Mr Zippy

A few more tips, I might have read one or two of them a while back so I can't remember if I came up with them or not.

* For scratches on your frame, use clear nail polish. Or, with the varieties of nail polish colours available, you'd probably be able to find a close match or an exact match.

* If you're a male, get your sister or some other female to buy the nail polish - you don't want the shop assistants (or Arny) thinking you're a "girly man" - they might not believe your "it's for my bike" story. If you do venture into the shop yourself, instead of getting a friendly female to do it, make sure you aren't wearing your dress, stockings and high heels. Keep them for the weekend.

* Where brake or gear cables rub on the frame and therefore the paint, put a piece of electrical/electricians tape underneath the contact point. Replace it when it's nearly worn through. There are a variety of colours of this tape, so you might also be able to find a match to your frame colour. Alternatively, a few coats of nail polish would also do the job protecting the frame.

* Kerosene is a good degreaser, because it doesn't evaporate very much at all (i.e. you can leave it to soak for a night or a week), and can be reused a number of times. You have to thoroughly wash the cleaned part with warm water and dish washing soap afterwards though. To get more life out of the used kerosene you can run it through a few coffee drip filter papers sitting in a funnel.

* Kerosene makes your fingers stink. When your friends notice, pretend it's the new fragrance from Diesel.

* If you don't use a lot of kerosene, buy it at the supermarket not the hardware store - I've found it significantly cheaper at the super market. It's also much cheaper than fragrances from Diesel, even if you do buy it from the hardware store.

* A small sieve used to hold loose tea leaves on the top of a cup or mug can make cleaning ball bearings easy when used with a short stubby jar it fits in the top of. I've found nacho dip and similar jars are pretty good. Sit the sieve on top of the jar, pour kerosene into the jar through the sieve until it is halfway up the sieve side or so, and then add the ball bearings or other small parts. Swish them around inside the sieve with a small paint brush. Take the sieve out with the ball bearings in it and drop them onto a rag, to easily get them out and dry them. Pour the kerosene back into your "dirty kero" bottle for further reuse.

* The lid of the nacho dip jars also make good screw/bearing etc. trays for your work bench.

* The contents of the nacho dip jar when you originally buy it makes nachos more tasty.

* Nacho dip; is there anything it can't do?

* If you need to protect one or both ends of your water bottle cage mounted air pump from mud and dirt, cut a bit of old tube a bit longer than the required length. Twist the end of piece of tube tightly, then use a small cable tie to tie it off (remembering to cut off the slack off of the cable tie - you don't also want a poke in the eye while trying to fix a flat tyre.) Slide the open end of the tube over end of the air pump. Depending on your environment, it might perish reasonably quickly. However, they're quick and easy to make, and a good way to get more use out of those old tubes.