TIL velox not only makes rim tape but also coffee makers

samsung make washing machines, without android.

who woulda thought?

well, samsung also makes cars and stuff. the without android part is surprising though

hehe our washing machine plays the NZ nation anthem if you put it in test mode,

seriously?

@Criggie I'd be more impressed if their giant ships used Android than that they lack it, TBH.

It would be even funnier if the Android-using ship also had google maps and google navigation installed. Just wait for the first "but the satnav said" from a ship running aground.

Or "I was playing Angry Birds on the nav console"...

Beats the US navy with their windows powered ship, which has locked up totally in the past

or the F35 plane whihc has similar issues

@Batman srsly morefm.co.nz/…

@Mσᶎ Re the bike lifts - Mine's over the bench in the garage so its ideal for storing the MTB. However the one I have out in the carport ends up lifting the bike to a "comfortable" height so the wheels are maybe 1200 off the ground. I'd generally not be under it.

@Criggie yeah, so probably not an issue. But at work if you injure one of your employees you can end up in a lot of poo. Although it did cost us 4 bike storage spots I still think it was a good idea (those lifts got the bikes high enough that I could easily walk under the wheels, probably 2.5-3m off the ground).

oh yeah true

do you remember if the lanyards were tied off to a cleat ?

In my garage there's a bike hung off a rafter by the seat, as one of a long list of OHS violations.

OHS == OSH I guess

and OSH stands for Office of Health and Safety. Obviously noone there is good at acronyms.

My lifts have a ratchet, like a venetian blind so to lower you have to pull it ~30 degrees off vertical and maintain a level of tension. Too little and the ratchet clicks in, and too much makes the bike go back up.

@Criggie yes, but they needed to be run through a safety latch of some sort, but the sailing auto cleats I found were about $50 each for what we needed, so not worth it

@Criggie yeah, the ones we had didn't come with them, so it was a bit hard.

That pic I posted is exactly what I have - a tang of metal, two bends and two screw holes, not complex.

Sorry, I thought you had an auto-locking one from your description above. Without auto-lock it's worthless in the workplace OHS sense. It has to be "locks when you let it go, even if you're an idiot", not "locks when you deliberately lock it". The ones I've got don't have the auto-cleat on the first pulley, or on the wall mount.

I do - it has both

Just read about campy 11 speed chains thanks to this question.

you need to mangle the end of the connecting pin once you've installed it

eugh

@alex you'd rather break the end off? I dunno, my main thought is that it's something too easy to get wrong, and quite expensive to fix. Which makes it a bad idea.

I'd use master links by preference, I'm no weight weenie. Assuming they exist for 11speeds

@Mσᶎ, You do both with campy 11 speed

I prefer KMC or SRAM split links

me too. But I haven't been forced into 10+ speed cassettes yet, my one derailleur bike is 9 speed and I'm happy with that. It's the lazy bike, it probably only does 2000km a year so I doubt I'll wear out the brifters before I get too old for the bike. Here's hoping

I was happy with my 9 speed mountain bike, but my knees were not after moving here

so shimanno 11 speed it was, SRAM needs a new freehub body

just about to order some spare pins

bah

can't find KMC split links for 11 speed

oh, and the shopping bike. Which after riding in a hilly area, never again. I am way too old for 9x1, heavy load and hills.

@Criggie distraction tactics to get him to wear it at this point

though we've left it around our living room and he will occassionally put it on himself sans straps

Took me ages to get my daughter into a helmet

I started wearing mine about the house, that didn't work

in the end, we had a fight, I won, and once we were out on the road she loved it and the helmet was part of that

yeah tried that too "oh, look, dad is putting his helmet on too" nadda

so if she wants bike time, she needs to have her helmet on

she knows that now

and she actually got to like the thing, she'll wear it around the house now

and we had tears when I stuck a gopro to it

it's just change kids don't like

she hates new clothes until she's worn them too

morning all

I feel like a dragon, whose pile of treasure turns out to be rusty tin

not gold.

So one of my servers died. Smelly old P4 based thing.

Finally got out the spare which I had intended to use to replace it.... core2duo. It won't boot

Tried another core2, different problems

tried a third "known good" machine Also non-booting

in desperation try the one labelled "Dead - parts only" and it actually turns on. But crashes immediately.

four spare PCs, all dead/dead

must be a working one in there somewhere

just finding it is the hard bit

Yeah - I've lost one of my desktops in the meantime

Curiously, that server was murdering my UPS uptime... its gone from 20 minutes to 31 now

gone from 3 to 2 servers plus one switch

@alex - I think the campy system is not too bad. It is a proper peening rather than the little stick the rivet in Shiman's been using.

Just found out from my accountant that even though I have sent the form off to dissolve my company entirely, I need to fill out a separate form to withdraw it from the UK's VAT scheme (Sales tax)

You'd have some notion that it should be a bit joined up...

I've never driven high-end campy 11s, but my Athena 11s is pretty awful in maintenance, while good ol' 10s record is hot for many years and only wears in, never out, very easy to service, install and replace too.

@PeteH wait, this is going to be a silly question, but do you really do drink tea exclusively with milk, not just in movies?

@Rilakkuma well, boiling water and a dash of milk. Some teas are drunk without milk, but in general we have it "with"

@PeteH I see! Do you have some Asian teas there too? Green and such.

I guess you do, but those are not good with milk, are they?

Yes we have that, also fruit teas, but a "tea" is gererally drunk with milk. And sugar if one's tasts is so inclined

It is sufficiently ubiquitous that, if you went to a cafe and asked for a tea, it would arrive with milk.

Very interesting. I've never been properly exposed to the European tea culture, so it all is a bit exotic to me. Latvians mostly ignore tea at all, drinking coffee or herbs instead and in Japan black tea is while fairly common, mostly seen as a western weird stuff.

Also, there is chai tea which I think is made from hot milk instead of water. I only ever tried it once and found it very sickly. I think that may be an invention of US coffee shops

Hmm... Local Indian shops have chai tea which is indeed full of milk. Very spicy and they usually insist on placing sugar inside. Perhaps an universal Indian thing?

Possibly, it sounds the same. Also, in general, something like jasmine tea is uncommon, most likely to be served in a chinese restaurant. Of course we have very few Japanese restaurants here although sushi is becomming popular.

Actually, I should mention that an old friend came over to visit me the other day, and we ended up in our village cafe. I was so pre-occupied with having a treat, I almost forgot that it was lunchtime and I really should be eating "proper" food. So a cheese and tomato sandwich later...

It sounds to me you are recovering quickly. This is very nice thing to hear although you did not write it directly.

Hello @alex

We have had Laos food festival in the park nearby last week and I bought rice paddy herb there, though you may know it, since you have lived in Cambodia. It tastes like stinky guy mixed with some anise and mint.

But then the whole perception changed and it was more like cumin and cucumber at the same time. Very refreshing and delicious herb.

Yes I am doing well and getting b etter physically. There is a certain amount of "fogginess", present I think after any substantial illness, which is clearing only slowly. I suspect this is the reason that many people take months to get back following a stroke.

@PeteH what happened?

hello @nhinkle. Believe it or not, I had a stroke back in February. My "best guess" as to what caused it, is uncontrolled sugar levels. Although the experts do not know what caused it. But I am veryyouyng, only 48, and was quite fit

Are you still able to ride?

@nhinkle. Thank you. No, the stroke left me with very little movement in my left arm, so I am neither driving nor cycling.

I do have a road bike nice and stable in a turbo trainer but I'm unable to step over the btop tube. I also have a step=through granny bike but it doesn't fit in the turbo unfortunately

I mean, in theory I should be able to get onto the granny bike but my balance is such that I'd probably be flat on my face within a few yards :(

how are you doing @nhinkle?

@PeteH good overall. Did a big relay race a few weekends ago... downhill skiing, XC skiing, biking, running, paddling, sprinting. I did the XC ski portion; my girlfriend did the bike ride. Our team ended up getting 2nd in our age group category!

that's good

@Rilakkuma - its mostly catered for western tastes. just like how you have chinese takeout

I'm debating buying brifters

Is there a place I can source Microshift SB-R472 not from china online?

Amazon? amazon.com/Microshift-Shifters-Sb-r472-Bicycle-Groupset/dp/…

oh, amazon does just carry the shifters and not the whole groupset

thanks.

if you just get the shifters they're 65

I've got a question or two about replacing brakes, but I don't think it's general enough for the main site (let me know if it is and I'll post there!)

so I need to replace brake pads on my road bike

it's a Merida Ride 90 bike

the brakes that came with them are unbranded caliper brakes, "Road Dual Pivot"

look like this flickr.com/gp/hugovk/N3663K

but I'm not sure what to get to replace them

another, maybe less clear pic: d112e54l47d6r7.cloudfront.net//runtime/p3media/…

would something like this fit? wiggle.com/…

but they have a choice of "Silver/Black Shimano" and "Silver/Black Campagnolo" which just makes it more confusing...

You'd get the Shimano version. though if you're only spending 8 dollars on brake pads with holders, you're almost surely better off buying just a pad that doesn't use a holder.

ok, thanks

(i'd strongly suggest finding a different set of brake pads)

I thought if I need to replace pads that don't have a holder, it's probably about the same work as putting in pads with holders, and then next time replacing just the pad cartridges would be easier

(will do!)

the work is about the same. but if you're going to buy a holder, buy the set from Shimano or something -- at least you'll get some decent pads to start.

and it doesn't really save you much money either.

oh, so work and cost is about the same for pads and holders, and for pad without holder

probably after you've replaced them one or two times.

i'd be willing to bet on my road bike that i could do both of them within a minute of each other.

also, all being said, with cheaper tektro stuff, i've often just replaced it with better quality stuff.

its cheap for the manufacturer, but i've generally found the braking with tektro stuff underwhelming, even with the same pads.

you mean the whole brake, erm, thing?

levers and stuff?

not the levers, the caliper. the thing that looks like this: chainreactioncycles.com/us/en/…

you basically just unbolt the old one and remove the cable (two hex bolts), bolt the new one on, and put the cable in and adjust it a bit.

A decent new caliper is probably 30 bucks. Decent pads are about 15 around here.

yeah, not much difference

i don't know how good the (presumably tektro) brkaes spec'd on your bike are, but i'd probably spend the extra 15 on a better brake (which will come with pads as well), and throw the tektkro in the spare parts bin/ give it away.

yep, thinking the same

so that same one is 33 eur here wiggle.com/shimano-105-5800-brake-caliper

just pads are 16 eur wiggle.com/shimano-shimano-ultegra-6800-r55c4-brake-shoe-set wiggle.com/…

oh, thats way different pricing than here. i'm in the US, so wiggle shows me US pricing.

but it seems like they're pricing 1 eur for 1 usd ish.

there's a currency selector at the top right

yeah. i just don't know what typical pricing is in europe.

anyway, generally, the Shimano 105 brakes are reasonably priced and good.

that shop is in the UK and they convert to other currencies, also looks like they take into account VAT: they're $36 to send inside Europe or $30 to US

but thanks for your advice, I'm going to get those :)

oh right, vat.. i forgot about that.

also, make sure you get a front brake for the front, and a rear brake for the rear. caliper brakes are specific to front and back.

yup

(some brakes aren't -- low end V-brakes like the Avid Single Digit 5's are not front and back specific)

what's the 49mm drop refer to?

oh, thats the length of the arms essentially. caliper brakes come in different sizes. So, if you measure the distance between the bolt and the center of the brake pads, you will get some number

of mm

so for some bikes you need a very long brake. other bikes need a shorter brake

sheldonbrown.com/calipers.html#reach

check your existing brake by either measuring it or seeing if its written on the back of it (sorry, forgot to mention that)

the usual one is 49 though.

@PeteH Chai Latte coffees are quite nice.

@Batman Hah I bought some new tektro double pivot calipers to replace the single pivot RSX ones. Its still an upgrade to me

Tne difference in caliper front/rear is the mounting bolt length

and which way around the pads are installed by default.

@Criggie - if you spend the money with tektro im sure its fine (e.g. buying from trp or something)

but if you get the base tektro crap versus your mid range Shimano stuff, its an upgrade

well they were cheap - I ended up with two rear and one front brake, new with pads for $40 NZ

@nhinkle actually used the bike light database! Slightly... wanted a new front light, read as far as the "recommended lights" on the front page and bought a L&M350. With the back light, and also a 200 lumen front light that flashes because the girly insists that her front light has to flash. What is it with girls and flashers? Anyway, database saved me lots of thinking about which light to buy, thanks

hm. i have to rewrap my bars