Your 8s cassette has spacing 0.2mm narrower than a 7s cassette - you can ditch the smallest or biggest cog and just add some tape on the side of the spacers.
If it’s a riveted cassette, just bugger off the rivets, you don’t need them.
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This thread seems more technical than cultural, but…
Can anyone explain to me why other cyclists feel so free to yell at me when I’m out biking and I’m not perfect? In one case my light’s battery died so I had no headlamp. In the latest case, my rear light fell off on a bump. In both cases, well, I’ve gone somewhere and I have to get home and tried to do so as safely as possible.
I’m a pretty casual cyclist- maybe two or three times a month I use it to go to a bar or friends house. I’m still a small town 70s kid cyclist at heart. I wish people would stop yelling at me. When I tell my explanation (politely), they never accept it. In the case of the rear light, I even got called an asshole and reflecting poorly on all cyclists (this one really made me scratch my head, as that makes more sense for cyclists blowing through stops or running over pedestrians). Weirdly, I’ve never been yelled at for riding on sidewalks or rolling through stop signs*, that never triggers them. It’s always something that affects no one and nothing but my own safety. Yet it never feels like sincere concern, just rudely sanctimonious.
Not every cyclist is a pro. Some of us aren’t interested in all the gear, and occasionally gear breaks down and batteries run out before we’re home. Slack please.
(*soon, hopefully, to be legal in California!)
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Not sure that’s so universal. Maybe the non-jerk cyclists all leave you alone so the bad experiences stick out more? #notallcyclists (etc.)
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This fear of what other road users think of us is internalised victim blaming.
Cycling is a fucking birthright. Every other fucker on the road (except pedestrians, skateboarders, etc) has less right to be there.
And given the marginalisation of cyclists by the powers that be in favour of the car lobby, IMO you have every right to disregard the law as long as you stay out of the way.
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they’re still in their “I’m special” phase. Cycling is srs bzns and anyone who doesn’t toe that line is threatening their self-image. speak to them as you would a child, 'cause that’s where their head’s at.
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Agree with the others, they are yelling to pressure you so that there are fewer “bad” cyclists on teh roads for motorists to point out as examples.
Not a good method IMO, as yelling usually isn’t productive unless you were causing some kind of immediate safety issue.
Keep the rubber side down.
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Status update: I’m currently working up a homemade dishing gauge consisting of a flat and level region of concrete garage floor, two soft drink cans of identical height, and a stack of coins in the middle. Next time I get to a hardware store, I’ll bring home some wood to make something more usable, probably out of 2x8 lumber with an adjustable bolt through the center and maybe some feet if it’s not already wide enough.
I trued the rear wheel a few months back and worked out the issues with uneven brake rub that @nothingfuture pointed out in the photo I posted. Now I’m finally getting around to the front.
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A stack of coins won’t necessarily cut it if you’re just resting the end of the axle on it - you’re interested in where the locknut face is.
The axle could easily be a couple of mm off.
If you have rim brakes, you can carefully flip the wheel to check dish, making sure you don’t move the pads. Dual-pivot sidepulls are the best for this; when you rotate the brake on its mount it stays put.
Or you can use a ziptie around a stay or fork blade. Truing stands and dishing guages aren’t necessary for perfect wheels.
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So a bloke came in to the shop a few weeks ago to shoot some video of me wrapping bars.
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That’s nice work. Neat and tidy.
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Well… 50% of cars bought by men look like sports car. Not exactly F1, more like rallye racing. How else do you explain the infatuation with spoilers, extra-broad wheels, etc…? They are also extremely inefficients, the present fashion with allow wheels with extra-thin tires are a good example on how to use more fuel for less comfort and less performance (in racing they are necessary to fit the larger brakes).
It is the same story, really: bicycle without chain guards and mud guard are fashionable because they look “cool”, but they are less convenient. If you go to Holland, where most people see a bicycle as a means of transportation, you will see chain and mud guards, baskets and child seats (sometimes both) and people do not wear lycra to ride.
Because you don’t live in Holland. 
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True, but lots of people over there have also two or even more bikes. Where some of these extra are without mud guards and such. And mostly taken out for a ride wearing a helmet and lycra.
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A bike with a whole bunch of accessories is inherently less cool than the pure machine. That’s just how it is.
If you want your accessories to be any cooler, they have to be as sleek as possible, even integrated. This still won’t be as cool as their absence, however.
If you want it to be otherwise, you’re gonna have to redefine ‘cool’.
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Maybe a power meter is the one exception to that rule…
Oh, and ironic handlebar tassels.
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We don’t know the same Dutch people.
“Cool” being a fashion concept, it is redefined every year. I’ll just have to wait till mountain bikes with fat tires and extra accessories become cool again.
Seems like.
And now I think of it, it’s highly likely so.
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Cool transcends fashion.
Fashion is fashion because it’s a specialised, even ersatz, kind of cool that is destined to become uncool because it was trying so hard to be cool. Fashion is the styling and colours of parts and framesets.
Proper cool will always be cool. Like a stripped-down speed machine.
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Just look at what was cool in the 80s.
