A little spending money :)

[Defblade]

Then swapping these for Conti GP5K's will be a massive improvement. You'll feel like you've taken the brakes off suddenly. The improvement in rolling resistance alone will be amazing. Marathon's are great for commuting, but they really are slow.

J

Wow! You're not wrong! They took a while to come, and were tight as a tight thing to fit, but by heck they're nice to ride A bit nervous on the first big downhill (which was also covered in cow poo...) and twitchy when moving my hands around (I may let a little pressure out, I think), but so keen to keep moving on the little rolling ups that it's like night and day. Just as well, as the bike decided today it wasn't going to change down on to the small ring - I had the crank/rings off last night and I guess they haven't gone quite as far back on...
Never spent this much on tyres before, definitely worth every penny



The cheap Chinese workstand is fine - with the bike in but not centred, the rotation teeth open up a little on the side away from the weight, but clearly push together harder on the weighted side, so that all seems OK.

Big Parktool pedal spanner arrived today so I can try again to shift the drive side pedal, which is well and truly stuck so far!
ETA: Ah, the right tool for the job Still had to do it on the floor with my leg, rather than with hands on the stand, but this pedal had already taken chucks out of a normal 15mm spanner. I did NOT use the big PT spanner to do it back up!!!

[BrundonBianchi]

I’ve been spending lots on bike related stuff, over the past few weeks. Other than the new bike, I’ve found the thing that has come in most handy is the Garmin VIRB 30 ultra camera I bought. I’ve never really bothered with cameras in the past, but it’s come in surprisingly handy.

[Defblade]

the thing that has come in most handy is the Garmin VIRB 30 ultra camera I bought. I’ve never really bothered with cameras in the past, but it’s come in surprisingly handy.

Tell us more??

[BrundonBianchi]

the thing that has come in most handy is the Garmin VIRB 30 ultra camera I bought. I’ve never really bothered with cameras in the past, but it’s come in surprisingly handy.

Tell us more??

It’s a tiny little camera, with up to 4K recording quality. It’s got really good image stabilisation as well, so there’s no judder in the footage. It’s particularly good for getting the number plates of any vehicles that pass stupidly close. It’s the best money I’ve spent on bike related stuff in ages.

[ElyDave]

Good recommendation, I've been thinking about a camera. ££ ??

[BrundonBianchi]

Good recommendation, I've been thinking about a camera. ££ ??

It’s about 300 quid, but it’s well worth it, given it’s quality and versatility.

[ElyDave]

how long are you finding it lasts, real world conditions?

[BrundonBianchi]

how long are you finding it lasts, real world conditions?

It depends on the quality you set it to. On a full charge at 1080 quality, it will record for about 1.5 hrs, without a re charge. You will need a micro SD card with sufficient memory as well. I use a 256 Gb card at present, and that is fine.