Update.

Out of the blue Endura got in touch and asked if things had been resolved …. They seemed to have no idea but could thankfully blame “new systems” (just like every company that gets something wrong).

Final result – a brand new set of Pro SL bib shorts has turned up.  So thanks to Endura for sorting things out.

Thanks all – have some Altura kit which is nice and will look at Galibier.  In the meantime I will see what I can do with Endura ….

Thanks all.

All my Endura kit (I almost live in Humvee 3/4’s) has been good … zips don’t last as long as the earlier kit but that lowering of quality is not unique to Endura.

Previous customer services experiences (a long time ago) have been good, but this has been dreadful.  My daughter has almost given up on ever getting her kit back but I am made of different stuff and intend to give them grief until they get their act together.

Yes, they have had 7 months to sort this out so posting on Christmas Day isn’t going to make much difference as they’ve done nowt (beyond hollow promises) on any other day. 

I have a 20 year old pair of Brashers going strong …. but some new ones fell apart in a couple of years as did my wife’s new Brashers. Altbergs work for me now.

GE Stingray has too many pockets and a bit clingy.

Polo shirts tend to get a bit sweaty – I’ve tried!

Will try out the others … thanks all.

Thanks – pockets I can do without completely.  I suspect I’m parting company from cycling tops now as they all look daft off the bike (to me and on me anyway).

I’ve just transferred my Barclays one out, Shinton, for the same reason as footflaps. Nothing to do with ringfencing (where being outside is the least risky place for it …. and I’m long gone from Barclays to have a bias).

Sketch of the options as I see them is here

Thanks all. Water is hard according to the Yorkshire Water site.

More research needed … the few websites I’ve looked at smack of double glazing selling and general spivery.

Thanks for the pointers. South West is the orientation, but also need them for privacy (garden is pretty private but not totally so, so want to be able to lower blinds in the evening).

Kitchen also houses dogs, so non-integrated blinds less than ideal.

Integral blinds is not a problem on sliders with double glazing – plenty do it incl. Sunflex – and triple glazing is available, just not both (as the width is too big for most aluminium frames).

The light blockage isn’t much of an issue as they will be ceiling height, and there are beams in the kitchen that would mean external blinds couldn’t be set any higher than the integrated ones anyway.

Note the point about them breaking … it’s a risk, but time will tell.

Thanks all.

Tried Express earlier today but can’t take triple in their units.

Morley said they’d do 4/20/4/12/4 to take their integrated blinds which look like Pellini so I guess they must be in the 20mm cavity. Just need to find someone whose doors will take those units.

Will look at some of the suggestions here.

Mont Blanc is nice but not worth the cash.

i now have 2 Parker 51s – one a vacumatic – and they are brilliant. A good vacumatic can hold way more ink than other pens, and a good one is smooth as silk to use.

About £100 on eBay should do it.

Mate’s dad has H20 DNA.

Pure class … He’s had it ages, his initials are DNA and he worked in the water industry. Suspect it’s worth a small fortune.

I bloody love this place!

I post an optimistic message about some obscure part manufactured in the USA. Inside a day I get 3 frame builders offering support and help, and then a member turns up with just what I’m after, sitting idle in his garage (the part, not sure what SSS is doing or where he’s sitting). Now on its way to me … bloody brilliant!!

SSS – YGM, assuming this is the ISO version of the insert we can do a deal.

If you have Stu I will be eternally grateful!

Thanks Matt – I’ll check it out.

Thanks Ben.

No huge rush, but months rather than years! I’ll drop you a line.

Andrew

I’ve got an electric Aga with the AIM system which makes it slightly less hideously expensive to run. Needed for an old farmhouse, and a great thing to cook on but they are not in the slightest bit green or eco friendly.

My monthly bills come in at £250, and about £200 of that is purely down to the Aga. So you’d better really, really want it.

Many thanks – currently struggling with the challenge of a wall plate that is 1.5″ lower than the outer lintel, and so the sash window is too tall …. Arghhhh!! Solution is to lower the stone sill … the joy of renovating an old house (or rather paying professionals to do it).

Same story here … solid stone walls, high external ground levels, cement render and concrete floor.

So far digging about 100 tons of dirt away from the house and striping the walls back and repointing in lime has worked wonders. Next stage is to get the floors up and get a lime floor down so that the whole lot can breathe.

Dehumidifiers are essential in old houses, plus an Aga in an old farmhouse like mine.

Get a builder who knows what they’re doing with traditional building techniques, and be very patient … the house will tell you what to do if you give it chance.

Spoke to Jungle. As I bought it before they started distributing them they will deal with it (if I can find the pesky receipt). Time to start hunting.

Cheers – sounds like it’ll have to go back to Germany then :cry:

One chimney not used so has a pepper pot lid on it, the other has a wood burner with metal flue and cowl over the top.

If it comes to it and the moisture is getting in through the wall (porous bricks) I’ll get it lime washed. But before I do that I’d like to see if there’s any way to pin down exactly where the damp is coming from.

Thanks.

Yes, old house. The damp is visible (stain) and stud wall feels clammy to touch. Showing up as a damp stud wall, so plasterboard and wallpaper.

Once we know we have no more guests turning up this summer I’m ripping the stud wall off to get behind it. Damp seems to come down the chimney stack – the stud wall is damp where it joins the stack.

Definitely not condensation – we know what that is like, and have dehumidifiers all over the place to deal with that.

As to the specific question, I have no idea … Lots to learn, I think!

Curtis XC9[/url]?

Nope, no bend to the hanger. All true and rickety-boo.

Where did I read the KMC chain warning? No idea – could have dreamt it. My 1 x 10 ran a KMC with no problems (General Lee kit).

XX1 chain. Quite a few sites selling narrow-wide rings warn against KMC chains, IIRC.

Hell greased out of it now and creaking just about gone. Don’t have a torque wrench that goes to 40Nm so just went for bastard tight setting.

No stiff links, and only happens under load in 10T. Checked there is loads of dropout clearance so nothing to do with rubbing the frame.

Will have to wait to the weekend to find out more …

Here’s the mech in 10T – I could get 2 links out and still be OK in 42T.

All set up OK – greased where it was supposed to be, and only 2 weeks old so should have grumbling mech pivots yet.

NW running as it should.

On a hardtail, so no suspension complications.

Puzzled … just back from a ride and same as described so not improving through use.

My son has that watch. Looks nice, works like a watch should and has been reliable over the 4 years he’s had it.

I use fork juice for routine maintenance – will this be OK?

Lots of creativity on show – thanks for those. The General Lee solution would work if there was a chance I might fit through the windows; and I’d love to move to Italy.

Sadly, grease is the word. Thanks momo for the link. Are there any greases we use on our bikes that would be suitable? Not damage the paint or the seals?

I started with thumbies BITD then went to XTR Rapidfire. they were great but I moved over to X0 Gripshift after a quick try out. The shift is very positive and almost impossible to do inadvertently, and you keep a permanent grip on the bars at all times when shifting (unless you try to grab a handful of gears at once). Major benefit is that you can micro-adjust the front mech. Oh, and you get a (rather fragile) gear indicator if you like that sort of thing.

Recently went 1×10 on my new bike and decided to try out the X0 trigger. Works nicely and as good – not better or worse – as Gripshift. If I ever go 1×11 I’ll go for whichever X0 shifter is cheapest as I can happily use both.

So, it’s down to personal preference and taste and what works best for you.

Curtis bikes did it for me – always loved the look of the raw frames, and Candodavid’s XC9 was the final straw.

I got some Paragon slider inserts and Gary at Curtis Bikes got some steel frame parts made up for them (to bring them further into the frame rather than hanging out the back). If you go custom your frame builder can probably accommodate whatever you want, within reason.

Link here.

cinnamon_girl – Member
Quick q – who do I need to speak to about flashing (?) around a chimney as reckon that’s the problem. Roofer? General builder?

Lead specialist or really, really good roofer who does lead properly. Anything other than lead is a bodge, and most general roofers or builders don’t do lead properly (having had roofers flash a chimney which had to be demolished after it cracked due to their efforts).

All IME of course.

Thank you for not posting any pictures of ‘that frame’. It’s still nagging away at me. In fact it’s taking on air of when, not if

You won’t regret it. If you get injured again you can still pass the time admiring the welding.