Recent content by Back2Bikes

Way to go Toady, but I hope you swept them thorns up after cutting!!!! :twisted: Mind you, we make a few quid out of fixing punctures at £5 a pop (pun intended)

Gardening was my big dissapointment. Moved to the country in '82. Big garden, became self-sufficient in Fruit & veg. Home grown new spuds, sprouts & peas at Christmas. Freezer full of soft fruit & veg, beautiful. But it took over my life. I had to work every hour I wasn't in the office to...

You are correct that the HW that goes to the taps is completely seperate from the CH, but that is irrelevant. My point was that the boiler-heated water that heats the HW tank is the same as the water that goes round the rads. SO, if you set the boiler to HW only, there is often a back flow path...

For general info, the continued heating of rads when set to HW only is generally due to back flow. You have a system with a flow & return but the stop valve is only in one leg. This should cut off all flow in the circuit, but there are always "other paths" where the water can back flow thro some...

As I said, rads are either on or off, there is no middle ground, although if the valves are part closed, the flow will be restricted slightly. The stat on the boiler sets the max water temp in the system (ie radiator temp & hot water temp). The stats on the rads detect room temp & will stop the...

That's how CH works. The boiler heats water & pumps it round the system until the returning water reaches a temp that will trip the boiler over-heat stat. The boiler then stops heating but the pump continues for a while. The big valves you show in your pic are thermostatic radiator valves...

Getting old? Nah, I've been old for years & years! My kids are older than most of you lot. Your retro bikes look efff'in modern to me. I was putting sprung girder forks, a sprung Brooks saddle & bent down Cowhorn bars on my Hercules 3-speed bike in 1960 to...

Now that's a good solution. Sadly, paying customers are not impressed. I might make a poster of that for the workshop.

Spent the day in the town centre handing out flyers & trying to convince people that bikes beat cars for commuting. Met a few customers & old pals, got a few people to think for a while & had some fun joshing with the unconvinced. Now giving the log-burner a bit of exercise - yummy toasty...

If you do go for it, do a bit of research, get some idea of the minimum you need to live on, how much eqt you need, what the competition charges & earns. Once you get going give your customers what they ask for - plus a little bit extra, then you w,ill never be short of work because they will...

I suspect you guys already know this, but I get customers coming to me for 22" tyres & wheels. WTF? I ask - it seems that Crap R Us actually sell kid's bikes with 22" wheels. Nobody thinks to tell the poor punters that buy them that they can't get replacement wheels or even tyres when they need...

Fly past for launch of this year's Poppy Day appeal? Where were you?

You shower of wimps! At 30-40 you still have time to do something with your life. You will need a clear target & loads of effort tho'. Wait 'til you are over 60 - and you didn't try to do anything, then you have a right to be depressed. So pick a dream & fight for it, at least if you fail...

Fairy Nuff, I can offer you a volunteer opportunity in Stafford, but the pay is snuff. So it goes.

We get big framed MTB's from time to time, but not often the fancy makes sadly. But that does mean they don't need to break your bank. Keep an eye on our web site. http://www.back2bikes.org.uk