Watching with interest. Got made redundant last month aged 58 with a reasonable payoff but need to do something to top up the pension. Might have to do a bit of contracting in my old industry or try something completely different. I’ll finish watching the TdF and enjoy the summer before stressing about it.

Thanks. I’ve got 28mm durano plus on mine but want to go a bit bigger. Is clearance ok on the rear one or a bit tight?

What tyres are you running OP?

I’ve always fancied a 556A although I’m not sure I could live with the date window where it is and would much prefer it with no date. There are a few sellers on eBay who do seiko based sinn lookalikes which look ok for a daily beater .

After this thread I’ve been wearing my Kinetic for a day or two and the, sadly it seems the battery is struggling with holding its charge.

The watch is quite old and I’m surprised it’s lasted this long.

Anyone recommend a Seiko or good watch mender in Bristol.

For a kinetic battery replacement, I got mine done by Watchkings (advertising on ebay). Not Bristol, but somewhere in devon.

I’ve met CFH several times.

I’ve never been the same since.

I might have unwittingly met Cinnamon Girl once if she was helping out in Imber church when it was open in summer 2016.

I haven’t used it in anger but seems to fit ok. I’ve nothing else to compare it too though.

To be honest I’m still experimenting. I found I had a low speed wobble when I did my week long tour (first pictures), possibly because I took too much stuff and had too much weight on the front.

This made me rethink how much to take in future hence the frame bag – I’ve also got a lomo seatpack to try out. I can strap stuff to the rack as well and the front panniers will also fit although I doubt I will use both options at once. I originally had a Tubus Tara lowrider on the front but managed to hole a pannier during a drywall interaction and think if I have panniers on the front I want them higher.

I reckon for a 3 day trip I will try seatpack, frame bag and dry bag on front rack. For a longer trip I’ll probably revert to a 4 small pannier set up.

[

Somehow I managed to post an image, wonders will never cease !

The above was in touring mode, the one below after a muddy bridleway session:

Gearing is a modified 105 triple (50/39/26) and an 11-34 on the back. with a Deore 9 speed mech. I’m debating about changing the crank to more touring orientated, and maybe going for a 650B wheelset. In touring mode it had 40c Marathon Plus tyres on, the second was with 40c WTB Nanos.

Well I was going to post some pictures of mine, but have no idea how to anymore :(

I remember giggling at Shitlington Crags when I did the Pennine Way in 1977 !

Thwing is just up the road from Wetwang. East Yorkshire has some great names :)

They better leave the Wyndham Arms alone

vondally – you posted whist I was typing. Good suggestions!

Thanks all for suggestions so far, Combining replies randomly :

I’m down south in Salisbury. I lived on the west coast of scotland for 4 years in the ’80s and have been up there several times since due to work (Inverness, Benbecula).  I was climbing in Glencoe in 1985? when they were filming the clan battle scene from Highlander – that was a bit surreal. I do intend to drag my daughter up there sometime :)

My daughter would love some northern Italian cities. I think Rome might be a bit warm in August and the lakes will be mobbed (both of these are on a to do list sometime though).

We had also thought of Eurostar towards  somewhere like Ghent or Bruges.

Keep them coming :)

I’m in the opposite position to the OP. I’ve got a vaya with 700c wheels and was wondering whether to get a set of 650b ones :).

I do already have a second set of 700c wheels which are currently on my Kaffenback and these are actually my best set (hand built by Malcolm at the CycleClinic). I have swopped them over before, however the Kaff is only a 9 speed set up so I also need to put a 10sp on when moving these to the vaya. If I put bigger tyres on the good wheels when on the Vaya, I have to swap them back for narrower ones when I use the Kaff, so it’s all a bit of a pain.

I could simplify things by making the Kaff 10spd (or making the Vaya 9spd) or just not use the Kaff…or buy a cheap set ..or…

AS you can tell. I can’t make decisions.

I agree

Seiko SARB033 gets good reviews (lots of videos on youtube).

Nice classic design with a diameter of about 39mm. Some people don’t like the standard steel bracelet but I like mine. If you have massive wrists the bracelet won’t be big enough though as it is sized for the japanese domestic market,

You can find them for about £240 new on ebay.

I thought Flashers would have a man to do the shooting, whilst he himself just roamed the grounds of his vast estate?

Happy chrimbo CFH :)

Anyone can fly there but a couple of days a year the conditions are right for the paragliders. No pure powered stuff but a electric powered glider should be OK though. The best cliff soaring is on Portland, but make a mistake and the plane can be gone. Very good flying at Ringstead with massive clean lift. Again, not a pure power site. I’ve never flown powered stuff so can’t help.

I’ve been flying paragliders at the White Horse and Ringstead for the last 30 years :) Fantastic sites.

Thanks everybody so far.

Will try some biological washing powder next to see if that helps. (Ran half a packet of soda crystals through on a hot cycle last night).

Thanks for the suggestions so far, i think I’ve tried most of them already. :(

No mould.
Filter’s clean. Only thing i can think of is there is a hidden lot of gunk I can’t find lurking somewhere out of sight. I even tipped it upside down and removed the hose coming out the sump, which was clean. :(

No problems with water quality, Dry outside where possible but on airer inside when weather poor. Sometimes things seem okay, other times not. It’s very inconsistent, however when it gets into certain clothes it just doesn’t shift despite repeated washing.

I thought the bleach would have killed everything off. It frothed nicely all over the floor.

I’ve tried some posh cleaning stuff and bleach, hot washes, cold washes. I’ve got the soda crystals ready so that’s the next attempt.

I’ve bought a watch off them recently. You have to add 20% tax and £12 handling charge to the on line prices though, so it’s worthwhile doing your homework first. I’m happy with the one I got but I bought a lower end model to test the water , so to speak. Might get another from there in the future if I can’t find a UK seller selling one for the same(ish) price. Mine came with a 2 year international guarantee.

I’ve just sold a bike (frog 69) to a new ebayer. It was collection only as I didn’t want the hassle of boxing it up. It went for a lot more than I was expecting, so much so that I felt a bit guilty. Turns out he got a bit of auction fever as there were last minute automatic bids – which were from people miles away who would probably back out anyway. I ended up giving him an unsolicited discount which made us both feel better :)

I’m six foot and I’ve got a large.
Funnily enough, I’m looking at the Moloko bars myself. I tried Mary bars on it which seemed a bit narrow. The standard bars seem to wide and I might chop a bit off them if i don’t get the Moloko ones.

There’s a very nice Frog 69 in purple on ebay at the moment if anybody is in the salisbury area :)

Motels – Total Control gets my vote.

UFO – Try Me
Deep Purple – Soldier of Fortune

No UFO in the list!
Doctor Doctor

One of it’s companions landed 400m from me a couple of hours ago due to a fuel gauge problem. Now safely back on its way home :)

I modified my 105 crankset from 50/39/30 to 50/39/26 which worked fine with the 105 front mech and STI shifters. I’m running a 10sp 11-34 on the back with a Deore 9 speed mech. This gives me 26/34 as the lowest gear on my Vaya. I’m debating about swopping the crank to a Spa one so I can go lower on the front, but I’d have to learn how to ride slow speed without wobbling first :)

Full on touring mode

Bimble mode

I used a Salsa Vaya for a 340 mile joint last summer. I think I overloaded it at the front as it wobbled below 6mph. Don’t know whether it was the bar bag which was the final straw. Aiming to take less crap next time. I think the Vaya is more a ‘light’ tourer and a Surly Disc trucker might have coped better. Pure conjecture on my part!

This is mine with a Pelago commuter rack on the front. I can fit a 24 litre Carradice Super C Saddlebag on the rack. Annoyingly, my small panniers won’t fit on the front as the hooks are spaced too far apart for the horizontal rail, but I might try some different ones sometime.

I’ve swopped the bars for On One Mary bars.

I need to set it up tubeless when I’ve worked out how to do it :)

B17 on the Vaya which sees a bit of offroad. It started off on my Kaffenback but the Vaya has bigger squashy tyres and the saddle seems more comfy (it’s still breaking in) and I reckon it will be a keeper.

I had a C17 given to me by my brother who couldn’t get on with it. neither could I. Instrument of torture to me. Everyone is different though.

I second Whitesnake for being well past it.

Donnington 1981 (Monster’s of Rock) support to AC/DC – really good.

Bournemouth BIC a couple of years ago – awful.

Whereas UFO are still as good today (IMHO) as they were the first time I saw them in ’81.

I’d go with Junkyards suggestion of a RAM mount.

I use one with my old Etrex and a similar one on my motorbike gps. Bombproof.