Yes it’s definitely an n+1 thing. I’ll be demoing some bikes before I buy.

Re use of gravel/adventure, they seem to be interchangeable most of the time when people describe these bikes. I’m not really looking for a long distance tourer.

Too small for me :-)

The Camino looks nice. I’ll see about demoing one depending how I get on with the diverge and arkose.

Has anyone ridden a Giant Revolt? Decent spec for the price at the moment, big tyre clearance and I like the look of it.

Surely we’re all well aware of the need to look as well as listen. Or should bikes be fitted with engine noise speakers too?

Bought a helmet showing as in stock, got an update saying they were cancelling the order as they couldn’t provide it.

It then got put on back order, got another update saying that was cancelled and another back order was created. They haven’t taken payment but I can’t cancel the back order either as it says the item has been picked.

It’s nice, seems well maintained but I found swinley a lot more fun. £12 for parking is crazy.

What bad stuff have you heard about the Arkose? Genuinely interested as a biased Arkose owner!

I reckon it’s one of the best VFM gravel bikes at the moment

A couple of reviews and forum comments I found seemed to think it was a bit dull to ride – definitely outweighed by the people that do like it, to be fair.

Shopping for bike gear in general is infuriating. All the online retailers maintain listings for discontinued items long out of stock, often showing the last clearance price, and they’re what comes up on a Google search.

Specialized claim there’s room for 42c + mudguards on the new Diverge.

The guy I spoke to in Evans seemed pretty clueless, he didn’t say anything about that and couldn’t tell me anything about the bikes or sizing other than what it said on the tags.

I was unsure about the tyres. Most of these bikes seem to come with 32-35c fitted, but I assume wider tyres have comfort benefits? I’m keeping my MTB and will be riding that if I’m going anywhere really rough or muddy.

The Slate looks nice but I can’t see anywhere with my size in stock, and I’d prefer not to spend much past £1k.

Not sure about the final payment thing, I bought a bike through Halfords cycle to work (though used the voucher at LBS). I ‘paid’ the full cost of the bike over the year but as it’s a salary sacrifice I wasn’t taxed on it, for an effective ~%30 saving.

Technically I’m still leasing it for the next few years but at 0 cost, until its value is negligible according to HMRC.

I believe I had the option to purchase it outright at the end of the year but I don’t see why I would, and my employer didn’t ask.

Your time to pay should be paused while you appeal, it’s probably in the small print somewhere.

Did mine online, took about 5 days total (didn’t pay for fast track).

It seems like a useful description, if you’re not being pedantic about specifically riding on gravel.

A lot of bike shops have their “all road” or “adventure” or “gravel” bikes lumped in with the road category, and it’s hard to find information on tyre clearance.

There definitely seems to be a markup for buying a trendy niche bike but it’s nice to know if you’re looking at a bike designed for the riding you want.

It sounds like you probably bought a stolen phone and the seller’s full of shit, but I don’t know why it’s only been reported so long after.

You’d have to be up front about it being IMEI barred if you sold it on ebay, and I’d be uncomfortable selling a potentially stolen phone.

You could try calling the network as the owner and say you’ve found your lost phone – might get lucky if they aren’t checking for proof as well as they should.

Or look into changing the IMEI as above.

Legally though you’re probably out of luck, short of trying to take the seller to small claims court.

There’s some fun gravel routes from Blue Bell Hill above Maidstone going west along the top of the downs, but I only know a fairly short stretch. I started exploring the north downs way from Cuxton but a lot of it is footpath, not sure how rideable it would be on gravel bikes.

I got an osprey viper 9 on sale a while back. Very unobtrusive pack with plenty of space for a day ride.

Amazon offer a lot of delivery options. To be fair it probably is a significant extra work for their warehouses to get multiple different items to you guaranteed before 1pm.

You usually have the option when ordering to group items into as few deliveries as possible to pay less postage, or dispatch asap and pay for each.

I don’t know about the frame but 125mm drop is a little bit too short for me at 6’2.

Xiaomi are a major manufacturer, they just don’t have much presence outside of China yet.

Bear in mind if you’re buying from a grey import site that any warranty issues will be a pain in the ass, otherwise I’d have no quality concerns about the phone.

eBay’s usually good for stuff like that, but you might have to wait for delivery from China.

If you’re falling to one side, hold your lager in the other hand.

Ignore the people saying you shouldn’t have a van, if you need it you need it.

But… you should try to find a solution that doesn’t involve making a mess of her grass. Whether that’s a wider driveway, artificial grass, yellow lines opposite I don’t know. Regardless of how she behaves towards you this isn’t a problem she’s caused.

Thanks for the help, had another go with the mallet and got there in the end. The metal shaft was all gummed up with clay mud.

Hammering is just pushing against the opposite fork leg. I (accidentally) removed the QR mechanism but the outer body of the axle seems to be solidly lodged inside.

Thinking I just go back to Halfords with it as this doesn’t seem like normal wear and tear on a 3 month old bike.

Once I do get it out is it possible to swap it for a 15mm axle with a different design or am I stuck with remembering to grease it every time I want to put the bike in the car?

I can see why that might annoy her.

I live in one, there’s no maintenance at all but I’m not planning to be here long term so I don’t mind. Some residents repave outside their houses but most don’t bother.

Parking is easy but there’s some mystery people who seem to have a stick up their ass about it. I got notes left on my car for the first year I lived here. Someone also likes to cone off ‘their’ spaces.

It’s still a public highway so as far as I know anyone can legally park on the road. Downside is some of the things people assume you could do like leaving an untaxed/sorned car on the street, you technically shouldn’t but I’ve done it with no issues.

Just had an update on mine saying they’ve been packed, after the last one saying they’re on back order.

Possibly faster than the van and the mini, so I guess it qualifies.

Yes.

Unfortunately no one really knows how magnets work, so it will remain a mystery.

I suppose in theory you could use a dynamo at the cranks to power a motor on the wheel? I can’t imagine it being very effective in practice.

Not sure how you’d transfer power from pedals to wheel entirely with magnets?

The site still says they’re in stock, disappointing.

Just had an email cancelling my order as they’re unable to supply them.

If a seller allows best offer I usually make one (reasonable, not annoyingly low). Why not? I assume they’re happy to settle for less. Maybe that makes me tight, I dunno.

I make offers too, it’s a good way to get some bargains. It’s just that once you start outbidding yourself if the seller doesn’t respond you’re showing them you’re probably willing to pay more than your offer.

Maybe your dad’s dialling the wrong number.

Factory reset in this case is unlikely to remove all the bloat apps, it will just set it back to its out of the box state.

Unless they’re an authorised repair centre for the manufacturer they wouldn’t have any reason to be covert about it.