Same advice as mr blobby.
I “needed” a winter commuter and managed to get a 28 month interest free credit card from sainsburys. Then just set a direct debit up monthly that would pay it off before the interest free ended.

Just got the aether Cone delivered this morning. For 30 quid it’s amazing value, well built, nice looking (I got the black and copper one), heavy so has that quality feel (probably filled with stones).
Set up was a slight faff but I’m using it as a Bluetooth speaker so won’t bother with the WiFi set up yet.
Sound is good. Much better than any other 30 quid speaker and infinitely better than my Samsung phone speaker. Don’t know how it compares to high end stuff as Ive never heard them.
But for 30 quid it’s a bargain.

I’ve basically asked for the same thing.

Although whilst doing some research in anticipation of the “which ones” question from the non tech savvy in laws i saw a few things to take note of.

Normal wireless bluetooth ones are fine for audio but if you want to watch TV with them you need ones with a “Atpx low latency” feature, this apparently removes any audio / visual sync differences to 50ms instead of 250 odd ms.

If that is the case you will also need a Atpx low latency compatible bluetooth transmitter to connect to the audio out of your TV, a normal bluetooth one cant deal with the latency so you will get out of sync audio. As far as i could tell they just plug into the 3.5mm headphone socket of your TV.

Denon do a model of wireless ones AH-GC20 which are Atpx low latency, bluetooth and noise cancelling for not to silly money. (edit, £50 more than your budget but there are others out there in your budget)

And apparently if something is labelled Atpx it wont do the latency thing of ones marked Atpx low latency, Atpx low latency is a specific thing for audio visual listening (TV,DVD etc)

Sorry if a bit off track but some reviews of wireless bluetooth headphones mentioned the audio sync issues as a real problem so headphones with Atpx LL are necessary if you’ll be doing that.

Id have just gone for the ones i thought looked nicest with good reviews in my price range until i saw that but then thought about how i’d be using them on the spin bike with a non bluetooth TV. When the bluetooth transmitter adaptors I’d need for the TV got looked into i found all this out.

I remember years ago whilst working in a bike shop specialized used to give you this years “equivalent quality” frame as a warranty replacement, ie, a four year old rockhopper might be replaced with a new hardrock.
BUT
when it came to s-works bikes it was like for like, they never downgraded you due to the sworks factor, a stump jumper just wasn’t an sworks, no matter how you dressed it.
So, I’d be going for a replacement sworks, if it’s their fault it got nicked then it’s not your fault they have to shell out top of the range money.

I’ve got 2 of them and also a spare large battery. Managed to fit the two batteries into a bottle to tidy things up.

Lights are pretty bright, as you get used to them you think that they maybe aren’t as bright as you think, turn them off, experience complete blackness and realise maybe they were actually quite good.

Secure plug and screw closed cable connection, the chilli tech guy says the batteries are good and not dodgy exploding ones.

Can move on the bars due to the rubber band mount so I sorted this by getting one of those out front bar things and drilling a couple of holes in it and bolting the lights onto it, no movement now but they are there till next summer!

Switches are a bit fiddly but it has a separate kind of halo on the outside of the light lens that does a great job on flashing.

Also, when you dip it for a driver you have to go through low and off to get it back to high. With two lights it’s not so much a hassle but with one there is a second of darkness.

Good for 31 quid though.

last suit i bought (had a couple of weddings in close succession and an ill fitting suit shoved in the wardrobe) came from M and M direct. They are a big discount place and i got a Ben Sherman suit for about 90 quid that everyone says looks really nice. Apparently the RRP for it was 350.

I use the Tenn outdoor stuff a lot. Can be had cheap on Amazon quite a bit. Not had a problem with it. Considering a pair of bib shorts is only 20 quid. Lidl/ Aldi lycra I find can be hit and miss. I don’t have enough time these days to do long or epic cycles so would never bother spending a fortune anymore.

right,
ive just been onto the phone to the boiler company
From what I can tell, the new thermostats only need the live neutral (and sometimes earth) wires connected, the live switch (yellow wires in photo above) just need to be connected with a loop to live. This means I will have a yellow wire with nowhere to go in the new thermostat. Does anyone know if this can just be tucked away or will it be a live wire that needs to be capped?

current wiring

anyone got any idea how these wires would go into the new one as apparently the operation for digital ones doesnt require some of the connections?

grahamA,
yes, thats the type, in fact its those ones exactly

Honeybadger.
I saw that statement too about The official route being george street and not princes street. Surely to get to george street from Lothian road you have to negotiate that junction anyway as george street doesn’t actually start until slightly further east of the junction / Lothian road.

Did stink of a “her fault” attitude though.

I know of someone else who was about a bawhair away from being under a bus due to the tracks and narrowly avoided getting his head squashed due to the quick reactions of the bus driver but broke his elbow and was off work for months.

The problems have been reported from day one and nothing got done about it. There will be a legal papertrail somewhere and hopefully the council will get hammered for ignoring all the warnings.

If you get a v40 with the winter pack it also has the heated windscreen as found in Ford’s, Volvo gained that when ford owned them for a bit. I think it’s also the safest car made right now. Volvo have an aim that no one will die in a Volvo in a car accident. Not sure how realistic that would be if a lorry hits you but a nice idea.

I recently bought a d4 v40 (190bhp). Had 9000 on the clock, 16 plate, cost 32,000 new and I picked it up 6 months later for 17k.
It’s the r design so looks a bit nicer than the normal style. Really nice inside with dab, sat nav, Bluetooth etc…
I did a 60 mile run the other day and it (according to the computer on board) averaged about 58mpg. After a couple of days doing shortish drives its sitting at 54 now.
Really quick turn of pace, i have the 8 speed automatic version which drives nice but needs slight advanced decision making to make up for the delay in the box stepping down if you floor it.
Boot is reasonable but nothing amazing but at least it comes with an actual spare wheel and not a can of gunge.
Oh yeah, has heated seats and the seats are comfy too which apparently is a Volvo thing. Also has airbags everywhere including one on the windscreen to launch pedestrians into space if you hit them.
Another thing I like about the dab is that it only displays stations that are available and adds / takes them off the list if they appear or lose signal.

Our sky router is pretty ropey too. The things connected directly to it with wires (sky box, TV etc) all seem to work fine with no interruption but the things connected by wifi constantly lose the signal, sometimes for minutes at a time.
I’ve heard that you are locked into using sky routers with their internet, is this true or can I go buy a better one and hope the problem resolves itself?

Just been through something similar.

Bashed the rear of the car, 3 different panels affected, thought “this is going to cost a fortune” so started a claim.

Next day at work mate says his uncle does car bodywork and quotes me 260 quid, my excess was 275.

Cancelled the claim but insurance still have it listed as an incident even though no money was handed over from them or action taken by them.

Fast forward a month to renewal time and my insurance had gone up by 200 a year due to this incident being reported, so I just cancelled and went elsewhere as they (compare the market results) were still slightly more than my older premium due to me (stupidly) admitting to the bump but nowhere near 200 more.

SO, if it’s a small bump / scratch etc get a quote before you contact insurance (unless you have no choice due to police involvement etc where lying about timescales might void insurance etc..)

Reversed my two week old new to me 16 plate car into the pebble dashed wall of my own **** driveway. Gutted,not looking forward to how much it’s gonna cost to be fixed. Feel like a complete imbecile !!

okay,
so ive also had a look at the pinnacle frames and they also look nice,
Had a chat with Evans cycles and they say the arkose 2 2016 frame takes 12mm QR front and rear.
The mavic wheels I saw on the cheap are 9/10mm front and rear, does anyone know of a way to convert mavic wheels from 9/10 to 12mm? I cant seem to find adaptors that do it and 12mm wheelsets seem to be expensive.

Hi goat,
I did look at the XLA but it didn’t have mudguard eyelets etc for properly securing mudguards, unless I missed something.

thanks guys,
karnali, thats what i was thinking of doing with it, mudguards on it for foul weather and then they can come off in summer if i want to take a more off road route to work instead of the road bike.
nathb, how long did the frame take to arrive, what height are you and what size did you get?
Also, the 105 hydro groupset seems to be £500 everywhere, anyone seen it cheaper? Although 500 is good its always nice to get a bargain!

Extras it comes with are:
Seatpost
Seatpost clamp
Headset
Braze on front derailleur clamp
Headset spacers
Cable adjusters
And bottom bracket cable guide.

So fairly good vfm.

seatpost is 31.6mm so a standard size, hope that means they have sorted out the seat tube size issue.

I’m (maybe stupidly) assuming the seat post supplied will fit okay, anyone bought the frame bundle to confirm this?
They do seem to get good ride reviews.

Wait4me,
Yeah mogan had a road leading out of it that one way, east ish, takes you out to all the other resorts, Playa,maspalomas,Puerto Rico etc.
Going north on it takes you up into the mountains, switch backs, huge climbs, there is one from maspalomas that is about 40km long.
Mogan is a lovely wee town but not much to do at night. Maspalomas is the ideal base as it has nice hotels and food / drink spots with the night life of Playa del ingles a 5 Euro taxi ride away.
I’ve not cycled gran canaria even though I’ve been about 10 times (always with non cycling wife and kids) but have hired a car to go into the mountains and the roads look amazing, great condition, fantastic weather. The off road routes are meant to be great aswell.

Don’t see a problem with just sending one back, they can just rebuild it if hand built or swap out from another set of pre-built I imagine.

I think they have re-branded as flaer but I don’t know if they do a similar product. I bought the 5L container in the summer, hope they continue to offer it as I think it’s great too !

I have the di2 hydro disc ultegra groupset on my road bike. As far as I know the RS685 was designed to be ultegra level without the name. Not had a problem with the hoods and if you can stretch to di2 then it makes for a flawless groupset. All I’ve had to do is clean it, I’ve not had one single miss shift as the di2 is so good.
The hydro brakes are great, got to the stage where I wondered if they were that much better then had a go on a well set up ultegra bike with rim brakes, night and day.

I’ve got defrosters and they are really comfy, feet stay dry and warm although I haven’t had them out in proper cold yet. The boa lacing system is good and is easy to tighten, no laces means no uncomfy bundles of laces at the front.
Also have 45north japanther shoes for the mtb and if I had to buy again I’d just go for a mtb pair of defrosters and save a hundred quid.
Got the defrosters for 100 pounds about 2 months ago.

Yea mate, magnet about 2 mm away.

Ive got the Rose Xeon CDX 3100 with di2 and discs, rides well and was really well priced compared to the same spec from the big companies (specialized etc…)

My old tiagra ones used to do that, was usually the wee plastic ratchet bit for controlling the shifter movement snapping so sometimes it would work and other times it would jam (since it had snapped it could go squint etc). Right enough a good shoogle got it working but ultimately it was buggered.

http://marzocchiworkshop.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1

You might find something in here.

Could be a bent derailleur / derailleur hanger perhaps, had this on a bike I was working on a few weeks ago.

Closed down a multitude of London fire stations (against all advice / voting) resulting in fire deaths due to hugely increased response times. Even had the cheek to say closing them would “improve our terrorism response capability” – he’s a complete moron, a dangerous one at that.

Sounds like it bruneep, I’m in the same boat.

It sounds like an awful situation to be in and you have my sympathy, as someone who suffers from depression (controlled by drugs these days!!) I know how awful I made my wife’s life at times and there were times when I wouldn’t speak and didn’t know the answers to her questions. It was incredibly frustrating for her but luckily her mum has depression so she was able to see past me being a shite!!
However , as above, you also need to consider the chance there could be someone else, the growing apart comments and suddenly spending loads of time at the gym / away by herself would be a sign there could be someone else. I hope for your sake it isn’t because you seem to have been as reasonable and caring as you could be, you also have her parents on side which is always a good thing.

The tiny zip ties I used snapped as soon as the cable bent outwards which just made the problem worse. Gonna see if some sort of wire will work.

I picked one up for 299 as well, a lot of frame for little money.
Only issue I have is with the rear brake routing, when the bike sags the cable bends outwards and catches your leg, gonna have to experiment with zip ties. Also the holes in the seatstays for zip ties are tiny and I don’t fancy taking a drill to them to make them bigger…
But yeah, 799, some poor sod will buy it thinking they got a bargain!!

yeah, i sent a photo aswell, didnt work!!
this time i have given them a link to what i need (stating 2!!) and a link to what they have sent me by accident.
Roll on another 3 weeks.

sorry to drag this up folks,
bentiggerwyles, did they send you the seatstay plugs in the end.
I emailed them and was sent a (1, not a pair) bar end plug!