<p style=”text-align: left;”>Twenty years+ here and I still miss the old forum.</p>

The Halfords AGM Class A I have has been great. Probably coming up to four years old and has been regularly discharged off grid and charged a day or three later. It’s still holding a charge but definitely doesn’t last as long as it did new. Also with it being Halfords if there are premature issues on your travels you are never too far from a branch that can sort warranty.

Internal battery so spare not an option unfortunately.

What are folks doing for work if they have a spare 3k a month floating about for somebody else to look after their kids.!!!

I did Dartmoor yesterday on my ebike and I’m battered today. I ride anything with two wheels pretty much, race zwift, go touring and everything inbetween. Anyone who says ebikes make it easier haven’t grabbed one by the shirt collar and giving it a proper hammering. It’s almost a different sport

The garage next door to my bike shop has got a low mileage 2005 Carola up for sale. Granted it’s a very well looked after car but 4k.!!!

A mate of mine and my good self did 16k worth of EMTB’s in a £500 Mk1 focus estate last weekend. Not sure what the ratio is there but it’s a good effort none the less.

We’ve definitely seen a down turn in sales of of mid to low end bikes in the shop. The high ticket stuff and commuter ebikes are still tricking out of the door. Servicing is still boyant as there seems to be more make do and mend going in.

To be fair I had a panda before which was fantastic around the narrow lanes of Devon where I live but on a 200 haul up the M5 it was an absolute ball ache. By comparison the Mk1 focus is a Rolls-Royce.

“Because a 50k modern car will be a much nicer place to be than a 2004 Focus?”

Can’t argue with that but how nice do you want it ? It’s a box with an engine in for carrying shite up and the motorway not a holiday home.

I do love bangernomics and big mile Volos. I picked up a 2004 focus 1.8TDCI estate two years ago with 100k on the clock for £500. It’s been absolutely faultless. Cruises up and down the motorway effortlessly. Makes me wonder why anyone would spend 50k+ to do the same thing.?

I did 35 miles and 5.5k ft of climbing yesterday over Exmoor on my H15. Mixture of eco, trail and boost and used 3 out of 5 bars of power. 30-40% left in the tank maybe.? If you’ve got a set of legs you can get some proper miles out of them.

Perfectly normal. Bosch motors do it as well. The tolerances in the motor have to be a little slacker than they would in an automotive one due to the lack of power. I quite like my ep8 rattle now.

MTB.

Picked up a mk1 18tdci focus estate in November 2019 for £550 with 100k on the clock. It had done 13000 in the previous 7 years and was growing moss in places. Two years on and I’ve only just changed the front tyres after 20k miles. Last two MOTs have cost me less than £400 each. Runs buttery smooth, carries boat loads of stuff and does 60mpg ish on a motorway if I don’t get bored. Proper bangernomics.

A mate of mine (75 with a shattered pelvis and other things) has a Scott road bike with ebike motion system in and he’s getting 60+ miles on a club ride.

As above there is a tiny hole in the diaphragm that allows fluid to allow fluid out if there is too much pressure in the system or that is my understanding.

Where is the fluid coming from exactly.? If it is said diaphragm and it is damaged then Shimano list them as a spare and are replaceable.

I work in a bike shop and every time we book something in from the supplier it’s gone up a couple of quid. It’s constantly creeping up.

105 flat bar shifter will work with any GRX rear mech. Ditto for the tiagra shifter as well although that’s 10 speed but still compatible.

August for official SRAM cassettes. I believe sunrace dealers will be getting a deliveries of compatible cassettes at some point in the next few weeks.

I got a few thousand Marlboro in my bike box on a trip back from Tenerife without issue. Probably more luck than judgment but it did pay for the holiday when I turned them into cash upon my return.

I’ve got an old tank of a Trek with an old school ultegra 10 speed groupset on it. Built up and never seen the light of day but has done a few thousand miles on zwift. It’s perfect.

I did many years of driving and I know my health suffered. Getting up at 3am and doing **** all for for 12 hours+ a day does not do anyone any good. I went from that to Halfords as a “mechanic” which was a massive cut in pay but the health and mental benefits outweighed that. From that I went to a local bike shop which is half a mile from my front door and now I play with some very nice bikes all day. No 3am starts and no back problems.

Old school calculator one from the 80’s. He will be the envy of the playground.

Start with the easy stuff. Remove the pedals and give the threads a greasing. As mentioned rear axle, is it bolt through.? If so treat that to a bit of grease. If it’s only happening in the smallest sprockets it could be the outer most bearing on the freehub body. Cranks torqued correctly.?

Did you put the washer back in the freehub body.?

I’ve got one on the gravel bike at home but not go it to hand. There’s no spacers on there as they built for 68mm bottom bracket shells like the road stuff is. The jump in gears is fine as mine does 50/50 road and off road I find the double more friendly cadence wise than 1x.

UPS for me. There’s a drop off point opposite my place and they are generally cheaper than Royalmail.

105 5700 shifters. Utter bobbins out of the box.

I have a garage without power and there’s no chance of getting power to it. I use a leisure battery and inverter to power lights, gaming laptop and turbo. The fan is a cordless one that I got from Aldi and is good for two hours on full or 5 hours on low which is adequate most of the time. Internet is provided via hotspot on my phone. The turbo is a neo which can be used without power but I plug it in. Push come to shove I could use the neo and a phone mounted on an out front Garmin mount in the middle of a field as long as there’s 4G.

I’m nursing a broken toe meaning I have done next to nothing for a few days. Praise be the internet otherwise I’d be bored ridged.
Now and again I love a day on the sofa doing jaff all, it does the mind and body a world of good.

SunRace make a very good alternative.

A pack of 299 would be good.

I used mine last night coupled with it’s slightly smaller 1000 version on my lid. I did 3hrs on Exmoor using various modes and there’s still a ton of battery life left in both units. On full chat it was like riding in day light. I used a bolt on go pro mount off ebay for the bars and the light never moved all night,. Very impressive for the money.

Love it love it love it. I mean it’s shite but it’s great all at the same time. Let the f**kwitery commence.

Try track bolts, they should do the job.

*sniggers

Bottom.

One thing I will add is that I like to think I’m above average on a MTB, not massively but I’ve been at it for many years, I’m also a fairly fit roadie but towards the end of the day I was feeling knackered. Eight runs into the day and I was cooked and things were getting a bit slopy. Does fatigue have a part to play with the accidents.?

I was there on Friday on a 100mm hardtail and an xc lid. I ride within my limits (sort of) as I wasn’t familiar with the trails at all. I thought the place was amazing. Loved every minute of it. The only problem I had was when somebody randomly stopped dead mid trail and mid flow.! Other than that it was all gravy.