The Tower Guoman is a bit tired, but has nice views of Tower Bridge.

I’d sooner stay in the Citizen M, I work next door to the Lavington Street one and it’s nice.

This time of year? Just meet on the Surrey Hills.

Ali Express is a marketplace, there are tens of thousands of sellers on there, so it’s not as simple as “it’s dodgy”.

I’ve never had a problem with anything I’ve bought. I got 2 frames and a set of rims, but I did my homework and bought from reputable companies (Deng Fu and FarSports). I bought a set of wheels off a random seller, just chose one with good feedback. They’ve been fine.

I’d never buy anything obviously branded – there used to be loads of “Ritchey” components on there, which I’d not go near. Trust your judgement.

That’s nothing to do with Virgin and everything to do with that specific staff member. Jobsworths everywhere.

This guy from Brussels had his bike GPS tracked. It went to Albania, so sounds like a wide market for cheap stuff.

A friend had her (very high end custom built) road bike nicked, it showed up for same in a shop in Romania, for a sickeningly cheap price, no one would think it was legit.

Anyway, (IMO)head torches are for the trails.
I don’t use them on the road.

This x1000. I seem to have far fewer near misses than many people from reading on here. Helmet lights are not helpful on the road – they’re in an odd place (high up), they move, so they’re not a fixed point of reference. They’re often dazzling too, which means drivers have very little ability to accurately identify where you are. Obviously in that instance the sensible thing is to wait until you’re more confident, but that’s not what anyone does.

Christ what abomination of bolognese is that photo? No wonder it needs ketchup.

This, looks horrific.

Red sauce is almost as bad as talking about “fizzy pop” for soft drinks.

I also eat the entire kiwi fruit, except the really tough bit on the end, but I certainly eat the skin, it’s really nice.

I wouldn’t only want joint accounts because it’s shit for stuff like buying presents, and frankly whilst I don’t care about mrs njee20 knowing I don’t want to feel I have to justify all my expenditure. We have personal accounts and both pay into a joint account.

I’ve also got a Monzo account because it’s good for foreign transactions, and I’ve never closed my old current account, and two savings accounts where the introductory rate expired, plus one I still use, and an ISA, and I’m not totally sure I ever closed my old joint account because we both had to be there in person. So that’s 9 accounts. Is that excessive…? 🤔

Yes, turning right onto Dunswell Lane just north of the dodgy roundabout (which does look a bit crap on Streetview) looks better. Goes under the A1079 and only adds a couple of miles.

Or this way through the lanes. Not that I know the area at all, just like maps!

+1 for licking. Stick the fabric bit through the washing machine every 6 months or so.

We have a Bugaboo Buffalo (I believe it’s been merged with the more city-based Chameleon as the “Fox”), and it’s been superb. Also got a Bugaboo Bee for keeping in the car, it’s far less stable, or sturdy, but much lighter than the Buffalo, and one piece. Both very good, would have both again.

Mrs njee20 has commented she’d definitely consider the Uppa Baby Vista next time, having read hundreds of reviews at the time!

Like I said up there I’ve had an Anycubic Photon resin printer for a couple of months, and I love it.

I wash prints in an ultrasonic bath of 99% IPA, then rinse under the tap, then cure in a UV lamp thing designed for drying nails. Still can’t quite get to grips with the curing times, I think I overcure stuff, which makes it brittle. For what I want FDM just wouldn’t cut it.

Elegoo are about to release a water-rinsable resin, which will be interesting. Wanhao do one already but it’s expensive.

Resin is expensive, and Anycubic stuff has suddenly leapt in price; I bought a litre for £30 about a month ago, it’s now £38+ everywhere, but it does last quite well.

They do smell, mrs njee20 finds it quite offensive, but some resins are better than others. I’d not want to use mine in the house, but it’s fine in the garage.

The resin isn’t particularly nice, there are horror stories of people needing skin grafts. I wear disposable gloves (must be nitrile, latex don’t cut it), and wash my hands thoroughly and I’ve had no ill effects.

The Photon is about £230. There’s a massive user community out there, I’d get the standard photon over the more expensive Photon S all day long – the advantages of the S are minimal and there are various disadvantages.

These were all printed on my Photon:

Untitled by njee20[/url], on Flickr

Untitled by njee20[/url], on Flickr

The lines on the base of these are 0.1mm:

Untitled by njee20[/url], on Flickr

I’ve got a Von Haus one in the garage, it’s very good. Heats up fast, gets hot. Timer, rudimentary thermostat.

Surprised you can shift better under power, is that because the motor is stronger than a human hand, or is it a clever synchronisation thing?

Both. It has far more torque, but it can also time the shifts. It is really seamless. I don’t tend to do it, because I just don’t like it, but you can shift comfortably whilst still out of the saddle and it’s far, far less “crunchy” than a mechanical set up.

I’ve had mechs seize (both front and rear), springs go sloppy, shifters seize, cables brake (there were some faulty Shimano cables a few years ago where the nipple could pull off the end – mine did, ruined a Dura Ace shifter too!), not to mention more dropped chains, stiff or just generally sub optimal shifts, convoluted cable runs etc etc. By comparison on di2 (2 bikes – one Dura Ace, one Ultegra, about 12,000 miles combined) I’ve had one flat battery because I forgot to charge it and ignored the warning on my Garmin. Not a single dropped chain, missed shift, or component replaced. It just works every single time, flawlessly.

The Ultegra is on my winter/commuter bike, which rarely gets cleaned. With mechanical the shifting would degrade quite quickly, I’ve literally never tweaked Di2.

Edit: actually I bent the mech hanger on my ‘nice’ bike, and I tweaked the alignment of the Di2 whilst riding along, to trim out the slight hesitation at the bottom of the block. That’s the only adjustment I’ve ever done. A mechanical set up would have been far more frustrating.

I had an OBS try to sell me a ticket which would have been invalid, for 2 different reasons (he was trying to save me money by splitting my ticket, however my train doesn’t stop at the station the split was for, and one leg was only valid on a different TOC to mine). He explained that he didn’t care, I pointed out that the chap on my return journey may not be so understanding and that I’d just like the ticket I asked for. He meant well, but I’d not be surprised if some got caught out by his good intentions.

As for the OP I’m fine with it. It’s not rocket surgery. Most ‘justifications’ for not having them are generally just excuses.

I have no issue with it at all, but if you’re going to inconvenience my life then expect the same.

Srsly? They’re just doing their job. Why be a massive bell end about it?

I’ve never touched mine since I set it up.

I liked the idea of the tap, but it never worked for me, I mainly bar mount my Diablo (on the road) though.

Am I missing something, the Danny Hart video linked to has no commentary at all for me, just the ambient sound.

That is definitely my answer, I still watch it periodically, it’s truly phenomenal, as a piece of athleticism and the presentation thereof!

I bought a pair in about May. They’ve been in the door pocket of my car ever since. I must get around to fitting them, although they’re going on the summer bike which now won’t get used until spring!

I’ve had an Anycubic Photon for a couple of months. Much smaller build volume than these FDM printers, but way better finish. Been using it for model railway stuff, pleased with results thus far.

Untitled by njee20[/url], on Flickr

They definitely look pretty, but in use are utterly useless. I accidentally threw mine away when I changed the back of my Edge 1000 and didn’t remove the memory card. No loss. The stock ones on the 1000 (which I think are Open Street Maps) are far better.

Margherita for £6.50
Best pizza in the Uk.
https://www.rudyspizza.co.uk/menus/

Given I’m 150 miles from the nearest branch I think Pizza Express will still be cheaper even without vouchers.

Haha, I love that he tried for a Dura Ace crank as an update, because lighter cranks must be stronger too, right!?

I can’t even work out what’s happened, has it ‘peeled’ open around that hole?

Period steam locomotives and trains are often all to piss and it really bothers me, especially as they’re owned and rented out by enthusiasts who will know it’s wrong. BR locomotive pre-nationalisation for example, locomotives and coaches from the wrong region, incorrect size of locomotive (although I’ll let that slide if it’s from the right period and in the correct livery). All of these grind my gears.

Just trains, full stop, are usually totally wrong as I’m sure you know. From the TGV in the Channel Tunnel in Mission Impossible to heritage lines deputising for some main line, with a knackered 47 and some mk1 coaches! Electrics on routes with no source of power, red lights on trains heading toward the camera, because the only shot they had was one going away. I don’t even get into the historical stuff with colours being wrong for different regions!

It’s amazing how often the sound of trains is wrong too. If a train goes da-dum-da-dum……da-dum-da-dum, it should end with a single da-dum.

More generally, and less anal, continuity errors are so annoying. Glasses on head… glasses on face… glasses on head again. All in 2 seconds. It’s not difficult FFS!

My mum did some management training for Trebor-Bassett. They had a “Manager of Continuous Liquorice”. Marvellous.

I once saw a job advert for a “Domestic Violence Co-ordinator”, which seemed a bit unnecessary.

Yes, you can.

@njee20 – you need to read what I wrote. I stated that my Solaris had Hope wheels and Bontrager tyres, I didn’t say it was light. 😉

Yes, there are options to make it lighter but there’s two caveats – price and the fact that I’m not exactly flyweight. 😳

What you said was “there’s not a lot of options to make it any lighter”, which is totally untrue (and implied to me you think what you have is light), literally every single component could be upgraded to save weight, in some cases easily. You don’t think those upgrades are worthwhile, and that’s fine, it’s totally diminishing returns, but wading into a weight weenie post with your XT groupset, Bontrager tyres and 21lb bikes being as light as you can go!? That’s heresy! ;-)

Anything with a Lefty is definitely a good place to look second hand, they’re significantly lighter than conventional forks. A second hand carbon F29 is probably within budget.

@njee20 – by “seen” I mean in the flesh and in use. I’ve seen 4kg road bikes but unless you are a sub 50kg whippet and ride on super smooth roads they aren’t exactly practical.

Point was that there are far lighter bikes out there. You said there were “not a lot of options” to make yours lighter, that’s simply not true, you’ve just reached the point of not thinking it’s worthwhile (which is absolutely fine), but literally every component could be significantly lighter, and that needn’t compromise usability. With the utmost respect if you think Bontrager tyres and XT are the pinnacle of lightweight you’re unlikely to have a super light bike ;-)

My Superfly was 19lbs with comparatively ordinary bits on a 1300g frame. It’s a bit fatter now, but still sub-20. Not that it gets used, but that’s nothing to do with the bike!

Weeksy – for £1300 you should be able to find a second hand Radon or something which will fit the bill. I’m just not entirely sure I’d bother for the usage you describe.

The lightest HT I’ve seen was around 9.5kg but that was all-singing, all-dancing carbon this and carbon that.

Look harder. There are 5kg hardtails out there, so there are always places you can cut weight if you want to! 9.5kg is 21lbs, which is pretty heavy in the context of light bikes. You can get off the shelf FS bikes that weigh less (for a price).

But if there’s a simple way to get it there, i’m not sure i’m seeing it…

Probably the case frankly. There are likely some quick wins, but shaving 2-3kg will need a lot of bits replacing, which is probably just not really worth it. You could do wheels, which won’t be cheap, but would at least be transferrable to another bike. 240s on Light Bicycle rims with Revolutions will be about 1400g.

I used tougher tyres than I normally would when doing the SDW (Bontrager XR1 Team Issue IIRC). I’ve never used them any other time! Otherwise Thunder Burts are light, and strangely grippy, except under braking.

As always it’ll be a balance between how much you want to spend and the compromises you want to make. Mt Zoom do affordable and superlight kit. 150g seatpost and 120g bars will likely take a chunk out of what you’ve got, but obviously means foregoing a dropper and isn’t a small amount of money to drop.

Yeah mine wouldn’t let me reactivate on a different MB when I changed mine. Given licence keys are £5 on eBay I didn’t mess about for too long I admit!

Yeah joey = baby kangaroo = noob surely, nothing more sinister? Indeed I’m only aware I should be insulted if someone called me Joey because of comments I’ve read on here about it’s origins.

I think it’s quite shrewd – make the Top Fuel a bit of a race/trail crossover, then have this straddling the hardtail/‘proper’ FS divide. Nothing really new, the STP came out in 2001, the Ibis BowTi was in the 90s, as well as other pivotless FS. Bendy single pivot FSs have been done plenty of times too. But there’s nothing new left full stop, so meh.

I’d have a Top Fuel all day long these days though!

We bought a new car for mrs njee20, so I bought all that shit, because I’m a man and I like buying shit. I do quite enjoy cleaning it now. Snow foam is very satisfying. Using a decent wash mitt and 2 buckets has meant I don’t tend to miss patches like I did with a bucket and sponge, and you can feel the paintwork is cleaner, doesn’t take as long if you do it semi-regularly too.

Makes my car look a bit rubbish now though. Obviously I bought more stuff to try and polish out scratches in mine, to poor effect.

My mum lives there, I think muddy@rseguy covers it. West Wittering is not 10 minutes away unless you have a helicopter, but it’s also down the most hellish dead end road, and can easily take 2 hours. I certainly wouldn’t bother going there from Littlehampton.

LA has a nice sandy beach, a funfair and arcades. The town’s alright, not much there, but a few nice restaurants and decent fish & chip shops. Lots of places/things close by, and despite the doom and gloom I’ve never found the traffic all that bad, a few bottlenecks, but where doesn’t have that!? I’d not stay in Arundel instead, it’s a nice quaint old town, but once you’ve done the castle and the cathedral you’d be driving everywhere, at least with LA you’ve got the beach (and the station if you want to catch the train – Arundel station has a worse service and is a fair trek from the town).

Yeah that sounds like even more shit.

Swap for a PS2 and some xbox games?

That’s really shit. RIP.

Edinburgh defence…. Yep, not totally sure of that one? “Sun in the eyes” related??

Taken from the hometown of a certain member on here (on this thread actually!) who, in times gone by, had a tendency to get rather riled on threads, and then say “ahhh, I was only joking”.

The Badger thread wasn’t bad, definitely not a patch on Sudocreme cat.

Shapeways do the printing, so it’s not what machines “people on Shapeways” are using, it’s not a marketplace for folk with 3D printers, the whole point is that you upload your designs and they print them for you (on pretty decent printers).

It used to be great, I personally think it’s not cost effective anymore, but a lot will depend if people have included a big margin.

FWIW I’m finding I’m getting better results out of my Photon than FUD from Shapeways.

You need a charger too, which is ludicrously expensive!

I’ve got the RS785 STIs/brakes and they’ve been great. Except for the cracked piston on the rear brake actually, but that’s just one of those things, I think caused by getting rather warm in the Alps.

I personally prefer the hood shape on my ST-9070s, but they’ve got to put the reservoir somewhere, and they’re actually a bit more secure on rough roads because of it.

Holy shit. That’s horrific. Poor bloke.