Found that bits of colour insulation tape around the floor prop, a couple of different luggage tags and some ribbon have been more than enough for identifying our bags

DrJ
Probably not overly useful for flying with, but I can recommend the Manfrotto padded tripod cases.

cloudnine
Why not mount on your helmet?
Higher up and more visible..

I personally not a fan of that as head movement will affect it’s visibility. I also believe lights have to be fitted to the bike to be ‘legal’ (and yes I know this is a can of worms but I’m sure you get my drift)

We’ve now got 2 Split Rollers. Possibly a bit large for ‘general’ luggage but I wanted something that I could get my biggest camera tripod in if required.

Probably the most robust bit of luggage we’ve bought was a Transpack boot bag[/url]. Quirky design but surprising how much you can get in them.

Living south of Gatwick I’ve never done your journey. However, if I have to travel any part of the M25 on a week day, I want to actually be on it by 7am at the latest, or leave it till after 10.

The traffic is typically worse clockwise on the SW corner but you will get delays anticlockwise especially around the M4.

Leave v early and have a drink / breakfast or stop over.

Chaps I have to say on balance the discussion so far has been pretty reasonable and considered, and it has been interesting to read.

This was a truly dreadful incident and I hope all those involved can have some form of closure in the coming days and weeks.

You’ll have probably seen the brutal murder of Don Lock in Worthing last month. I’d known him for a number of years through cycling and it was a sad privilege to have been part of the funeral cortege.

The abrupt and savage way he was taken from his family and friends has similar resonances to what happened yesterday. It was touching to see the number of people paying their respects along his funeral route and I’d like to hope the various communities affected by yesterday’s events can come together in a similar fashion.

Dreadful news.

I was toying with CXing down to the airshow this morning but decided against it.

I’d hazard that the flying route was SW towards and over the main runway. Its actually over sparsely populated agricultural land around there so that is the very worst luck to have come down on the A27.

Thoughts with all involved. :(

My ex boss has ended up working in our local 111 centre.

From the various calls and situations he’s spoken about, Houns’ description sounds 100% accurate.

I think I’d last about 3 mins myself.

Had a few of nights in Cardiff recently and did this route a couple of times – https://www.strava.com/activities/342155848 which has a lovely little climb in it.

I was doing my rides before 6:30 and after 7pm to avoid traffic so the roads were surprisingly pleasant.

Taff trail sounded interesting but not on a road bike.

Oh and probably a good idea to have some lights with you as well?

When I’ve done overnight ride like the BHL L2B night ride, the Exposure Six Pack goes on the road bike and pah to everyone else.

Otherwise I stick with my Race, Diablo or Enduro

fatboyjon

Not quite, I just googled the current UK 24 record to see how close he was, as I had no idea what the record was – 541.17 MILES!

Set by Wilko on a lumpy Sussex course in 2011. Andy also has the Lejog record amongst others – clicky

Aside from being barking mad, all these peeps show incredible strength both physically and mentally. 8)

Totally unscientific comments ahead.

A3’s seem to be driven by a certain type of err, driver……

I recently had a (new) Passat estate for a week / 1200 miles and liked it’s unassuming nature and build quality. That said, our car is a 10 year old Mazda so read into that what you will.

I’d look at the Volvo first purely because it’s not a VAG.

I have three pairs of CF tub wheels. Only used for TT’s and special occasions because they a pita to fix when punctured.

Pros
Llight
Comfy (even with 140+ psi)
Quick

Cons
Pita to replace (I glue my tubs and if racing, you can pretty much guarantee it’ll be a 10 min job to replace so it’s effectively game over
Expensive
Expensive / more complicated to repair
Spare tubs take up more space when riding.

Braking on CF wheels in the wet is err, interesting.

N+1 CX was about 2.5%
Looking at the rest of the fleet, probably about 4% each.
Annual spares / upgrades / toys budget around 4%

Gross

Cheers Nig

I have a camera, am about 10 miles south of the route but have an ‘important’ meeting at 1PM.

Guess what I’ll be doing…………….?

Can’t speak for Redsnapper but I can compare a Manfrotto 055 alloy against 3 CF tripods.

The frotto has the flip locks which aren’t nearly as secure as twist locks (see earlier comment). It’s a lot more laterally flexy (primarily down to the locks again), heavier and come winter, very cold to handle.

You also need to be more careful cleaning and drying alloy legs when they’re wet, especially with sea water.

For ball heads, get the highest load rating you can. A quick whizz around WEX shows lighter, yet higher load offerings from other brands such as Benro

Whatever brand you go with, make sure the leg releases are ‘quick release’ / ‘twist lock’ / select your marketing phrase.

My Feisol doesn’t have this feature and whilst it is only a minor irritation (#1stworldproblems)it does detract from the overall appeal and usability.

(Yes I am a fussy git)

You’ll probably find that Gitzo and Really Right Stuff are the only legs that AREN’T made in China/Taiwan these days.

muppetWrangler – Member

I just looked at that strava link. His average riding time per week is over 36 hours. That is literally a full time job.

Steve Abraham has just restarted his 1 year TT event

https://www.strava.com/athletes/1419435

The blue details are more in sync, bar the bottle cages!

9.4KH with rack and guards sounds like a respectable weight :-)

Make sure you find the wide fittings for the various brands, rather than going up a size or two.

Shoes HAVE to be tried on first and then you can go surfing for price.

Echo everyone else’s thoughts, especially antigees saddle comment. Don’t change anything at the last minute. Get a couple of 2 – 3 hour rides in on the road bike ASAP and then see how you’ve got on.

MrBlobby

I certainly wouldn’t call the Etape toury as it’s about the only ‘winter’ frame I know that takes 49mm brakes, though I get where you’re coming from. The beauty of Ti in the winter is the ease of frame cleaning.

The Arkose was 11 speed (ALL my other bikes are 10 speed) so I thought what the hell and went disc. However I again get the ‘hassle’ about multiple wheels.

Would defo give ChrisA’s frame consideration if the sizing worked for you.

Current winter bike is an Enigma Etape ti with dollops of old Dura Ace on it ( :roll:)

Having recently got a Arkose 4 gnarmac mobile as a N+1 bike, I am now semi seriously considering getting a better quality CX / disc’d frame to double up for winter and gnarr riding. – Hindsight says I should have just brought a Tripster in the 1st place.

Why are you set against CX and discs?

I’ve had a pair of the 7850 versions for 5 years. Been very reliable but quite flexy if you’re an out of the saddle pedal masher

Greg,

I’m glad I haven’t visited g10/57 this year!

breatheeasy

How is getting a 68mm bottom bracket going to make the axle on the cranks shorter?!

Dunno if that’s addressed to me but its a cross frame and has a ‘road’ 68mm shell. Concur that the axle might be too long / a chainline faff.

catfishsalesco

I think the axle lengths on mtb vs road HTII chain sets are different aren’t they?

Interesting point and I can’t find any refs online to confirm or deny.

I’ll check with a tape measure.

Still doesn’t answer the narrow chain on wide c set dilemma

Anyone able to comment?

Bump for the Monday morning crowd

Good bit of bodging 8)

Some spare speedfit end caps in’t tool box could have won you quicker brownie points

OK as we seem to be stuck in bling mode, I’ll bite.

All my CF wheels are tubs so only come out for TT’s (rare these days) or extra special high days and holidays (brake blocks swapped out).

Easton Aero90 TT’s – 46mm rims and the front catches the wind very easily. – Freaked my boss out when he rode them t’other week.

Xentis 4 spokes – don’t catch the wind and not much difference in weight. Look unusual but fairly comfy. The hubs are fab and roll forever.

Corima Aeros – not ridden for a few years now but the low spoke count equals a lot of flexing

Corima disk, it’s a disk so enough said

Tune / Pacenti handbuilts. Probably the nicest conventional wheels I’ve ever owned. Noisy freehub

DA 7850 C24 – nice and light but pretty flexy, especially the front.

2004 Zondas have been bomb proof but now tired.

Numerous other Shimano, Mavic and Hope concoctions. – Bog standard road wheels in various iterations.

I think we’ve gone off on a bling tangent here. Aksium’s are pretty cheap and cheerful in the scheme of things so £500ish wheels will be a noticeable step up.

Which brings me back to getting some nice handbuilt jobs.

Nowt wrong with exposed gear cables though green wouldn’t be my colour choice. Blue would have been more in keeping with the rest of the bike

I’ve had some prescription XLJs for a while. Can’t remember my prescription but my normal glasses are quite slim. Doing a quick n dirty visual side by side, the Oakleys are probably 30% thicker at the edges?

Don’t forget that sports lenses wrap around the face more so you should expect this.

I got mine through http://www.rxsport.co.uk/

Some ideas and thoughts here

http://dcrwheels.co.uk/custom-wheelsets/wheelset-suggestions/
[/url]
Dave did me some Tune / Pacenti wheels for my main road bike and they’ve been lovely (I already have Easton, Xentis and Corima CF wheels for the max bling/TT efforts).

pictonroad

You will go flaunting yourself like that Mike…

Well if you’ve got it…… :P

On a more serious note,

Ian, that external battery pack appeared to have done its job. My Garmin didn’t switch off at all and looked to have had a fair bit of battery left. The connection was a bit ropey though.

Can’t remember where I dug that USB cable up from but I’ve brought decent OTG cables from Lindy[/url] in the past. (Their UK site doesn’t appear to be working atm).

Poking around Strava it looks like you loop back up on to the road at Cox Green and use a track to the W of the old railway line. Zoom in here

Postcard from a mate in the early 90’s

IIRC it went

Mike
The flat above the shop next to Currys
[home town]
Sussex

And we haven’t even gone into detail on the ‘characters’ we encountered at Palace Pier.

Have to say I’m not in any rush to repeat being hit upon by two drunk / hung over guys at 7:15 of a Sunday morning!

:lol: :lol:

Oh dear this conversation has returned to the gutter, from whence it came!

pictonroad
The shorts only revealed their true greatness with a dose of direct sunlight Mike.

It’s all becoming clear :roll:

Twasn’t the heat and dodgy corner shoppe pasties that caused your malaise, it was 4 hours of riding behind me! :lol:

Next time the only bikes allowed will be blue Arkose 4’s and Tripsters