Spot on, perfect timing… Thanks for that.

I normally just ditch a book I don’t get into, but finished this one despite myself probably only because Good Omens was one of my favourite books from my teens…

Gaiman is clearly a bloody clever author. Not sure I ever find his style easy to read though.

Not looking to turn this into a war of attrition, lusty – I agreed earlier in the thread that I think they could have offered you something, 10% or similar.

A quick Google shows plenty of LBS selling for £89.99 though: Rutland, Plush Hill and Mud Dock all on the first page, with a couple of others Tredz and JE James at 15% off £89.99. I don’t know that Madison offer 40% on RRP, it was a round number for the sums. PP on the first page, from a shop, suggested 34% so I might be over estimating.

The last groupset I bought was from Merlin at about 45% off RRP. My LBS couldn’t get close and although they wanted the business, they didn’t have terms with a supplier which allowed them to compete. They weren’t trying to ‘rip me off’.

Haha? Not sure what I’ve missed (other than your odd interpretation of what RRP means).

I’m not in the bike trade, but a quick look here[/url] suggests that £90 is the RRP of an XT rear mech.

The RRP on an m8000 rear mech is 89.99 for instance. Literally nobody pays that price but the shop still makes good margin

Really? If they are making 40% at £89.99 then at £59.99 then are making £5 margin on the rear mech before costs. Is that good margin to you?

lustyd – Member

I was the only customer in the shop, even if the profit dropped to £300 that’s 300 more than they were making before.

Is this ultimately what you were looking for to give them the business, about 10% discount? Would £1450 have done it for you?

EDIT: just seen this:

lustyd – Member

Nope, buying local is worth something to me. The German price for a crankset is more than the UK price for the crankset as I said earlier in the thread so it’s not unreasonable for them to match it but I didn’t expect them to. I did expect them to not rip me off and charge full price

Whilst I don’t think asking for 10% is unreasonable, many people (not just you) now appear to think that a business charging RRP is somehow ‘ripping you off’. It’s an odd sentiment, that.

mt – Member
I’m looking forward to my extra holidays once Corbyns in power, I knew the guy would come up with the right policy.

I realise your post may be tongue in cheek, but has Corbyn said a four day increase in holiday entitlement to coincide with the four extra bank holidays, or just the latter? If just the latter then frankly some employees will just see a reduction in their number of free choice days…

I’ve done about 15k miles in mine so far, not crashy on standard dampers either. Like up there^, I’d prefer it a bit stiffer to be honest.

I had adaptive in my last car, and hated it in comfort so it was a complete waste of money (for me). I definitely wouldn’t go adaptive next time either.

The auto is brilliant (although wish I’d stuck to manual). 18mpg round the doors, 40mpg at a steady 70mph down the motorway – average over the last 10k miles is 23mpg, which I think is okay for the power. It’s a bit small, tinny and poorly built with some cheap plastics, but it’s a 1-series so hey… Sound insulation on the motorway isn’t brilliant.

It’s pretty quick by the numbers, but doesn’t feel especially fast behind the wheel – not raw at all.

Despite all the above, I’d definitely have another one (manual).

@chunky – thanks! Looks perfect 🙂

@Chunky

Which Lefty is that? Did you have to offset the dish to get enough clearance?

Cheers

Craig

I picked up a 13 and 15″ from the refurb store this week too – decent savings really.

The 13″ is non-touch bar, 16Gb or RAM and 512Gb SSD. It is close to a perfect laptop for me, it’s quick enough for the pretty basic stuff (compared to MrSmith) in PS, Illustrator and Premiere when using the built in display, but connect it to a 4k or 5k external display and it really, really slows down on basic operations to the point of frustration. I think it’s going back. I wish they made the 13″ with a quad core processor and GPU because I really like the size…

The 15″ feels big next to it, really big (it’s obviously not a big laptop at all)… After thinking I’d hate the keyboard, I’ve already come to really like it – dead surprised by that. I hope they release an external one with the same keys and a numeric keypad. The SSD really seems quick, the trackpad is great but I still haven’t found any use for the touchbar – really it just replicates keyboard shortcuts that are still quicker to use. TouchID seems very reliable though.

Really I like nearly everything about it, it connects to the 4k and 5k LGs and doesn’t seem to struggle with that from a speed perspective, but when connected to an external display the heatsinks on the back and the casing above the touchbar get seriously hot – about as hot as I can remember a laptop getting – certainly you wouldn’t want it on your knee…

There are inconsistencies with sleep/wake when connected to external displays, and I still would MUCH prefer a matt screen on the built in and external LGs, but probably the biggest frustration is that I can’t turn off the external display when then are connected, it has no buttons on the bezels and the only way to turn it it off is to disconnect it – but in my set up that means disconnecting the power supply too (good for about 5 hours so far).

Again though, the heat…

Very nearly bought an XPS 15, it was a close call. Still not sure I made the right decision, I think I might prefer Win10 to MacOS now, but ultimately the support from Apple wipes the floor with Dell and MS…

Yeah, I know. Really I have no idea if it’s £250 or £450 cost inc shipping.

The point I was trying to make is it’s still a pretty poor return for a warehouse full of risk. The tone of the thread in parts was somehow it was all a bit underhand – I just don’t see that (hyperbole aside).

funkmasterp – Member
Still a grand for the frame and fork. Is it definitely the same frame as those outlined above? Seems like a bit of a crap thing to do if it is.

I’m not exactly an On-One apologist, their website and hyperbole drives me nuts so I don’t shop there very often anymore (although I do have an Inbred hooked up to a FollowMe Tandem), but what are you expecting from a retailer?

The costs below are absolute guesses, I’m not in the cycle trade, but I reckon they’ll be pretty close. Lets say they buy the frame for £450 including shipping (nett of import tax which I’m pretty sure will be recovered as input VAT).

Selling at £999

Deductions and allowances per unit
Output VAT £167
Warehousing and staff processing costs £30
Warranties and returns write downs £50
Marketing £100 (allowing for future promos or end of line clearances write downs/write offs)
Cost of frame £450
Delivery to customer £10
Total deductions £807

So, selling at full retail they’ll make £192. Or, at least they will before Corporation Tax, another 20% assuming a year end profit, so £160 profit.

The director then pays himself a dividend, let’s say it’s about 30% tax – so £123 at the end of it all, for considerable risk and investment. He should open a chippy instead…

I definitely think Diesel emissions are getting worse. On the school run, the unmistakable smell walking along the pavement from the surrounding roads on a cold, still day really is pretty terrible. I hate it, and both my sons comment on it too when it’s bad. Not helped by the ****tards who sit for ten minutes with their engines running (a different thread, I’m sure)…

As much as I really hate diesel, I still find myself thinking my next car might be one though. I do about 12k miles per year: 6k on a school run/commute and 6k up and down the M1 Newcastle-Surrey. Currently in a petrol, but get about 30mpg on the motorway, and can’t help but think the diesel equivalent would be at 50mpg-ish. Maybe something like a 330e would be a good compromise…

I put a thread up last week about putting Stans into an inner tube for similar reasons, pretty much everybody said it worked well.

Pressure is high, so no disadvantage using tubes for pinch flats, all I want is protection from thorns and similar. I’ve got some 40c tyres on order which will go on Open Pros with Stans syringed into inner tubes. Might be worth considering?

Impossible task, isn’t it? I reckon I’d be genuinely pretty content with just 15 albums for the rest of my life, five or ten is leaving too many out…

Tracy Chapman, Tracy Chapman
Kings of Leon, Youth & Young Manhood
Rage Against the Machine, RATM
Paul Simon, Graceland
R.E.M., Automatic for the People

hammyuk – Member
du Pape is just that – pap.

That’s like saying American 29ers are pap – they aren’t all the same. There are good and bad examples of wines from every region and winemaker, and there’s some bloody good CdP.

CafeDirect pods this morning: just tried their El Reto, number 10. Coffee flavoured dishwater – very thin.

It’s going down the sink and I’m going make more of the CoOp stuff.

Starbucks are surprisingly good, given how terrible I find most SBs.

The current favourite in our house are CoOp Espresso pods. Normally drink Nespresso Ristreto and the CoOp are better in my opinion.

I bin all mine. Sorry.

I’ve gone from feeling pleased others have done it with success, to feeling really ****** off that I’ve never thought about doing it before.

It’s hardly a giant leap of the imagination, and I’ve put up with punctures on the CX bike and commuter for years no for good reason at all!

Honestly, it’s the only frame I’ve ever found uncomfortable: it just felt completely dead. The same components on a Roadrat couldn’t have felt more different, and I don’t think that’s due to a better grade or construction…

I’m seriously disappointed. I thought this thread had at least another hour in it…

Perfect, thanks Davesport – exactly what I wanted to hear (not the cross-dressing bit, maybe you should have kept that admission off the thread) 🙂

UH: have wondered the very same as I have been mulling this over. I imagine it must stay fluid longer.

Never tried the Hutchinsons but I have everything else. I found JRA, Bonty Super Juice sealed absolutely nothing, whereas Stans has never let me down once. I had pictures with Caffe Latex too, although that’s the only one which doesn’t eat aluminium rims (supposedly).

Thanks for the reply, I’ll give it a go.

I converted to Road tubeless five or six years ago with the first DA tubeless wheels and Hutchinson tyres. Had a proper moment towards the end of a descent where a bead popped off: still don’t know why it happened, or how I didn’t come off.

Back on normal tyres and tubes on the road as a result, and back to Hawthorne punctures on the country lanes. Don’t know why I’ve never thought about putting some latex in those tubes either…

Wylam Writer’s Block is really good too.

There would be no posts on the politics threads

The problem is and i dislike report post for this is you ONLY give a voice to those who object How many thousand of others read it it and did not care?

Its a bit like giving “snowflakes” or “MAry whitehouse types ” the power to stop the show/ruin the forum when their standards are nothing like the norms of the society/forum

I can see how it could end badly if people used it to try and hide opinions they didn’t like, as opposed to something that is deliberately offensive or argumentative, but I don’t think the majority of people would use it like that.

CharlieMungus – Member

five users across the site press ‘report post’ on any particular post it auto-hides it.

That might just encourage bullying

Maybe, but I really don’t think there are many bullying types on the forum…

Drac – Moderator

It’s a forum on the internet, what does everybody expect?

To treat people with respect.

I agree, that’s kind of my point (although you might be hard pushed to see it).

I accept you would want to remove offensive posts from the forum for all sorts of reasons, but I’ve never understood why these forums can’t write a simple code so that if, for example, five users across the site press ‘report post’ on any particular post it auto-hides it.

It would very quickly force those who continually troll to give up if the general population didn’t want to see the posts. Mods seem to have to explain their actions reasonably often, this would stop that.

Could we not moderate ourselves in this way, or is it a terrible idea?

I cant imagine ever pressing ‘report post’ because somebody insults me, my family or my nationality: it’s like telling on somebody to a teacher, and I left school 30 years ago. It’s a forum on the internet, what does everybody expect? Rather than report and remove posts, leaving them there helps me to learn who to ignore

When the mods do get involved, you’ve got to be prepared for them to be as wrong as they are right. There’s no rule book and they making it up as they go along, relying on their moral compass (you know, just like the rest of us).

People arguing for the sake of arguing really need to have a word with themselves though: there are a few on here. Their lives must be really shit.

Cheers Jon.

I’m heading into town later to see if Fenwick have got some kind of bento box or similar. Travel should settle down now, I can start to make more regular exercise too. I think if I can start taking lunch into work and avoiding the need to buy some kind of chicken milanese toasted foccacia goodness* every day that will also help.

I cook the kids something healthy every night so if I just make a bit more food then that’s lunch sorted the next day.

I think your right about being good on the days I know I can be, sadly that’s often a Friday to Sunday when roasts, pies and beers are calling. Got to find a solution though – even customers are telling me I look fat!

* EDIT It’s more like a steak bake and a tomato soup

I’d say my first six weeks are an epic fail, really. Lots of excuses: travelling, busy at work, quite a bit of travelling and a few conferences. What a crock.

So, I either give up and stay fat or start again, and aim for a decent couple of weeks to get back on it. I’m going for the latter.

I haven’t been eating too badly to be honest, but barely drinking any water – just gallons of tea and coffee. Can’t believe that is the key, but it’s something I’m going to change. Well done to all those who have lost proper amounts – I envy you!

2lb off.

I was away for 6 days in the last two weeks with endless conferences. Diet mainly consisted of cured red meat, processed red meat, and endless mini lemon tarts and chocolate muffins.

Not quite what I had intended.

Never met him but he never came across badly on here, which given the length of time he’s been posting, has to tell me the kind of bloke he was. RIP 🙁

M&S PX is from Lustau, cracking producer. Their Almacenista is bloody excellent, not sure if M&S do that,but easy enough to find elsewhere.

Boiled eggs and sour dough for brekkie then a huge Sunday lunch. Only one Yorkshire Pud and 3 roasties though, so that’s progress.

Just went for my first run in 10 years. Took my seven year old with me for our first run together ever – it was the most epic two miles I’ve ever done 🙂

Big stinking Rioja while sitting on the sofa now…

NC750s are brilliant bikes but of the two you mention the CB500 range would probably get my vote, especially the CB500F.

It has a similar power output to the NC750, but it’s lighter, revs more freely and is just a bit more fun to ride.

For a first bike, I’d be wary of something like a Street Triple or something with that level of power. People who say that you only go as fast as you twist the throttle clearly have greater self control than me…

weeksy – Member
Consumed 18lb of cheese ? Is that actually possible !

Artistic licence. I’d give it a bloody go go though…

Only 5lb off but 18lb of cheese consumed that I couldn’t bring myself to throw out, comfort eating through a 7 day data migration, and four work nights out. Not a single pedal either 🙁

Surprised I lost anything at all, but I’ve cut down all portion sizes and cut out most unnecessary eating/snacking. Want to start properly from today to catch up (I’m 2lb behind schedule for month one).

Thanks again for doing this Jon.

chilled76 – Member
How on earth do you get stans into a 23c tube?

Assuming the valve cores unscrew, I push it through a syringe and bit of rubber hose (cut from a spare brake bleed pipe).

Regarding re-imbursement, I’d imagine the company have travel insurance and will be able to (though might not bother) claim back costs if the OP is able to provide a letter from his GP saying that he was too ill to travel.

Agree completely, but I’d still be offering.