Cough arrived on Monday after the ferry back from Italy/France hols on the weekend. Tested yesterday and yep – positive. Properly blurgh today…

It being perfect, dry, sunny South Downs evening ride weather isn’t helping the mood

Though reckon it’s small fry compared to MrsAndy5390, that does not sound fun at all :-/

Just bought one for a trip at the start of Sept – after checkout it gives the option to print out your receipt etc, but also says you don’t have to do anything as it picks up the reg plate.

(noticed Google throws up a few sites offering e-vignettes, we went through what looks to be official gov site here: https://via.admin.ch/shop/dashboard)

Fara have their shop near the centre of town, though XXL might have a bigger choice

https://faracycling.com/experience-center.php

For any south coast folks, Porteur in Hove have a few Sour frames in to fondle/drool over…they’re *very* nice

Interesting – can log in fine, and the ads are hidden as expected, but viewing a members only story (e.g. the Marino post on the homepage) tells me I need to join/sign in to view the content.

Safari/latest iOS. Private mode gives the same results so doesn’t look to be cookie related.

Ooh good shout on the tubeless gubbins from Tweeks 👍 Looks like Dynaplug refills are finally available (with a bit of a discount too):

https://www.tweekscycles.com/dynaplug-soft-nose-tip-plugs-maddp0002/

Also done

Was literally just looking at one of those for our perpetually soggy trail shoes @kayak23 – dropped you a pm.

Been running an E-Thirteen Helix 9-46 cassette on Force 1x mechanical for a few months (with a 40t oval chainring) – works well. Quick enough on the road, good range for lumpy bits, though have thought about running a 38 for really lumpy bits…

Standard long cage mech works fine, though it does need an XD freehub. Not particularly cheap either.

Had the same conundrum a couple of years back – ended up picking up some Hunt Aero Wide 34s in their nearby new/renew sale thing. 19mm internal, run well with 32s, aero for alloy and are light enough at 1550ish grams.

Been really happy with them. Though the gravel wheels are also Hunts so a bit less swap over faff helps. On offer at the mo too:

HUNT 34 Aero Wide Disc SL Wheelset

Reilly T325D? Have had a Gradient for road and gravel for the last 4-5 years – thought about getting something more road-focussed a few times but the Gradient’s just too good!

That said, in Jan a mate was looking at an Escape so spent a great morning test riding things at Enigma. Properly lovely. Could’ve spent hours in the workshop :)

These look ace! Any idea on weight for a pair in the same RS4/rim combo?

For shower cubicles I’d definitely be looking at tanking. Had some work done a few years back which involved lifting a shower tray – otherwise fine looking grout had developed hairline cracks, over the years that had let enough water through to start rotting joists (though not enough to show on the ceiling below). Our house is old though, moves a fair bit over summer/winter.

Probably less of a worry for shower over bath.

Pivot do tend to be at the “how much??!” end of things even without motors…£8k for a Firebird Pro? Errr, I’ll take two… :|

Gutted – after dodging the lurgy for 2 years, somehow tested positive last night. Utterly rubbish timing. Was properly looking forward to it, conditions look pretty much spot on!

Enjoy all + looking forward to some envious insta pics. Next year then!

Had a chance to look drool over one last weekend – really very very nice. As others have said, just looked right. Think £1000 was mentioned.

Walter (the Reilly Gradient) – still the nicest bike in the shed. Got me ‘round 3 (soon to be 4, providing I can lug my unfit rear around) Dirty Reivers and many SDW/Dales bimbles. Road wheels turns it into a super comfy mile muncher. Would recommend.

Another +1 for DIY. The builder had Howdens prep a design, I replicated that with DIY for a lot less pennies. The fitter reckoned the units were better quality than Howdens, which was good to hear.

Only headache was the matt painted doors/drawer fronts we specced weren’t packed properly (or packed too soon after painting), so had shiny patches where they’d rubbed in transit. They were very good about it and sent their own fitter to sort it out – though he ended up visiting 3 times, as each set of replacements were similarly shiny 🙄

First Pfizer jab on Saturday morning – been ok all weekend. Had a quick spin in the woods Sunday afternoon and apart from being a bit low on energy was fine. This morning got a productive hour of jobs/calls done but at 10am felt totally drained, literally couldn’t keep my eyes open. An hour’s kip later felt right as rain – odd! Quite glad we’re still working from home tbf…

…with Chipps and Mark, um, beckoning from the darkness?

<runs away>

+1 for Hatchbag. Had one for ~5 years, bombproof and haven’t had any issues with the velcro (though to be fair it’s mostly just stuck to the boot carpet). Quick wipe down and it literally looks like new.

The tailgate flap’s brilliant for protecting the bumper from pedals/dogs/muddy-post-ride-brew sitting. Would recommend.

Colleague just bought from them, delivered unseen. Was definitely nervous dropping decent money (~£18k iirc) on something he’d not had chance to test drive, but seems pretty happy with it and and the process. Price seemed good for the spec he got.

Have had a pair of 4 Season Gravels for a couple of years – been spot on, still as true as when they were fitted (despite plenty of SDW clatterings).

Recently nabbed a pair of ‘nearly new’ X-Wide versions, also nice. Would recommend.

Hmmm – watching with interest, ours is due in the next couple of weeks.

WTB Resolutes the last couple of years. Will be running them again this time around I think…if it ain’t broke etc.

Had a pair of WTB Asym i35s built up last year, running 2.6 nobby nic/3” DHF combo at the mo. 35mm internal.

Been solid, about £60 each. https://www.wiggle.co.uk/wtb-asym-i-35-tcs-rim/

Use Expensify at work – also take photo/upload/send to finance. Seems ok.

Gah – was about to pull the trigger for the gravel bike, then noticed they’re boost. Bugger.

Will be there Sunday. Going with 42c Resolutes…as that’s what I’ve got (alternative being 38c Compass slicks) and they’re comfy, if a bit draggy. Looking forward to it, been a while since we’ve ridden up that way. Not especially looking forward to the 5.30am start to get there for sign-on though.

Say hi if you see a bleary-eyed bloke on a Reilly riding with a mad Frenchman on a Sonder :)

Darn, yeah back up at £120.

Grabbed a 105 5800 chainset for £49 from Ribble though, spot on!

Had a similar annoying experience with Countrywide.

Planned an extension, got three local agents to value our current layout and with the work complete before going ahead. All fairly favourable and similar sales prices on our street, so got in touch with the lender (Barclays) to arrange a mortgage extension.

Countrywide arrive to do the survey. 5 minutes in the house (at least he came into the house!), didn’t see every room, came back 12% under (on a ~450k house). Didn’t want to mess with the LTV so limited what we could borrow. Barclays would’ve accepted a full survey (at our cost obvs), and would have delayed things by a month or more. We’re building a smaller extension (which tbf isn’t such a bad thing).

If you’re not in a massive hurry it’s worth keeping an eye on Hunt’s returns/refurbs page. Picked up some 4season gravels for £180 last month, front was basically brand new, rear had use but you could barely tell (and for some reason arrived with both XD and Shimano freehubs). Warranty etc the same as new.

Nearly New Wheels

At home in Brighton for Rule 5 Bikes’ summer sendoff ride yesterday. Great 70k gravel loop up/down/around the Downs – some brutal climbs (looking at you, Streat Bostal), many punctures and lots of friendly faces. Really need to sort out some lower gearing on the gravel bike.

Oh and there was beer…lots of beer. Excellent day out :)

+1 for Resolutes. Faultless on the DR and pretty much everything else thrown at them since. Bit draggy on the road.

Ran some Compass Barlow Pass for more road-centric/dry bridleway over the summer. They’re very nice.

Well, that was a lot of slippey slidey fun. Roots on the early laps were evil but got less sketchy as it dried out (just as I got less able to function properly…).

Completely knackered. Top stuff :)

Also did it for fun rather than any sort of time – 42c WTB Resolutes, tubeless with Orange Endurance goop, about 38psi IIRC worked pretty well.

Tazzy did it on a 29+ SS Stooge…not sure I’d want to do it on a fat bike ;-)

…3″ DHF or leave the Chronicle on the front…decisions decisions :-/

Yep in – male pairs. Given a decided lack of training combined with a tummy bug earlier in the week, definitely just in it for the atmosphere :)

Black 29+ Stooge, might stick the full suss in the car just in case. Neither are exactly ‘light’.

Trails we’re running well at the weekend, the bit of rain forecast tomorrow should make things nice and grippy come Saturday (famous last words).

Would say alternate too, both’ll be fun. Really hoping conditions stay halfway decent – it’s running so well at the moment.

Going the other way, 29+ and 29/2.6 on a really not very light Stooge…out of the corner acceleration ain’t gonna be sparkling but the inertia (of a small planet) might help on the fire road sections.

Looking forward to it :)

Nice build! They are very lovely indeed :) Also looked at Mason/Tripsters/Rondo, but after popping in to see Mark (top bloke!) at his workshop and a lot of umming and ahhing finally took the plunge in March. Has been at home on epic road days, chunks of the SDW where I’d normally take the Stooge and the DR200 – me legs are definitely the limiting factor ;)

A build with 1x force and fairly burly wheels/wtb resolutes comes in at about 9.3kg. Thinking of trying  650b/road plus for the summer, though those Hunts do look mint!