Your rants here.

elbowloh

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

elbowloh wrote:

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

To support my other half 's STEM educational business which is running out of control over half term, I'm currently spending my evenings mixing chemicals and prepping 3 hours science experiments each night, every night, so I've still not managed to fit my new front RD, so the chain is dropping off occasionally.

Today, it did in in the middle of a 40mph 3 lane roundabout, as I hit a pothole.

That was NOT pleasant.

Surely mechanical engineering skills should be included in a STEM session. Get the kids to fix/maintain your bike. Supervised of course.

Ideally, yes.
In reality, completely different age groups and level of balance; last nights task was prepping 400 packs of lava volcano ingredients, 80 small explosion kits and putting together 100 electrical circuit kits.

Which is best done without very young, overly tired little helpers around.

MI5 will be knocking on your door soon....

They do monitor Bike Radar i hear.

wolfsbane2k

elbowloh wrote:

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

elbowloh wrote:

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

To support my other half 's STEM educational business which is running out of control over half term, I'm currently spending my evenings mixing chemicals and prepping 3 hours science experiments each night, every night, so I've still not managed to fit my new front RD, so the chain is dropping off occasionally.

Today, it did in in the middle of a 40mph 3 lane roundabout, as I hit a pothole.

That was NOT pleasant.

Surely mechanical engineering skills should be included in a STEM session. Get the kids to fix/maintain your bike. Supervised of course.

Ideally, yes.
In reality, completely different age groups and level of balance; last nights task was prepping 400 packs of lava volcano ingredients, 80 small explosion kits and putting together 100 electrical circuit kits.

Which is best done without very young, overly tired little helpers around.

MI5 will be knocking on your door soon....

They do monitor Bike Radar i hear.

What, again?

drhaggis

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

elbowloh wrote:

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

elbowloh wrote:

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

To support my other half 's STEM educational business which is running out of control over half term, I'm currently spending my evenings mixing chemicals and prepping 3 hours science experiments each night, every night, so I've still not managed to fit my new front RD, so the chain is dropping off occasionally.

Today, it did in in the middle of a 40mph 3 lane roundabout, as I hit a pothole.

That was NOT pleasant.

Surely mechanical engineering skills should be included in a STEM session. Get the kids to fix/maintain your bike. Supervised of course.

Ideally, yes.
In reality, completely different age groups and level of balance; last nights task was prepping 400 packs of lava volcano ingredients, 80 small explosion kits and putting together 100 electrical circuit kits.

Which is best done without very young, overly tired little helpers around.

MI5 will be knocking on your door soon....

They do monitor Bike Radar i hear.

What, again?

Yep. I hear some of them even fake being french drivers with their windows open.

sgt.pepper

Still festering over the fact that a woman can almost maim my wife with her SUV and will likely get away with a slap on the wrist. Apparently manslaughter is totally cool as long as you do it with a car, and everybody is also apparently fine with that.

shycho

Sgt.Pepper wrote:

Still festering over the fact that a woman can almost maim my wife with her SUV and will likely get away with a slap on the wrist. Apparently manslaughter is totally cool as long as you do it with a car, and everybody is also apparently fine with that.

I've always joked that if I wanted to off somebody, i'd do it in my car and down as much Jack Daniels as I can soon after, so that I can also use alcohol as an excuse.

It's unreal the leniency shown to people in cars when they commit life changing crimes.

awavey

riding home last night it was flippin cold (colder than my autumnal gear was prepared for - just glad Id taken my gloves though it still took a good 5mins to get some feeling back in them once home) it was windy and my back was aching horribly, so I wasnt quite in the mood for riding terribly quickly.

but theres a dual lane roundabout plus stretch of road before the lanes split into different directions, which I always ride prime in the outer lane as experience has taught me you give an inch, and motorists will take a metre, you still get close passed if they can straddle the lanes, but most of the time you keep them honest.

but I got beeped at twice by two impatient so and so's last night, who then punish passed for good measure, but what I couldnt work out was there was a ambulance that had just joined the roundabout in front of me, covered in high vis stickers with blue flashing lights and a siren going, its why Id eased back slightly, and yet these two bozos completely missed there was an ambulance in front of them and had to brake hard not to hit the ambulance or the traffic who were doing their best to get out of the way.

its times like that, you think there really is no hope for some people behind the wheel of a car, how can you miss an ambulance fully lit up in the dark like that.

redvee

Had to clear up the work one of the team managers was 'too busy' to do yesterday, doing it all in one go took me an hour but he had 6 1/2 hours to do it in and the data needs to be on the system before the shift finishes. The team manager in question isn't in this weekend but he'll be spoken to on Monday.

wolfsbane2k

Thoughts this morning were along the lines of
"Yeah, those gloves should do, perhaps a little cold, but i'll warm up"
followed 5 minutes later by
"Wrong gloves, wrong gloves, definitely the wrong gloves"
And 25 later with
"what idiot thought these gloves would be ok? Stupid muppet".

Finally warmed back up again.

The LG Rafale 2 gloves are not suitable for 2 degrees.

drhaggis

BBB Hardwear overshoes. Useless for shoes with vents on the soles.

Got these cheapish last spring to replace a pair of worn Endura overshoes and, after three days, I'm already thinking of going back. Why? These are "hard wearing" by having two massive apertures on the sole. The tip's too short (and can be lift off the shoe without too much effort, and the geometry of the heel doesn't really fix it to the overshoes. Couple this with a smallish joint. The result is that, after 10 miles on wet roads, my feet are wet (shimano r065 shoes, BTW). "Over" shoe is actually the right word, as the protection for the sole is pretty much useless.

Options:

1. Use tape to seal the shoe soles until spring. (the Scottish commuter way)
2. Buy a new set of overshoes, hopefully better.
3. Buy winter shoes and say goodbye to all this hassle. (the London commuter way).

wolfsbane2k

Well, there goes that frame...


Still, saves me from having to clean It and address the ghost shifting/slippage, I suppose.

tgotb

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

Well, there goes that frame...


Still, saves me from having to clean It and address the ghost shifting/slippage, I suppose.

Araldite. Just make sure you sand the surfaces properly first, build up a few mm thickness to spread the load, let it cure properly (ie somewhere warm) and resist the temptation to ride it before the Araldite has finished curing.

elbowloh

Is it in warranty? Looks quite shiny and new.

wolfsbane2k

elbowloh wrote:

Is it in warranty? Looks quite shiny and new.

Less than 3 years old, with the frame under a lifetime warranty. It got returned this morning.

tgotb

Out of interest, how far into the frame did the seatpost extend?

wolfsbane2k

TGOTB wrote:

Out of interest, how far into the frame did the seatpost extend?

That's something I'm not sure about now, I'll check, but it was within the limit marked on the seatpost. I'd bought an extended seatpost as I wasn't happy with being only 1cm left on the one that originally came with the bike.

tgotb

I've always been a bit sceptical about limit marks on seatposts, because it's the frame that's most at risk from an insufficiently-inserted seatpost; the length of seat tube above the top tube varies quite a lot between frames. I always feel happier if it extends a in inch or so below the bottom of the top tube.

wolfsbane2k

TGOTB wrote:

I've always been a bit sceptical about limit marks on seatposts, because it's the frame that's most at risk from an insufficiently-inserted seatpost; the length of seat tube above the top tube varies quite a lot between frames. I always feel happier if it extends a in inch or so below the bottom of the top tube.

Aye. I'd used the seatpost limit as that was the one i'd been told to use by the mechanic who sold me the bike - so when I bought the extended post, I'd made sure there was as much tube below the limit on the new one as on the old one - in fact, there was about 4cm more.

asprilla

I've been researching for about a month now as to whether it's worth getting a Stryd footpod for running. Finally decided to bite the bullet today and order one.

Price on Amazon has shot from £155 to £221.

Pfft.

bendertherobot

Not really rant, but entertaining day.

Rode in today, minus 1. Had a load of kit in work so got my dad to pick it up.

Decided therefore, given it was likely to be 10 degrees on way home, to take two jackets.

Grabbed all my work kit, jacket worn on way in, dad popped by to take stuff home.

Got changed to go home at 4. Can't find keys (bike locked up outside work). Ring dad, keys in other jacket, 20 miles away.

So, easy enough. Train home.

But, I'd already got changed. So, full winter bibtights, Sidi drako shoes (MTB fortunately) and full on polka dot This is Cambridge jersey on the platform and train.

I guess people thought it was a halloween costume

jgsi

Combination of a park run the previous day and getting dropped on the old gits ride - so at commuting pace, this class act by the worlds tiniest car
https://youtu.be/7OUfSLQb-IQ

It is like you just dont exist.

seajays

Got back to the bike locker on Friday evening which I've used for the last four years, to find a lock smith removing all the locks (fortunately he hadn't yet got to my locker!). Apparently they are being changed from the current captive key system to something else - though he didn't know what.

So I had to bring a bike lock in today (I hate carting around heavy D-lock!), as so far nobody knows how to get the new keys so I can't use the bike lockers at all just now.

bunter

Bradley Wiggins moaning again...

fenix

JGSI wrote:

Combination of a park run the previous day and getting dropped on the old gits ride - so at commuting pace, this class act by the worlds tiniest car
https://youtu.be/7OUfSLQb-IQ

It is like you just dont exist.

That's just sh** driving. No excuse for not giving you the space.

And what's with oncoming cars in lanes. If I was in my car they'd have to slow down and make space. Out on the bike we had a driver just flicking the V's at us as WE slowed down and single filed. Hope his nuts fall off.

fenix

Asprilla wrote:

I've been researching for about a month now as to whether it's worth getting a Stryd footpod for running. Finally decided to bite the bullet today and order one.

Price on Amazon has shot from £155 to £221.

Pfft.

Did you get the footpod ? Presumably you want the power readings ?

asprilla

Fenix wrote:

Asprilla wrote:

I've been researching for about a month now as to whether it's worth getting a Stryd footpod for running. Finally decided to bite the bullet today and order one.

Price on Amazon has shot from £155 to £221.

Pfft.

Did you get the footpod ? Presumably you want the power readings ?

Found it for £150 at https://newrunninggear.com/ so I actually saved money. Kind of.

Hopefully it will arrive tomorrow and I'll run to work on Wednesday.

I wanted a foothold for pace and distance as they are generally more accurate than GPS watches. The power metric is a bonus.

veronese68

Asprilla wrote:

I'll run to work on Wednesday.

That's worthy of a rant

jamesco

Heading east on the Torrington Place cycle lane last week I noticed some shiny self-tapping screws were scattered on the lane. Figuring it would be good for my karma I stopped and picked them all up, which turned out to be a solid handful hitting the bin. I guess there could be an innocent explanation for dropping them, but it would still take an absolute munter to leave them there.

Unfortunately the karmic investment didn't work and I tweaked my back on the weekend, leaving me to use the tube (at least when the drivers aren't striking). Fortunately, the Diazepam prescribed for muscle relaxation will take the edge off being on the train, too

redvee

Monday: I'm taking primary downhill at more than the big 20 logos on the road suggest yet the Focus behind me goes for the overtake then changes their mind when they spot the car coming up the hill I saw a few seconds earlier. At the bottom of the hill the lights are red yet the Focus still wants to get close to me and is virtually touching my pannier bag as we wait, the lights change and the Focus turns right as I carry straight on.

thistle_

redvee wrote:

Monday: I'm taking primary downhill at more than the big 20 logos on the road suggest yet the Focus behind me goes for the overtake then changes their mind when they spot the car coming up the hill I saw a few seconds earlier.

At least the Focus changes its mind. They often pass me, pull in then decide that even 20 is too fast to drive at.

tgotb

Two of my CX wheels have decided to self-destruct - turns out that carbon rims and aluminium nipples don't mix - who'd have thought it?!? Only solution is to unglue the tyres and replace all 52 nipples with proper brass ones.

Particularly annoying because I have 4 sets of these wheels. These are the oldest, so the other sets will probably be fine for another 3 months, but that means another 6 tyres to unglue and 156 nipples to replace over the Summer...