“Did you use a set square? I think not.”

shortly followed by

“Oh my!”

What IHN said up there. Did it the last two years, but didn’t get in this year.

Enjoy it, engage with the crowds, tap hands (but don’t swing across the road to do it, seriously don’t do it). And if you do get held up, just like a queue on the motorway, somebody is having a much worse day than you, there’s a load of new people to make friends with.

Gnusmas,

As one of the many that can’t find the right words. I can’t physically be there on the 12th, but be assured, we WILL be there.

Done

The most fun, the Ka Sun Collection – Ka with full length Webasto sunroof, not a titchy glass vent in the roof. Bog standard and handled like a go cart.

If nicest in the modern comfy fast sense, then any of the three XFs I had as company cars – previous gen sportbrake, or current 4drs with 3.0l V6s. Very comfy for long journeys, tolerably economic if you didn’t use the loud pedal too much.

Sportbrake was in boring metallic grey. 1st 4dr in Caesium Blue, second metallic red with full black pack. Subtle they were not.

AA had low outbuilding limits and required locking to immovable objects IIRC

They certainly did on mine, and were a little sneaky about it. When taking out the policy I explained several times that I had multiple bikes, which in total were quite a lot, but that individually they were all under the 1k limit for named items.

The 3k limit for “outbuildings” was hidden away in the policy schedule, not as a headline item. When my garage (not attached to the house) then got emptied, they tried to get out of paying the full amount (comfortably north of 7k). They eventually settled in my favour after going back to the call recordings – from my POV it was either pay up, or I put in claims for mis-sold policies.

At the time of the settling, they said it wasn’t fair to expect the staff who sell you the policy to know all the details of the policies they sell and you should check all the small print when you get the policy schedule details. In my naivety, I rashly assumed that telling them what I needed from the policy would mean that they would select the correct policy – if not, what are they doing.

No longer get insurance through the AA for anything.

Please check your policy details so you don’t have to through the fight I had.

Have had bikes in the room at multiple Premier Inns, also hotel at Stafford Services (M6 northbound) allowed use of a conference room to store bikes overnight, two other groups of guests also used it. Just make sure they are clean and not dropping oil/mud/etc, also take an old sheet/blanket to protect the walls, and locks if it’s a shared other room.

Currently sat in another PI with a bike.

Was 17 (~1986), and got given my nan’s 1974 Mini Clubman Estate in Harvest Gold. Simultaneously brilliant and terrible at the same time. Who on earth thought Harvest Gold was a good colour, one from the 50 shades of crap colour palette, it didn’t even hide the rust. Can’t work out why BMW/Mini don’t have Harvest Gold on the current colour option list.

No dusting for prints.

After having had my garage all but emptied a few years ago (targeted theft of most of my bikes, all my tools and spares, ~£7k before excess) police did come round to dust for prints, but at the time they said that it pretty pointless as thieves aren’t complete idiots. You can get a box of 100 nitrile gloves for £13 from Halfords[*], half that from Amazon.

[*] – Quite possibly free for someone whose moral compass already accepts breaking and entering, theft etc as OK.

Seems fine to me. Thousands of people do it every Saturday afternoon, sometimes in their home town, sometimes they go in coaches and minibuses (usually with multiple items of subgroup iconography in the windows) to other towns to meet other sub-groups of the same genre. Apparently gets a lot of coverage on TV with channels devoted to it.

Flier de Lys is pieminster pies…

Other half is an another Shockabsorber advocate. Her advice:

Best to get a proper fitting – if planning to use a HRM strap, take that to the fitting.
John Lewis frequently have a wider range (colours etc.) than Bravissimo.

Really enjoyed that, harder than Ride London.

Thank you to everyone who came out to wave, encourage, slap hands etc. Really makes it very different to “just going out and doing a long ride”.

All set for 8:15 start, on a dark blue Mason, see y’all in the morning..

Yep, pretty standard apart from having to climb through a fallen tree blocking the road.

Most likely reason for the trip being reset is that the workshop instructions (even for body work) most likely say right near the start “disconnect battery”. Odometer is protected from a battery disconnect, but trip is probably not.

As for the screw heads/caps, most likely explanation is that they were never fitted, if they had of been, you would never have noticed the screw heads.

For the screw heads, can’t see where they are, but from description, they sound like they are part of the instrument cluster, and probably wouldn’t have been touched by anybody at BMW (at dealer or in manufacturing), they would have been put in at the instrument cluster manufacturer – where they would have been fitted using power tools, with reasonable risk of scuffing the heads, but as they are supposed to be covered by caps, it wouldn’t normally be visible. They would just have fitted the overall assembly at the car factory.

Has the funding broke £2.5k yet?

Yep.

2nd Ride London completed, a bit slower than last year, though not trained as much, but pleased with under 6:30. No punctures for me, but did see plenty being fixed.

Overall riding seemed a lot better this year, with fewer crashes, not sure why, weather overnight/road conditions making people a little more aware? Also, there did seem to be a more communication “on your right/left”, and waiting for a reply before coming through.

Just having last cup of tea before heading out for the start.

Ride safely and enjoy the day.

Last year did with the following:

Eat well, but not excessively the night before.
Sensible breakfast (Premier Inn so not the greatest, but far from the worst I’ve had), opened very early to feed hungry cyclists.
1 Fig roll every 30mins (so a whole packet for the ride).
2x700ml bottles with hydration (not energy) drink, refilled once. Take your own tablets if your a fussy bugger like me.
Packet of Clif gel blocks (not used).

As others have said, Whatever it is you do eat, make sure you’ve done a ride on it first!

Got mine.

Wave Load opening time: 06:36
Wave Load closing time: 07:16
Start Time: 07:56

30mins later than last year, can’t decide if that’s better or not.

Best advice I had for this, or other request to delete pictures situation…do quick format, on my Canon it just deletes the file index, remove card, and don’t use it again. Go home, use image/file recovery software to recover images.

But – if they can make auto dimming rear view mirrors, can they also make auto-dimming door mirrors too? Cos that’d be amazing.

They do, my last four cars have all had this.

Fitting a BB with the bike upside down, and especially when fitting the NDS plastic cup first…

Things that were learned that afternoon

1. NDS Plastic cups cross thread so easily you don’t even notice that you’ve put it the DS when using a large adjustable wrench on the BB tool
2. That DS metal cups will cross thread the BB shell not the BB
3. BBs have no understanding of the emotional value of the frame they are about to damage

Fortunately, I only stuffed the first two/three “threads” so friendly bike shop with BB thread cutter were able to clean them out and fit the BB properly.

When I was seven, this would have beaten everything posted so far: Turbo Spoke

The one I can’t fathom is “Cyclists – Do not pass this vehicle on the inside”, how on earth do I pass a vehicle inside it?

@DezB – that was my childhood that was. Stolen from me, hiding out of sight of friends, in the back of an Austin Princess HLS in this striking and memorable colourway

The delightful “Harvest Gold”, aka crapatini brown, my first car was a mini clubman estate in that fetching shade…sadly no vinyl roof for me.

Definitely a hotch-potch build.

The Curve canti’s are Kona ’96 vintage, though seem to have black spring tensioners, normally were red on Kona’s but were also available as aftermarket parts, front canti hanger is also of that vintage. Cranks are M569 which didn’t come in until ’97/’98 (had them on my ’98 Kilauea), likewise, the tyres are ’98 Kona vintage, let me know if you’d like to part with the tyres!

Quite pleased with my just under six hours riding time, about seven forty five including stops (mostly for that crash) – it was quite social in the hold-up, everyone knew the cause (if not the details), no complaining or grumbling.

Litter wasn’t too bad, but why people can’t put a gel wrapper back in the pocket they’ve just taken it from I’ll never know, mumble grumble.

Early on a couple of the pace lines where a little over eager shouting “coming through” and expecting everyone to “doff caps” to their supperior speed was a tad arrogant at best – it isn’t a race!

Overall, really enjoyed it, especially taking over an hour of by best century riding time. :-)

All registered and checked-in for an early start tomorrow.

Just got to put the bike back together – wheels and bars – and affix various numbers, tags etc.

Have a great ride everyone.

7:24, Green zone here

Do not eat at the restaurant at Warwick arts centre (La Gusta Oven and Bar), one bad meal is enough to make us not go back, and we go to the Arts Centre quite a bit. The cafe bit opposite the box office does OK cake.

Had a good meal at Warwick Spice the other week, even having the “vaguely Mediterranean” Rogan curry, Aqua in Warwick does some nice Middle eastern stuff (Lebanese).

Took my f-plate Sierra 1.6L estate through to 312500 miles. Original clutch was recklessly changed at 275000 as a gearbox linkage pin had failed, there was another 5-10000 miles on that clutch. Still have the camshaft and front plate in the garage.

Then took a 1.8 Zetec focus estate to 245000 miles, then sold for scrap, but still good enough to get a speeding ticket six months later.

Regular servicing and mechanical sympathy keep cars running happy.

Yep,

Start a thread in here: Whats It Worth – Retrobike

As much info (specs) and pictures will help no-end.

twonks – wrote

As a result of this thread giving me a reminder, I have just switched from Barclays to AA and saved 50% from the renewal that past in October.

Indidual items over £1500 have to be named but it includes push bikes with no extra clauses it seems.

Please check the policy details, as that’s what my policy said as a headline/sold over the phone.

As a result of a significant theft of bikes from our garage and subsequent claim, we had to challenge it, to the extent of the AA going back to the recorded conversation, and realising that I’d said several times that there were multiple bikes, but only one over the £1500 must be named point.

They agreed to settle in the end, with no admission of anything on their side, but I was looking at being approx £3K down without the fight.

Re: AA, and many others…

Speaking from experience, check the small print. If your bikes are in a shed, detached garage or other outbuilding not physically connected to your house there will a limit, typically £3k for any claim. They will also demand locks of differing ratings depending on the value of the bikes. Named items may be treated separately, from the £3k limit, but will still have requirements on locks etc.

Whilst swapping components from one frame to another, donor on the work stand, receiver upside down on the lawn, BB out of donor.

For some reason popped the NDS plastic cup in first, using the BB tool and large spanner I’d just used to remove it, all good. Shout from kitchen, dinner ready in twenty mins, better get a move on. Pop the BB in, seems tighter than expected, more grease and back to the big spanner, doesn’t seem to line up once being tightened. Out again and back in, again with the big spanner, dinner getting closer, better get this finished…

At this point, the cold creeping realisation of what I’d done swept over me…cross threaded the BB shell on my owned since new (and at the time 12yrs old) “cold dead hand” ’98 Kilauea.

Joined the Sunday morning “please fix my stupidity queue” at the LBS. One week later after careful application of BB threading tool, damage undone.

@Rusty Spanner

You are not alone, shall be cancelling my subs for the exact reasons you list. My other half used to read it after me, hasn’t bothered since the refresh.

Sorry for your loss, the ne’er do well community is well orgainsed.

Based on experience.

I assume you notified the Police. Make sure they take a statement, they didn’t with me initially. You will need to do the searching of eBay, Gumtree etc. findthatbike.co.uk is a useful resource, though only covers Gumtree, eBay & Preloved (gumtree seems to generate multiple hits for the same advert).

If you have frame numbers, put them up on http://www.bikeregister.com. They can be tagged as stolen. Apparently the police check this if they recover bikes.

Try and write down everything that make your bikes unique, different pedals, bar tape, seat post etc if they are not standard. The more you can describe the unique aspects the better. They will probably be stripping the bikes down, check for unusual parts on eBay – one item alone will be not be enough, but the same seller with three or four parts you can identify may be a useful lead.

If you do find one of your bikes, keep pestering the Police – I ended up putting a formal complaint in once we had identified one of the bikes I had stolen for sale on Gumtree and nothing seemed to be happening. If you get to this stage make sure your letter/email includes the phrase “I wish to make a formal complaint”. They eventually went round, that bike was no longer there, but one of the others was.

Agree with the above comments – they rattle (way more than SKS and Tortecs I’ve had on other bikes), and the rear tyre wears through the silver finish in no time at all.