Is it only me...



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Smudger

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...or does anybody else spend more time buying bits for their bikes and modifying them than actually
riding them?
 
On Wed, 5 Feb 2003 17:53:30 -0000, "Smudger" <[email protected]> wrote:

>...or does anybody else spend more time buying bits for their bikes and modifying them than
>actually riding them?

Ah hah! You must be an "overhauler".

"There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can "overhaul" it, or you can ride
it. On the whole, I am not sure that a man who takes his pleasure overhauling does not have the best
of the bargain. He is independent of the weather and the wind; the state of the roads troubles him
not. Give him a screwhammer, a bundle of rags, an oil-can, and something to sit down upon, and he is
happy for the day. He has to put up with certain disadvantages, of course; there is no joy without
alloy. He himself always looks like a tinker, and his machine always suggests the idea that, having
stolen it, he has tried to disguise it; but as he rarely gets beyond the first milestone with it,
this, perhaps, does not much matter. The mistake some people make is in thinking they can get both
forms of sport out of the same machine. This is impossible; no machine will stand the double strain.
You must make up your mind whether you are going to be an "overhauler" or a rider."

Jerome K Jerome - Three Men on the Bummel.

An hilarious book which has had me almost in tears, available from Blackwells for £1.25 including
postage (bargain at twice the price!).

http://www.blackwell.co.uk

Or you can read it online for free if you're really stingy :eek:) Chapter three is a corker:

http://www.classicbookshelf.com/library/jerome_k_jerome/three_men_on_the_bummel/2/

(PS, what on earth is a "screwhammer"?)

Bob
--
Mail address is spam trapped To reply by email remove the beverage
 
> ...er no, it's only you........ ;-D

Esta Correcto, Tá san ceart, C'est vrai Alles ist in ordnung
 
"Smudger" <[email protected]> wrote:
> ...or does anybody else spend more time buying bits for their bikes and modifying them than
> actually riding them?

You're not doing it right: you ought to be buying stuff for the bike, but be riding it too much to
have time to fit anything.

The spares build up in the cupboard just to the left of the one that fills up with the bought but as
yet unused maps.
 
"Call me Bob" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> (PS, what on earth is a "screwhammer"?)

An adjustable spanner with a heavy, hammer-like head, according to the OED. Presumably not to be
confused with a Birmingham screwdiver.

--
Ben
 
Ben Tansley wrote:
> "Call me Bob" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> (PS, what on earth is a "screwhammer"?)
>
> An adjustable spanner with a heavy, hammer-like head, according to the OED. Presumably not to be
> confused with a Birmingham screwdiver.

I always heard it was a Manchester screwdriver.

The only person I've seen use one comes from Stoke on Trent, so I suppose the truth's somewhere
between the two.

A
 
"Geraint Jones" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>> The spares build up in the cupboard just to the left of the
> one that fills up with the bought but as yet unused maps.

Buggar! Every time I think I have a unique idiosyncrasy someone disillusions
me :-(

Pete
 
Call me Bob wrote:
> Jerome K Jerome - Three Men on the Bummel.
>
> An hilarious book which has had me almost in tears, available from Blackwells for £1.25 including
> postage (bargain at twice the price!).

Blimey, it's that price on Amazon before postage. Mind you, I did add it to an order that was big
enough to be exempt from postage.

It arrived this morning. Should be a good read - I read Three Men in a Boat a few weeks ago and
would thoroughly recommend it.

--
Danny Colyer (remove safety to reply) ( http://www.juggler.net/danny ) Recumbent cycle page:
http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/recumbents/ "He who dares not offend cannot be honest." -
Thomas Paine
 
I get a bike shop to fit the stuff for me. Maybe they'll ride my bikes for me too!
 
Danny Colyer wrote:
> Call me Bob wrote:
>
>>Jerome K Jerome - Three Men on the Bummel.
>>
>>An hilarious book which has had me almost in tears, available from Blackwells for £1.25 including
>>postage (bargain at twice the price!).
>
>
> Blimey, it's that price on Amazon before postage. Mind you, I did add it to an order that was big
> enough to be exempt from postage.
>
> It arrived this morning. Should be a good read - I read Three Men in a Boat a few weeks ago and
> would thoroughly recommend it.
>
> --
> Danny Colyer (remove safety to reply) ( http://www.juggler.net/danny ) Recumbent cycle page:
> http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/recumbents/ "He who dares not offend cannot be honest." -
> Thomas Paine
>
>

Blimey, Chacun a son gout it seems. I ended up throwing it into the English Channel on the way to
see Hinault come second in the TDF.

--
Roger Thorpe

My email address is spamtrapped. You can work it out!
 
"Smudger" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> I get a bike shop to fit the stuff for me. Maybe they'll ride my bikes for me too!

I'm hoping they will fix my bike, ride it for me, and put in enough training for me to do a 25min
"10" next month. Someone's got to, because I havent' :((

SteveP
 
I knew people that sat exams for friends and even one that sat a driving test posing as somebody
else (they were sussed). Riding TTs for other people could be a lucrative business for a fast man.
There must be loads of people wanting a decent time so they can get into events.

I can offer a service if you need a **** time.
 
Dave Kahn wrote:

>>
http://www.classicbookshelf.com/library/jerome_k_jerome/three_men_on_the_bum mel/2/

> It also has an accurate description of the anatomical saddle as "invented" and patented by
> Specialized.

And indeed many other companies in the years in between.

--
Guy
===
I wonder if you wouldn't mind piecing out our imperfections with your thoughts; and while you're
about it perhaps you could think when we talk of bicycles, that you see them printing their proud
wheels i' the receiving earth; thanks awfully.

http://www.highwaycode.gov.uk/09.shtml#103 http://www.highwaycode.gov.uk/09.shtml#104
 
On Wed, 05 Feb 2003 18:25:16 +0000, Call me Bob <[email protected]> wrote:

>(PS, what on earth is a "screwhammer"?)

It's the pipe wrench (spanner, crowbar, socket driver etc.) you hammer screws in with.

Alan
 
"Ambrose Nankivell" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Ben Tansley wrote:
> > "Call me Bob" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> >> (PS, what on earth is a "screwhammer"?)
> >
> > An adjustable spanner with a heavy, hammer-like head, according to the OED. Presumably not to be
> > confused with a Birmingham screwdiver.
>
> I always heard it was a Manchester screwdriver.
>
> The only person I've seen use one comes from Stoke on Trent, so I suppose the truth's somewhere
> between the two.
>

Coming from Manchester, I'm sure it's got to be Birmingham. You'll note that over-sensitivity and a
refusal to confront the facts are not Mancunian qualities.

--
Ben
 
"Ben Tansley" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Coming from Manchester, I'm sure it's got to be Birmingham. You'll note
that
> over-sensitivity and a refusal to confront the facts are not Mancunian qualities.

Definitely a Brummy screwdriver - much too unsubtle for use on the looms & spinning machines of the
cotton industry - but ideal in the home of metal bashing :)
 
Alan Collier <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
>
> It's the pipe wrench (spanner, crowbar, socket driver etc.) you hammer screws in with.
>

Or "those crinkle-cut nails", as Jack Dee once referred to them in a routine about his questionable
DIY skills ;-)

David E. Belcher

Dept. of Chemistry, University of York
 
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