dollar

Oh for fs! Jeez - why dont you okes all chip in 10 bucks and you can get all the pics you ever need from some anon hot chicx instead of salivating over something that is never going to happen........

Take a 9mm - look vulnerable.

On the button Tarboy Looking at a good steel frame never does it justice - you have to pick it up, "ping" the tubes with a pencil and actually "feel" the craftsmanship! Then there are the farm gates - but even then you can get a surprise. Biggest I got was an old Pug made of "Carbolite 101" (this side of pig iron) that was remarkably light?

You are a good sport There is a little company in the States called Du Pont that is doing some really interesting things with composite thermoplastics. Watch that space?

No no Eldron - you are moving the posts boet You said "made of steel and I'll go out and buy a hat so I can eat it."" All this stuff is made of steel, alloy, carbon, plastic etc etc. Tell you what - only eat some of your hat I agree with your argument though - use whatever is most appropriate - be it whatever, and steel is no longer a winner when it comes to frames. Period.

Eldron. Do you have your hat yet? Best you get one boet. I will show you lots of planes, F1 cars, Moto GP bikes etc etc that use a great deal of steel in their construction. Do you suppose that a crankshaft in a Moto GP bike is made of carbon fibre? Or a valve is made of aluminium? High speed train wheels made of carbon fibre? I wonder why not? Why does this low tech stuff (steel) appear in such very, very demanding areas? When I was at school - Aluminium had less resistance to fatigue than steel. Subject steel to repeated bending stress within its elastic limits and it carries on for years. Apply the same forces to aluminium and it breaks much sooner.

I note that there are not that many of us with a clear answer I say "generic Italian" All I can say is that it has the hallmarks of a top class frame. The cut outs under the BB have to give it away - JB - What is it?

Thanks Iraqr - very informative!

Ja - agreed. There is a lot of stuff that "just" breaks. That's the problem with this stuff - how do you know that it's defective? Only as you pass your bust fork on your way onto the tar? Steel comes apart with a certain element of subtlety?

I had a look at the "busted carbon" site. Although I am not a carbon fan, I think that the site is unfair to carbon in general. Many (most?) of the bust carbon I saw was as a result of impact damage - crashes, accidents, bashes etc. Lots of peple are crashing carbon bikes cause lots of peple ride them!

Hey - lets not get ugly with steel! Steel remains a fine and graceful material to make frames out of - if you ride like I do that is It obviously has a weight penalty, but has a lot of other things going for it. I dont think that it is dead and gone either. I think that modern technology may still come up with something spectacular soon - and it will be based on steel. The problem with steel frames (apart from their weight) is that they are just not "sexy" enough. Aluminium came along and everyone had to have one, even though the early aluminium frames really were not that much lighter than the top steel frames of the day. Obviously ally frames have come a long way and they are much lighter now and they break more often. If you are cycling competitivly then you have to follow the technology - so you probably have to have a carbon frame. And when they make a plasic frame that's half the weight again then I guess everyone will have to get one too. Carbon is pretty sexy stuff - volatile almost. I know very little about it but from what I have read it's a fairly complex (compared to metals) process to make a decent carbon frame. There is a lot going on under that gell coat (is it called a gell coat?) that some anon Chinese lad has built. That's my problem with this stuff - how do you tell the good from the bad - other than by destructive testing - by riding it?

MTB bars? I am having a hard time getting old Cinelli bars and stems for my rebuilds. You got me thinking that my pug has the a pristine set of drops that I could use if I fit a set of straight bars......

Looks great. Pardon my ignorance - what is it?

Come to think of it, I probably have most of the parts that I need. Was Le Turbo any good to start with? Just from looking at it, it seems OK. Pretty light too. Those wheels you have look pretty cool. Also - a question - my fixie that I ride on the road (a green waterpipe Pug) runs 15/42. What is sort of "normal" on a track bike?

I have an old Le Turbo frame hanging in the garage. Want to restore it one day but not sure if it's really worth it.....

What is it Onetime?

Dont know where you can get these locally - your best bet is probably to order o/seas. I have been fiddling around with ultra bright leds a bit lately. Make sure that the specs of the new are comparable with the old - I note 350 m/A. Make sure that the leds in the x6 are also 350. The current flow is regulated. If the new leds are higher current than the old they wont run at full power and if they are less then they will pop. I came accross some smd leds that run at 1 Amp! These are the brightest I have found.

Sorry - read gussets as lugs. My head is still at work......

Tricky. Columbus obviously points to Italy. You need to give us some more pics to work with though. The drop-outs, the gussets, the seat/top tube/stay join. Also the style of rear brake stay is a clue sometimes. What is the seatpost diameter? Is the BB italian thread? Does it have tapped holes in the dropouts for the locating screws? Does it have a little chain hook? Does it have the pump tit on the head tube? And horrors - does it have little holes for mudguards? Any other details on the BB housing?

You have got to be carefull when you stop an East Rand roady to chirp about his riding. A number of bad things can happen. Some involve folding the bike, inserting the bike or component and extreme cases a rather fast moving 9mm projectile. You have been warned

Just use the smileys if you cant type - thats what I do

The possible problem with dry lube is that it does not penetrate into the chain as it should. Cool to lube the outside - keeps the teeth lekker but does zip for the chain?

Cooking oil? I wonder if pig fat would have been better? What about castor oil? Little 2 strokes rev up to 25k rpm using castor oil. Smells good too!

Eish. That is really, really k@k. I am really sorry to hear this. Unbelievable....this Africa place.

Would you oil your chain with Kerosene? Probably not. I have more experience with motorcycle chains and based on the cost of a broken chain I use the best lube (and fairly expensive) I can find. Q20 has it's uses, but I cerainly dont think of it as a chain lube. I would rather use new motor oil - like the left over's after an oil change. Motor oil actually worked the best (for me) from a wear point of view (m/c chain). Remove the chain and clean it VERY well. Then leave the chain to soak in oil. Then take it out, let the excess oil drip away and wipe away any excess. Unfortunatly this is a major pain in the ass - Thats why they invented chain lube