This comment made me chuckle…

[A local farmer]… said: “Anyone driving slowly around these small lanes would stand out but two black men in a car would stand out even more because you don’t see many black men in the sticks out here.”

[Terry Thomas Voice] Black men? In Cullompton???[/Terry Thomas Voice]

Agree with Bigyinn… A cleaner and a dinner lady? It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to work out that they’re going to find it difficult to raise that many kids in a country where educated professionals struggle with 2 or 3!

It might be unpalatable, but the mindset of these people needs to be changed, and as long as the benefit culture takes up the slack – or even makes it financially beneficial for them to breed like rabbits – the problem will just get worse and worse.

I have a load of the Kestrel ones – they come in 2 widths for roadbikes and mountain bikes.

Plus, you can squeeze the hoops together or stretch them for a snugger fit. They’re not perfect, but they do the job for storage.

One thing to bear in mind though, move the rear mech down to the smaller sprockets, otherwise you can damage it on the stand.

Thanks Cookie, I’m afraid I bottled it and went with the more conventional choice – Castelli Velocissimo.

I’ll keep my eyes peeled for a pair I can have a look at in the flesh – they look the business, but I can only find reviews for their compression clothing.

Thanks for the reply…

andyl – Member
PS Well at least this ‘smart arse’ didn’t go somewhere that doesnt sell over the counter and expect to buy something over the counter

I went into a shop that I’d been buying goods from over-the-counter for several years you pillock!

andyl – Member
Did you go in with this rude attitude too?

No, but when some smart arse that doesn’t know his arse from his elbow starts telling me that I wouldn’t turn up at Sainsbury’s distribution depot with a shopping trolley, I reserve the right to reply in a similar tone.

andyl – Member

The Walton Summit is just a warehouse isnt it? There shop is actually in Preston.

You wouldn’t pop to a sainsburys distribution centre and expect to be able to grab a trolley and do your shopping would you?

You make a very good point… Apart from a complete lack of informed knowledge on the subject. The Preston (Water Lane) shop closed about 4 or 5 years ago. The showroom/shop at Walton Summit has been selling goods over the counter ever since.

Their decision to stop selling over the counter is a recent one.

To be fair to them, they’ve probably taken that step so that they can improve their mail order service after taking a load of stick about that on here.

As I said, fair play to them. But what sort of online mail order company has a website that becomes unusable due to traffic??

wwaswas – Member

no, they can’t because they need a chip and pin machine to do customer present transactions.

They have one. I’ve used it dozens of times over the past couple of years.

5lab – Member

so a online only shop with no cash handling facilities is unable to cope with a cash order? shocker. Why not see if you can pop into wiggle?

That was a metaphor. I had cards as well. And if they can take CC orders over the phone or online, they can take them off a man standing in front of them!!

foxyrider – Member
PLEASE NOTE: Our Warehouse Shop is only available for THE SALE AND COLLECTION OF RIBBLE BIKES and for RESERVE AND COLLECT ORDERS.

Had I been able to get on their website this morning, I might have been able to read that.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what it says on the website, if a customer turns up at the door because they’ve been unable to use your website, surely you’d help them to buy your products???

Like I said, complete amateurs.

Lifer – Member

Someone get CharlieMungus, ESP proof!

This might be an alien concept to a moron like you, but people can “think” without calling upon any powers of extra-sensory perception. 🙄

But if you had been on the scene to offer yourself handy advice after the second time, you probably would have said
“What are the chances of this guy doing something now? Rather slim I’d say”

If the perpetrator had been caught in the act, neighbours and police informed, then sure. I’d have been confident that it wouldn’t have happened again.

As it happened in my case, the only people who knew this scrote was living in the neighbourhood were his parents who, despite suspecting it was him, chose to keep it under their hats.

Yes, there was a time where I wondered what this person would be like if I confronted them, but I think Hairy’s case is completely different – they know exactly who they’re dealing with, and I’d say they can be pretty confident that he won’t be coming back!

Hairy, I do understand how you must feel, and I’m not having a pop at you for the decisions you’ve made, but as the man of house and head of your family, you need to instill a bit of confidence in your family and running away doesn’t show them that you can protect them, it just shows them that you’re as afraid as them.

As I’ve said, I firmly think this problem has been resolved. Upgrade the locks, make sure they know what to do if by any strange chance there are any further problems, talk to local Police and community officers – anything and everything you can do to make sure your family are protected, and feel protected.

The OP has reported the incident, the locks have been changed (I assume) and thankfully, no crime was committed. What are the chances of this guy doing something now? Rather slim I’d say, there’s probably more chance that there will be more problems in a new home.

I personally think the OP should put more effort into reassuring his family rather than running away. Moving house just tells them that this man is still a danger to them (which he almost certainly isn’t), and they’ll still live in fear – probably even more so as this nasty man forced them out of their home.

I was burgled 4 times in 6 weeks a few years back, my neighbours’ son (a heroine addict) had moved back home and would watch me leaving for work before screwing my home.

I had a Police alarm fitted, panic button, coppers and SOCOs traipsing in and out of my house… I even had Police turning up at all hours to “check up on me” because they suspected I was involved in some sort of bigger crime enterprise.

So yes, I know exactly what it’s like to feel violated by criminals.

But by far the best advice anyone ever gave me was to not become a victim. I had all the usual bedwetters telling me that I’d have to move house; that my home would never feel like my own; that I’d never feel safe. But I took the attitude that I was stronger than some little scrote that needed to steal my stuff to by his next wrap.

You have a family to care for, and sorry to be so brutally honest, but looking after them also entails making them feel safe and confident in their surroundings, not just running away! You might end up in a far worse home.

I’m not trolling, but a lot of what you’ve posted: wife ‘crumbling’, kid crying, nobody sleeping etc sounds like a bit of an over-reaction.

I think a bit of MTFU might be the order of the day, people are subject to far worse than an former tenant trying the lock.

Your energy would be far better spent by stopping acting the victim and reassuring your family that they’re safe now you’ve taken the necessary precautions to protect them.

This video should clear up any confusion… 😉

It’s fixed at the BB and the machine is flexing the front triangle/steerer tube. The seat tube in turn moves backwards causing the seat stays to flex.

I would imagine they have a similar way to demonstrate upward movement of the chain stays.

But triangles don’t flex, do they… 🙄

My old Chameleon…

aracer – Member

We’re clearly back to bicycles breaking known laws of physics here. The stays might flex in isolation – built up into a rear triangle it just doesn’t happen. Do the numbers.

Aracer, would you prefer tea or coffee to wash those words down? 😆

Well found IanPV! I fear that Aracer still won’t believe it – it’s all just marketing hype, you understand… 😉

PS, what a dude Spartacus is!

And to all those that still think Ti must be best because Lance road a Litespeed in a timetrial well over a decade ago, I think he will have been more interested in the weight and geometry of the Blade rather than the handling characteristics of Titanium.

TT bikes rarely need to climb or sprint to the same extent as a day-to-day race bike, so ti’s shortcomings won’t have been such a problem.

I’m sure he enjoyed the comfy ride though… 😉

The fact the bikes we’re discussing are painted would suggest that’s an argument for mine and crikey’s side

Erm… Paints and lacquers can flex you know. 🙄
Otherwise, the paint would crack on the flexy 653 roadbike frame I have…

crikey – Member
I think that the vertical flex in the rear triangle of rigid frames is massively overstated and is to all intents and purposes undetectable in the complex system that is tyre/tube/rim/spokes/hub/bearings.

It’s even less detectable in a system that then assumes that you can detect it using your bum which is isolated by shorts/saddle/seatpost/frame.

If this is the case, why the hell would people use Ti? (apart from weight of course).

It’s well documented, indeed it has been mentioned by the argumentative naysayers earlier in this thread that Ti makes for a nice, comfortable riding bike due to its inherent flexibility.

What I and Leggyblonde have been saying is that you can enjoy similar benefits with carbon, but you can also virtually eliminate sideways deflection at the bottom bracket, without the significant weight penalty that you would need to create the same effect with a Ti, aluminium or steel frame!

If you’ve ever ridden a good carbon roadbike, you’ll understand that fantastic feeling of the wheels chattering over rough surfaces, but the bike absorbing the vibration and giving you a smooth ride.

We’re not talking about 5″ of rear travel, we’re talking about 1 or 2mm – enough to soak up a lot of vibration.

Everyone move along now, there’s nothing to see here. Aracer knows better than everyone. 🙄

aracer – Member
We’re clearly back to bicycles breaking known laws of physics here. The stays might flex in isolation – built up into a rear triangle it just doesn’t happen.

My carbon roadbike has straight chainstays but curved seat stays.
This is for one purpose and one purpose only: to allow the chainstays to flex on the vertical plain.

Erm… Forks and rear stays are laid up specifically to flex more in the vertical plain that horizontal.

aracer – Member

Not to a degree which would would make any real difference they can’t.

Of course they can… And they are!

leggyblonde – Member

the rider with a Venge would be slightly faster than a guy on a litespeed.

The rider on the Litespeed would still be noodling his way up the Champs Elysee while Cav was sipping Champers with the podium girls!

Look at overhead footage of sprint finishes in the 1980s. The bikes snaked like snakey things beneath the riders. Carbon bikes look completely rigid in comparison, and look at the amount of power you’d lose if you wore a flexible-soled shoe!

BIGMAN – Member

In all honesty does an aero road bike make that much difference… If they did why are all the pro’s not on them??

One of the reason some pro’s prefer non-aero bikes is weight. Most of the new breed of aero frames are heavier than the non aero versions due to the additional material used.

The technology is really still in its infancy, but with companies like McClaren joining the party, manufacturers are now cottoning on to the fact that there are many factors that need addressing, such as yaw angles, the effect of rotating wheels, the effect of different wheels sets.

A big problem facing teams is that the climbers, sprinters, GC riders all have different needs when it comes to wheels etc, so the sponsor’s off-the-peg aero frame might not be the best choice for all of them.

I think that now carbon technology has reached its peak in terms of lateral stiffness/vertical compliance, the next few years will see aero technology introduced across the board as manufacturers learn to apply that technology without compromising the existing advantages brought in by the use of carbon.

You just don’t have that flexibility of manufacture with any tubular metallic frames.

I’m amazed that this is even being discussed! Carbon is by far the superior frame-building material in the right hands.

Ti frames are inherently flexy – just put your toe against the BB shell and push. Carbon fiber frames are laid up so that this sideways deflection is almost eliminated, whilst still maintaining vertical compliance to soak up road vibration.

Compared to steel, ti is a much nicer material to ride, and is obviously lighter, but it’s nowhere near carbon in terms of versatility.

As for the weight issue, under-weight frames are popular with pro-teams because they allow them to ‘bulk up’ with stronger and stiffer bars, stems etc that are less likely to fail in a crash.

Depends on the circumstances, if you’re riding through-and-off you should peel off to the right and drop back. If you’re attacking or bridging a gap, an arm-flick is perfectly acceptable code for “come on, your turn”…

But yes, nothing pisses me off more than the smart-arse that’s been sandbagging for several miles coming through and dropping the group.

It’s usually inexperience. I also hate knobs that keep sitting up or getting out of the saddle when they’re on the front… Keep it smooth you retard!!!

Chris Walken’s “uncomfortable hunk o’ metal” speech in Pulp Fiction.

Rambo’s Petrol Station scene.

Keanu Reeves’ “any butt-reaming a-hole” speech in Parenthood.

What’s the difference between a soldier and a fireman?

You can’t dip a fireman in a boiled egg.

Tell the Police there’s a racial element to the crime or that you feel persecuted, threatened and intimidated on the grounds of religion.

They’ll be round in a jiffy.

Right, I think I’ll give it a whirl… When’s the next lot of racing? Is the Dauphine being screened?

And sorry to sound dim, but do you download a player application that you can only use on one computer, or is it just a log-in code?

Hmmm… £3.99 though, sounds worth a punt. Do you have to subscribe for several months at once?

cynic-al – Member

Finbar – I was winding you up – they do that after a few years IME.

Ah, the old “Padded Fred” volte face… 😉

I think Al’s on the blob. He’s been particularly argumentative lately. 🙄

cynic-al – Member

You’d think there’d be a market for a wheel/rim with a replaceable braking surface?

Why? As Rorschach said, only 20 quid for a new Aksium rim. And any fixing mechanism is just going to add rotating weight in the worst possible place!

The Institute of Advanced Motorists stopped using double de-clutch shifting some years ago as it puts excessive wear in the clutch pinion bearing (IIRC).

As has been said, it’s not necessary with modern synchro boxes. The Police advanced driving test continued using it for some time after (not sure if they still do) as it promotes unhurried shifts.

There’s no advantage to using it, unless you like the satisfying feeling of blipping on the down-shift. Heal-and-toe rev-matching is more fun and more use IMHO.

I started interval training about 5 weeks ago. I live in a very hilly village with left-hand loop of 1.2 miles. It allows me to nail the climb (big ring, 1 minute climbing with average gradient of around 15%), then a gentle 3-4 minute spin back down to the foot of the climb. I do 8 laps after a 7 mile warm up.

The difference has been startling, loads more power. My limiting factor now is my VO2 max and general muscle efficiency which I hope to improve with longer rides.

The main advantage as I see it is that within 30 mins of getting off the bike, I feel fresh and recovered rather than that horrible battered feeling you get after a long, high intensity ride.