pretty sure its the BB, get a new BB, cheep

DA Octalink bottom brackets are far from "cheep".

Aside from that, why would the BB be causing play in the drive side crank arm?

I'm reading stuff online that says octalink does not deal well with reverse torque - which is happening all the time on a fixed gear if you use your legs to slow down. This could explain why things are coming loose but not why one arm is influencing the other. Also, if the bolts are being tighten with a fairly small wrench, there is no way enough torque is being applied and the cranks will come loose.

Looking for a zero-setback seatpost that's cheaper than Thomson. Any ideas?

Civia.

wow good to know. had been looking at getting an octalink

btw you weren't joking about how much quieter the EAI chainrings are. put it on and was a combination of adjusting to the GI change and the noise. I kept thinking 'something seems off...' then I realized it was the noise I was missing (but not "missing")

Perfect, if I can't snag a used Thomson off eBay for cheap, I'll grab one of those. Thanks!

If you're really cheap, like me, or need a size other than 27.2, Kalloy has this one. I didn't think I'd ever find zero setback 25.6mm.

http://www.niagaracycle.com/product_...ucts_id=806679

I think it looks fine, at least w/ quill stems
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7225/7...2bd535cd05.jpg

Mavic CXP22's (32h) or Weinmann LP-18's (36h)?

Good lord this is really ****ing creepy man.

Both decent rims. Flip a coin.

What hubs do you have in mind? Is one hole count cheaper than the other?

Thanks, Scrod.

@ Itha - both come with Formula sealed. The Mavics are 32h and are $30 more (wheelset) than the 36h Weinmanns. I'm 180lbs. so I figure I'm borderline between 32h and 36h.

Do avid rotors suck?

Your thoughts on this gif?
http://i.imgur.com/yDb0s.gif

Mainly because I wanted to use it, but couldn't find something applicable.

The ending made it an awesome/10 for me

Scrod, should I ride my bike from my house and go straight to England?

I like green. Why, though, do all green components have to be ridiculous bright green? I want an earthy baby-diarrhea green for my rims and crank. Sugino makes/made a set of track cranks that were anodized olive green. I my pants got entirely too tight when I found them. But I cannot afford them. A couple brands (Eightinch, etc) make a brownish green wheelset, but I've already got a decent one.
Am I an idiot for disassembling my rims just to paint them and rebuild them? Does anyone make affordable stuff in a color I would enjoy? Maybe I should buy some painted cranks and then re-paint those? Where exactly is Carmen Sandiego?
Why do I have this urge to make my FG personalized, even though I know everyone else couldn't give less of a crap about my color choices, just how I see most (stereotypical) "fixies" and want to punch a brick wall?

No, but they're not the greatest.

Wow.

I'm not sure what this means.

I've gone through 6 avid rotors during the past 2 years.

Let me rephrase in a way that I'm not drunk.

Do you like green?

Not really.

I'm about to order some spare tubes for my tour. For the sake of versatility I want to get the same tubes for both mine and Chris' bikes. My tires are 25 and 26, and his are 28. Should I get 23-25 or 25-30 tubes? (Not sure how much it matters that we'll have a full touring load and thus will not be inflating to max PSI)

Always get the smaller sized tubes if you need to share them across tire sizes. Tubes balloon up to the diameter of your thigh easily, but when they're too big for the tire, it's damn near impossible to get the tire to seat right because the tube is in the way.

BMX riders have been known to ride on 16" tubes stretched around their 20" wheels.

Thanks, Dan. That makes perfect sense.