What he ^^ said.

Oooh, Drover, you’re fast.

’twas nothing more than serendipity, happened to log on to the forum and your post was right at the top!

Of course we’re not the only people who’d do you 10% off, if you have a good LBS they may well do too, as would others on here I’m sure.

Of course we sure would appreciate your business.

It sounds like you know what you want, but let me know if you’d like to try before you buy, as we have that exact fork available to demo.

We do 10% off all parts & accessories, including forks, for STW subscribers; happy to extend that to forumites if that helps.

They’re very nice forks, BTW – have them on one of our demo Pygas.

Solopress http://www.solopress.com/ for us when we need stuff quickly.

Printcarrier, based in Germany, for higher-volume stuff which is less urgent, delivery takes 4-5 days but no-one else is close in terms of price in my experience.

And yes, as above, make sure you have print ready PDF or similar in the correct size/resolution/bleed etc.

Because she put 35% of the deposit down and i made up the remaining 65%

In that case, both methods should give the same answer.

(Which is £94,500).

To be clear I don’t think the Celtic nations have suffered oppression in living memory. But go back 100 years, 200 years, 500 years…

It happened. It goes some way to explaining passions that still exist, IMHO.

Lots to be proud of in terms of cultural heritage. As above why should we not be proud?

I think you’ll generally find any nation that has bigger neighbours tends to be patriotic, especially if at times they are dominated by the neighbour. Thinking e.g. foreigners not understanding that we aren’t “English”.

Plus a long, long history of bitter oppression might have something to do with it…

I can’t believe how much debate there is about this.

The total balance is completely irrelevant. All else being equal in terms of penalties and terms, you overpay the one with the higher rate.

Plan B if it were me (we’re based in Hay) would be taxi to Abergavenny or Newport and train to Hereford from there, taxi of course needing to be pre-booked. Or just drive if you don’t mind not drinking.

There’ll be trains, and they won’t cancel trains on match day.

There will, however, be massive queues and not a lot of space on trains. It always looks like a complete nightmare to me – I’ve only caught the train after a match once, and walked up to Cathays to catch it as I couldn’t face queuing for what looked like it would be hours.

From what I’ve seen people leave before the match is over to get a head start which seems to defeat the object.

I thought I remembered seeing a post about this…

While rummaging through boxes in the workshop looking for something else I found a bag of these.

Give us a shout if you want a couple.

no-one on this forum is able to categorically determine exactly where anything is made, or what the level of quality is

Which is precisely why many sensible people choose to delegate that decision to trusted manufacturers/retailers/importers/distributors. By buying from a reputable source (which yes, tends to cost more) you are protecting yourself from potentially buying something not made to the same standards. That doesn’t mean that every cheap no-name component is dodgy; it’s just that there’s no way of knowing.

I’m sure that some £30 carbon forks as a bargain, and just as good as much more expensive ones from trusted manufacturers. It’s just that you can’t tell which is which.

Yeah, mine is 120mm too. Not sure it’s officially sanctioned by Genesis but I’ve had no issues at all. Love the bike.

From memory, it’s the ordinary Hope tapered headset, or if buying individual cups it’s upper 2 and lower E. Happy to check, and supply the correct ones, if you’d like.

Yes, XT will be slightly lighter and possibly better seals (though I have no idea how you would find that out for sure). XT uses smaller bearings, so there’s an argument that SLX might be more durable.

I’d probably go for the SLX given that a marginal difference in hub weight is basically irrelevant.

Pretty clear that is not supposed to be on the web!

Nothing is going to be officially confirmed at this stage (just look at the embargo dates) but it’s no secret this has been coming for a while.

Distributed by Ison – so any good bike shop should be able to supply.

I can’t say it’s a persuasive argument for selecting one.

I don’t think you’ll find that the competition differs much. Realistically, very few people can claim to follow these instructions religiously – with forks, shocks, or seatposts. Thankfully, manufacturers know this, and don’t tend to make a fuss when people claim under warranty within two years.

Once a product like this is over two years old though, retailers will quite understandably look to wash their hands if the end user has done no maintenance (not suggesting this is the OP’s case, he may have been looking after it exactly as recommended).

I’m not sure whether it’s more unrealistic to expect an end-user to service their seatpost every 100 hours, or for said end-user to expect a product like this to continue to work flawlessly in UK riding conditions if it’s not maintained at all. I’m sure there’s a middle ground in there somewhere…

Thanks but have you ever had to put a tube in at the roadside?

Yes, got a cut in one of the tyres which was too big for the sealant to cope with once. No issues at all, just stuck a tube in and off we went. No harder than replacing a tube like you normally would – just needs to be done way less frequently.

It’s the extra faff of sealant over my kit and hands whilst at the roadside or am I worrying about nothing?

Yes, IMHO you’re worrying about nothing though I totally understand why. Don’t worry about it. A bit of sealant (you don’t need much in there anyway) which is no more of an issue than the usual braking gunge you get on your hands when doing a roadside fix anyway.

Do you take spare tubes out on rides just in case?

100% yes (I carry two tubes, whereas I’d only take one plus some patches on most rides if I was running tubes). Not taking a tube is surely the quickest, most-guaranteed way to get a puncture the sealant can’t cope with, no? You’ll hardly get any punctures mind.

Anything available that’s a bit more robust, wider and treaded for tubeless commutes?

Mavic Yskion Elite Allroad in 30mm. £45 RRP, 10% off online or for STWers. In stock here now – give me a shout if you want some.

More options from Schwalbe, as above, coming soon.

I wondered what the recommended service schedule was, so I checked:

RECOMMENDED SERVICE INTERVALS
• Remote and hose bleed – after 100 hours of riding
• Keys, topcap seals, and seal head seal replacement – after 100 hours of riding
• Complete seatpost overhaul – after 200 hours of riding

Yep, your warranty is over and above your statutory rights and runs from the original date of purchase.

However you have normal consumer rights – part of the contract between you and Wiggle and nothing to do with SRAM – part of which is that the product has to be of satisfactory quality and fit for purchase.

Is a seatpost which fails twice in 30 months fit for purpose? Perhaps not, if you’ve followed the manufacturers recommended service schedule. If you have, I’d argue the toss with Wiggle. If you’ve done (or had done for you by a shop) no maintenance on it for over two years then I don’t think you can quibble too much.

It’ll be repairable, for sure, and you might have to suck up that cost if you’ve not looked after it.

Yes – use them almost all the time now on my main road bike.

Virtually no extra effort to set up, in fact maybe even less hassle than putting a tube in a normal clincher. On SL25s they go up tubeless with no issues whatsoever, track pump does it fine and – though I’ve not tried – I wouldn’t be surprised if you could do it with a hand pump.

Get some very good tyre levers though, or super-strong thumbs, as the fit is tight.

Wouldn’t consider tubes for anything other than touring now, really. Schwalbe reckon we’ll be doing that tubeless too in the not-too-distant future.

Previous friends visits have resulted in taco’d wheels , torn off mechs , smashed rings etc.

Which the hire company would surely expect you to pay for, wouldn’t they?

I’m also sure you have to pay for any damage you cause to a hire bike.

Ah yes, beaten to it.

I assume that is at cost to you as a shop though ie the new stem etc? Surely the manufacturer should supply the option?

Yeah, no manufacturer that I know of offers that option. The shop would have to bear the cost (which isn’t massive, but it’s not insignificant either which is why I suggested it can only really be expected on mid-range bikes and up). I think the problem is that the manufacturing and assembly is done on another continent, so the company (WhateverBikeCo UK division, or the distributor) which holds the stock of bikes doesn’t necessarily even stock the own-brand parts (which are of course just a generic part with the manufacturers name on anyway). Even if they do, they certainly aren’t willing to crack open boxed bikes and start swapping parts around, believe me.

I do think that it’s entirely reasonable to ask a shop to do this for you. Certainly if you were buying a £1500 bike and not expecting any other discount, we’d be quite happy to swap out stem, seatpost, saddle etc for ones of a similar spec/cost to what’s on the bike. To be honest at that level we’d be happy to swap out cranks too, if you were certain you wanted longer/shorter ones.

It’d be different of course if Cyclescheme/Finance were involved and/or you were also wanting to haggle on the price!

Although it would be great if they did, I’m not sure I agree with your assertion that the manufacturer should deal with this. It’s one of the areas where I see that we as the retailer can add value.

Yeah Maxxis do the High Roller dual ply in 24″x2.50″ but check clearance on a kids bike. They’re also very heavy, and expensive:
https://www.drover.cc/maxxis-high-roller

(Edit – not as expensive as that link indicates though, I think we’ve got issues with VAT being added twice. Will check that out now!)

Alternatively check out the cheaper, lighter Holy Roller (which is really a DJ tyre) in 24×2.40″ although this is out of stock at the moment.

Cheaper again, DMR Moto Digger in 24×2.35″ is around £20.

I think it depends on the level of bike we’re talking about. On a £400 bike, there’s not necessarily enough margin involved to swallow the cost of a new stem given that the OEM one which comes off the bike is unlikely to generate any revenue for the shop (they MIGHT use it for a repair job somewhere down the line, but quite likely it’ll end up in a box in the workshop and never get used).

On an £800+ bike, if the customer was paying full RRP, we’d be more than happy to swap out stem, saddle, grips etc (hopefully not all of those on any given bike, but you get what I mean).

As above – I think it’s quite reasonable for customers to expect that on a mid-range or above bike, one of the many advantages of buying in person from an LBS is that they’ll help out with this sort of thing.

Surely there’s no such thing as “no internet” these days? Satellite broadband is widely available and not horrifically expensive – it’s not ideal for streaming video or for VOIP but for most purposes it’s workable and faster that most ADSL.

If the property price reflected the increased cost of putting in essential services then I’d certainly not rule it out.

Which turbo to get really does depend on your requirements. Depends also on what you’re training for. Eg a time triallist will likely prefer a different turbo to an XC rider, requirements in terms of turbo feel are very different.

Absolutely. Which is why I didn’t recommend a specific one from the range, but rather gave some general pointers as to what to look for.

Don’t think there’s much wrong with giving a brand recommendation though…

We’ve done lots of different ones and firmly believe that Cycleops are the best out there.

I’m using a Fluid 2 which is brilliant, if you don’t need it to be interactive it’s all you need. If you don’t want to spend that much, the ones lower down the range beat the competition too. At each price point you get what you pay for so cheaper ones tend to be noisier and/or give a less realistic ride feel, and max out at lower upper resistance levels.

Lots of offers on the Dual Position forks as they’re not as popular – probably because, as LoCo says, the performance is not equivalent to the Solo Air.

Is the head angle slack because you’re running a longer-than-intended fork? I’d sooner drop down to a 150mm or even 140mm Solo Air if appropriate for the bike, rather than mess around with Dual Position.

Altura do a really good range of commuter luggage including a laptop-carrying backpack which might be a better option than a courier bag.

Otherwise yes, plenty of rack and pannier options which don’t weigh too much although you probably want a pannier with some padding.

I’d look at Tubus racks – we’ve just fitted an ultralight one to a commuter here, and it’s pretty impressive. Then Ortlieb or Altura for luggage, depending on how much you want to spend.

Give us a shout if we can help with any specifics!

Could offer a Merida Scultura 4000 @ 30% off making it £945 – available in 54cm or 56cm:
http://www.merida-bikes.com/en_gb/bikes/road-bikes/carbon/2015/scultura-4000-3453.html

A better quality frame than you’d often get at this price. 105 spec.

Depending on dates/how many bikes/how long you need them for, we’d be happy to deliver bikes down that way. Have a fleet of 100+ bikes altogether with plenty in smaller sizes.

Yes.

Freespoke gives lengths within 0.1mm of those, and I’d agree using 292 both sides is fine.

Expected tension in the NDS is 59% of the DS so you’re already over that; I’d say it’s as good as you’re going to get and you’re only going to be able to “improve” on those tensions by going over the max recommended on the DS, or swapping to a different hub/rim combo which allows for more even tensions (e.g. an offset rim).

OP if you post up your hub and rim details (ERD, centre-flange distance on the hubs and flange PCD) plus how many spokes you’re using and what cross pattern I’d be happy to run the calculations.

We use http://www.kstoerz.com/freespoke/fullcalc which gives you an indication of the relative tensions you’ll have in each side once built – very useful when comparing potential builds as you can see what will give you the most evenly-tensioned wheel.

We have both of those in stock OP.

That’s a pretty major downgrade – £25 tyres rather than £50 ones so £50 decrease in value overall – what’s that as a percentage of the bike? Apart from the value, as others have said you’ve got a not-very-good at all tyre there instead of a really quite good one so I’d be looking to get it sorted. Those RRs will not be very grippy at all.

You can reject and return for a full refund for any or no reason so it’s in the shop’s interest to set you out. I think there’s an argument for them paying the return carriage too as it’s a fairly major change.

I’d threaten to return the bike and see if they’d rather sell you some of the correct tyres for half price instead? Or ask them for £50 off so you can put that towards the tyres?

Edit – meant to say that the tyres you have will go up tubeless no problem although not as easily as the new Rocket Rons and won’t stay inflated as long. But the significant thing here is that they are a much worse (less grippy, heavier, more puncture-prone) tyre.

Give us a shout if you’d like to try a C17 – happy to post a demo saddle out.

If you’re a large, our ex-demo Pyga OneTen.