+1, discussed sale of my ti Ala Carte with said lady earlier this year. Web order service isn’t as quick as Billy’s (who also sell Salsa stuff) though. Had a good offer on ti Charge Spoons a few months ago, £35 iirc.

Re. M**k A***ony cycles, they don’t ‘sell’ Salsa any more than they sell cuban cigars, they have no stock and everything’s ordered in specially (from Timbuktu by three-legged donkey) a few days/weeks after they take your money.

USE Atom. Very well made, not too expensive, ‘sensible’ light yet solid. Has alloy inserts.

Passenger train companies have never had it so good – pass numbers have gone up and up since fuel prices went silly and fares are ridiculously high. The profits made by the train operating companies are obscene, the industry certainly isn’t ****ed in as far as the title of this thread pertains, but is certainly ‘****ed up’. I feel genuinely sorry for the passengers on my trains.

They’re not Train Managers, trust me – I speak as a Northern Rail driver. A small minority of guards/conductors tend to be jobsworths (apart from in Leeds where the majority seem to be jobsworths. Sheffield are supposed to be a pain too but I don’t have dealings with them in work). Liverpool and Manchester guards tend to be the most amenable but there are ‘a few’ who are a pain in the arse as there is in any walk of life. There is officially a two bikes policy on Northern but that is down to guard’s discretion at peak times (and they’re supposed to show discretion to allow more than two bikes at quiet times). The problem we’ve got at the moment is that the little sh1ts that go round by the dozen with BMXs at weekends and school/bank holidays are causing problems for ‘real cyclists’ on trains and I can see them stuffing it up for us all. Try to be diplomatic, not easy when faced with a little Hitler but try nonetheless.

But 7 miles? Come on…

Done it the ‘other way round’ loads of times, ie Littleborough – Blackstone Edge – Cragg Vale, dropping down seems to take forever.

Only just heard about this CRC fraud, explains why I had to cancel my card the day before my holiday at end of Feb with associated hassle, it seems I was one of the ‘early ones’ to be done over. Not heard a peep from CRC, have bought from them since (once or twice on debit card, about 6-8 small orders using Paypal). My bank were originally on-the-ball in detecting the fraud but have been quiet since despite me using CRC again. I’d been VERY careful prior to this incident and only had the account open for five months when this happened. Will be checking my account again with a fine toothcomb later…

Ah yes. There are these with washers (2nd from bottom), but I can’t find any with proper spacers on there.

Plenty of Ti washers though including some trick drilled ones (for whatever excuse you can find to used them):
Click

Cling film (around the toes between two pairs of socks) instead of overshoes.

http://www.tastynuts.com (Pro-Bolt) – I’ve ordered about ten lots of different bolts from here in recent months, always had excellent service and fastest possible postage. My latest order (late Sat night) arrived today – two 10mm M3 blue ano ti bolts for the rear mech hanger on my ti Ala Carte (also ordered two stainless just in case)… :oops:

Greetings, this is my first post and it pains me to make it a negative one but I have recently been ‘Mark Anthonied’, this is the second time I’ve had dealings with them and I really should have known better after the first time.

This time round I have been lied to and was actually sworn at on the phone by an unbelieveably hostile bloke, merely for having the audacity to politely ask about returning parts for a refund, parts that arrived weeks after I needed them.

Avoid, they really are not nice people to deal with, nor are they a bike shop in the true sense of the word (or spirit).