I’ve just spent a fortune at a really good physio to sort my neck out. Don’t want to have to pay more. :-(

Doctor? Physio? What can they do about it? Doctor will just presribe what I’ve been doin and put me on a waiting list for 10 weeks to see a physio for 10 mins. :-(

Shermer – none so far. Been taking painkillers. Gentle stretching, have been icing it too Was using ibuprofen 10% cream which I thought was doing some good but not sure really, the ice worked better.

I’ve not ridden a bike since August because my Achilles are so sore. Not really sure what to do now, icing does help it but the recovery seem to be so slow it’s non existent. :(

I think I got it from running too high a saddle on my C2C trip and not realising. I was using casual shoes with flat pedals and the more my Achilles hurt the more i pedalled toe down which I think (after doing some reading) made it even worse.

Can’t run either more than a few yards.

Getting really annoying now but not sure what I can do.

You have to understand how the life cycle of products works in a shop. These ridiculous bargains often come about when a range of products is discontinued from being sold in a shop. It might be that the shop decided to go with new packaging or a different brand for a certain range of stuff. Generally items get reduced bit by bit until they are all sold off. However if they are a bit slow to sell head office make just reduce them down to a daft amount to clear them – it may be that they have already received credit for them from the suppliers or something.
Those sort of reductions can have some surprising results as we have seen from these Halfords PSA’s. HOWEVER they are dependant on what stock the stores have left. Because they are discontinued and they are just trying to clear the last few there might be only a handful left in the stores. And when you are down to 1 or two in stock on your systems this is when you find all the stock errors. This can be from booking in errors, sales errors or just plain and simple theft from the shop floor (more often than not unfortunately).
I know this is the situation Halfords have here, and in a perfect world the stock levels would be perfect but that’s impossible in reality even with the best controls. So I take a punt on reserving it in store and seeing if I get the bargain. More often than not I do, I’ve maybe had about 25 of these I’ve tried to reserve and I’ve gotten about 15 of them. I don’t get mad at Halfords as I know stock errors happen, but it’s worth the effort to keep looking and trying.

So far I’ve got:
Nice resin MTB pedals £1
Deore 9sp rapid fire full set £10
3x ABUS £45 u locks for £5 each
5x Knog locks from £10-£25 RRP £1 each
Panniers £3
Topeak Seat pack £2
Seat post 50p
3x Camping Gaz really nice portable stoves £45 RRP £5 each

And a few other bits and bobs!

Check your contract.

Thats the key. If it’s not clear in that then you’re stuffed. But I am sure you insisted on a very clear and detailed contract as your previous experiences were so poor?

Don’t pay them until it’s sorted out as you ordered it?

That’s a great idea!

Love that sign writing!

Just picked up my Madison addict jacket from Evans. Nice fit, it’s a large and seems to fit like a normal large. Seems nice quality too.

I was chatting about this in work yesterday – that’s one side of the story. My wife has seen the other side – she works for a large retailer that does food and clothing and they have a lot of waste food (can’t sell anything past the use by date, etc but that’s a another argument) and their store tried to give away food they had as surplus but no local charities would take it. It wasn’t good news for the retailer as they have to hire skips and pay for it to be disposed of.

Any excuse to post a pic of my own fully restored 1994 Kilauea.

I suppose my friends would want the ability to buy pods from other places – is nespresso best for that then?

What’s the difference then between nespresso and dolce gusto?

I have a Genesis TDF, so no problems there. Not bothered about speed!

I’ve bought the Sustrans maps so no need for the files, thanks.

I don’t know why but it makes more sense to me to do it North to South.

Firstly you need to strip the frame of all parts. That’s the easy bit.

Then you can either paint yourself, which involves keying the existing surface, spending lots of money on spray cans (such as Plasticote) and painting it. It can look good but there’s a knack to it that only comes with practice.

OR If you have a good local powdercoaters they can do it for you. If you live anywhere near Castleford I can recommend a good one. You have to make sure they are good with bikes as they will make a mess of it if they don’t mask it properly and protect threads etc. The finish of powder can vary from just as good as normal paint (as the place I take mine to can do) or horrible thick blobby finish which feels like the frame had been dipped in rubber.

OR send it to a place like Argos Cycles or Bob Jackson or Chromacoat and spend a LOT of money on a proper stove enamelled finish, which can look AMAZING but is very costly.

“don’t understand why 3.0 in 650b is ‘in’ and in 26″ it’s ‘out’ ?”

Because the 26″ option doesn’t give manufacturers the chance to sell you more stuff to replace the stuff you already have which is perfectly OK.

“I always try to walk on the road-side of the pavement if with a female companion”

I always do this with my wife and she really appreciates it. Nothing polite about it, it’s just how a gentleman should conduct himself.

I have to admit I’d never seen the Godfather series, neither had my wife, until recently. We caught the first one on TV one day and we thought it was amazing, even though it really isn’t the sort of film either of us normally watch.

Not seen the Harry Potter films.

I was once told that when checking out a sofa, if you want to know how decent the frame is (thickness/strength) and how decent all the other bits are just lift a corner of the sofa – if you struggle to lift it easily with one hand it’s decent quality!
Not a bad measure I suppose, good to weed out the lightweight crap anyway.

Not sure the head has to sit exams. But his mum will probably send him upstairs to study for being naughty.

With no pudding I assume. ;-)

Fair play to him, for riding hard at his age, but it’s not very pretty from those angles…….beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and all that though….

Ride it and within about 1.2 seconds you no longer care what it looks like. Such a shame he never managed to get it into production, especially when fads like fat bikes have done well.

Touring is where it’s at. So many positives:

1) Going slower is a bonus.
2) Tea and Cake are the energy boosts as standard. Beer also.
3) You have an excuse to eat as much as you can as “you need fuel”
4) You get to buy a new bike
5) Unfashionable high rise stems ARE acceptable
6) Multi day rides where you keep your Strava on look bloomin epic
7) Awesome scenery
8) You get to buy more kit

There is simply no downsides.

I want to do the Lon Las Cymru next year which is my 40th year.

I got a HRM when I was about 34/35. I used it a couple of times and my HR went up to 200. I read this might be a problem so I sold the HRM and din’t worry about it after that. :-)

Cellar in my last house was painted. It wasn’t perfectly dry the cellar but I think somoene used normal emulsion on top of a thin plaster skim on top of Yorkshire stone and wood. Nothing breathed or flexed so it flaked off when I moved in – was still flaking off 15 years later when we moved out!!!

Breathable paint as a minimum!! Not sure if masonry paint is good for it maybe?

This was my worst one. 20 year old Kona frame, well rusted in seatpost ALL THE WAY DOWN. :(

The drivetrain looked like this, so you can imagine how much rust was around the whole bike and how much it had been neglected (stored outside!).

It did come out though, bit by bit….

The original seatpost could be used but we bought a nice shiny black one instead as we needed a longer one. I still have the original as a spare!

Ton was about to skip this lovely Surly frame as the BB was rusted in very very tight – not even swinging on a 2m long bar with all his weight did it unscrew…..

With the appliance of science………..

I wish I’d charged that much for every seatpost I’ve removed from 20+ year old mountain bikes, I’d have a Ti frame as well!

Any experienced RetroBiker can remove any stuck seatpost or BB without damage…. :wink:

Looks like a good service though he provided, glad its been saved.

My bumbag does not hold cup so use thirst aid hydration a helmet.

That’s exactly what I was going to say…. :lol: :?:

I can’t see whats wrong with the look of a TV. Getting a 60″ one in a tiny room is a bit daft but otherwise they are fairly unobtrusive compared to fatback TV’s.

It’s a bit pretentious hiding them away I reckon!

I can’t help thinking this bike has the same look of it as this great mans own bike.

I was fortunate enough to ride Geoff Apps Cleland bike at this ride in Scotland. Same short wheelbase, chunky tyres etc.

Looked ALL wrong but I have never ridden a bike which looks so wrong but feels so right even after 1 pedal turn. Nothing climbs like it and I didn’t get to ride it downhill much but I did witness Geoff, 30+ years older than me absolute belt past me on his Cleland on a rocky downhill.

No one else read it then?

Evans have 10% off and you get a £20 voucher on top. Not as cheap if only buying one thing but if you want to buy more it’s worth a look.

Id like a BMX again but none of them come with front brakes now (AD990). Any that do are ultra specific flatland bikes which you can’t ride ramps or street on.

I always thought you chose the length of the bike dpeending on what type of riding you did… not your height.

I generally rode a 19″ TT bike as I like park/street/flatland, this was my last bike (why oh why did I sell it….:( )

Max out an ISA for a start. I’ve got a lot of money waiting to use as a deposit on our next house and I’ve maxed out 2 ISA’s.
Unfortunately the more interest you want the more you have to keep your money locked away.

Go to your local clothes repair/alteration place. I used to have one near me in a tiny shop run by a Polish bloke who was amazing, he could fix anything and was really cheap – tended to repair stuff rather than replace everything. Up north these places are everywhere and are really useful.

I can’t see anything wrong with that at all, sounds perfectly reasonable.

Time allowed off to attend funerals etc but not extended to take holidays. At discretion of head teacher. Sounds like a perfect compromise.

Look back in my history, had a great experience with HouseNetwork – I have a discount code if you need it too. A friend of mine just sold their house fast and easily with them too after my recommendation.