Hacks everyone shares
and nobody checked.
A fix lands here when it fails for most of the people who honestly tried it. We keep it on the record rather than deleting it — each entry links to its permanent page, with the reports, the reason it fails, and what to do instead.
Filed and archived
Fill fuel early morning to get more litres
Fuel does expand with heat, but pump tanks are underground and barely change temperature through the day. The measured difference is a fraction of a percent.
Nitrogen filling improves a city bike's mileage
Nitrogen holds pressure marginally better over months, which matters in aviation and racing. On a commuter bike checked fortnightly there is nothing left for it to improve.
Baking soda then vinegar unclogs a kitchen drain
Soda is a base, vinegar is an acid. They neutralise into salt water and carbon dioxide, so what goes down the pipe is mostly water. The fizzing looks like work but does almost none.
Toothpaste buffs scratches out of a phone screen
Toothpaste is a mild abrasive. It fills a scratch just enough to look better under a lamp, then removes the factory coating so the screen smudges permanently and picks up new scratches faster.