Luke Rainbird

Good stuff man - things certainly seem (at face value) to be in a far better place than a year or so ago (or whenever it was - time seems to be warped at the mo!) which is really good to see

We do, although if you'd rather Prawn vs Pedal Car I'm sure we can sort it out

Definitely nowhere near so large as 100mm territory, which would be "middle/large" chainring figures (though most run 1x now), so it may be that you've found a PCD for a standard Middleburn XC spider, rather than for the trials bash. 58mm sounds much more like it

Yeah it should be fairly snug if it's pushed onto the splines properly - do the splines look worn at all? I've never had one with any discernible wear on them, but 90% of the population are idiots so who knows what might have happened to the parts in their history. If they were used with a loose ring (ahem) then all bets are off

You need to do it right up properly or it'll rattle about. I forget the exact tool from memory but some kind of Shimano BB tool (XTR rings a bell) will do the trick.

In what way is it loose? They run a lockring, so make sure that's done up tight. If it still moves around it may be due to wear but first step would be to confirm. Regarding replacements, there were a few Middleburn-own options, plus the likes of TNN offered aftermarket stuff too. If you're sticking with a 5 bolt 22t ring, something like the Middleburn Hardcote rings will be spot on In terms of BB options, you're obviously a little more limited these days than yesteryear when looking for a square taper setup. To be honest, just go with anything the right size and you'll probably be fine.

Normally I'm on the same "f**k them all" page, but in fairness, since we switched to Bulb, we've had no issues at all. In fact, they've not only been pleasant to deal with (in the rare occasion contact has been needed) but been really proactive when I've cocked up and missed out on referrals etc. (this isn't a referral post, but if anyone's interested... ) My grandad switched across to them about 2 years ago now and made a few mistakes when giving them initial readings (a bit like above, he'd switched some digits over or mixed up gas/electric or something) - when he submitted his next few sets of readings it became apparent something was up. They knew I'd been dealing with some stuff for him so dropped me an email and asked if I could check his latest reading as it looked like something funny was going on, then gave me a bit of free credit for helping get it sorted. Pretty decent.

24tour is dead. Long live the 24tour.

The Lobster has been langoustine?! Sounds good though - spotted the pedal-powered contraption you've been putting together. Nose of a Westfield ready to go on that one? Very little on my own car lately, which is frustrating. Need to get a little bit of welding done on the mani I pinched from Prawny (there's a real crustacean theme going on here...) as I've modified that a touch to hopefully make it more reliable, but otherwise the engine/turbo stuff is just on the stand in the garage. The car is still used as my daily though so enjoying it. I have, however, been continuing to try and get my head around video editing for the stuff Nick and I are doing. He went up and met Jamie from Officially Gassed last weekend, which meant I had about 8 hours editing time in which to go through 4 hours of footage and make something acceptable in order to get it out the same time as OG. It's far from pro as a result (that's mainly me being grossly inept rather than the timeframe alone), but you can see what the day was like here: Off to Silverstone in a couple of weeks as Nick's doing a charity day for Mission Motorsport, so hopefully get a load more footage and churn out a video of the day from that too. I'm quite enjoying figuring it all out though, and looking forward to making more videos this year (Hopefully including Prawn vs Lobster!). Would quite like to pick up a reasonable camera setup to do more with, though don't want to spunk too much cash as we've got baby #2 arriving in April, so keeping half an eye out second hand for either a few-years-old DSLR or a cheap used mirrorless camera to have some fun with. Suggestions welcome!

Oh cool, will check them out too. Realistically the friendliest cheapish supplier I find gets my money, but it made me smile when I saw the address How's the Lobster doing at the mo?

@Adam@TartyBikes have you ever used a company called JF Hose & Couplings? I'm currently looking around for stainless hoses (convoluted stainless inner, stainless braided outer) and they popped up in Bamber Bridge - just around the corner from TBHQ!

Well yeah, tapered legs indeed. Not steerer as OP was after though

Inspired haven't gone with a tapered fork on the Arcade, which should tell you all you need to know really.

Ah man, what was the sticking point?

They'll mainly be operating as a drive-through under the guise of "Brocc and roll".

Thanks, Mike. I was considering starting a national network of broccoli-only foodbanks so that people less fortunate than myself might be able to get by. Perhaps you could help get things moving in the Bristol area?

Terribly sorry old bean. Thank you for your concern in this time of need.

Fortunately not still waiting, so all is right with the world again

Forgot about Dre broccoli. Now the cottage pie I've been thinking about all day for my post-climbing gorge is going to have to wait a few more minutes and that's simply unacceptable

Enjoyed that as ever. Cool stuff

Sounds familiar, fairly sure I read for an exam that £1k and up meant payments on account. I make a point of not being a tax expert though

Nah, that sounds decent to me, Ali. £720 a year is worth every penny to know that you're covering your back, doing things right and taking advantage of all allowances you can ("loopholes" makes it sound like they're sketchy, they're entirely legal and there to be used!

If you've just registered, you'll get your UTR through in 10 working days, so getting towards the end of the month but still a few days to complete your return online. HMRC are, despite what you'll hear a lot, much better these days than they've been previously, so you may recieve it sooner than the 10th day but best to assume the worst rather than relying on anything else!

That face

Holy shitballs that was cool! Ghostie bike-frontflip