I started using a mountain bike for the commute and loved it,bought a CX bike and disliked it and have now built this for commuting duties…

Back to loving my commute again! 🙂

Cool beans. Thank you.

It’s nothing special in the parts department. It’s a 2013 Jamis Nova Sport CX bike – http://www.evanscycles.com/products/jamis/nova-sport-2013-cyclocross-bike-ec041504#select

It was £650 when I bought it, and I’ve stuck 2,000 miles on it. Still in good condition, but changed the rear wheel to a hand built with XT hub as the original was pap and died early!

Only other change was road BB7’s, but will probably change back to the original Tektro brakes before sale.

Glad you’re generally OK fella, bikes can be replaced easily enough!

Rutland have one for £36.99 – not sure which one’s better.

http://www.rutlandcycling.com/154163/products/ultimate-hardware-folding-workstand-with-magnetic-tool-tray.aspx

In my opinion video cameras are not good at portraying depth and many of those incidents in the OP would have been enough to increase the heart rate of most experienced cyclists, let alone the less experienced.

Put it this way – would you want your wife/girlfriend/daughter/mum to be cycling and treated like that?

The behaviour demonstrated by many of those cars in the video will be enough to put many off riding on the roads at all. It’s bullying pure and simple.

The reason I believe this chap is getting such a hard time on here is that he simply isn’t likeable. His horn, his tone and his attitude have conspired against him to get a less than favourable opinions even from his own fellow cyclists.

I watched the video twice, once at work with no sound and later at home with sound. I was much more sympathetic at the first viewing.

I want to see it on a head.

To get real benefits you’ll want to be riding higher pressures for commuting and you can’t* do this running tubeless on Stans rims.

*IIRC 40psi is the maximum recommended pressure by Stans when running tubeless. There is no maximum with the rims when running with tubes.

DezB – Member

I’d love to know how cyclists could go looking for trouble. I call utter bullshit on that.

Not one horn nor any abuse – which really surprised me as there were plenty of cars around this morning and I ride on some completely unlit roads. As soon as I realised I was pavement riding for the rest of the journey.

I’m just thankful I wasn’t hit to be honest. The stupid thing is I have a couple of spare lights in a drawer at home, no use to me there though!

I’m glad Markie gave the Garage 271 challenger a shout – I remember seeing one on a thread here, a chaps wife bought him one for his birthday if I recall correctly!

Beautiful, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember who made it or what it was called! The pics in the original thread were lovely 🙂

I thought old Kona’s were popular classics because that’s what quite a lot of people started out on and have fond memeories of them? The fact that their frames seem to have lasted well makes them viable.

I would have thought an Orange 5 would fit the bill as a future classic.

Bike looks great Wozza – lovely job 😀

Mine’s nearly ready! Hoping to get it done for the weekend – just the front brake hose to shorten, the rear dérailleur to adjust and the whole thing needs going over with a torque wrench. Bit excited and everyone loves a pic so…

jonba – Member
What sort of steel? A clearcoat is going to provide bugger all corrosion protection so I’d expect to see blistering and rust spots fairly quickly?

What would protect a raw steel frame? I’ve got an old Kona frame made from chromoly (I think) and was after an industrial look for it.

Two parrots sitting on a perch, one says to the other,
“Can you smell fish?”

What do you can a fish with no eyes?
Fsh.

What do you call a bear with no ear?
B.

Two cannibals eating a clown, one says to the other,
“Does this taste funny to you?”

2 Goldfish in a tank, one says to the other “Can you really drive this thing?”

Two penguins walk into a bar, which was really stupid because the second one should have noticed.

What’s invisible and smells of carrots?
Rabbit farts.

What’s yellow and smells of bananas?
Monkey sick.

What’s brown and funny? Clown poo.

What’s green, got six legs and would kill you if it fell out of a tree? A snooker table.

Q. Have you got a duckdo?
A. What’s a duckdo?
A. Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack! Repeat to fade.

Not used one, but the Mavic XC 717 looks good. Will use one for my next wheel build.

I have an EVOC trail for commuting which I like very much, but for quality and service Osprey are excellent. I bought my wife one of their packs and it really is superb.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/osprey-packs-great-service

The Iveco is anything but fragile

We’ll agree to disagree on that. It wasn’t a throw away comment from me, I ran 15 of them from 2009 to 2012. I’m not saying they are horrendous though – they were good enough for the job, hence I now have another 15.

The Sprinters have been bested by the VW Crafters now in my opinion – lovely vans. That’s not to say the Sprinters are bad though – far from it.

An old Mercedes Vario would make a great candidate for a conversion – tough as old boots, but a very old design with regards to driving position and ergonomics. Regardless of that I like them.

The Iveco Daily is fragile, particularly in the electronics department but has improved year on year, so the newer the better. They do have one major plus point though – they are cheap!

Edit – forgot to say, can’t go too far wrong with a Transit – my favourite van to actually drive – especially the RWD models.

TiRed – Member
On average over the course of a year, you can expect to be properly rained on about 15 times a year.

I read the same thing when I started commuting by bike – sounded great. Last month alone I got properly rained on more times than that!

Fortunately I am waterproof.

They are 42.5cm forks.

Late to the party, but only just had time to take a couple of snaps. It’s no beauty and very much a work in progress…

Best I’ve used so far too. Would buy another if it ever dies.

You get your shoes dry cleaned?! 😯

That’s a serious bit of kit! Can’t help thinking the engines are being wasted though – would be better attached to my commuter’s frame!

Burnt orange for me all day long. I’m biased though, building mine at the moment.

Time would be better spent catching people on their mobiles whilst driving in my opinion.

I’m not sure that the current strip lights would be worth having? They have quite a lot of rust on them! When they come down though you’ll be welcome to them as long as it doesn’t cost me anything!

The bucket was £1 at B&Q – bargain. Maybe longer strip lights then – I see you can get LED tubes for them now.

Er, it would be me setting the rate. Pretty sure I could set what I see fit? Our deliveries are of high enough value to warrent a decent delivery cost.

nitrambocg – Member
‘That’s as maybe – my statement still stands. ‘

Nice to see that you have that much concern for the circumstances of your future clients… Perhaps it is ‘none of your business’, a very easy stance to take, but is it not something to be ashamed of?

No, I’m not ashamed of my view – I’m not here to advise people how to run their lives or their businesses.

Some people really do expect their shoes to be tied for them don’t they?!

We use agency drivers quite frequently, but there’s no need to employ any more full time drivers. We average 15 trips per day and have 15 FTE’s to cover them. Agency are used to cover sickness, leave and workload increases.

The majority of our deliveries are to schools so we’re very quite at school holiday times, but very busy is some months such as July and September where we restrict leave. Our FTE count is right, but agency staff are a necessary evil as our deliveries are next day and must be fulfilled.

I’m also in the peculiar position of having to use only one agency where I can’t ask for drivers by name, so good agency guys can’t get repeat work from us – this is very frustrating, but using subcontracted drivers would circumvent the mandated agency.

nitrambocg – Member
…’I highly doubt many owner drivers are going to use an accountant’

If you run a business an do not use an accountant then your are either a)an accountant yourself, b)naive or c)stupid.

You lay yourself open to unreasonable attacks from HMRC (Personal Tax, Corporation Tax and VAT) with nobody to defend you.

That’s as maybe – my statement still stands.

uselesshippy – Member
Sounds good. But then…
If your sick, injured, on holiday, stuck in traffic, getting van serviced, broken down, loading van, unloading van, etc.
Your not earning money.

Same goes for any self employed person does it not?

I highly doubt many owner drivers are going to use an accountant, but their choice if they want to waste their money! I also don’t see where premises would be required assuming most owner drivers would base their vehicle at their home.

It costs our business £6.50 per drop with a full time employed driver including NI and pension costs! This cost also includes vehicle lease cost, fuel, tax and insurance.

I can’t see why £6.50ish per drop wouldn’t be a reasonable rate.

How much do the likes of City Link pay then? I take it they pay a drop rate?

As a transport manager I’m thinking of moving from agency drivers in hire vans that we provide, to sub contracted owner drivers. We regularly get poorly performing agency drivers and often they have very little respect for the vehicles – damage is too common and the repair costs are very high.

I was thinking of offering somewhere between £6-7 per drop with an average of 35 drops per day – I would have thought that was reasonable?

Hmmm, I was being serious. It’s mostly set to the 300 lumen output, but I do have unlit sections where I feel much more comfortable at 900 lumens – particularly when descending completely unlit country roads at 30 – 40mph. I find being able to see potholes, stones, leaves and branches a distinct advantage. And at those speeds I find I’d prefer more light than I currently have.

Maybe it’s the beam spread that I have that doesn’t direct the light into the best place with lumens going to waste? Exposure Diablo by the way.

Why use a helmet light on roads? Surely a dipped down and to the kerb (as car and motorcycle headlamps) bar light is more than adequate. Helmet lights that are of the be seen nature are ok but ones powerful enough to use to see are generally too bright to use in traffic. I am all for being seen but think we sometimes dont do ourselves any favours with other road users with the brightness and also the angle some people aim the lights.

I find my 900 lumen helmet light only just adequate for my commute on unlit roads. Mounted on the bars I get flashed by many cars as it clearly dazzles, but on the lid I’ve never had any grief.

Another vote for the Moon Shield 60 here. I’ve had rear lights from Knog, Cateye and Lezyne, but the Moon is the best of the lot. Small, powerful, rechargable and well made.