I have a Friston. 6’2″ and I’m on the 56cm frame. Their geo chart puts me on either 56 or 58 but I don’t think I’d want to go bigger. I’m considering a shorter stem if anything.

A lot of the HR equipped trackers don’t actually use it for sleep tracking – no idea why. My Garmin Vivosmart just goes on movement levels during the night and isn’t particularly good at it.

I’d go for whatever Fitbit model is within budget and looks nice. They’re the most popular, the app will be best for a casual user and most likely to have social media friends using one.

Since you’re not looking for a running/sport watch that stuff is more important than the features of the hardware.

Shops

How much longer are we talking? I know that will vary with conditions, but I initially thought “basically forever” but read somewhere “twice as long as a chain” which sounds not worth it at all.

I’d take my comments with a pinch of salt, haven’t had the bike long enough to speak from personal experience. The previous owner replaced the belt (but not the rings) once in 4-5 years but I don’t know what kind of mileage he did.

There’s a review of the newer style Gates drive (centretrack system) that claims 31000km over 2 years on one belt which sounds impressive, but it is just one review.

I’m not sure it works out more expensive given the belt should last a lot longer than a chain. Downside is it’s probably not a DIY job when it does need maintenance, at least for getting the belt tension right.

There’s a phone app for checking tension but I wasn’t able to get a consistent reading from it.

For what it’s worth I have a single speed belt drive Trek District I really like.

Slightly OT question, is drafting random strangers accepted as normal on the road? It’s happened to me before and I find it very disconcerting.

Sorry to go OT but can anyone recommend a bikes-only policy? I don’t control the house insurance but I know it doesn’t adequately cover the bikes…

I was looking at Barclays, the terms seem very good. Covers multiple bikes, including away from home, no obtuse lock requirements. Much much cheaper than the specialist bike insurers I looked at.

With the double tap lever you click once for a harder gear or keep pushing to downshift. I got used to it on my first ride.

TLD for cycling (if they’re on sale). Fit me like a glove.

Had a Crosstrail before, nice enough bike but I didn’t see the point in having that and a hardtail MTB. It’s not really much lighter or faster on the road and less capable off.

The Boardman or similar rigid flat bar bike would be my pick (haven’t ridden one).

My new bike has Rival. Never used drop bars, hooded levers or SRAM gears before.

The brakes feel a lot less powerful than I’m used to on mountain bikes, but they have plenty of modulation and work fine. I feel like I have to squeeze quite hard to brake hard which may be designed to be more familiar for roadies coming from mechanical brakes. Personally I’d rather have a shorter travel lever and more immediate brake response.

Design of the hoods works for me. They are big but feel secure off road. I like the shift lever, it’s easy to cover the brake with my index finger and shift with the middle. You can pull it close to the bar to use on the drops too.

Ask them. If you’ve upgraded I don’t see why they wouldn’t.

Wide at the toes. Wearing a pair of Sports Direct generic XC style shoes now and my toes are going numb while the heels flap around if I walk.

I’ll take a look at Specialized, might have to resign myself to spending more.

What kind of riding do you want it for? The navigation looks very basic, higher end computers can show OS or other maps for off road riding.

Maybe look at used Garmin Edge series if that’s something you want.

Lincoln has a hill. Mountain biking down it may not be appreciated.

Sports direct is a good shout, thanks. It makes things easier if I can try them on first.

Anyone have a spare saddle mount for the rear lights lying around?

I have a Moon Comet X. Cheap, rechargeable, good battery life, lots of different modes and flash patterns.

I like the idea of the speed sensing ones that work as brake lights.

Normal size for me.

TV?

So is animal cruelty only a bad thing when it provides a convenient excuse to stick it to the foreigners?

I get plenty of fun out of racing sims without really touching car setups. The basics of gearing are fairly simple and you can find some cheat sheets for tweaking certain handling characteristics, but suspension setup is complicated. Apparently PC2 comes with decent default setups, which a lot of games don’t.

How are their waterproof socks?

BT have very good prices if you have broadband with them, sometimes good deals even if you don’t.

They use the EE network so coverage is good, maybe a little worse than O2 depending on the area.

Graphics cards cost more than usual right now due to cryptocurrency mining demand and memory shortages.

The 1060 and 1070 are both great cards and a big upgrade on the 760, but they’re also year-old cards and still selling at the rrp (or more).

It was until ‘Bamboo’ came along

Sportswear should be breathable, right? I don’t see the problem.

Probably works well enough, I’ve been warned before that ones with plastic shafts won’t last long so might be worth checking.

I have a cheap Beto one from Amazon one that’s been working fine the last few years. The pressure gauge works, I’m not sure if it’s accurate but it’s at least consistent.

New bike day :D

Typically I went for none of the suggestions, stopped in at a local-ish bike shop to have a look around and ended up with this:

So far it’s exactly what I was hoping. I was absolutely flying along some rolling road and bridleway I usually struggle to maintain speed on. Had some traction issues on a steep gravelly climb but the tyres were rock solid, hopefully letting some air out will help. The same hill was terrifying-in-a-good-way going back down in the dark.

The drops are going to take some getting used to but riding on the hoods feels natural straight away (time to bring back MTB bar ends?). My wrists hurt and I’m missing the front suspension a little bit, but again lower tyre pressures should take the edge off.

There’s been studies suggesting your appearance has a big effect on how drivers treat you – stuff like giving more space to cyclists not wearing helmets, or dressed in casual clothing.

Might not be so much about the type of bike as giving the impression of being a ‘serious’ cyclist and hence drivers don’t feel they have to be as careful around you. Most accidents are carelessness rather than malice.

Any recommendations for cheap pedals & shoes for a first time clipless rider? M520s for the pedals I suppose but no idea what shoes are good.

Wiggle had/have some cheap dhb merino ones. Not been cold enough to wear mine yet but they seem nice enough.

I bet they’d be fun to try. Expensive and fragile looking though.

I love Cadwell Park, it’s a very awkward track though. Try it in something light and low powered.

In Project Cars 1 the AI varied a lot between tracks and cars. Sometimes they’d take bizarre lines or fail to use anything close to the available grip. I don’t remember them being completely incapable of finishing a lap, so I hope they can get that patched soon.

Have you looked at the driving assist options if you’re playing with a pad?

Sell it.

Even if they really are scrapping it, it’s not to help the environment.

Looks really good, reviewers seem to like it.

A user friendly racing sim would be great, stuff like rfactor 2 are fun to drive but everything else has barely changed in the past 15 years.

I went for my normal size for the freerider canvas, they’re very comfortable.

My feet are quite wide, sometimes I need to size up.

Yeah go for a black and white laser printer. Unless you’re regularly printing photos etc you’re better off going to a print shop or ordering online when you want something in colour.

Just a heads up, the beta version of 11 is noticeably slower than 10 on my iPhone 6, no idea if it’s a widespread issue or if the release version will be the same.