Why am I so doubtful that there would be quad butted tubing on a 24" BMX frame? Should I believe the man who's wasting valuable Uni resources developing double butted bamboo?

The markettin genius within me thinks you might be better off skipping quinmoly and going straight for SEXmoly with all its outrageous properties (if only I could work out what they were!)

On that theme, I was driving to werk today behind a EB falcon with the number plate ASM8IN :eek: why would you advertise something like that?!? I've also seen ASS80Y on a 1980 celica. Some ppl lead the strangest lives.

Sorry to hear about your bad luck on the job front Wattsy. Hopefully my stupidity this morning will give you something to laugh about. 2 flat tires in 5 mintues withouth leaving the house! First a valve breaks, you know the little bit that screws back in on a presta valvle, well it just fell off. Then because I was in a hurry, I wasn't careful enough putting in the spare tube, and must have pinched the damn thing with the tire lever. Of course, I only have one spare.

Rockmuncher, Nice bike. I am in the process of looking at buying a new road bike, the old Cannondale has reached its used by date. Got any recommendations or things to look for (not necessarily brands but components or features)? I have been looking on ebay to see what is out there, and there are some nice bikes that are pretty well priced, thinking maybe finding someone in Sydney and going to pick it up. Probably only looking at between $1000 to $2000 for I wouldn’t ride it enough to justify any more expense. That is why I have been seeing what is out there second hand. Just a few pointers, not expecting any sales pitch ;)

Expat can fix you up with some nice tubes :D

Build it from the bottom up you reckon :)

I know absolutely nothing apparently my opinions fly in face of roughly 2 billion bike riders world wide. Quite an achievement, but here's my two bobs worth:

Sora and tiagra are not adequate.
105 is adequate for training, but might be a bit clunky for racing
Ultegra 9s is fantastic value for money, Ultegra 10s is not (yet)
Buy Dura Ace if you like having a hole burnt in your pocket. Crashing is expensive.
I love campag, but I find shimano just as good. It is hard to mix the two, so it's best not to.

For riding on the coast I recommend at least 32 spoke Swiss stainless on a decent set of hubs and rims. Go for deep rims for extra pothole resistance. Having sed that, my old ambrosios never had a problem and they were only 15mm deep. You needn't spend megabucks on wheels until you're into serious racing at State/Club A Grade level.

My 1982 Concor saddle is 10 times more comfortable than any modern saddle I have tried. Good luck!

For frames I like Al + carbon forks purely on a bang for bucks basis: it's stiff, light, and cheap. I also expect to replace Al training frames every 2-3 years due to fatigue. With steel that would be more like 8-10 years. I'm not yet a big fan of CF, so I'll wait for now

[edit] with high end wheelsets and frames you basically pay more money for less weight at (one would expect) the same structural strength. Unfortunately the amount of money is not directly proportional to the amount of weight saved, so bang for buck goes out the window very fast. My crap little $1600 Al bike does everything a $8000 bike does but it weighs 10kg instead of 7.5kg. I reckon I can throw it down the road without shedding any tears.

I have noticed that a lot of the new bikes coming out all have the wheels with the 8 pair spoke combo. They look good, but are they actually any good?

Saccy has a set of Shimano 540's (and my racing bike will have those) and he hasn't had a single problem with them. I have seen posts on other threads where ppl weren't happy with them, but you will that with any product I guess. My one problem with them is that they go waaaay outta shape (ie. unrideable) if you happen to bust a spoke.

I added a couple of cents more to the last post.

So we need to round up now, does that mean that the advice is no longer free :( haha. I can see how there would be some issues with broken spokes (if you got one).

Damn, have just finished consuming lunch, that poses two problems: 1) I need to get back to doing intermittent periods of work and 2) I have no lunch to eat at lunch.

it is a cruel world.

it was far from advice. just my thoughts (right and/or wrong)
last thought on low spoke wheels: your wheels keep you upright. Now you can go ahead and buy a nice bike with pretty wheels, or you can buy an equally nice bike with boring old 32 spoke wheels that you know you can trust AND they'll stay true till the cows come home.

Hey HobartDave, crap weather we're having at the moment, eh?

Are these tube problems on the "new" tipshop bike or the Trekkie? Anyway, how did the tipshop bike rebuild (repaint, etc, etc) go? What was the frame originally (lugged steel)?

dbuck, what does your cannondale have on it now? 105? Campy?

I prefer steel for the reason Muncher stated, longer life, and they can be repaired when crashed, and yes, I ripped my derailleur hanger completely off the first month I had my frame. If you go alu, make sure it has replaceable dropouts. I also cracked an alu bike top tube on my CX bike the first year I had it, not much fun when it's an expensive frame.

I also prefer Campy for it's looks, feel and neatness on the cables. But really the shifting is great and the thumb shifter is a great to slam down many gears at a time. 2 quick shifts and you can go down all 10 gears at the back.

Training wheels are all you need, and at that price range, all you'll get. Upgrade later if you want to.

Nope, sold them all to some old guy from Gosford.


Old seat for an old ass...

There, I think we're even for Monday. :D

Cold pizza syndrome? Bring it to work and it never makes it past 9 AM. Then you have no lunch. And bad breath.

Thats the problem with a job that doesn't keep you very busy. Today I brought breakfast, lunch, and an inbetween snack to work. Because I spend most of my time cruising the net and hanging around the bike forum, eating becomes a second love. You've got to take enough food to work, or go broke buying lunch, or get a job that actually requires work!!

Climbo I will have to get back to you on that one, being a bit of a noobie I havent really taken much notice of what was on the bike. It is a bike that I got off a mate a few years back when I first decided to start riding. It is fairly old, but will still be interesting to find out.


Ahh yes that is very true. Stinky breath and constant bad onion taste in the mouth that you cannot get rid of :(

A common ailement associated with work. The more you bring the more you eat, if you dont bring enough or none, then you are forced to buy which chews thru the funds pretty quick. Food outlets need to start adopting lunch time specials like over in Europe where there is always one dish that is prepared in mass qty and cheap.

My problem is not that there is nothing to do, I have work piling up around me, it is the motivation that is lacking. ever since I got back from my Holiday in NZ last month, I have just struggled to get back into the work side of things. All I want to do is go touring other countries now!.

Hi Rowan, Sure is crap weather, you just can't tell what's going to happen one day to the next.

The tube problems this morning were on the trek, as for the tipshop bike, I've still only done a couple of coats of primer. I've been spending too much time riding my bike to have any time to fix up the old one. I could have a lot worse problems I guess :)

Oh yeah, it's an old sportsworld or something like that lugged steel bike. but for $30 for 2 bikes, who's complaining.

You've been watching American Flyers again, haven't you? :p God I hated that cutaway shot: 20 times in 2 hours for what is fundamentally a lie (remind me which pro racer jumps from biggest to smallest cog in one go?). Oh yeah, but they were americans, so I spose anythings possible :D

I'm betting Shimano 105, or if it's real old, 600.

Climbo, aren't you a bit old for training wheels? :p

I feel, I feel, I feel. Identical here. No work motivation, piling up, almost at bursting point. I've just about settled my plans for the next year or so, and it involves cycle touring mainland Oz.

I learnt to ride on a Spin Bike, leaning over is no good for me, training wheels help that.

very true, ANYTHING is possible.

"remind me which pro racer jumps from biggest to smallest cog in one go?" --- I'm pretty certain Lance can.

Thought so. What happened to your avatar?

I bet he does it all the way up L'Alp d'Huez just to piss the climbers off :D