Be Excellent To Each Other

A hundred times that.

Some fucker has bid on it.

To mrsA's ebay account!

What happens if you slip or fall off? Not sure I'd like it.

"Something not as bad as your arm looking like it's made of really badly put together scaffolding" is I imagine the answer there.

If you slip or fall off, I guess you just have to try to unclip in time. I've got my pedals set to the loosest setting at the moment, which doesn't require too much of a twist to free myself.

I'm very wary of falling onto my arm, seeing how fucked it already is, so I'm not doing any crazy shit yet if ever.

To release from clipless pedals, you twist your foot outwards (or inwards). in the event of falling off, you tend to twist your feet that way anyway. After a while, it becomes second nature to twist your foot around as you slow down, I do it even when I've got flat pedals on.

The release tension (how much force you need to put into the twist of your foot) is set by a spring, which is adjustable, when I first had mine, they were set very loose, but I gradually increased the tension to avoid accidentally unclipping. The amount of control you have over the bike increases dramatically, and your pedaling efficiency is also greatly increased (arguably, you could say it's almost doubled, as you can pull up as well as pushing down). I think they are the best upgrade one can make to a bike, and wouldn't live without them.

Although, the first few times, you can have comedy moments like pulling up at a set of traffic lights outside the girls' school, and forgetting you are clipped in and falling gracefully sideways, but once you've gotten used to it, it doesn't happen.

Thanks. I'll give those consideration.

It also makes you have you feet in the correct position on the pedals, as well. The downside is the clip clop noise you make when walking, with a metal cleat on the bottom of your shoe, however, they are useful deterrents for dogs.

Yeah, that's the only time they've caught me out, really, is while stopping and being slightly distracted by something and forgetting about them. I didn't actually fall over that time either, but it might have looked slightly more graceful if I had done.

I'll have a go at swapping it around at the weekend. Shouldn't be too difficult, as I've fit a couple of sets of hydraulic hoses on motorbikes before now. The concept doesn't really look much different.

Can't you just undo the bolts holding them to the handlebar and swap them over, wit no need to remove hoses?

MaliA's top tip for installation of handlebar grips:

Go to superdrug and buy the cheapest can of hairspray there. Spray handlebar with hairspray and inside of grip. Grip slides on, easy as pie, then gets glued to handlebar. Takes seconds.

But then the levers would be the wrong way around, or upside-down.

Oh, yeah. Heh.

Sorry, wasn't thinking that through.

I prefer it on the right, but I only have a rear brake on my bike.

It's not, but there's very little reservoir on MTB brakes, so the few drops you'll lose while swapping the hoses will probably need topping up. So you might want to obtain some in advance and/or be very careful when doing it.

BMX fiend eh? Can you do that thing where you spin the handlebars around about 3 times while in mid air?

Wullie has facial hair?

I always pictured Wullie weaving around on a Raleigh shopper with the front basket full of Buckfast.

No, I've always been too sketchy for doing most tech stuff. I just go as fast as possible & jump off/over things

Some of the guys from the local park put me to shame, especially Wee John.

Or just drop the grips into some nearly boiling water. The water expands them and makes the rubber soft. Then quickly slide them on. As the cool down they'll contract and become tight with the bonus of no mess.

Aye, I was fully expecting to have a decent reservoir when the bike came, but alas not. I've got plenty of brake fluid, so I should be okay. I'll more than likely have to bleed them when I'm done, but that won't be difficult.

Caution: you probably don't want DOT style brake fluid as you put in your car / motorbike. The components and hoses are plastic, not rubber and metal.

You probably knew that but just to be on the safe side My Cannondale has Magura rim brakes and I've never had cause to fiddle with them in 10 years 8o

I don't have a kettle in the garage, but that's a very good idea.

<goes to put a kettle in the garage>

My brakes' manual actually recommends DOT 3 or 4. What would you recommend?

Oh, just whatever it says in the manual. Fair enough if it says real brake fluid

I'm going to add an armchair, an upturned tea chest and a little telly to my garage. Probably tomorrow. it's already got 2 heaters. I think I'll hang up my dartboard as well. And move the can of petrol.

You can do it in the kitchen and then take it outside. Remember it doesn't need to be boiling or you'll burn your hands when you come to put them on.

That's no far from the truth, summers are usually spent playing on the bikes then going for a ride up the coast in the evening with a rucksack full of half exploded stubbies from Aldi. The nightime ride back usually features some sort of comedy mishap, like forgetting to turn & crashing through a field or being jumped by one of Crasters lovers or the tinkers chasing us.


Also, I swear by chinny's method of installing grips. Odyssey Gedda's or Primo V's come recommended if you like your grips soft & sticky, though the Gedda's are a bit too soft and wear through quickly.

I'm sticking with the hairspray method. As I have a tin to use.

I assume the handgrips you tried this on weren't actually made of rubber, which contracts with heat and the elasticity gets less..

Fair enough, chap. That'll be nice and easy.

Also, Poploc on my forks is absolutely wonderful. Battering along the A41 yesterday, I just flicked a switch on my handlebars and my suspension stiffened, putting more of my energy into forward motion instead of bobbing the bike up and down. And if I need the extra travel, it automatically turns itself soft again on forceful impacts. Awesome.

Rubber type stuff. But it worked so meh. From cold they just wouldn't go on.

Had my first SPD mishap! But it was only on grass, and a gentle lay down. Apparently I hadn't quite tightened the cleats enough, and have you ever tried to unclip your feet when the clips themselves have come loose? Nice and tight now, and if it happens again I'll be bringing out the Loctite.

Sorry to hear that. I didn't purposefully omit that information earlier, in anticipation of this, though.



Good though, aren't they?

I knew I needed to tighten them properly after I aligned them. I didn't, though, because I completely forgot while going 'WEEEEEEE!' down the road.

They're ace, I have to admit. I just need to check my cleats before I put the shoes on, and learn to anticipate any sort of hazard that might make me want to put a foot down.

Not sure what they're going to be like off-road, but I'll give them a whirl. If I don't like them, I've always got some spikey flat pedals I can swap them over with if need be.

Shame on you.
I'm doubt there's many subjects that we can't cover on this board.

markg thinks he's still on WoL, obv.

Protip:

Using a pair of trainers, learn to trackstand the bike (come to a gentle stop, turn teh front wheel slightly, and adust balance using teh pedals to rock back and forward slightly.

it's doubly useful, as with spds you can lean forwards and lift the rear with your feet at slow speed making line alterations easy. Off road theya re awesome, you just have to believe and trust.

Fair enough, but for Mali's very specific initial query about a particular decade old mountain bike frame a forum of bike nerds would probably have got the answer he was after.

I used to be able to do that brilliantly. I shall have to learn again. Ta!

I'd have written in to the pretty lady at MBUK, if she's still there.

My bike says Land Rover on it, so I'm not qualified to offer advice
It is pretty, though.

I met one of the blokes from MBUK at a downhill race. he was an arrogant snottoad.

Yeah, okay, they're good enough!



Cheers, Myp.

Do not buy lights from Deal Extreme. As soon as you go through a bump they'll disintegrate scattering components across a wide area of countryside.

Haha, I concur. The cheap ones from Halfords do similar things, also.

I won't buy cheap anything unless it's something so simple even cheap knockoffs can't get wrong.

The multi-card-reader I bought from Deal Extreme was a complete piece of shit, but at only a few quid I couldn't be arsed doing anything about it.

I've got a slight buckle in my front wheel. Which means rummaging through a box of "stuff that might be useful" to find the spoke key.

I remember my first attempt at fixing a buckle when I was younger. The wheel almost ended up C-shaped, such was my complete lack of understanding. When someone said "Tighten the opposite side", I took it a bit too literally.