The way STW is going is like walking into a shop and having someone ask you if you will be buying something when you walk in. If you say yes and pay a deposit they leave you alone. If you say you are just having a look a staff member is tasked with following you around and shouting at you to buy something or leave.

That isn’t the way I managed my large DIY store I worked in, it just doesn’t work. 😉

a) your criticism wasn’t constructive, it amounted to ‘the magazine isn’t very good’, and b) it appears to me that you weren’t banned for criticising, constructive or otherwise, you were banned for ignoring warnings (after being given Mark’s direct dial to discuss your issues).

That’s not what happened and i remember it clearly. I posted into a thread which was discussing the latest issue of the magazine. I wasn’t warned, just banned straight away. I think I may have been given a phone number when I was banned to discuss things but not beforehand.
I wasn’t warned at all. I didn’t go on the site for a long time afterwards and cancelled my magazine sub as a result because I was so annoyed at being treated in that way. I think I’ve bought one issue since.

Junkyard – it’s nothing like that at all. Pinching your neighbours wi-fi is taking something that isn’t yours.
STW is giving an option, free with ads or pay to remove them. Pushing people off the site or into a sub by making the free option horrible to use isn’t a great advert for the site at all.

You’d think STW would notice that – I live in the next valley from them!

So in summary. Install ad blockers if you want. but don’t discuss it on our forum. But please consider the importance of the ads to the future of this free to use website before you take any action to prevent the ads on this site from displaying in your browser.

The problem with this statement is that the programming of the website, more specifically the quantity and type of ads, is making the “free use” gradually unusable to the point where now, on a mobile on 3G, there isn’t a “free use” easily available because of the amount of data that has to be downloaded.

So eventually you’ll get less and less people seeing the ads because they’ll either subscribe or be put off by the ads and not return. So then the ads won’t generate as much cash but there will be less and less people sticking around to be subscribers. So the subs will have to go up, making people leave gradually.

A reasonable amount of well placed ads is great. I don’t mind that. But banners ads and 1/3rd right hand side of the page and pop up ads that follow your scrolling on your phone is too much. And not many are for bike stuff which is why I came on the website, to see bike stuff.

What exactly was “bollocks” in what I said?

I was banned for 3 days for commenting on the magazine layout.
It takes a long time to load each page on STW on 3G because of the ads.
The forum itself is very basic compared to every other one I’ve visited.
The excuse I have heard for the ads is that they are needed to pay for the site.

I’ll probably get banned for that last post exactly as I did when I made constructive criticism about the magazine a couple of years back.

STW is about the shonkiest clonkiest loading forum about at the mo, And the pay for a P to stop the shonky adds attitude is crap, I’d pay for a P for the extra content if I wanted it but to have to pay to make it usable without pop ups, random music and clunky loading is shite and I just use it less instead..
And for new visitors having a looksee it just looks like a dogs dinner…

+1

STW is pretty much unusable for me now on even a decent 3G connection. It is by far the worst forum to use out of all the ones I visit, pretty much no features on it whatsoever compared to pretty much any other. Saying you need the ads to pay for the forum is a bit odd when there really isn’t much forum to pay for.

And of course the constant bleating about “£1.49” from the holier than thou subscribers puts me off paying it even more.

I am thinking of moving house for the first time so need to sell my house and buy another. Mine isn’t expensive but with an expected EA fee of £1500+ I am seriously considering looking at other options to sell my house.

Thanks again for the encoragement.

Trying not to buy any new stuff for the trip but I needed some new road cleats.

Now I think I need a new jacket…… Maybe some leg warmers too……

My 1994 Kona Kilauea, recently recovered after many years away from me, will never be sold. No matter how desperate I am for cash I’ll always need a bike and that’ll probably be the last personal possession of any value I would part with. I’m not someone who is sentimental about objects normally but it’s value to me far outstrips it’s value on the open market, so it’d have to be extremely desperate times for it to be sold.

After it’s recent restoration to as new condition.

Thanks for the encouragement!!

I already have one of these http://www.wiggle.co.uk/altura-dryline-rack-pack/?lang=en&curr=GBP&dest=1&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=altura%20dryline%20rack%20pack%20exact&utm_campaign=RTC_altura&referid=googwig&utm_adgroup=P_Altura_Dryline%20Rack%20Pack&gclid=CJXPsrrmj8ACFcrjwgodiLgAJQ
which should be fine I think.

Just a top box really, with a lightweight change of clothes and a lock. Shouldn’t weigh much at all.

I suppose if weather is bad I will just……..

Man up and cope with it.

Gonna be logging a lot of Strava segments…… 😉

Bit more detail. I will stay in a nice B and B so will only take a t-shirt/shirts/flip flops apart from the days riding gear. I’ll use a rack and a top box to store it in. I have a handlebar bag but it won’t fit my carbon bars so I’ll just cope without.
2 water bottles, lots of flapjack, what’s not to like??

I’m after something like this too but unsure what to get.

You must be doing something wrong with the V8s. I’ve got them on all my bikes bar one and they’ve been faultless.
Pump them full of grease (60s job) with a grease gun before you fit them and they run forever. I’ve never even taken any apart even after several years use.

Thats good to know about the Pilates. I have tight calves too – not sure it was the cause of it as I didn’t have tight calves years ago when I first got it but it might not be helping now.

I had insoles from a podiatrist and they cured it last time but they won’t now.

I only wear proper shoes too! No sandals or flip flops. 🙂

Thanks for the help. I am thinking I might cancel the injections and try some things I haven’t before.
I haven’t been running recently and that may be linked – the pain has started after I stopped running (not straight after but a few weeks). I had strengthened my feet so much I went from very supportive running shoes to neutral ones with no pain. Only after I’ve stopped for a while has the pain started.

I’ve never tried the rolling a tin under my feet either.

I can’t see how an injection will help unless I sort out the underlying problem. I sorted it out a few years back without having them so why not try the other stuff and go back for the injections if nothing else works?

The downhill going north to Langsett is one of my favourites in the UK.

I found with my new XT shifter that if you had the remote nearest the grip the shifter was too far away and the remote is a bit of a stretch from the grip if it is nearest the stem, as the shape of it stops you butting it up against the shifter. I am sure some filing could be done to get them closer but after spending so much on the kit I’m a bit reluctant!

Didn’t realise there was an issue with chainring sizes. I want to go to a 40t as well!!!

Might try adjusting it a bit. Don’t think I can shorten the chain any more.

Yes.

Sounds like something else is binding rather than the mech being the issue. Strip jockey wheels and clean, give drivetrain a good clean too and see what happens.

Yes, I have a Specialized Pitch and I tested the length at full travel on the two largest cogs and it was stretched as far as I thought it could be. Wouldn’t want to shorten chain any further.

Why do people, and the papers, think just because a person who is later found to have done bad stuff (in secret) is photographed with someone else, then that other person is suddenly guilty by association? And then they try to look smart by then posting up pics showing them together?

I don’t think price was obviously wrong.

I’ve bought loads of stuff which has had 75%+ off, just needed to be cleared by the retailer. This could have been exactly that.

A friend used a lot of it for a C2C ride and (even though he isn’t a thrill seeker, more of a tourer bloke) he said it was very very dull. Do it on a day with a headwind and you’ll lose your will to live….

I have a brand new Focus and I love it. Good quality and handles like no other car I’ve driven. You don’t appear to have to slow down for any corners at any speed. It’s almost weird.
Bluetooth audio and DAB radio is fantastic and voice commands work really well.

I can see me missing it when it’s gone, but I get to keep it for 4 years so a long way to go yet!

4 spokes isn’t going to make any noticeable difference to the weight. Selecting a lighter inner tube would make more of a change. I wouldn’t worry about it, just go for a reasonably light 32h rim.

Essentially I think you’re over thinking it!

It’s all about the advertising revenue for STW though, isn’t it?

Free for sale forum, we can’t be putting people off posting and therefore seeing/clicking the ads can we?

I can’t believe the amount of money some people are lending to others! £14k – that’s crazy, really crazy!

Unless it’s the odd few pounds here and there, I either GIVE people the money or nothing at all. It blesses them if I give it to them and I don’t have to worry a jot about it coming back. But I like to give to people in need of it, not just for a holiday!

Mind you, I don’t think any of my friends would ever not pay me back, because they are real friends. I think some people are confusing spongers with friends!

What about a battery pack that can attach to an iPhone 5 so it extends the battery life? Not something which is big, something I can attach to the phone and still use as normal (albeit making phone bigger).

Managed to secure some shifters and a front mech – thanks!

Only problem is that I don’t have a good track record with this sort of thing. Often they haven’t actually got the item in, it’s a stock level mistake. Nothing I can do about it, happened twice so far, but if it happens again I may raise it a bit further with halfords as I’ve wasted a lot of time going to pick stuff up that isn’t there. 🙁

A friend of mine, after spending many years as a fast pursuit driver, now trains police drivers on the same. He’s recently been training a group to be high speed armed response drivers, who are the most desperate (probably a better word than that!) to get to an incident.
He’s been doing it a few weeks, recently doing 140mph practice runs up the A1/M1 from Wakefield. Averaging 90mph apparantely from town centre to centre. He said not all of them pass and it takes very special skills to be able to do it properly.

I honestly can’t believe businesses still sign up for contracts with yodel! Do they not just do a quick google search and find out how appallingly bad they are?

The window has been opem for 10+ years and nothing smells damp at all, and no visible signs now as the fixes I did were a while ago. Cellar now has an air brick and the vent I put in which is about 25x25cm.

The fashion.

I much prefer the fashion back then to the current state of affairs!!