What's made you smile today?

[PuntoHowTo]

I remember my first 2-3 years of driving you still had to have a tax disc, I always thought it was a bit of a backwards step when they did away with them. Most of the time when I was younger my cars were never taxed quite often a few months overdue & the most effective thing to do was to get a small amount of petrol on a rag & clean the residue off the windscreen where the tax disc had been, I used to get pulled over quite a lot when I was younger & not one of those officers ever look at the windscreen so I always got away with it you were always more likely to get caught with the expired tax disc still in the windscreen, my dad's best mate had a Fiat Croma Turbo & he got chased by the boys in blue, got to 135mph & got away from them only for them to catch up with him at the level crossing when the barriers were down it was only after they were there with him for an hour & a half that one of them looked at the clean windscreen & realised there was no tax disc

but now all I need is your reg to know if you are taxed MOT'd and get a full print out of past MOT history. The Police and DVLA use ANPR to read the number plates of passing cars on roads all around the country, to the tune of millions per hour, everything is logged electronically so records can be checked instantly. And the police have the ability to check all that data instantly. so really you stand far less chance now of getting away with it, than you used to.

I have just seen a note that they are going to be photographing cars at every step of future MOTs which will all be logged against the car and you'll not even be able to get that Dodgy £20 MOT from a mate.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

it's if you're attempting to land a doubles on it something has gone horribly wrong.

I have my mountain bike for that. I have toyed with putting some gravel bike tires on it and gearing it down a little.

This falls into the category of using the right tool for the job. There is no point in hacking around on roads, on a heavy mountain bike set up for off roading when a cheap (£70) road bike will do the job a million times better.

It is an extremely good bike for the money, and as I've said, about £875 if bought right now brand new.

 

[Cheest]

Speaking of bicycles, I committed blasphemy to my 51 year old Raleigh Sports 3 speed that's set up as a touring bike.

One of my riding buddies handed me a pair of German alloy wheels with some really nice nice hubs on them. The rear hub is a German Sachs Torpedo 3 speed. So I'm doing evil by replacing the heavy steel wheels with the Sturmey Archer AW 3 speed and mediocre front hub with the German wheels. It would probably be a straight forward swap as I have a Torpedo shifter but I don't have the correct cable, so I have to do an MTM aka Modify That Mother.

Mating the Sturmey Archer cable attachment to the Sachs hub was pretty easy. I don't know what the threading is on a Sturmey Archer hub chain because I didn't feel like checking the one I just took off, but the Sachs hub chain is M3.5x0.6. Sure, that size is in everybody's tap and die set. Turns out that I can get two of those from Amazon for $10. I didn't even need to use a tap drill.

And it worked.

Right now, I'm using a Sturmey Archer trigger to try it. It kinda sorta works but it's a bear to get into low gear. The Torpedo shifter is going on tomorrow.

 

[bugsymike]

I have just seen a note that they are going to be photographing cars at every step of future MOTs which will all be logged against the car and you'll not even be able to get that Dodgy £20 MOT from a mate.

Might be more productive if they filmed all the Civil Servants working/sleeping from home.

 

[FiatMatt94]

but now all I need is your reg to know if you are taxed MOT'd and get a full print out of past MOT history. The Police and DVLA use ANPR to read the number plates of passing cars on roads all around the country, to the tune of millions per hour, everything is logged electronically so records can be checked instantly. And the police have the ability to check all that data instantly. so really you stand far less chance now of getting away with it, than you used to.

I have just seen a note that they are going to be photographing cars at every step of future MOTs which will all be logged against the car and you'll not even be able to get that Dodgy £20 MOT from a mate.

It's definitely not worth doing nowadays, back then it was just a small fine which was a lot cheaper than either 6 months or a years tax but now it's easier & a lot cheaper to just tax it, I remember when they first started coming down hard on it, I was about 18 - 19 & the DVLA were everywhere where I lived in Surrey clamping cars & putting big yellow untaxed vehicle stickers across the windscreens, the thing which made me laugh though it wasn't so much the rough old bangers like what I had that were being clamped, it was all the new expensive Merc's, BMW's & Range Rover's . I've also heard that with MOT's & that they'll be raising the MOT price from £54.85 to £75 to accommodate the extra time for them "taking a picture" . Although they haven't really thought it out that well because I've heard that the picture will only be to prove that the car was actually there in the first place & taken at the beginning before the test commences so basically as it sits there wouldn't be anything to stop them doing the dodgy MOT after the picture is taken, what they probably should have done if they really wanted to stop it is make some sort of system where the MOT man has a small body camera similar to what the emergency services use which would record the actual MOT test & then upload onto their computer with the vehicle details etc, something along these lines would massively reduce bent MOT's.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

It's definitely not worth doing nowadays, back then it was just a small fine which was a lot cheaper than either 6 months or a years tax but now it's easier & a lot cheaper to just tax it, I remember when they first started coming down hard on it, I was about 18 - 19 & the DVLA were everywhere where I lived in Surrey clamping cars & putting big yellow untaxed vehicle stickers across the windscreens, the thing which made me laugh though it wasn't so much the rough old bangers like what I had that were being clamped, it was all the new expensive Merc's, BMW's & Range Rover's . I've also heard that with MOT's & that they'll be raising the MOT price from £54.85 to £75 to accommodate the extra time for them "taking a picture" . Although they haven't really thought it out that well because I've heard that the picture will only be to prove that the car was actually there in the first place & taken at the beginning before the test commences so basically as it sits there wouldn't be anything to stop them doing the dodgy MOT after the picture is taken, what they probably should have done if they really wanted to stop it is make some sort of system where the MOT man has a small body camera similar to what the emergency services use which would record the actual MOT test & then upload onto their computer with the vehicle details etc, something along these lines would massively reduce bent MOT's.

The local main dealers seem to do exactly that when the car is in with them for service. They send an email with video attachment where you get a detailed walk around the underneath of the car when it's up on the lift, pointing out anything they want you to know. I also find it very interesting to be able to see exactly where they've positioned the lift arms and what the condition is of the rubber protective pads on the end of the arms.

 

[SB1500]

Day off yesterday spent hoovering / cleaning the car and giving it a quick 'spray wax' after. Far cry from last years full detox and proper wax but still a pleasant morning and afternoon. Finally warm enough for shorts and no hat / scarf. Too busy with programming now (and trying to fit other things into the days) to do the full works. Maybe next month or May when these assignments are finished with. Poor car must suffer!

Also managed to not get so annoyed by the scratches, chips, etc. Also think (THINK) I have some bad water pool 'spots' on the roof which I panicked and thought were clear coat failures that suddenly sprouted up... though when I realised the amount of dried water spots and how hard they were to wipe off (even with the spray wax) I thought perhaps it's not a clear coat issue... Still, I'm getting better at accepting that the car is old, not perfect and never will be - and that this is 'fine'. There's better things to lose sleep over I suppose.

Still got to make an effort to get it as good as I can, without dedicating too much time, money or thought into it. Still enough of a good job to put a smile on your face on the early cold mornings with clean mats and much less obvious fine layer of grime between washes as it builds on the daily.

 

[SB1500]

Mating the Sturmey Archer cable attachment to the Sachs hub was pretty easy.

I've never done this level of working with bike components (tried tuning a rear derailleur once, never again!). But those Sturmey Archer internal hubs are brilliant for maintenance free / long service life. We had an old Raleigh Bomber bike from decades ago sitting around and despite its condition, gears worked fine!

A bit like the eCVTs in Toyotas... not really praised much in reviews or rated by speed fanatics, but for most everyday people a fine choice and little issues over time.

 

[SB1500]

Might be more productive if they filmed all the Civil Servants working/sleeping from home.

I 'filmed' the MOT on the DS3 in 2021. All government run MOT centres in NI. Still somehow suffering from 'over booking' from Covid (government run, go figure!). Dashcam caught the guy walking over with a smirk as he turned it off manually. Then as soon as he shut the door, footage resumed / car kept videoing thanks to the hard wire.

They sat talking, entering things on to the computer. Right over to the middle part, heavy footed might I add, entered in stuff to the computer... right down to the 'lift up' section, car sat on the lift , unlifted , for about 5 minutes with the engine running. More talking. And then driven out the back with a pass certificate.

I was quite concerned at the time over the impact passing cars blindly this way must be having on our roads. But then it was a fairly 'new' car and well kept at the time... maybe they do this on cars they presume to not have major issues but I would expect the government, since we fund it, to do a better job. As I get older I realise that's far too much to ask of any government ..

 

[Cheest]

I've never done this level of working with bike components (tried tuning a rear derailleur once, never again!). But those Sturmey Archer internal hubs are brilliant for maintenance free / long service life. We had an old Raleigh Bomber bike from decades ago sitting around and despite its condition, gears worked fine!

A bit like the eCVTs in Toyotas... not really praised much in reviews or rated by speed fanatics, but for most everyday people a fine choice and little issues over time.

The only thing I haven't done regarding bicycles is build my own frame. Someday...

Most of my SA hubs are over fifty years old and just keep ticking along. The Fitchel & Sachs/Sachs Torpedo hubs are bomb proof but very hard to get repair parts for. If you can find them, they cost a left nut. Sram took over the Sachs line of hubs and replaced the Torpedo 3 speed with the T3. Basically the same hub with cheaper parts. And they took on the attitude that you must buy a completely assembled hub set of internals if you just need a small part.

Case in point. I have a 7 speed Sram hub on my most expensive bike. It quit shifting. I found that water had gotten into the hub from the axle and one of the clutch keys had rusted into place. I wanted to get just the key. I met up with the Sram rep at the bike shop that built my bike and he said, "Nope. Can't do that. But your hub is under warranty so we'll replace the guts at no charge but it has to be done here at the shop." Jeff, the shop owner, said, "Uh-uh, we're not opening that hub." Then he pointed at me and said, "He knows more about these internal gear hubs than anyone in the shop. Just let him install the new guts." The rep said he couldn't do that. So I said, "Fine" and left.

I took out the guts, freed the key, and cleaned up whatever rust I found. Then, I drilled and tapped a hole in the hub shell and fitted a Sturmey Archer oiler cap in the hub shell a went from using an NLGI 1 grease to using 0-40W Mobil 1. Haven't had a problem since.

A few weeks later, the bike shop had a "Customer Appreciation Night" with food, booze, and visiting reps giving out swag. I rode the bike with the 7 speed hub over. I caught the Sram reps eye and I pointed out the oiler on the hub to him. He said, "Smart, but you voided your warranty." I said, "Don't care about the warranty. I want to be able to buy repair parts. I want to be able to fix this stuff myself, like a Sturmey Archer hub." He grunted and walked away.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

The only thing I haven't done regarding bicycles is build my own frame. Someday...

Most of my SA hubs are over fifty years old and just keep ticking along. The Fitchel & Sachs/Sachs Torpedo hubs are bomb proof but very hard to get repair parts for. If you can find them, they cost a left nut. Sram took over the Sachs line of hubs and replaced the Torpedo 3 speed with the T3. Basically the same hub with cheaper parts. And they took on the attitude that you must buy a completely assembled hub set of internals if you just need a small part.

Case in point. I have a 7 speed Sram hub on my most expensive bike. It quit shifting. I found that water had gotten into the hub from the axle and one of the clutch keys had rusted into place. I wanted to get just the key. I met up with the Sram rep at the bike shop that built my bike and he said, "Nope. Can't do that. But your hub is under warranty so we'll replace the guts at no charge but it has to be done here at the shop." Jeff, the shop owner, said, "Uh-uh, we're not opening that hub." Then he pointed at me and said, "He knows more about these internal gear hubs than anyone in the shop. Just let him install the new guts." The rep said he couldn't do that. So I said, "Fine" and left.

I took out the guts, freed the key, and cleaned up whatever rust I found. Then, I drilled and tapped a hole in the hub shell and fitted a Sturmey Archer oiler cap in the hub shell a went from using an NLGI 1 grease to using 0-40W Mobil 1. Haven't had a problem since.

A few weeks later, the bike shop had a "Customer Appreciation Night" with food, booze, and visiting reps giving out swag. I rode the bike with the 7 speed hub over. I caught the Sram reps eye and I pointed out the oiler on the hub to him. He said, "Smart, but you voided your warranty." I said, "Don't care about the warranty. I want to be able to buy repair parts. I want to be able to fix this stuff myself, like a Sturmey Archer hub." He grunted and walked away.

You guys use a lot of different stuff state side than we do. Some of it down to local laws like having braked hubs on kids bikes. Most of what we have here is more conventional derailures and I notice in recent years that has been limited more and more to just the rear with only one gear selector for up to 12 speeds.

Years ago with my brother and father we built a recumbent, it worked really well but… the front wheel bar was a little close to the crank so if you had big feet (which I do) you could catch your ankle on the bar. It did t half shift though you could easily get it up to 30mph and 40 if you really pushed it.

The frame was mostly steel tubing with parts from bikes welded where needed to fit things such as a bottom bracket at the front a set of racing bike forks to mount the back wheel.

Given your engineering skills it would be a fun project to try something like that.

Basically I played about with bikes from the age of about 10 till about 20 then sort of forgot about it all. I did have a Raleigh suspension thing for a few years that got me through university but it’s only in the last couple of years I’ve started playing about again. This time more modern stuff which we didn’t have in circa 1999/2000 disc brakes 12 speed cassettes, dropper posts, racing bikes with shifters in the gear leavers. Hollow tech bottom brackets and all manor of other little changes that have happened since then. It’s all pretty intuitive but still a bit of learning to do.

I had zero experienc or SRAM till I got my mountain bike but I really rate their stuff, possibly more so than shimano which I always find a bit less refined

 

[FiatMatt94]

The local main dealers seem to do exactly that when the car is in with them for service. They send an email with video attachment where you get a detailed walk around the underneath of the car when it's up on the lift, pointing out anything they want you to know. I also find it very interesting to be able to see exactly where they've positioned the lift arms and what the condition is of the rubber protective pads on the end of the arms.

That was what I was thinking the way the main dealers do thing & then say you find a car your interested in buying or you just want to see your own car they could have the video of an MOT on the MOT history section or vehicle enquiry section on the DVLA/Gov site. If they brought something like this or similar in the dodgy back street MOT's would stop overnight.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Day off yesterday spent hoovering / cleaning the car and giving it a quick 'spray wax' after. Far cry from last years full detox and proper wax but still a pleasant morning and afternoon. Finally warm enough for shorts and no hat / scarf. Too busy with programming now (and trying to fit other things into the days) to do the full works. Maybe next month or May when these assignments are finished with. Poor car must suffer!

Also managed to not get so annoyed by the scratches, chips, etc. Also think (THINK) I have some bad water pool 'spots' on the roof which I panicked and thought were clear coat failures that suddenly sprouted up... though when I realised the amount of dried water spots and how hard they were to wipe off (even with the spray wax) I thought perhaps it's not a clear coat issue... Still, I'm getting better at accepting that the car is old, not perfect and never will be - and that this is 'fine'. There's better things to lose sleep over I suppose.

Still got to make an effort to get it as good as I can, without dedicating too much time, money or thought into it. Still enough of a good job to put a smile on your face on the early cold mornings with clean mats and much less obvious fine layer of grime between washes as it builds on the daily.

Vinegar does the trick. I add 50 ml to a rinse bucket. Neat on the chamois also helps.

 

[Cheest]

Unless I feel like drilling out the rivets on the Torpedo shifter and seeing what's up with it, I may just make the sign of the cross and aim it towards the bin. It won't hold low gear. Soooo, I went back to using the Sturmey Archer trigger and triple checked the cable routing. When I pulled the SA trigger off this morning, I noticed the cable had jumped off the pulley. I didn't put two and two together at the time.(Dummy)

Anyway, farted around with the Torpedo shifter for a couple of hours trying to make it work. Then the thought of that damn slipped cable on the pulley slapped me upside the head. I put the SA shifter back on, ran the cable over the pulley and gave it a nasty scowl so it would stay in place, hooked everything else back up...and it worked. I think I had to turn the adjuster barrel half a turn to get the shifts dialed in. I took it for a short ride and it worked perfectly.

The Lake Pepin 3 Speed Tour is coming up next month. I was trying to decide whether to take this Raleigh or the Danish Everton. I think the Raleigh is getting the nod.

 

[bugsymike]

Unless I feel like drilling out the rivets on the Torpedo shifter and seeing what's up with it, I may just make the sign of the cross and aim it towards the bin. It won't hold low gear. Soooo, I went back to using the Sturmey Archer trigger and triple checked the cable routing. When I pulled the SA trigger off this morning, I noticed the cable had jumped off the pulley. I didn't put two and two together at the time.(Dummy)

Anyway, farted around with the Torpedo shifter for a couple of hours trying to make it work. Then the thought of that damn slipped cable on the pulley slapped me upside the head. I put the SA shifter back on, ran the cable over the pulley and gave it a nasty scowl so it would stay in place, hooked everything else back up...and it worked. I think I had to turn the adjuster barrel half a turn to get the shifts dialed in. I took it for a short ride and it worked perfectly.

The Lake Pepin 3 Speed Tour is coming up next month. I was trying to decide whether to take this Raleigh or the Danish Everton. I think the Raleigh is getting the nod.

My 1960s memories of Sturmey Archer were as a 12 year old on a heavy old Raleigh Gentlemen's bike a neighbour had given me that was like trying to pedal a mangle, trying to get across a dangerous traffic junction and the gears slipping resulting in parts of me engaging with the crossbar in a painful fashion, you could see the motorists wincing in sympathy. Fortunately 5 children later so nothing terminal in that direction.
The other fun I had was spot welding the chain joiner link in place using my mum's mains 240 volt electricity and a wire fuse sparking enough to keep the link in place with blobs of "weld" , used a fair bit of fuse wire. HSE???
Strange after all that messing about five years later I got an award in my Motor Engineering for being the best practical student of my year as an apprentice.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Vinegar does the trick. I add 50 ml to a rinse bucket. Neat on the chamois also helps.

Thanks, didn't know that one.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Thanks, didn't know that one.

Its always been our grannies cleaning agent, but also helps with hard water marks. Even claybars struggle with lime scale thats sun dried. It helps reduce / gradually remove limescale from black plastic too after a while. If you can find it the other 'Super product' is Rinse Magic. One cap ful in a bucket of water used for rinsing, makes water bead up and the car looks and is effectively polished. Staggering stuff, but I have not seen it for ages. Originally Simoniz, then Turtle. I always did my company cars with it. The fleet managers thought I polished them to the nines which went down well!

 

[The Panda Nut]

My 1960s memories of Sturmey Archer were as a 12 year old on a heavy old Raleigh Gentlemen's bike a neighbour had given me that was like trying to pedal a mangle, trying to get across a dangerous traffic junction and the gears slipping resulting in parts of me engaging with the crossbar in a painful fashion, you could see the motorists wincing in sympathy. Fortunately 5 children later so nothing terminal in that direction.
The other fun I had was spot welding the chain joiner link in place using my mum's mains 240 volt electricity and a wire fuse sparking enough to keep the link in place with blobs of "weld" , used a fair bit of fuse wire. HSE???
Strange after all that messing about five years later I got an award in my Motor Engineering for being the best practical student of my year as an apprentice.

Under section7 of the HASWA you are clearly in breach ....... LOL
I spend nearly 20 years as a Safety man... I know I have saved at dozens lives too. The fact is the safety thing is over quoted all the time. Yes, its meant to protect but really its gone to far. Of course its there in the main to stop exploitation by unscrupulous employers and there are still far to many of them. We now know we need also to think of health affects, and we definitely need to stop and think, sometimes very carefully about what we are doing, but its meant to stop the risk of serious injury or death. It cannot ever be expected to stop all risks and all knocks and bumps. Some stuff is dangerous, very very dangerous, but its still got to be done. When Im working at home I ALWAYS look at the job and remember THIS. Its probably why I have dozens of scars and evidence of crushed finger and broken bones. But also why I do every thing that doesnt require specialist equipmrnt on house, hgarden and cars. But hey, Im still here because when its high risk I pause for thought.

That should cause the odd comment. LOL

PS Consider yourself reprimanded!

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Under section7 of the HASWA you are clearly in breach ....... LOL
I spend nearly 20 years as a Safety man... I know I have saved at dozens lives too. The fact is the safety thing is over quoted all the time. Yes, its meant to protect but really its gone to far. Of course its there in the main to stop exploitation by unscrupulous employers and there are still far to many of them. We now know we need also to think of health affects, and we definitely need to stop and think, sometimes very carefully about what we are doing, but its meant to stop the risk of serious injury or death. It cannot ever be expected to stop all risks and all knocks and bumps. Some stuff is dangerous, very very dangerous, but its still got to be done. When Im working at home I ALWAYS look at the job and remember THIS. Its probably why I have dozens of scars and evidence of crushed finger and broken bones. But also why I do every thing that doesnt require specialist equipmrnt on house, hgarden and cars. But hey, Im still here because when its high risk I pause for thought.

That should cause the odd comment. LOL

PS Consider yourself reprimanded!

For much of my working life I didn't pay much attention to "health and safety" it was always hurry up and get the job done. During the years when I was a trainer there was some effort made, but I have to admit my heart wasn't in it so probably my workshop wasn't as safe as it could have been - maybe I was lucky that there were no serious incidents during those years. Then, for the last 15 of my working years I worked for a learning disability charity managing a squad of 6 gardeners doing general maintenance - mowing grass, weeding borders, raking up leaves, sweeping paths etc. and some light landscaping. I was also responsible for maintaining and servicing the machines. Because all my squad members were registered learning disable - but big strong healthy lads (and sometimes a lass too) - every machine and every one of my squad had to be risk assessed and every job we tackled had to have a written risk assessment before I took them on site. At first I almost packed the job in because I was writing so much, when I really wanted to be out on the sites, even doing some of it at home in the evenings so it didn't hold us up getting out in the day. After a while though I'd got the back of it broken and things like machines and the regular sites only needed the occasional update to keep things "fresh". I then began to see the value of doing the assessments and actually became quite a fan, encouraging others in the organisation to keep theirs up to date! I ended up being just a wee bit horrified at some of the things I'd done and chances I'd taken when younger!

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

My 1960s memories of Sturmey Archer were as a 12 year old on a heavy old Raleigh Gentlemen's bike a neighbour had given me that was like trying to pedal a mangle, trying to get across a dangerous traffic junction and the gears slipping resulting in parts of me engaging with the crossbar in a painful fashion, you could see the motorists wincing in sympathy. Fortunately 5 children later so nothing terminal in that direction.
The other fun I had was spot welding the chain joiner link in place using my mum's mains 240 volt electricity and a wire fuse sparking enough to keep the link in place with blobs of "weld" , used a fair bit of fuse wire. HSE???
Strange after all that messing about five years later I got an award in my Motor Engineering for being the best practical student of my year as an apprentice.

Sounds very like my old Raleigh bike. I've mentioned before that I inherited it from my then boss who'd cut the frame in half so he could get it in the boot of his car. He told me it was his dad's bike and that his dad had been a policeman but I don't know if he rode it on duty? He'd asked me to put it in the works skip but I fancied trying to resurrect it so he gave it to me. It's really quite old with rod brakes and a 3 speed Sturmney Archer dynohub (which works) in the rear wheel. I welded the frame and brake rod back together (actually sleeved and brazed the down tube and butt welded the cross tube). and, because I couldn't find anyone who could supply a front rim - old one was very rusted and had a "funny" number of spokes - I bought a complete replacement wheel. Renewed the brake blocks and rode it to work for many years. I'ts actually a little too big for me and, even with the saddle right down, I do have to stretch a bit to reach the pedals when fully down. However, it was free and served me well. That saddle was originally a most uncomfortable leather job but I bought a gel saddle out of Lidl which improved things no end. Brakes were always pretty poor, stopping was done more in hope than certainty and going down hills always exciting! I still have it but haven't ridden it for some time so may need tyres and a wee fettle. The gears always worked perfectly - sometimes a wee fiddle with the adjustment but otherwise superb. The chain is still the original as far as I know (and I've had it for at least 40 years) due no doubt to the enclosed chain case and my regular oiling.

I did include it in a post quite some time ago and Cheest told me quite a lot about it which I didn't know. I wrote it all down and put the bit of paper in the shed where the bike lives but I now can't find the bit of paper - maybe a mouse has taken it for bedding?