La Flamme Rouge **off topic discussion**

magicbastarder

what's the longest you've ever procrastinated about something stupid in relation to looking after your bike? and not something normal.

a year or two back, i realised my left shifter was a bit loose, and thought to myself 'must tighten that when i get home'.
get home, 'oh i'm a bit tired and sweaty, i'll do it later'.
next time out on the bike 'oh, i forgot to tighten my left shifter, must do that when i get home'

and repeat. i've found myself doing that for weeks on end (albeit with less pressing issues than a loose shifter)

LollipopJimmy

magicbastarder wrote: »

what's the longest you've ever procrastinated about something stupid in relation to looking after your bike? and not something normal.

a year or two back, i realised my left shifter was a bit loose, and thought to myself 'must tighten that when i get home'.
get home, 'oh i'm a bit tired and sweaty, i'll do it later'.
next time out on the bike 'oh, i forgot to tighten my left shifter, must do that when i get home'

and repeat. i've found myself doing that for weeks on end (albeit with less pressing issues than a loose shifter)

I'm 18 months now looking at the cable outer that I cut too short for my rear brake, so short it affects tge braking performance. Here's to another 18months

cletus

magicbastarder wrote: »

what's the longest you've ever procrastinated about something stupid in relation to looking after your bike? and not something normal.

a year or two back, i realised my left shifter was a bit loose, and thought to myself 'must tighten that when i get home'.
get home, 'oh i'm a bit tired and sweaty, i'll do it later'.
next time out on the bike 'oh, i forgot to tighten my left shifter, must do that when i get home'

and repeat. i've found myself doing that for weeks on end (albeit with less pressing issues than a loose shifter)

Cleaning my bike, literally a year

magicbastarder

i was kinda thinking of 'cleaning your bike' in the 'not something normal' caveat.

what prompted this was me finally getting the finger out today and adjusting the saddle on my summer bike to match the angle of the one on my winter bike, having put that off for several months of use.

cletus

magicbastarder wrote: »

i was kinda thinking of 'cleaning your bike' in the 'not something normal' caveat.

what prompted this was me finally getting the finger out today and adjusting the saddle on my summer bike to match the angle of the one on my winter bike, having put that off for several months of use.

So...does not cleaning my bike not count?

Wildly Boaring

I've my 2nd bike 9n the turbo since the start of covid lockdowns.

It needed a new rear tyre a year ago.

It really needed one at the start of the level 5 in November.

Now it's bulging badly for about a third of the circumference.

magicbastarder

cletus wrote: »

So...does not cleaning my bike not count?

ah, just that it's not that there's anything *wrong* with a dirty bike, it's routine maintenance, rather than failing to fix something actually broken or misaligned.

crosstownk

magicbastarder wrote: »

what's the longest you've ever procrastinated about something stupid in relation to looking after your bike? and not something normal.

I'm two years threatening to change my lower headset bearing. I finally bought a new bearing a few months ago. But when I went to remove the old one I found that both halves were seized to the fork and head tube. I hadn't the time available to remove the races. I did start a thread on it and got some good advice but the job is still long fingered.

It's making fierce racket when I turn the bars so I'll need to do it soon........

lennymc

Anyone else think Mars perseverance would benefit aesthetically from a set of 50mm deep wheels?

magicbastarder

it can be windy on mars though.

manafana

meercat wrote: »

Send me a pm and I’ll pop it in post f.o.c

Thanks meercat, after some searching at home, i dug out the old dial, think i have enough wire left over to do this one too.

Will reach out if it doesn't work out

lennymc

magicbastarder wrote: »

it can be windy on mars though.

it has spirit, opportunity and curiosity for a lead out!

LollipopJimmy

Everything looks better with 50mm sections

tomasrojo

magicbastarder wrote: »

it can be windy on mars though.

That reminds me of the commentary on The Martian, where it's mentioned that the destructive storm that results in Watney being left behind in reality couldn't exert massive damage directly, because the atmosphere on Mars is so much less dense than the atmosphere on Earth.

Not disagreeing with you. Just found it interesting at the time.

Seth Brundle

There was recent mention of the Griffith Ave cycle lane here. Now it is a property selling feature...

https://twitter.com/clicky_here/status/1364924241825652739

cletus

I recently came across Zinn and The Art Of Road Bike Maintenance.

It looks like a nice bike, and I was tempted to buy it, but how actually useful is it, or are books like this in general?

I've had Haynes manuals for cars before, but they are make, model and mark specific, and give detailed descriptions of much more complex work than you would normally undertake on a bike

tomasrojo

There's a Haynes manual on general bicycle maintenance too. I have it. It's useful alright. I don't think there's anything in any of the books I have that isn't also online, and there definitely is information online that isn't in my books (especially around hub gears and roller brakes), but I like to have books.

cletus

tomasrojo wrote: »

There's a Haynes manual on general bicycle maintenance too. I have it. It's useful alright. I don't think there's anything in any of the books I have that isn't also online, and there definitely is information online that isn't in my books (especially around hub gears and roller brakes), but I like to have books.

Well, I like books too, of all sorts, so I was tempted to buy it just to have on the bookshelf, but I'm just not sure if I'd ever actually use it

tomasrojo

Personally, I like to use the books, as it stops me drifting away to other online things. I can't have a smartphone as my personal phone for similar reasons, though I'm ok with having one for use in the house. But not everyone is like me.

Anyway, cut a long story short,I do use the books myself.

magicbastarder

Are half the tricky maintenance issues these days down to proprietary parts made by manufacturers though, which would be hard to capture in a book?

tomasrojo

magicbastarder wrote: »

Are half the tricky maintenance issues these days down to proprietary parts made by manufacturers though, which would be hard to capture in a book?

In my experience, most of the jobs I'd do myself are covered adequately by general maintenance books, though, as I said, they weren't any help for how to get the rear wheel off a bakfiets with all the gear cables and roller-brake setup, because it's just too specific.

So I use both. I used to print out the PDFs from the manufacturers, or bits of them, to stick in the books. I kind of know how to do most things now from memory though.

Captain Havoc

Park Tools website for all maintenance issues. They also have a really good book.

a148pro

cletus wrote: »

Well, I like books too, of all sorts, so I was tempted to buy it just to have on the bookshelf, but I'm just not sure if I'd ever actually use it

I bought it, and still haven't used it! Mainly reflective of my technical incompetence and impatience though, and fact there's a good bike shop down the road. So I'd just be wasting two precious hours and then bring it down to him anyway.

But it is nice for someone like me to try to understand how bikes work

buffalo

I was driving over the weekend, and was about to take a left turn into my estate. I saw someone I know cycling in the other direction, and something in my brain switched tracks and I indicated my left turn with my hand.

I suppose I should be grateful there was nobody in the passenger seat.

Seth Brundle

Timberrrrr...

https://twitter.com/righttobikeit/status/1366819766195933197?s=19

We've all been there

LollipopJimmy

He's not having a good time that lad, he gave a vid of a close pass to the Guards and ended up getting a fine himself

wheelo01

buffalo wrote: »

I was driving over the weekend, and was about to take a left turn into my estate. I saw someone I know cycling in the other direction, and something in my brain switched tracks and I indicated my left turn with my hand.

I suppose I should be grateful there was nobody in the passenger seat.

I was driving down Manor Street in my car, a person at the bus stop put out their hand for the oncoming bus - I pulled over :) :pac:

Seth Brundle

If anyone is on the lookout for a new role...

https://twitter.com/CyclingIreland/status/1367044995887341569

magicbastarder

wheelo01 wrote: »

I was driving down Manor Street in my car, a person at the bus stop put out their hand for the oncoming bus - I pulled over :) :pac:

i have been tempted on occasion, when passing a bus stop and there's a bus behind me, to high five the people sticking their hand out to hail the bus.