I have tested over 50 tyres and in retrospect most are quite bad.

Manufacturers often claim superior performance due new rubber compounds and yet after some wear it becomes evident that in some tyres grip has come clever block shapes instead.
Credit where it is due, tyre carcasses seem to have been really developed over last few years.

None of the services (Apple TV, Apple music) are locked to platform, you can get Android app for them to use on Android phone. You do get few months free of charge for those services when buying a new Apple device.

As for sound quality being any better – not over Bluetooth but some more recent Yamaha amps have Apple Airplay which may improve the sound over BT, at least when compared to old versions of BT.

Me in 1996 in a friends rented a mid-city apartment which had become for sale – “Buying this would be ridiculous, apartment prices here are as high as they are ever going to be“.
I have since seen apartments in same building being sold for 6-7 times the price they were asking.

My SKS wore out presta side rubber grommet and there doesn’t seem to be any replacement parts. It lives on as car tyre pressure checker.

SKS and my old Topeak Mountain pump had difference of almost 4 PSI at 25PSI. No idea which one is correct reading.

It is worth checking the sealant, some of them turn solid after few years and that’s not nice when you need it.

I have tried to use the pump and sealant for 6mm hole caused by 6mm bolt on a piece of flatbar and not a slightest chance of sealing the tyre. Since then I have added car-sized anchovies but I believe plug type things might work better.

I still have my CAAD4 road bike, very seldomly used these days. It has achieved that desired ‘vertically jarring but flexy bottom bracket area’ ride quality that steel bikes couldn’t get.

Friends had those lovely F-series hardtails in early 2000s, few cracked from doing trials style riding and Headshok bearings rusted solid due lack of greasing. Can’t fault the bikes for that.
I recall one local race where I saw 2 guys with those lovely Ravens riding back to start area with their seatpost in jersey pockets… not a successful weekend for them.  

There is a Joe Friel book ’Fast after 50’ which is good source for strength and anaerobic exercise information for grownup athletes.

I have yet to test this properly but I changed my front-of-the-bars computer mount on other side of the stem so the computer is offset and this leaves room for Lupine Frontclick bar mount which mounts on both sides of the stem. There is even a small Restrap bar bag under all this.

I did it this way as it allows switching lights to other bike easily – with my lights the GoPro adapter attaches with screws and wouldn’t want to mess with that often. I don’t know yet if the offset computer is too annoying in use. 

Maybe 3 pairs of spd shoes, 2 pairs of flats, 1 pair for road and trainer and one pair of winter spds.

I just managed to dispose one xc pair last weekend, lugs at the bottom were torn off 7 years ago at Garda bike and hike but I just couldn’t get rid of them. Threw away one old helmet too, it was intact but complicated set of pads were missing and were not available from mfgr anymore.
Oh and few 26” tyres were binned too.

Have few of these multitools and somehow Gerber stuff has always been disappointing to me. I am sitting on a remote meeting now, have Gerber Splice and a broken Dime in on my desk and this Splice sure is low quality item. Dime is slightly better quality wise but end bolt broke of on a stubborn screw.

I have Leatherman Style PS on my riding pack, it is light but use  probably limited to opening tubeless valve nuts and holder for tweezers. That one has been discontinued too.

K-Edge has some interesting mounts:
Garmin Mounts

I’m thinking of changing top of stem mount to front mount on MTB too, have one on gravel already. It might help to see the display better with glasses on and it would be out of way.

If you are using Wahoo Systm there are few training sessions which have very short intervals, like 5-10 second sprints and this is where my V1 Atom struggles. It is always bit late for these before resistance stabilises but I don’t find this to be major issue. Or at least it doesn’t ruin my training.

Wattbikes own sessions have slightly longer intervals and they might have done it on purpose. 

I have to admit, my last session on Wattbike was on April and I haven’t been eager to start using it again – now that weather seems be turning worse it is time to start again. Couple of varying rides first and then it is time for that lovely 4D test.

I have had loads of different laptops via work and customers, my preference would be a HP Elitebook or proper Thinkpad  with 14” screen, WWAN module and the nipple. For HP’s I’d want to see the screen first, they used to sell some unusually dim screen configurations back in the day.

Only computer ever that has died on me unexpectedly during work day the was an Elitebook, the machine just went blank and at service center they couldn’t even save the SSD. No report was delivered but it unique issue on fleet of few hundred laptops.

Is surgery only option these days? I recall that there was some procedure involving injection which would weaken the growth on tendons and then finger would be forced to straighten, ripping away the extra growth. I am not sure but I recall that it is no longer done. Met a guy who had the surgery done and it mark of the Zorro on his palm – not a fun idea for riding bikes anytime soon after surgery.

Mine isn’t too badly bent, just tight and itchy and has been stable for quite few years now.

Note that seatpost is different on OG and New Gen Atoms. And on other models too.

Original Wattbike Atom is bit slow reacting to gear / watt changes, newer one (Atom NG?) is reportedly little better on this regard. Other issue is that seat adjustments are not that easy so second seatpost helps if there are other users.

My OG has been trouble free for few years now but the hoods are starting to slip, have to do something about them this winter.
I used to have trainers but find a Wattbike much easier to live with – we have enough room to keep it ready to use it any time.

Stephen Fry’s three part book series on Greek gods and heroes is quite entertaining, this might be done in similar tone?
I wonder how earnestly ancient people believed in these stories, the Greek gods were quite cheeky bunch and could be used as scapegoats for many unlikely events.

We were discussing about our friends party next weekend when our 3 year old asked ‘is this party only for humans or are kids invited too?’

Confessions of a pedal killer: part 5. My last victim is a OneUp Composite, axle is so bent that there is visible and easily felt wobble. I have also ruined Nukeproof Electrons, when their axle bent they unbolted axle from body.
I have pair of XT:s in size L but while they feel more robust they are also catching on every tree stump along trails.

Let’s not go into gory details of broken Time pedals here…

We have both –  the gas is more powerful but it is still less used than induction side.

One of the Withings Scanwatches, my other half had similar requirements and has been happy with them.
First watch died in jacuzzi 3 years after being worn everywhere in showers, saunas and pools – second one is now  maybe 2 years old and still going strong.

I have visited Pompeii several times and Herculaneum once, both are wonderful. A good guide makes the experience  more complete with additional info, sometimes there is new stuff found so recently that it is not yet in guidebooks. And a bad guide can almost ruin the experience – in my experience you can’t tell good one from bad until the tour has properly started.

Tickets in advance during the high season.

I don’t know about UK pricing but for actual prices paid I have been happy my three successive Pivot bikes and their price/ value / quality proposition. Spec for Pro XT does not have any silly discount parts hidden and comes with reasonable wheels. Of course Canyon etc are cheaper for similar spec but Trek and Spec were much worse.
And for actual riding they have been great, after adjusting to them as mine have all been in different wheel size (5.7, 5.5 and SB V2. The DW link is tuned differently to each mfgrs spec and Pivot wants snappier feel than most others.

For SB I have changed few bits due experimenting and I am still looking into changing rear shock from Float X to something else with better adjustability. I already bought discounted Mara Pro V1 but the piggyback wouldn’t clear downtube.

Sure. But photos and videos never seen outside of that device can’t be that important. If they were they’d already be shared on OneDrive / Facebook / Flickr / GDrive / Twitter / home NAS / etc etc.

Discussion moves to philosophical level – does the photo that is never shared really exist :) My guess is that fraction of people’s photos taken with phone are ever shared. And that is a mostly a good thing. 

Anyway, the lost one might have mentioned that “I have picture of important document / my house’s electrical layout / lost Inca treasure on my phone “ but has never shared it. On cases like those the contents of the phone might become very interesting.

It is being more considered now in the world of social media:
https://uk.pcmag.com/security/147526/how-to-prepare-your-digital-life-for-your-death

Good tips on FB, IG etc but I wouldn’t trust any online password service to be around in few years time, as services tend to come and go.

Electronic legacy is interesting discussion and should be planned for when all parties are alive and well. Which is easier said than done, I know

Talk about memories usually means photos and videos, for my part I have shared my Google photos with Mrs, there isn’t much else in digital format for me to leave behind except some Kindle books and dodgy post histories on few forums.

I haven’t ever had carbon cranks but I am thoroughly impressed how well Race Face warranty worked with numerous breakages my mate had with his NextSL and SixCs.
Sure there were some issues with delivery times as stuff was sent overseas but I believe they always delivered. I might be tempted to buy some if they made them with 24mm axle but I would be sure to keep spare cranks ready in the shed.

See also effect of partially depressurised rear shock when changing tokens for the fifth time that evening. I am lucky to have my fingertips still  in OEM spec as leftover air in negative chamber collapsed the shock when opening the air can. I don’t know where my fingers were caught but I had interesting marks on my fingers for a month or two.

I have witnessed similar fixation to weight with mates who rode MTBs in early 2000s but haven’t ridden any modern bikes. They might bounce the forks, lift the bike “oo quite heavy” and “why are tires so wide” (2.4”) and bars seem too wide as well.
I have even taken them to good trails and loaned them my good bike but no luck getting them back to MTBs.

(They have returned the favour by dragging me back to climbing walls with even less success. Climbing sure isn’t fun when you’re overweight and strength levels are 1/4 of what they used to be. )

Did you miss this piece:

cocaine is making its way into the waters via illegal labs where the drug is manufactured or through excrement of drug users.

That is proper recycling!

We must have different knees. I gave up on Time cos I couldn’t easily rotate my foot to release. Yes, I am like a duck:-)

I believe so since my knees are here, hurting like hell after couple of days at the fells.

Time Easy cleats work for me,  regular ones too if slightly filed for narrower exit angle. My dodgy ankle doesn’t like the narrower angle from regular cleat and 17 deg version is impossible.

Time. I have broken three pedals in six years , the mechanism eats into shoe sole and clipping in is harder than in Shimano. Oh and cleat are brass and do not like walking on rocky terrain.
Still going to use them as they work with my knees.

Sounds quite familiar- I don’t get on with most Shimano shoes as ‘sock on a plank’ type footwear does not support my foot enough.
For pedals I mostly use Time MX as I like the increased float and some added stability. What I don’t like is the lack of durability and cleat retention bars digging into shoe, Shimano doesn’t have these issues at all.

Just about any plastic framed glasses can be adjusted with hot air gun.

Apple tv requires a subscription so im not interested in that.

Not true. AppleTV box itself does not require any subscription.
AppleTV+ the streaming service does require subscription but you get year or 6mos when buying a new device.
I have Wattbike and run either Wattbike hub app or Wahoo Systm app on phone for workouts and watch TV for entertainment during easy workouts. During heavy workouts I can’t see anything so only music is needed.

I would not buy anything from Leatt without trying – all the pads and jerseys I have from them are really good but 1 or 2 sizes different from what I would have ordered based on size charts.

Comment on PB on supposedly official OneUp account:

Unlike pawl hub designs, ratchet teeth do not spin in the drive ring or cause wear. The drive ring is a static interface. Machining the drive ring directly into the hub shell makes the hub lighter with a wider bearing stance and easier to replace bearings. OneUp hubs are machined from 7000 series aluminium which is strong enough for an integrated drive ring. 6000 series hub shell bodies are not strong enough for an integrated drive ring. No plans for Silver hubs, yet…

Their droppers have been good but hubs are more annoying to sort out if anything goes wrong.
These are ‘just’ new design variation from expired DT patent for ratchet so chances are they’ll work well. Although I am suspicious of machined aluminium hub shell used as part of ratchet drive.

Thanks northernremedy, I hope some specialist will tell me some calming words in addition to some indecipherable Latin phrases.

Good luck to everyone else suffering too, seems that stomach issues can be related just about anything.

I’m suffering from weird stomach thing myself, now seemingly healthy and waiting for specialist’s comment on follow up CT scan after 26 days stay as patient at wars.
The most troubling thing is that multiple doctors have said that root cause of my issues might not be found as intestinal issues can be very complex. I’m  happy that any intestinal surgeries were not done  as they might be difficult to recover from.