pay for prints FB business just to pay for the damn camera! 

Opinions please.

Cheers,

Ciaran.

[A practical machining/engineering problem. Please look in. Tah.]

I'm making a right bollocks of this aren't I?

@forteh Close. 9spd pro2 old has 15mm od axle, the 9spd pro2 EVO driver I have has bigger bearings with a 17mm Id (factory spec). The aim of the game is to step down the driver to fit a pro2 old, in such a way that the sleeve bodge acts like the proper axle would, and make up a hub from odds and ends. The sleeve spinning and making a gauled up mess was my main concern.

 

21 hours ago, RobinJI said:

but surely the 16 by 1 tube (14mm I.D.) will need boring out to fit over a 15mm axle?

Glad you caught that, what an absolute pillock I am for thinking 15x2mm would fit; what a f**king moron...

Or is that the plan all along and I'm just misinterpreting it?

 16x1mm tube, a Blacksmiths drill, dremel and/or reamer springs to mind, but I'll sleep on it.

Personally I'd just be looking to replicate the fit of the bearings onto the axle, as the sleeve's basically doing the same thing as the inner bearing race in terms of loading. So a press fit with everything at room temp, and in most hub's cases not even a hugely tight press fit. As forteh says, a snug sliding fit and some loctite should do it. No need to mess around with heating and contracting things, certainly not both or as he says, getting it off will be near impossible. 

As I said above, massively over thought this one. It's not one of my better traits. I think watching project binky has gone to my head.

Cheers boys.

[A practical machining/engineering problem. Please look in. Tah.]

The application is/was increasing the axle diameter to fit a later model freehub body with larger I.D. bearings (the only difference to the fitment), so I can make up another "bitsa" hub. If the sleeve can be fixed to the axle then as far as the bearings are concerned they are running on the correct axle and will work as designed.

However if I could buy the correct late model axle or early model freehub body later down the line I would remove the jerry riggery and make everything proper again. I mean if I wanted be real bodgey I could PVC tape the snot out of the axle and slap everything together, but I'm trying to be better than that...

In retrospect I was massively over thinking the job. I have yet to put theory into practice as the hub I was buying fell through but I definately think a combination of the 16x1 tube and @forteh's 641 bearing fit, or more acurately whatever brand I have in the draw when it comes time, ought to work just fine.

[A practical machining/engineering problem. Please look in. Tah.]

Alright peoples, i've got a quick question for you as all them answers the seach engines are returning go flying straight over my practically-capable-but-never-done-A levels-or-any-of-that-guff  brain. I'm sure there are people on here who know this sort of backwards so, if you please;

What would be the (perhaps ballpark) rate of contraction in aluminium (in this case a 15mmOD, 2mm wall hub axle) when frozen to minus 16C (the coldest the house freezer goes to on fast freeze)?

And, how much would the 15mmOD 2mm wall Alu sleeve i am going to make expand under heat from a butane/propane mix plumbers torch? I don't know the temperature the torch is capable of but suffice to say I plan to heat the snot of it.

All of this is in aid of making a good hot/cold interferance fit, but not so tight that the sleeve cannot be removed in the future, In case anyone was wondering.

I have the option of using 16mmOD 1mm wall tubing for the sleeve but fear that would have to be epoxied to the axle; A process that has given me mixed results in the past and would be a right b*tch to remove later down the line.

Thanks as ever.

 

[Ebikes?]

I find it very fun on the way home from work to come across someone who has bought one using the cycle to work scheme on the premis of 'getting fit', cruise up to the back of said lazy f**ker who is freewheeling on flat ground when they should be pedalling/remotely putting some effort in, sit there 'til I decide "you're in my bloody way you slow arse fat b*****d", click back a cassette cog or two, go round them at my lesiure and fck off into distance with barely a change in heartrate. You can do the same with restricted mopeds too.

[Northern Stunt Sesh]

(Taking this completely on face value)

If no one scraped owt and the area was left how it was found then where is the "such vandalism"?

Sensationalist whingebag pillock.

[C.N.C.]

Channel on youtube called homofaciens - a german guy who built a budget cnc router and also a plotter from things like m10 stud bar, a dremel, stepper motors from scrap printers and his own linux code. 

Might be of some use to you @manuel.

Also as a subnote all of his videos in english have the comedy value of making him sound like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[Cassette lockring thread size]

7 hours ago, monkeyseemonkeydo said:

1.2" x 24 tpi says this guy: http://www.bicycles.net.au/forums/viewtopic.php?t=73677

Aye I found that already bud, but when using this (fairly comprehesive) tap chart http://www.custompartnet.com/tap-size-chart I couldn't make head nor tail. There doesn't seem to be (at least to me) a size that correlates to what those peeps quoted - If the dia. sounds right then the approximate TPI seems off or vice versa.  I've had the freehubs apart tonight to make up the 1 good from 2 bad so I've had the calipers out, taken (mildly!) informed guess' as to what size I'm after and ordered up a small selection of bolts and nuts in those sizes to see if a lockring threads into them.

I can only be wrong and it's cost about £4.90something to find out.

[Cassette lockring thread size]

@forteh as said, 1.37 x 24tpi is BSA BB's and screw on cassette/freewheel thread.

@monkeyseemonkeydo is correct in saying that a cassette lockring dia. is a larl bit smaller.

@CurtisRider I had forgotten that. Still, the point of the exercise is to attempt to repair something that is otherwise shelf art, so a 7spd (or even smaller maybe) would be just fine.

FWIW I checked a cassette lockring with a thread guage which said 1mm pitch. So I double checked by nestling a m6x1 bolt into the freehub body i already have (the one that is going to get the salvaged parts from the fecked pro2 driver that's on the way) and that [the bolt] fits like a glove.

Just need to get the diameter sussed now.

[Cassette lockring thread size]

Anyone know the thread specs for the lockring on a standardised shimano HG spline freehub/driver body, in this case a hope pro2 old? It seems to be a cards-close-to-chest secret if google is owt to go by.

Diameter? Pitch? Thread standard - american, english (24 or 26tpi cycle thread maybe), metric, other?

Dia. can be in fractional or decimal. I'll convert and work it all out in the end.

I've an alu 9spd freehub body coming from ebay but it's got a stripped cassette lockring thread so whilst I do intend to raid it for parts i'm curious to see if I could shorten everything to an 8 or 7spd and cut a new lockring thread. Seeing as by that point it's a pen holder anyway I see nothing to lose and something to gain.

Thanks in advance.

[Swan Falls - Awesome Natural Spot]

The sound of the brake echoing for bloody miles whilst being contrasted by true, absolute, silence. That was the standout point for me.

All the stuff that was leading foot into the obstacale was proper tech (mabye naturally mongo foot??), and the big stuff was ballsy and er, big, I guess. Not withstanding you looked like you were there on your own and medical help was no doubt a very long way away. 

Liked that very much.

[Post a pic of your non trials bike]

55 minutes ago, monkeyseemonkeydo said:

What is going on with that BB shell?!

It's a floating linkage that acts when the shock linkage moves meaning that the cranks stay in the same (relative) place, which in turn means the chain doesn't have any funky tight/loose situations no matter where the shock is in it's stroke, or how much the effective chainstay length changes throughout that stroke. It's really quite a piece of design when you get to see and poke around it in the flesh. Pluuss the entire frame & s/arm is a massive tanky carbon MF, so y'know, that helps too...

[The Angry Thread.]

 

My instant reaction when I was told in dismay "Chris Cornell's dead" was "What!!???"

The Beeb are reporting that he was found on the bathroom floor after the show last night. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-39960066

So I'm sat here blasting Audioslave's first album as I don't have any Soundgarden to hand on CD.

[Long chain stays and a seat thread]

On 4/7/2017 at 4:53 PM, Tony Harrison said:

(I remember asking Martin about the new frame at a BIU round he was riding it in, I think it was Addingham Moorside also in 2004, and him lamenting the fact that Giant hadn't fitted 4-bolt brake mounts - "The stupidest thing you've ever heard" I think were his words : )

Worlds at addingham were 2005, "I woz thair" & I do believe I still have the program somewhere. I distinctly remember watching him on the diamondback, going round with Mr. Ashton on the silver frame with red forks, with Chris Akrigg in tow on the 'mongoose' (in reality a painted and stickered up megamo) :looks at MBUK poster of him on the giants causeway hanging on the wall to concour:

I also recall the section over the other side of the hill (furthest away from the road) involved a severe 15+ft. drop to flat/scrappy rock and the other ashton team rider (The name of the rider escapes me) had his rear brake slip at the top resulting in him bailing out onto his lower back. The section must have been set out to get rider's to go Fuuuuuuuk that! & take 5's but in 20/20 hindsight it was just dangerous. The rider got up and limped away with help but only after a fairly tense 10mins with the 1st aiders and the spinal board.

[The Angry Thread.]

17 minutes ago, Dave Anscombe said:

Problem with that is ,here you can just not type ,right ? yet so many choose to type ,and insult,Instead of actually trying to figure out if what im saying is true !

The reason why many people go right in for insults ,is because they are defending a belief ''Belief'' being the absence of knowing  that they carry around inside their minds  

You might be right, you may know the 'truth', you may have even accessed the inner circle of the stonecutters' society (old simpsons ref.) but as you keep pointing out we the people don't know. don't care, or are just fine with their world (in their 1st person world at least) the way it is to them. Even if you are the higher power have the good decency to do what the mormons on my doorstep last saturday didn't, and realise that we ain't interested and move on.

I also wouldn't waste my blood pressure on insulting someone that I don't know from adam on the internet  

 

DAMMIT I got snaked.

[The Angry Thread.]

9 minutes ago, Tom Booth said:

Ketamine is a hell of a drug isn't it Dave

I heard a story on the radio news today that there has been a clinical study that involved feeding ket to the severely depressed ...aaand (quelle suprise) it made them a shit ton happier and less depressed.

 

An unreported side affect may have involved preaching to people who have no interest in listening to what you have to say - like when the mormons come knocking and you answer the door in a (slightly giddy) hurry because you were expecting postie to bring you your new shiny.

[Tartybikes - Summer Air!]

2 hours ago, Adam@TartyBikes said:

Huge mega bump

Anyone got this downloaded anywhere? It's one of my fave videos and it's the only one on the Tarty site that doesn't work... YouTube took it down cos of the music.

Cheers!

I'm 90% certain I've got a copy somewhere also if you get stuck - It'll either be on the ancient memory stick I had for college or the IDE HDD in the old family tower - the latter being more difficult to retrieve but not impossible by any means.

[Nerdy wheel building conundrum]

{Figuratively speaking}

In one hand I have a nice brand new, sealed, non disc, dishless, low flange 32hole front hub I picked up cheap on a wim.

Int other hand I have a straight, round and until further notice, redundant 36 hole rim.

In my piles of crap I have half a dozen suitable complete sets of spokes, plus a myriad of random odd spokes. I also have a set of 16mm araya nipples

Does anyone know of any way, including funky patterns like missing out hub holes, snowflake, 3 spoke crows foot, 5 spoke crows foot etc. that I could mate these odds and end into a useable wheel?

I recently did a 36 hole hub into a 24h aero rim & 28h hub into the matching 24h aero rim for my workbike, but they were a piece of piss - for 36 into 24 you just miss hub end spoke holes in the 12, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 o'clock positions, and the front 28 into 24 works out like any other "miss 4" build.

Mismatching more rim holes that hub holes is next level though. I thought maybe I could use 28 or even 24 of the hub holes and crack it that way but I haven't got to sitting down with the parts yet though.

Suggestions (other than "buy more parts") will fall on open minded ears.

Cheers.

[Racing Line Lever Play]

I also have a 1st gen, single bolt bar clamp Racing Line body (the later version had a two bolt split clamp). It was fitted xmas 2013 (and been in continuous use) and has not experienced the symptoms you describe. There is a little more play than with a magura 05, but it cant be more than 5mm even with the pivot bolt hanging half way out (using standard mag 05 lever blade).

Cheaper V-brake levers (tektro for example) use those little white plastic shims to overcome wobble like you describe, maybe find some of them/make your own and retrofit? 

EDIT: Re read your post; Do you possibly mean that the pivot bolt hole in the lever blade has elongated?

[Neon Bow Headset Bearing Replacement]

On 3/29/2017 at 0:58 AM, lifes-a-trial said:

Why don't you just get in touch with tarty instead of hoping they read your post ? I am sure that they will sort you out .

The same reason I didn't tag any of them in my original post. Because I may not use them if I source bearings from er, other sources, as I ihave always intended to do, I feel that directly messaging a supplier for their info and then not making the final purchase with that supplier is a dick move.

[Neon Bow Headset Bearing Replacement]

On 3/26/2017 at 0:08 PM, Greetings said:

Unless something has changed, the Neon Bow headset uses 45/45 bearings so the ones from an Echo SL headset (and many many others) will fit.

When I say I've had my HS for absolute time, I mean since about early 2012, so you're probably right.

@bing I check that out.

@BJ. If my part sourcing skills crap out I'll take you up on that offer.

 

Cheers to all of you though.