shai

The cost of the trip is offset by the profit, or you go abroad as a buyer for a store or chain in the States. People do it all the time.

It's a good way to travel for free. If you know what you're doing you can cover your expenses without too much hassle. The same hustle applies to clothes. If you know people here who buy for resale shops, go to Italy and buy vintage suits and have them altered and sold here (this only really works in big cities) along with whatever vintage designer clothing and shoes you can find anywhere in Europe. There's TONS of money to be made in this but you need to be on the ball as far as what's good and what sells here. This was part of the same deal...one of my friends made a few grand reselling suits and vintage Euro clothes and shoes here he bought there.

Your best bet is to go to Europe or Japan and buy as much bike shit (frames, parts, helmets, kit) as you can afford, ship it back, and flip it here for whatever people will pay for it. That's what I did with a few friends from 1998 till about 2003 and it worked out well, I'd just send them out there with a G and tell them to get me some cool shit. I don't know if it's as easy now as it was then, but if you play your cards right you can double your money without too much hassle plus get a free trip to Europe.

Do what my dad did, and get a part-time job at a pawn shop. You get the most ridiculous come-ups there...if you know a little bit about a lot of things and what they're worth you can do pretty well. My hustle was rebuilding bikes and slinging them for twice to five times what I'd invest in them. It was pretty easy then, so nowadays it's even easier.

They've got electrolytes.

I want one of those posters.

The Competition is worth building up, the Raleigh is pretty but it's really nothing special. You should go to the bike swap in Cupertino next year and see what you can find there.

Raise your bars and stem and level/lower your seat till the two planes (seat and flats of your bars) are approximately equal. Any bike shop will know what to do if you tell them this is what you want. I have carpal tunnel and a bad back and neck and this really works. In fact, I swear by it. All those doofuses who ride with their seats way too high and their bars super low are just asking for severe problems down the road. The idea for everyday riding is to be comfortable, not to look cool/aero. As far as seats, nothing beats a Brooks. They're not cheap and they take a while to break in but they'll last you 10+ years if you take care of them.

These were written by friends of mine- Films...there's a bunch about/documenting the SF scene in the 90s/early 2000s. One was called "Rookie" from 1997 but it was more of a comedy short...another one is called "Big Trouble In Little Bummytown" from 2000 which is like an hour long version of "Rookie". There was a documentary called "Beasts of Burden" from the mid 90s that pretty much tells the truth (the job sucks, don't expect to make shit for money) about being a messenger. Unfortunately, I have no idea as to what their availability is (in other words, good luck finding them)...I'll ask around but I'm not promising much.

Get VLC- http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ It will play pretty much any video format you can throw at it accurately 99% of the time.

RIP.

The chain falls off all the time. Based on the photos I saw, your bike looks fairly well built so I wouldn't sweat it. Bumboclot- if you want a single speed you can pick up a new complete bike for $400-500. It probably won't be anything fancy, but it will be a lot more reliable than most of the half-assed hipster bullshit I see for sale on Craigslist these days.

You should get that checked out before it becomes a real hassle. If it's muscle or joint pain, look into acupuncture...here's the place I went to- Ashby Center of Complementary Medicine 2615 Ashby Avenue Suite 2 Berkeley, CA 94705 (510) 843-5000

You want a keylogger.

Get a Brooks. They're pricey but you'll never need to buy another saddle again. edit- I stand corrected, you can pick one up for $65- http://www.totalcycling.com/index.php/product/SD_BROOKS_B17_STD.html?action=currency&id=USD

Any help here?

It's working fine with Linux. It's definitely some kind of malware. Casek- I tried Malwarebytes, Avast, and Clamwin all in safe mode and nothing came up. Seffiks- are you still looking at machines with Crossloop? If so, get back to me...I'm stumped.

Casek or Seffiks- I think I picked a virus up somehow. I can't open the Task Manager, Firefox is acting weird (can't move tabs without it locking up, freezes for no reason), laptop fan is taching out even when there's no apps running...I ran some scans (Malwarebytes, Avast, Spybot) and they aren't showing anything. Any ideas? I'm running off of my Linux partition but I don't have working wifi in this install right now. Any help would be appreciated.

According to this, you need a lot more RAM to run Vista. I'd use XP.

Unless you have a matching bottom bracket, I'd hang them on the wall or sell them.

That's cool, sometimes they get behind on orders but I knew they'd get back to you. For the mountain bike, grease everything/replace the cables, tubes and tires if it's been outside for a while, then put a metal basket on it and use it for store trips/picnics. Also, I would check to see if the seat and stem are frozen...if they are, penetrating oil might free them up.

I made a few rolltop messenger bags back in 2003 or 2004. None of them really worked out. Rolltop backpacks are fine in the winter but rolltop shoulder bags have three major flaws- first off, they're uncomfortable...well, maybe "unbalanced" is a better adjective. The second flaw is limited capacity- you can stuff way more crap into a regular messenger bag than a rolltop. The third is access- you can't dip into a rolltop messenger bag to get something when you're on your bike, you have to get off, take it off, open it, close it, put it back on...too many steps. Now I'm beginning to wonder what happened to the ones I made. That would be funny if someone used my pattern to design some new bags.

I always recommend going with the larger size, the Courier is a good all-around bag. I used to work for Reload, they're good bags but IMO a little on the expensive side. Bailey is a good balance between quality, price and features. RH- I still haven't gotten a chance to go to Freight's shop yet, did they ever get back to you? You should send him another email saying I referred you and see if that helps (it might, no telling though.)

Are they new? That's not a bad deal even if they're slightly used. The advantage to ATACs is their simplicity- all they really are is a pair of springs. The release tension is controlled depending on how the cleat is mounted. Nothing to it. My friend gave me a well-used green (original series) pair in 2003 that I used for a year and a half, then when I picked up my current pair in the summer of 2004 I gave the green ones to my ex. The last time I talked to her in 2007, she said she was still using them and they were working fine. Mine are in great shape to this day, I don't think I've ever had to grease the bearings in them or anything. About all I've had to do was replace the cleats a few times. They don't get clogged with mud like SPDs and the engagement feels secure and consistent. On the other hand, about the only thing I could rely on SPDs to do is fall apart on me. I've probably gone through ten pairs of SPDs and broken them in almost every way imaginable. Also, after a few months I'd have the tension screw cranked all the way down on both sides and my foot would still be flopping around in the pedal. This was the case from the $20 OEM pedals all the way up to the fancy Shimano ones I tried out to see if there was a difference in quality (verdict- none from what I can tell). I was using them every day for messengering, but in the mud they were useless after a couple deep sections.

Uhhhhhhhh.... Picture? I don't know what you're talking about.