Thanks for that. Thanks also for the feedback on climbing the hill. I'm not a power climber and prefer to sit and spin which clearly isn't a good tactic on a fixed gear bike. I'll get her sorted and start giving the big hills a go. There are two big hills I have to get up ... well, one or the other ... if I want to go from the flats to home. The second one isn't as steep as the one shown but it's longer. I'll start tackling that on a casual basis and see how I go.

I actually have a flip flop hub, with a freewheel fitted, and have never used it **slaps himself behind the ear** Funny how we overlook the screamingly obvious. I'm going to give that a go now. Thanks for the tip about the 65 gear inches too, it gives me something to aim at.

Thanks also for the feedback on the Ofmega crank. Interestingly, with the Ofmega, the 42mm chainline is the outer ring ... which is where I've been running mine. There's a company in Sydney that makes some really nice chainrings. My question will be ... do I put a new bb in it or just rebuild the old one. I guess it doesn't matter unless I find the old one's damaged.

Darn it. I was all ready throw money at the old girl! Mind you, a mate has put me onto a cunning trick with cranks, but I'd better let him tell the forum about that seeing it's his idea. In either case, getting a new chainring so I can get a new chain is the first thing to do.

There is one change I am definitely making to the old girl - she's getting a Brooks B17 this weekend. I bought a new one for christmas and, seeing I was riding the geared bike to work all this week, put the new saddle on that bike and my Europa gets the nicely broken in saddle .

Richard