Couriers charge by volumetric weight (aka dimensional weight), not actual weight, the size of the package is more important than the weight when it comes to calculating costs

bigger volume = more money for R.Mail to transport the package

Even if it is for the same weight of package as you get less packages per van load with larger items so you have to pay more for all that extra space you’ve used up

Which incidentally is why you get silly sized packages from CRC, they’re maximising the amount of packages they can get into a van by making them all a uniform size, therefore reducing their packaging costs and maximising their profits

Or something like that, anyway it’s late and I can’t believe that someone doesn’t actually understand this basic principle of logistics

red route is 24 miles

you can start from the visitors centre or up at Dixons hollow

I prefer Dixons hollow as a start point, then you can stop off at the cafe at the VC just over half way round for coffee/cake

Cube Ltd Team £989

Double butted 7005 alloy frame

Reba’s

XT/SLX 10 spd

XT hubs

Hayes Stroker Ryde brakes

Easton finishing kit

Schwalbe tyres

Almost unbeatable value compared with other bikes at RRP, none in the sales yet though as they’re still selling very well

1 x 9 works for me.

32t chainring & 11-34 cassette

Did a 23 mile route on the N. Yorks Moors yesterday, 2200ft of climbing, 900 ft in one 5 mile stretch.

I only walked the most technical stuff that most riders would walk anyway

I rarely spin out on this set up, but when I do it’s about 30mph at ~120rpm

I do have 3x7spd, & 3x9spd bikes & will also have a 3x10spd bike soon too

1x whatever spd is just another bike to have fun on, there is no right or wrong IMHO

I don’t faff about with tyres

I just use a different bike instead

2 of my bikes have Charge Splashback tyres

1 has Schwalbe Black Shark Mud & Nobby Nics on

1 has Rocket Ron/Racing Ralph

I just pick the bike with the right tyres for the conditions ;)

Best in what way?

Best for longevity?

Best for value?

Best for performance?

Best for emptying your wallet?

Best for all the fanbois?

Best for causing a 14 page argument on STW which in the end has sweet FA to do with the original post?

Rode a couple of bikes today just to test them after replacing parts

Then ordered a new bike, oops!

Drinking tea (Clipper Organic with milk & 1 sugar)

Listening to nothing, just and the birds tweeting in the trees and the dogs barking

Almost the perfect day

Meh :P ;)

The first Orange 5 was 2004

Before that was the Sub 5

Ewan

The Orange 5 did not appear in 1995

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/gallery2.php?g2_itemId=3364

The first Orange full suss bikes came out in 1996/7

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/gallery2.php?g2_itemId=3372

Just a few pics…

On modern bikes

[/url]
river crossing[/url] by thecycledoctor.co.uk[/url], on Flickr

[/url]
Red route, Dalby Forest[/url] by thecycledoctor.co.uk[/url], on Flickr

[/url]
Andy B[/url] by ritcheyp20[/url], on Flickr

On Retro Bikes

Bugger!

I toyed with the options on the site, built up a nice pair that I liked and even placed it in the basket

I had a strong suspicion the order wouldn’t be honoured, so I didn’t go through and checkout

Ah well

Very impressed with Oakley for honouring the orders

I have just one pair of Oakley’s, my prescription Kickstand 2.0’s. The rubbery ear bits started to split after several years of use, I emailed Oakley & they sent 2 new pairs of the rubbery bits FOC

I’ll just have to console myself by buying something else instead, anyone seen any other bargain-tastic offers around for bike stuff? I didn’t really need the sunglasses, but at that price who could resist…oh wait :lol:

Dave Hinde can’t be faulted for their build or customer service.

I think a quick search on google and plenty of forums would show that there seem to be quite a few faults with Dave Hinde’s customer service

Seen as this has been bumped up to the top by the last poster here’s a quick update

I have received a full refund from Duckman.

He didn’t want our discussions to go any further in public for some reason…

…Anyway he had been refunded from Royal Mail for some time and it was only when I posted on this thread that he contacted me and a refund was given, he actually sent more money than the stem cost. I returned the extra money

He still has not given any legitimate reasons for believing I was ripping him off despite my attempts to prove that I am not a scammer (ebay feedback, forum feedback etc). This only made him ‘dig his heels in further’ as did my previous thread about pitchforks/bombers a month ago which was an attempt to get him to contact me before it got to this stage. I did not name him once in that thread, but he still knew it was about him judging by his recent emails to me.

Yes I may be an utter twunt for posting this on the forum but hey ho…

Please feel free to make your own conclusions about myself and Duckman

It will ;)

Much better value too.

From youtube

Approaching the roundabout, preparing to turn right I make a shoulder check and a clear right turn hand signal before moving into the RH lane. There’s traffic on the RAB, so I stop and give way to it. When it’s clear, I move onto the RAB, keeping to the RH lane until the exit prior to the one I want. There I make another shoulder check and a clear left turn hand signal and then move across to the LH lane ready to exit the RAB.

It’s at that point I get the first shout of abuse. Not sure if it was the driver or the passenger of the Ford Fiesta, whose registration I could only get part of.

I make a comment about there being enough room on the road for both of us and this appears to enrage the passenger, who climbs half out of the car to hurl more abuse at me.

The second set of lights are red and so the car stops. The passenger jumps out and still hurling abuse, approaches me with what seemed a clear intention to punch me in the face. Still unsure of what I could have done to upset him, I apologise to my assailant, who backs down and walks off to find where his lift has gone off to, still hurling abusive comments as I ride away.

Location: Waterloo Road, Romford.

Date: 27/07/2011

Time: 1855I still see no reason as to why the dickwad went mental though

18 or 20, 16 would be way to small, you would smash your knees on the bars every time you turned a corner

Best bet is to try one for size as height and inside leg are not the best guide for bike fitment, those measurements only offer a starting point.

Top tube length is more critical than frame size

But saying that I’m 5’9″ with a 32″ inside leg and I ride an 18″ AMS 100 Pro, if Cube made a 17″ it would be perfect for me, the 16 was too small the 18 just works with a little tweaking

If you’re anywhere near Lincolnshire we have a few Cube’s in stock that you could try for size http://www.jccookcycles.co.uk

Oof that is expensive

Not really a LBS IMHO more of a bike shop for tourists

we’d charge £6 for that

What the hell was that about?

Was he a bit miffed that you cut up his invisible wheelbarrow that he was carrying? or had he dropped the carpets from under his arms?

Jumped up little prat.

I’d show the police that footage, they might be able to get the reg no if you didn’t

Not Kawasaki green, but it is green

[/url]
side on 3[/url] by thecycledoctor.co.uk[/url], on Flickr

Oh bugger ;)

I think you know what I mean though! Some of them just don’t understand some of the very simple bike related stuff and then wonder why their ‘fix’ won’t work or why you can’t mix and match X and Y and make it work

I’ll stop now…. busy day tomorrow, I’m expecting a bus load of engineers to turn up now I’ve said that. I think I might use lap dancers as my next example of a customer, see if anyone posts up pics of those or if any turn up in the shop…

I work in a LBS & I do it because I like bikes

I don’t care about the crap wage, it pays my bills & leaves me a bit left over for bike stuff, I don’t care about career prospects. So long as I’m happy I really don’t give a shit about all that material crap that so many try to gain and fail to achieve

Yes you do learn to fine tune your tw@-o-meter and your tyre kick-o-meter with certain customers, but they may well end up spending some cash in your shop. There’s no need to be rude, obnoxious, lazy or abrupt with them IMHO

There are those customers (quite often Engineers, who do like telling you that they are an Engineer, so they cannot be wrong) who can be a royal pain in the arse, think they know it all or they’re just plain arrogant. I find a that being polite and courteous to them more often than not gets right up their noses

If a customer gets to be too much of a pain in the arse I just politely excuse myself and tell them I have other stuff to do and if they need any more info or help feel free to ask later

http://www.jccookcycles.co.uk

I’m sure some of you may have heard of us already ;)

What tyres for trafficking?

I agree with TJ

Early Mac is Blues, later Mac is Pop

Music that boils my piss:

Generic pop that the ‘artist’ didn’t write, play on or contribute to other than just looking pretty and miming on

RnB, sorry no. This modern RnB pish is not Rhythm and Blues

I could go on bit there’s something far more interesting about to start on BBC1, Fleetwood Mac you say…

Spend more money on the shifter, that’s what does the real work.

The rear mech is just a ‘dumb’ sprung mechanism & more likely to receive damage than a shifter

X0 or X9 shifter with X9 or X7 rear mech

Get whichever your budget allows, the increase in performance as you go up the range diminishes quite quickly once you surpass X9 level

I have used X7 to X0 rear mechs, only once broken a X9 rear mech, which was replaced under warranty. All other mechs have worked flawlessly

I’ve only used X7 and X9 shifters on my bikes, but having tried X0 on mates bikes if I had the cash I would use X0 shifters, they do just feel that little bit nicer than X9

Due to the local carnival we had parking restrictions around one of the main parks in town yesterday which caused traffic chaos

I’m not clowning about, it’s hard to juggle priorities you know

Early 90’s

Stretched out

Long stems

High saddles

Low bars

Late in the 90’s

Shorter top tubes became more common

as did slacker geometry

shorter stems

and riser bars

I have 3 steel framed bikes

They’re ridden in all kinds of weather

I ride them, and then just stick ’em in the house

They have not rusted through even without frame saver in them

They stay in my front room with central heating, which is probably why they’re not rusting away.

They do have small patches of surface rust which is not progressing any further as time passes

Spokist ;)

I haven’t had any problems with spokes of any colour, black, white or silver.

It was pretty much an urban myth that coloured spokes were weaker, a couple of shops helped spread it by refusing to building wheels with coloured spokes and giving no proof other than their ‘experiences’ with them

Duckman, could you please explain the factors that make you think I am ‘at it’?

If you have received a refund from Royal Mail why have you not sent me a refund until I posted in this thread?

In total I emailed you ten times from my ntlworld address and when the ntl server was down I emailed you twice from my cycledoctor email address, not exactly numerous email addresses.

Yes I have a different email in my profile, but most people do to prevent spam. My paypal is the same address as my ntlworld.com email

You have failed to reply in a reasonable time to my emails asking for a) a refund or b) details of a timeline and a proof of postage, a receipt is not a proof of postage

I have posted several wanted ad’s for similar stems on this and other forums, and bought/bidded on similar stems from ebay, none of which were suitable or a silver thomson stem since I paid for the one you advertised & I didn’t receive.

Feel free to search retrobike.co.uk for my wanted ad’s for a thomson stem, my username is andy b

Here’s my feedback from retrobike http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23774&highlight=andy+andrew

Here’s my ebay feedback http://my.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?MyEbay&gbh=1&CurrentPage=MyeBaySummary&ssPageName=STRK:ME:LNLK:MESUMX

You can also see item’s I’ve bidded on and bought, I just missed out on a replacement Thomson stem on ebay in the last week

You could also do a search of this forum and find I’m still looking for a silver Thomson stem, although I’ve not posted a wanted ad for one in a while as this experience has put me off buying from this forum

Now why would I still be trying to buy a Thomson stem, or something similar for my Marin to match the silver Thomson seatpost on it if the one you posted had arrived?

Anyway, if anyone wants to read the whole unedited email transcripts I’ll happily post them later as I have to pop out for an hour or two

My last email was the one asking for a timeline and proof of postage on the 5th of June for an item I paid for on the 8th of April

“Ok, all the bumf is in my desk,I will sort out answers to your q,s tmw am,when I get to work.”

You didn’t send any of the above

I have not threatened anybody

I’ll post up the full email conversations on here later if you like

Out of all the transactions I’ve made on lots of forums, STW is the only one that’s ripped me off

OK it was only a £30 Thomson stem & yes I paid by Paypal gift but the user Duckman seems to be a regular poster so I assumed it would be ok

I was wrong, despite several emails asking for proof of postage and a timeline of events so I could work out when Royal Mail would be able to issue a refund to him no information was passed on.

Duckman told me that until he was refunded I would not receive a refund on the stem that was ‘lost in the post’ and that I could well be trying it on, even though I provided 100% positive feedback from my ebay account and my feedback thread on another forum with almost 40 positive transactions and no negative transactions

So if you’re reading this Duckman where the hell is my stem or my refund? Its been months since my last email that you didn’t reply to. You have been active on the forum since the email was sent so it’s not like you have not had access to the web or email.

Cheese on toast with chocolate spread on top

Not had it in ages but lived off it as a kid

Out of the 4 MTB’s I own I’ll be taking my favourite one, the one that I’m most comfortable on (with SPD’s as that’s the way I ride normally).

I see no reason to change anything from my usual set up unless something is not set up right

I’ll take a pair of flat pedals and skate shoes in case I do ride the bigger stuff, but I don’t think they’ll be used. I’ve not ridden with flat pedals in years

I see it as a just another opportunity to have fun on a bike (whilst learning stuff)

Oh, what tyres for a Jedi session…. ;)

Always fit the main body of the BB first then the loose cup

No problems with them for me

I use it as a front tyre in summer with a Ralph at the back & a rear tyre in winter with a Black Shark Mud up front. Love ’em

Personal favourites are

WTB Rocket V
Charge Spoon

In both Cro-Mo and Ti railed versions, WTB is just a little comfier over longer distances and a tad lighter (WTB Ti Vs Charge Ti)

But what suits me might not suit you…

The geometry doesn’t differ too much between a Rockhopper and a Cube LTD.

The ‘Hopper has a longer top tube and longer wheelbase

The Cube has a 72° seat tube, the ‘Hopper has a 73° seat tube, both bikes head angles are 70°

As for Cube using Spesh’s ‘old tech’ I would assume he means the Horst link on a full suspension frame, which Spesh hold the US patent on and they still use as do lots of other non American manufacturers. It may be an old design, but it works well

Time to go test riding to see which bike suits you best

But on paper the Cube LTD Team is hard to beat for value for money

Which shops can you use your voucher in?

There are better specced bikes available than those in your list for under £1000 such as the Cube LTD Team @ £989, RS Reba forks, XT/SLX 10 spd drivetrain, XT hubbed wheels, Easton finishing kit…

Cheers!

It is my fave bike out of the 4 MTB’s I own, it fits me perfectly, it’s got lovely ride qualities and it’s damn comfy