Luke Rainbird

Knows his level.

There's a joke in here about you vigorously polishing your helmet, but I'm too mature to make it.

Yeah, I like slightly bigger gears for the same reason, though as you've spotted the tensioner won't sit flush with the 16t as I've had to put the pin in. Will see if the chain is long enough with the 20t, may not be, and figure out all out. Could always laser cut a longer arm for the Rohloff too. Brake lines appear to be cut at the caliper but unscrewed at the lever, and I only have what's in the photo. New hoses inbound so easy to sort either way

The 14t is a narrow sprocket (<2mm wide) so won't be running it. Picked up the 20t cheap so will try that, but if I'm not a fan I'll rethink Will get some full bike pics up once I find some cheap 4 bolt clamps. And maybe hose for the MT7s.

Good lord those forks are ugly.

Looks good Benji!

You're not alone with the longer stem on a streety 26" - seem to recall @Paperclip running something similar (maybe not quite so long on his old Marino, see 24tour vid he posted) for example. Should keep it hoppy

Didn't grab many photos, but I was an impatient f**k and just stripped the paint from the rim with a grinder Have since smoothed it out, filler primed it, and given it an acceptable coat of matte black which matches the DV fairly well which is cool. Interior left pink for laziness reasons. Both wheels now fully built - need to give them a quick tweak in the bike to ensure they're running straight (they're close by eye, but I've not used a stand or anything so they'll need a minor touch to be rear-brake-suitable I'm sure. Brakes I bought arrived - managed to pick up a set of MT7s for less than a single new MT5. Only minor issues being they don't have hoses, and being an older frame I can't run one in the rear which would have been nice. May chuck a vee on the rear, not sure. Current plan is to hang on to the spare MT7 and perhaps run them on the MTB down the line, but we'll see. may end up selling one once I've got them both sorted. Oh, and a set of 203mm rotors too. Nice. Oh yeah, chainring turned up too. Going to give 20:16 a whirl, see how it feels then if it's a touch too high throw on either a 19t front or 17t rear to fine tune Need to get a set of 4 bolt clamps to replace the current Tensile Offset ones - anyone got a set spare/cheap? Ideally 2 pairs of lowers so I can run them washerless.

That's gonna be a whole heap of fun! Might be worth looking at running that tensioner in "up" mode for chain wrap, if that's possible? Other than that, and maybe a shorter stem, looks great!

You make the stick?

Blue roll on a stick. Nice to know the last line of defence hasn't changed too much with advances in tech

I had the same urge last year. Ended up buying a Hex, then a bargain Arcade popped up before the former had been delivered. Rode it half a dozen times, it gathered some dust, so I sold it and I'm just getting around to sorting out the Hex now. Can't see myself riding frequently, but will give me something to play with on the odd occasion I fancy it. Join the club, you know you want to.

I like this.

We made cinema trips in uniform for the last one, full herd of Royal Naval officers marching on Vue in Fareham was an interesting sight, especially when we all went in to that particular screen and were singing along

Haha, cheers Hippy. I spoke to Silvercar yesterday, unfortunately they don't do multi-city rentals, and once we leave SF we won't be returning so it doesn't work out but really appreciate the heads up. Nice cars and great prices as you say! Apparently they used to do multi-city, but it was a $350 additional charge so for the few days we need it probably wouldn't have worked out anyway!

So. Much. Win.

If it hadn't been sat on the shelf already I wouldn't have considered it. We also found some old Wilko own-brand stuff in the garage when we moved in 3 years ago, consistency of water, which I tried. It was more effective... If I need to buy anything I'll get Starchem, or take up TB's generous offer of sharing his fluids

Dirty Manhole? Buy me a drink first...

Nitromors (c2005 "new formula") is exactly as abysmal as I remember. Would have had more success rubbing it in Nandos Lemon & Herb...

As a result of incorrect spokes, I only currently have half a wheel's worth I can lace up so I now have half a front wheel stuck together. Also gave the freehub body a quick buzz with a file as the previous owner had been running a narrow sprocket which had dug in. There were actually a number of marks as you can see here, so either the cog had been moved about a bit or, perhaps more likely given the regular spacing, there'd been a narrow cassette on here at some point. Rear rim arrived. It's a 36mm wide, undrilled TryAll. I don't really remember these from yesteryear and can't find much mention of them online either, which is a tad strange but should suit the Hex pretty well. Was in two minds as to drilling these rims but can't be fecked. Unsurprisingly, I am introducing it to this: Perhaps less surprising still is the fact that "New and improved", "faster", "super strength" new formula Nitromors is just as shit as I remember and doesn't appear to be touching the sides... Edit: I roughed everything up with coarse sandpaper prior to applying Nitro. Have now wiped off and given it a buzz with a flap wheel, see if that helps.

Nice New rear rim just arrived, along with the wrong spokes for the front wheel. Balls. Edit; Oh, and I may have accidentally some brakes that only half fit...

Cheers for the heads up, shall take a look tomorrow. Drifting isn't really my thing but if there's a Formula D event while we're there it could be worth checking out, and we going to need a decent car to trek around in - will be driving from at least SF to LA/SD and I don't fancy an i10... Edit: Formula D tickets are $5 each which is cool, bit we come home the day before the first round

I think the one I'll be using most frequently is "I'm shit". Fully open to suggestions though

Ordered spokes last night. Found an old stash of suitable ones at parents place this afternoon. Ah well!