Clifton CC

Andy - surely thats an argument for the club getting one?

Absolutely - if individual members each had to spend £200 on a single tool that's an awful lot of money. I'm sure there are club members with enough engineering/mechanical knowledge to be able to procure a 'mid-price' tool that will do the job.

Gang,

Getting back for a minute to Steve's request for a worked up proposal(s), could I suggest that, as original owner of idea, Dr Dave would be an excellent candidate for the job of justifying a "Clifton Tool Box".

Cath's point about space for this is worth noting, but I don't think we're talking about anything overly big at this stage. Just needs someone central to volunteer to be quartermaster and maybe one of our techies could set up a booking page on the website?

R

There chances of me having time to set up anything complex are zero at the moment I'm afraid. What I can set up is a list of whatever we get, with pictures and an email address to contact for bookings. That'll have to do.

You have all missed the point completely about the torque wrench, point Im making is that they need lots of care and frequently caliberating, a torque wrench that is inacurate is of no use what so ever.

I thought your point was that a cheap one was no good, so an expensive one would have to be brought. Which sounded good.

Reading your post again, I think there's confusion. I read "needs frequent calibration" as applying to cheap torque wrenches (subject of first half of sentence). Are you saying that even the expensive ones need frequent calibration?

They all need frequent calibration, however the more expensive ones stay accurate for longer, cheap ones dont seem to last two minutes.
Sorry about the confusion

How does a bike mechanic actually go about calibrating his torque wrench?

The same way as any type of mechanic does-give it to a calibration specialist! This is of course more expense!
I've had the same experiance as Andy-cheap torque wrenches are cheap for a reason. Is a torque wrench really necessary on a bike though? I know carbon bars and forks are fairly fragile but just a little common sense and feel when tightening bolts is all you need. Torque settings are normally printed so the manufacturer can cover their asses. IMO money would be better spent on stuff like wheel truing jigs and learning how to repair wheels.

How about spending some of the money setting up a virtual tool box and library data base? Members could post what they have and would be prepared to lend with obvious gaps being filled with club tools or literature. Club stuff could be held by the club garagiste / librarian.
I am sure this is full of just as many pitfalls but perhaps a possibility.

Rob wrote:Gang,

Getting back for a minute to Steve's request for a worked up proposal(s), could I suggest that, as original owner of idea, Dr Dave would be an excellent candidate for the job of justifying a "Clifton Tool Box".

Cath's point about space for this is worth noting, but I don't think we're talking about anything overly big at this stage. Just needs someone central to volunteer to be quartermaster and maybe one of our techies could set up a booking page on the website?

R

I think that this thread is proving an excellent way of getting different ideas and thus honing the idea. If enough members are happy to advertise their persoanl tools for general loan then this would go a long way to minimising the costs.

I'm not a mechanic/engineer by profession so my level of expertise is probably less than others so I am happy to defer to their opinions in matters of engineering eg calibration issues c torque wrenches.
My only thoughts are that it is easy to let inertia and minor differences scupper these things - just because member A is happy to tighten carbon components by feel doesn't mean that member B (C,D....) wouldn't rather have the use of a torque wrench (newly calibrated or otherwise). Equally not everyone has a cassette removal tool, chain-whip(s), bottom bracket tool, copy of 'Zin' etc at home for when the need arises.

How about a hard-shell bike box?

Quite a few of us seem to being looking at doing events overseas, and for individuals these things can be very expensive to buy (plus availability for hire seems pretty limited).

Any thoughts?

Jason.

Hard shell box - I've got one that I'm happy to lend out to people. Must remember to get it back from the last person who borrowed it though.

OK, maybe this is one for everyone to reflect on before the agm in Jan.

As discussed at the ogm in Sept, the club is doing well and will again this year make a healthy "profit". At the moment this is not being spent and is sat in a bank account. Healthy interest rates are not available for organisations like us (apart from in Iceland of course) so the money is effectively depreciating at 5% a year.

You may think the above is fine - make hay while the sun shines.

Or you may think the money should be made to work for us the members.

Subsidising the presentation dinner was suggested - but this was overruled as the meeting thought it better to target funds at actually cycling and that reducing the ticket price wouldn't encourage more to come.

Purchasing various items of kit/tools have been suggested, but nobody wants to take it on (the committee themselves being pretty maxed out).

Coaching has been suggested. But again, nobody wants to take it on.

Better prize money for events has been suggested - but this is likely to go to riders from outside the club, apparently....

So, what does everyone really want? Don't get me wrong, this isn't a moan - its a great problem to have!!

Edit - of course something behind the scenes may be going on since the ogm.....?

Thinking outside the box here...

Did you see Will's post with the following link?

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1238716

I didn't realise you could post Garmin routes online (despite having one!). Is it easy Will?

Where am I going with this? I found Will's map useful and will probably try the route knowing it's obviously been tried and tested by those in the know. If there were a few on there it would be a really good resource for all site users. Hows about giving regular saturday / sunday ride leaders a Garmin so long as they publish their routes like Will has?

Michael

If you want to log routes you don't need a Garmin, you just need a GPS tracker which you can buy for under £50 and just stick it in your back pocket. Most you can upload to google earth too.