forteh

My damper cartridge couldn't be reassembled with donor parts from another unit, forks are effectively scrapped I'm going to dissect the rc3 cartridge and see if I cant resurrect it in some fashion, going to involve completely rebuilding parts of the compression damper. In the mean time I've picked up a pair of 2014 55 micro sta forks for a good price but I'm still gutted that the 44s are dead.

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Well if windwave can't sort a replacement cartridge then there's a set of open bath 55r for cheap just up the road in Derby. How do you get on with the lack of adjustable compression damping? Much brake dive and bobbing when climbing?

Ah the mess of the cartridge was me with the dremel. The spark erosion they did was lovely and neat, just eroded through completely the wrong component. Now I'm not 100% familiar with spark erosion but I do know it's very accurate and machining the outside of an m8 nut off should not cause any issues!

My poor, poor damper cartridge Dremel + carbide burr = lots of aluminium and brass filings! The cartridge is now out and will be off to windwave tomorrow to see if they can match something up. I think the lowers are salvageable, only a small knick in the footnut sealing face and a bit of epoxy resin should solve that one. I think I might present the bill for the replacement cartridge to the spark eroders assuming windwave can put something together.

Small claims would cost more than I paid for the forks (ok I got a bargain at 80 quid but that's not the point) and the hassle isn't worth it. Looking into marz 55s that can be had pretty cheap but they're over a pound heavier than the 44s, the extra beef really not needed for the riding I do. I'm not using fox and the revs are the closest analogous forks to the 44s, a bit lighter as well but then much longer service intervals. I want open bath forks dammit

It's beyond arse, they're perfect forks for the 5.5 Compensation my arse, I got a mumbled sorry but I'll certainly not be going back there (they've done good work for me in the past as well which is why I went there!), nor will I be recommending them to anyone else. I don't think I can realistically stretch to some new pikes (nice as they are) and I'm limited to 26", 1 1/8" straight steerer and 140mm max which cuts down a lot of the modern second hand forks. Some RS revs fits the bill quite nicely but I would really liked to have stayed in the marzocchi stable!

The footnut on my marzocchi 44rc3ti forks rounded off so windwave couldn't service them, no issue, they sent them back with some oil and fresh seals so I could get the footnut off and service them myself - can't argue with the service. They are now pretty rare forks and the damper cartridge is nigh on irreplaceable. Set about the footnut with needle files and cut a good section of it away, just leaving the skirt of the nut, took them to a local spark erosion place who said that they could spark the rest of the nut off no issuses. I explained that the bottom of the internal cartridge is the male thread sticking through the bottom of the forks and it must be left intact. This was 11 days ago, phoned them last week and they said that they hadn't had a chance to look at them so I left it for a while. Phoned them this morning and they said I should go and see what they've done. Popped over there at lunchtime and they've got half the nut off, also half the f**king bottom of the cartridge. The cartridge is 100% f**ked, not a chance of it ever holding oil, they machined the hex compression adjuster off the bottom and then sectioned the whole thing. Useless f**kwits have ruined my forks..... Windwave don't have any rc3ti carts for the 44 and can't get any from marzocchi. They might be able to modify a 4x/dj rc3 cart to suit by altering the damper shaft and swapping the top cap but I'm not holding out any hopes. Furious is not the word.

Is there any quick, easy, cheap and effective way of applying some sort of waxy stuff to a car? I ought to keep on top of keeping the smax shiny but I'm shite at washing cars, not tall enough to reach all of the roof and don't have the inclination to wash regularly. A friend runs a mobile valet service and says he can do it for 35 quid ish for wash, wax and hoover - is this realistically my best option?

Don't think so, I heard the Cox chipolata normally slips in with nary a wince

I have the same issue, it's very hard for me to find a helmet that is comfortable without looking like a bit of a bucket on my head, generally the shells are too round. I have a bell variant that is super comfy, it's not quite as tight on the sides as I'd like but it's better than many. Pop into halfords to try out one of the cheap bell shell for sizing/fit and then order one of the better more expensive helmets from the internet based retailer of your choice

I reckon you could run a holed rim tubeless with a bit of clever sealing strip and carefull application of the right adhesive

Fatmike tried ghetto tubeless some 12 years ago on his trials bike, the front worked fine but the rear burped a lot of air; this was with non-tubeless ready tyres and home brew sealant at low trials pressures though. With a decent sealant (I use oko magicmilk on my intense) and modern more airtight tyres I reckon it would work pretty well at the pressures you're looking at. The biggest issue you might have is sealing the bead onto the rim, you're going to need an airline to blow them up and it might take a good while to get a solid seal. If trials rims could be made with a ust compliant rim bead it would potentially make true tubeless wheelbuilds a possibility as the rim holes would be pretty easy to seal with correct width tape. Build a tape cutting jig*, buy a roll of gorrilla tape, cut it to the external width of your rim and layer it up till you get a tight bead seal. Blow the f**ker up and see if you can get it to hold air. With ust bead it is super quick and easy, doing it ghetto can be very messy and can take a while to get right. The intention with the tape is to have the edges just snug to the inside of the sidewall and build up the vertical height till the bead is wedged against the bead hook. *I use a plank of wood with a stanley knife screwed onto it with the blade parallel to the plank and packers between the two to give the correct cut width. Place the side of the roll onto the plank and simply rotate it round against the blade cutting to the right width as you go.

Car in the background changed colour? :/

If Adam hasn't got any nylon in stock, we often have 2" and 3" diameter at work that I could get a chunk cut off and send up to Preston :)

I'm on the Isle of Man this week, the mountain road is awesome although so far this week it's been covered in fog, cloud, snow, rain, ice and darkness the times I've driven it. Feels awesome to drive the roads my dad raced in the 60s edit: ah yes, I'm in a 1 litre ecoboost focus, hardly the gutsiest of engines for spirited driving :D

Completely missed this one but where was the crested gecko @MadManMike?

Forks went to windwave to be serviced, unfortunately the footnut that had rounded off on the bottom of the cartridge has prevented them from stripping them and they're reluctant to cut it off incase they lunch the irreplaceable cartridge They're sending the forks back and I'm going to go at it with some custom tooling made to suit. If that fails I can get the foot nut spark eroded off at a local machine shop The forks are coming back with a new set of seals, oil and a replacement foot nut. Fortunately I'm quite happy to service the forks myself Typically I'm now away on the Isle of Man for a week with work so realistically going to be another fortnight before I can ride the bike again :(

What are people's thoughts on barbecue stuff? Need to give robthebutcher a heads up on what is wanted :) He will be making up packs of meat to suit so what do people want?

Our office at work overlooks the west coast mainline, occasionally have steam trains chuffing up and down

My HTC one mini was awesome, two years of being dropped, getting damp out on the bike and the like and it's still going strong. Biggest complaint is that the micro USB socket filled with fluff which stopped the charger fitting properly. Upgraded to Xperia z3 compact in November, smashed the screen from a small fall off the sofa, got that repaired and then the camera died which was replaced under warranty. It is a superb phone though and arguably better than the one mini. For reference, carphone warehouse only charged 80 quid for the replacement screen, retains original warranty as well. Only 30 quid or so more than the new screen but well worth it for lack of hassle!

Not on freeview it isn't

Building a starweaver for my 40k harlequins, the quality of GWs kits these days is incredible; such a nice model as well :)

Front triangle finally getting stripped and forks going in for a long overdue service :)

My intense fell apart :(