Did they go too niche?

Sales growing apparently – a catalogue of reasons – COVID / interest rates / state of the bike industry post COVID / machine failure / comparatively low wage growth & lack of funding/outside investment.

I have no idea how it will work in practice. Are all shop workers now meant to ask everyone for ID as it will soon become impossible to tell if some one is 35 or 33 and one legally can buy them and one cant.

Essentially we would need to ask anyone who looks under 25 for id, as we do now, and if they are born 2009 or after refuse. Really not as big a deal as some in the trade are making if out to be – we already have to enforce age restriction on products, this would just be a rolling age.

By the time we get to 2044 and those born 2008/9 will be in there mid 30’s the idea is that the vast majority won’t be smoking.

I try to flush out mine with isopropyl after use – no idea if it prolongs life of the kit, but it stops the dregs of oil from creeping into the cardboard box….

Making stuff illegal doesn’t work. Look at the so called war on drugs.

It’s not a flat out ban though is it?

Existing smokers can carry on smoking legally. It’s only stopping those who would become underage.

Smoking has a drug would eventually die out along with the smokers….

As an owner of shop Involved in the industry we are completely pro the new measures and laws. Infact personally I’d say it doesn’t go far enough….

There are other convenience shops near me, and around the country who are kicking up a right stick about it though, many where 40% or more of their trade comes from tobacco and vapes. Some of the supermarkets, Tesco/Sainsbury’s etc are also lobbying the gov to reduce the impact on stores.

Any other genre hopping snacks?

Pringles are still rice based in the US I think…. They tried it here in around 2010 as a way of skipping vat, but sales dropped as the recipe is far worse.

Generally as far as I away any ‘crisp’ style snack that says no vat is generally not a crisp.

Only use cash for day to day spending – using cards and specifically contactless is proven to increase your spending by upto 25%.

Cash enables you to budget, and your more likely to retain change in your pocket for future use.

British education is only good for one thing – more education…..

GCSE’s are designed to get you into college….

College education system is designed to get you into university, with clear disappointment and bias if you don’t apply.

& then the universities are essentially an education business.

None of it is designed for the real world of work.

Yeah last week’s inquiry was interesting. AB came across well, and as absolutely knowing the subject in finite details, far better than Alan Cook who seemed like he didn’t know anything about the legal side of PO when he was MD of PO.

I see his youtube reviews as slightly more pragmatic entertainment rather than the direct advertising for brands which some other YouTubers seem to do – generally he’s very positive, but the things that do genuinely annoy him he does mention, tyres, grips etc.

I also think he only really reviews, or shares reviews of products that he’s interested in himself, which automatically puts a bias position unless it’s a complete lemon.

I subscribe to his you tube, but only watch the stuff that interests me, or I ‘may’ think about purchasing in the future.

Mudhugger gravel hugger

Front GravelHugger

Any options on what saddle would be best for some one else is irrelevant as we don’t have the same posterior.

For my own ass, WTB Volt variants seems to be the best ATM.

The xtr will shift better, garbaruk is more bling and slightly lighter…

I’ve run both back to back on different wheels and there is a minimal but noticeable difference In shifting between them. So if your racing I’d go xtr, if it’s trail use garbaruk.

They’re fine.

But not great? Every tyre I’ve tried has better grip all year round than a JJ, like I said though that’s not the point of JJ’s though!

Like all tyres, fat tyres have down sides as well as ups, it’s just far more noticeable with fat bike tyres imo. Nates are ‘only’ 3.8, but make an excellent UK trail tyres, but are significantly more draggy than a JJ on hardpack trails. Minions are heavy, larger but not as grippy as a Nate. Bud & Lou are great if fully rigid, but won’t fit all frames/forks & expensive and now rare. I’ve settled on a Big Al front, heavy but loads of grip, and 45nrt Dillinger on the rear grippy, lightish but very expensive. All alternatives to JJ’s aren’t as good on rolling resistance, the most similar is a Teravail Coronado, but again that’s not great on tech trails.

If I were the op, I’d get rid of the Bud / Lou and try a set of 120tpi 4″ or smaller tyres. Nates or if you can find them at a good price 45nrth Dillinger / Vanhelga. Probably cheaper than getting a second set of wheels and tyres and will provide a substantially different ride to the current set up.

I completely get what Joe is saying, but….. Part of bikes is the ‘affordable’ Ferrari thing. The sport/activity is comparatively easy and affordable to gain equipment that only pros use in other mechanical sports.

Shinny things don’t make us go any faster, but that not the entire point.

The best upgrade to your riding £ for £ will always be a skills day, no matter what level of rider you are. After that it’s just time in the saddle and practice.

JJs might roll well but if you want grip too then they might not be the best option

Absolutely this – quite possibly the worst technical ‘off road’ fatbike tyre there is. Great for rides where rolling resistance is a requirement, gravel and non tech riding – awful for everything else.

Imo JJ’s are one of the reasons people stopped using their fatbikes in recent years and the trend died out – so many bikes came equipped with JJ’s and with fatbike tyres being comparatively expensive, people just didn’t see the full benefits of a fat bike. JJ’s offer few benefits when it comes to a Fat trail bike.

Yep that’ll be me 😁…..

Forced to put up the 10hrs a week I pay myself so could be an extra £10 a week, but I’ll probably reduce my paid working hours to 9 (from 10) and keep my take home pay roughly the same. I do the other 50hrs a week in my shop for free….

Nice 👍

Orbea wild 52lbs.

Can’t see the point of saving weight when there’s PoWeR on tap. Motor torque and battery size make a more positive impact for me and the sort of riding I do on it.

I liked having a set of 29+ as a spare / summer set of wheels when I only had a fat bike. Gave the bike loads more versatility.

Never saw the point in 27.5 on a fat bike – always thought of it as a marketing exercise. You loose some of the side wall hight in the tyre of a 26″ fat and as such some of the cushion.

I’m looking at the Kona Wo (22) that is on offer, it’s on 26” wheels, is that going to cause problems with availability of tyres later?

Tyres have always been expensive, and over the past few years a little rare. To the point where I have bought spares. But they don’t disappear completely, there’s a high fat bike following in north America so some companies are still producing new tread patterns (WTB recently), however they are cirtainly getting more expensive.

Furlough during covid – good idea, poorly implemented but if it had put in place properly it wouldn’t have been rolled out so quickly.

Same for the 10k COVID grants for businesses on business rates. Fast rollout poor implementation.

Both policies worked – but we’re too easy to take advantage of, a down side to the quick roll out imo. I also don’t personally see them as typical Tory policy.

Other than that I can’t think of anything.

‘lightweight’ Ebikes aren’t really that much different to a full fat imo – 4kg maybe if comparing similar builds and price points? Also the lighter weight bikes dont have comparable stats when it comes to the motors – something that was apparent when my mate bought a 60nm lightweight bike and in comparison to my 85nm full fat doing the climb at Afan up to Blades/Whites I could blast up the techy bits where as he struggled.

I’d say try to get a demo or higher bikes of a full fat and a lightweight ride them back to back if you can and then decide.

Shimano had a bad rep over the pandemic period, possibly because they changed factory and upped production, possibly because they are harder to get replacement parts for. Bosch are cirtainly high up on the reliability stakes. TQ are in fewer bikes so the jury is still out imo – the controls, buttons etc all ways get called cheap and flimsy in reviews I’ve seen on multiple bikes.

Removable batteries are great if you go for the smaller capacity as you can switch out, I’ve a 625, which lasts me a full day of hard riding. I’m tempted to buy a spare though for bike park days when I can leave the bike in boost all day and shuttle to the top for repeating runs. If your not planning to use the bike for shuttling then it’s prob not a requirement. A battery extension on a lightweight bike would be an option instead.

It’ll depend on the stem / fork combo – some forks require the bung to be in a specific place to prevent crush forces from the stem being directed into the steerer tube.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-68657520?at_campaign=Social_Flow&at_medium=social&at_ptr_name=facebook_page&at_campaign_type=owned&at_format=link&at_bbc_team=editorial&at_link_type=web_link&at_link_origin=BBC_Gloucestershire&at_link_id=321081E0-EB4D-11EE-AB67-3332AAF30DC0&fbclid=IwAR2Bhl5QRhtMU-N-bpfbYGIzR6CL4HqnYfAndGTWKwPK-zFqKumzxsodo5s

I had this email back from the highways team yesterday.

Dear

Thank you for your email of the 21 March regarding Fly Up A417 Bike Park.

We completely understand that you would be interested in the discussions with Fly Up and the need to support your local business. As I am sure you’ll appreciate, we cannot disclose any information regarding the conversations taking place between Fly Up and other parties at this time.

At a time when dialogues have been completed, we’re confident that all the information being discussed, will be made available.

Once again, many thanks for contacting us.

A417 Communications team

🤔 Well that’s two websites I’ll try to avoid in the future 🤷‍♂️

Giro switchblade for £70, only s & l though

Switchblade MIPS Dirt/MTB Helmet

Being unsolvable is kinda the point of the book/s….

Couple episodes in I’m enjoying it, although I think if may help that I’ve read the  book so know exactly what’s going on….

Home

Unfortunately I didn’t make it over to the  public consultation site last night. Looking at the development web site it seems that the phase that would start affecting fu417 starts in early summer this year, with the construction of the Cotswolds way overpass and works to the dual carriageway that will directly affect the carpark and facilities.

With no plans of how highways intend to keep the park open during the construction process I guess fu417 need all the help the can get.

I’ve emailed the park with support, but also the public email for the construction project quiring how they will support and keep the park open  in the upcoming phases of the works.

A417SchemeEnquiries@kier.co.uk

I’m going over to the royal George at Birdlip tonight, apparently there’s a public consultation van til 6:30pm so I’ll ask them the question about the park ….

I’m not sure what the issues are. looks like NH have to maintain access to the park through construction. something more detailed though.

The project to date had been all above the 417project though To date the works have been mainly been across open farm land and around the roundabout itself. So, as far as I’m aware, there has been relatively little impact on the park – the next phase over the next year or so will be digging out and widening the partial dual carriageway that goes from brockworth upto the air balloon. Along with the creation of a land bridge across the road for wildlife and public access.

Is bonding frames just a solution to a non-existant problem?

I can’t see a company offering a welded frame in 18 different sizes – or using 7075 tubes. Not many able.to offer a full lifetime warranty on an alloy frame either.

As someone that’s always been, at 5’10”, between a large and medium frame, getting the correct size frame for me (custom ti) was an eye opener of how much of a compromise all other bikes I’ve owned has been.

Watched that earlier, I don’t think that they ‘want’ to close the park, it’s just the new management of the missing link project aren’t any good at communication with the business. Cirtainly seems like highways have formulated their own plans without any up-to-date consultation or discussion.

I quite like the industrial look of the bike, but i cirtainly prefer the cleaner look of the A series frames. Also a fan of lug and bonded frames and their advantages, same for the material choice – but It’s in the wrong category of bike for me to be interested though, maybe it they had a lighter 130mm travel trail bike 🤔

OK, well some AXS derailleurs may come with battery’s then (happy to be wrong), but others certainly don’t (I’m looking at upgrading to T-Type derailleur only and the ones I see don’t).

The two I’ve bought from Europe in came without batteries, the UK shipped one I bought did. But usually your told in the listing.

It’s to do with air shipping laws and lithium battery’s id have thought.

OP id fully expect a complete bike to come with battery/ies and a charger in the accessories box.

Around 8 million deliveries per year

That’s just the letters….

Loads of things that could go wrong,

postcode code have been entered into the system incorrectly,

Address can be misread

could have got stuck in a sorting bag (this happens a fair bit) and delivered through to the wrong sorting office,

tracking label could detach from parcel / envelope and reattach to another in the bag going somewhere else. – this happens more often with waxed paper/card boxed or packages/letters with eco tape.

Although you’d expect the postman to be able to read that it’s in the wrong postal town before delivery – however RM have lost large swathes of experienced postal workers in the last 18months (remember those strikes?).

For comparison evri have delivered a parcel to the wrong business address, 6miles away from me,  four times in a row over the last week – each time the driver has turned up at my house (next to my business) an hour or so later to deliver a domestic package and ive told him he’s delivered to the wrong address, he shrugs and says claim from the company 🤷‍♂️ – which I would do but he delivered to the wrong address again!!!

I’ve done ride leading on guided events not dissimilar to Mollie’s ride and it’s amazing how many people (who have signed up months in advance and been given detailed training plans/advice) struggle to cope with distances like that.

Or they may be able to do the distance but they’ve never ridden in bad weather or traffic or groups.

I think on our L2P we had close to 5% dropout rate on day one – but all the others completed it across 4days. One guy I remember, turned up on a £200 MTB and hadn’t ridden a bike since he was a child…. The other 4 multi day charity events I’ve taken part, no one dropped out but they were more specialised so only established riders would have signed up.

Cirtainly day three always seems the most difficult when doing multi days imo.

Bikmo 👍

How long before we have to tap our cards before entering a shop – like pay at the pump petrol stations? And amount would be ring-fenced depending on the value of the goods in the shop and released when you buy something or leave.

Amazon physical (self service?) shops already do this iirc.

Target in the US has removed or allocated self service tills to it’s subscriber customers only in some of its shops.