Audit subscriptions. I allow myself Zwift OR Trainerroad, Netflix OR Disney.

I’ve often speculated there must be modules in ‘how to be a poor communicator’ and ‘how to push people exactly 99% as far as they’ll go without flipping’ in trades apprenticeships.

Sounds pretty standard albeit depressing that it is. I’ve had the same or worse. I doubt witholding payment will go well for you.

Ask them to clean up when they do the last bit of trim and they might pick up 75% of the crap :D

Isn’t there an allen key bolt on both sides of the pivot axle? Get two allen keys and hold one side while you tighten the other.

(Apologies if the 2016 Five is the one with pinch bolts on the swingarm; if it is, I have no idea about that)

**** massive innit. Bike ponce doesn’t like his hub colour! Stop the World!

Well, yes, but this a forum for bike ponces, you’re a bike ponce, we’re all bike ponces, and Hope are a bike ponce company making kit for bike ponces.

I found Ridenow tubes to be shit. All three I’ve tried have each, at some point, catastrophically decided to stop holding air with no puncture hole I can ascertain (and I’m not totally inept at such things).

My experience chimes with this review; Just Take Me Home: Reviewing $8 RideNow TPU Inner Tubes Versus $35 Tubolitos – Travis Engel | The Radavist | A group of individuals who share a love of cycling and the outdoors.

(sorry – STW’s latest quirk is not letting me post URLs. But sesarch “tubolito vs ridenow radavist”)

All my Howies t-shirts fit on the large side…

There’s some half price DT EX471 rims on Biketart in 29″/32h flavour.

We all know Chinesium carbon frames are made out of papier-mâché, but I didn’t realise it was fork dampers too…

Man I loved my red North Cape Polartec 200 fleece. I wore it to absolute death.

Haha, I finally gave in and bought my first ever pair of Crocs just before Christmas. I went with these ones:

Second-best road bike, so Bike Yoke might be overkill :D

Haha. I am reluctant to go Thomson as I’m pretty sure the seat tube on my frame is on the large size of 27.2mm, which is probably a bad combo of tolerances.

Maybe Zipp…?

Edit, wow, who knew?

I was an “I’m never going back to cables” Di2 convert… until I crashed in a race last summer and smashed two Dura Ace Di2 STI levers to bits :-( . Not only was it horrendously expensive, fishing all the Di2 wiring out of a frame is actually a lot more annoying than normal cables.

Sram Red 22 mechanical on my race bike this year.

Clearly I’m talking out of my arse in at least one regard then :D

The above was only based on a 30s google, maybe either Bikehut grease isn’t the same as Weldtite, and/or Weldtite is actually synthetic. Either way – I still wouldn’t use a petroleum-based grease in a carbon frame.

I’ve heard the same and use a synthetic grease – normally Silkolene Pro RG2, though I’ve currently got a tube of Rocol Sapphire which isn’t quite as good. Synthetic greases tend to be nicer than petroleum ones anyway.

Based on a quick Google search your Bikehut grease is the same as Weldtite TF2, which is a lithium (petroleum-based) grease. I’d get something else for your carbon frame.

Mark Sisson off of basically inventing the paleo diet (which I was super into for years) has a huge bee in his bonnet about chronic cardio: https://blog.primalblueprint.com/episode-1-chronic-cardio/

I’m aware of it but basically decided the risks are a tradeoff I’m willing to make.

From an assessing fitness perspective, how fast your heart rate slows down to ~normal when resting after approaching your max is a more useful – but still crude – measure.

Having a look around their website, I could see stock in the sales from Ribble (Level) Chiggle (Nukeproof and Ragley) and Planet X (Carnac). Weird. And as pointed out already there is some eclectic stock on that website. Bargains too.

Isn’t Banana Industries Dave – former Planet X owner – continuing his Delboy/Mike Brewer wheeler dealering? Not that that’s a bad thing.

16″ ish for sure. Basically you need to choose on standover, not length.

There seems to me to be a mistaken belief that because 26″ wheels are smaller, the bikes come up smaller too. Yes, they’re shorter, but the toptubes aren’t super low or anything – not even on old Konas or similar ‘low slung’ frames.

Choosing an old bike based on a desire for a longer frame = recipe for smashing your nuts IMO.

What should I invest in? Vanguard Lifestrategy 80

What cryptoc- NONE YOU MONSTER

@richardkennerley has your tent been washed away? It has been torrential in Peebles for a good few hours now…

If only there was, like, some sort of Government, with some sort of ability to legislate for things to make driving safer… pipe dreams.

I think – if we accept Pug from Riftwar is a Mary Sue – Ged from the Earthsea Trilogy and Fitz from the Robin Hobb books probably are at least halfway there too. Happy to be debated on that though.

Joe Abercrombie is a fine exponent (even better than George RR Martin) of the fantasy sub genre I call “everyone is a bastard”.

<I’ve already seen funkmasterp replied as I was writing that, but I’ll post it anyway>

Wow – TAG metals really got busy with the Chinese parts catalogue…

I’d go with DMR or Burgtec or frankly any other company that actually puts something back into MTB*.

*Yes, i’ve clicked on the “Rider Support” tab on their website and no, I don’t think that really cuts it.

Are you April Fooling by suggesting it might not be an April Fool? That is some meta-level fooling….

I am so sorry. I’m welling up at my computer having been lurking on this thread throughout.

Yeah Apple have previously delivered security updates for their phones for 5 years after release, and since Covid have extended that to six years.

 I only live in an apartment though, so  a “grow box” setup that would fit in an ikea wardrobe is about a grand, which is kind of more than I had really wanted to spend

Isn’t all that only necessary if you’re growing in an attic though?

I had a decent degree of success on a bathroom windowsill in Derbyshire (about 25 years ago officer!).

I can’t get my head around how ugly Balenciaga trainers are. They look like Chinese trainer brands – Peak, Anta, Li-Ning, 361 – and yes, there’s a reason why you haven’t heard of any of them…

Trainerroad has AI FTP detection now, it’s supposed to be pretty solid.

Love their podcast too, they’re a quality outfit.

+1 it’ll be fine.

I look forward to these being squeezed into back gardens of existing rental properties in the SE and extortionate rents being charged…

His name is a gift to the tabloid press. Scam Bankman is going to get Fried etc.

I think his lack of contrition is a demonstration of pretty extreme autism. Having read some (really interesting) biographical stuff about him, he is evidently super-high functioning but seems to be totally incapable of normal human interaction.

^ agree with all that @rone, it’s just that the AI text on the previous page wasn’t very insightful.

You’re going to need to expand on how increasing upfront costs improves access to HE ‘…especially [for people] from disadvantaged backgrounds.’ I would have said that it had exactly the opposite effect – locking disadvantaged people out and reserving HE for the already well-heeled. So yes, a perfectly successful Tory policy.

@PhilO your misconception is common and forgiveable.

• Prior to 2012/13, government imposed a hard cap on the number of students universities were allowed to recruit each year – this existed under Labour too, right through the 00s. This is because there is no such thing as free education – if graduates are paying less (or nothing), more is coming from general taxation.
• In 2013 – shortly after £9k fees were announced  – George Osborne announced number caps would be relaxed in 2014/15 and abolished completely in 2015/16.
• As a consequence, an 18-year-old from the most disadvantaged areas in England (i.e. POLAR quintile 1) is >70% more likely to go into HE in 2023 than 2010.

You’re going to need to expand on how increasing upfront costs improves access to HE

£9k fees didn’t increase upfront costs – tuition fee loans are available to cover the full costs of fees. And they only need to be paid back if you are earning over £27.3k/year (if you did a degree between 2012-2023). For new students this year its £25k/yr.

There’s literally no new frames out there that are cheaper than the Camino apart from some with bad geometry on Merlin.

Source: I am currently looking for basically the same thing.