monkeyseemonkeydo

Good point, well made! It was hope themselves who told me what the part number was- lying bastards!

Skye frame kit is sitting in my garage at the moment and will most likely be sold at some point. In other news, to anyone wanting to convert a Skye rear hub back to standard bolt in apparently it's a Hope HUB240 kit (http://www.hopetech.com/page.aspx?itemID=SPG280) which will be a special order item.

Yeah it's a poncy habit learnt from Adam at Tarty Bikes! Can't help myself now.

It actually has been removed. G you really are a weird f**ker.

To be honest I still haven't really had a chance to have a proper ride on it yet. First impressions are good though and it definitely feels a bit less cramped than the Skye.

Looks like 90mm x 10 degrees.

Few pics from yesterday on Portland:

I've literally only bounced around in the garden for a few minutes because the weather's been so pants Yeah that's the problem- The Skye hub (Evo with 12mm through' axle) doesn't seem immediately transferable although I'm sure an email to Hope would clear that up. My bodge seems to be working for now but would be nice to go for a factory axle at some point. Having said that I could probably make a complete ali axle at work if I took the Skye hub apart...

Rear axle is one I knocked up at work- basically just a bit of thick walled stainless tube just shy of 135mm long turned down to 12mm OD with an M10 thread inside. Using standard M10 bolts and it seems to be working fine so far. Was going to swap the axle out but, as you say, it's not entirely clear how easy that is and this was definitely cheaper! Regarding the bb I've now got a 1mm spacer to replace the extra 2.5mm one and have added a 1mm shim between the drive side crank and the bb which seems to be working ok for now. Have now got the shimano rotors on to which look loverly .

Not at all yet unfortunately! I got the Skye on a whim and because it was available but hadn't really sussed out the geometry being suited more to a small person... I still love the touches like through rear axle etc. but dislike having to run a tensioner.The other side of it is that the Arcade has fairly BMXy geometry which I like idea of as well as the shorter chainstays compared to the Skye. If no one jumps on the Skye frame and forks I'll probably keep them for a while just to be sure I'm making the right choice but fingers crossed.

Will try and get some better pics once the weather is a little less, well, shit.

Got my frame kit yesterday and after a couple of wee snags have got it together. For some reason my chainring hits the stays with the standard number of spacers so I've added another on the drive side and have ordered a 1mm Hope spacer to replace it so I have a little more thread contact. Also have Shimano rotors on the way as one of these Alligator ones has somehow spontaneously bent while off the Skye. Pants pictures ahoy! I can confirm the other chap's experience that the Hope hoses are too fat to allow you to use the normal hose clips so I had to use zip ties. I imagine they'd work if the plastic coating round the hose was removed locally but that seems a bit overkill. Spec is primarily Skye Mk1 with a few changes: 70mm x 25 degree Hope stem Shimano SLX cranks El Cheapo plastic pedals modded with pins Eclat Gonzo seat with plastic painted black Brown grips Hope barends Alligator 'wind cutter' rotors, soon to be changed for Shimano Ice Tech

I can't understand it being a problem. If the Tour de France boys can do hundreds of km's a day, for days on end without issue then I don't see a need. It''s not even like they use a cleat system as on normal flat pedals there's an element of freedom anyway. That's not even taking into account that the pedals will absorb a small portion of your energy output while pedalling. Fixing a problem that doesn't exist?... Edit: And thinking about it some cleats have float built in anyway which at least allow rotational movement if not lateral.

Bullshit. If that's what they claimed they're lying.

If it was me I'd just reference the author/book as it's his version that you're referencing to (and any potential changes he may have made). Chances are whoever's looking at the assignment (and if it is just an assignment rather than a dissertation or thesis that could well just be a bored postgrad) then they're unlikely to either check or worry about it.

Because of the 0% thing I think I'll keep hold of the Skye frame for a while (unless someone really wants it...) as there's no major rush for me to cover the cost of the Arcade.

Dunno. I paid £1200+P&P for the full bike not that long ago and the frame kit (including hubs) was £1299 originally I think so without hubs would've been around the £1100 mark.

Oops. I just accidentally a deposit down on an Arcade frameset...

The reason I got them was that they were the only 'brown' pedals I could find! I reckon they'd be ok in the dry but in anything else I wouldn't of trusted them.

I'm still toying with the idea of getting an Arcade frame kit but can't decide... We'll see.

Sorry, missed that. Gearing is 22-16 and the bash is the standard Truvativ one you get on the standard Fourplay that I had a play with on the milling machine at work.

Love it! Mad skills even back in the day Dan. Some nice lines going down on Portland too.

Here we go. First time trying plastic pedals and I'm not convinced by the grip they give so modified them to accept some M5's instead. Other minor details like sprocket painted black and underside of saddle painted black (instead of the random stock purple).

Ah ok, inverter included in the circuit- the way you described it you were seeing 21-22V at the outlet which would never cut it.

Our mains voltage is 230V so a 24V supply wouldn't do much if a standard PC was plugged into it...