I've just descended from the loft after a long, fruitless search for the spraypaint I mislaid which I'd bought to respray my Inbred 853 which had its chainstay replaced by Argos Cycles weeks ago. Anyway, during the rummage (which, come to think of it, wasn't entirely fruitless 'cos it turned up a, presumed lost, Mavic rim needed for an urgent wheel repair and a Snugpak Travelite which I'd neglected to store in a drybag so is now in the tumbledryer) I found several semi dissolved fuel tabs in a pool of liquid. The liquid didn't smell that much of parafin, although I wouldn't like to drink it and they'd been left in a box, unwrapped and exposed to the air. The ventilation in the loft is fairly good but I suppose hot, humid air makes it way up there from the bathroom.

So, in a nutshell, does any one know if the tablets are hygroscopic or is my roof leaking?


http://www.thefreedictionary.com/hygroscopic

I've had exactly the same thing happen ... didn't take long either, 8 months maybe. I think your roof's sound

Great, just had to shell out for a new cylinder head on the Zafira so can't afford any building repairs at the moment.

Do you know where I left the spraypaint??

I've had some go like that and before they get to that state crystals 'grow' on them, but they still burn. I keep mine well wrapped in zip locks now.

A Gaviscon tablet tube holds about a dozen of the cylindrical Highlander type tabs. Although you wouldn't want to mix them up; I doubt that Gaviscon tablets burn so well :)

Funny that I had my chainstay fixed earler this year on my 853 Inbred after finally one too many chain incidents. It's now better than new. Got any pics? I had a Ragley style job done to finally fix the clearance

@restlessnative

I like that modification. No doubt Oscar Pistorius was hopping around Stratford at the end of the summer looking for his missing blade

my 853 Inbred went in the same place and I had it repaired but that space-aged upgrade looks like the way forward!

that looks a nice job, did you have the stay reshaped at all? the lack of clearance always annoyed me, made worse by running a 22/36

Summer Seasons were bloody awful for that too. The "recommended-by-Brant" repair was to increase clearance by lightly crushing the chainstay with a G-clamp and two blocks of wood

There's always something "unique" about On One products

did you have the stay reshaped at all?

No, it didn't occur to me at the time. Argos said that they probably wouldn't be able recreate the original chainstay curves due to the different tubing they used but he'd have a go but, in fact, they managed to get it pretty much like the original one.

Still looking for that paint........