Siddle :(

Dinner at 00:50?

Not out!

We’re in the lead!!!

Why oh why!

No issues with Alpkit, great stuff, great prices. Met a bunch of the guys in Capel Curig a couple of years ago, also great!

People are weird…

I have to say I was disappointed in them.

But do you think he genuinely forgave his parents?

The beauty of it all lives on in the tragedy of the tale…

To be fair Siddle has some good aggression despite his unusual choice in sunscreen, Bollinger too has some good pace. They do seem beset with injuries though, and it does seem that it is only Mr Ponting holding the team together.

Some happy memories!

You know Ponting is a tough fella but unfortunately he stands alone, Watson is sporadic and even including Hauritz in the squad is a joke…

I don’t know any of the middle names :lol:

I’ve kicked a Sherrin AFL ball around on the Gabba, gonna be good!

Two words, Steven Finn :)

True, but KMC are easier to change the link pins on…

Don’t buy a Shimano :(

Nearly got hit today after some guy just decided It’s no longer necessary to look right when turning right, apparently lefts all good and just keep that car rolling into the road and it’ll all be ok! Honestly I properly lost it with him, such an idiot. Thing is the very same guy nearly did it to me three weeks ago. What’s the verdict?

Wonky head

Best £1.89 I’ve spent in a while :)

While we are at it, who knows how to represent the percentage of individual items for the range? Just compiling an accident/incident record and have about 65 rows with the details of each accident/incident. I need to show the numbers for each group and the percentage but can’t figure out the statistic formulas. Help much appreciated :)

Recently finished, ignore the zip ties as they are now gone

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+1 For Data | Text to Columns | Fixed Width | Insert Break Line

Had a repair carried out after lifting one too many rolls of lead. I went through a phase of worrying about tearing the stitches. All good now though :)

5’6″ on a Small with a 50mm stem. Tough going on the knees, I may be looking into a layback seatpost

BTW it’s the kid with no concept of danger…

I’ve been in both situations. The other day cycling into work while it was reasonably light (and with lights on mind you!) and this chap simply didn’t bother to look right before turning as he was too bothered by the bin lorry crawling down the road from his left. Fortunately I was prepared for his lack of peripheral vision and was ready on the brakes when he pulled out of the junction. Conversely I have also been in the situation where a cyclist (usually some kid on a bmx) has ridden out across the road in front of a large amount of powered steel with no lights or concept of danger!

Lesson here kids, have lots of lights and look out!

Well today I spoke with Trisports in Letchworth as I had taken the bike to get the chain issue sorted. Wholely different to the origonal shop, friendly, informative and reasonable. I will use them again :)

In bike shop now, hopefully get it sorted.

It doesn’t look like it’s out of shape.

I think it’s fairly safe to say they didn’t fit it wrong out of spite. Like I said originally I want to use LBS. As far as how much I saved on the RRP by buying online it wasn’t a great deal:

Shimano XT Chainset M770: RRP £159.99 CRC Price £127.99 20% Discount
Shimano XT Cassette 9 Speed M770: RRP £59.99 CRC Price £43.99 27% Discount
DMR V8 Grease Port: RRP £27.99 CRC Price £24.99 11% Discount
Dr Sludge Self Sealing Inner Tube: RRP £5.99 CRC Price £4.99 17% Discount
Dr Sludge Self Sealing Inner Tube: RRP £5.99 CRC Price £4.99 17% Discount
Easton EA70 Monkeybars 2008: RRP £56.99 CRC Price £28.00 Discount 51%
Shimano HG93 Chain 9 Speed: RRP £29.99 CRC Price 16.99 Discount 43%
Hope Headset: RRP £70.00 CRC Price £60.99 Discount 13%

So aside from the handlebars which are two years old, and the chain which is a high stock item the discount is only what I would expect to be able to negotiate given the total item sale.

Fundamentally the reason I am complaining is not because of the cost of the labour, merely the lack of competence in the LBS, and for this reason I am unlikely to use it again.

RRP is still RRP…

Don’t you think the £125.00 is enough? He quoted me for the work specified, I accepted. The work was not done properly. I’m assuming you think this is because he felt disgruntled through the lack of opportunity to mark up the parts?

For me the point is that I had a reasonable expectation for the shop to be able to do what is in essence fairly simple tasks with the time and right tools. Now what actually happened is that on two occasions examples of work carried out have been proved to be faulty. I want a local bike shop that I can use and have confidence in, but it’s no surprise that in this economic climate more and more people are taking the middlemen out of the equation and ordering the parts on-line and doing the work themselves. This in itself is no bad thing, being able to carry our work on your bike is important. For me, I don’t have either the tools or confidence to do some tasks like the bottom bracket, crankest or headset. Some of these parts are expensive and for me to do a dodgy job and ruin the part would be pretty depressing. But given that, the end result is the same and I’m £125.00 worse off!

Regarding the chain. It was a Shimano XT HG93. I had one of these on the old frame and it had a split link which was easier. I bought a new crankset and cassette and wanted to put a new chain on to avoid premature wear on the drive chain. The chain was given to the bike shop in the original packaging. Looking at the chain an where it split it looks like it was joined with a normal link pin and not the specific link pin. I say this because the link has expanded and the link is stiff. I also know the chain was shortened.

OK some valid points. The cost of the parts I was having put on the bike most likely came to around £400.00. In addition to this I was charged £125 labour which obviously equates to just over 20%. Now I’m quite busy and don’t have loads of time to do the work myself, and I like the idea of use it or lose it when it comes to services like a local bike shop. What disappoints me is when I pay a decent amount of money on quality items only for them to be fitted by people who don’t appreciate the difference or importance in the minor points in assembly. For example the chain I bought needing to be fitted with the specific assembly pin. Whenever I find myself explaining this to them I’m sure they think that it’s not really necessary, clearly when the chain snaps it is. And to pay not cheap rates to have these service which inevitably involves more than one trip back to the shop kinda smarts a little. Where I live we have both an independent bike shop and Halfords Bike Hut. Has anyone found a good level of service from Halfords mechanics?

But which is the better option? I can see the advantage in becoming more skilled and able to carry out tasks yourself, but if this inadvertently takes work away for local services we may all be resigned to living in silos!

Personally the guy hasn’t a clue about modern bikes and for me doesn’t understand the obsessive nature of middle aged cyclists!

Scallops in the fridge waiting for Friday…

How many times do we have to have blinking techno mixed in with chopping vegetables! Ok, it get it, you can do a bit bit of editing, get another trick!!!