If for riding, you want a set that have over-the-shoulder braces built in (or use a separate pair of braces).

I have a spare set of full-length, genuine GoreTex, olive green army trousers in a Large size if you want them for £15 posted? I bought 2 pairs years ago, cut one pair down to use as shorts, thinking I’d maybe need a 2nd pair, but the original ones are still going strong so the 2nd pair are surplus (no pun intended). :-)

Can send pics if you PM me.

I don’t ‘get’ Specialized’s product positioning with this one..

They bill it as a bike “created not to be first over a finish line but instead focusing on creating a purer riding experience” and “designed for the rider, not the racer”.

Yet it has the same geometry as a Tarmac SL7 – their top of the line World Tour race bike, they’re pushing the weight weenine lightweight angle, and it costs over £10,000 (!)

How is that delivering a ‘purer riding experience aimed at the rider not the racer’???

6-8 espresso’s per day in a family of 4 isn’t much.

I hear good things about Sage. Am looking at the Bambino Plus and the Duo Temp Pro.. both at John Lewis.

Our beloved DeLonghi Dedica has just died – for the 2nd time. The first one lasted 1 year and its replacement less than 2 years, so we’re not getting another one. However, we loved the taste of the espresso it made (as did many visitors).

We’ve also had bad experiences with Gaggia Classics (in contrast to many here on STW) – we had 2 Gaggia Classics within a 3 year period 2014-2017.

Honestly, we’re not doing anything wrong with the machines, we make 6-8 espresso’s per day at most, and that’s it. We take good care of our stuff and our machines all looked almost like new.

Anyway, we just need a simple espresso machine for making espresso. We don’t need bean to cup, we don’t need a milk frother, we don’t need any fancy gubbins.

What’s STW’s recommendations these days?

MindNode – works well on both my Mac and iPad.

@Digger90 Did they give you an image of the damage? Can you show it?

Nope, sorry. The forks are still with them…

The scan was about £70 – the new forks, with paint, are £420. So very worthwhile doing the scan.

Thanks to @Rick Draper for the recommendation of Target Composites.

The forks have been ultrasound scanned and they are trashed. The steerer tube shows significant delamination from ‘point loading’ – presumably where the impact shock has been been transmitted during the crash through the bars and stem to the carbon steerer. It is dangerous to ride and I’m replacing the fork.

To all those who said that if the fork ‘looks ok then it’s probably ok’ this is a lesson. The fork showed no visible signs of damage at all – yet is damaged and is dangerous.

We take our lives in our hands if we ride carbon stuff that’s been in a crash and isn’t properly tested afterwards.

Moving house and having a clearout…

I’ll put this on the Classifieds but if anyone needs a rice cooker I have a Breville one in super-duper, little used condition for £10 posted.

–
Someone mentioned a couple of FIRE people a while back on here and I watched a podcast or two. It was a really weird circular thing of FIRE people interviewing each other in podcasts all offering a (paid for) service advising people on how to achieve FIRE which is ironic as they obviously hadn’t. They just all seemed to set themselves up as FIRE advisors, but hadn’t actually retired. All very strange, pay me to advise you on how to achieve something I’ve failed to achieve myself.

I agree with some of that – there’s a groundswell/momentum building in the achieving financial independence and retiring early sector – and like anything that’s a hot topic, people will piggy-back onto that and try to market themselves/monetise it.

I’ve read up a lot about FIRE, and just dispose of the obvious nonsense, marketing pap, or anything paid-for. JL Collins is very down-to-Earth and there’s a lot of sense in his book and blog – but it’s not like he says anything that hasn’t been said before by so many authors and pundits:

1. Avoid debt
2. Spend less than you earn
3. Invest the surplus

…and over time, you’ll become financially independent.

I’ve lost count of the number of times and places you can read that simple advice.

So far as Podcasts go, I got annoyed with the vast majority of them, but the MadFientist one is a Yank who lives in the UK (half the time), and isn’t anything like as annoying/irritating as most USA-centric stuff is. In fact, I find his podcasts pretty thought-provoking. And so far as I’m aware, he doesn’t have any paid-for stuff he’s pushing.

I find it useful to listen/read/research from all over the place – as much as I can. I then discount most of it/the things that don’t work for me, and either carry out the stuff that I find works for me, or look further into it.

Some great info on this thread, and some very inspirational thoughts and ideas too.

Fantastic reading the things that people actually DO with their retirement time – and I’d like to find out more, as many people think that once they stop working, that’s it: Boredom. Personally, I don’t get that, as @blokeuptheroad said, there’s an endless universe of opportunity if you think about it.

I’d like to hear more people’s thoughts and ideas about how they actually spend their time in retirement… my ideas below.

But first, for those who don’t know what their financial situation is, or how they’ll fund retirement, I recommend doing the following:

1. Start by tracking what your outgoings are today with your current lifestyle.
– Download some expense tracking software that automatically sucks in and categorises the transactions from your bank accounts, credit cards etc. Make sure you go though it regularly to ensure the categorisations are correct.
– This may sound like drudgery, but it’s actually fun, and there’s tremendous value in knowing what you’re actually spending rather than guessing.
– So far as apps go, I’ve used BankTivity and Quicken in the past, but MoneyHub is my favourite these days – simple, easy, brilliant, UK-not-US centric, and inexpensive at £10/year.

2. Do the above for at least 6 months then extrapolate it on a spreadsheet to a full year.
– Obviously, a year or more gives you much more reliable data and takes account of seasonal fluctuations such as Christmas, summer holidays, birthdays, etc.
– Doing this will give you an insight into what your actual spending is.
– Now, project out how you think your spending in each category will change in retirement. For example, in our case we reduced the amounts each year for groceries (as we won’t be feeding a family of 5), child & dependent expenses, clothing, cars (as we won’t need the 3 we currently have), car insurance, telephones & mobiles, and so on – and increased the amounts we’ll likely spend on travel/holidays, hobbies, entertainment, eating out, medical expenses, gifts, etc.

3. Get control of your Pensions
– If, like me, you don’t know what your pensions amount to (I had 9 pensions from 6 employers over 29 years), contact all your providers and get statements for retirement income and/or transfer out values.
– Consider carefully whether what your money is actually invested in (the ‘underlying’) and whether it is in the right place(s).
– In my case, once I saw it all laid out I was shocked at how poorly some of my pension pots were performing – then embarrassed/ashamed at how how many years I’d ignored doing anything about it (!).
– As to what your money should be invested in, well, there’s no one right answer for everyone. But if, like me, you’ve ignored it for some time, or if you’re not sure – then clue yourself up! Get sure. Do a bit of reading up on how to invest, what Funds are, what Index Trackers are, what Bonds are, what other investments are. If that all sounds too boring, go and see an IFA – but beware of high fees for some funds.
– Just clue yourself up and start to make better choices. *see point 5 below.

4. Project out (again, using a spreadsheet) what all your future sources of income will be p/a (State Pension, personal Pension, investment income, savings income, other sources of income if you have them), and compare it to your projected annual outgoings from Step 2. You’ll immediately see if you’re ‘good to go’ or not.
– If not, consider how you can reduce your current spending in order to save/invest more.
– The financial insight you have gained from step 2. above will be invaluable as you do this.

5. Clue Yourself Up.
– I won’t get into the debate here about the 4% rule, where to invest/what to invest in, pensions, savings, etc… there’s a bazillion books and articles out there already. But for anyone who’s interested in retiring early there are some valuable sources of info out there.
– Start by reading JL Collins’ “The Simple Path To Wealth’ (and/or read his blog), listen to the ‘MadFientist’ podcast (and other ‘FIRE’ podcasts), read ‘Mr Money Mustache’s’ blog, etc.. Just Google ‘FIRE’ and start browsing.

Now onto the more interesting stuff: ‘What to do with your time once retired’…

I’m 55 and am in the fortunate position of being financially independent. No, I didn’t inherit a fortune. No, I didn’t make millions in the City. And no, I am not a drug dealer :-). I’ve never been given a thing and have had to work hard – very hard – for everything I’ve got. Often it was too hard, missing my kids birthdays, suffering incredible stress/burnout, nearly losing a marriage.

I’ve always avoided debt as much as possible and lived within my means. That is a core principle. Ok, we had a big mortgage (and miraculously managed to pay it off early), but aside from a mortgage we’ve avoided debt completely. We’re fortunate, in that yes, we could afford nice cars and stuff if we wanted them, but I always looked at my mates driving the latest BMW or whatever and thought “They’re nuts.. that £40k car will depreciate £20k in 2 years. I’d rather buy a £5k or £10 car and drive it for 5 years then sell it for £2k”.

That kind of philosophy goes a long way – and applies to most things in life. Life is not about material possessions: the nicest house, blingest car, the latest iPhone, gadget or doo-dad, a new Sky+ box, or whatever. Life is not about ‘Stuff’. We have more material possessions today than our grandparents or ancestors every had – yet there is no evidence that they were any less happy. Life is about friendships, love, contribution, happiness, health, etc.

So.. what are those things for you? I’d love to hear what makes people happy.

What are the things you’d do if you retire today?

And for this who are already retired/have achieved FI, what do you do with your time?

For me, these are the things that are important to me:

– Go for walks with my wife & dog in the countryside

– Drink coffee with my wife/visit Cafe’s and just talk

– Continue to be a loving, supportive Dad to my 3 kids

– Ride my bike – with friends

– Spend a season or two (probably in a CamperVan) following the Pro road cycling season: starting with Flanders/Paris Roubaix, then onto the Giro, le Tour, la Vuelta and culminating at the Giro di Lombardia (not slavishly following every stage of every tour, but coming and going as we please, to the stages/places that interest us)

– Spend a month or so in summers hiking around the Alps/Pyrenees with a knapsack on my back

– Ski more, until such time as we’re unable to

– Laugh more

– Contribute more to our local Community (my wife has run the Cubs/Scouts for the past 12 years, I’ve volunteered at camps, village fetes etc… but I want to have more of an impact. I want to make a bigger contribution).

– Do more Yoga. I love it and always feel better.

– Vitality/Health/Fitness/Mobility/Wellbeing: walk, run, yoga, cycle, maybe take up some calisthenics, reading.

Sell both and bike everywhere.

Good for you – good for planet Earth. :-)

No worries. I’ll take the forks to that place in Leatherhead.

It was the kind of crash where I went OTB, the bike ejected itself from me, spiralling through mid-air and slamming hard into a static caravan, before then crashing to the ground.

Amazingly, the (steel) frame and (Carbon) fork seem unscathed, but the impact was hard enough to destroy the seat, crack the seat clamp on the post (never seen that happen before), buckle the (brand new) rear wheel, and muller the bars, tape and other bits.

I may be being overly cautious, but I’m nervous about riding the carbon fork again without it being checked out properly. My life depends upon it, so why not?

Just to say that we did actually go to the Ardeche and had a wonderful holiday – so many thanks to all to replied with ideas, locations etc.

We stayed near Aubenas, visited Vallon Pont d’Arc, swam in the Ardeche, biked, hiked, pic-nicced and generally had a great time.

We’re now halfway through Quarantine having returned last weekend. :-|

I just bought a new bike with the Giant Conduct SL hydraulic master cylinder thingy. It works great, is very powerful, and is cable-actuated – so uses ‘normal’ (i.e. non-hydraulic levers.

However, I have an entire SRAM groupset sitting spare in my shed, and am much more a SRAM than a Shimano bod. So I’ll be stripping the bike and selling the bits off in case anyone’s interested in?

£100 for the Giant Conduct SL cable-actuated master cylinder, plus stem (100mm), plus hydraulic lines and Flat Mount brake calipers, pads, and 140mm rotors. Everything is just 1 ride old. Can take pics.

I’ll soon be selling a pretty much new set of 40mm deep Light Bicycle carbon tubeless rims handbuilt onto DT Swiss 350 hubs.

Haven’t advertised them anywhere yet, but looking for £480.

Can send pics. PM me if interested.

I had this issue last week, and solved it via back-and-forth with Wahoo’s Support (who I’d say were rather pleasingly responsive and well informed, compared to some companies).

What cured it was basically killing everything and starting again:

Sign out of Strava, RideWithGPS and Komoot, then forgetting my home WiFi network on the Wahoo, forgetting the Wahoo from the Elemnt app on the iPhone, then deleting the Elemnt app on my phone.

Then reinstall Elemnt app from the App Store, scan QR code on Bolt, connect to home WiFi network, let it sync (for ages, as it’ll resync your history, which in my case, was lengthy), and all has been good since.

Just wasn’t my sort of thing really…

I have a new tub of Putoline if anyone wants it for £20 posted?

Used it to wax one chain. Tried it, it’s not for me.

I had 5 cuts from small flints in my GravelKings in the first month of ownership, running tubeless.

Tedious cleaning, drying, prepping and patching the tyre itself. When I got the 6th one I gave up.

GravelKing SK’s are pathetically prone to punctures from small flints, thorns etc.

Love it.

And… how many flights will you be taking this year?

Personally I declared 2020 a ‘No flight year’ on Jan 1. It’s ridiculous that somehow civilisation has evolved to the point where people believe that taking 4 cheap flights to Spain (or wherever) each year is ok.

Yes, we all need to stop driving so much – and switch to more fuel-efficient, zero carbon based forms of transport. But until we’ve each personally changed our own habits, then who are we to criticise others?

It’s not Government, it’s not companies, it’s not cruises, it’s not airlines, it’s not car manufacturers and it’s not Extinction Rebellion. It’s us.

I just did the same yesterday.

I have been waxing my cables for years, using a cigarette lighter to heat the cable and then running a block of paraffin wax along the length of the cable, but I used up all my wax a couple of months ago so thought I’d try Putoline.

In answer to some of the questions:

Yes, I run thru-axles front & rear

Yes, the calipers are centred perfectly to the rotors

And yes, I have advanced the pistons and cleaned them on many occasions.

I think Solarider’s point is correct – maybe SRAM calipers position the pads closer to the rotor than other manufacturer’s. That would account for the constant noisiness. I was thinking it’s insufficient piston retraction, but maybe they just run very, very close under normal circumstances.

coatesy – I get the logic of that, and in fact I tried it, but that simply made matters worse. The pistons didn’t retract as much – and therefore rubbed even more – than when I cleaned them.

mtbtomo – yes, I mean they are noisy when simply riding along, seated, i.e. not mashing the pedals/standing, no massive lateral frame/wheel twist etc.

The rubbing, grating, gritty noises occur quite often when just riding along, but are far worse when riding through puddles, wet roads, or roads with debris/sh*te all over them (as they are during Dec/Jan/Feb for example).

Just to be clear – yes, my rotors are perfectly straight, and are of good quality, and yes, I have cleaned and lubed the piston seals.

I use a small Rice Cooker and it’s perfect (with Molten Speed Wax – I’m going to try this Putoline stuff though and the principles are the same).

A Rice Cooker will easily heat the wax to very thin/runny consistency – which is what you want for it to penetrate all the way into the pins and rollers. However, according to that Aussie bloke’s vids on YouTube, you don’t want to remove the chain from the cooker while the wax is that hot/runny, since the wax can run out too easily… you want it to stay in the pins and rollers, so let it cool off a bit first, by simply unplugging the cooker/fryer.

I let mine cool until the point where the wax looks like it’s just about to turn from liquid back to soft wax, then I remove the chains and quick links.

What I do is periodically dip a screwdriver blade into the wax while it’s cooling down to feel the consistency of it. When it’s how you want it, remove your chains.

Many thanks folks – some great info and ideas here.

Looking forward to going!

Take the DH bike. There is literally nowhere better in Europe to DH.

If you take the shorter travel bike you’ll regret it, as I bet you’ll be riding around thinking “This would be SO much better/more fun on my DH bike”.

I’ve ridden/visited that area a couple of times.

The Calpe/Javea/Denia area has some good routes, with my rides ranging in distance from 75kms – 175kms .

However, I much preferred the riding inland when from Altea. There are some beautiful roads inland up to the Castell de Guadelest, Callosa d’en Sarria, Jalon, Albir, Confrides, and so on… (not all in one ride).

Altea doesn’t have as much (anything) going on compared to Calpe, Denia, etc… but we didn’t want that. And Benidorm is just 4-5 kms away if nightlife is a must.

I can ping you GPX’s of the rides I did both in Altea and from Javea if you PM me your email address.

Is Putoline any better than Molten Speed Wax?

I’ve been using MSW on my summer road bike in dry conditions for 18 months and been relatively happy. There’s a little more drivetrain noise than when using liquid lubes, but it’s acceptable.

I get 300-400kms out of each chain wax before it needs redoing, and I wax/rotate 3 chains simultaneously, therefore I’m only having to cook/wax once per month.

However, with MSW it’s a very different story when it comes to rain/wet and winter conditions:
after just 1 wet ride rust discolouration starts to develop on the surface of the chain, and the chain becomes noisy. I’ve tried this 3-4 times now with the same result, and have gone back to liquid lubes for my winter bikes.

So… is Putoline any better in that regard?

33tango… I have a brand new, unused 9mm QR front wheel that you can have for £5 + whatever the postage costs.

I forget what brand it is, but can have a look later and take pics if you want them.

It’s been hanging in my shed waiting for a project for at least 10 years… looks like its never going to happen and I’d rather it went to someone who’s going to use it.

I just did mine over Christmas… they weren’t sticking, but have benefitted from an overhaul in any case.

This video goes into detail on why they stick, and what SRAM have been doing about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqEHA2dRgqs

As someone above has posted, SJS sell replacement pistons.

Paisley Freight are circa £25 for a large bike/box.

Ive built many bikes over the years and as others have said, doing it right is a 3-4 hour job (4hrs if you’re doing it really properly).

I was trained by mechanics who have worked on the World Tour, Pro teams, etc…

If an LBS (or anyone) is charging less than £100-£120 to build your bike they are likely:

a) taking shortcuts (meaning you wouldn’t want to ride it)

or…

b) don’t know what they’re doing (meaning you wouldn’t want to ride it)

Well, like many I’m conflicted about Ineos becoming the new sponsor:

Cycling needs solid, stable sponsors and its great to see the team staying British (well, sort of British at least).

However, I’m pretty downbeat about Ineos, their businesses, their interests in fracking, their political lobbying, and Jim Ratcliffe’s incongruence/hypocrisy strongly lobbying for Brexit then moving to Monaco to avoid paying UK taxes.

I’m trying to see the good in Ineos becoming the new sponsor, but WTF?

I weigh 78kgs and run my 38c GravelKing SK’s at 38 f / 40 r (tubeless)which seems perfect for mixed road and gravel/dirt.

BTW.. I have a spare set in 38c, BNIB, which I don’t need and if anyone wants I will be selling next week for £45 the pair, posted. PM me if interested.

Rollers are great. They mimic actual riding much better than a fixed turbo does, they’re much better for developing your spin as well as your on-bike posture, and are great for improving your core strength and balance.

I use a set of Tacx Antares, which have wobbly bits under the front, making them less stable (in a way) but more life-like.

No set of rollers or turbo is going to feel like actual riding however… and frankly, even though my rollers are good, I would in almost all cases and in every weather rather go for an actual ride than use rollers/turbo in the shed. And that’s even when watching something interesting/good/motivational like Sufferfest.

I did the 100 on a Planet X XLS cross bike, with 32mm tyres on it. It was fine.

As others have said, there was a world of variety on the start line and out on the course… 26ers, 29ers, cross, gravel bikes, single speeds, fat bikes, even nutters on fixed gears!

Run what ya brung.