Anyone have an opinion on the quality of the cycling 3/4 length shorts?

Land of Nod in East Yorkshire

+1 for asking at the Bike Center. They know the area really well.

Never mind the cuppa, get cake ate the Dales Bike Centre Cafe. Truly awesome.

(Drifts off to revel in the memory of great cake….)

I use the freeload (now Thule) rack plus sides for carrying pannier bags, etc. Can be attached to forks too.
IME these racks are incredibly strong, reasonably light and versatile.
I can alter where the panniers are mounted. Up high, or down low, forward or right back.
The top deck can be used for carrying other items too. Max load is rated at 25kg for off road use.
Linky
I do notice the extra weight, but now consider it extra training.
Really like my Ortlieb panniers too.

Probably get bashed for this, but mine is mounted on my handlebars. Bit awkward to mount on a Orange Clockwork frame due to the cable routing. May have to convert to full cable outers.
Awesome light. Used everyday in epileptic mode on my commute. May seem offensive to some, but at least no-one can claim to not seeing me.
Battery lasts forever on low power or strobe mode.
Overall excellent IMO.

Probably a daft question, but are you sat down when the creaks occurs on each revolution? I’ve just traced one of the noises on my bike to the seat tube clamp.
BTW do chains make cracking sounds?

Very lucky to live down the road from Elvington airfield. I was sat outside with my 6 year old last summer and felt, as much as heard the Vulcan pass directly overhead and about 500 ft. He was coasting at the time, but a couple of miles further on opened her the engines.
Proceeded to perform a number of tight turns, climbs and dives. Awesome!
I still remember seeing a couple in formation, near Scarborough, in my youth performing much the same maneuvers. Happy days.
Chinooks reasonably regularly fly past. I like the sound from them too.

The Silver Spoon is the Italian Cookery bible. Haven’t made a bad meal yet from it. Their take on bolognese:
Tagliatelle bolognese[/url]
Much nicer experience to use fresh ingredients in cooking and the finished product tastes much better.
It’s great getting our daughter (6) involved cutting and mixing too.

From a study done recently:
On the overall deprivation scale, where 1 is the least deprived in the country, this parish ranks 12 out of 12706 parishes in England. This means that the parish is among the least deprived in the country.
Makes it sound right grand! 😛

40th birthday prezzies/getaways and EuroDisney 8O.

Bike tools are costing a bit at the moment as I gradually upgrade the kit on the Clockwork.

hammerite,
Luckily the village is not classed as deprived, but worth asking the questions anyway to see if we could reduce our costs somehow.
Just want to wrap the house in a nice big duvet. 🙂
Cheers.

hammerite. Just read your latest post (I was a bit slow typing). House is currently 3 beds and detached. Extension will bring us upto 5 beds.

Our house is a 1970 cavity wall build. We have cavity wall insulation, but I’m not convinced of it’s effectiveness. The house looses heat relatively quickly.
Also we are on oil as our heating source. There is gas in the street, but the previous owners decided not to link up.
We are in a position to build extensions and refurb the house, but we also want to reduce our heating bills and improve comfort in the house.
We are looking at MVHR, exterior insulation and underfloor insulation (maybe underfloor heating as well).
Neither of us is on benefits.
Do we qualify for any of the funding mentioned above and if so who do we contact.
Is anyone aware of companies that specialise in these products in the York area?

Hi takisawa. Could you forward me the info sheets please? We will be looking to install exterior insulation in the next year or so, and I’m researching different options at the mo.
Any idea on approx price per m2?
email is paul (at) phunter (dot) co (dot) uk. Cheers

We bought a cheap kettle BBQ years ago and love it.
We can section the coals off to the side, or in the middle depending on what we are cooking.
Whole chickens cooked in a baking tray on the centre of the grill with the coals to the side and the lid on are awesome. So much flavour.
We have a gas BBQ too (was left in the garage when we moved in), but only use it if we have a lot of people round.

I have enough problems with Windows at work, so why do it to myself at home.
Macbook Pro at home for last 5 years. Only now feeling like it needs a speed boost.
Minimal time spent updating/faffing, pretty much seamless operation.
If I really want/need to run Windows, I can through bootcamp or Parallels.
Also works very well with iPad/iPhone (iTunes much better on a Mac IME)

The Post Office also has a credit card that does not charge for transactions whilst abroad.
CC customer website is useless though.

Mavic notch shorts are really lightweight and cool.
The inner is really airy. As soon as summer hits again I’ll virtually be living in mine.

Years ago, but…
Riding a steep technical downhill, hanging right off the back when my front wheel stops and decides to be a pivot. Cue me going OTT and straight into the welcoming arms of a pine tree, upside down with my head a foot off the ground and feet pointing to the sky. I could not move at all.
The rest of the guys I was out with couldn’t stop laughing at the very large tree decoration. They laughed even harder every time I struggled.

If it ain’t broke……

I’ve caused more problems by faffing with stuff that isn’t broke. 😳

Father in Law makes the best slow cooked currys on his wood burner. Near on 24 hours of slowly simmering to produce Lamb Rogan Josh that just melts in the mouth. Good job I’m out for a curry tonight. It’s on my mind now.
REALLY miss cooking on Gas.
Marmite and tomatoes on toast – heaven!

tr – Thanks. We plan on moving to gas for cooking at the least (on induction at the mo). Just looking into options for heating when we refit the house.
Edukator – Thanks too.

Dharmabum,

I’m 6’4″ 36″ leg and ride a large with a longer seat post fitted. Depending on leg length, I’d say that a large should be ok for you too.
Fulford Cycles are having a demo day on 2nd June at Dalby. May be worth giving them a ring to see what is available.

My S runs 3×10 as standard.

Just fitted the spare.
I must have had a puncture for a fair few miles, but as a Passat has all the road feel of a sponge I didn’t notice anything until I braked. I damn well noticed then!!!
The tyre was so worn/melted that it was about ready to leave the rim.

Modern cars are smooth….

Driving from Leeds to Manchester on that there M62.
Travelling along nicely for 20 miles when I had to brake for a line of traffic. Back end of car went all kind of skew-wiff (as did my arse).
Pulled onto hard shoulder and examined rear passenger tyre. It was so hot that it was melting and I came away with a rather nasty burn.
To top it all I drove off after changing the wheel without retrieving the security socket.

tr,

You recommend an oil burner. Can I ask why?
We also have the option of gas as there is a main in the street (previous owner did not connect).

Edukator,
You mention special socket housings. Do you have any links/recommendations?

Cheers

Just been caught in the hailstones in York.

***Hijack warning***

We are in the planning stages of extending + improving our present house. We are currently on oil CH and are looking at the best and realistic options (exterior insulation, Bio-mass, Ground source heat pumps, MVHR, solar, etc) for us.
Does anyone know of any Yorkshire based (preferably York) firms who advise on these systems as a whole? There seem to be many firms that specialise one thing or another, not the whole caboodle (caught myself almost writing ‘Jointed up solution’, Phew)

Aldi have a kettle bbq on offer today.
We’ve had one for years and it has survived being left out all year for 3 years. Cheap as chips and does the job very well.
Nothing (well almost nothing) beats a chicken cooked on one of these (lid on and coals to the side.)
Aldi Kettle BBQ[/url]

Know what you mean about the other road users.
I bought one of Smudge’s Luminator lights and the epileptic mode certainly highlights that I’m there even in daylight. In fact, since using these I have only had one person almost pull out on me and that was a cyclist who didn’t look until I shouted.
I’m gradually discovering new routes home, most of which are back roads/farm tracks and sustrans routes. Don’t really notice the extra mileage when using these. Grin is bigger though when I arrive home.
Off the bike so far this week as I had a slight headset/maintenance problem at the weekend. Ball bearings everywhere. Cartridge bearings are the way to go. Just praying for Royal Mail to get a wriggle on and deliver my shiny new Hope kit.

Love my Orange Clockwork S.
Tried a Specialized at the time and it felt like a barge. The orange handles nicely for me. Just need to manhandle 29ers a bit more.
I’ve always found Oranges to be fun bikes to ride.
Only downside is that after 4 months I am breaking things (BB, Headset). On the up side I’m replacing with Hope gear which was my plan anyway.
Stock wheels are a bit heavy, but OK.
I’m 6’4″ and ride a large. Sizing seems on the big size.

The reason for me asking is that one tool goes up to 1 1/8 and the other tool is stated as for 1.5. Would the 1.5 also work for the small cup, or would the ‘arms’ be too splayed for use on the smaller cup.
As above the headset being fitted is a Hope 2 H pick and mix jobbie.

Sorry for being a bit clueless about this, but I’d rather get things right first time as I need my wheels back on the road.
Ta.

I suppose that takes me back to my original question then.
Does any one know which tool size would be best if it is really stuck?

Got those too. Think I’ll use the soft headed mallet though, and not the lump hammer.

Cheers all. Work will commence when the new headset arrives.

Oooh! I have one of those, and being qualified as an engineer I know that things work if you hit it with a bigger hammer 😛

I’ll just work very gently around the cup with a socket set bar as pickle suggested. I was a little nervous of this route.
Will I be OK in a bike stand, or will I need to brace the frame properly?
Cheers.

It’s so satisfying to know you’re not the only one 😀

Well done,

Weather wise, the only things that stop me on a morning are heavy rain (roads end up lethal and flooded) and snow (for safety).
I really miss travelling on the bike if I drive in. Added bonus for Friday is a bacon butty if I ride.
I use Runtastic Mountain bike to track my rides and generally keep track on what I am doing.

I know how thisisnotaspoon feels. Just ride in a manner that keeps you safest.

Enjoy.

Not at the mo, but I’ll try to remember later. Memory like a sieve.
It’s in standard White with (temporary) mud splats

It’s in commute mode at the mo, with mudguards and Freeload rack, so not as handsome as the examples above.

Love mine (Clockwork S).
I’m 6′ 4″ and ride a L. Modded with new wheels (Hope + Mavic), Shimano SPD’s and an extra long seat post (Thompson) so far.
Had to change the BB fairly quickly.
I bought it off ebay for £760 (hardly ridden) so happy with the spec for the price.

Rides great. Climbs nicely. Not too heavy on the front end for me. Ate Dalby for breakfast.

I swap out the wheels for my commute (Original wheels and 700c tyres). So satisfying to whiz along at 20 mph fairly easily.

Didn’t realise that there were problems with the frame, but I’m sure Orange will sort any (non-idiot) failures.