Messages

16

The Lounge / Re: last minute ticket to NYC, what do?

« on: May 28, 2018, 06:14:58 AM »

so i've left NY and gotten back, one tip for those of you travelling to/from the US - dont take united airline even if it's leagues cheaper. my package was a direct flight from hong kong to JFK via United, and the return was JFK-tokyo-hong kong via ANA and EVERYTHING about the flight was two ends of the spectrum. we actually felt cramped in the business class seats and mine was dirty, food was horrid and the screen at my seat just.. didn't work. luckily i loaded a whole season of house of cards onto my tablet before we left home so it didn't bother me, but can you imagine a 15 hour flight like that? but im just old man ranting now

hit up a few cool restaurants there.. Marea and blue hill were very good but pricey as hell, wolfgang's for some dry aged steak which are very good for their price, also went to chipotle/ red lobster/ lobster&burger (it's british yeah i know, never been anyway)/ dunkin donuts/ chick-fil-a/ five guys and holy fucking crap are their portions of food huge. how are they fitting for a human sized human?

if i ever move to manhattan i'd literally choose where to live based on its proximity to a trader joe's, i struggled to find healthy food for breakfast (need my proteins not sugars and carbs) and ended up buying salad and grilled chicken the day prior

i really liked the steam coming out of random potholes on the streets tho, so iconic

17

The Lounge / Re: last minute ticket to NYC, what do?

« on: May 15, 2018, 10:18:00 AM »

I guess that you’re not required to go to the requisite spots but going to the US consumerism cells seems weird. Brooklyn Botanical Gardens? BBG.org

Going to get a glimpse of what the everyday american life is like as if i'll get some insights never acquired by run of the mill journalists and thinkers. Trust me it's gonna be the new hipster thing

Botanical garden may be doable, ill take some selfies with the orchids just for you, if i made it there


MOMA was great. Funny enough, i enjoyed the classical work way more than the modern work, 90%of those werent that great

Chelasea market was good, but then again i fall in love with any shithole that sells fresh seafood and good wine

18

The Lounge / Re: last minute ticket to NYC, what do?

« on: May 08, 2018, 08:36:46 PM »

best pizza at keste, check out dover street market, MOMA

yep, marked MOMA now. dover street market is close to a trader's joe haha, so i'll go to both

any other suggestions for the everyday places? you know, things like krispy kreme and in-and-out burgers and whatever

19

The Lounge / last minute ticket to NYC, what do?

« on: May 08, 2018, 09:59:10 AM »

kinda want some non-NYC specific advice from you guys. i got wasted at home 6 hours ago and bought tickets to fly to NYC for 5 days, arriving in 48 hours time from this post. am staying at one of the marriotts in middle manhattan.

i will absolutely skip the main tourist spots i.e. times square and empire state building etc. so far i've got a few things on my radar like some hardcore steak restaurants/ seafood places etc, imma try to avoid asking my NYC colleagues since i just want this to be a quiet personal trip with the missus. anyone from there fancy a quick beer? or point me to some cool jazz bars/ blues lounges?

as for the other stuff, i really want to see what the US big chain stores are like - i've never been to a radio shack (do they still exist?), or a trader's joe (got one on my radar now). any other similar suggestions? like costco, walmart (its like an exotic human zoo, or so i hear) etc... throw me names of stores! i'll look them up. cheers lads and laddies!!

20

The Bike Shop / Re: JCPC question.

« on: April 24, 2018, 10:56:37 PM »

you gotta file the pins short or long otherwise those threads will tear into your shoes, hook them and make you eat shit

that's a good point - part of my pedals feeling "too grippy" was partly from them hooking onto the sole of my shoes

21

The Bike Shop / Re: JCPC question.

« on: April 19, 2018, 06:36:41 PM »

you can either ghetto file down the bolts (i.e. pedal pins), or just get shorter ones

iirc, the stock JCPCs come with 21mm long and 18mm long bolts installed. i just took one of them to a hardware stall to get matching ones at 15mm long, so i could install the 18mm ones in the 21mm slots, and the new 15mm ones in the 18mm. they're still a bit too grippy to my liking since i also ride a lot of flatland, but they should be good for street riding/ big jumps

22

The Bike Shop / Re: Different take on bearings/flange in hubs

« on: October 25, 2017, 11:01:45 AM »

just a few thoughts off the top of my head

1. holy mother of flex - if those novelty flanges made a difference, your wheels would behave like an uncooked taco

2. the same could probably achieved by running slightly lower tension in the spokes, if you have problems of spokes 'pulled' the hub apart like that

3. ever built a wheel? after you laced the spokes and tensioned it up, the first thing you do is put the wheel on the floor sideways, with your hub axle/ bolt resting on a block of wood or something. have you hands on 3 and 9 o'clock of the rim, then press down with your body weight. repeat at  2-and-8, 1-and-7 etc etc, flip the wheel and do the same. you'd hear quite a few pings as the spokes and the hub flange settle properly against each other. this is the point that you re-tighten and then actually true the wheel, and it'll stay true for a long time. when you do that, the spokes leaning against the hub flanges make indents into the flange holes - that is the 'give' that the the flange has, instead of pulling the bearing seat all out of shape. the bearing seat isn't a place that sees a lot of deformation, if at all. unless (4)

4. the manufacturer is so focused on cutting weight on the hub, that the bearing seat and surrounding area just doesn't have enough material to hold itself together. so do you add this extra novelty lip thing, with a fuckton more material and weight (relatively speaking), to deal with the bearing seat issue? or, do you go really crazy, and just add sufficient material to support the bearing seat like a mad man?

5. i wonder if it's cheaper and less weighty to just wrap your hub shell with a jubliee clip next to each flange, a la G-Sport George

23

The Bike Shop / Re: Tire pressure

« on: November 15, 2016, 01:49:07 PM »

Why do the flatlanders prefer such small widths? For me the bigger the tire the easier it is to carve around on one wheel.

much less flex in the tires which fucks with your balance, as it introduces a delay in your pumps. plus the extra friction eats away momentum, and it's really noticable in flatland

24

The Lounge / Re: Searching for a good carry around Tripod

« on: November 01, 2016, 05:53:34 PM »

when it comes to tripods, lots of photographers go with the idiom "buy nice or buy twice". i, however, have worked out that sometimes it's better to buy something that's only just good enough to do the job, knowing it'll probably get smashed/ lost when out riding/ taking pictures, and feel no sense of grief. something are worth spending on if you naturally take care of it well and get a lot of utility out of, and some arent.

First i think you should establish your minimal requirements, e.g.
1. how sturdy it needs to be (i.e. in windy situations etc)?
2. how much weight it's likely to need to support?
3. how quickly do you need it deployed from backpack to set up properly and back in pack?
4. how tall does it need to be at full height?
5. how compact/ light does it need to be when in bag?
6. what is your absolute max budget for the tripod?
etc

when you have a decent idea on these, you can first rule out a bunch of tripods. browsing thru those that meet your minimum requirements would probably give you a better idea of whether you wanna invest in a more pricey one for long term use, or a cheaper one to help you 1) figure out how much you'd actually use one 2) fine tune you requirements 3) not feel shit if you happen to fuck your bike into it

personally, after having bought and broken a few cheapo tripods and bought a more expensive gizmo one, i've gone to a lighter camera/ lens setup. The gizmo is, although quite compact, still overkill. i've attached a head with quick-release onto a lightstand, and quick-lease plates onto my camera and flashes. so now the lightstand can work as both a lightstand for my slave flash AND a camera tripod.

the heavier Canon 5D and bigger lenses have been gathering dust at home for a couple years now

25

The Bike Shop / Re: Too much effort to get my pedals off

« on: October 21, 2016, 01:24:32 AM »

i've recently read about people heating up the contact area and dripping candle wax onto it - the idea is that the heat would suck the wax into the threads hence help lubricating it.

i haven't read extensively about it, and i haven't seen it work myself. it seems an inferior option vs. soaking in WD-40 overnight.

26

The Lounge / Re: Debt/Credit Score/Budgeting

« on: August 19, 2016, 03:07:22 PM »

Financial planning doesn't start with 'tricks and tips' like little nuggets; entire studies are devoted to this subject to balance income, spending, expected returns and risks. i can't write a usual wall of text at the moment (a lot of reading can be done via /r/financialplanning as a lesson one anyway) but i'll return to this thread with some stuff slightly more comprehensive

I'm about $1200 in debt via credit cards. I really want to pay them off ASAP, but with bills I'm lucky to pay off $100 here and there. Is getting a personal loan to pay all my cards off in one sweep worth it? Will this negatively affect my credit? Or help it? Or would you say I'm better off chugging along slowly but surely as I am now? I make about $2600 a month and pay about $2300 in rent, car notes, etc...

you're almost always better off to do that, essentially refinancing your debt yourself. credit card debts are some of the most undesirable debts to owe, and people that have them usually already have other bank debts. is this the case with you? if not, it is highly advisable to take a personal loan out to pay off your credit card debts immediately, they really fuck you when you can't pay everything off every month.

Given that you're currently struggling with monthly income, i'd assume you dont have a rainy day fund (usually considered 3 month of income equivlant, or 6 months of spending). You need to start reducing financial liabilities and outgoings now. the slowcooker is a very good start - hefty, healthy meals at low efforts, there are a lot of recipes online, and if you go to local farmers markets you can pick up a lot of vegetables for cheap, and they provide ample nutrients. potatos (with skin) will become a major part of your diet since they have a lot of essential nutrients for your health, and this is extremely important. you need to reduce fast food consumption both for your health and your wallet - what seems like a cheap meal actually costs much more than cooking enough for 3-4 meals, especially with the slow cooker, ample cheap veggies and cheap cuts of meat (which get tender when using slowcookers anyway).

should you have specific financial related questions pls ask

27

The Bike Shop / Re: Keychain woes?

« on: August 18, 2016, 08:48:34 AM »

can't see how it's gonna get better unless the chain stretches. will it even stretch being so thick?

when we say a chain stretches, we're thinking that the chain plates have elongated from tension. however, the truth is that its the pins in the chain getting worn down over time from friction (insufficient lube, dirt and grit getting worked into the area) that makes the chain longer. Hence its why its important to lube/WD-40 flush the chain then properly re-lube afterwards.

WD-40 can be used to clean out the old lube along with grit/sand etc (if you dry it properly afterwards before lube), and it's important to work the new lube into the chain so it reaches the pins and rollers properly, instead of just having lube sit on the contact surface between chain/driver/sprocket.

28

The Bike Shop / Re: Odyssey springfield problems

« on: August 18, 2016, 08:38:17 AM »

as soon as i go past a smidge of finger tight they just stay locked on

a few possibilities

1. the brake posts on your bike frame may have rough surfaces. if you take the brake arms off, you can use a high grit (i.e. 800+) sandpaper to 'polish' the posts a bit. this is also a good time to put a small dab of grease into the brake post threads after sanding.

2. inside each brake arm, the area that contacts the top of the brake posts, would "grab" the brake post if you're missing teflon washers. i dont have those brakes so i don't know what they use in there, but you can try dropping one (or two) of those tiny, super thin white plastic washers into each arm before you put the brakearm onto the brakeposts, so that the washers act as a minimal friction surface.

3. by the same effect, try adding a teflon washer under the bolthead

4. one of the common workarounds is just to add a rubberband onto the spring to increase tension, so that the spring + rubberband combo has enough tension to overcome the friction and pull the brakepads away from the rim. This may not work for you, however, seeing that the arms already get locked when the bolts are finger tight.


The suggestions above are not mutually exclusive, and you can try them in combination. i hope this solves it.

29

The Bike Shop / Re: thinking about freecoasting

« on: August 15, 2016, 10:26:25 PM »

buy nice or buy twice

30

The Lounge / Re: Pokemon Go

« on: July 25, 2016, 10:23:09 AM »

me and the missus know NOTHING about the pokemon franchise, but everyone has heard about pokemon GO for sure. i don't plan to get into it, but it looks fun as fuck. she downloaded the game and started this afternoon.

just spent the night slowly driving around the city so the missus can catch pokemons in the comfort of a car with unlimited battery, air conditioning and zero walking, i haven't seen her this happy since