There's a gemoetry table here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/35152785@N00/4711387695/in/set-72157605414628709/

I reckon eBay's not too much hassle though Martin, in fact I quite like the not knowing. 🙂

But.. I'd be gutted if somehow the auction didn't take off and it went for a low price so although I hate doing this, I want to set a reasonable reserve for what's it's worth worst case…

Thanks PJ. I've had it since new, my wife thinks it's the only good looking bike I've ever owned and I've never wanted to part with it. But I reckon I'm ready for a complete change and I can't justify keeping it alongside another.

Running 7850 CLs with Hutchinson Fusion.

Absolute **** to fit to the rims, probably the tightest fitting tyre/tube combo I've had for a while. Filled with Stan's, although I really want to give Caffe a shot as it's got no ammonia in it…

I can't give a definitive, because I went from Ksyrium SLs with Force/Attack straight to 7850's with Fusions. Compared to the old pair on the same frame, they roll faster, feel quieter and feel a bit more forgiving for the same pressure. Hard to know how much of this is the wheel or the tyre though.

The puncture protection is the main reason I went for them, given I ride in an area with a lot of farmers fields edged with hawthorns. I was curious how much better they cope in that regard (I get quite a few punctures, especially when they are cutting the bloody hedges…

Man, I used to LOVE my Race and Chase…

Three reasons

1. The old site crashed at Christmas and my old name was dead
2. There was the usual god/atheist thread running
3. I was listening to a Stone Roses album

It was too perfect a fit…

If you're not using it off-road at all, then you might want to sway towards the Multi (I had an 06, which was ugly as hell but pretty nice for a few years).

I'd also consider looking at the new Super Tenere from Yamaha. Rumours are around of a new 1400 Honda coming too.

On the face of it, this might not seem so helpful: if you can, make the decision you're both happy with before the twelve week scan.

I can't imagine how you make a decision like this after that scan without serious future complications…

Their all good bikes, but the ER6 isone of the best all round bikes I've ridden. Really capable at scratching of cruising. I like it a lot.

There's 3 years 0% on a few Kawasaki's at the moment… 😀

Ooh, that's going to be lovely. You'd better be quick though, riding that 😉

I've had a happy time Profile Racing's hubs. Really well made, not too heavy and not that common either. They're about £300 a pair and parts are dead easy to get hold (they seem bombproof).

Somewhere in the middle with weight – 400g rear, 200g front (ish).

oldgit – Member
Rode a 100K on/off road ride Sunday on a 22 year old Vetta Ti, so to answer you question not often.
I like to buy up old style Flite Ti's as well.

Pretty sure I read somewhere they are putting the original Flite Ti back into production 😀

Ro5ey – Member
iamtheresurrection

Please disguard anything I have said and go PLAY with the Traffic

Nice, thanks. I called your post stupid, not you. You go interpret it how you want. QED.

Obviously, yes.

Ro5ey's OP may well be the single most ridiculous post I've ever seen on here. And I remember when Luke posted as 15 year old Moonshine…

Personally, I really can't be arsed to reason with such a stupid post.

Bump now we're all back at work? 🙁

Interesting molgrips.

But maybe some religious folk aren't getting it either. He goes through all of this effort to create life and give you the oportunity to live it (by way of miracle), and all you can think is:

it's about the idea that above all of the crap of every day life, there is someone or something that loves you unconditionally and will look after you ultimately, even when you die miserably.

If I was him I'd wonder why I bothered.

Let's assume for the moment that there is a God. Do we believe that he is just the God of Earth, or does he perhaps run our galaxy?

Maybe he created the whole universe? Is that what Christians believe, he did the whole heaven and earth thing? Because if that's the case, he created an estimated billion galaxies each with an estimated billion stars and planet systems within each one. He then populated at least one planet out of all of those with six billion people (at any one time) and countless other amazing things.

If that's true, does anyone really think that he's got the desire, time or inclination to give a shit whether we look after each other or not.

We're each here for a blink of an eye, in a tiny outpost in the universe. I can't imagine anybody is so arrogant to assume that they have any importance in God's to do list.

I imagine they go into owning a shop or stay in it hoping they will make money. No one would pay corporation tax, NI, rates and take an annual risk etc etc for a hobby

Of course they go it to it hoping to make money: they have to make money to pay themselves a salary.

People always assume CRC are a low margin business. I'd happily wager a nice new pair of socks that CRC's gross profit is about the same as your LBS.

Some people running LBSs just aren't quite as mercenary as you Mark – you should go into recruitment 😉

Off out for ride.

Sorry, its a business. If someone is scraping by year after year then they are in the wrong location or should work for someone else IMO.

Hang on, who are you to say that? Maybe the LBS owner really enjoys what he does or maybe he bought a dream, stuck his mortgage on it, and now is stuck there because selling the business at break even isn't an option.

I agree that there's no room for pity here, I just absolutey disagree with some of the posts (and the OP) that somebody is taking the piss somewhere. FWIW, I do shop at my LBS, but spend a lot with Wiggle, CRC and other online retailers when it suits (stock availability or offers).

That is plain crazy to make that statement.

Really?

How did CRC become so huge? (Circa 5,000 orders a day). It wasn't by offering a cheap symbolic 50p cup of coffee to make their customers feel cosy about spending two grand+ a year just with them was it?

I'm not sure what that has to do with it. If I wanted to run my own business and be wealthy I'd open a chippie in a sink estate or an Italian restaurant in a secondary city. I'd enjoy neither job and the money wouldn't motvate me (I wonder what their gearing looks like though)…

I imagine many LBS owners don't do it to make pocket fulls of cash, but rather enjoy looking after customers and talking about bikes, rides and so on. CRC is a great business, but it's hardly a people business.

Most retailers operate at roughly the same margin, regardless of the product. The obvious one that doesn't is fashion, but they have huge write-downs at the end of a season so it does balance in the end.

The reason for this is pretty simple. High street retailers have similar costs regardless of the business, and a certain percentage is needed to cover these costs. Go much above that, and somebody will undercut you – much below and you're out of business.

A bike shop will try to hang on to RRP as hard as they can. It's **** mercenary, cheeky gits want to pay their staff and rent, rates, and VAT bill and…

A well ran LBS might get to the end of a year and have made enough profit to pay the owner a salary. It might be a half decent wedge (it probably isn't more than an average teacher), but nothing spectcular. And for that he's risked his house (probably) and lost plenty sleep worrying about the resposibility he has towards his staff finances too.

A strong brand like Lapierre is a god send to an LBS (are they a strong brand, really?) because it gives them a chance to actually achieve close to recommended retail and survive for another year.

I have never met a really wealthy bike shop owner (they'd make more money as reps).

Now it is probably impossible to say if the two are related but it does confirm that the death penalty does not act as a deterrent.

Quite brilliant. 😀

No to CP, but life should mean life. In this extreme case in solitary and with basic provisions. CP is the kinder option in this case, and I don't see why he shouldn't suffer.

I do it at Hamsterley all the time.

Mainly because in the winter the car parks get locked beyond a certain time (6pm) and I often go to ride between 5-7pm. Check my windscreen next time, you'll find I often buy a ticket to park outside of the forest anyway…

I added a clan tag of STW. I thought a few had done the same but I've never seen anybody…

My son came along three weeks ago now. I got nothing in for the first seven days or so, then have managed the turbo every other day and got my first hour out on the roads on Sunday morning after I put him back to bed for a few hours after his 6am feed…

I don't love the turbo, but I think it'll play a big part for the first few months as I snatch an hour of so here and there whenever I can. We're unbelievably tired all the time though and to be honest I did consider just binning all riding until July or so. I bought myself an imagic last week to keep me motivated.

My evening ritual goes like this. Bath him at 6, feed him at 6.30, put him in bed by 7.15ish then I hit the turbo by 7.30. We have dinner at 8.30ish, we feed him again at nine, I stare into space for few hours then I get ready to feed at midnight before trying to sleep through the 3am feed my wife will do. I can't see how I'll get out midweek until I can get an hour in from 7.30 onwards in the daylight…

Weekends you'll probably find you'll want to spend as a family, so I'm planning on using the 7am starts pretty often.

I have a Profile SS specific cassette rear hub whic I've never, ever touched… Not cheap, but excellent.

jontawn – Member
RWD = reverse up the hill!?

Even worse. RWD are mostly crap because there's not a big engine on top of them to keep them weighted. Point it backwards up a hill and even more weight will be on the front wheels…

Same here – 44 in both road and mountain…

Email sent too. 88.5kg…

Five of those came on in the month of December alone! I'd love to think I could realistically target 75kg for 2010 (I'm 5'11"), but realistically I'd settle on 80kg…

A baby we have due in four weeks will either help or hinder – I suspect the latter.

Look, somebody's right…

George: how did you know it was 18k miles? I'm assuming some program (Sporttracks or similar) has the summary? Can you not just alt printscreen the summary and stick it somewhere for the doubters to see.

You can't say you don't care whether people believe you or not, you've been arguing it for nine bleedin pages…

Hmm, I don't think you can do that with the newer CS sensors, although not sure.

Funny, I was reading this thread earlier thinking how well the OP would get on with Glupton. D'oh.

Expect your wrists, ankles and back to hurt for a while. You'll get through it…

It's funny, I never used to remember rigid hurting so much, but I guess years of suspension changes your riding style and speed. There is pleasure in fully rigid. Somewhere.

If you are using an older style Polar speed sensor (not WIND), then open it and you'll see a little jumper. Mover the bridge across the other pins and it doubles the signal strength (although it affects the battery life, obviously)…

A good fix though.

EDIT: Here's the link, with a better explanation 😉
http://www.pursuit-performance.com.au/polar/html/local/faq/faq_speed_cadence.html

Cheap as chips SS specific Truvativ Stylos. They're 180mm, and after a few pairs of 175s, I reckon 180 is a small difference worth having..,

A pimp-tastic white Gore Oxygen SO jacket for the road bike. And… I had no idea. Which is rare in itself! 🙂

Now trying to digest 15lb of rib of beef. Maybe room for a wafer thin.

Small freezer bags over the front part of your feet. It's the future. Enough to keep the wind from whistling through the shoes, at least. I've tried foil, but it rips.

It's hard to understand why I just don't buy some new overshoes though 😉

I forgot about Nudo – cheap and excellent noodles. If you're in that area, then Blackfriars can be very good.

I'm agreeing with much of the above, really. They're aren't many great restaurants in Newcastle – but lots of over-priced average places.

Some of the exceptions are:
Caffe Zonzo – shortish walk from the Quayside
Cafe21 – £13 two course early dinner menus are excellent value
Barn Asia – really good Thai Viet place, more of a walk though
Vujon – good Indian on the Quayside, a while since I've been though, not super cheap…
Black Door at Biscuit Factory – short walk, again the early bird menus are excellent value

It can't be that bad…

My missus is 34 weeks now. I figure with 6bn people on the planet, many have been through this before and got by, with much less than we have. I reckon that's the best way of looking at it.

That said, I'm pretty much bricking it.

I use Airfoil.

It's worth paying for, pretty much faultless. It'll stream from Spotify, IE or any app on your computer…

EDIT: There is a delay, you're right.

Is it not just called mince because it's minced?

Sorry, not trying to sound like a smartarse… Honest 🙂