Another user of MW5/501 here, I’d say they are good for winter and damp weather, but definitely not utterly water-tight if you’re stomping about in puddles and monsoons a lot.

In my head there’s a difference between a ‘winter boot‘ (for cold conditions) and a ‘waterproof  winter boot‘ (for cold, wet conditions) personally I am happy enough with more of a cold weather boot, if it’s utterly pissing it down I’m probably more inclined to stay in these days rather than try fully to seal my feet.

Well Reading has had the joy of M4 traffic being diverted through and around it recently. The whole thing went extremely smoothly no issues*

(*It did not).

Isn’t this the bell that Knog financed the initial manufacturing of via a Kickstarter campaign (despite being an established and solvent business at the time)?

Never owned a gillet, do you not just end up with cold arms? Or is the advantage that they are packable so you can take it just in case/remove after warming up?

As above, keeps your core warm, but also (for me) allows you to tweak just how warm you are, yes a Gilet is easier to remove and pack if you’re boiling, you can also open the zip and take off arm warmers (arm warmers are a default bit of kit to go with a Gilet IMO) and stuff them in the back pocket to manage your temperature (goldilocks stuff I’m sure). You can also put an otherwise useless thin, packable ‘Shell’ jacket over the top of a Gilet if your really cold and/or dealing with heavier rain, where I often find most jackets a bit “all or nothing”; either boil in the bag or thin and useless in cold weather. Gilets are just a more discretely adaptable bit of clothing.

My stupid question for anyone who has the Izoard already, it states In the description:

“Reversible Design: Features a warmth-reflecting Mylar inner and a water-resistant DWR-coated outer shell.”

Does that mean the Gilet offers a bit less warmth if reversed i.e. with the Mylar layer on the outside? or am I being a bit dim? Obviously if it’s showery you want the DWR layer out, but then how waterproof is the Mylar if you happen to run it shiny side out on a wet day? I’m wondering what the point of making it reversible really is to some extent…

Well I’ve just ordered an Izoard Insulated in ‘L’ on a bit of a bit of a whim :)

I think Large will fit me right but that is the only thing I find with Galibier, that you really need to double check their sizing charts for each item, they’re not as they’re always consistent (IME).

I reckon the AI is fine with shape recognition now, it’s moved onto psychology and manipulation.

The only reason you have to do those captcha screens is so it can win a bet with itself having predicted just how many pointless tasks it can get the apes that made it to carry out…

I do love how this thread is already choc full of discussions on Tax savings and different rate brackets, and incentives for people earning over £100k, deftly missing the point.

I’ve said it before, C2W in it’s various forms just doesn’t benefit those who it should, and is just another salary sacrifice wheeze for the middle-upper classes. Reform is long overdue.

TBH I don’t really care if Middle managers get to save a few hundred quid on a £10k weekend toy or not, so long as people on lower incomes are helped to access decent, affordable bikes (and despite what some of you seem to think you can still buy a decent bike for under £1k).

£257, and my Moral Quandary would be solved, Ta I shall consider that option…

I just bunged in the details of our 16 year old Shitbox with less than 3 weeks MOT into the WBAC site, came back with a ~£500 quote (likely to tumble once they actually look at the thing), the quote came back covered in Cinch logos, so it’s reasonably clear which arm of the “used car-tel” you’re dealing with…

My biggest concern at present is that it’s utterly shagged, and would probably cost a fortune to get through it’s MOT, I’m not sure, morally, I can pass it on to a private buyer at the same time most businesses will turn their noses up at it (probably quite rightly). I just want it gone before the end of the month TBH, there is a Scrappy local to my office, I’d just have to take a bike and ride home after dropping it I suppose… could be an option.

This all depends in the the lease I’ve just put in for arriving in time.

I also have to say that I literally had no idea at all that this had any sort of hidden meaning.

I did, and it’s language specifically chosen as a device to minimise/trivialise incitement. If you can’t appreciate that, then I have to wonder what else flies over your head…

If one googles ‘hurty words’ the top link is…..this thread.

To me that rather indicates if it is a trope or a dog whistle, it’s pretty niche and not too well used. It’s past me by and I’d describe myself and waaaay more over-read on current affairs than the average bear.

Or that Google is just tailoring your search results by the sites you spend time on? (that is how the interwebs works now)

Scroll past the first hit on page 1:

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/islamophobia-just-hurty-words-says-mayoral-candidate-6gr96j95s

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/susan-hall-labour-london-katie-hopkins-london-assembly-b1148481.html

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/anneliese-dodds-labour-london-katie-hopkins-london-assembly-b2520592.html

Susan Hall is of course great company for users of the phrase to find themselves in I’m sure.

That said the PX shoes are a bargain compared to the MW7 (I have two pairs of MW7’s).

Well they’re cheaper than the MW7, They can only really be a bargain if they’re on par with an MW7 comfort, insulation and water resistance wise, Which I can’t believe they are TBH.

I still reckon the fairer comparison would be with the MW5 (which I happen to have) those are available for only marginally more spend, like I said for £50 (maybe £60?) I’d consider the gamble for a second pair of winter boots, but I’ll let someone else risk £100 to find out for sure.

Anyone with any idea why HMRC are now asking for this?

For me it was child benefit and checking I wasn’t paid over the £50k threshold in years gone by.

Zips eh? On a product you expect users to get wet and muddy… Bold choice.

They do at least have the pixie boot look down, assuming that’s what people are after.

I’d maybe give them a whirl if they were =<£50 as a back up pair for when I (inevitably) want to go for a ride and it’s cold but I’ve not dried out my MW5s, but otherwise they’re a bit steep for what they are IMO

Pour some boiling water in the bottom and press on a flat surface for a bit?

Or try a hair drier?

Done both, hired a bike from Free motion on either island (road bikes).

Plusses and minuses to each island, winching up through the clouds to pop out in the volcano park on top of Tiede was a special memory with some mates, GC seemed quieter to me, less traffic about and suited some solo rides, with some fun descending, and suited riding when away with the family.

Not sure which one I would do now TBH, but I don’t think you can go wrong with either.

And your excuse?

I’m a tubby, middle-class bloke who goes out in public wearing Lycra sometimes?

Had you stated just facts and not assumptions,and not given the driver the Five finger shuffle then I would have been 100,% on your side. I have learnt over the years that it’s not wise to do anything to escalate a situation where you are incredibly vulnerable.

Indeed, but I had already acknowledged that the 5 knuckle shuffle gesture and my opening remarks wer unwise on my part further up the page. Would that I was as sage as you, internet stranger in the heat of the moment, so how right do you want me to tell you you are?

At the same time should we all be keeping our heads down and cowering every time a ‘Big Man‘ starts throwing their weight (and/or vehicle) about? Is that the society we now live in?

I still think his response was disproportionate,.The incident hints at deeper issues, thus I hold my assumptions that he is a chemically augmented throbber with a short fuse was fair.

You lost me with the coked up drug dealing wife beating assumptions

TBF I did (briefly) interacted with the guy, which you didn’t.

While I doubtless have all sorts of bias and prejudices, if the way he behaves towards total strangers over a minor disagreement regarding road safety is anything to go by, my assumptions probably aren’t that wild…

Feel free to defend the chap though if you have some sort of insights we are missing…

Another one with a big roll of Tesa to get through here. Does the job, didn’t cost a lot.

I had to have an auto as its all the wife can drive and set your self a budget and get the best u can for that money…. plenty of good deals around

The Boss doesn’t want to drive it as she’s convinced she’ll scratch it (also an auto license holder), so I’m open to manuals, but have gotten used to driving an auto now.

The most likely scenario now is an Estate on Lease and a small, used, leccy car (Leaf, Zoe, etc) in the future for er’ indoors who only does local driving, so lost range is less of a worry.

Prep like you’re disposing of a body put down a plastic sheet or newspapers, lots of bin bags for the left over material, old clothes or Aprons.

Draw what you want to do on first in sharpie, so you have something to follow.

Take the top off first and scoop out seeds and stuff before you carve

Serrated blade on my SAK does a better job than a really sharp knife (which is more likely to cut your now slippery pumpkin pulp covered fingers).

There’s no point if you don’t put a couple of tealights inside.

Make sure you dispose of them within 24 hrs, they will start to rot fast (if you’re smart and have the energy you’ll clean them off as soon as the kids go to bed, chop down into chunks and freeze to use in soups later).

Archery is dreadful.

Dubious geography.

Have you not seem Predator?

To much CGI.

Welcome to the 2000s

If his chosen profession is as you suspect,

Oh I’ve been projecting all sorts of ideas onto him. I mean who buys an E-class, but doesn’t buy the estate version? Airport shuttle drivers perhaps, but every one of those I’ve met seem incredibly placid and calm, they just waft to and from Heathrow all day with CEOs in the back.

I think part of the reason he was so angry is because he bought the wrong drug dealer Merc, he should have gotten black CLA with illegal window tints… Like my mate Tim (who works in finance).

The dude was just unhinged, the first thing I foolishly said before I got a good look at him was “did you want a **** medal?” I re-evaluated when I saw the red face, bloodshot eyes, cranked neck muscles and clearly uncontrollable rage at having had his god-like driving questioned. He was close to getting out, and I knew I was buggered if he did. Hence telling him to get on with his day, it seemed to defuse it enough for him to screach off having proven he is the big man…

I suppose that’s the problem with making gestures at dangerously driven Mercs, they are cars beloved by Grandads, Drug dealers and all points in between.

I’m not so foolish as to think I could ever win at fisticuffs with that type of bloke (or anyone really) I’m not a fighter. Plus I’d just ridden 40 odd miles in the rain.

I’ve only ever encountered two proper road rage sufferers, both were Mercedes drivers, just saying.

I’ve decided to give up on gestures and having a word.

So have I generally, it was, by my previous standards, a pretty tame response to the move he made and I was almost home, probably the worst time to get in an altercation… But still they keep acting like this. I think he might just have been angry already and I was the lycra clad prick that crossed his path today…

Still it’s done with now, nobody actually came to any harm.

This did mean for me on my lease car insurance policy I was not insured to drive another car unless I was a named driver on its policy.

Shouldn’t affect company (pool) and/or work hire vehicles though should it? I’m covered by the company policy for all of those by default.

Current car is probably destined for the scrappy, so I’ll be cancelling that policy and taking out a fresh one for the lease I think.

Dare I say it, but it’s “probably” better than the original!

I reckon it comes a very close second. The premise is a good one, doesn’t indulge in too much ‘fan service’ manages to occupy the same universe as the original while still being it’s own film rather than a simple retread.

Certainly better than all the other sequels (by a significant margin). Deserved a Cinema release, probably more so than Alien Romulus ( the positive reception for Prey was apparently why Romulus got a cinema release in fact).

Really not sure if they should do a sequel though (fan made pretend trailers aside), lightning seldom strikes twice, and as a standalone film Prey really worked, seems a shame to ruin it with a potentially less good follow up.

Well I’ve been browsing the available options and have a couple of candidates, how do people find the whole process of getting insurance for Leased cars?

I’ve been doing my best to bang details into comparison sites, but of course this is theoretical until I’ve actually ordered something and know it’s details, reg, etc.

Frame looks lovely OP,  don’t know if that’s your mate’s actual build but I think it’s just the seat position and that long stem that make it look slightly odd, it’s like it’s configured to punish a 5’9″ bloke with unwarranted short man syndrome, for not being taller…

You know who to blame for this situation and it wears a suit not a uniform.

I reckon it’s more like a bit from column ‘A’ a bit from column ‘B’ really. Politicians and police are as fallible as any other Humans and as prone to taking their queues from “public opinions” which in turn are generally influenced by whatever is published in the media. Which of course gets us back to the beginning of the thread. Media narratives, leading public perceptions and lazy journalism, lacking in detail and nuance.

My trust of the Police’s ability to correctly and proportionately act in a given situation is about on par with my estimation of a politician’s capacity to put the public good ahead of their own advancement… You can’t assume the worst of them all, but the bad apples aren’t as rare as they should be.

Agreed that police resources are as lacking as many other public services, and choices have to be made, but it feels like road safety has been on the back burner for a solid couple of decades now…

TBH riding on the pavement is a little bit more nuanced than people seem to think (and seems to have got more draconian as times moved on.)

Hmmm, I think people cycle on pavements as much as they ever did, the difference now is perhaps that we have electrically powered personal vehicles operating well outside of the rules that exist to regulate them.

I have actually been stopped by the police for riding a bicycle on the pavement, as a teenager, it would have been circa 1996/97ish, waiting at a crossing on a stretch of tree lined ‘pavement’ (the same width as a road) in the not very busy town I grew up in. It was clearly a slow day, and the cops parked their car across the crossing/junction to bollocks me and demand a name and address (that they didn’t actually write down). It’s always stuck with me as an event because even to teenage dickhead me, they were so clearly off the deep end stopping a kid who was doing no harm, and using a crossing/pavement rather than just darting across the road.

Fast forward to now though and I would kind of like some judgement exercised in that same location, bicycles IMO still OK, surron or privately owned e-scooter, I think I would want them to stop. You might consider that a double standard (perhaps it is) but the potential for harm from various types of twist ‘n’ go ‘personal E-Transport‘ to pedestrians is greater (IMO)…

To me the police have demonstrated that they can be zealous (often over) in their application of all kinds of laws they already have, when it suits them. But right now, I get the feeling that they either don’t care or are so bewildered by recent changes in available technologies and products that they aren’t even bothering…

link forwarded to the Boss, not sure if she’ll understand but it’s an easy gift.

We dont need new laws for them. We just need the existing ones enforcing.

Very much ^^this^^. more laws/rules will change nothing, the tools to address the current issues already exist, they are simply not being used…

Must be nice to be so perfect and in the only demographic that doesn’t warrant name calling, stereotyping or being sneered at in some way or another. Well done you. You must be so pleased with yourself.

It is honestly Fantastic being me, feel free to bask in the glow of my interweb witterings ;)

If I tell someone that I got there by “bike” they’d have no clue if that was by pedal or motor, unless I was suitably attired or expanded to bicycle or motorbike.

^this^ it’s not uncommon for people to need to clarify what I mean by “bike” when just chatting. A ‘bike‘ is a form of transport with two wheels, all the subsets and power sources are just trivia to the majority of people who generally get about in cars or maybe by bus or foot sometimes…

The point I was making before (lost in the perceived snark I think) was that the ‘terminological battle’ is already lost (as evidenced by the repeated mis-labelling of E-motos in various news sources), meaning public opinion has also now turned against anything described as an “E-bike” and their users.

Perhaps we should just start calling them ‘Bicycles’ again and not mention the leccy assistance bit unless specifically asked?

Obsessing about terminology like this is pointless…

I kind of is now yeah, the narrative is pretty much established. Those with “Domain knowledge” can (and do) get wound up, but to most normal people it’s irrelevant, a two wheeled vehicle with a leccy motor is an “E-bike” and those are all used to kill baby robins, mow down Grannies and transport smack around deprived housing estates FACT!

Just get used to being the bad guys :)

Hate to say I told you so (clearly a smug lie), but some of us ‘anti’ types did try to warn everyone with a Lob-on for motors on bicycles, that the muggles would conflate e-bikes and e-motos several years ago.

TBH the sort of nuance you want from the press when writing about these things just ain’t there, and there’s no appetite for it either.

Like it or not the great unwashed will pretty soon see no difference between scrotes wheelying their Surrons into toddlers faces, Gig economy slaves risking life and limb on a modified BSO and Tubby IT managers on their £10k E-go chariots (plus us hold outs on unassisted bicycles too probably).

The lazily written narrative has been established now, good luck correcting the record with every national and regional rag/website/broadcaster…

@Gotama whereabouts did you buy the Sword group from?

OK Cards on the table this discussion feels very prescient for me;

My Mum had the early signs of dementia in about 2022, and on the Bank holiday Monday following the Coronation last year, she suffered a massive stroke that has ultimately paralysed her right side, and basically robbed her of the ability to speak. This is very much the way her Mum (my Grandmother) went and her older sister (My Aunt) was already in a similar situation. We honestly don’t know ‘how much‘ of my Mum is there anymore. The gestures and facial expressions are familiar, the jabbered noises have the sort of cadence and intonation of her speech (and she could bloody talk), but then she goes quiet and often wakes up seemingly confused, she really does not like the level of quite intrusive care she requires now, where people she doesn’t know have to get up close and intimate with her.

Given 20/20 hindsight, had the option to say what she wanted ahead of time existed before I think she might have asked not to be given the treatment that saved her life, but effectively put her in this situation. It was her greatest fear having seen her own mother go through it. Of course there was no legal mechanism for her to express such a wish, and now any future laws with appropriate safeguards would probably rule that her capacity could not be sufficiently determined, for her to make such a request now. This debate has come too late for my Mum, but perhaps not me and my siblings. She was otherwise very healthy at the time of having the stroke and could easily live another decade, all the time with declining physical and cognitive capacity, trapped by an inability to communicate, basically a living Hell for the person my Mum is (was).

At the same time, My Mother in Law is sat downstairs right now as I type this, having lived (with us) through about 7 years of respiratory decline and associated Heart issues from COPD, and a few weeks ago finally had a chuffing great tumour that was impinging on her oesophagus diagnosed. She completed a course of Palliative Radiotherapy on Monday, intended to shrink is and give some limited relief. We are very much in the “Quality of Death” phase with her, she is lucid, able to communicate, and taking the opportunities now to spend time with her Daughter and Grandchildren, she needs oxygen 24/7, can’t walk more than a handful of steps, (but still refuses to let anyone else do the bloody washing). She’s hard as nails, but I can foresee a time, not too far from now, where the loss of capability and physical discomfort might be more than she could tolerate, and she might want things to be over at that point.

Giving people the right to express their desires and describe the circumstances (and exclusions) for their own dignified death is something a Civilised society should grapple with and facilitate where it can. We sit at a point in time where several centuries of medical science have extended life expectancies hugely, but we still seem very squeamish about discussing quality of life for people as they approach the end.

It’s easy to jump directly to imagining the potential for abuses, but what about the benefits for (many) people who will otherwise be forced to suffer through a prolonged, uncomfortable end to their lives without the dignity they would have chosen?

We won’t all get to just wake up one morning, Dead without any prior suffering. I for one have been forced by circumstance to think about what sort of end to my life I would accept, and what I wouldn’t (and I’m not yet 50).

Edit: sorry for the Ramble – TLDR I have relatives at the end of their lives potentially about to face a prolonged death.

I’m kind of against the idea. Makes it too easy to slip in other laws or changes to it once its on the books.

I do feel like this is where lots of people’s minds immediately go, directly to the worst case scenarios and the hundreds of would be Harold Shipman’s apparently waiting in the wings.

Personally I see the debate as more about individual’s rights to quality of life, and by extension ‘quality of death’ and rather than shut it down with fears about abuse by malevolent medical professionals, the debate should be about how to safeguard a right for vulnerable people in the most difficult situations, yes preventing abuse, but also to allow people to die with dignity rather than having their lifes prolonged past the point that they would choose.

I’ve got an old Garmin Dongle and a Lifeline Dongle, I found the old Garmin one picked up drivers and worked fuss free.

Worth noting also that I put both a BT and a ANT+ dongles on 2m long USB cables so they are physically closer to the devices (Trainer/cadence sensor/HRM), apparently you can only have one Bluetooth device connected, but lots of ANT+ broadcasting devices.

ANT+ unfortunately being more patchy, and potentially overlapping with certain Wifi frequencies. I prefer to have the power from my trainer on that ‘reserved’ BT connection as I can tolerate potentially patchy coverage from other sensors, but power dropping out really fudges a Zwift session…

I’ve just been browsing Lease Loco again for the first time since lockdown, there are some good options, but the better ones just don’t quite work for us, I mean who wans a new shiny car to only drive 5k miles a year and slaps down a full 12 months worth of lease up front?

I can see why there’s so many 73/74 plate small to mid-sized SUVs on the roads again now too, I think we could well end up popping for something like that TBH.

Tiny scissors for a vasectomy?