Haha. They look reasonable but not £70 worth!!

Not had them for a while and never had to use them for insurance claims but the costomer services were helpful when I had my car broken into [£60 claim for new windscreen woudlve increased my premium for the next two years by more and it was first eyar car insurance]. I did call roadside and they were very prompt. Green flag at the time

Anotehr one for the park book but when I was trying to explain things to a friend I found a you tube type of video which is soemthing a little better

Don’t panic. Take it to a reputable LBS or engineering company. They can try and retap from the back which might well work. If not then they can drill the old threads out and helicoil.

Shame we’re not closer as I quite like working on older bikes and would’ve sorted it for you

I thought it might’ve been the case, thanks Jamie. Not sure how useful the tracking is going to be helpful as I have no idea where the hell that place is!!

So is it just the bottom bracket making some noise? Is it a retro steel frame with all OE on it? Surely a couple of quid on a b/b would be worth it. Alternatively break it down and sell it all individually on ebay and buy yourself something else not on ebay. Personally I would keep it. A mate has just built up an old retro Raleigh for the grand sum of £90 all in

My brother in laws Giant anthem X1, his Giant Anthem 29er and his Basso Astra… erm I like most of his bikes actually, they are a lot nicer than mine. When he says have a go he also has a job catching back up with me so we can swap back. I quite like other peoples bikes especiall if they’re reasonably expensive and run super sweet!

Just had an email from DE saying my lights have now been shipped and they have given me a tracking number. Should I be worried that when I enter the tracking number and the verification code it doesn’t recognise any of the information?! Hoping it’s normal for the first 24 hours but you never know!

I tried to arrnage Calshot with a mate a few years ago and think you have to book training sessions to make sure you’re ‘safe’ on the track. I was trying to build up a track bike for general riding around here and also for the outside track at the Mountbatten centre. If you’re a bit nervous about going straight to Clashot you could try Mountbatten as I think it’s free but I did see something the other day that on Friday evenings there is coaching which is a lot cheaper than Calshot.

That 24 hour event sounds well smart though. Quite fancy that but I have a feeling that I would end up doing what scaredypants did!

WCA – Not going to be able to make it. A 50m ride today has done me in and I have just learnt that the powers that be have gone and arranged a carvery visit with friends! D’oh. Hopefullly got some light coming in the next week or so so would be good to hook up with you guys in the evening or on a weekend at some point.

Em

Good to hear buddy. Just get out there now

I’ve got 9mile and that’s the limit without a shower at work. A mate used to travel 20ish to work and then back. A colleague was telling me today about one of the soccer Dads who occasionally has to visit a branch office which is 100miles away. He cycles there and back but took the train for the last 30m

Thought wii was wifi only. All I can say is mario kart!!

Three people in my practice designed an estate of about 200 houses. I was told I may have too look after it on site when they had done all the drawing work. That would have been fine but they hadn’t down half the work, what they had done was wrong and to cop it off the stairs didn’t work in the houses unless the tenants were oomph loompas! So cross as I get all the grief from the contractor which then comes back to my MD who was also cross that the job wasn’t making money as so much time was being spent on it! Livid!!

Actually did some work today! Spent the week catching up on email and work after two weeks on which has only been hindered by my research on lights for the winter! Obviously not quite as good as yours…

I might try and head up on Sunday then. I was right next to the golf course yesterday so should’ve had a quick look. I’m in Havant so only a little way away. Normally ride QECP, South Harting an Goodwood areas but bored of it now so been riding on the road this year. Just want a new place to ride and some people to ride with!

Is the riding around there good? Got images of it being reasonably flat but some people rave about it. Anyone got a postcode for where you meet?

No but somewhere I have the plans for a boat similar to the one on the home page on the bottom left that my uncle built many years ago

I have freinds who use torches as oppsed to a light set. Still have one on the bar and one on the helmet. The light set seems better than the torch despite saying that they are both the same lumens. Perhaps they are in the hotspots but the strenght outside of that isn’t as good.

For the love of god!!!

My mrs doesn’t like hills, doesn’t like starting on hills [anything up to 10miles from the start may be included!], doesn’t like downhills and doesn’t like riding on the flat as it’s boring. She is gettting better though but I’m taking her on easy bits around my area. My sisters both ride Brechfa although my oldest sister is now riding the raven with my Dad – both riding the raven make me nervous! Think it’s the same as when you started riding, start gently and build her up and try and give advise which unlike what I apparently do doesn’t sound patronising.

Just bought Nealy’s charger and TurnerGuy’s battery suggestions

Just had people around looking at our house and insualting the cavity. They want to use an insulation that contains silicone and therefre doesn’t track water back to the internal leaf – quite how true this is I haven’t looked into it yet.

Rising damp is a bit of an excuse passed off by many people in the past but most of the time is a crap dew point in the build, por ventilation or crap detailing during construction phase ie window reveals

I did a DE order start of the week so left it a bit late for another order plus I wanted a head torch ASAP so I could go out in the mean time. Got a R5 from a UK seller for 15 but I would have got a XML-T6 bu they were more expensive from the UK. Charger looks good, still need to order that and some batteries

Ordered a ultrafire r5 in the end based on Torchy’s review. Think it will be fine on the head working with the XML-t6 if it arrives before chrimbo!!

Not much unless you have evidence and even then they have other things to do. I had someone in Portsmouth drive the wrong way down a one way street on his mobile the other day. Won’t be referring anyone to his driving school!

I’ve got the Crane jacket which is a bit like neoprene, not exactly waterproof but windproof and really warm. Want another

I have arms that a ridiculously long but I’m only 6′. I’ve tried a Montane and that was fine but as said above they aren’t all the same. I have a Karrimor and another that both fit me although were bought solely as they fit and definately aren’t that nice looking !

See another thread where I got a reflector out of a p7 and put it in the XML in order to make the beam a flood. The reflectors cost around £9 if you don’t have a spare already.

So that’s all it takes to change it to a flood then?! Have you got a before and after beam shot on that other thread?

Still, it’s a fantastic head light. Wouldn’t put it on the bars

Not what I’m wanting to hear!!

Thanks for that, I think I may well go for the P7 I listed above although I had seen this Ultrafire too which would complement my XML-T6 magicshine jobby. Point noted on the batteries, will look at those protected ones from the other seller and will mail him about the charger

Thanks for that. I wil go with the ebay stuff rather the DE then. I looked at the XML torches on DE and the run times were about an hour at max so that’s what I was making my comparison on. I’m only after a hotspot so will have another look at torchy’s site and have a re-think

I’m doing a 10mile run and have no intention of running that far in practicing. I could run 8m at the start of the year and that was it. A mate who was training for London and Brighton marathon said you only had to really train for about 22m and the rest would be adrenalin fuelled on race day. Good target though, which one you doing?

I ride very quickly in the dark and normally have music on so I can’t hear the rustling. I’m not very good in the creepy dark woods which begs the question why am I buying lights!!!

EDIT: I bet not may riders riding alone take night time pictures of their bike leaning up against a signpost etc!

OK just so I don’t balls up with stuff as it’ won’t be going back:
Fandyfire torch
Batteries
Charger

I thinks all that is right. Don’t think I will need anything else as seen people just velcro strapping the light to their lid. That torch does seem gfm too especially as it say 120mins burn time and hopefully it’ll work well with my XML-T6 light too.

Stoner / redthunder – how good are those lights say in comaprison to a DE type light? I’m contemplating trying a build using something like THIS [based on the pond scum light] rather than the B&Q method meerly for aesthetics only.

Also thinking about using the same 12v20w bulb as you have done so as I understand it I could use one of Smudges 14.8v batteries although it may get hot if not air cooled. What battery did you use? Did you both go lead acid from Maplin or similar?

I’ve just bought a set from DE but if I can’t source a suitable head torch and I like the DE light then I may buy Smudge’s version rather than wait a few weeks. Emailed him for advice the other day and he was very helpful and also has a very good reputation on here.

OK so am I correct in thinking that 2 of my rechargeables which are 1.5v NiMh 2800mA are still not going to be comparable to one 18650 battery. If that is the case then it may be worth just going 18650 for smaller and lighter light

OT but I have also just realised that I have a whole load of spare batteries for bb guns and I’m pretty sure they are the same thing so could make a DIY light.

Sorry for the hijack:
I’m also interested in a cree torch for my head and preferably running off internal batteries rather than an external pack. I’ve just ordered a XML from DE for the bars by the way. What are the benefit of 18650 batteries over standard rechargeable AA batteries? I see I can get cree torches from DE and Ebay that still allow the use of AA batteries meaning I don’t need to get a load of different batteries and a charger as I already have AA related stuff.