I’ve just had professional decorators in the house for the last three days doing the lounge (quite big), dining room, kitchen, entrance hall (with five doors off it), and hall cupboard (with combi boiler in it + loads of pipe work)
I supplied the paint, and the total cost for labour was £440
The cutting in around sockets/switches/fireplace/ window & door frames is nigh on perfect & they left NO mess !
I’ve spent the last three days on my bike, and after reinstating furniture/wall lights/door handles etc tomorrow morning, I’ll be back out on the bike tomorrow afternoon.
Money well spent, I reckon ……… and the missus is over the moon !

Hi, no experience at all of Crocodile, but after 40+ years in the contracting industry, I would suggest this :-
Just give them a polite call and say that you have had a quote for the work you want done, but you are a little surprised at the price, as you’re relative had a similar job done for less.
Then ………… ask if they are currently offering any deals for new/recommend customers, etc. and this gives them the opportunity to say “ah, we hadn’t applied the “xyz” discount that we are operating at the moment” and you will probably find that the price falls to the kind of level that you were expecting.
It’s amazing what a bit of gentle “persuasion” will do to massage a quoted price down.
(FWIW, I NEVER pay the first price I am quoted for sub-contract work !!)
Cheers,Alan

I have ridden 3 Claude Butler bikes (including a Cape Wrath 26er) and I found all of them to be :-
A … Heavy
B … Lifeless
I reckon your Mate could do better with that sort of budget, especially as we are just entering the “discount season” when the dealers start marking down the 2015 bikes to make way for the new 2016 season stock.
Something else to consider is that if your Mate spends £700 on something from one of the volume manufacturers like Specialized/Cannondale/Giant/Boardman etc the bike will still be worth a few hundred quid in a couple of years time, whereas second hand Claud Butlers seem to be worth next to nowt !!

I currently have four pairs of Blocs & two pairs of Oakleys, and I would honestly say that the Bloc lenses suffer a lot less of the “niggly little scratches” than the Oakleys do.

Good advice there from gravity-slave.
If you don’t run the AC regularly (say half an hour per month), the seals can indeed “settle” and you could be faced with problems that can’t be fixed with an Aircon Bomb 😯

Assuming the pads have lots of life left in them & are worth saving, you could try this :-
Scrub the pads in purple meths with a toothbrush, then leave them to steep overnight in the meths.
Dry them thoroughly, then rub the friction surface with some clean wet & dry paper.
Then clean the rotors with the meths, paying particular attention to cleaning all of the black gunge out of each of the drilled holes in the braking surface (I use old-fashioned pipe-cleaners for this)
This seems to work for me.

I’ve used Paisley Freight twice for sending bikes and had no problems
They don’t charge the earth, and have a pretty relaxed view on what size a bike box actually is !
Cheers
Alan

FIVE HUNDRED QUID !!!!!
That’s a £75 second hand parcel of cr4p if ever I saw one.

Are we talking Mountain Bike ?
Or Road/Hybrid Bike ??
Cheers
Alan

I’m the same height & inside leg measurement as you and I went for a small Anthem X 29er as the “real life” geometry was almost identical to that of my medium XTC Composite 29er hardtail (although the geometry detailed on the Giant website doesn’t really reflect this !?!)
I’m 100% happy that I bought the right size as I have tried my Mate’s medium Anthem X 29er a couple of times now and each time I felt as though I was “perched on top” of a bike that was a bit too big for me.
I hope this helps.
Cheers
Alan

Oh, and don’t be tempted to buy one of the “cable sets” from Asda for £4
They initially look like a bit of a bargain, getting 2 gear inner+outers, plus 2 brake inner+outers and all ferrules+end crimps for only £4.
The inner cables are galvanised & start to corrode on the first ride.
The “gear” outer cable is actually spiral-wound brake outer !!
The plastic coating on the outer cables splits and cracks very easily.
Alan

I just stock up on these when Halfords have them on special offer (like they do right now !)

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_186625_langId_-1_categoryId_165455

You get a good quality SS inner cable, a good quality length of outer (that cuts really well) and six end ferrules, all for £2

Bargain !!

(Remember, you need to book them on-line for collection in store to get them at that price)

+1 for SKS

Fitted them to my hybrid, my Mate’s hybrid, and the Brother-in-Law’s commuter – They can be a bit time consuming to fit, but once adjusted properly, they stay put !

Next time you’re in Keswick, try the steak pies at Thomasons Butchers …. fantastic (& almost as good as the famous Cow Pie at the George Hotel).
But the real gem at Thomasons is the Game Pastie ! They never seem to have many of them, so they sell out fast – When we asked the proprieters (who we refer to as Phil & Grant, as they bear an uncanny resemblance to the Mitchell brothers !?!), what was in the pasties, they just said “whatever they had collected from the roadside on the way in to work that morning”.
Clearly not true in these days of rather strict food hygiene , but we still go in and ask for a “Roadkill Pastie” to set us up for a days riding.
Mmmm

May be worth a call to On One
They are knocking the Reverbs out for £200 but the particular one you want is currently showing as “out of stock”
If they are expecting new stock soon, it may be worth delaying the purchase !
Cheers
Alan

I’ve set up four sets of XT brakes in the last few months and never had any bother.
I just mount the disc calliper loosely (so it is free to move), pull the brake lever gently a couple of times to centralise the calliper over the rotor, then pull the lever hard and keep it pulled whilst tightening the calliper mounting bolts.
This seems to work every time for me with XT.
Alan

Ah, well, in that case it’s one of these :

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=83158

or one of these :

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=69484

Hope that helps.
Cheers
Alan

Hi,
Assuming you are running 3×9, you will need one of these :

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=28028

or one of these :

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=20684

They are both dual pull, but make sure you get one that will fit your 34.9mm seat tube.

Cheers
Alan

Ah, right – it looks like you are using the M545 or possibly R505 callipers. (They will have the exact reference printed on them somewhere)
If you want to stick with the same type of calliper to maintain the continuity with your pads, it looks like you will need to have a trawl on the net for a suitable source as they were superseded a while ago. (I rather suspect that price-wise you will be looking at £35-£40)
Good luck
Alan

Never had a mechanical brake fail like that – but a replacement one shouldn’t break the bank from the good old Woolly Hat Shop (they also do them in black) :-

http://www.woollyhatshop.com/Brakes-Disc-Brakes/Disc-Brake-Front/Shimano-416-SILVER-Mechanical-Front-Disc-Brake-with-160mm-IS-Bracket-Adaptor-No-Rotor-/prod_5603.html

(Glad you didn’t end up in A&E !!)

Alan

One of these would probably fit the bill :

http://www.outdooraction.co.uk/sleeping-bags-backpacking/snugpak/snugpak-softie-micro-chrysalis-sleeping-bag-2011-pd-1818.php

I use one of the Vango Venom ultralite down bags which is excellent (it only weighs 750g and it packs down to the size of a pint glass) – BUT you will probably struggle to get one of those for less than £70.

Cheers

Alan

Sorry for the slow reply MD,
The sleeping bag packs down into a roll that is about 30cm x 40cm, and the fleece throw will just stuff into any gap in the general pile of camping gear in the boot.
Cheers
Alan

Hi MD,
May have a solution for you ……….
Me and Mrs Mc bought a nice Vango double sleping bag with zips on both sides (only about £60) plus a fleece ‘throw’ (only another £8)
We drape the throw over her side, and I can zip my side down and lob my leg out to cool down when it gets a bit hot – result !!!
Worth a try.
Cheers
Alan