I’m guessing that’s about 12 questions and 6 assumptions. 😯

Anyway, I’m no expert, but having had a few HRMs, the answer will depend on you really. A cheap standard GPS is great for sticking to zones etc. But the worst ones give unreliable HR readings esp at the start of a session (eg 10bpm – 350 bpm inside a minute).

A GPS one is great for remembering where you’ve been and trying to figure out why you are knackered one week and not the next. Also the HRM side of them seems totally sorted.

I find phone ones frustrating and inaccurate. That may well be just me.

If you dont want to navigate then you dont need an Edge: Forerunners are just fine and actually better for running (smaller).

You got a PC / Mac?

Assuming 3/8″ drive then these are good for £12:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/forge-steel-hex-socket-set-3-8-7-pieces/76372

Its a while ago since mine, but I do remember there are two bleed screws that need to be done in a certain order when filling / topping up (one on the rad and the other on the thermostat housing IIRC) to stop trapped air. Hopefully its something that simple.

I got to do this a process a fair bit as my 528 had intermittent coolant dumps (from the safety valve) – always the day after a long journey or being stuck in traffic. In the end it was diagnosed as a small crack in the cylinder head.

God I’m surprised to see so much love for a Merkur Futur!

I’ve got a small collection of razors over the years and get a new one each Christmas. The only badly made one I ever had was a Futur – the blade wasnt parallel to the bar resulting in a blood bath (a google suggested it wasnt just me). Anyway I might have fixed it myself apart from the awful blade change mechanism. It was sent back under warranty.

Going from a Boots DE (where I started – and I still have it) to a fixed Merkur (or one of the Parker copies if you’re on a budget) is a great move.

Lastly – noone has mentioned flying / airports. You can get the blades confiscated if in hand luggage. Going back to a Gillette 5 blade on holidays isnt the end of the earth – just slimy, massive and expensive.

Well, here’s a left field / out of the box suggestion.

C2W is less attractive than it was. Say your £500 voucher actually costs you £450 over 3 years (incl final payment). Also – importantly – note that you are tied to RRPs and approved suppliers.

I’d guess that you may be able to get a better bike for £450 discounted / from wherever you fancy and most especially second hand. Someone will be alone in a sec to flame my maths, but I’m sure the last time I looked – its in that ballpark.

So? Was it ebay or someone spamming / hacking?

I like the way the chainstay points almost straight into the ground. That gets danger points from me for sure!

Nowt scientific about my answer at all but just my observations: metal ones are noisier. They dont seem to last any longer without issues (bushes/ bearing doofer). I’d stick with boring plastic (usually BBB when needed). I dont know if they come in colours?

skimpy – that’s a bastard right there!

Your photo doesnt show up though. And you link isnt working either.

What part of the Burgh?

I’m in Fife a fair bit too – I’ll keep them peeled. A photo would help though.

I actually have grown to like it (or maybe that’s just ignoring the PITA stuff). I’ve got it to boot to desktop though, and short cuts for the most common stuff on the desktop (which of course negates all their hard work).

I like it because its by far the most stable yet. Noticably faster than 7 at sleeping and booting.

Not one crash in 6 months of proper work (mainly it handles swapping monitors at client sites 100 times better than 7).

I’ve got them – but not the current generation. Daisychaining is “twice” as loud for me.

Are the both charged? Are you using an 3.5mm extension lead or anything?

Does changing which one is first make a differnce?

Well for starters,

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/worth-keeping-an-eye-on-httpwwwhighlandtrailnet

This could be a goal, or possibly a diy option for a good few days. You’ll be on your own mind, but it seems pretty inspirational.

Otherwise: http://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/pages/BB200.html

STW, Bulgaria, Self Storage, Surrey : all rang a bell for some odd reason. Anyway, have a read:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ebay-am-i-being-scammed

Basically it seems ok – bizzare as that may seem. Looks like twoniner is on the money re UK middlemen.

#Edit – obviously be cautious. I’m not involved with either sale so I dont know if its the same chap / setup etc.

We have 3 A3 photo printers for our work. However, everything gets sent to the lab / printers. It’s just a lot cheaper. The Inkjets are for emergency / quick turnaround jobs and the cost we charge reflects that.

jkomo – not something I’ve owned – but if you dont get a definite answer today I’d advise a new thread. “How to replace bearing in a rear Bonty Racelight 20-xx”.

Give as much detail as you can – if wheels came with bike say that, and the year. You’ll get someone browsing.

In the meantime, short-term, they are probably ok to use. Maybe brake rub but you wont damage them if you dont over tighten them.

Oh – a Pint! I’ll have a rummage tomorrow. Of course when pints were £1 bearings were smaller too. 😉

So then we’ll be even.

I’ll email you tomorrow.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/anyone-bought-a-charge-spoon-recently

Looks like the recent ones are different to the winning fornula. But get better with time.

😀

Apparently:

DT Swiss-made rear star ratchet rear hub

What year? Do the hubs have any marking / numbers? Is the play both front and rear btw?

Ok – well dont be laying into them with a big wrench or jumping on the QR or anything.

If you know what hub it is then someone should be able to give advice on replacing them.

Personally I’d say if you like diy and have a half decent socket set and a hammer and some wood you’ll probably be able to diy.

So – mostly – what hub? Or wheelset?

One 3/32″ bearing cause it fell on floor during fork maintenance. New one is 99p, but £2.99 postage!

I’ve have a rummage in the drawer tomorrow – I’m sure I’ve got some that I can send you for £1 posted. I’ll even discount it to the price of a 1st class stamp.

If not:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ball-Bearings-3-32-Chrome-Steel-AISI-52100-Pack-of-15-B2C-B-0060-/261219314847?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3cd1e26c9f

Back on topic:
Bread.
Going one stop on lothian buses is now £1.40. I drive instead.
If Morrisons ever “charge” more than £1 for a shopping trolley I’m off!

give it some beans.

NO.

What hub?

Assuming “sealed bearings” means “cartridge bearings”.

I may be missing something here, but isnt there a possibility of a conversation between some very nice parents in the near future:

“I cant believe we gave Ben out perfectly nice car and he just sold it and still drives around in that overheating tupperware box. No wonder….”

Or have you got their ok to just sell their car and pocket the cash?

Tubes have a size range for the tyres they’re for. Eg 1.6 -2.1. If you’re lucky the current tubes range will cover the new tyres. Or be close-which is probably fine.

Tube size is usually written on them in grey/white. If in doubt, halfords also do 1.6-2.1 tubes (that’ll suit your new tyres) for about £4 and its always a good idea to have a couple spare anyway.

Lastly, smaller tyres typically need more pressure in them than youre used to eg a road bike tyre might be at 100psi, a wide mtb tyre 35, a tractor 5psi.

Narrower is faster / easier but you’ll feel the bumps more. Maybe go for something like a 26 x 1.75. Sort of mid sized.

Pretty much all the tyres mentioned by everyone above are good at avoiding punctures which is important as you ride more. You dont need to buy a particular brand really, but something that says “puncture resistant” or something is a good idea.

These look good for a £13 near slick and apparently are available in stock in all my local stores:
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_953029_langId_-1_categoryId_242553

What size tyres do you have currently? You’ll only need to change the tube if theres a big size difference.

I was just told that cornering in wet weather can be dodgy on fully slick tyres?

I’ve now taken a dislike to your LBS.

Anyway think about / decide how comfy or how fast (easy pedalling) you want as that effects how big / wide a slick you should get.

As a guide, I started with a Schwalbe Big Apple (a big fat comfy slick) which was fine and my wife now uses it. Then Schwalbe Kojaks, then Sport Contacts (gradually smaller and a bit faster and firmer each time).

Other than Halfords the other thing I’ve found that’s pretty reliable time wise is NextDayTyres.co.uk if you’re at home to meet the postie.

Do you have any other local bike shops? TBH – that LBS’s advice sounds a bit OTT for your needs.

You near a Halfords? (if so you can reserve online – even the “web exclusive” tyres and collect the next day – so you should be ok for next week).

BTW – are you going near any mud or off road? If not then slicks are probably slightly better.

Maybe check Ikea? At least you can sit on them (and go for a corridor race) before you buy.

I got a “Markus” after reading good reviews of it. £125, 10 years warranty. Very comfy, weighs a ton though.

I have the same one. It’s almost inaudible at 2NM and gets steadily louder at normal settings. As Marko says, you can still “feel” it even at 2.

Looking at your exploded PDF it seems the same layout and bearing as the XC 11/12.

Some ideas here: I stopped before the big “persuaders” got involved!

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/canyon-bearing-replacement-service-nerve-xc-bearings-needed-anyone-used-it#post-4876025

As mudsoul says it’s an easyish fix if you’re a half competent diyer.

It’s also really a good idea to learn to drop the lowers on these (basically a mini-service: just a clean, oil and foam ring stuff).

So I’d say get those lowers off and see if there’s anything else amiss.

1: Let all the air out of the neg then the pos. Jump / press on the bars: you’ll get full travel with a moderate amount of pressure.

2: Normal.

There is a “common” issue when damping fluid leaks past the lower inner damper seal into the lowers. This stops the fork getting full travel (hydro lock).

As a diasnosis: if you unbolt the damper side bottom bolt a few turns (not totally unscrew it), then tap it upwards with a rubber mallet, you may see the tell tale blue fluid leaking out (or any colour other than that from the air side valve).

Any more Q’s just let us know.

tv aerial points in all bedrooms and lounge

I believe means you need an amplifier / splitter near the aerial. This needs power, and they do fail / die.

I’m no expert but in my mums house the box – like this one – failed.
http://www.screwfix.com/p/labgear-ca141-s-compact-aerial-amplifier-single-input-4-outputs/54224

New one sorted it.

Crikey! And tons in stock everywhere near me!

Thanks! Hopefully it includes cleats. I’m sure it will.

Ah – Ok. I’ve learnt something else today. I hope you dont think I was wasting your time.

sc-xc I’ll admit to being a bit confused, or maybe either of us has the wrong end of the stick?

At the end of a PCP (well usually 6 months before) the dealer will try to get you to renew the car / PCP (a new car for another X years). If you say yes – you get a new car (usually for the same / similar PM), No: then they collect the car and the payments stop. Or you make the balloon payment and own the car.

Interestingly though, at that 6 month before point, you get a “statement” from the finance company, bring that letter around another manufacturer / dealer and it’s pretty much transferrable (assuming the value is > min future value).

My missuses gets £X PM for a car (has to have X seats, less than 3 years old, yada….) and the best deal is always changing manufacturer.

Lastly however, none of these is the cheapest way of driving about, but circumstances and all that….

At full tilt – it’s ok? On the motorway / accelerating hard? If it is ok I doubt it’s fuel related (you havent put diesel in there?).

I’m guessing you couldnt borrow an ODB2 reader from someone you know? Some pending failures dont always light up the engine management light but do register.

BTW – I hadnt in anyway imagined it would be an auto – is it exactly the same in neutral as “D” when idling?

BTW 2 – I thought I had a daft user name!

Noted – my mistake. For most folk though there’s not a big difference between PCH and PCP until it come to buy back option. So are you saying you’ll definitely be buying it at the end of the term? Or have I got the totally wrong end of the stick?

I was looking at that monthly (as we buy one new nice car on PCP every few years) and I was thinking there’s something major wrong there.

But I hadnt looked up the list price. Crikey. My advice – got to different garages. And be flexible.

Could be lots of things. Why do you suspect fuel filter?

pulse slightly on idle

Likes its vibrating, or is it temporarily cutting out, or is it constantly increasing and decreasing the engine speed when at idle?

Same when warm and cold? In the dry and damp? When up to speed it’s fine?

struggles on hill starts with slight hesitation

Can you elaborate a bit please.

I’d guess 10p of someone elses money that its either a sensor: lambda / air flow, or coils.