IRD Quad QB55 from SJS, available in 107 (and not much else at the mo!)

Good quality at reasonable price; I’ve only put a few thousand miles on mine and a lot of those on Zwift, but the fit and feel of it gave me good tingles for longevity

I use these BBBs. They’re fine and not silly money. (The Lidl ones are much cheaper, mind!)

I just bought an ex corporate small pc and shoved a slim gtx1060 or something in it. Runs swift at high settings.

Same here; refurbished PC from ebuyer (by T1A – it was spotless) with a small SSD in for £130-ish and a 2nd hand graphics card from ebay for another £30 and it runs smoothly on med/high – I can’t remember which, but it’s fine. (tbf, it’s the “smooth” bit I was after; the graphics are so cartoony that the actual detail level doesn’t matter so much to me; even on the lowest, there’s enough immersion to keep me riding.)

I wouldn’t touch Scarpa again after I dug deep into the budget and bought a pair which started leaking a few months later. Quite a row with Cotswolds to get them refunded. Unfunnily enough, the first review on Cotswold’s website is “these boots leaked”.

I’ve had countless pairs of (Gore-tex) Salomons though, and the soles wear down over a couple of years of daily use, but not one pair has ever leaked.

The Turtle Wax restorer from halfords worked as just well as the more expensive ones. I do have a soft pad for my drill already though, which does make it quicker and easier than rubbing by hand.

For a similar usage case, I’ve recently bought a Foldylock.

My bike’s not been stolen yet, but early days…

I read an article once. They presented a car, the same car each time, in various states of cleanliness to various buyers. Very clean glass gave the biggest improvement in price.

I can’t remember if it included polishing the lights, but as Pierre says above, nice clear lights make a car look much better overall, too, IMO.

In fact, I polished up the lights on my daughter’s old Corolla a few weeks ago, just because they were annoying me every time I walked past it!

Micro-usb, but the https://www.ravemen.com/CR/CR1000.html can be mounted under an out-front mount, just needs the front unscrewing and the lens turning the other way up so you get the correct beam pattern.

Slightly crap video where I try and operate the light, my phone and my bike (down a pitch black lane) at the same time with one less hand than would be the real minimum for that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdkLu_bdf6Q

Stationary test here: https://youtube.com/shorts/UhBy6wS9RJc

£30 hybrid off Gumtree (ok, I got lucky finding a really pretty tidy bike for that price); £600-odd electric rear hub kit from Whoosh bikes (which I had already fitted to my old audax bike, but it wasn’t gelling with me for commuting for some reason); rack/panniers/lights etc I had already. Added a new pair of Marathons and some full length SKS guards to suit and good to go :)

Peter F Hamilton (will build your biceps – he writes BIG books!)

Richard Morgan (Altered Carbon etc now on Netflix)

Alistair Reynolds

Also worth reading all the Iain Banks (no M) books too, just in case you haven’t. Not SF but still very, very good.

Iain M is the best, though ;)

Daughter is on her 2nd year of insurance – £1300 dropped to £650. That’s on a bashed up old Corolla 1.6 automatic. But most small hatchbacks were coming out similar prices. If the insurance is that bad, might actually make financial sense to  move to a cheaper postcode?! ;)

However, one thing to consider… we avoided a black box, which added about £100 to the cost. Seen too many stories of the box having a “moment”, eg, deciding you’re speeding in a 30 limit, when you’re actually on the DCway next to it at 70… and the companies usually reserve the right to cancel your insurance immediately if they see any driving they don’t approve of. Not to mention I might drive the car very differently to her! We decided a little extra pain on premiums for a couple of years was better than having to answer “have you ever had insurance cancelled?” with a “yes”.

Folding bike would be high on my list.

Failing that, the £500 would go roughly £200 main lock, £100 secondary lock for front wheel, £200 tops bike.

Actually, thinking about it, a folder and the £200 lock would be best.

I’m another one who has a problem with the piercing of skin. I can watch operations… but I hate the bit where they slice the skin open. I like knives, really sharp knives, but that’s because for them generally any skin piercing means an accident… I hate hypodermic needles as their entire reason for existing is to pierce skin. I don’t like having any sort of jabs/bloods, but can stand it so long as I don’t watch.

Being a pharmacist, however, we now have to give vaccinations to people, so I went to hypnotherapy to help me be able to do it… I’m not keen even handling needles due to the reasons above. Those sessions are where I pinned down (so to speak) exactly why I don’t like them. I’d have to say the hypno did work – jabbing people is never going to be my favourite thing, but I can do it now.

In the meantime, OP: go buy some Emla cream for her which completely numbs the area. Apply under an occlusive dressing – cling film works well! Other numbing creams are available, but that’s the most popular, and what we used for our daughter.

Anyone recommend a servo for the RB10 rtr?
Savox 1285 looks good, but £55.

I’ve got an SV-1270 in the front of my Wraith. It’s got stupid amounts of power, and sounds like it’s spitting angry sparks even at rest.
I love it.

I managed to get a pint glass over it and deposited it outside, no doubt for Nelson to finish the job

You have to not hesitate, but just pick ’em up by the scruff of the neck and carry them off to the nearest wild place.

Rats, OTOH, get lead poisoning delivered at 4.8ftlb (I think it was last time I chronied my old Meteor)

I had a couple of these: Wild Thang : back in the day. Seems they’re “vintage” now!
A bit of Googling suggests they were not great kites and quite hard to fly, but I guess I must have been very talented back then (or just didn’t know any better) and blessed with a reliable strong on-shore wind, ‘cos I loved mine. (Although I do have some sympathy with the “it’ll just flip and nose dive if you don’t launch it hard enough” comment!)

Red Top fly catchers work really, really, well… but they do stink of rotting stuff, so they need to be hung far away from where you are.

I have more trouble with them inside the house; this year I’ve bitten the bullet and bought a chain curtain for the back door and it seems to be working well, we’ve only had a couple of flies in the last 2 weeks rather than 3/4/5 at any given moment.

I’m using my old Salomon gore-tex hiking trainers – the heels are too worn down for walking serious miles. However, they don’t slip on the pegs, keep my feet quite dry and are really comfy off the bike too, so they’ve had a new lease of life :)

Another west Wales here, we’ve been really enjoying and commenting on it on our dog walks… especially the pink gradually coming through so strongly

how much do your current wheels actually weigh?

Dunno, to be honest. Doesn’t seem like anyone who’s reviewed it have weighed them, either. I’d assumed they would be relatively heavy, but it seems like these rims build into reasonably light wheels.

I’m definitely getting the feeling that “wait til they break” is likely the best option – I don’t think I spend enough time on the flat to make aero worthwhile (less than a quarter of today’s ride, according to Elevate; less than 9% if you say within +/- 0.5% grade) and sounds like adding lightness won’t be cheap.

Budget could be several hundred pounds… Merlin have a good few wheelsets nicely reduced, which is what set me off wondering… but the whole bike was only £1500, so I don’t want to go silly.

Another commuter-ed up 90’s MTB/hybrid.

Bike £30
Marathons £30
Mudguards £22
Lights (inc dynamo), rack, grips… and cheeky ebike conversion kit – model’s own ;)

Galibier is my first stop for any bike clothing…

The VentUltra jacket is marketed as a windproof, but I’ve found it perfectly good at keeping me dry enough as well through showers. Packs down into a jersey pocket; probably half a pocket if you wanted to shove something else in.

WE’ve just been ghosted by the company who were due to due our roof and render. Supposed to start at the end of March. £40k’s worth and we’re happy to pay for a decent job without any corners cut. “Got a lot of work on” has changed to “we’ve got to wait for the right weather” which, given we live in Wales and (a) it’s been the longest stretch of nice weather ever for the last couple of months (b) otherwise, always raining… if they’ve been waiting for nice weather to do jobs, then they would never have worked before!
Several visits, brought us example slates etc…
…however I did point out to my better half, all the avoidance started after they came to talk the project through with an architect friend of ours who wanted to make sure they had a clue for us, so while he gave good feedback on them, maybe they didn’t want the job to be looked at by someone vaguely competent, in which case we may actually have dodged a £40k bullet.

Anyone know an experienced and reliable roofer Swansea/Carmarthen way? ;)

Get a Limbo or Seal-tight for showering/bathing (Seal-tight are better, but you need someone else to put it on for you)

One Finger Death Punch is a good one handed game; as is Weird Worlds:Return to Infinite Space which I’ve played on and off for years, even though I know every wrinkle of it.

48.something mph, going down the long hill I live at the top of. I normally come down pushing 40mph, this day there was a fair tailwind and I was practicing my MTB position on my road bike (so probably acting even more like a sail than usual)… didn’t realise the speed until I looked at Strava later, was annoyed because if I’d I’ve known at the time, I’d have pedalled a bit to try for 50!

I spend far more of my life grinding back up it at 6/7/8mph to get home though!

Felt a bit bad while doing the oath but couldn’t quite bring myself to let the local leader know I’m an atheist and a republican. Guess that doesn’t really matter though.

There’s a version of the promise for atheists these days, so you could have said.

As for “do my duty to … the King”, well your duty can be whatever you feel your duty is. Same to God, really… I’ve always felt that as he doesn’t exist, my duty to him is quite limited ;)

I’ll just leave this here :)

If you really want a Dremel-type thing, I asked this question a few months back and got pointed at Lidl’s version. It’s pretty decent, much better than my old no-name corded Dremel clone, and was cheap as chips compared to a “real” Dremel.

But as said, it won’t do any of the jobs you’ve listed, I’m afraid.

Lidl’s multitool works perfectly well, too, I’ve found ;)

@clubby – I still “cannot rate posts”, so I’ll just say cheers :)

Quick question:

are there any better places to sell an old Tamiya Manta Ray (thoroughly used and modded) than  ebay? It’s got sentimental value, but never goes out to play as realistically I’ll always take my Axial Wraith instead, so the Manta might as well get moved on.

I use it, mainly as a record/diary… it also helped me notice that I was slipping into a depression over several months as my activities got fewer and fewer; sounds silly maybe, but without that record I don’t think I would have taken as much notice so quickly.

I follow a small number of people I know personally, most of whom live well away from me, so it’s nice to see them out and active.

I did try the paid version a while back when I had 2 months free; the only bit I really miss is matched rides – just to see how I’m doing on my various regular routes. But I certainly don’t miss it enough to pay for it! (And I know the answer is I’m slower and less fit – various mental/physical health issues last year, an operation at the start of this year, and doing a Masters course March to Sept this year while also working 5.5 day weeks, are all conspiring to keep me off the bike.)

Vittoria Barzos are suiting me for up to blue stoney/forest trails. Like you, I found the Maxxis pair it came with to be far too much tyre for my needs. The Barzos were very reasonably priced, too.

L’occitane eau des baux

One of the few that seems to still smell of anything at all 10 minutes after I put it on. Clean and simple.
Apparently:
Top notes: Pink pepper, Cardamom
Middle notes: Cypress, Incense
Base notes: Vanilla, Tonka bean

PS: ever been told off (probably by a woman) for spraying perfume and then sniffing it immediately?
Saying “I know, I’m just catching the top notes” will gain you a (respectfully?) raised eyebrow and some peace and quiet ;)

Currently in the same boat.

Trying to buy a small-ish (VW Golf etc) automatic for under £3K is proving to be an absolute ballache. My budget is limited due to being a student and I start community based placement in 3 weeks.

Where I live they tend to get snapped up and sold on again with a day for twice the original sale price, most of them don’t even get a wash. Almost all of the local garages are way out of my price range or only have larger cars.

Need to be prepared to travel, and have all your ducks in a row for buying. Worth looking older but kept tidy/garaged; Cat N so cheaper; pre-dented but old enough it’d be a write-off if repaired (this one is where we picked up my daughter’s Toyota Corolla 1.6 auto, 2005, £1400. really nice car to drive, tbh. Bashed/scraped all down one side but it’s her first car and she’s added a couple herself since ;) ). I’d mainly aim at private sales… people offered £250 part-ex knowing they could get a grand by selling it themselves.

Used car prices are still stupid high at the moment, so first thing: good luck! Especially the bit about finding a car dealer with morals… Ten year old cars can be brilliant or totally clapped out. It also sounds like your budget will be in the Danger Zone – if something major breaks, the car cost too much to throw away and you need to spend ££££ getting it fixed; but also both not new enough to have a manufacturer warranty, and old enough that that major breakage is getting rather more likely. Not saying don’t buy in this zone, but you may find yourself spannering anyway. 10 year old cars will certainly need some maintenance, lots of bits will be heading towards the end of their design life. Quite likely there’s been some deferred maintenance, too… check for belt changes, transmission oil changes, tired suspension, etc etc.

Look at finance before you start – your bank will likely lend cheaper than garages; or there are specialist companies like Zuto around. If you have your finance in place before you start, there’s no need to write off private sellers… some bargains around, often people who have been low-balled on part exchange offers seeing if they can make a little more, or (in my case) just shift it on at that sort of price so someone else gets a good deal instead of giving more profit to the dealer (tho they have to live, too…).

Read Parkers for the pros, Google “problem with xxxx” for both the dealer and the car models you’re looking at for the cons. Honest John has same fairly balanced reviews and lists of recalls etc.

On the catualcar choice: Yetis have very small boots; I don’t fit in a Cactus but I do think they’re spot on for a family sized car; I ended up with a Skoda Rapid Spaceback which I would recommend you look at as it sounds like your needs are similar to mine. However, to show you how prices are at the moment: I bought the Rapid about 3.5 years ago, and it was about 3.5 years old then. It was on 17k miles and I paid £8,500. So now it’s 7 years old, just gone over 50k miles and looking at Autotrader, I’d still need to pay £8k to replace it with another 7 year old 50k mile car!

Also worth considering as a workhorse is a much larger car… they tend to be cheaper as they’re more expensive to run and so fewer people want them; but often the increase in costs just isn’t that big. I’ve had a couple of A6 Avants in my time and they make excellent workhorses/vans that are also really very nice cars with the rear seats back up; I’ve got Citroen C5 estates pencilled in as the biggest bargain around at the moment – there’s plenty of them, the more recent version looks good inside and out, most are auto which suits your brief (I’ve given up caring one way or the other), no-one seems to be aware of them… shame most are diesel, but that may suit you if you do big miles.

Be aware that children that age have no reserves or any ability to plod on at a reduced rate like a grown up usually can. It’s all or nothing. Make sure you’ve got plenty of sugar to put in them – sweets, cola, etc – as that quickly restores the “all” part.

I’m surprised no-one’s mentioned this already, but…

…pretty much everything Led Zepplin sung! :)

Led Astray

A collection of the source material, well worth listening to.
When The Levee Breaks is my favourite song on IV; it’s my favourite on this album too but for very different reasons. You can hear the resignation and worry in the vocal – losing the very little you do own to a flood was clearly a very real prospect.

No finance charge for me last year. £1500 bike for approx £850. And I opted to pay it all out of one month’s salary and just use my savings to make up the difference in my current account… I’d just have used £1500 from my to pay for if I was buying it the normal way, so what’s the difference? And, as it happened, I put my notice in just after, so that ended up saving me a bunch of hassle there. IIRC, there was a tiny extra charge (£10-20?) for keeping it in 5/6/7 years time.

It was never going to be ridden to work, that job had a 17 mile motorway commute!
I do ride to my current work, but a cheap second hand BSO with a motor in the rear hub, not my nice C2W Big Al ;)

Gumtree, FB marketplace, ebay will be your friends.
Just make sure you wait for that XL to come along, or be prepared to extend your collection radius for the single trip to pick it up.
Large will be ok/tolerable on short rides, but it’ll put you off going further. (I’m 6’4″… bought a £30 hybrid in Large for my 3 mile commute. It’s fine for that, but for real riding, it’s XL all the way.)