Already out of stock in L/XL. Wonderful. :-)

Can’t see EBH or Cav featuring. Likewise the Sky boys.

Cancellara in ominous form, but will be hard for him to succeed in a breakaway without some seriously strong riders for company. Sagan will be heavily marked, but the final descent suits his power. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Matthews and Bouhanni slugging it out in another sprint.

Weather could be a factor though. Should be an exciting race!

Whitstable T-Shirt Company[/url] do some nice road-focused ones.

Or get a Condor

That is lovely. (Save for the silver seatpost :wink: ) What model is it?

what’s wrong with the Cinelli?

SS dropouts. I’m looking for geared. Also no guard mounts, although I could probably live without those. Pity – it’s gorgeous, has tons of clearance and comes in XXL.

DeRosa Milanino Training? They do an XL.

Ooh. Now that is pretty.

Looking at the geo, the XL might be a bit small though – top tube is ‘only’ 57.5cm. No stack/reach measurements, however, and the seat tube is apparently “XLcm”. Helpful :D

What trashed your existing frame?

A crash. I hit a patch of black ice while training and on the way down my knee whacked into one of the bidons, ripping the cage and bosses out of the frame. Left a fairly decent hole, which is too large for any remedial action. Currently got the cage held on with zip ties, which is slightly ridiculous.

I was thinking about a Kinesis 4S or T2. Not exactly what I’m looking for aesthetically, but hear they ride well, which is obviously more important. Isn’t the Pro 6 a CX frame? Assume the geo would be a tad relaxed?

Why wouldn’t you choose steel for a winter bike? A few clubmates only have steel framed bikes and seem to ride them year round okay?

I see he’s being rumoured for Roland in the ever-delayed Dark Tower movie. That’ll make some people’s heads explode.

I actually think he’d make a decent Roland. (And McConaughey as the Man in Black? What a cast!) But it will be interesting to see how they then handle the racial elements of the Detta storyline…

That said, the whole project will probably just fall apart and it will resurface in another five years with a new studio, director and cast.

Thanks all. I’ve ordered a Bristan, so I’ll see how I get on with it.

click on the hamburger menu icon at the left of the page then choose “Activities”.
Now click on “Import” at the top right of the page and in the dialog box that pops up click on “Choose file”.
Once you’ve selected it click on “Upload activities from file”

Tried that and I just get a red ‘X’ below the computer logo and an error message of “undefined”.

I have to say, first impressions are that this is an incredibly poorly-designed interface.

Oooh, now those look nice. Very nice. They only sell via their website, however, which isn’t really ideal – I’d definitely want to see them before I spent that much money on a bag.

Anyone know of any other brands that do similar bags to Trakke and Brooks?

Nah – we’re going to go ride around upstate New York. Don’t fancy dodging taxis in Manhattan at all.

Surely your mate who lives there could find out or even better borrow one for you?

of course, but this way the OP gets to tell strangers on the internet that he’s going to manhattan and intends to get a a proper bike whilst there

#humblebrag

Ha! That really wasn’t it at all. I’m only going for a few days with work – save for a potential ride, it really won’t be that exciting a trip.

My friend only recently moved out there himself – he’s on a sixth month secondment. But yes, I’ve asked him both questions. Just thought I’d check on here at the same time.

Will try Bike and Roll and NYC Velo. Thanks.

I’m only going for a few days and only have time for one ride, so think it’s probably easier to just hire one…

Yeah, I was looking at the Hot Packs too – they do a No Rain version, which is waterproof and has taped seams, etc.

How are the sleeves? Nice and long?

I’m in too. Really excited for Saturday – route goes through my parents’ village so heading up tomorrow.

I think I’d really need two:

A Colnago C60 (traditional, not sloping geo) with Super Record EPS, Enve 6.7s on King R45s, 3T LTD finishing kit – for riding and racing.

And then something like a Pegoretti Responsorium (ciavete, of course) or a Colnago Master with mechanical Super Record – just because.

Thanks all. Will definitely get Turn Left at Orion.

My Dad already has some binoculars that he uses (though not as powerful as the ones listed above), so I think a telescope would be a better choice.

Certainly seems the consensus is a Dobsonian reflector. I spoke to a very helpful guy at an astronomy shop and he suggested the Skywatcher Skyliner 150P would be a good choice. Anyone have any experience of that telescope, or any other suggestions?

I do really like the idea of those go-to mounts, but I’m assuming that would involve spending a fair bit more, which doesn’t seem sensible at the moment.

Just read some more of the sizing bumf on Morvelo’s website and they say their jerseys are “slim fit…not skin tight”. So I’m guessing a large might be a bit too big for me.

Can anyone comment on how they size up compared to Castelli?

I’m in too.

And Dan Martin, keep those pedals up please!

:(

Is it in stock? None round here.

Nope, you’re right – out of stock everywhere in Screwfix, it seems.

But I found it on eBay for £38. Linky.

to get round the battery issue I also bought the portable vacuum cleaner

That’s an excellent idea. I’d been meaning to get a portable vacuum anyway, so that’s perfect. It’s also £35 in Screwfix.

Right, I’ll pick those bits up today. Thanks everyone for all your help.

Hmm, okay. Seems like there are lots of deals to be had on Amazon. But getting a bit confused by all these options now!

So, there is the original one on Screwfix:

18V 8Ah Li-ion BHP453RFTK combi with lots of bits for £150.

Or there is either of these two Makita 10.8V combi drill and impact driver sets:

Makita DK1493WX for £146.

Makita LCT204W[/url] for £140.

And I could then get one of the bits sets, like this for £28:

Or this for £36:

I’m sure that any of those would be more than good enough for my meagre requirements, but what would people suggest?

depends if your idea of DIY is the 12 minutes the average DIYers drill gets used for …. or my idea of DIY where you actually do it your self.

Probably somewhere in the middle, I guess. I’m still a relative newcomer when it comes to DIY (just bought my first house so never really had to deal with it before), but do like to get stuck in and try things myself (have recently done some lighting/electrics, some minor plastering, etc).

So I’d like something that is decent enough, but certainly don’t need anything too fancy.

EDIT: No doubt a stupid question, but what’s an impact driver?

So you’d say nicad would be a better option? Any recommendations around the £100-150 mark (ideally with bits)?

Also, in terms of manufacturer, any difference between Bosch and Makita? Or any other makes I should be looking at for the price?

I imagine in a couple of prime locations (brum, London, etc) they would do quite well with your killer pricing?

Might make it harder to offer such killer pricing though, I imagine. At least there is the option to see (and ride) a physical bike, unlike the mailorder-only companies.

Thanks all. Looks like I’ll go with the 800 then.

I ride solo a lot, and especially at night, so the live track gives me comfort that i would be found if i had a big off.

Yeah, that would be appealing, but I always take my phone with me anyway, so have that covered.

If you want live track and you have mobile with you anyway there are apps that do same including garmins own one. Probably get better battery life out of the mobile as you wouldn’t have to be running Bluetooth.

I do always ride with my phone in my saddle pack and currently use that for tracking my rides, but I’m really looking for turn-by-turn navigation and don’t want to mount my phone to my bars in case I damage it in a spill. (Not that I’d want to damage a £200 Garmin either, but you take my point.)

I’m not in the market for a new bike at the moment, but have to say that it looks like you’ve done a great job on this. Incredible spec for the money and looks well thought out overall. I even don’t mind that it comes with Avid brakes – I’ve had Elixir CRs on my bike for the past three years and they’ve been faultless.

If it was available in XL and a raw finish, it would be even better. ;)

Really like that Tokyo Fixed one. They’ve sold out in L though. :(

but ideally id fit a new h/w frame

That is very much the plan, but I was intending to wait until the summer, when the weather is better and I have a bit more money. When I do come round to doing that, how should I expect them to be designing the new frame to stop water from coming in? Should it have one of those weather seal things built into the threshold?

The step appears nearly flat, so water is being blown in under your door.

But to be fair to the joiner, it’s the threshold that’s the problem, and if you only asked for a new door, he has a point.

That’s true – we did only ask for a front door. So he hasn’t done anything to the frame or step – that’s been left as it was. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the threshold was all wrong – the people who owned the house before us had bodged lots of things. But shouldn’t he have said something if it wasn’t going to work as it was?

The waterbar is in the wrong place and too low – all it’s doing is building up a nice reservoir to make sure there’s enough water to annoy you.

So the weatherboard shouldn’t be flush with the bottom of the door?

Am I therefore right in thinking that he hasn’t done the job properly, or is it just the fact that he couldn’t do anything without also doing stuff to the step and/or frame? If the former, what should he have done differently? And more importantly, what can he now do to fix it?

This shows the weatherboard at the bottom of the door and the base of the frame:

This is the underside of the weatherboard (the coir is the doormat, rather than anything attached to the door):

So that isn’t right then?

It does have a weatherboard like the image above, but pretty sure it doesn’t have any of that other stuff – it’s just a flat wooden frame. Is that not right then? It’s just the previous door never leaked – I can’t see why the new one should?

Oh, and I definitely don’t want a touchscreen – really can’t see the point in those at all.

Thanks! :)

Thanks everyone – I thought this might get a lot of replies! :D

Right, so the consensus suggests I should be looking for a small (about 4.5-5kW?) multifuel burner. Unfortunately, I’m guessing I will need a liner, as the house was built in 1930.

Get the stove installed by the chimney sweep; this will make you a good customer who he’ll be happy to come back and sweep for at shortish notice or attend to any problems.

A few of the places that I’ve seen online for the stoves also offer an installation service. Would you say I should definitely get the sweep to install it instead, or should I at least see what the difference in price would be? I just thought I might be able to get a better deal if I’m buying the stove from and getting it installed by the same people?

Buy a good brand no Chinese cheapos of the Internet.

These are some of the brands I’ve seen: Morso, Esse, Dru, Franco Belge, AGA, Hunter, Tiger, Stovax, Dovre, Villager, Charnwood, ACR.

Any of those that people would particularly recommend, or any that you wouldn’t?

Most of the stoves I’ve seen online that I like the look of are about £500-700. I know this is hard to say with any degree of accuracy, but what sort of price do you think I should be budgeting for, all in?

Thanks again.

EDIT:

Got chimney sweep/installer in book ham.

Ham as in Richmond?

I’m 6’5 with long legs and struggled for ages with the same problem. Most brands were no good at all, but Gore are better than most – nice and long for each size. DHB was also pretty good, but not quite as long as Gore. Ended up with a pair of Lusso Max Repels, which not only fit perfectly but are also very nicely made indeed and really reasonably priced. Highly recommended.

It’s the 13 hours of the most boring thing a man can do that deserves credit.

I see your turbo and raise you…tax returns.

I once did 2 hours 11 minutes on the turbo while watching the football. That was plenty long enough.

Hats off to him.

Simon side, it should be “a keyboard with which to play”.

Also lots of issues with spacing, capitalisation and punctuation.

OP – If you like it, that’s all that matters. I would be slightly worried about it being secured by just one hook over that Mac, however! :P

I tried a pair of the Vaeon full-length tights. They’re surprisingly nice for the money (as I find most DHB kit to be), but ended up going for a pair of Lusso Max Repels as they fitted me better – they come up really nice and long in the leg, which is important when you’re 6’6! Handmade in the UK too. :)

As mentioned above, padless with bib shorts underneath works well for me.

I know you didn’t ask, but in terms of other winter kit, I find the Lusso tights with bib shorts, a baselayer, Gabba jersey, Nanoflex armwarmers and DHB neoprene overshoes a pretty faultless combo.

EDIT: The Lusso tights are £49.95 at Chain Reaction at the moment: Link.

Been very pleased with my Rab waterproof jacket. Really well made and well thought-out features. Customer services very good too – friendly and answered my questions very quickly. Would buy again.