Have been to Egypt many times and never had issues with locals touting stuff. – Tis part of the game of visiting such countries.

However, since the utter collapse of tourism after the ‘revolution’ I gather things have been very dire for the locals and I’ve read similar reports of new levels of hassle.

You can’t blame people for wanting needing to make a living but then being extremely rude and pushy isn’t going to help, so I can see both sides of the argument.

Oh and the Red Sea resorts aren’t ‘proper’ Egypt 😉

Got a Kona Kula Watt from them last month.

Ordered on Tuesday, delivered on Friday.

Bike was complete except I needed to install the handlebars. Came in the biggest box going, must have been a metre longer than the bike!

If I sort myself out I’m aiming on doing the 65 miles to Devils Dyke again this year.

Be nice to improve on last year’s ride but the weather and conditions were excellent then.

I have to broadly agree with Crikey’s approach here. That said I’m not adverse to spunking cash on toys or indeed spending other people’s money.

However unless I’ve missed it, I can’t see what the OP wants to do with the bike; – race, multi hour cruises, or have a bit of bling.

Setting a budget is eminently sensible but there’s point us speccing up race bling if the bike is never going to race.

Regardless of use, what will remain constant is the wisdom of upgrading wheels, saddle and possibly stem / handle bars from the outset.

My last two complete bike purchases;

Felt road bike in 2010.
Ran the saddle for 6 weeks before confirming it was poo and swapped it out. Immediately upgraded the wheels from Ultegra level ones to DA C24s. Also replaced the stem, brakes and chainset.

Kona Kula Watt HT last month.

Immediately replaced the (white!)saddle. Brakes and shifters also replaced as I don’t like Avids. Easton EA 70 wheels have been OK so far but haven’t ridden the bike much.

What are these showers, changing cubicles and drying facilities you speak of?

Nigh on 20 years of strip washes in’t loos, and draping clothing on chair and under desk for me.

I do fortunately have the ability to avail myself of some HP badged drying racks though 😉

Sorry to hear that Si.

As others have said, it hasn’t been a waste of time and it might be possible that your current (financial) circumstances have got on top of her?

We went through a rough patch (totally my doing) after 12 years but got over that and we’re about to clock up 24 years.

Defo suggest trying to work this out.

Regularly do over 45 mph on’t road bike in Sussex.

(latest here – http://connect.garmin.com/activity/195571854)

Have seen 40 – 45 off road, but only on the big grassy Butser Hill when doing the SDW.

This trace has recorded 40mph but not on Butser ❓

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/102796507

However the 35 shown on the Player going down to Cocking is a bit brown trousers as that’s loose flints and chalky. Road Rash wouldn’t begin to describe the mess if you came off on that stuff.

So, what tyres? 😉

I’ve never ridden in this area but suspect my usual Panny Razrs might be a bit slick, especially with the fab summer we’ve had so far?

Other choices are Bonty Mud X, Maxxis Aspens and IIRC some Panny Cinders / Fire XC that I have buried somewhere.

thisisnotaspoon – Member

Yet again,

Hate to say I told you so but I…………….

http://www.stop-smidsy.org.uk/case-study/jane-kilmartin-seriously-injured-during-national-25-time-trial-9612

Here’s Jane’s account of the incident and her progress

simons_nicolai-uk – Member

M1kea

What’s your experience of running the redeye rear? I’ve used it with a joystick and a Race. Either way it seems to have a much more dramatic impact on battery life than it’s supposed to (and makes the guage unpredictable).

Hi

I’ve found them to noticeably impact battery life as well. I have one of the original?? metal ones plus the Flarealike versions.

Not done any comparative tests but empirically I reckon a Joystick + Redeye will do 2 hours max on full power.

Another just as valid question that will affect the same number of peeps is

“how much does NHS ‘tax’ cost each UK tax payer?”

Here are the conditions for Shoreham and environs

Make sure you’re going W to E!

Hmm

XCRacer has responded that they don’t presently have the resources to offer encryption and Southern XC don’t do postal entries.

Has anyone else registered with XCracer (and by definition, not given a monkey’s about their personal data?)

Think I’ll be giving this lot a miss………

[edit]

Cranberry

That’s just brilliant, in a OMG 🙄 kind of a way.

Photobox are fine for small prints but I found their 10Mb / JPG only file requirements massively limiting.

Last lot of pano prints I had done were by a specialist in Brighton and you don’t want to know the price.

Will echo the suggestion about getting a local framer to do the final print.

Sold boards, glass etc often don’t travel that well.

Sod the budget and do what I did – Enigma Etape.

As my winter bike it’s been used a hell of a lot this ‘summer’.

Ti is lovely to ride on and dead easy to keep clean.

I’m a Exposure Lights junkie with

Joystick
Diablo
Race
Enduro
Flash / Flare
2 X Redeyes

The Flash / Flare are VERY bright for their size and ideal to be seen by. However, their design isn’t perfect and like other peeps I know, mine have been back to USE for repair.

For gloomy riding / TT events, I’ll use the F&F but be aware they might be temperamental.

For proper lighting I run a red eye + Smart Electron on the rear and a choice of front to also power the redeye. The Smarts don’t have the best weather sealing and can be erratic in wet weather.

If I was going to be paranoid, I’d say A N Other LED on the rear and a F&F. You’d have to be pretty unlucky to lose both rear lights.

Oh and BTW the rechargeable Flash is a lot brighter than the disposable – http://www.exposurelights.com/product/000058/flash/

Look up Malamute puppies, along with Leonbergers 8)

Purley to Eastbourne Off Road. NDW from Woldingham to Newlands Corner/St Martha’s Hill, pick up Downs Link to Shoreham-by-Sea, SDW to Eastbourne. 100+ miles I reckon, I did most of it the other week, bailed out after 11 hours at Black Cap near Lewes, will do it next time. I don’t have gps but the route is very well signposted, I have some OS screenshots from bing.

Like the sound of that though shame National Trail haven’t seen fit to map out which bits of the NDW you can pedal on.

Mind you, isn’t the Downs Link a bit soul destroying, in a riding on a flat ex railway kind of a way?

Caliper, hose and lever have been tapped along with actioning the lever. Swearing didn’t help either 😆

TINAS – have to agree. Will have another go ce soir whilst not under the affluence of incerhol.

A photo of the kit would answer this in no time.

transapp – Member

syndrome?

That way you can shout at it if it jumps up?

Right, see you after my ban.

😆 oops I’ve just joined you.

Amberley is near as damnit half way.

(Disclaimer: I haven’t been in any of these places in yonks)

You have a transport / biker cafe at Whiteways on the A29, just over 1/2 mile from the SDW.

Then there’s a couple of riverside cafes in Amberley, which will cost considerably more but have a much nicer aspect.

The Frankland Arms in Washington is a bit further on and would have a ‘gentle’ road climb to get you back to the SDW

Around the 60 mile point you could also detour in to Steyning.

(You also get there with a nice little run down from Chanctonbury Ring :wink:but that’s a little more complicated to show on a map)

I don’t have one, but have a look at Giant’s offerings as well as they’re very competitively priced.

Now if you can hang on until Aug, the ‘end of year’ sales will start and you should get a decent discount off of 2012 models.

Shops try to sell you them for “protection”, but I don’t like the idea of spending 1000 quid for a superb piece of glass and then covering it up with a number of extra layers of lower quality material.

I’m firmly in the ‘put a protective filter on the front” camp and if you’re a Canon shooter, the weather proofing of L lenses isn’t complete without a filter.

I’ve had enough rain, snow, mud, beer and sweat sprayed over my cameras over the years for this to be a no brainer decision for me.

Similarly lens hoods help with a bit of physical protection, especially if you have the ‘pleasure’ of a lens – concrete meeting.

I can’t remember if I did 2 or 4 hours last year but it was a fun course. Bit sandy so went over a fair few times.

Sounds like a man after my own heart. 😆

Having just gone 2 X 10 12/36 will I be utterly at sea with gearing / breathing out of my @rse within the first 20 secs / booking a coronary after 15 mins?

It’s a bit like a nighttime solo race but you can see where you’re going.

HTH

Very good 🙄 😛

My last two MTB ‘races’ have been Thetford D2D and not solo, so not really a fair comparison.

Ned

Can we see a bigger version of this?

Brand new, fresh out of the box today.

22lbs 13oz though I’m hoping to trim that down further.

I think the white gear cables will have to go. The Elixr CR brakes definitely will along with the factory saddle.

Here’s the reply to my sarky note below

Dear Mr Anton

Thank you for contacting us regarding the surface dressing in Turners Hill/Ardingly. Just so that you are aware we have postponed the work planned here until after the Cycle race has taken place.

I will pass your other comments to my colleagues in the engineering team.

Kind Regards

Maureen

Turners Hill – Ardingly – Lindfield surface dressing.

Any chance that we could have a last minute outbreak of common sense re this planned work?

Notwithstanding the complete waste of time and our money that goes to Hazel & Jefferies to throw chippings all over the countryside, had it not occurred to anyone that the London to Brighton bike ride will be using this stretch of road on Sunday?

As a cyclist, ‘remedial surface dressing’ aka tar and chip is deeply unpleasant to cycle on and this particular stretch of road is actually in reasonable condition.

I suspect the same won’t be said when 30000+ cyclists wend their way over this a few days after it’s been laid.

Furthermore the cowboys, sorry contractors, make no effort to patch potholes before hand so not only do you get a very rough surface to travel on, you get the added bonus of guessing where the stone filled pot holes are.

I really hope there aren’t any mishaps on Sunday.

I guess it’s too late now but would it not be more cost effective to plane and relay the small sections of damaged road, in particular the Paxhill section, and pretty much all of Lindfield High St?

These sections aren’t great to drive on and downright horrible on two wheels.

No doubt phrases like you sarky twunt, winker, etc etc have been doing the rounds at WSCC but meh! 😆 😛

I’ve got some old Token versions of this Thorn Superlite cage[/url] and they are the best cages I’ve ever had.

Don’t mark bottles and utterly bombproof holding

Good stuff here folks 8)

robbo1234
Could you straighten your first Olden pano as the downhill water is making me feel ill. 😆

nbt
I can’t see any issues with your clouds? ❓

Tucker
You have some ghost leaves in the right hand tree.

I’m a real pedant for this sort of stuff but had to eventually give up trying to get the HDR blend of this 360 to work properly.

(if you click the pick to launch the 360, you’ll see what I mean!)

Bludy Ell

Had a reply from the council saying they’ve postponed the tar and chipping until after the ride. 😯

One’s I’ve put up on Panoramio

Scrollable 360’s

I brought an Earlex HVLP last year for redoing our fence.

Used it again a couple of months ago to do do some more panels and both the new sheds. Aside from about 6″ of overspray at ground level which I CBA to cover up, I didn’t have any issues and it was a darn sight quicker than brush.

Now if we’re talking about new fence panels soaking up oceans of paint before taking the colour, then that’s a different conversation.

All 22 of my CF and SD cards are Sandisk FWIW. I’ve always worked on the ‘have spares principle’ so get say two 8GB ones as opposed to one 16GB. Same applies with batteries.

On the straps front, I’ve used Optech straps for over 20 years. I’ve heard good things about Blackrapids but as I use Arca plates and brackets, they’re no good for me.

Cheers Jeff but I’ve already ordered one of the WM jobbies.

N +1 where N is Need

Keiran +1

I’d also add lens hood(s)and skylight/UV/protective filter(s)for whatever lenses she has. – You’ll need to know what diameter the lenses are usually they are 52,58,67,72 or 77mm.

Still it’s cheaper than resurfacing.

True but unfortunately in this instance, a total waste of money as this bit of road DOESN’T NEED DOING.

I could rather sadly, give you a intimate commentary on where every crease, blemish etc is on this route and there’s about 50 sqm that could do with planing off and laying properly.

Oh and don’t get me started on the corrugated field that is Lindfield High St (but at least they’re not doing that)

T&C gets better after a week of bedding down* but the pisstaking, lowest bidders who’ve obviously been backhanding the council for over 25 years contractors Hazel & Jefferies make no effort to backfill any pot holes. – if you fill them up with chippings, you can’t see the hole.

* = when most of it has been swept away