zippykona – Member
Even the cheapest deal is mentally bloody expensive.

My experience of Michelin star establishments is, if you go for a tasting menu, both food and wine, you’ll wander out £250 a person lighter and no matter how good the food and service were you’ll never get over the cost.

How about a nice hotel/spa. She can go for “treatments” during the day, you can go out on your bike. Nice dinner in the evening and everyone’s happy.

I did mine in the mid 90’s, this was on a previously broken collar bone. Despite many visits to specialists it was never corrected and it just sits there, a lump where it’s never gone back into place. I used to get some pain from it for the first couple of years but nothing since. I’ve fallen on it many times since and it’s been fine.

qwerty – Member
I spent most of my life in Enfield. At the local carvery, two friends had a fall out, one slit the others throat & he died on the road outside . I don’t live in Enfield anymore.

I grew up in Edmonton, went to school in Enfield and lived in Ponders End when I left home. Thankfully I managed to escape too.

I’ve got Renthals on one of my bikes. It’s a KTM 990SM and I don’t care how much they weigh.

A quick look on Ebay using the advanced search to show completed listings shows a couple of tapered ones sold for just over £200. No straight steerer ones but probably less than that.

If the steerer is long enough to fit a large frame and it’s either black or green I’d be interested.

mikewsmith – Member
the shifter may move it down it won’t move it up, you need shifting ramps on the rings to lift the chain up.

Double chainset were around long before shifting ramps, they make the change easier but they’re not necessary.

If you’ve got the money and like the look of the frame then do it. I’d spend the extra and get it custom fitted as well.

VW Caddy and a tent. Bikes and camping gear in the van, sleep outside.

I’ve got a PF30 on my bike. I’m using a SRAM adaptor and a Chris King threaded bracket. No problems at all.

An uplift near Hertford?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha…………………………………………..

I’m in the Yeti pic outside the Bridges. 🙂

There is a youth hostel just round the corner, less than a minutes walk from the Bridges, you can camp in the grounds.

One spring morning riding to meet up with the club, I’m wearing a brightly coloured club jersey and gillet teamed with black shorts, black arm warmers, black leg warmers and black full fingered gloves. Just as a car is passing the passenger shouts “****”. I’m one of those people who’s natural colour is blue and needs a few weeks of sun just to turn white.

Standing by the side of road with a few club members waiting for someone to fix a puncture. Car goes past and the driver shouts “get a proper hobby”, which I still find funny.

I’ve tried Lezyne pumps and have been left stranded when they remove the valve core when you unscrew them. They’re beautifully made useless bits of crap.

The best is CO2. The best pump is a full length one, if you want small try an Innovations Road Air 2, Theyre slim but a bit too long for a jersey pocket.

Take a look when the bike arrives, if the rim tape is “2bliss” then you’re good to go. I think the valves that Specialized supply with the bike don’t have removable cores (could be wrong) so you might want to buy some Stans.

Depends on the bars. I’ve got Thomson carbon bars and they’re stiff, no different to anything else. I put some 3T carbon bars on wifeys bike and when I leant on them they flexed so much I though they were going to break.

I’ve had a short spin on her bike on a heavily rutted track and they make a big difference, even with a suspension fork.

Make sure your breakdown cover is up to date and includes recovery. 🙂

Is there anyone on here that did an old school apprenticeship? The ones that lasted for four plus years and you finished with a proper skill.

crankbrothers are crap

I used them for years, greased them regularly and had no problems other than wear and tear. I switched to Shimano last year, the first pair were XTR’s and had bearings fail within 3 months, the replacements didn’t fair much better and were consigned to the bin. I’ve also got a couple of pairs of XT’s which have been better.

Wifey uses Ritchie SPD’s and my money would go either there or Time Atac. Although I haven’t used Time since the 90’s I know people who do and never have any issues.

Last Friday afternoon, just in time to buy a winning Euromillions ticket.

http://www.nwmtb.com/p/7302/Hadley-Thru-Bolt-9mm-x-100mm-With-Nut

My favourite September destinations are Provence, I stay around Vaison La Romaine, lots of nice riding and you’ve got Ventoux. Or the Drome, somewhere close to the climbs of the Vercors.

lesgrandepotato – Member
I produce up to a kilo at a time.

Impossible, poo is weightless.

I drive a Lotus Elise 111R every day, I car share so some weeks I do 150 miles, others 400. It’s a properly quick car but It’s find it easier to poodle around at the speed limit in it than I do in my wife’s Laguna estate.

Just found this http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Great-North-Road-Then/dp/1870067797

I’m bored at work.

Provide you finish you could ride with a broken leg and not come last. There will be a dozen DNF’s but the results will only show laps and you’ll be a long way off the bottom. You’ll also be a long way from the top too.

http://www.cassinimaps.co.uk/ do reprints of old OS maps re-sized to match the modern stuff. It would be expensive to buy the whole route though.

That Blacksheep stuff makes Rapha look like a bargain.

I couldn’t tell the difference between latex and butyl tubes from a ride perspective. Latex tubes lose air pressure a lot faster and they’re bulkier (the ones I’ve tried have been) if you want to carry one as a spare.

I’m interested in this as well, but driveable from Calais. I’ve had a couple of not very good trips to France with the mountain bike and ended up wishing I’d brought the road bike. I’m going to give Houffalize in Belgium a try this July and if that’s crap it’ll be the end of my European mountain bike trips.

I vowed never to watch Top Gear again after the piece of crap about ambulances. So far it’s worked out well.

Just had a look on the Condor site, both those frames have canti and disk mounts, not a good look. If you like that sort of thing Condor will have bought the frame from a far east maker, you’ll be paying a premium for the Condor sticker. Shop around and get the same for a lot less.

So at 9pm on Channel 4 on Friday night for an entire hour they now have a programme that solely consists of other people watching TV….

It’s a great idea. It covers all the TV highlights that week and the reactions of a cross section of the population in one hour. What else do you need to watch?

The big problem with suspension is all that bobbing about when you’re out of the saddle. So a road bike that’s comfy on rough surfaces, cobbles for example, but can take some spirited riding. I have ridden such a machine and one day I will own one. I give you the most sublime road bicycle ever invented:

The Pederson

iPad I use the gmail app, Macbook I use a browser.

If you’re using the native Apple apps on the ipad you used to need to visit the Apple mobile site to correctly set up syncing, can’t remember what the site URL is but Google should help. Also, the Apple app doesn’t delete Gmail unless you tell it to in the mobile site, it archives.

The paleo guy looked his age. Although doing well in the gym.

When he appeared with his shirt off the first thing I thought was “drugs”. But then I’m a bit cynical.

Apparently vulva lightening is also popular in pron industry.

Roughly the same then…and yours in nicer by virtue of the fact it’s a Lotus and mine’s a Kia – what is it BTW?
I need 2 new front tyres for my Golf – what tyres did you get?

It’s a 111R, so the 190hp version, with the touring pack. Tyres are Toyo T1R’s. A bit of an old design but they work really well on the Lotus.

rascal – Member
pirahna – it might be cheaper to service but I doubt it’s cheaper to run.
I might have the upper hand when it comes to tyres, fuel, insurance etc

I changed all 4 tyres on Saturday £324. Insurance just renewed £230 for the year. Fuel, commuting is around 38mpg, steady motorway is around 42mpg.

I always use main dealer on the Lotus, prices are advertised on their website and I’ve never needed extras adding on. Looks like it’s cheaper to run than the Kia Ceed owned by the OP.

http://www.castlesportscars.co.uk/service/lotus-elise-exige-service-toyota-engine-3