psycholist

Try taking the bike out for a few more rides and it may sort itself. I had about 5 rides where my shoulders were sore after changing bikes a few years ago. The pain disappeared completely on the sixth ride and never came back...

There's a BMX park along the south bank of the Thames under an overpass that has a few bits to play on. Spent some time there on the London ride last March.

Damage from smoking is based on probability though. Not everyone who smokes will have their life cut short from smoking. Not everyone who doesn't wear a helmet cycling will die from bike related head injuries either, but most people on here see the benefit in wearing a helmet. With smoking there is a significantly increased probability that your health will be worse and your life will be shorter because of it. If you've ever tried to get life insurance or health insurance for example you will always be asked whether you smoke because it does affect the probability you'll claim from them and the probability the claim will be a big one. The only downside of giving up is that cigarette smoke will smell absolutely disgusting to you after a few weeks and you'll also find that you're especially sensitive to the smell of smoke, so you can tell by smell whether people are smokers as you walk past them on the street whether they're smoking at the time or not. Most people who smoke have no idea of this but they and the clothes they wear and the car they drive usually stink of cigarette smoke to the degree that non-smokers find it unpleasant... Smoking is highly addictive, so I can understand anyone who's having difficulty giving them up, but if you're under about 50 years old you can't really claim not to have been warned either about their addictiveness or the dangers before you started.

No good answer to this. If you're light and ride smoothly there probably isn't a frame out there you'd break. If you like to slap your bike off things hard, land heavily and do drop gaps to front then there isn't a frame out there that won't break eventually. If the frame is holding you back, even if it is psychologically, you're probably better to swap for one that you're confident won't break on you though. If you haven't broken a frame before there's no reason to think this one will break on you anyway.

It'll improve your bike if nothing else - think about how much cash you spend on cigarettes and what you could buy in bike terms if you didn't spend it... From those I know who smoke and stay active I reckon they're a lot better off than if they didn't smoke and weren't active. You'll probably see a bigger effect stopping smoking as you hit your 30's or 40's though there's an improvement regardless (Based on one friend of mine who stopped smoking a few years back).

When a wheel is newly built the spokes aren't bedded into the holes in the hub flanges. This means there are points of very high stress on the spokes as they touch only a very small area within the hub flange. This means that while the stress level overall in the wheel is very low, there are points of very high stress. Peak stress is one of the drivers of fatigue failure and a 50% reduction in peak stress increases life before failure by a factor of 10. Stress relieving is where after building the wheel you squeeze pairs of parallel spokes together with your hands as hard as you can a few times (Even using leather gloves your hands should hurt by the time you get to the last spoke pair). This overloads the spoke where it contacts the flange, deforming the flange/spoke interface so a bigger contact area exists between them. When you let that pair of spokes go the spokes will be at a much lower peak stress than they were before, but still carry the same overall tension, so the wheel will last longer before fatigue failure as well as needing less truing (The spokes gradually deform the hub at the spoke holes over time anyway, but the spoke spends longer with a very high local stress - this is why rebuilding the wheel you should keep the spoke lacing from the hub the same). The cracking and pinging in the wheel as you twist spoke nipples is not stress relieving, it's just sudden release of wind-up in the spokes as a result of part of the twist you give each spoke nipple being lost to torsion in the spoke - if the nipple threads are seized slightly this is very obvious. I get around this by overshooting the point I want the spoke nipple tightened to by about 1/8 to 1/4 of a turn and then turning the nipple back to the point I want it to be at. No pinging at all when you build wheels that way.

Chances are the wheel wasn't stress relieved after it was built so the spokes are prematurely at the end of their fatigue life. Rebuild with new spokes and stress relieve the rebuilt wheel and it'll last for years. Lace the hub the same way as the previous spokes were laced to it for maximum fatigue life in the new build.

Or you could save the money beforehand and not spend cash you don't have... But then I have a mortgage - I also have 36 years to pay it off ...

BMX XXX - though this may not be focused completely on cycling...

The Hope was chosen as it's the only back disk brake that seems to be consistently regarded as up to the job of stoppping a stock bike's back wheel. The front brake is because I run one already and it's perfect for the front where I don't want very aggressive locking all the time. If I thought a Louise was up to use on the back (Considering my weight) I'd have gone for that instead to be honest, partially because all my other brakes are mineral oil and partially because there are loads of threads on here about Hopes shitting their seals, but almost none about similar problems any other brand of disk. I run a Tuf Guy on my current bike and it's lasted 3 times the length of the Echo fork it replaced (Snapped through both legs after 6 months) so far with no sign of problems yet. From my past experience with aluminium bike parts they have a nasty habit of failing very suddenly and very completely while with steel you see rust from cracks and pretty much always creak allowing a fault to be spotted much earlier. In final failure steel tends to bend rather than breaking too, giving a much safer failure mode too. I've tried the Tri-all tyres (They shipped on Koxx Acidrops) and they skated off a few of the surfaces I was trying them on as soon as they got wet, so wouldn't get more of them. I have a Conti Rubber Queen on the back of the current bike and its excellent except for the side walls slitting a little too easily for my peace of mind (Current tyre has a few slits). Definitely can't fault the traction or bounciness though. The 2.4" size rubbed the last frame until I cut the side blocks off and the centre ones still rubbed the inside of the brake booster, and the new frame tyre clearance will be similar I'd guess, only difference being this one will be painted. I'm going back to Maxxis tyres because I'm hoping the single wall version will give similar bounce to the conti but with less roll on sideslopes. The Der Kaiser is tempting for the back as it's supposed to have a better sidewall. I was thinking of changing the freewheel, but having seen Echo's last efforts at freehubs I'll wait for a while to see if they last before buying. The ENO is consistently highly rated and a very critical part of the drivetrain, though the price is a tad ridiculous at the moment. For BB's I'm happy enough the axle won't snap. Beyond that I got the lightest that was reasonable money - these don't really get the mileage to test the bearings and half of Tarty is running them too, which is hopefully encouraging.

Since it's nearly christmas and I've been riding the same bike for 2 years, I've been putting a spec together for a dual disk stock bike off the very patient folks at Tartybikes . Firstly I'm going dual disk - If you think it's wet and nasty in the UK, the west coast of Ireland is at a whole other level, so rather than deal with Maguras (And not being able to roll through wet grass without seeing a noticeable drop in brake performance) I'm going to try an all disk bike. Before anyone says Maguras just need to be set up right, I've tried rock greens on a smooth rim (Lethal as soon as it gets damp), Various pads from Disco and Superstar (Which are good for the money) on grinds from harsh to barely rough, Heatsink yellows on CNC backings and a harsh grind as well as various duller grades as well as TNN pads on similar grinds. The Heatsinks are probably the best with the TNN's a very close second, but they still slip a lot when its damp out and the wear rate on them is high enough that I usually have to tweak the TPA once or twice on any given spin. Also the noise is annoying and when I head out to play on my bike in built up areas at 2am (It happens) I'd rather not be a nuisance to the people trying to sleep. I use a 4 bolt booster as well, and it really only improved the lever feel, not the stopping and holding power. I've tried to keep everything black if at all possible for 'stealth' as for the first time since I first fitted trials specific brake pads that my bike won't be irritatingly loud when I use the back brake . Frame: GU +35mm frame (Blue) - Current frame is an Echo Control, so this should ride similarly. Headset: Hope headset (Black) Fork: Onza Tuf Guy (Black) Front Wheel: Echo TR disk front hub (Black) Trialtech single walled rim front (Black) Double butted spokes laced 3X (Black) Viz Rim tape (Black) Standard tube - Maxxis Welterweight (Unboxed) Single ply Maxxis Minion Supertacky 2.35" tyre (Rear Tread) - I may swap this with a Maxxis Advantage 2.1" I have already as I'm running one on the current bike and it works well and is lighter and keep the Minion for the back of my hardtail. Rear Wheel: Echo Fixed Disk '08 rear hub with built in tensioner and 15T sprocket (Blue) Echo Sprung tensioner (Silver) Echo urban double wall rim rear (Black) Double butted spokes laced 3X (Black) Viz Rim tape (Black) Maxxis DH tube Single ply Maxxis High Roller Supertacky 2.5" tyre Drivetrain/Cranks: KMC Kool chain 1/8" Trialtech Sport Forged 175mm ISIS cranks (Black) Neon Light Bashring (Black) White Industries ENO 18T Freewheel Try-All ISIS BB Wellgo Magnesium pedals (Silver) Controls: Trialtech forged stem (Black) Trialtech Sport Riser Bar (Black) Trialtech foam grips (Black) M:Part Grip Stops (Black) fitted between the brakes and the grips Echo SL Bar End Plugs (Black) Rear Brake: Hope 200mm Mono Trial Rear disk (LH lever) Front Brake: Magura Louise 203mm Front (RH lever) So - does anyone see where I could do better on weight (The front fork is an obvious candidate, the trialtech one is the only Aluminium fork I'd trust, but it's 3 times the money, so hard to justify) without compromising on strength (I weigh about 90kg) or performance? I'm hoping this bike is one where the main maintenance work is replacing tyres rather than faffing with brakes and grinding rims ...

The roller blades really sealed the deal on the gayness though... It was all fine up to that point ...

The BB has 1.37" diameter threads cut into it (The thread that screws into it will have a max diameter of 1.37") and will either be 68 or 73mm long. Unless you go for one of the new standards, where figures past 100mm can occasionally appear, but no trials bikes I'm aware of use anything except a 68 or 73mm BB shell.

Unless that's for a very big chainring the hole in the centre isn't big enough for a threaded crank. It should be slightly over 1.37".

Do not deflate the tyres - even if the plane went to deep space the tyres would only see a 14.7 PSI pressure increase (That's all atmospheric pressure is) - which would spectacularly fail to burst them. If the tyres are left deflated you're a lot more likely to arrive with them pinch flatted or with flat spots on the rims from the box being dropped. I bought a hard case for transporting my bike and while it wasn't cheap it does protect the bike well. I'd recommend getting two bike boxes. Cut one up and use it to line the other. Reinforce the life out of the lift handles on the box too as they'll get torn through otherwise. Also put each tool in the box as you use it to dismantle part of the bike to guarantee you can put it together afterwards. Don't leave anything rattling around inside the box too - it will fall out given the chance. Standard method for packing is: remove pedals, remove handlebars, remove wheels. If you have a derailleur hanger remove this too with the tensioner attached and cable tie to the chainstays. Cable tie the handlebars to the top tube (With padding between them and the frame). Cable tie the pedals to the frame (Between the seatstays is a good spot). Remove any brake disks you have and tie them between the spokes running from the left hub flange and the spokes running from the right with a cable tie (Put the rotor bolts back in the hols in the hub or bag them). Turn the front forks backwards to shorten the bike and put it in the box with loads of padding under the bashguard and the front and rear dropouts. Slide the wheels in to one side of the frame. Don't forget to pack a snips for the cable ties and pack a roll of tape and more ties to allow you to pack the bike up at the other end of the trip to bring it home.

In a weird twist of events PTC, the company who own ProEngineer bought out the people who wrote ProDesktop (It probably wasn't called that till PTC took it over). PTC then started giving out free copies of ProDesktop for general use to hook people into 3D CAD just about when people's home PC's were powerful enough to run decent 3D models without shitting themselves. I taught ProDesktop for a couple of years. It's a great package for getting completely new people into CAD, but a complete pain in the hole to work in once your models get complex or assemblies get big (Strangely it works very quickly if you limit each subassembly to 5 or 6 parts and assemble subassemblies rather than putting everything into one assembly in a flat structure). It's also hideously bad at using geometric constraints in the 2D sketches used to make 3D sketches and it makes a lot of dangerous assumptions that cause regeneration failures in the models when you change dimensions, so basically as soon as a sketch doesn't do what you want it to it becomes a nightmare to fix. ProEngineer at the time ProDesktop was being given out looked like old unix software - it sat in two windows, one with the model rendered in 3D and the other a column of buttons with text on them that changed as you selected options. This interface was actually pretty fast once you got to know it as most commands involved a set of clicks in a vertical line down the menu, but it didn't have the intuitive benefits of ProDesktop so it was very hard to learn. The program itself was rock solid in terms of its reproduction and calculation of geometry. It's a solid modeller in CAD terms, so rather than making a shape that looks like what you're drawing, which is all computer gaymes need to do to keep things pretty, a CAD package calculates the volume and areas of the parts being drawn from first principles - this allows the programe to calculate for eaxmple: interference between volumes, centres of gravity, surface areas etc. as well as creating geometry that can be CNC machined, 3D printed or analysed using finite element analysis or computational fluid dynamics. Storing of files was and still is excellent, it automatically stores each save as a new revision as well as storing a trail file, which holds each mouse click made in the program while it was running, allowing some impressive crash recovery as well as considerable automation of certain functions. It was even pretty stable running on windows 2000, XP and Fvista... Over the last few years ProEngineer has started to look more and more like ProDesktop (Though the unix style side menus still crop up when you go into more advanced feature creation) but become even more powerful in terms of the geometry support - for example the curves and shapes on Logitech mice are all designed in ProEngineer and CNC machined from the CAD design. I'm not sure whether a PC running ProE can model all the complex curves of a car say (The mathematical constraints to keep all the reflections from something like a car smooth and even are heavy going in ProE), but it can get pretty close. I'm not saying it's the best for all situations, but it manages to do everything I've tried with very little fuss - though the learning curve can be pretty steep at times. The thing is I know this CAD package - all its competitors will have many of the same features or better optimisation for particular jobs. For something like designing a bike frame without too much analysis almost any CAD package at all will do.

I got something that looked like a pedal kick after less than a week of trying, but getting them properly under control can take years... Given I've been cycling longer than some people on this forum have been alive I probably should be a lot better than I am though .

Cool - looks like I might have 3 people now . Flights from Shannon to Birmingham are cheap at the moment, trains run every half hour to Sheffield from there and take less than 2 hours for the trip. Only annoying thing is that to get big savings on the train I need to book a specific time as the anytime ticket is 3 times the price of every second train heading up there and about twice the price of the other trains. Only other question really is whether there's only one tram line which stops both at the train station and the Sheffield Arena or whether there are a few tram lines and I need to be careful choosing. What does the tram cost?

I wish I was inside with a video and a cup of coffee...

You could always get an orange mocha frappucchino ...

There should be at least 2 of us heading over so far... Flights and train fares seem reasonable ...

Hee hee - this looks like it's a runner so far anyway ... I'm waiting for a few more people to get back to me to see if they're going too... To make use of more local knowledge - Have you any recommendations on where the best seats in the arena are?

Remove the cranks, grease the shite out of the splines and tighten the crank bolts lots and they'll quieten down...

I reckon the main advantage is that (Depending on your height) you're less hunched over while hopping on the back wheel. This makes lines where you've got to stay on the back wheel or gapping to the back wheel much easier. I reckon the extra distance from the cranks to the bars also makes tucking on hops easier, but until I actually get good at that one I'll reserve judgement. I've always ridden longish frames though, but short ones I've tried feel very cramped.