You can finance any of the exotic cars, both new and used through any of the methods you mention; PCP, PCH, HP, non secure personal loan.

It comes down to cost and what suits you. What you’ll find is that all the lease/hire options have extortionate interest rates (I’ve seen 12.9% on an Aston!), versus a personal loan of 5% (or less).

However, the lease options will often include some benefits, such as warranty, servicing and breakdown cover to try and encourage you to take their inflated interest option.

The best option would be to take the lease, but then swap to a personal loan within 14 days so you don’t incur any interest payments. This way you retain any benefit of taking the lease, but pay the lower interest. You also have the option of selling the car at anytime if you take a non secure personal loan.

Just because the car is the price of the Golf, it won’t be the same price to run it. Service costs and consumables still match the cost of the original car, or possibly higher due to the age of the car. Can you afford the car if something major breaks or a major service? Can you afford the depreciation if you pile on the miles like a Golf?

The other side of the coin is that if you buy wisely, you could end up with an appreciating car, which can offset the running costs. You still have the bork factor risk, but if you keep use moderate it could be an investment.

My brother and I are doing this at the moment. Just a nice car to stick in the garage and use for a few thousand miles a year over summer. We’ve done months of research and are settling for something that ought to appreciate nicely.

From my knowledge all T130’s share the same frame for their MY. It’s just powder coated in different colours. In the older models, some had the addition of the front mech mount.

I never said it was Podge.. I wasn’t arguing that I’m going to make this a mass production & profitable venture. Just that I could get it done for a reasonable (to me) cost.

There just isn’t the demand beyond lunatics like me.

Sounds like I’m the only one that want’s these awful things, trail rat! 😆

Apart from missing the obvious that you want a quality piece of custom machining, with additional features over the basic ones currently on the market, but for the same price as the basic ones… did you miss my point that they would be aweful to ride as you could never get your feet on them without a lot of faffing about and looking at your pedals, so kind of negating the benefit offroad.

The Funn is a high quality product with far more complexity, material & branding behind it, and it’s only £65. Machining a flat piece of aluminum and adding some threaded holes and a clamp isn’t going to cost more.. Just because X brand charge £65, doesn’t mean that another brand can’t produce a better product for less. I could quite happily produce what I want for about £40 a set as a one off through some friends.

Would they be awful? The pedals would be like a road pedal in the sense of them rotating, and you get used to it. I won’t be taking my feet off the pedals much anyway, but it’s nice to be able to dap or disconnect from the bike quickly when required. You could always negate the rotating issue with a weight on the other side of the pedal.

Why would you want replaceable pins? You dont want a lot of grip and shouldnt take these things offroad as you will end up unclipping the platform.

No, the design would allow for a complete lock on function, so you could take them offroad. Replaceable pins let me change pin height and location to suit me.

Even if they were £100 for the pair?

No, they’d have to be closer to those Funn pedals in pricing. I don’t see why they’d be £100.

If anyone fancies machining a batch of these, I’d definitely buy some. A proper solution though with (replacable) pins.

I’ve read some bad reviews about Stripe, and they’re fees aren’t that low. From memory they are comparable to PayPal. SquareSpace allows you to use Paypal, why not go down that route? Alternative, use a separate provider for the eCommerce side. You can find some that are cheaper and provide greater flexibility in design & cost.

What sort of volume are you going to be selling and how many transactions monthly? This will really dictate what route to take.

Thanks again! Great replies.
Site has only been live 4 weeks. I know that Google can take 6 weeks before picking up new sites.

Very interesting, thanks!
The projects had a fair amount of money thrown at it and we’ll continue this.
Senior management has global ambitions, so we definitely need to pursue this and get something formal setup to get a presence.

We’ve setup a blog area and will be adding on trend content weekly, along with videos and guides- hopefully that’ll help. Just in the process of working on the UI & mobile/tablet optimization.

That’s exactly my concern.
Would like to use white hat SEO techniques. Lots of the provides seem to focus on short term wins using black hat SEO, which then compromises the site long term.

Thanks all! Lot’s of helpful stuff.

Don’t want to divulge too much on a forum.
Basically, we don’t get a single results on Google (for example), regardless of phrases or words used.

We’ve done some basic SEO and the score from the online audit tools (Zadro & seoptimer) place us at about 65/100..

I know I can Google it, but it’s always good to pick by reviews and real world experience, hence posting on here.

What he said ^

Oh the irony 😆

Enjoyed the read. Well done 😀

There will be a 29+ frameset coming from Stooge in the spring, working name Dirt Tracker, it’s a completely new design with bi-plane forks and promises to be ‘rad’. Drawings are done, production starts very shortly.

– Andy @ Stooge Towers

Can’t wait to see this! Do we think the bi-plane fork will be the same as the Ti design?

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Thanks again for responses.
I need to keep it in a cardboard postal box to protect them, I think.
Royal Mails going rate is £2.80. I’ll give them a call about business rates and see what they come up with.

Indeed, most raw materials UK sourced and made locally.
I’m filling a niche for an area of the art community.
Sales are good, but I need to offer postage as I’m getting lots of inquiries about posting.

Possibly, but all the postal companies I’ve come across seem to have a fixed cost for small parcels (sub 1kg, under 300x200x10mm), so going smaller makes no difference to postal costs.

The product is handmade tiles, so requires some packaging to ensure they arrive in one piece and undamaged.

I could always build postage costs into product cost, but not too keen on doing that.

Thanks for the replies- all info noted!
Problem is the product retails for £2-4, so adding £2.50 postage is significant. I could swallow the £0.50, but that’s still asking customers to pay £2 postage.

I suppose my other option is trying to sell this through stores, but for the most part I would have to go through wholesalers I would guess. I’ve got limited B2B knowledge and no doubt they’d want larger volumes than I can (currently) supply.

Haha, genius! Amazing what people will pay for..
There is value to it, but I’m happy to absorb any loses in transit, hence zero value for postage reasons.

Whyte T130 S or RS, depends on spec preference.
Fantastic bikes- just read the countless threads on here or the numerous other articles online that praise the T130. I can’t even rememeber the last time I read about the Stumpjumper or Camber.

The T130 won the STW readers award for this price point too- http://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/singletrack-readers-awards-the-winners/

All that said, I’d go out and test ride a few- the Spec, Whyte, Bird, Orange, Giant & others. Pick the one your heart tells you to.

They look lovely!
I might get in touch with them about a kitchen knife.
Any one have any experience of these?

I find it pointless on FS bikes. The real advantage I find is on the rigid, where it takes the sting out of things and it grips nicely.
On a FS the suspension is doing the exact same job as the tyres on the B+.
I don’t trust any of the B+ tyres I’ve used for more serious riding either. The sidewalls are just too thin.

Okay, in that case try Adobe Capture– download on your phone/tablet and have a play.

Ping it to me at cokie.stw(at)gmail.com, I’ve got something that should do it.

Yeah, just shoot over to Banjos.
You’ll end up talking to John no doubt. Really really nice chap- just explain the situation, I’m sure he won’t mind. He’s a hell of a salesman though, so be careful of walking away with another one 😆

Looks good, although- odd wheels?

How tall are you? I’m 173cm. If you want to ride the medium properly, let me know and you can give mine a go.

Interesting packaging.. is it that shape because of the stealth dropper?
Pics when you’re drone 🙂 !

Great collection! He had some good taste.
I love the IndyFab & Ritchey

I’m there Sunday, but not as early as 9, possibly 10 or 11..

Must intercept any Yodel vans at all cost I see headings your way.

Would have to be a Whyte T130.
It’s a compromise at everything, but it will do it all.
I’ve got one and I’ve done the Scott Marathon 100km, BPW uplifts (inc. blacks) and just finishing off some kit to take it bike packing.

I’ve got one. Picked it up recently- it’s the DSG version.
I really like it. It’s the right size for me, cheap to run and performance is spot on.

Initially I was looking at BMWs, Audis & other cars, but they were all a compromise. Either expensive running costs, bad residuals, poor performance, quality issues or badge snobbery. The Polo is a great middle ground. The 6c is almost the same size as the Mk4 Golf internally, and the GT holds it’s value very well. I regularly see 55+ mpg (cars only on 3k so still tight). Performance wise, I commute on tight B roads and then town, I can’t use the full performance of the car, so I didn’t need anymore power. I tested the Fiesta ST, but found it too harsh and crashy for my commute, likewise the 500 Abarth, and the Polo GTI wasn’t that much better performing.

The ride in the GT is just right for my drive, firm but not crashy. The DSG box is fantastic. Gearbox is great, it’s so smooth! Paddles are a nice touch and great fun when pressing on. Also, the black headlining is a nice touch.

I’m very smitten with this car. I’ve driven and had some nice company cars in the past too (535d & V60), so not my first foray to something new/nice.

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Very excited to see what’s coming next! Wishing you all the best Andy.

Does anyone know if there’s any off the shelf frame bags that fit the Stooge nicely? If not, does anyone have the dimensions to hand for Alpkit?

Fantastic video and, in my opinion, his best yet.
Love natural trail videos, probably why Chris Akrigg appeals so much.
Danny bettered Chris though. Some incredibly riding going on there.
I need to watch that again when I get home on the big screen.

Weeksy- Great purchase! I love mine. Will need to keep an eye out for you. I take mine up to the Rigdeway now and again. The T130 was my first 650b FS bike, having ridden 29ers for years. Really happy with how playful it is, and I can’t say I’ve lost much, if any, time on my usual loops.

I did this.
Whyte T129 SCR Works ’15 to Whyte T130 RS ’16.
Just fancied a change, and glad I did. Fantastic bike, yet again.
I might even change again to a new Whyte next year.

I always strap everything to the bike. Lots of Velcro strips and imagination.
I manage to attach:
– Pump & multitool to water bottle cage
– Tube, tyre leaver, chainlink & zipties to a space in the frame.
– Gels & bars to any available space on the frame, often with tape to rip them off

I volunteer at a youth club, and it’s unbelievably sad how the kids (11-18) use phones as a status symbol.

Personally, I’d opt for a secondhand iPhone 5 with large storage & a good case. 7/10 kids have smashed screens. Benefit of the iPhone is that it’s tried and tested and that they can all download the same apps. Good secondhand quality falls into budget of the phones listed above.

I’d avoid the none mainstream and stick with the ‘cool’ brands, just to prevent any social friction. Kids that age have enough to think about, without having to justify why their XYZ is better, or the same as, and iPhone. iPhone means they fit in straight away. For the minimal additional cost, I’d say it’s well worth it.

It’s very very sad, and we’re well aware of this, but it appears to be ingrained in our society now.

I did this years ago when I was a poor student.
I ran the BB setup normally for 73mm, then added a 10mm spacer that sat flush with the crank spindle on the OUTSIDE of the BB (so between BB and crank) on the none driveside. I ended up with the same chainline drive side. I can’t say I ever had an issue. Once you get used to the slightly off centre cranks, it’s fine. I couldn’t feel the difference after a few hours.