She was quite svelte looking lassy though, for sure. But ahem... no, I'm not a kiwi. ;)


Oh Exy! You've heard the saying when in Rome? Those poor lasses must of thought you were such a tease. :D

Night muschie you old fart. Glad you didn't end up under a soccer mum after all. :)

I was on my best behaviour there, and didn't even partake of the native wimmin. I had already arranged to meet my wife there for our first date, and would have felt guilty about sampling the local wares.

Aww. As they say, what she doesn't know can't hurt you. ;)

But seriously, I guess if you did muck about and get a hankering for hairy lipped keeweez then you could have missed out on the plush wicket you're now on. Your restraint is commendable. :)

checked in :)

OK, back to the MTB shifting thing. I think my problem is the BB.

I took the cable to very slack, limit screws all the way out. When I shift down the chain stays on the 32 and the der. goes to the limit of how far inside it can go. So, if I tweak the chain a little with my hand it actually shifts down so I'm thinking my BB spindle is too narrow and therefore restricting the der from doing it's job.

This may be the case as when I ran SS I could run any BB I wanted so I may have picked one that won't work with a triple ring. I'll take it out but I'm pretty sure it's a 110mm as that's what it says on the empty BB boxes I have in my cabinet.

I'll check the Shimano website for info but for memory, MTN BB's come in 110 or 113. There must be a standard or minimum for my frame. It's a regular old square spindle kind. Expat, does this sound plausible to you before I rip out the BB and replace it? I know it's a 68 shell so I'll have a look at q-bike also. Would the extra 3mm be THAT important? It's only 1.5mm per side.

And I just measured my q-factor. Looks like the right crank is 5mm closer the the down tube than the left so obviously my BB is not centered correctly which would also add 2.5mm to the right sie if it was aligned properly.

I'll fix that first, the frame is built with an EBB shell so it's easily adjustable in that regard, if that doesn't fix it, maybe a new BB with a 113mm spindle will do the trick. :( :(

Not now though, baby just woke up, time to play Dad. :)

Yeah, if your eccentric is like ours, it can easily get outta line. If it's square taper, I have a spare Shimano 113 that's unused, but it sounds like you just need to shift (haha!) it over a bit.

Note to Saccy: The Kiwi wimmin I ran into were all rosy cheeked beautys. Had I been completely single, I would have been a fool to not sample a few. Don't know what they think of Aussies, but they sure do love Americans.

yep, hammered it back in line (it's a Bushnell type), seems to be working fine for now, shifts to all rings, limit screws adjusted, flawless !! I'm not such a bad mechanic :D

Welcome to OLN's live coverage of the Aussie Thread. Today's stage will commence momentarily.....

The guy who was killed on the freeway yesterday was a 29 year old from Toronto (NSW). I caught up with a local whose friend had passed the scene on her bike. She described it as "the bike was absolutely flattened. The front of the car looked like it had hit a telegraph pole, and the windscreen had a large depression in it. There was a sheet covering the guy's body, and it was soaked red." The same thing happened a few years back with one of the vets and the driver NEVER GOT CHARGED.

I wonder how many cyclists will die on the freeway in that manner before they start locking people up. It's beyond negligent driving. It's beyond driving in a manner dangerous. It's manslaughter. Pure and simple. Yeah I know, there may be mitigating circumstances. The rider may have had an anurism and drifted into the path of traffic. But it is still unforgivable that a driver could hit a cyclist in that manner. It's a clearly avoidable accident scenario when drivers use commonsense, patience, and observation.

Yeah I know this should have been in the Advocacy & Safety & Home for Crackpots thread, but I don't think I could cope with all the BS

You go girl! I left you a gift in the blinkie thread. As an aside, when I worked at the insurance company, we never pursued anyone that ran a bike into a car. Never. Even drunk on the wrong side of the road at night with no light hitting a parked car. Ok, maybe I did sue that guy. But our unwritten rule was that the bicyclist was always right, and no jury would ever see it any other way. That's my 5 cents, because we don't have pennies over here anymore. Damn rounding. Wouldn't that make my 2 cents worthless?

Damned right :) And everyone elses :lol:

...as the winds die down on the plains the herds cluster together ready for another night's sleep. All except the Victorians who are still comatose, having readied themselves for work on Monday through stoic participation in their traditional two day beerfest.

And so ends another exciting day on the savanah...

Oooo. I'll be doing a fair few miles on the pushie around there next summer. I'll be sure to sample the local fare after such a glowing report. :D

If only you knew. I have photos somewhere.

I see Dopey "I never lied, I just didn't reveal the whole truth" Dajka is back on the bike. Placed seventh in a World Cup meet in Manchester. Got squashed in the quarter finals by Bourgain, who went on to win.

He was quoted as saying "It was just back to normal". Giddy up.

The boy can ride.

How about Robbie in the Bay Crits?? Awesome talent....

Yesterday's winner (Clarke) sed "It was nice to get a win after a week of going close with some fourths and fifths, but missing out on the podium. I still don't know how to beat Robbie (McEwen) as he is without doubt the fastest cyclist in the world."

A bit of a wrap. There's no doubt lil Robbie's a bit on the quick side. Must have an incredible number of fast twitchies :D

Jay Sweet used to beat him regularly in the mid-90s.....then he grew afterburners from somewhere!

Sometimes with athletes they have to figure out how to win (kinda like Phar Lap), and when they do it's like someone's thrown a switch.

Entries opened today ! 350 limit, better hurry :)

Kids and Training/Riding

Trailer for the kid or a bike seat on the back?

My wife has started to work every second Sunday so baby duty calls me those days. I figure I could get a ride in with the kid some weekends.

Trailer has it's benefits like fits a second child (if I find one), food, nappies and allsorts of junk but it's obviously bigger and more $. But it can go on my MTB or road bike. I've ridden with a Bob Trailer and it's very easy to handle.

Seat on the back has limited weight and can't be easily changed between bikes.

Anyone had experience with either of these? I'm sure training is almost impossible with either set-up, it'll be more like long steady rides, a little more scenic that I'm used to.

Now there's a group ride I'd like to see. :D Hardcore racers training on their plastic bikes, all with little trailers behind them.

As kids get older they get a bit bored with the trailer idea. It's just like being in a tent. It can also be a bit scary for them because they are down at the business end of passing traffic. Lots of road and engine noise down there. In a seat they are close to you (ie. happier and safer) and are strapped in, plus they get to look around from a good height. Kids that are prone to travel sickness can't ride in a trailer because they don't have a visual motion reference to match what their ears are telling them. Makes them seasick in about 10mins.

I put my son in a trailer at 4 weeks. Strapped the car seat right into one. I'm not too keen on the baby seat on a bike, don't want the weight up high like that, and if the bike goes down, scary!

Anyone need some bike shoes for their kid? Specialized, size EU34.

Hey Expat have you done the Tour of the Lake?

I know a guy who reckons McEwan is on something because his forehead is a funny shape