Slightly daft suggestion, but have you tried a campsite, given that you were looking at commercial storage places.

If you get one of those farm ones with limited facilities it’ll probably be pretty cheap.

Thanks for this.

I have a torn medial meniscus which just isn’t going away. I’m sure there are other issues in there too.

Waiting for another mri and hopefully getting it sorted.

Cycling is okay, but just walking around isn’t.

Feel a bit low sometimes as I’m a triathlete at heart, done Ironmans, ultra marathon etc and just want to get back out in the hills.

Mid fifties too so expecting a slower recovery.

I really shouldn’t have commented.

I’ve had cars, motorbikes and shirts all like those posted above!

#3 please in my size, which is long low and slack :-)

A bit dusty in here dude.

I really don’t know how you do it, but keep on doing it.

Well done, and well done mini Gs.

Eeeh, when I were a lad, in my late teens, so mid 1980s, I had a couple of tees printed up by a friend, that were kind of locally famous.

A red one, white lettering, “oral sex is a matter of taste”

And a bright yellow one , black lettering, “legalise sheep shagging”

I was always impressed that my mum washed them and hung them on the line right way up facing the neighbours!

My parents were/are **** ace.

I was going to respond re spokes, valve/logos, decals, skinwalls ….but then OP said “colourways”.

The sea is over there

I’m looking for a set of carbon rigid forks for my Orange clockwork 100 29er.

Konanige, Polisherman – still available?

Three Billboards – I’m not a big film watcher but it is excellent.

Some years ago I had some creaking cracking nois s.

Turned out to be grit in the cable stops on an ally frame.

Maybe remove and clean cables and put a dab of grease Where the stops are.

You could just try squirting a bit of oil into those areas and see if that makes any difference.

Maybe Scott Genius?

The 29er will take decent tyres and you can go 27.5+.

My test bike arrives tomorrow.

Slacker. My Mrs did ours on 3rd January!

Fixed ours for 5 years this week. That should just about see us out. It didn’t get done quite in time so had 1 monthly payment on the variable rate for the old provider, and it was well over £100 per month more.

The new fixed rate has brought it below the old fixed rate monthly payments so all happy.

Figured that with uncertainty in the air, it adds a bit of err certainty!

Rates can’t go down much, but they could go up a fair bit.

A mate of mine runs a place just outside of Rhayader in mid-Wales.

Great bunkhouse style accommodation sleeps 16. Bike storage and washing. Drying room. I think he said they charge £19 pppn

Riding in Elan Valley on the doorstep. Bike shop in town. Less than an hour from Nanty. Brecon Beacons less than an hour away. Coedy maybe an hour away. Great road riding too.

http://www.beilineuadd.co.uk/index.php/about-us2

I wear one varifocal and one standard lens when riding. The varifocal means I can read maps, garmin, fix stuff without having to dig out my specs. The standard gives me clearer longer distance vision. My brain sorts it out.

I only wear lenses for riding, specs for daily use.

Did you have the trots as well?

Happy birthday ya bloody young pup!

My 50th was spent at my brother in laws inquest, driving his immediate family to the court 150 miles away. And I ended up buying their lunch.

Bah!

WFH is normal for me.

But I was due in London today as my boss of 20 years is retiring.

I set off on the 40 mile drive to the station at 5:30 am, got 5 miles in to the journey and hit a blizzard with it settling on the road. The route takes me through the black mountains. Turned round and went back home.

No snow day for us homeworkers.

Ordinary Dettol, well the even cheaper supermarket own brand stuff.

They often have instructions for washing on the label, but I just dilute a couple of capfuls in a litre or two of water and tip it in the powder draw before putting the powder in.

Then normal wash on either 30 or 40 degrees.

Do it every few washes. A bottle for a quid will last over a year.

Time ATAC here too.

Paul4stones – HR-V. The quirky 4wd with CVT auto.

Totally not plush or posh (I have another car thread about that!) but pretty much unstoppable. The 4wd is surprisingly good. Gets used as the bike car, tip car, building materials car, tow car, going out for a play in the snow car.

It’s 15 years old, had it from new. It really is a piece of me and I will be sad to see it go. When (if!) we finally buy a new car (see other thread) I aim to put a new MOT on it and give it away to someone who could really do with a car but can’t afford to buy one.

My 240,000 miles Honda has been faultless. 1.6 petrol. Uses no oil between changes. So I’d say consider Honda, or other Japanese makes for reliability.

Did 500 miles in two days in a Cee’d hire car not long ago. Nice and comfy and plenty fast enough.

Try a quote for their insurance with you and the mrs as named drivers. That can bring it down a fair bit.

Edukator – I do get it. We do our bit, we both work for environmental organisations by career choice. Public transport is our default work travel mode. We are both home based and use web and audio conferencing extensively in preference to travel. We have one child.

But we (humans) are consumers of resources. When they start turning the lights off in Vegas etc then I’ll cut back on my little luxuries.

Current car is 15 years old, bought from new and used until it expires i.e. pretty soon.

Andyl – We live very close to a designated dark sky area (Elan Valley). We love stargazing. Stopping the car in the valley at night, recline the seats. open the roof :-) And I really miss the old sunroofs I had in my yoof!

Just done a “build” on the Volvo website, and yes, pano roof available!

So we are back on that.

Still going to test drive the Kia on Saturday, and book a Volvo too, then we can do a full compare.

We’ve never had a premium car, we can afford it comfortably, so why not. Saw a very nice black XC60 at the Dyfi Winter Warm Up today. That caught my eye.

Julians – that sounds like a good deal on the Kuga.

First PCP car too.

Chestrockwell – just too scared off JLR now with the Ingenium engine oil dilution problem. They are lovely and we would probably bought an evoque by now, but for that.

Oh no, we’ve had a wobble! She’s not 100% on the KIA.

After next Saturday’s yest drive we will be going to look at Volvo XC60 and Audi Q5.

She really wants a pano roof, the KIA has an openimng pano roof, which I think is part of the attraction, plus the 7 year warranty, but think a bit more premium is what she is after. So we might have to compromise on the roof.

So don’t give up on me yet.

Volvo, or Audi? Keep the virews coming.

God I hate buying cars! When we bought the Astra we had no car and needed a car that day, so we just said “that one” but it was only £2k.

I think I am rivaling Kryton57’s indecision :-)

Ive successfully done it a few times. With Hope and Shimano brakes.

Just get everything ready first i.e get the pull through wires in place. Have you got replacement olives and inserts? Have you got sharp cutters? The hoses are pretty tough to cut.

Be prepared to need to remove the entire fitting from the end of the hose, not a problem if you are shortening them anyway, as they seldom fit through the frame ports.

Remember to fit the frame grommets if there are any BEFORE you thread the first one, and the top one before you put the fitting back on.

I attach the calliper to the frame first, tape the hose near the lever to the pull through wire, unscrew the fitting from the lever and place the lever on your bench with the hole uppermost to avoid losing fluid. Don’t squeeze the lever! Fit that bottom grommet. Pull the hose through from the bottom port and out of the top. Measure and cut the hose if needed, fit that top grommet. Fit new insert and olive, reattach lever.

Removing the old olive and insert can be tricky, but if you are shortening the hose then yo just cut the cable.

Fitting the new olive can be a squeeze sometimes, a clean cut hose really helps. Some olives are split and you can tease them open a tiny bit with a small flat screwdriver to help get it over the hose, then squeeze it together again with a pair of pliers. But take care doing that.

Should all be good. You can pump the lever and tape it to the bar to hold the brake on for an hour or two or overnight to force any air up into the master cyclinder, but I’ve never needed to do that.

Can’t keep it up any longer……

Kia Sportage GT Line S is winning at the moment. Got all the toys that she wants, and that she’ll probably never use! But particularly leather, nav, opening pano roof.

Prices are looking good. We don’t need a spirited drive, far too old for that. Plenty of room for the grandkids and all their junk.

Test drive next weekend and see if we can get a good deal sorted out. Was going with the 2.0 diesel mild hybrid, but the 1.6 d is actually more economical and a fair chunk cheaper.

Was put off JLR with the reliability stories especially around the oil dilution problem.

Plenty of time for it all to come crashing down and change our minds, but this seems to make sense for us.

Hope you are not all too disappointed 😀

Well, it does have a bit of hybrid in it.

A “mild hybrid” I think they are calling them these days.

Sure it is just something to get a tax break, appease the bunny huggers, and make the buyer feel a tad better :-)

Well, I’m back from my car hunting spree, and I am amazed at how quick simple and “relatively” cheap that was!

The Mrs and I continued discussing pros and cons, likes and dislikes etc last night. And considering some of the comments on here, all helpful tbh so thanks, including the “why” ones, as that helped us question what we were doing.

We found a few online cars that we thought would fit the bill. The Mrs was particularly keen on one, and said that we should go there first and if it was pretty much as good as the posh expensive ones, then we would just buy that! And like Julians it is more at the lower brand end.

So we went there first thing, just outside of Pontypridd, saw the model in almost the top spec trim, and she just said yep.

So we have a full test drive Booked for next Saturday in the actual top spec model, which the sales manager is knocking around in (he was out today). Assuming that goes well we’ll get a car wow quote, and ask the dealer to match it, and job done.

4 week delivery, so will be in early March for the new reg.

Sweet 😎

Flashy beat me to the helmet gag! Ooer, was that another one ;-)

What was the nightmare bit? TJ on a fatbike?

I’m only wee at 6’4″.

For jeans I find Levi’s shops have long leg versions.

Or are you talking cycling wear?

Some of the Specialized tyres are pretty good and well priced.

Some great suggestion thanks.

Equal thanks for the no so great ones 😀

I did say didn’t want a dirty lunch…..IKEA rubber sausage and meatballs 😎

Most nights around us. And they do seem to respond if you get the call right.

I was out on the mtb at dusk a while back and a tawny tracked me for about 200m about 10 metres to my left. Just gliding along looking at me That was cool.

LOL at BWD and johnners!

And yes, I get the “why spend so much”. And I agree largely. We started off looking good at £10k motors, because why spend more, it’s a tool. We’ve never had a “nice” car. My current Honda is the old HR-V, it doesnt even have an outside temp gauge it’s that basic.

We are now in a position to have something a bit nicer, so why not, but it is largely driven by the one who wears the trousers. And fair play she dug herself out of shifty office jobs, went to uni in her late twenties, has worked her way up in her firm, and earns decent money, so why not have a nice motor? (I still think £10k but have lost the will and the battle)

SUV for the elevated driving position. The astra is quite low and where we drive on tural roads at night oncoming car lights make it difficult to see, so the higher position is desired.

We do go “offroad” from time to time, forest tracks, farm tracks etc so the extra clearance and awd will help.

And also being rural awd is required (I know those arguments too). If I get the car that she doesn’t like then I will know about it every single day, and it’s just not worth the fight 😀

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Keep em coming.

And gloat at my lack of manliness. Happy wife and all that 😎

Andyl – I figure that putting about 200 ml in there will be enough for it to slosh around as it stays liquid, and coat all surfaces.

It then dries on the bits where it contacts the air In The tiny porous holes.

Certainly worked on mine.

I had plenty of sealant spare so didn’t have to by any.

Was working in Reading yesterday and had half an hour before meeting so popped in to Cycle Republic. Chap in there gave me a proper demo and spiel on the Bromptons.

Yeah, they kind of have it licked on the folded size. But I’m struggling with over a grand for mebbe no more than 10 miles a week.
Can do it C2W though so comes in at £600 ish in the end. And sell it that amount a few years down the line.

I didn’t spot that they had Tens in too, so will pop in again next week when I’m there again and compare.

Tempted to get a Tern for £500 and bag a load of new “commuting” clothes and accessories to top up C2W ;-) But it depends how it stacks up to the Brommie

Geex – LOL! Never happened to me, not at the end of a time trial, while wearing a skinsuit. Oh no, not me (blush)

My 15 year old Honda had a similar leaky wheel.

I just whacked 200ml of stans sealant in and it’s been perfect for almost a year.

It’s only sealing any porous bits, not holding anything together.

Not got any fancy valves on my car.

Honda.

I have a 1.6 petrol one. 2004, 240,000 miles. Still doesn’t use any oil. Only needed its first new exhaust at the last MOT. Only had 2 sets of brake pads.

Budget for cam belt to be on the safe side with any second hand motor. You just never know.