StreetCowboy

According to the bill, he respoked a 28 spoke wheel, and when I counted them, he was not wrong. Three broken spokes on a 28 spoke wheel is probably not good....

They take you aside and look for weapons. I’ve often been given a scan with the hand wand, and a bit of a pat down. I’ve never been strip searched.

Sitting at home, you can get up, walk about, step out to the pub or whatever, unless your wife puts the Seatbelts Sign on.

I think 47 / 52 is mm equivalent of 1.75 / 2.1 inches. The pressure is irrelevant to the inner tube - the tyre resists the pressure, not the tube. Try pumping up a tube when it’s not in the tyre, and see what pressure it holds. Pump your tyres up to the highest pressure marked on the tyre, add two more strokes of the floor pump if you have a beer gut like mine, and you’ll get fewer punctures. If that’s not enough, Schwalbe Marathon Plus are almost bullet-proof, albeit bar-stewards to fit - especially on my mountain bike front wheel.

Run amok. I am sure that it will end out dreadfully, although maybe not for us, if you post on here afterwards.

As I mentioned elsewhere, the shopping bike is in the Spokery for Spoking, so I have resorted to using the old mountain bike for shopping and commuting, rather than refitting the back rack to the road (cyclocross) bike. As you know, the mountain bike is too small for me, but I can get by with the seat post over-extended, and it has a comfy lady's saddle fitted, which is not ideal for putting the power down on the fast part of the commute home through the suburbs. And there's no denying that it weighs a ton. But the gears are absolutely magic - with big and little thumb shifters that just click into place like bullets fired from a gun. I've not gone as far as transferring the front basket mount from the shopping bike, though I was tempted - it was on the mountain bike previously, But for the time being, I am persevering with one pannier only for shopping. I have been assured that the shopping bike wheel will be repaired by Saturday. I would have my fingers crossed, except that would interfere with operating the brake levers.

The mountain bike has seen most action in service of my buddy’s sister, who joins us for a ride when she’s in-country. It’s too small for me, but with the seat tube extended an inch beyond the limit mark, I can get by. It is heavy, and the wide handlebars catch a lot of wind, but the 3x 10 SRAM gears are magic - like firing bullets. And it’s never suffered a broken spoke.

You have to fancy England's chances in this test, now. Weather permitting... Well done to Scotland, keeping in the pace for 20-20 World Cup 2024

If I was going to extrapolate behaviour at a specific cricket match to farangs in general, then I wouldn't.

I have some sympathy with the OP. If we were to rank The Clangers, Star Trek and Star Wars, then there would be no argument bar placing for second and third.

You can kid yourself that things were better when you were young, but change is not a new thing. It is unfortunate that your prejudices and mine have passed their sell-by date, but young people can forge on ahead and make the world in their own ideal, not bound by the inherited stupidity of you and me. The best that we can hope is that by pedagogy, we can inculcate our own prejudices in the youth of today, and maybe prolong the age of us dinosaurs a few years longer. My children are too polite to say "...or not", and I am sure they view me in the same light as my mother, and as I view her late mother. Old age is a terrible thing, though fortunately mostly for those around us, rather than ourselves.

How do you mean “stupid tones?” Most people in the world speak tonal languages,and the fact that you and I struggle is our shortcoming, not theirs. Thai people seem to cope with English ok.

A bold endeavour! There’s nothing that gives you a thirst more than a few bevvies, bar maybe an excess. Back in the day, I’d go to the pub for my dinner, maybe a couple more, pop down to see Cliff or HankMarvin in the Reef, and then flag a taxi into town to get into trouble. I’m older, sadder, and maybe wiser now, The Reef has closed, and taxis are few and far between in these Grab days.

I would describe myself as robust rather than humungeous, and they’re 32 spoke wheels. I’ve not even been loading up two cases of beer, due to the slightly narrower carrier compared to the previous shopping bike. That bike also suffered from broken spokes… Anyway, the rear wheel is in the shop, the bike is up on the stand, I cycled my road bike into the office today with a backpack, and recommissioned the mountain bike to cycle across to the pub for dinner and to buy milk and beer from the supermarket next door.

I’ve pretty much had enough of broken spokes. As you know, I respoked the wheel of my old shopping bike shortly before it’s careless loss, and replaced it a few months later. I fixed one broken spoke at my expense on the replacement, and took the bike back to Giant to fix two more under warranty within the year. In the last three months, it has accumulated three more, and I have pretty much had enough of it. Anyone that blames my tremendous - possibly excessively - manly figure had better be prepared to break into a run if they say that to my face. Anyway, I’ve had enough of broken spokes, and I am swithering between completely respioking the wheel or swapping the cassette with my mountain bike wheel….

I thought I’d pop over to The Pig for a non-halal dinner, and took a slight detour for the sake of the mileage. As I was coming back through my neighbouring suburb, I came across a bunch of about 12 cyclists, illegally cycling two or three abreast and spilling out of their lane. There were 3 or 4 car drivers waiting at the traffic lights where we turned left, and they took up substantially more of the road. Why can’t car drivers drive in single file?

For motivating songs, Ivor Cutler's "I'm Happy" takes some beating.

I was surfing Strava and our ex-project Director had posted a great time up one of the hardest climbs I know. I sent a message of commendation , and he replied “I’ve lost 6 kg since last time, and I could do it without stopping”. I was on the brink of replying “that’s enough to make me cut back on drink”, but it isn’t, so I didn’t .

That is a really interesting question. For me, as a monotheist, I would expect God, in his omniscient omnipotence, to have everyone’s interests in mind, regardless of the self-interested blathering of the tonsured or the beardy As a polytheist, one would need to direct your pleas to the relevant authority, whether it be the God of Mechanical Travel, TinnHau, Goddess of Mercy to Travellers and those upon the Sea, or Lord Guan, god of justice and rigorous adherence to rules, as well as patron of both the police force and triads. As a Buddhist, I am sceptical that any plea for intervention might help, and the best that you might wish that whatever mishap might afflict you, you can address with stoic fortitude knowing that you are repaying previous errors and storing karma for a future life. God looks after the careful; the devil can find opportunities for the careless.

Travelators should be safe for use by the stupid, the badly laden, intoxicated etc. there is no requirement for a minimum level of competence for riding a travelator, unlike controlling a 2-tonne high speed vehicle in the public street, for which a minimum competence is expected. Staying alert, controlling your baggage and looking where you are going is always good advice, but regardless of any contribution of the victim, the travelator comb plate should have ensured safety from major incident.

My replacement front wheel (purchased in 2016 to replace a twisted rim on my road bike following a mishap) is an acknowledged barsteward of the first order for replacing tubes and tyres. So I relegated that wheel to my mountain bike, which was rarely used by my dearly beloved (the frame is too small for me, but That didn’t stop me putting in several thousand km back in the day) and occasionally by my buddy’s sister, when she visits. After the last loan, the tyre went flat; my buddy fixed it - and again, before returning the bike in good Nick; and the tyre deflated. My buddy took this as an affront to his manhood, and asked that I let him resolve the problem. Some weeks later, he says I can collect the wheel, but if it suffers a puncture in the future, scrap the wheel and keep the tyre. Schwalbe Marathons rarely suffer punctures on the road, but they’re not easy to fit - especially on that wheel.

I was back in The Old Country, and when I returned, urgent issues arose, so I’ve not been miling the mileage like I normally mile, so this evening after work I stopped past Atrium for dinner, including food. It’s not far from there home, but no journey is so short that you can’t stop on the way

That's not how you spell 'penile code'

Last Sunday I’d arranged a late lunch appointment at Bar Roca, and planned a ride back from Cheras via Ampang Lookout, taking the train to our start point. When I did the detailed route check on Google, I realised we’d be arriving at the pub too early, and probably half-blootered before anyone else turned up; so we cycled through KL, and only jumped on the train for a few stops to skip the scariest highway junctions. Since it was a fastest time for me up Ampang Lookout, I guess I am largely recovered from my mishap, though it still does not feel that way. We did get to the pub in good time, and had not long sat down when others arrived. We were on the train for the third week in a row, cycling out to the start of the new line, and riding all the way to the end in the Federal Capital before cycling home. The ride was pretty uneventful, the train ride was smooth enough - less drama than the National Curriculum!

Tilting your bike is a struggle when you have two cases of beer lashed to the rack, and it is a struggle to clear the beer cases as you lift your leg over. Putting one case in each pannier balances the load, but because they have to be clear behind your heels, the panniers move the centre of gravity to far back and the bike becomes uncontrollably rear-heavy when you tilt it. This can be alleviated by putting a couple of six-packs in the front basket.