Regrettably, they’ve started to charge VAT at source – still really cheap so long as UK C&E don’t get nosy. Look for listings with free shipping.

One word – Jedward

Bought a pair of Breadbox from TK Maxx a few years ago for about £40. Wore them twice before the lens coating got scratches on it. No wonder they were selling them cheap. Haven’t got around to binning them yet – does anyone know if any of the places advertising replacement lenses are any good as I quite like the frames.

I’m perfectly happy with the 20p budget supermarket spaghetti when I can find it nowadays! Breaks my heart that I can only find the 40p stuff at the moment 😡

Is the distance between the chainrings the same on XT and Ultegra chainsets? If so, surely the XT shifter I already have will work with the mech? The tooth difference is 10 on each one, so I’m struggling to understand why the XT mech would be unable to cope with shifting to the 46 tooth from the 36 – surely just mount it a bit higher up the seat tube? Or is there a good reason why not? Currently have a 1×48 NW chainring on it, but wouldn’t mind some choice of lower gears, but not the ludicrously low ones that modern MTB chainsets force you towards. I’m still on 26″ wheels and not interested in changing them yet.

Arrrrggggghh? Realised it wasn’t SodaMAX spare😿😿😿. Blurry morning eyes😞

Spare SodaMAX? Stealth ad maybe? Please, let It be so! DM me?

Apologies for the rambling b****** – just missing the fun I used to have in a more component compatible time 😿

Fave courier bike from ’93-’95 was 1st gen 17″ frame Kona Explosiif rigid (Tange), 1x 40 to 18-12 XT STI with short cage mech (DCD fitted to prevent chain drops), Mavic Ceramic rims laced oto Deore LX hubs, rubber was Nutrak Fasgrip City’s or Specilazed Fatboy’s probably 1.25″ (both completely slick), used D Salmon 1″ wide mudguards (water only flies from the centre of the tread) 120 zero rise ITM stem slammed, flat bars about the width of my shoulders with the sweep facing forward, X-Lite Enduro Stubbies bar ends (to get more aero), Flite Ti saddle and USE inline seat post. Could beat most things on four wheels off the line at traffic lights and was the most flickable, fun bike I’ve ever had with the exception of the Klein Attitude Dolomite I later found. People might argue that these are meant to be used on mountains – I just want a bike that can cope, as well as being a complete blast to ride in an urban situation. Hopefully, this missive explains a bit more about my strange choices of equipment.

It’s not agro gravel spec – more ageing hooligan ex-courier urban MTB stylee 😸

26 X 1.5 Schwalbe City Jets – Got a set of Speed Rockers a couple of years ago – forks are too far apart and too beefy for them to fit nicely. Now consigned to be “another bit of gear I’ve bought without thinking it through first” pile. Sick and tired of doing this. Way too much in that pile.

Too numerous for a comprehensive list. However, I sacked Special Brew & Gold Label barley wine when the prices went up at the same time the ABV went down.

+1 on McEwan’s Champion in bottles (the cans are only just about drinkable and smaller) – avoid buying from Morrisons though – just gone from four for £6 to four for the price of three at £2.35 each = £7.05! E-mailed customer services to complain – their reply was “do feel free to shop around”! Even the little Tesco shops are only £1.65 and it’s chilled in there too 😸

It’s a normal MTB – none of that internal routing lark – could I use the inside of the steerer tube (1 1/8″) or are the batteries too large for that? Other than that, are there any sensible external solutions? I’d be happy to use a bottle cage mount type of thing, just don’t want the bike to look like an amateur DIY electronics project!

I hope I’m not going too off-thread with this – there’s a 1 x11 XT di2 available that the seller has said is off an e-bike & was connected to it’s battery. Would this kit be e-bike specific (on the pictured boxes, it looks like standard Shimano gear with no weird numbers) or could I get the relevant kit to use it on a normal bike for not too much money?

Morrisons stainless steel travel mug with handle 400ml – base diameter is about 65mm £3

Shouting “I’m out” in a gun battle, thereby alerting the enemies that they have no ammo and are basically defenceless.

He’s probably thinking of the polythene like ones they use in fast food places.

+1 on “going forward”

+1 on gout – worse than an anal fistula that I had to wait 18 months for an operation for 35 years ago! Used to get get an attack and sometimes be crippled for over a month at a time. Figured out that quadruple the dose of Indomethacin twice in 5-6 hours sorts it out nowadays – took quite a lot of experimentation before I sussed that out – leaves you completely confused, but pain free. Not suffered with it much since they doubled my Allopurinol daily dose.

+ 1 on Scarlett Johansson – also Sarah Jessica Parker

Minnie **** Driver

Crank removal tool has flats on the side to use a spanner on. Never used a socket on square tapered bb.

In between Wood Green and Palmers Green – https://bikesforgoodcauses.co.uk

Rankin’ Roger sadly passed away 😿

No worries mate.

I managed to buy 2 from Amazon, which arrived this morning and remembered this thread.
I tried putting in my basket on the sites that said “in stock” and continued adding until they came up as not able to fulfil.
I just thought I’d try to be helpful, and post my results.

These guys have 2 available https://www.centurycycles.com/cart.cfm

These guys have 10 available https://www.pushys.com.au/shimano-105-cs-hg700-11-34t-11-speed-cassette-silver.html

These guys have 3 available at the moment https://neweracycle.com/shimano-105-hg700-11-speed-road-cassette/

Back in the 70s, used to cycle to the venues and buy the tickets from the box office as soon as the gig was announced if it was likely to sell out, or just turn up early on the day if no advance tickets available. Always tried to avoid ticket agencies – licensed **** touts!

Had E7 30 odd years ago – noticed that the bills were increasing over the course of time. Meter clock time was running out of sync with real time. After many phone calls finally got LEB to investigate – cue massive refund and apologies. Quite a few friends had the same grief.

I like the idea of price per Kg. The concept of a “portion” of undefined size leaves the door wide open for tiny ripoff amounts of food to be served.
Reminds me of a newspaper cartoon from the sixties with a disgruntled diner remarking that when he’d asked for his steak rare, he did NOT mean scarce!

There was a bare, fat tubed aluminium Funk frame sitting in the window of Clerkenwell Cycles for probably a year in the late 80s. I was a bike courier then, and used to ride past there numerous times a week and lust after it, but it was way too pricey. One day, I noticed that it was not there any more, sold to some rich undeserving wretch. About 10 years later, I had moved over to controlling, rather than riding for a living. I was chatting with my co-controller about bikes, and mentioned the Funk. Turned out he knew the bloke who bought it! Only thing was that the rear end was apparently about 5mm out of alignment. Dunno what the end result was, but glad I didn’t get stuck with it, already had one Friday Afternoon Bike, but that’s gonna be another thread.