I’ve had mixed results with C2W scheme and am in a similar position to peachos.

However, I left my employment half way through my hire period and paid the remainder of the value of the bike from last salary before I left, which I knew would happen so fair enough.

I thought this was the end of it, but as my previous employer used an 18 month hire period, 9 months after leaving my job I got the same e-mail from the C2W provider asking my to pay £67 for an extended hire period.

I decided to do some calculations. My monthly deductions were £70 so I reckon the actual cost after the tax saving was about £48. The monthly amount plus the lump I paid in my final salary payment, combined with the £67 extended hire cost means I would have paid more than the ticket value of the bike! Unless of course I’ve calculated incorrectly.

I think next time I’ll just buy direct…

It can be a difficult balance to achieve lighting that works for both you and other users.

I’ve a set of Lumenator lights on the front. They were generally great* for commuting on unlit shared use paths as I could see pedestrians/dog walkers/joggers etc. However, when I reached a road section I used to turn them onto the lowest setting and angle the light down a bit to avoid blinding other drivers.

*except for the one time I was rebuked by an oncoming cyclist to turn my lights down. Ironically I was shielding my eyes from his ridiculously bright head torch

I’ve used rug doctors to clean carpets when we’ve moved house on two occasions now, and not had any issues. As long as you follow the instructions carefully and allow the room to air/carpet to dry out I reckon you should be okay.

Think the last time we phoned up & booked over the phone, then went to collect the unit from the local big Tesco. We had a pin code & just collected it from a locker, so pretty simple. I’ve seen then for hire in The Range too.

I frequently get copied into security reports of ‘insecure’ doors.

I’m tempted to reply one day suggesting we start to offer them counselling.

Any use?

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/696964-lego-marvel-super-heroes/68131568

Ahh right, thanks for clarifying.

Still bloody hard I imagine, but far more realistic.

Was it just me that misheard the SAS chap on last nights episode, but I’m sure he expected them to complete the 3 miles run in 8 minutes.

Surely thats unachievable pace?

just another thinly veiled ‘look at me!” thread.

Top punning there!

Some of them need to take a leaf out John Darwin’s* book.

*that canoeist wot went missing

No no no no no nope. 😯

After a big crash at Cwmcarn, I uploaded my Mytacks route to Strava and was surprised to find I’d notched a KOM.

I then realised I had left it running whilst I drove myself to A&E.

I deleted the route as I thought it was only fair. Though it was quite amusing to see my efforts running around the top of Cwmcarn trying to find my tooth I had knocked out!

I once received a complaint in work, from the smoking contingent, that the cigarette bin was no longer in the shelter outside.

Strange I thought, but upon venturing outside the bin was indeed missing.

It wasn’t until after we’d quizzed the cleaners that we checked the CCTV and noticed a car pulling up to the shelter (it was a large open car park) at 1:30 in the morning, only for a chap to get out and sling the bin (crammed full of dog ends) into his boot and drive off 😕

Postcode is the biggest difference for me.

£290 difference between my parents house in Devon and when I lived in Cardiff 🙁

The temptation to insure it at my parents instead address was very tempting

Yup. My wife has been suffering with this for the past year now. It doesn’t sound very nice.

She had a lot of misdiagnosis by various doctors but found one that was familiar with the symptoms and was able to refer her to a specialist. Also various steroids used to treat the symptoms didn’t agree with her at all, but now she has a series of exercises to carry out that re-train the balance part of your brain.

Extended DSE use and tiredness tends to make the symptoms worse, as does alcohol unsurprisingly!

Seems like this vid is a bit…

… for some

I made a pretty tasty chorizo and butterbean stew the other day, that could easily be re-heated at work.

Its literally a chorizo sausage slice and fried with 2x sliced red onions. Teaspoon of smoked paprika, tin of chopped toms and tin of butterbeans then simmer the lot for 20 mins. Just before serving I wilted some spinach through it just to add a bit more veg.

I’ve been on HTC handsets for a few years now and currently have a HTC One (M7) thats come to the end of its 2 year contract. I’m tempted to go sim only tbh as its been a decent phone and still works very well.

The M8 and M9 are evolutions of the M7 so should be better (faster processors etc), though having read reviews the M9 isn’t as much of an improvement over the M8 as it should be for the premium price.

Also worth nothing (and somewhat confusingly) there is a new M8s model out, which is supposed to be a budget M8 with a lesser processor but higher mega pixel camera and the same metal body design. That might work out cheaper on some tariffs?

Wilbur Smith?

I suppose what we don’t necessarily see is how much work went on behind the scenes, and by this I mean the amount of training and effort put in by BW to get in shape to have a crack at the GC.

I’m sure I read an account (possibly by Brailsford) after his win about the level of training intensity, and trying to get BW’s weight down whilst keeping his power output until they reached the magic figure.

Doubtless the TT’s that year played to his strengths, but I’m sure he didn’t just quite the track and think, I’ll have a crack the GC, without putting in a significant amount of prep work.

It should have been explained to you before you applied. Its quite likely your payslip deductions are 1/12th of the bike cost, assuming a 12month agreement. Savings come from the fact you now are getting paid less so get taxed less, there are potential implications tho such as pensions, you should really discuss with your HR/finance if this is not clear to you!

Oops, late reply but cheers Stato.

I was given the actual figure on the paperwork, but moved house twice last year and I’m buggered if I can find it now. I’m a basic rate taxpayer and the scheme with my old employer was run over 18 months, rather than 12.

Cheers Drover. I could recall the nett sacrifice being in the region of £40 something, so if calculating the nett sacrifice is just to deduct 20% from the gross, then that should give me a fair idea.

Thanks for the responses and sorry for delayed acknowledgement.

The whole core strength thing had also crossed my mind, but seeing as I had made changes to the cockpit set up it seemed a bit coincidental to me.

I also read a post on… umm *cough cough* BikeRadar that suggested too short a stem can put you into a hunched over position, which in turn causes ligaments and muscles around the base of the spine to become overstretched.

Wasn’t sure if this was poppycock or if anyone else had experienced similar pain after moving to a short stem?

I used to use a swiss ball quite a lot, and will also check out some of the online resources for core strength exercises too.

Time for a UV light on the crotch area?

I’m no business person but, yeah I guess so. That does rely on getting the students in in the first place though.

Not sure what they’re like in Exeter, but they seem fairly well ‘monied’ in Bristol!

Dont forget the area will be largely devoid of students from May – Sept. I’m in Bristol slap bang in the middle of the campus and can notice how quiet it is now the students have left.

Having said that, I did ask once, in one of the many local coffee shops, whether they notice a huge difference when the student population dies down, but apparently they still get a decent stream from the local offices and shop workers. So I guess location is key.

FWIW Pret and Boston Tea party always seem very busy, and the local pasty/baguette place which is considerably cheaper and has no indoor seating is usually queuing out of the door too.

Cheers andyh.

My monthly deductions according to my payslip were £60.69, but I don’t think this includes the tax break…

Thought I’d chip in to this thread, as I moved to Bristol from Cardiff last year. I also moved jobs, moved house twice and got married so my riding time was quite limited, but hoping to get back into it this now now its quietened down.

I’m across in SE Bristol so try to get around Ashton, Leigh Woods etc, generally after I’ve knackered myself going up Granby Hill!

If there are any rides planned people could maybe post in here, alternatively e-mail in profile if anyone new fancies meeting up

Had a relatively slow speed shunt from the rear in our car. The other driver was actually the MIL! It looked just to be a dented rear bumper so thought we could avoid the insurance. Turns out the chassis was bent and the boot floor buckled. Repair quotes came in at £2.2k 😯

Edit: ditto Benji. It wasn’t until the boot carpet was lifted the majority of damage was unearthed.

Not one I’ve heard but my wife did during a communications meeting – “we are where we are” 😕

Holy thread revival Batman!

Just picked up one of these speakers to use with my mp3 player via Bluetooth. However, I can’t seem to adjust the volume – its either really loud or off.

Anyone else with one of these have the same problem?

Or that…

This was how mine all went – shearing off where the spoke enters the nipple.

Ditto. Might check how much a rebuild is then. Or a 2nd hand wheel as mentioned above!

wwaswas – Member
local bike shop charges me about £150 for a replacement spoke and decent brass nipple

😯

POSTED 13 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Assumed that was a typo and should be £15…

I think it’s because of the coloured alloy nipples that they use.

Same here. Got some lurid green nipples that can never be matched by the bike shop, so I get the odd silver nipple here and there. And I’ve also got black spoke, which we all know are weaker than silver ones 😉

My gears seem pretty well indexed too Mackem but I’ll double check for sideways movement on the mech.

Not sure when on the ride the spokes let go, but I suspect its the descents when the wheel is taking a battering. The Cafall trail was fast and dry on Sat but I noticed some pretty severe braking bumps which can’t have helped.

My last sentence was slightly tongue in cheek too Cynic-Al! LBS charge around £15-£20 for a spoke so it would cost a small fortune to rebuild that way!

Yep. I’ve often looked at them and thought they looked pointless. Quite an enlightening video for me! 🙂

Took me a while to realise there weren’t hundreds of Ysbyty Hospitals in Wales 😳

This:

We’ve got a cat flap but no cat, previous owners had one. Having said that we’re off to look at a Ragdoll at the end of the month that needs re-homing.

Anyway, its a chipped cat flap which is currently locked. Which is just as well really, as we were under siege from a huge Persian on the weekend.

Happily relaxing on the sofa Sunday afternoon, we heard an almighty racket and went into the kitchen to discover some bloody Persian crashing his head against the cat flap. I’ve no idea why he even wanted to come in, we don’t have a cat yet so no bowls of food lying around. I was actually slightly fearful that he might make but it held up well!

Surprised to learn Grant from Massive Attack only had a debit card, ‘cos getting a Visa card nowadays isn’t hard.

Chapeau 😀

I met Matt Neal (BTCC driver) whilst working at the halfway house on the local golf course. He races for Honda, which is a petrol. However, Seat did enter the series with a pair of diesel powered Leons once.

I also met Harry Redknapp whilst he was manager of Pompey, and helped him to play a practical joke on his (then) assistant, Jim Smith.

Personally I would also consider at a 1.8 petrol Honda Civic (8th gen 2006-2011) if going down the used route. They’ve a generous boot space and intelligent rear seats that fold up or flat, so handy for bike duties.

I’ve got a 2003 Mazda 3, which by all accounts shares the same floor pan as the MKII Ford Focus, but with a different body. I can’t just about fit my bike in the boot with only the front wheel off, but I need to fold down both rear seats.

Also worth considering if you’re looking at MKI Focus’, is whether they have an Isofix attachment. My friend had a MkI and I don’t think it had this.

Funnily enough I was going to post a thread about lower back when cycling, until I saw this.

Personally mine comes and goes to some degree with fitness/whether I’ve got many cycling miles in my legs. Have you had an extended break from cycling and are just getting back into it per chance?

I also wear a camelbak and find if it sits too low on my back it starts to ache. I also changed to a slightly shorter stem, which didn’t seem to have any impact, but I’ve also now bought a Reverb which is inline, opposed to my previous layback seat post so I think that might have an impact. All things worth considering if you’re trying to identify what has changed.

Some good tips on stretching above too, will bookmark this thread for further reading.