Your rants here.

timothyw

mrfpb wrote:

TimothyW wrote:

International customs. Ordered something from the states, so far as I can tell from the tracking it has been sat in customs for 11 days.

Getting silly now.

Wait till you get hit with the customs charge and the carrier's admin cost.

It's from Ebay and allegedly there are no additional import charges through the Global Shipping Programme... this may explain why they're in such a hurry to process it :-(

secretsam

Niallmo wrote:

Minor: went to LBS to get a spoke replaced, it's on the drive side of the rear and it has a screw on cassette as it's an 80's set of wheels. Bloke told me he couldn't do it immediately as he had broken his second chain whip and wasn't getting a new one til tuesday. I was nice and said Ok as I'm trying to give him some custom but in my head I wondered why he wouldn't nip to the Halfords down the road at close to buy one.

Hasn't he heard of Wiggle?

redvee

Rode over a stone at 20mph on the way to work and my immediate thought was a snakebite PF. No indication straight away so thought I'd got away with it. I stopped at some lights 1/4 mile later and did a quick check and all was good, but as soon as I pulled away from the lights the rear tube gave up and went down.

itboffin

Damn it lit the fireplace and smoke came back into the house, I guess cleaning the chimney once in six or so years isn't often enough

redvee

Think I've broke one of the XT SPD pedals on my bike, a regular clunk that manifests itself in the form of the pedal body moving slightly side to side on the spindle. Not how I'd like to remember doing 25 years of SPD riding.

corriebee1

Had to drive yesterday.. Which sucked.

Pulling out the side road round the back of our office. Traffic from right is stationary and unusually the drivers have left the "keep clear" box.... Well.... Clear.

I pull out to turn right, nudging forward and checking for traffic when some twunt on a moped shoots round the back of the second car waiting, onto the wrong side of the road and ploughs his moped into the front corner of my car.

Thankfully no one injured. Police arrive. Clear up. Take witness statements. Both drivers saying the guy was on the wrong side of the road and going Way too fast to be considered "filtering". Police advise the moped bloke that he's likely to get three points for his driving (without due care and attention) and three points for his helmet (which didn't meet safety standards).

Report this all to my insurance company who inform me that they'll "probably have to split liability with the moped driver as it's very hard to prove right and wrong when motorcycles are involved". I have two independent witnesses, a ton of photos from the scene and a police officers report! What more do they want?!?!

rjsterry

itboffin wrote:

Damn it lit the fireplace and smoke came back into the house, I guess cleaning the chimney once in six or so years isn't often enough

Ahh, happy childhood memories of a smoke filled living room. <cough> Is the stuff you are burning too green?

wolfsbane2k

corriebee1 wrote:

Had to drive yesterday.. Which sucked.

Pulling out the side road round the back of our office. Traffic from right is stationary and unusually the drivers have left the "keep clear" box.... Well.... Clear.

I pull out to turn right, nudging forward and checking for traffic when some twunt on a moped shoots round the back of the second car waiting, onto the wrong side of the road and ploughs his moped into the front corner of my car.

Thankfully no one injured. Police arrive. Clear up. Take witness statements. Both drivers saying the guy was on the wrong side of the road and going Way too fast to be considered "filtering". Police advise the moped bloke that he's likely to get three points for his driving (without due care and attention) and three points for his helmet (which didn't meet safety standards).

Report this all to my insurance company who inform me that they'll "probably have to split liability with the moped driver as it's very hard to prove right and wrong when motorcycles are involved". I have two independent witnesses, a ton of photos from the scene and a police officers report! What more do they want?!?!

Glad no one hurt.

Video evidence?
In most cases it appears that they want to mininise their total cost. If the moped driver contests the case, rather than fight it through lawyers etc which everyone knows costs a bomb, so they just half and half it. And the moped insurers know that too.

itboffin

rjsterry wrote:

itboffin wrote:

Damn it lit the fireplace and smoke came back into the house, I guess cleaning the chimney once in six or so years isn't often enough

Ahh, happy childhood memories of a smoke filled living room. <cough> Is the stuff you are burning too green?

nah seasoned hardwood but all sorted now, chimney swept and back in action. mmmm toasty warm fire 8)

tgotb

2nd puncture in 18 months on my rear Durano Plus. And the blue anti-puncture strip is showing; reckon it's only lasted 12k miles :-(

ugo.santalucia

TGOTB wrote:

2nd puncture in 18 months on my rear Durano Plus. And the blue anti-puncture strip is showing; reckon it's only lasted 12k miles :-(

Send them back for refund.... Shit tyres...

cruff

Ice. Poxy stuff. First time I've been able to get out all wwwk other than a midweek chaingang round a soulless industrial estate, and had to stick to main roads as the lanes were lethal. Beautiful Lancashire countryside, and I have to sample it from a sodding dual carriageway

asprilla

Have been struggling to get the turbo dungeon up and running; much difficulty in pairing devices and getting it all to work and tonight after an hour of fiddling I finally gave up.

I rode the turbo for 20 minutes and had an epiphany. I switched the ant+ stick to the other usb port and suddenly every device popped up on Trainer Road working and ready to go.

Celebrated that success by getting off the bike and opening a beer.

Not sure if this is a rant or an anti rant but after all that wasted time it feels like a rant.

cruff

Next time - beer in the bidon cage, bottle opener next to turbo. No need to dismount. #marginalgains

DrLex

Next to? Pah!

First.Aspect

Muc Off is less effective than Fairy Liquid. I feel like an idiot for thinking that this might have changed since the last time I was stupid enough to buy some.

itboffin

Bucket hot water and washing up liquid, cheap and effective

itboffin

Bucket hot water and washing up liquid, cheap and effective

itboffin

Bucket hot water and washing up liquid, cheap and effective

rower63

itboffin wrote:

Bucket hot water and washing up liquid, cheap and effective

itboffin wrote:

Bucket hot water and washing up liquid, cheap and effective

itboffin wrote:

Bucket hot water and washing up liquid, cheap and effective

if it's worth saying once, it's worth saying three times

wolfsbane2k

Rear derailleurs and trying to get the shifting right has just taken me 2 hours and I've gone backwards from where I was when I started.
I think the cable guide under the bb is causing issues, having checked the hanger alignment and cleaned inners and started from scratch on the setup again.
Was checking smooth running with chain off the bike the rd shifted a couple of mm without any input. Like delayed tension.
It could, I suppose be a dirty or sticky rd mech, but I'd just cleaned it.
Almost want to measure tension is cable as it runs down the bottom tube, at the bb to chain stay, and then at the rd itself.
I know most will just say 'replace the inner and outers,', but thats now been done twice in 3 months

rhodrich

[Non bike related rant]

It appears that my energy supplier (GB Energy) has gone bust, half way through my switch away from them (Gas has gone over, Electricity hasn't). No idea what's going to happen now. I've got over £500 credit with them, which will probably take months to get back, if at all. I asked them for a refund about 2 weeks ago, and didn't get a reply. Bollox.

timothyw

Shame on Chainreaction (or i suppose now Wiggle.... yep, I blame Wiggle) for not honouring the 10% BC discount on their Black Friday deals, and burying it in the T&Cs on the BC website.

Well, you've just lost £100 of my custom for the sake of not giving me £4 off a pair of shoes - shoes that you appear to have a warehouse full of.

itboffin

rower63 wrote:

itboffin wrote:

Bucket hot water and washing up liquid, cheap and effective

itboffin wrote:

Bucket hot water and washing up liquid, cheap and effective

itboffin wrote:

Bucket hot water and washing up liquid, cheap and effective

if it's worth saying once, it's worth saying three times

or as i'm doing at the moment, just hanging it back on the garage wall and shut the door :roll:

wolfsbane2k

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

Rear derailleurs and trying to get the shifting right has just taken me 2 hours and I've gone backwards from where I was when I started.
I think the cable guide under the bb is causing issues, having checked the hanger alignment and cleaned inners and started from scratch on the setup again.
Was checking smooth running with chain off the bike the rd shifted a couple of mm without any input. Like delayed tension.
It could, I suppose be a dirty or sticky rd mech, but I'd just cleaned it.
Almost want to measure tension is cable as it runs down the bottom tube, at the bb to chain stay, and then at the rd itself.
I know most will just say 'replace the inner and outers,', but thats now been done twice in 3 months

Had an educated friend check it out today, thinks the rd is bent. Had a spare on the shelf thankfully, so going to fit it tonight.

I did find the OH had moved the bikes last week to get a meter reading, guessing she snagged it.

Does a commuter road bike with a derailleur guard sound as stupid as I think it sounds?

itboffin

Unless you're 8 yes

wolfsbane2k

itboffin wrote:

Unless you're 8 yes

bendertherobot

My left ear is blocked. And has been for 4 days. It's unsettling, really really unsettling.

tangled_metal

Some guy in a range rover Evoque (pish spice Beckham's car or she launched it because it's a woman's car afterall) saw me cycling along to roadworks and filtering up the inside of the waiting traffic to get to a safer spot at the front. Oh how amused I was when he suddenly squeezed his car until it was against the kerb just as I got there.

Then I reached a set of traffic lights further on and spotted the same lady car moving to the left again as I got close. This time his left tyre was overhanging the edge of the tarmac. New build road without anything like kerb stones. By now I wasn't just amused but curious as to his thinking.

Anyway he obviously didn't expect me to filter safely to the outside of the stationary cars at the edge of town/start of the busy traffic area up to the ASL because he was in the middle of his lane.

Then I amused myself by almost taking primary so the dithering driver ahead of him was too unsure to overtake.

What is the point of completely blocking a cyclist trying to get to a safer stopping place at a junction where stationary cars are waiting for lights? These places all have good passing opportunities after them. You can see the that.from the junctions/lights. Why? Why? Why?

PS range rover Evoqe cars are not really just for women, some men have equally bad taste in cars. If you can't find a better car to but for that money you have no imagination or you're a sucker for the Beckham / celebrity hype.

tangled_metal

bendertherobot wrote:

My left ear is blocked. And has been for 4 days. It's unsettling, really really unsettling.

A week with both ears about 2 weeks back. Not enjoyable, especially the ringing sound that kept making me want to go back inside for some reason. Must be a childhood thing!

Still, could have been worse...perforated ear drum 10 years ago with my first ever ear infection. Snotty ear isn't nice but at least the horrendous pain went. Trust me a perforated eardrum can be a blessed relief!