Out of the two I would go with the 717/XT combination hand built by Merlin. The will be easier to service and maintain over the long term – although many people on here have no time for XT hubs.

As njee20 says neither will be light wheelsets – but you get what you pay for so to speak and it sounds as if you have a budget or price in mind.

Pedalon.co.uk and Evans were selling 2008 Bontrager Race (£125) and Race Lite (£170) wheels pretty cheap a couple of weeks ago. They are not exceptionally light wheels, but they have good DT Swiss hubs, Double Butted spokes, welded OSB rims and are Tubless compatible and can probably support a slightly wider range of tyre widths than 717 rims which may be relevant depending on what type of riding you do.

The XCR-1 Centauris or whatever they were called got a very good review in Cycling Plus a couple of years back. They were about £195 at the time.

On that review my neighbour bought some XAR1s? for about £230 which were very light for their money – but christ did they look really cheap in the flesh.

Yeah I was at home. Also tipped the guys £20!

I don’t think they are a bad shop – as I said local and with a good reputation.

When I spoke them earlier I think they seem OK with providing a replacement but it will be interesting to see what the lead times are on re-stocking etc.

nickjb – Member
Sounds about the norm. I was chatting to a chap in one of the big chains at the weekend and he said they only do 5-10% off ex display.

If that is the case then I will simply ask them to supply a new model as I did not knowingly buy or ask to buy a display model. Although they are saying it is not the display model – but without going to the shop again I can’t say whether I believe them or not.

Not doing too well so far.

Shop have told me it was not the display model but so far have only offered me £30 which is neither here nor there against an outlay of nearly £600.

Thanks – yes perhaps I should be more miffed that it was the display model as I wasn’t expecting that.

Not keen on just sending it back as that leaves me without again for a period and that is a pain.

I could just say replace with a new one please – but equally happy with a discount.

I chose a local specialist with a very good local reputation as they offered a free installation and take away albeit paying RRP or very close to it.

alpin – Member
oppresive? how so?

Alpin,

I have no experience of Japan in general but Tokyo has to be one of the most **** ugly cities in the world. As you would expect it is a sprawling, very densily populated metropolis but alas it is also pretty much all the same – ulgy and characterless.

Whereas both Manhatten and London have distict areas each with their own identity and character then Tokyo has non of these. In New York you can pretty much walk from the bottom to the top in a couple of hours and you will see so many different sides of the city in terms of race, culture, wealth and all in all it all gets along just fine. Do this in Tokyo and you will just feel lost as if you have been walking around in circles.

I am not even sure if there is a single park in the city!

Maybe its hard as a westerner to understand and observe the differences as the culture is so different – but I also felt disappointed as it just felt like any other crap big city – but just uglier and where everyone was Japanese

Probably many on here who would disagree with me though ….

A friend’s younger brother did it a while ago now and ended up staying there for about 3 years in Tokyo TEFL.

I have only been once and didn’t get beyond Tokyo. I found it very oppressive even though I had lived in NYC for a number of years.

Would love one day to go back and see a lot more of the country though but Tokyo is very claustophobic IMO

Ooops that was a bit of a let down now ….

Oh yes that looks much better 🙂

I would not look to buy off CRC and then get your LBS to fit it – not fair on the LBS.

If HTII then buy the tool and BB and do it yourself.

If it is ISIS or square taper then you may want to just pay the LBS to do it all rather than buying all the tools BB tool, wrench and crank puller. It isn’t hard with the tools but if the BB is a little seized then it can sometimes take ingenious ideas to get enough force to shift the BB.

Its always good to have a good relationship with your LBS

I had a similar incident many many years ago after returning home from a foreign posting where I was told I had been paid some expat allowances twice or something similar

My understanding at the time was that I could be expected to pay it back but on very lenient terms e.g a £10 a week or whatever since I was not aware of what had happened

With a former employer I think they are just chancing their arm although still within the legal statute of 7 years I guess.

**** Man flu – not felt this bad for years 🙁

The very distinct possibility of losing my job in a few weeks time is very much at the top of the list at the moment.

This is compounded with the thought that if I do I have absolutely no idea what I will do with the next half of my working life.

Over the last week or so it has dawned on me that my job and the company I work for defines to a great extent who I am in life and I do distinctly not like that feeling one bit.

I know I must take control, but I suspect that is perhaps my greatest weakness

PJ Harvey – Stories from the City …

mboy – Member

GJP – Member

Can’t the state just arrange for the assasination of Sir Fred? Anyone know how big his widows pension is?

I wouldn’t defend the bloke’s actions for a second, but that’s a bit extreme, he’s not a terrorist, and this is the UK not the USA!

Finding a loophole to make sure he can’t get his pension, and that it has to go directly into the customers of RBS’ pockets would be far more preferable.

Perhaps we should charge him with Treason

Personally, I would quite happily shoot him – it would at least guarantee myself a roof over my head for the next 25 years or so 😀

Can’t the state just arrange for the assasination of Sir Fred? Anyone know how big his widows pension is?

GB,

I would not worry at all about using ventolin before every ride if that is only when you need it and it works. However, if you find you also need it fairly regularly at other times and more days than not then you may benefit from a preventor inhaler (sometimes brown but there are lots of different types)

My asthma also came on suddenly and late in life albeit not quite as late as yours.

I use Seretide which is a combinatation inhaler ie. a preventor cortico-steroid and a long lasting reliever (referred to as protectors)- but I still use ventolin before exercise. I probably don’t need to but I doubt it is doing me any harm.

Best to take ventolin a while, say 20 mins or so, before exercise – rather than take it with one leg already over the bike. Reaches is peak effectiveness in about an hour from what I have read.

Evans and Pedalon were knocking out Bonty Race and Bonty Race Lite wheels cheaply a week or so ago if you were intereted in some Tubless ready wheels.

I reckon even if you set them at the pressures listed in the manual which would probably be circa 100 PSI IIRC then you would still find them “stiff”

Lots of folk seem to conclude that the RockShox recomended pressures are way out.

If it were my money I would be choosing between the Fulcrum’s and the Mavics.

I have rode Mavics for years, Elites, Kysrium ESs and now Kysrium SL Premiums and their mix of weight, stiffness and compliance suits my riding well.

For the last couple of winters I have been using Fulcrum Racing 5’s and for their money seem to be a much better wheel than equivalently priced Mavic’s. So I would be tempted to see how their mid and higher end wheels perform. I think my Fulcrum 5’s are stiffer than all my Kysriums but it doesn’t overly bother me.

I sold the only Easton wheels I had very soon after buying them. It was nigh on impossible to get the tyres on and off. Not what I needed in the Winter. May not be the same for all their wheels but turned me right off.

Pearson Touche is less than £700. I think it is only £600. Don’t know whether Halfords will be able to source one or not though.

I have a Whyte 19 carbon HT frame on order. Hopefully will be here in a week or two now – but I am not expecting it to be uber compliant really. If I was looking for out and out comfort I would be looking elsewhere.

Thanks – I am tempted by the Santini ones. I tried some of the Roubaix shorts on and they were indeed very comfortable.

Great day down in Surrey although the wind seemed pretty constant from all directions

Got the spring time Ti roadie out first time for 8 months or so and showed it some hills. Hills 1 – GJP 0.

Loads of Road Riders in the North Downs this morning – there was no-one last week other than me coming a cropper on the ice.

Only used them once but mine were built to the timescales they give on their website 5-8 days. I think mine were about a week.

Well worth it in my opinion – only had a few pairs of handbuilt wheels and these were the best built of the lot of them – even compared with some top end wheel builders.

I once had a triple on a road bike. Never again all it did was prolong the agony when climbing hills.

You could do some calculations to see how much a 34 inner ring would alter the gearing with a 12-27 Cassette. It would be a cheap option.

You could also look for a custom cassette from Pearson Cycles. Think you can only go to a 29 with Shimano at least with a standard mech – but they are circa £100.

Sorry for the minor hijack I just bought some Bonty race lites and didn’t even think to check that the rim strips were asymetric or not. The rims are definitely OSB.

Does this mean I may have put them on the wrong way? – I was quite suprised how little faff it was fitting the rim strips but the Conti Race King UST tyes would not seat and inflate just using a track pump. Never had any problems with RR on Stans – I just though some combos seat easily and some don’t – but is there any chance this is down to the rim strips

Thx

No but ou have my sympathy – I spent a good hour late last night clearing up after my aging machine spewed its contents all over my kitchen and then dining room floor … Arghhhh …..

Today was my first ride in probably over 3 months in shorts and just a single base layer and top. I so much more enjoy cycling when it only takes a couple of minutes to get ready – stresses me out getting ready to ride in the middle of winter

As pk-ripper says I would stick to Esher Common, Oxshott Common and you can also add in West End Common. Its tame but nearby and compact so easy just to loop round without really knowing where you are so to speak.

From my experience there is not a lot around Cobham until you go as far as the North Downs.

Plus we want pics …. NOW 😀

Waste of money IMO.

I would confess to be a complete mechanical numpty of Olympic standard and have built up several bikes without any problems.

So long as you have checked there is not play in the headset and have tightened the key bolts OK and sure the brakes work then what can possibly go wrong!

Perhaps a bit of bad shifting – but you will soon sort that out.

According to that calculator I should be using cranks off a child’s bike. Although that probably suggests I should be stepping down to a 170mm

Pretty standard were I work apart from our bosses don’t have to write anything. At best its seem only loosely correlated with the annual performance review which seems to be based more on a chat between the boss and HR.

pk-ripper.

The surrey hills were **** lethal this morning on a road bike with ice and that was on some of the b-roads over the hills around Holmbury. I wish I hadn’t bothered as I completely bottled it after my first fall.

Also Coombe Bottom was closed to traffic (coned off at the Shere end) may have been open to bikes but not cars.

Should be a lot milder tonight it was about -3 when I set off this morning … but just in case…

Oh that’s OK mine should be arriving with a full length steerer attached.

mosschops – Member
I did the same..now concerned about my length

I never considered length … should I have done ❓

I know they have a crap rep but they have never failed me either as sender or recipient

No idea what they are like in terms of performance – but Sigmasport had one on a Ti Seven bike at the cycleshow and it looked sublime – at first I expressed suprise that Seven had made a frame with an integrated headset until one of the Sigma boys pointed it out to me.

Don’t arrive in the company car – just in case they ask for the keys there and then.

But in all seriousness – good luck and I hope it all turns out well