A mate of mine works in the ready-mix industry, he sent me a picture of the temporary access roads for one of the HS2 works, it’s even got kerbs on it…

Compounds are going to be there for a while, so all the legislation around water runoff, silts/oils capture will be required the same as any permanent commercial/industrial estate. Best practice comes into it too as the Govt cant be seen to be using mud covered compounds and haul roads, dragging muck onto the highway as the 1000s of cars and trucks per day pull in and out. I would expect the haul roads and compounds/offices to have similar in depth design as the likes of a local out of town development where the likes of Currys, halfords, Burger King etc. all congregate. It would probably be a drastic underestimate to say £1m in groundworks per compound – add in design, supervision, utilities and offices on top…

Thought I had heard there were plans to redevelop some of the compound areas once all is complete to industrial/commercial hubs to bring some minor additional gains and reduce the waste/CO2 from demobilising the compounds, but I cant find anything with a very cursory google.

I’d be really interested to know the direct (direct delays, additional fencing, security etc.) and indirect costs (indirect delays, redesign, additional licensing, reviews, reports etc.) that the HS2 project has incurred as result of campaigning against it throughout its lifecycle to date, compared to the total project cost to date and predicted final costs.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not questioning the legitimacy of any action against HS2 or on the other had the business case for HS2 originally.

Without seeing the job description a car allowance is not the same as a company car.

For a company car (your company providing you with a car) your tax free allowance and all subsequent tax thresholds are reduced by the car value*BIK% (benefit in kind)

Car allowance is normally an additional payment on top of salary (allows separation for say pension contribution calculations etc.). This is income the same as any income and subject to tax, NIC, student loan contributions etc.

Which is better for you probably depends on what cars are available to you (company car hybrids – dependant on emission free range – and electric cars can offer very attractive BIK%). As car allowance is taxed and company car affects your tax thresholds, where your pay sits in the tax brackets can massive effect things.

It also depends on how and who covers fuel for personal and business mileage. It also depends if you are traveling to a permanent place of work or to temporary place of work as that opens the opportunity to claim back the tax on the difference between any company mileage payment and the government figure of 45p (it’s the tax on the difference not the total difference as people often mis-describe it!)

There are also company car salary sacrifice schemes as mentioned by Ewan, often used by companies to offset the increased cost of electric cars for the company and offload the cost onto the employee. Normally by effectively sharing the tax savings you’d otherwise get due to the low BIK% and handing it back to the company.

I think thats right but the point still stands – NHS workers like me and those I worked with will get nowhere near that.

While that may be the value of the NHS pension, surely it’s personal choice whether to contribute in addition to another scheme out of your income?

My company matches contribution to 4%, doesn’t mean I choose to blindly only contribute 4%. I look at my finances, my current commitments, my current lifestyle aspirations and my aspirations for retirement. I then make a decision of the opportunity cost on what to contribute which is a compromise.

When did answering the op become the main aim? (tongue in cheek)

You turn off the D902 at the roundabout at the top of the Taninges/Cluses col so not a million miles away… 😉

Do they run the lift at Grand Terche in the summer or is it pedal up? Is is separate pass or will Passport du Soleil cover it?

Les Carroz

If you are bored/interested, then well worth reading the examples on the page I linked above. Though it has to remembered that any payment by the company is purely voluntary (as in nothing forcing them to other than the terms in your contract with them), the only entitlement is the tax relief.

We had home workers who were really careful not to come into the office more than two days a week because there was a risk of being reclassified.

Yep clause 3.22 on my link – the 40% rule would cut in over the average of 2 days a week if their attendance is expected to be for over a 24 month period (see example “Edward”). If it was we need you in the office 3 days a week for the next 6 months, then back to your usual work from home with only 2 days in the office, then you’d still be eligible for tax relief (see example “Neil”) as both parts of Clause 3.22 have to be met to remove the relief.

calculated from your regular place of work, regardless of where you actually started from. So if you’re officially an office worker according to your contract, then that’s where your mileage is calculated from

Sounds a little naughty/tight fisted if you were an office worker and went to a temporary place of work straight from home – I assume their reasoning is you’d have the cost of office commute if you just came into the office – While your company may have only offered the business mileage payment for mileage from office to visiting destination and back to the office (which they are entitled to as any payment by them is voluntary), you would be eligible for the tax rebate on the whole lot. So tax on the difference between payment and the 45p/mile for the office to destination and back PLUS the tax on the 45p/mile on the mileage difference between that funded and the actual journey distance – probably a right faff to show on a SA though! Probably easier to work out total annual business mileage, total company contributions and calculate the “average” company contribution and use that.

That would be a commute.

Yes and no, for construction (site based) it could easily count as business and is payable.

Task of limited duration
3.14
Where an employee attends a workplace for a limited period of time to do a particular task or project then the workplace will be a temporary workplace, even where the employee’s attendance is regular.

This is on the basis that they’re attending for the purpose of performing a task of limited duration. See paragraph 3.18 and the 24-month rule.

Source https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ordinary-commuting-and-private-travel-490-chapter-3#temporary-workplace–attendance-for-a-limited-duration-or-temporary-purpose

Off topic really but..

If the employer pay less than the HMRC rate you can claim the difference back via your self assessment tax return

No you cannot claim the difference back, you can only claim the tax on the difference back. So only 20%, 40% or 45% of the difference between what your company pay and the 45pence “limit” depending on what rate tax payer you are, up to 10k miles, after that the difference to the 25p “limit”.

For example if you are paid 14pence/mile business (Companies often use Gov guidance for company car rates for private car rates – https://www.gov.uk/guidance/advisory-fuel-rates)
20% tax – Claim back tax at 6.2pence/mile up to 10k, there after 2.2pence/mile
40% tax – Claim back tax at 12.4pence/mile up to 10k, there after 4.4pence/mile

So if you do, as an example, 15k business miles a year (32miles each way, 5days a week, 47weeks a year) the difference between 20% and 40% payer can be £2,100

I’ve never had to run a spacer on a pro2 evo hub, I thought that is only required for backwards compatibility on Shimano 11spd road freehubs? Has he missed out a sprocket or one of the spacers between the sprocket?

For MTB:
Traditional (HG freehub) 9/10/11spd
XD for Sram 12spd
Microspline for Shimano 12spd

https://www.halowheels.com/which-type-of-freehub-do-i-have/

Plus there is naturally occurring “white” hydrogen which has been shown to be fairly prolific.

What do we think, driven into an overhead barrier while on a roof top bike rack?

Surely would be scratched if they rode into the back of a car/van…

Is there an organic or free range add on subscription option?

You can wire in an oven to an existing wall plate yourself perfectly legally, this seems generally similar bar the nuance of being within a bathroom which could have some impact. I assume it is correctly zoned etc. for the likelihood of shower splashing etc.

I believe isolator switches tend to be dual pole (but worth isolating everything if you aren’t sure) so you can’t be zapped if there is a fault elsewhere and the neutral becomes 230v somehow.

IANAE

Ok, that sounds reassuring robbo – assumed power was what I was meant to be following but wasn’t sure if I was way out somehow. I shall continue as I am then, as you say getting used to the feel of training again (10 years since anything formal) and learning zones etc. will take some time!

Yes I did a ramp test due to being a bit fatigued and not having any conviction in my ability to pace a blind attempt at a 20 minute FTP and there was absolutely no chance of me trying a 60 minute one.

Following recent purchases the world of shed based numbers, data, sweat and pain are opening up to me and a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing…

Are heart rate zones and power distribution zones (broadly) linked? i.e. should zone 3 for power also be (broadly) zone 3 for heart rate? Or are they separate non-comparable things?

Questioning as during this morning’s 45 minute workout (first actual workout, the previous sessions have just been to acclimatise to the bike being on the trainer and the static position etc.) that centred around what is meant to be predominantly Zone 3 power exercises to build FTP with recovery in Z2 and some short visits to Z4, my heart rate was for the majority mid zone 2 with only about 3 minutes ventured into Z3.

I’m happy my max HR is correct or near enough that it would make no real world difference.

Have I underestimated my FTP/Did I wimp out (I was probably fairly fatigued) when doing my FTP test and do I just need to recalibrate the pain my legs will feel in a FTP test and redo it?

The exercise didn’t seem particularly difficult, neither was it ridiculously easy – the hardest aspect was the alarm going off an hour earlier than normal. Could it be right?

Have you got a better system that you don’t need to explain?

I was being a little tongue in cheek/ironic with my wink and “…” it’s as you point out very straight forwards once you get people past the initial “change is bad” philosophy.

My issue (I roll my eyes and get on with my life) generally is Client announcing everything should be BIM but no EIR available, or someone promising the world pre-contract within the Pre-BEP when something far simpler would suffice cue pointless documents or random hoops to jump through to fulfil the contract, or someone announcing they want it delivered such and such a way despite the BEP having been agreed two years ago.

I don’t think I’m really helping derek_starship with my twaddle though (other than bumping the thread)

BS1192 makes it nice and simple, no need for actual naming then 😉

e.g.

PR1-XYZ-V1-01-SP-A-15:05:15-0001-S1-PO5

There isn’t that simpler…

Let’s not make life easy or be sensible:

Drawing suggests something and maybe even goes so far as to mention the specification…

Reads contract specific specification, refers to County Council standard details

Reads CC standard details, refers to clause in contract spec

Contact spec which refers to specification for highway works

Specification for highway works (SHW) refers to 6 different clauses and SHW Highway Construction Details

HCD refers to clauses in contract specific specification

Contract specification missing those clauses

Open TQ/RFI to try and work out what we’re actually meant to do

Get told it’s in document “blah” and such a silly question

Explain we have never been issued said document and perhaps kindly they could send it over?

1. Shimano PD-EH500 may be an option – clipless one side, flats the other side.

You can also get flat form type clipless pedals (Crank Brothers Mallets etc) but they aren’t really designed for using without clipless shoes, more of a support/security thing for longer or rougher rides – the mechanism digs onto your foot with standard shoes

2. This depends on what pedal you go for. The shoe you’d want with a Crank Brothers Mallet could be very different from with a egg beater or shimano xt etc.

hike a bike, bikepacking and pub visits

XC riding and comfortable pub shoes sound like opposite ends of the spectrum to me. Others may be able to suggest something. XC winter riding with goretex socks, I’d be looking for a fast drying shoe. Comfort tends to be slower drying and the smell may keep your mates away from you in said pub…

Italian standard VAT looks to be 22%, so is plausible the shop collected Vat for HMRC

Anyone able to confirm and link to a source about the £135 threshold being inc or ex vat? I had assumed inc Vat, though on review not all too clear…

Reading gov website says £135 value, does that mean excluding VAT? So with VAT having to be collected from source below the threshold, is the threshold inc VAT having to be collected at source effectively £162? Or was I correct with £135 inc Vat limit?

Am I missing something, price advertised is Ex-Vat? Perhaps they have changed the website since you ordered or did it add it during check out?

Value with tax over the £135 threshold so duty applies (I believe that is the rule, same as how Vat is handled), though there could be ambiguity over whether the £135 value is inc or ex Vat

How many load cells does it have? One for each foot under the scales (four) or just under either the front or back feet (two)?

Seen some with only two sensors so if you stand in different places the basic algorithm assumes total weight is the average of the two monitored times two (half the weight/force being taken by the “dumb” feet).

Could that be part of the issue?

squirrelking
I keep saying it, the solution for atypical long distance journeys is a trailer mounted battery pack with a common standard connector.

No doubt a sensible option, but I cant stop imagining some Max Max: Fury Road contraptions circling the M25

The problem with the charging infrastructure is that you aren’t just paying for energy (electricity), you’re actually paying for a service (rate of charge or convenience).

If you pull up to a service station for some en route charging which will you choose, a 7kW charger at effectively the same cost as you would pay for electricity at home, or a little more for a 22kW, or more again for a 50kW, or a 100kW etc.?

When you look at it from a service perspective it’s easy to justify the cost increase for each level of improvement, however it soon becomes uneconomical or at least unattractive economically for the consumer.

The reality is that each EV owner will need to consider their typical usage and ensure they have a battery with suitable range and suitable (likely home or work place would be ideal – though this comes with a whole host of constraints) charging. Beyond that for the exceptional journeys the owner needs to weigh up the convenience of a battery with additional range, the additional cost of lugging the larger battery around for the vast majority of typical journeys, the extra initial cost of the larger battery, the cost saving of not needing to charge as many times on atypical longer journeys, vs inconvenience of a smaller range battery, the initial saving on choosing a smaller battery, the extra cost of charging at higher cost “convenience” chargers etc. etc. Unfortunately this isn’t necessarily an easy task.

Alternatively those with higher mileage requirements may need to look at alternative technologies, such as fuel cells, which again requires very significant infrastructure developments.

There is also the possibility of developing other technologies or combinations of technology, such as a hybrid car with the ability to run off both batteries and fuel cells. This, provided the energy/fuel is generated via carbon neutral methods, could prove very useful. Not only in that it allows flexibility but also it allows for competing markets which could allow the market (edit: for en route charging) to better regulate cost through consumer choice and demand.

Not only that, but going around a corner takes up acres and acres of space if you want to go at 200mph in a train. I think the radius for non tilting trains doing those sorts of speeds is about 5km

I’m not sure I understand this, how does requiring a long radius curves take up more space than short radius curves. Sure on a curve by curve basis, which is a disingenuous comparison, but over a whole scheme length from point A to point B it’s really not clear cut – it could be either.

It could easily be arguable that long radius curves result in a scheme using less land as you don’t try to zig zag the smaller radius track around obstacles as often which would increase overall length and hence area. Obviously being less selective on alignment brings other disbenefits but it really isn’t clear cut if you pick just one item to interrogate in isolation…

@VanHalen Fair enough, I’ve personally never had to do a geotextile, membrane, geotextile sandwich but could easily be systems out there that require it. I’ve only ever had to do crate, membrane, geotextile, backfill. Though my experience is only with Polypipe, Wavin and SDS systems.

Especially when you consider half of them are skiving off work to post long messages clearly related to their work!

Noooo, we wouldn’t do something like that…

@joshvegas clearly no impermeable membrane present in the op’s photo, only a non-woven geotextile. The impermeable membrane would be between the crates and the non-woven geotextile. My money is on primary role being a soak away and not an attenuation tank. That said, and as you’ve mentioned, they are not necessarily exclusive, it could also have a high level outlet to allow discharge during abnormally high flows when capacity is reached. So soak away during normal conditions and attention during flood.

Soil looks sandy to me, excavation could easily be confused with clay from the colour but the spoil heap in the background gives it away.

I have no input about the particular tyre as I’ve never used it, however the normal default on tyre sizes is either same size front and rear, or larger front and smaller rear rather than smaller font and larger rear.

I think this is down to wanting more grip on the front to avoid understeer etc.

In answer to your chainstay question, there are various shock eye to eye and stroke lengths, this coupled with various chainstay lengths and different suspension linkage types causing various compression curves (falling rate, linear, rising rate) and final compression ratio make it much harder to give you a ballpark rebound setting to achieve the desired out the box rebound settings.

Under full compression a low compression ratio and high compression ratio (wheel movement to shock movement) will act quite differently. One rebound setting is unlikely to be good for both situations, as on one bike the rebound could be slow and the other dangerously fast.

A typical rider will want the rear suspension to be “critically” damped as a starting point, and can tune for personal preference from there. i.e. the suspension compresses, rebounds past sag point then settles to say point. (Over damped compresses then rebounds and settles directly to sag point, under damped compresses, rebounds past sag point, then compresses past sag and repeats until it finally settles after a few cycles).

This is easy to figure out by simply riding off a kerb at the side of a quiet road while sat down (your bum needs to stay in contact with the saddle) you’ll feel the rear compress and rebound. Just play with the settings until you get the feeling of compress, rebound past sag, and settle to sag point.

You’ll probably find around 3 clicks where you get something like this critical damping. You can choose one of these as your starting point and adjust from there on a “typical” trail for your preferred riding to tune it into exactly where you want it.

Perhaps A, having had to apply for the role under the restructuring, has been issued with a new contract. This new contract could come with a new 6 month probationary period that could become “useful” should they underperform within this role too.

Within probationary periods my understanding is a company doesn’t need a reason to let the employee go.

Of course, then again, they may not have reissued contracts…

Assume cold water tank feeds the hot water and non-mains cold taps?

If none of the cold or hot taps work that are fed from the tank rather than direct from the mains then the ballcock for the cold tank may have stuck shut. Mine does this fairly often. If it’s easy enough could be worth checking the cold tank has water in it?

Normally this can be sorted by running a cold water tap that is directly off the mains at full flow for a couple of seconds (normally the kitchen tap) and then turning it off as quickly as possible to cause “water hammer”, repeat 3 or 4 times and this will often cause the ballcock for the cold tank to start flowing again. Wait 10 minutes for the cold and hot tanks to refill and you should be golden.

I think i have more questions than answers for you…

If it was around 10% sag then i’d suggest it is to do with the effects of the positive/negative air chamber balancing port being actuated, normally this can also be heard with a slight hiss/squelch sound, 30% sag seems like it could be something else.

Is there noise of any sort during the resistance?

Is there any damage to the main air shaft?

Could possibly be due to a loss of IFP pressure resulting in cavitation until the piston has compressed the oil/started moving the IFP?

Getting firm part way through the travel can also be that the damper has lost oil, but normally i’d have thought this was more obvious when compression is on high?

https://www.linesearchbeforeudig.co.uk/

This link would get you access to subscribed service providers for free. Some service providers aren’t signed up as they like to charge for the privilege of letting you know where their apparatus is (BT for example).

The plans as with all service drawings are indicative only and most likely aren’t all that accurate as mentioned in earlier posts.

Float fluid is 80wt or 85wt gear oil, so that sounds ideal. The squelch is just some oil moving through the port hole and is nothing to worry about. As the piston seal moves the first 2-3mm it passes the equalizing port and air and oil move through by design, only way to prevent the noise would be to have no oil lubricating the piston seal and that’s not going to end well.

With ‘no air in’ there is likely insufficient pressure to move the oil out of the way/through the port during your cycle test. So that should be why you can’t hear the noise.

Also in case you think it should stop over time, it won’t (unless the oil blows out the shock). As you start to compress the air pressure rises in the positive and falls in the negative, as the piston seal hasn’t yet passed over the equalizing port the air flows along with some oil though the port to maintain equal pressure. Then the seal passes over the port and no more air and oil can flow. On extending towards uncompressed the seal passes back over the port opening the port. At this instant the pressures are equal, but as the shock extends to full length the pressure rises slightly in the negative chamber and air and oil flow through the port to maintain equal pressures. (equal pressures, so why does it extend? Well nitrogen charge in the damper, momentum, weight of undamped mass).

It will be fine joining part way through, may well say that you are off course for the first 30 seconds but will then jump to your current location on that course. The course following is only you depicted by an arrow and a line that shows the route, so nothing fancy but still very easy to follow. May be worth taking a map/printout of the route just in case the route doesnt work out etc.

I’m not sure if it will throw its toys out of the pram when you hit the routes finish point. It may realise that you are still riding and jump to the earlier point of the map after congratulating you on finishing or you may need to tell it that you are riding that route again. Hold down the button that looks like a piece of paper while in ride/record mode and it will take you back to the main menu. You can now select the route as per normal and it wont affect or split your current ride.

I would have thought a cheap second hand phone as suggested by Yourguitarhero could be ideal. You could use it without a sim card, install the Strava app to record the rides and upload it via wireless network once you’re home again.

Alternatively the next model up of the Garmin, the edge 500 can be set to 1 second sampling rate and is what I would have bought originally if I had known about the limitations of the 200.

I’m sure others can suggest alternative devices, I’m a bit out of the game as I don’t look unless I’m buying as I cant stop myself if I do…

If you are using it for MTB off road then the Garmin edge 200 is not ideal as it uses variable sampling between 1 & 5 seconds and doesn’t record fine detail. If the segments are short then you can have start and end times +/-5 seconds and if the track is very twisty sometimes Strava will fail to pick up the segments. You would be much better off using a device that you can specify or has by default a fine sampling rate.

I have and use the garmin edge 200, but now record my rides on my phone and use the garmin as an information source on my bars, such as mileage or route following.