The Velodrome

7:21 AM

did you see this @RoryAlsop? bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-29255449 Independence votes by region. Looks like the Glasgow area was the only part of Scotland that voted for independence.

Interesting how Orkney and Shetland quite strongly wanted to remain British - you'd think they'd be the weakest link just in terms of geography

PeteH

7:45 AM

@andy256 meant to ask, do you use some kind of IDE for your java/android programming? I wouldn't mind teaching myself a smidgen of Android programming.

I feel if I ever want to work again I may need to take steps over and above firing up Visual Studio 2010 every now and again!

@Mσᶎ morning! On your last post, the situation is so complex that in the UK there are also standards on how Solar PV installers give quotations. So the quote you get is perfectly understandable, but has been dumbed down somewhat.

The quotes I got were largely in terms of "x years until the system pays for itself" and you can imagine this contains various big assumptions on how much light weld capture, and how much we consume etc.

Ultimately it is a leap of faith

Rory Alsop

8:00 AM

@PeteH no - Orkney and Shetland feel incredibly let down by Holyrood, and have no long term history with Scotland. Orkney was only sold to Scotland a few hundred years ago. Even the Orkney flag is basically a Norwegian flag with some yellow on it.

PeteH

8:26 AM

@RoryAlsop gosh, so it is. Presumably they "became Scottish" some time (not long?) before Scotland became part of the UK?

Do you think the vote in general was some kind of measure of dissatisfaction with Holyrood?

I'm on the south coast, so only a passing news story here, but the only arguments that we heard against independence were economic in nature

Mσᶎ

9:41 AM

@RoryAlsop I just had a friend try to tell me that the northern island flags have always been part of the Union Jack. I gave up trying to explain that while Ireland is an island, islands are not Ireland. Amusingly, his "UK without Scotland" flag actually looks like the Orkney flag with a diagonal cross added. Which is what made me sure he was talking about the islands, not the Irelands.

@PeteH we have similar laws, but they don't stop the cowboys. Or the idiots. A house we';re looking at has a ~1500W PV system, it pumps out 1200-1400W on sunny days when I've been there (meter by the front door). But the real estate is all "solar system, so there's no power bills". Yeah, yeah, and if I buy that bridge you've got the council will let me put it in the garden, right?

Also, girly read my spec sheet for the PV setup and said "but that's just behaviour change, we don't need 5kW capacity". I love that woman!

Now I'm looking at 3kW inverters and 5kWh battery systems... and thinking we might want to grid-connect just so we can sell power. The extra cost of a 3kW array + 5kW inverter would pay for itself at 8c/kWh in only a couple of years. But... the extra would struggle to pay the connection charge. We may have to do funny things with the tenants in the house (we're buying a backyard-with-house, building in the backyard, and renting out the house)

Rilakkuma

@PeteH I used IntelliJ Idea (probably now it is almost same as Android Studio) for Android/Java - it is less sluggish than Eclipse and its close relatives.

Rory Alsop

11:17 AM

No, the UK without Scotland flag is nothing like the Orkney flag. And while the western isles have a long history of gaelic language, Orkney had old Norse

Orkney as annexed by the Scottish Parliament in 1472, following a failed dowry payment

then Scottish union with England 1707

but Orkney was never happy about being Scottish

PeteH

12:46 PM

Mrs @Mσᶎ sure has a point, but it is difficult to train yourself. Earlier in the year (before I thought of Solar) I upgraded our central heating to a new, efficient boiler. The new boiler is wall-mounted, the old one was on the floor.

Upshot was an extra space in the kitchen, so I was able to move the tumble drier indoors (previously out in garage).

Upshot of that is, daughter seems to have the bloody thing on 24/7

On the one hand it is only recently that "being clean" has been a priority, so don't want to discourage it. But on the other hand she has a lot to learn about wastefulness

@RoryAlsop interesting...I was just reading this on Wikipedia then had to go out. Is the sentiment in Shetland the same as Orkney? And, as a Glaswegian, do these places seem relevant at all to you?

Just that I think even if I lived in Glasgow, there'd be a tendency (for me) to think it was almost a foreign country up in the islands

Rory Alsop

@PeteH I'm not even vaguely Glaswegian :-)

Shetland is like Orkney on this. The only places with a general yes turnout were around Glasgow and Dundee, which is exactly as expected

PeteH

@RoryAlsop sorry, my mistake, I thought I read a thread the other day where you said you lived in Glasgow

Rory Alsop

@PeteH Nah - I was born in Orkney, grew up there and the Falklands, then moved to Edinburgh. Now I live halfway between Edinburgh and Glasgow

I'm not a city kind of person - I like mountains and lochs, and wide open spaces

PeteH

The Falklands......wow!

Me too. I lived in cities all my life until the last move (in 1999). That was out to a twee country village. Fields at the back.

I love it here.

nhinkle

1:43 PM

Leaving to ride around crater lake in ~30 minutes!

Crater Lake

Crater Lake is a caldera lake in the western United States, located in south-central Oregon. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park and is famous for its deep blue color and water clarity. The lake partly fills a nearly 2,148-foot (655 m)-deep caldera that was formed around 7,700 (± 150) years ago by the collapse of the volcano Mount Mazama. There are no rivers flowing into or out of the lake; the evaporation is compensated for by rain and snowfall at a rate such that the total amount of water is replaced every 250 years. At 1,943 feet (592 m), the lake is the deepest in the United...

PeteH

3:01 PM

@nhinkle guess you'll have gone by now....so hope it was a good one. I've just done a bit of painting and am going out for a ride myself.....only 3/4 hour, just enough to get my heart going

Hello @Rilakkuma, how are you?

Rilakkuma

Hi @PeteH, fighting jetlag!

it was winning this morning but now I feel superior to it and odds are our battle will end soon and Jetlag fallen.

Rory Alsop

4:32 PM

@nhinkle looks awesome!

Batman

4:43 PM

crater lake would be fun to ride around. i just did 30 miles in the boring old midwest this morning.

PeteH

@Rilakkuma suppose its good to have the weekend for R&R, although personally when I used to work Mon-Fri, I used to find Sat/Sun got very busy

Just had a very productive ride - just 2 minutes from home I got passed by one of those enormous station wagons with a load of wood in the back. Chased him down and discovered this is the guy's business, and he can sell it to me at only 3/8 the price I am currently buying it.

The only shame is that I never met him last weekend - as I bought half a tonne only a couple of days ago.

Rilakkuma

~40% is very good! How do you use the wood?

PeteH

@Batman don't know midwest, are you town or country?

@Rilakkuma we have a woodburner. But I only had it installed in March, so we are settling in for our first winter with it

I inherited a bit of money back in January, so have had several things done to improve the house this year

The woodburner is not necessarily an improvement, just something Mrs PeteH and I always wanted

Rilakkuma

woodburner = fireplace?

PeteH

4:59 PM

yeah, but closed in. Has a door which closes for safety, will try to find/post a pic

Rilakkuma

have had this thing in grandparents old house in Latvia :)

very useful to dispose burnable garbage and makes room smell good

PeteH

on the right. The white shows the detail well, but ours is black. Cast Iron.

Looks good, heats well, not much of a smell.

Rilakkuma

pretty compact too :)

PeteH

yeah, probably only 1ft^3 ish

think the guy who fitted it for us was Latvian

Rilakkuma

these need (or at least old types needed) regular cleaning of the chimney

really? Not Polish? :)

PeteH

5:05 PM

lol

think we need to clean every year, however it depends what wood you use. Currently we burn ash which is very clean

The cheaper wood will be a mix of ash and others......there may beed to be some negotiation there.

Rilakkuma

burning aspen tree will help to clean it

PeteH

how about general garden waste????

:)

Rilakkuma

however aspen is totally useless to warm up so it is only suitable to clean the chimney

I think we put anything what burns there in the summer house at least :)

including garden waste

well... some of it went into compost

PeteH

not sure I have heard of aspen being sold as firewood around here

Rilakkuma

should not be, because it is useless as firewood

PeteH

5:10 PM

ah...

Rilakkuma

it will not give any heat

also aspen is hard to burn so it is too troublesome

PeteH

child - 15 years old - has just put Mary Poppins on tv. Think strangulation may be in order

arggh - now he's singing. Must change rooms

Rilakkuma

lol

PeteH

Man on tv singing. Mrs and Daughter joining in

Rilakkuma

lol

:D

PeteH

5:12 PM

Got to go. Need to shower after my ride anyways

Rilakkuma

my wife being ethnically related to Ryukyuan people is very good at singing Ryukyuan songs... However, she sings everything in ryukyus style

See you later!

to give an impression, here's a good example of ryukyuan song - youtube.com/watch?v=hsWHd3wOoWQ sounds a little chaotic at the first sight but overall their music is easy and fun, sometimes quite good by european standards too, such as this - youtube.com/watch?v=DNptZ5v26AE

Rilakkuma

5:26 PM

@PeteH from the information I have this is how tree species can be ranged in terms of their energy amount when burned (more to less order): oak, hornbeam, ash, maple, birch, alder, pine, aspen, linden and poplar at the very end. This is for typical Latvian trees but I am sure in England flora is very similar.

PeteH

@Rilakkuma back. Know what you mean. My Mrs also sings well, but insists on talking all the time, especially in the car. And sometimes you just want to hear, say, With Or Without You, by U2

Rilakkuma

haha :D

well you can just say "Yes, I hear you. Why don't you sing some U2?"

PeteH

so oak is best? We also have beech, were told to avoid anything like pine. If its not metured it can crud up the chimney

Rilakkuma

I use this tactic when my Mrs is trying to help me around when I do the Chemistry in the kitchen.

Oak is the best, but the most expensive too. It takes long time to grow up for an oak so I would not burn it... Birch has the best price/performance I think.

PeteH

I tell my wife, "It is a pity the kitchen is only big enough for one person"

Rilakkuma

5:30 PM

tried that line too. She always says "why don't we get a bigger house?"

so I just tell her to go and dance.

PeteH

@Rilakkuma but I live on the edge of a Forest!! Plenty of oak! newforestnpa.gov.uk

But they would probably object if I helped myself :)

Rilakkuma

do you have oak forests there?

I have only seen them on Sikhote-Alin mountains - all the mountains covered by oaks

PeteH

We have some very old oaks around here.

The New Forest is not at all new - it was formed just after 1066 as a hunting ground for William the Conqueror

Rilakkuma

in latvia such oaks are called dižozoli which translates somewhat like "great oaks" and are considered sacred objects by most :) in older times people wrapped belts with pagan signs around them.

there's similar practice in Japan - really old Japanese cedars (which are in fact cypresses) have sort of very fat ropes wrapped around them

such as this one

PeteH

people in the UK profess to love trees, but I am unaware of any practise of wrapping things around them

but sertainly some very old trees actually have names

(I'm not sure they answer to them!)

Rilakkuma

5:40 PM

:)

a moment... something going on on my balcony

PeteH

must be late there?

Rilakkuma

looks like civet is lurking around

yes, late and need to sleep, just not feeling sleepy yet

btw, pine wood is usually fine, but stay away from pine where wood has amber colour

PeteH

talking to me usually makes people feel sleepy ;)

Rilakkuma

those amber-colored parts can be used to start the whole fireplace because they burn well but should not be used as a regular wood because the resin tends to stick to the inner part of the chimney and blaze up

PeteH

yes, our neighbour managed to do that

Rilakkuma

5:46 PM

I hope he managed to stop it. Burning chimney is a disaster.

PeteH

Fortunately did not burn, but apparently a PITA to clean

Just uploaded mt ride to Garmin. Crap - it couldn't detect when I was stopped chatting to the wood guy, consequentloy a very low average speed

Rilakkuma

Same problem with all those things :)))

PeteH

Ride With GPS did detect it, but still only 24km/h average. I am a lot slower this year than last, must be getting old

If I average over 25km/h I am generally happy

Rilakkuma

or just not riding enough? :)

I often get dropped by guys who seem to be retired long time ago... Incredibly fast and muscular ones! This has to do with the fact Japan is a country with very old population.

PeteH

that is possible. I was good up to June, but have found it a problem since then. I am 120km for September, aim for 300km per month

Rilakkuma

5:52 PM

so there's just bigger chance to meet such guys. But still, it proves the theory the age is not so important.

PeteH

you see old cyclists and it makes you realise what a good hobby it is as regards keeping fit

Rilakkuma

exactly. Those old guys seem to be very healthy.

PeteH

Fingers crossed!

Rilakkuma

most people get into golf after getting older here more as a fashion thing I guess

PeteH

I have often thought that the best way to die would be on a nice descent, at 80km/h, aged 90!!!

Rilakkuma

5:55 PM

lol

Not really a thing to laugh about, but :D

PeteH

I tried golf, found it very frustrating. You know the exact shot you want to hit, but cannot hit it.

I stopped when I didn't feel I was improving

Rilakkuma

what's fun about golf aside of frustrating things?

PeteH

dunno.....but used to like it. Playing not watching though. Exercise I suppose. But nowhere near as much as cycling

Rilakkuma

I never tried it, can't help but see it as a theatre - there's fashion, all those cabbies and so on, just to make it look cool. :) maybe being too young.

PeteH

Possibly. Maybe a good sport for older people, who currently don't get any exercise?

Rilakkuma

5:58 PM

right.

PeteH

Plus I suppose you can play at your own pace. Although you can ride at your own pace.

Nowadays, I can't imagine a time when I don't cycle

I'd hate to go blind, for example

Rilakkuma

I could not cycle while being in Holland and put on considerable weight. The body is physically addicted to cycling.

you keep eating the same amount of food and just don't use it. :) so good my mrs is not at home, I have time to get fit before she comes back.

Balerrinas are very strict about weights you know... :))

PeteH

Yes but the scary thing is that if you stop for any length of time, it is difficult to get going again

Did not know Mrs @Rilakkuma was a ballerina though

Rilakkuma

I thought so too, but found out you get back to your previous fit quite fast.

probably did not tell it :) she used to dance in Tokyo National Opera Theatre and eventually "graduated" out of there

now she runs a ballet school and attends several schools as a guest teatcher

PeteH

I don't understand my body, I am still losing weight (good) but appear to be gaining body fat (bad). That could explain why I am not cycling so well this year

Rilakkuma

6:05 PM

have you been to a medical check?

PeteH

I think I was at my fittest when I commuted by bike. It was only a couple of miles, but it was twice a day, every day

Funnily enough, I had a medical check only last week. Still waiting on results.

Rilakkuma

then should be fine :)

PeteH

My body fat gain is not major, btw - a couple of % only. But worrying that it goes up, not down. Of course it could be the measuring equipment

Rilakkuma

couple of % can be just a deviation of the equipment

PeteH

I bought one of those Body Composition Monitors that boogies with my Garmin. I did this primarily to keep on top of my weight loss - which is not so important these days

I would like to get lighter so as to climb better, but my weight is absolutely normal for my age/height

In fact I now have trouble finding clothes that are small enough to fit me!

Rilakkuma

6:09 PM

you get lighter by just climbing, in case there's anything to drop of course

PeteH

yes. I had the opportunity to go to France and climb Mont Ventoux earlier this year, but foolishly declined.

So that is still on the "to-do" list

Here is my ride today on Ride With GPS btw: ridewithgps.com/trips/3487916

Just a short one to make my heart realise I'm still alive!

Rilakkuma

mostly in the forest, should be very nice to ride

those English place names... Avondyke @_@

PeteH

actually between 6km and 12km, and again from 12km to about 14km, they are very exposed. When the wind blows it can be a bitch.

It was a bit blowy today, but I have known worse.

Actually, looking at my power, it wasn't a bad ride. I need to take more notice of my power, but it is difficult to look beyond speed. And, on a regular course, time.

Rilakkuma

how do you measure power? Just by Garmin thing?

PeteH

Garmin Vector

Meter is built into the pedals, so in theory interchangeable across bikes...although I'm only riding my "good" bike right now

No mods to cranks etc.

Only change I had to make was to go from spd-sl to Keo. No big deal.

Although I don't like the float on Keos (too much). Am thinking of getting the 0 deg cleats at some point

Rilakkuma

6:23 PM

did you try campagnolo ones?

Record have very little float

PeteH

no the power meter constrains you to Keo pedals

I have heard that in the future, the Vector may come in different flavours such as Campy or Spd-sl, but right now there is no choice

Rilakkuma

yes, I understood it... Just mentioned Campas as they are really good ones on my opinion

PeteH

I wasn't aware that Campy did their own pedals btw, but somehow not surprising!

Yeah, now that I have played with Campy I appreciate it.

Although, my Shimano ride is Ultegra so still very high quality

On my bike course I encountered a plastic derailleur for the first time and just thought....yuk!

Rilakkuma

should be very well. To be honest never rode shimano clipless pedals - started the clip less journey right on campagnolo, so it is very hard to compare, only to listen to the opinions of others.

PeteH

(That is 10-sp Ultegra, unfortunately not the fancy DI-2)

Rilakkuma

6:28 PM

plastic derailleur on ultegra? @.@

wo

PeteH

spd-sl feels exactly like Look. No perceptible difference either in feel or technique

No, on my course was dealing with some shitty plastic mech, definitely NOT Ultegra!

Rilakkuma

ah, sorry

PeteH

Made me realise that although my own bike is good quality/well maintained, if I were to offer bike services etc., the bikes I would be servicing would be PITA in comparison

Rilakkuma

sorry @PeteH, getting sleepy now :) not because of you but it is just time to get sleepy finally

so have to use this chance

PeteH

go get your head down, as always nice to chat with you. Just about to eat in any case

Rilakkuma

6:32 PM

Good night!

Thank you!

Batman

7:05 PM

@peteh - college town in the country.

fixing peoples bikes which are not your own is a pain

especially if they need parts, they won't be willing to buy decent quality parts or do maintenance or anything

same thing with cars and stuff

for what its worth, you don't need to spend a fortune on decent parts

but when theres say a tourney part and an acera part or whatever, people wont spend the extra few bucks on the acera part

which is significantly different htan the tourney part in that it well, works.

bike labor is also expensive and the tools aren't exactly cheap to have on hand

the other thing is that its somewhat dirty and i think a lot of people think maintenance is below them

i mean some things i don't think are worth doing at home unless you have a garage or something, like repacking hubs.

but everyone who rides a bike should say, know how to replace a tire

and tube.

PeteH

7:37 PM

@Batman - fully agree. I like to maintain as much as possible myself. My background is (many years) IT, but I am currently taking a sabbatical and was thinking about a career change

So back in July I did a bike mechanics course. What you say is absolutely true - my bikes arestraightforward because they're decent quality. Other peoples' bikes would be a PITA for exactly the reasons you say.

I was thinking of getting into the world of bike shops (servicing, not selling) and the experience put me off a bit.

Batman

well even with decent quality stuff, theres already too many incompatibilities to make things confusing anyway

PeteH

On my mechanics course, I worked on a campy bike for the first time. Now that was good quality. Made me think that Campy is apossibility for the next bike. But talk about incompatibility...

Apparently a lot of shops in the UK won't touch Campys even to service, just because there are so many bespoke tools that the shops just fon;t have.

Having always owned Shimano, but having collected the necessary tools over the years to do most things, I am in the same position

Batman

even moving from 7/8/9 speed to 10 speed requires grabbing a few extra tools probably. certainly my chain tool is not designed for 10 speed for example.

PeteH

yeah, I know what you mean. My "winter" bike is 9sp (mostly Tiagra from a few years back), my "summer" bike, the one I'm riding at the mo, is 10-sp Ultegra. I find the same tools work, but just need to think separately as regards parts

And that;s without considering my fixie (which, ok is easy) and the hardtail!

Batman

another thing with bicycles is that its quite expensive to find decent bikes these days. they're quite expensive new and the used market isnt great. and the price points keep going up for people to look cool.

PeteH

7:51 PM

yeah we are definitely suffering from the popularity. Bike companies can charge pretty much what they want, and eBay has destroyed the 2nd hand market over here. It is generally not possible to buy a 2md hand bike from a UK LBS

Batman

well, the old bikes are now "vintage" and people jacked up those prices. then the new bikes are just too expensive

PeteH

And I suppose from theire perspective, why should they? There's got to be more money in selling a £4k Bianchi to some fat forty-something

Batman

well, you guys also have cycle to work and stuff

PeteH

Cycle to work is a bit of a con. I own my own company and looked at it quite seriously a few years back

Batman

in what sense?

i thought it was that your employer gave you x pounds to buy a bike effectively

PeteH

7:54 PM

Basically the company loans to the employee.

Company buys a voucher, gives voucher to employee, employee takes voucher to shop and gets bike, then makes monthly payments to employer.

Employee gets tax break on the opauback (good). Vut, employer owns bike!

Batman

until the employee finishes paying it off presumably?

PeteH

At end of period (nominally 1 year) employer may allow employee to purchase bike. But HMRC (UK's IRS) say the bike must be sold for true market value

Batman

ah. so the employer takes a loss?

PeteH

So cannot realistically buy a GBP1000 bike and then a year later sell it for GBP5

it is certainly hassle for the employer. Plus, the other scenario is that they might have to dispose of a bike at the end of the year

Batman

ah. less fun.

PeteH

7:58 PM

I decided it was too much like hard work

What I did, I had the company buy the bike.

It was being used to go from train stn to clients anyway, so legitimate business purpose

Company claimed back VAT (Sales Tax-ish), and also paid for it pre-tax. If I would have bought it (i.e. personally), I would have had to pay VAT (at 20$) and it would have come to me post-tax

Batman

too complicated. =)

PeteH

Yes,

Batman

but really, I'd like to find a bike which is under 600 dollars which I could recommend to people to buy new and can be reasonably useful around town and fun to ride. and that just is not on the market anymore.

PeteH

we have very strict rules here about company cars (basically making it unviable) but no such rules about bicycles!

Batman

(trek 7.3 fx is slightly too much)

PeteH

8:03 PM

No - for that money you need to look 2nd hand - and therefore to know what you're looking for

Batman

yeah

PeteH

And as we see from the site, many people don't

I picked up my fixie for £350 which is about $500 I guess...but I knew exactly what I wantted and besides, fixies are not reasonable for everyone

second hand

Batman

fixies are way too expensive I think. they've become too much of a fashion item

PeteH

very much agree, this was why I went secondhand. New, the bike was double, and for what?

That reminds me, I must put it back together at some point!!

Batman

Another issue is finding parts these days I think. Despite "vintage" being cool, I'm having less luck finding 7 speed components in bicycle shops now around here.

PeteH

8:11 PM

(Took the fork off on my course, re-greased all the ballbearings. Fine. After course, decided I'd like to replace with cartridge, so started this but was unable to remove the crown race. Got the tool a few weeks back but....lethargy had set in!)

Batman

haha. my living room is full of projects like that.

PeteH

Yes I struggled to get to know my fixie at first because it was not "ultegra" or "tiagra" etc. Had to measure the bb, also the bcd when I got a bigger ring etc.

All useful stuff to know, but a level lower than most people go these days.

Batman

Yep. At least with Shimano groups, once you know the level (e.g. 105) and number of speeds, you've got a pretty good idea of most things on it most likely.

PeteH

Yes they're good like that. Although I was surprised when 105 went 11-speed. I mean. why? Also they have introduced stuff at the bottom end that I don't know how good the quality is

Batman

i dunno. my 105 is 7 speed. =)

PeteH

8:17 PM

When was that from? That company bike I bought was in 2010, 10sp 105

That bike got nicked, btw. Oh the irony!

Batman

As far as I can tell, the bike is a Panasonic made in 89

PeteH

89? Yeah I can see where you might have trouble finding parts. Bet it is worthwhile though/

Batman

velobase.com/…

PeteH

I laugh when I see questions "I bought a carbon bike in 2010, should I think about replacing it?"

But again it is marketing. Where else can the companies sell us something that is the dog's bollocjs now, then 2 years later convince us that, actually, it was a heap of shit and you need a new one?

Batman

Yeah. The main problem with finding parts for it is that either everything is bottom of the bin now or they're vintage

which makes it pricier

PeteH

8:22 PM

There is certainly a market in the uk for shiny and new, but I can't say I've noticed one for vintage. But then I never looked

Batman

105SC is new enough that its not properly vintage so the prices aren't too bad, but i think in 2-3 years things will be pricey if you want to buy parts from that group

PeteH

.......Watching Trueman Show on tv, just getting to the bit where he escapes...yay!

Batman

That being said, the shifters are friction front and index/friction 7 speed back, the original derailleur still works fine after 25 years, etc.

so i'm not too worried about parts for now

PeteH

For my 9sp Tiagra, I used to replace parts with 6500 Ultegra parts (which were also 9sp) but 6500 is impossible to find any more. Reckon I could find a cassette if I looked hard, but that's it

My tiagra bike is also a triple, something else which is out of fashion these days

but it suits me, especially when I go touring with a pannier.

Batman

yeah. I find it hard to find models which have the capacity to carry a decent amount of stuff

I often carry 10 pounds of U locks alone, in addition to all my other stuff (laptop, books, etc.). Doesn't justify getting a triple, but does justify having some decent capacity in mind.

PeteH

8:33 PM

this one is a Dawes. Sold as an audax bike so came with "comforts" such as fenders, eack and 25mm tyres for that bit of luxury! But an excellent Reynolds 851 frame. A real workhorse, in terms of bang for buck, the best bike I have

Locks......I used to commute in London and would carry a Fahgeddaboudit chain, AND U-lock, around my neck.

Ghost of christmas past!!

But that bike never got pinched!

If only thieves knew how much I had spent on locks, they'd steal them instead!

Did you see the question on the main site just now? See, sometimes I reckon setting up a bike shop would be viable after all. When you look at what shops out there are doing to peoples' bikes....

The dream for me and Mrs was to set up a bike-shop-cum-cafe. We're in a rural, cycle-friendly part of the UK so with hard work it could work. And what cyclist doesn't like cake?

Batman

which one?

the differences between road and mountain?

PeteH

0

Q: Is it normal for the chain to slip in an 'extreme' gear?

My bike's recently been in for a service so afterwards I checked that all the gears are shifting and working properly. As part of my testing I put some power through the cranks in the photographed gear and found that the chain slipped. Having found that out, I tested it some more and it's very e...

Batman

ah

PeteH

this one, looks like the LBS didn't test it properly when they did whatever they did

all very well to say "shouldn't use this gear", but not really acceptable if it's just come from the shop

But then I suppose it all depends what the Op has done since. I sometimes think we only get a part of the story ;)

Batman

Yeah, i think so

If my bike was setup that way, I wouldn't worry about it if I did the work. but if i had paid someone to do this, I would probably be pissed (though I probably wouldn't have really tested this).

That being said, a lot of LBS's are somewhat sloppy. My friend did his 30 day adjustment after buying a Trek Crossrip and apparantly they had routed some cables wrong. Which I'm not entirely sure how they did (or if they had screwed something else up and told him that that was what was wrong).

I think the quality of LBS's is also a problem these days. esp in college towns, since students will cycle through at a pretty rapid rate

and most people probably don't even get 1000 miles on their bike over the life of their bike.

PeteH

8:53 PM

Yeah, certainly as regards a training course, I had a hard time finding one. In practise I could open a bike shop tomorrow, and who's to know?

Batman

Winter: Its too cold to ride. Summer: its too hot to ride. Spring: My seat hurts. Fall: it's chilly.

PeteH

true....ask my wife!

Batman

I dunno. At least in the US, I don't think the small bike shop really works out, but whose to say

If you don't have a bunch of shiny new specialized/cannondale/trek/giant/whatever's

you're going to see a lot less business.

PeteH

I thin kthey get a lot of cash froim selling, but that side doesn't interest me. So doubly difficult

Batman

sure, but its a lot harder to get a shop which just does repairs or something going. people like bling. and shops which don't sell the big 3 aren't normally blingy.

PeteH

8:56 PM

I suppose the ideal would be to partner someone who did like the sales side....but never really got on with flash salesmen!

Batman

Its all gone quite complicated. But yes, I don't really like shops which have too much sales stuff.

They aren't very nice when they find out that you're just there for some parts.

PeteH

Anyway it's 10 o'clock here and I'm thinking about shutting down (both the pc and me!) Right now I feel like going on a ride early tomoz. Nice to finally speak to you at last, having admired your answers from afar this last while!

Batman

have a good night!

thanks

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