Yeah, they are already going into my junk mail folder but I seem to be getting more and more, prefer to block if I can, although not sure if that actually works, otherwise I just empty it now and then, I’d just like to reduce the amount I’m getting.

I’ve only had this once recently, I live in a fairly quiet part of the UK, well, roads are busy but tends to be ok, I was on my Specialized Pitch on a short bit of road between some off road bits they were going the other way, they shouted (I think) ‘get that bike off the road’ .. I couldn’t work out if they were being abusive or encouraging at the time, weird!

Maybe I’ll just try the on-one 29er and see if it’s different. I run out of gears last night, strong tailwind on the way home but can really feel it slow down going up out of Saltdean, maybe the larger wheels will be better gearing, or change the chainrings.

Thanks, there’s a few things I can look out for there.

6 miles each way now turns into 14 miles each way in the spring summer, during the winter I drive half way as the first bit in the mornings is a bit grim in winter. More hills on that longer route too. Wind is a problem here, always seems to be a strong headwind coming right off the sea, it’s been interesting the last week or so! Anyone in the Newhaven – Brighton area will now what I’m on about.

That’s some kitchen marcus7, would have trouble fitting a quarter of that in my place

Mmm, our schedule is behind too, but that’s me insisting they don’t do anything until the plasters dry, which they did agree with in the end. I get the impression that they just want to get on with it though and don’t really think things through. I’m a bit fussy and want things finished well, they plastered the window sill nearly up to the glass covering a lot of the frame, I questioned why they didn’t take it down a bit before plastering and was told they had to do that to make it level, but it would mean when the tiles are put on they’ll be above the frame, little things like that, little attention to detail, took me an hour to knock it out again and make it lower so it’ll look better. Maybe trivial? Wrong taps came, chrome instead of brushed stainless. Not sure the fridge is going to fit where we want it, it’s between some pipework and the electricity meter, meter was supposed to have been moved by electrician as much as possible, but when I measured it last night it won’t fit, drew the size of the fridge onto the floor in the area, they still say it will fit, I said can you see the area I’ve drawn, yes but they measured and it will fit … eh? Rambling on a bit now 😳

Paid a deposit when signing contract and another amount on day 1 with a final payment due, can’t remember the exact figures but the payments so far are about 80% of the cost, this was the same as another company we got in to quote and seems normal with kitchens.

My partner seems to think that if it does state on the contract that the carcasses are ‘colour co-ordinated’ as they said this morning that it’s something that was done without us being aware, we were in the shop at the time we decided – white or wood, no alternatives were offered so assumed this is what we would get. Contract sent through the post. I checked what they were doing, when, supplying, costs etc. but didn’t think to check colours, we thought that was sorted out while we were there.

Anyway, we told them to stop last night and this morning, they’re coming around tonight to discuss things, was a bit heated on the phone this morning with them insisting and me saying otherwise. It’s not the first time that they’ve said one thing and it’s been another, we complained about them being difficult to reach as we needed to speak to them and they said they had been phoning all day – no missed calls on my or my partners phones 👿

I just clicked on one where they climb a radio tower in Germany, much worse!

Incredible.

I have trouble getting up a ladder to clean out the guttering … and I live in a bungalow! 😳

Good, a few more to look up.

Something a bit lighter/supple might be good. The Randonneurs I have are about 450g and I guess the puncture protection adds stiffness as well as weight (1 puncture in just over a year though, so good) but they do feel a bit harsh on bumps – the undercliff walkway bit is slabs of concrete not joined to well and it’s a constant bud-dum bad-dum but it’s away from traffic and right next to the sea 😀

😆

Those Contis look good – not in Sheffield I’m afraid, is Sheffield near the sea? 😉

Vittoria – just had a quick google this morning – Ribble are about £19 but no stock, Evans £27, amazon about £24, I’ll have a better look when I’ve got a bit more time as I’m at work at the mo but I’m sure my 26in ones were about £13 when I got them.

Woah! Hang on, a 11-42 10 speed cassette 😯 I missed that, when did that happen? Where did you get that from, more info fr0sty125 ?

Exodus run trips in Morocco over xmas and new year if that a good time for you, the Atlas Descent is one I’ve done twice, great trip, good hotels, good food, 4x4s to ferry you around, a bit of climbing but not much, some great riding. Just over £1k all in for a week.

Thanks for the suggestions I’ll look into them.

mjr31, as I’ve already got viewranger I thought I’d have a look and A’HA, there it is, found it but it took a while, so I can export as gpx – now all I have to do is find where it saved to, didn’t give me a folder option it just saved it 😐

Hi jam bo, thanks, don’t think I can look at your profile as I’m not on strava and your link just goes to a page where it wants me to register?

But I have found a few websites with some routes – gpsies, although a bit clunky.

Wish Santa Cruz would stop messing about and make a carbon Heckler, I’d buy one, of all the bikes I have I keep coming back to the simple single pivot, does everything I need it to do!

Halarious – although I have to admit some of the best dumps I ever had were when I was travelling in the Middle East and your only choice was to squat, and using a hose pipe to cleanse yourself was quite nice too 🙂

Not sure why you can’t do this

Small car so I can only just about get it in with the front wheel off as the fork is right up against the rear hatch, and that’s with the passenger seat moved forward.

Ok, thanks for the replies, I’ll need to look into things further.

Don’t really want to wear waterproof trousers as I’d boil in them.

Can’t put a front mud guard on as I drive halfway and cycle halfway at the moment so wouldn’t get the bike in the back of the car with a fixed guard in place.

Some sort of short waterproof gaiter might be good as a lot of the overshoe things go over the sole of the shoe which will soon get ruined on my flat pedals and walking in them.

Tried waterproof socks and I find they are cold and still get wet inside.

Wet yesterday and wet the day before, my boots are starting to get smelly too from being wet 😐

Ah, ok more details. Mostly wood floor as we’ve taken out all the carpets apart from 2 bedrooms that have carpet, 15mm copper pipe. TRVs already on existing rads only a year old maybe, might need lockshields, large single rads so might need 2 to lift, no furniture to move, brick walls. Just had a new combi boiler too.

You’re both a lot cheaper than I’ve been quoted so I’ll give you the work 🙂

Oh, I’m in the south east, so everyone thinks we have pots of money in our sheds that we don’t know what to do with! .. To be honest I think we get ripped off in the south east, I know very few people that are on the so called average income yet we get charged like we’re all on £100k a year 😯

I like that, trailforks and mtbtrails don’t seem to use OS mapping, although I only had a quick look, I like OS mapping although I would prefer to have more of the map area on the screen and scroll down to any details if I need to – is that possible or is it a copyright thing that you can only display a limited amount of mapping? And, this seems really simple to use – can you do the whole of the UK please?

I tend to be careful, but luckily I live in a very quiet road, but do all of the above, don’t use a bike rack it goes in the car, don’t use strava etc.

survivor – don’t think my local police do something like that, looked on their website and nothing, they did something like it about 3 years ago.

A bit of googling found ‘Alpha Dot’ which looks like a similar thing to the micro dots from bike register, you can do up to 5 bikes for about £15 which seems ok.

Okey Dokey 8)

Hi scruff, I put a wanted ad up about a month ago for a large Heckler, you replied and I emailed you but not heard anything since, email me some photos if you do decide to sell ??

I think it was 2008 to 2010 where the rear swing arm had the pinch bolts, they revised it in 2011. The older Heckler 5.0 is a good bike too, still ride mine, easier to change the bearings with basic tools and size up a little bit larger too, my old medium is slightly bigger than my 2011 medium. As said, pretty much a bombproof bike and in my opinion an ideal UK bike as there’s loads of mud clearance and a simple single pivot.

I’ve tried a few types, from bike tart, ebay and directly from 3M. Bike tart stuff was good, ebay stuff didn’t seem to apply as nice, the stuff directly from 3M went on the easiest and went into corners and around awkward shapes nicely. I’ll get mine from 3M in future, reasonable cost too.

Ah, just come back to this, of course I should have put more details, idot! Cables coming up through floorboards maybe a metre away from an outside wall to the meter, then cables going back towards wall to the fuse box, ideally would like the meter put outside (gas meter outside already) but also the fuse box would need moving but I understand that a normal electrcian can do this, it’s just the meter that needs relocating. Someone else said the electricity company might do it for free as they prefer them outside for reading?

If you’re in Brighton and just looking for 3hr ride not too techy then the South Downs Way should be ideal, as suggested Brighton to Eastbourne is a good route but check the prevailing winds as the SDW is quite open and the wind can make it a slog if you’re against it, so Brighton to Eastbourne and train back or get the train to Eastbourne and ride back to Brighton depending on the wind 🙂 … and the forecast is good this weekend and most of the week

cookeaa – I’m 5’10” too, which puts me right between medium and large. I got the medium about 4 years ago when it was ‘on trend’ to have a smaller more agile bike, but I tend to do more longer xc type rides than twisty woods these days. It’s just the frame I’m buying so just change all the parts over from the medium and go see.

Badaboom Tish! 😆

Yeah, think I might go for it and see, doesn’t seem much when you look at it on a ruler

Thanks all … I meant to say more of a pulse thing than a constant flash strobe thing, the one I’ve seen maybe flashes every 2 seconds or so, makes a normal constant light stand out more, definitely take notice.

Raleigh Chipper 😀 like a small Chopper with no gears, until it got stolen down the woods one day, then something I cobbled together mostly from stuff scavenged from the local dump – a racing frame, 3 speed hub and massive cowhorns, fun times! … I wonder how big those cowhorns really were, seemed big but I was small, how’d they compare to what we use now?

It’s still a very good capable bike. The early E150 forks had issues but these were all sorted under warrenty, very good fork, you can still get all spares for these from Specialized UK, they still service them, you can even buy a brand new complete set of S-works E150 forks if you want, not sure used E150 forks fetch much as people are wary of them due to early issues. Just ride it and have some fun.

I usually do it by eye, and I’ll spend a long time making sure it’s all straight, but then when I ride it sometimes doesn’t feel right and I have to make minor sdjustments on the go until it ‘feels’ right … I think I might have one arm longer than the other so what ‘feels’ right isn’t necessarily dead straight, only a fraction though 😀

Ordered some rotors, adaptors and spare pads last week, cheaper than elsewhere, all delivered yesterday and email updates on progress and delivery of the order, good stuff!

Specialized Pitch. Suddenly we could buy a 6 inch trail bike that would climb well, descend like a dh bike, you could do all day rides on it then take it to the Alps! Everyone raved about them, didn’t they sell out and were hard to get hold of at one point and it seems that everyone who had one and sold it regretted selling it in the end, classic do it all bike… and all for £900! (I got mine for £900 😀 )

Other places sell the stendec stuff, you might have to pay full price and postage though, but it’s made a big difference when I’ve used it so think it’s great stuff, google it.

Here

I’ve only had one French car, a Renault Clio, never again, it was a nightmare, the coil packs kept braking down and they not cheap, even new one’s started going wrong, random sudden loss of power which isn’t great when you pull out into traffic, I gave up on it and traded it in for a Honda which has been trouble free, most reliable car I’ve ever had.

Another school I work in had what was called ‘cover supervisors’, they employed them to cover for absent teachers rather than get supply teachers in as it worked out better financially, pay was about the same as the TAs, they basically had to turn up to the lessons and try to keep them on task, make sure the lesson plan was followed. Something else you could look into, I sometimes see cover supervisors advertised when I look around at jobs in schools?