After working in retail for a long time before my current job I can guarantee you that using expletives to try and get your way will guarantee that they will do their level best to give you the minimum service they have to by law and string it out as long as possible to annoy you even more.

Nice people who are reasonable (you can be firm and polite you now) get the best service. Idiots like you get no favours at all.

I seem to remember seeing him a while back – it wasn’t a cheap costume at all was it? Proper quality outfit and looked the part.

I have since changed the seatpost back to the standard one as the layback was way too much on the X-Lite one – felt like I was riding a recumbent……

Recently did the Way of the Roses C2C – awesome route. I had a lot of back pain before the ride so put some PC Fleegle bars on with a high rise stema and thick foam all over to get lots of hand positions.

To be fair I was thinking the £5 foam grips from Halfords would be crap but they were really comfy. Stuck on well with hairspray too. I wanted to have an extra position to hold the bars around the stem for cruising and this would have worked but the forward sweep of the bars at the stem pretty much killed that idea as it was just weird, bending my wrists the wrong way.

As you can see from the pic I have changed the shifters to thumbies now – but as I am 9sp I couldn’t use my favourite Deore thumbies so I had to (its a hard life I know) get some Paul Component shifter mounts and some Dura Ace bar end shifter to mount on them. Oh my word they shift beautifully!

I just won some 17 degree Salsa Moto bars on ebay for £9 posted – result! Look almost new too. Been looking for ages for some….

Exposure dynamo hub and B&M iQ Lumotec front light with USB charger and B&M rear light (which is also a brake light!). Siwtches itself on when it gets dark, has a high beam option which is very good and it charges my phone too. The rear brake light actually works very well too!

Front light: http://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/busch-mueller-lumotec-iq2-luxos-u-led-headlight-63073/wg_id-303
Rear light: http://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/busch-mueller-toplight-line-brake-plus-led-rear-light-50-mm-43933/wg_id-809
Hub: http://www.ultimatesportsengineering.com/exposure-lights/accessories/dynamo-hub-disc-brake

Should be easy to trace that waste – can’t be hard to find its original source.

Greggs sausage and bacon bap with HP Sauce and a coffee. £2 all in and NOM NOM NOM.

Sounded like a great bloke, I am sure he will be missed greatly.

There’s a lot of this sort of thing in the USA – they are a weird bunch over there sometimes but there is a good tradition of people who have made money in their lives passing onto others in various ways to share the wealth. Every country needs a lot more of that sort of thing.

I think this story takes some beating:

Now that is stunning. Medal to that man!

All the Bill Bryson travel books are funny, I still love them. The problem is the funny bits creep up on you so make you laugh out loud really suddenly in public places! Notes from a small island is perfection to me and makes me love Britain even more every time I read it.

From your previous posts on this forum I assume it is your Specialized Rockhopper? If it is just take it back to the dealer and ask them to look at it. They are normally very good.

I ask as when I bought the bike, I enquired on the frame warranty and was assured verbally that should anything happen with that kind of frame it would definitely be a warranty job due to the brand in question.

What was said to you verbally makes no difference at all. What was the stated guarantee from the manufacturer?

I put 203mm on the front and back of my bike. Used to get the odd bit of brake fade on the rear with 180mm so thought for the extra few grams it was worth it. Can’t see a reason why you wouldn’t go for the largest rotors you can fit unless you are an XC racer or something.

Yes they used that line too when there was talk of banning it inside pubs.
And it was equally as legitimate back then.
You can dig up any figures you want but the original smoking ban destroyed the pub trade in the village I lived in. The weekday business dried up over night.

Laws change for various reasons.
Sometimes the change benefits some businesses. Some times it has a negative effect. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have made the law in the first place. I put people’s health over profit myself.

You’re not going to convince anyone that you’re an avid pub-goer when you have already stated that you don’t care about pubs closing down.

I don’t particularly care if they close down because I don’t base my life around drinking and going to pubs like some do.

Binners – why do you assume everyone who doesn’t like the smoking only go to the pub on rare occasions? Weird logic.

Any why should someone who doesn’t smoke have to sit somewhere else (most probably inside as most beer gardens aren’t big enough to get away from the smoke coming from 2/3 people round here) MORE than you should smoke elsewhere?

Are we all going to have it out in the playground after school?

Can do, the wheezy smokers won’t stand a chance though. ;)

rNo you don’t.

Err yes I do. What an odd thing to say.

Just admit that you don’t even drink in pubs anyway.

Oh I see, it must have been post offices I’ve been in recently that have the beer pumps and bar and barman and tables and chairs in. My mistake. :roll:

TLH – they probably weren’t taking the smoke into their lungs, like you’re supposed to get the full benefit (err maybe not the right word!) of the smoke. I don’t know how it works but if you keep the smoke in your mouth and blow it out it is much more intense. A lot of new/younger smokers do this.

You have to be careful when fitting the connector that the rubber seal is put on straight and isn’t folded over or creased when installed. Difficult when space is a bit tight I know but if it’s not straight it’s easy to have a leak.

Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ group Forest, said he welcomed ideas that encouraged people to use electronic cigarettes but they should not rely on “coercion and prohibition”.
He told the BBC: “Banning smoking outside pubs and bars will discriminate against adults who quite legitimately prefer to smoke.
“It won’t stop people smoking, it will simply deter more people from going to the pub and that could lead to even more pub closures.”

Err except the recent bans have reduced smoking loads, so why will this not help even more? Barmy.

And the pub closure argument – who cares if more close anyway? Anyway that argument is extremely weak, akin to saying that making people wear seat belts in cars will stop people buying cars. What a moron.

Oh and the tax issue – I’d rather pay more tax to make up for the loss of money from cigarette duty if it meant I didn’t ever see another person die from slowly asphyxiating to death from emphysema like my lovely grandma in law did after running pubs all her life.

Hope they do ban it everywhere round pubs. I used to smoke but can’t stand the smell now, while I am eating it is especially nasty thing. I know quite a few people who don’t go to pubs nowadays in the summer as you can’t sit outside without having cigarette smoke around you all the time, drinking or eating. At least when you could smoke inside the filthy smokers used to skulk around at the bar instead.

Link?

Current bar set up:

PX fleegle bars covered in foam grip with Dura Ace/Paul Components shifters. I was desperately trying to get a comfy position as my neck/shoulder is bad coming up to my C2C. This was very comfy but I couldn’t really use the central position next to the stem which I normally like for cruising as the bars bend forwards next to the stem. Looking for some 15 degree bars now.

I was going to say Supremes as well, not cheap at all but meant to be amazing. I got some Vittoria voyager hyper from PX recently on sale as they are similar (in weight/looks as well as price) and I love them, saved 1.6 lbs in rotating weight compared to some standard Marathons. Will get supremes when these wear out.

I got JL to price match Richer Sounds – best of both worlds!

Gel isn’t useless, a friend of mine has severe asthma and can’t use the pills but his doc says the creams are ok. Works great on his Achilles which he has niggles with. I’ve used it on my Achilles too with good results.
I did have to ask for the 10% version over the counter though.

Specialised Enduro XL – I love them to bits – I don’t have massive hands but prefer big grips and they are perfect IMHO.

I drive a lot for work and am tailgated almost constantly as I always keep to the speed limits. Just gets boring after a while and I only ever notice the really really bad ones. Slowing down to 20-25mph really does not please them but I’d rather be hit in the back at 20 than 30, I have a bad enough neck as it is.

I must admit seeing the incandescent rage that some drivers get when you do 30mph in front of them THEN slow down even more is highly amusing.

Funnily enough I want exactly the same thing – using Fleegle bars on my tourer but don’t like the forwards throw in the middle as I like to cruise with my hands either side of the stem sometimes.

Had a look on eBay but no joy, any ideas are welcome.

Always have some blanking caps ready when doing any plumbing job, I keep a pair of 22 and 15mm speed fits spare for this sort of eventuality. Very cheap to buy and just slot on with no spanners so ideal.

I am hoping my Tour De Fer will be like this bike, battered and bruised in 20 years time and needing refreshing. I struggle to find bikes that fit but the TDF is great for me and again so versatile.

Me and my wife ride the entire length of it in 3 days at leisurely tour pace – there’s a Sustrans route that takes you off the very narrow sections along country roads in the centre bit.
Lots of cafes and places to sit to admire the view, we loved it. No it’s not off road really but it was never a trail centre. :-)

I have bought a quadlock and love it, not cheap but the price of a new iPhone 6 is a lot more!!! Better buying the best to start with IMHO.

Can’t help you with the power issue as I have an Exposure Dynamo hub. A top tube bag with an Anker battery pack would probably be the most practical. For most shorter rides you wouldn’t need it anyway as long as your phone battery isn’t knackered.

Old MTB with modern kit on it you say?

How about a NOS Klein Adroit with Shimano Di2?

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=150085

I’ve ridden with the guy and his bikes are amazing. He rides them all too!

or (god forbid!) take robdob’s advice.

No offence taken……… :wink:

The Impact headset is one of the best headsets ever made IMHO. My 94 Kilauea has its original headset in, now 21 years old and reinstalled after I completely restored the bike….

I’ve been on Retrobike a few years and the 1″ threadless fork issue is common, they are so rare…..

Anyway, if you have a problem with the headset loosening or you want a new headset and a more practical way of adjusting/tightening it try one of these:

http://www.abundantadventures.com/quads.html#HEADLOCK

If you email the bloke he is very helpful with shipping. You might get one on ebay or RetroBike too.

My Kilauea was recently pressed into touring duties too….

Just trying to save hassle and more money!

But if the bearings loosen (and they do) you need big spanners

Not if you tighten them up properly. You can always get a headlock for extra peace of mind.

Does it still have the original Impact headset on it?

I’ve never seen that page – might be obvious to newcomers but I’ve been on eBay 8 years and not seen that communicated to me. Any emails with new terms and conditions in them I do have a quick read of too. I only ever use the eBay app so are not likely to see any changes advertised on the site.