Bought any cycling stuff today?

[JefO]

Amazon (not the river) supplied a FD Clamp to fit the seat tube on my old British bike. It arrived today.
I bought one from Wiggle but it never arrived firstly they were unable to deliver it, then it was damaged in transit, and either Evri or Wiggle are mucking about, and neither is admitting it. Evri say I need to speak to Wiggle, and Wiggle say they are trying to find out what is going on from Evri.
More disappointingly, my package contained (at some stage) a nice little torque wrench and Allen bit set, and a chain tool.
Neither of which I really needed.
So really this could just as easily have landed in the shite courier thread or the tool junkie thread.

[Paul]

I replaced the well worn cleats on my well worn shimano mt34 shoes, only to find that the new cleats sit proud of the remaining tread on the sole, affording little grip. So I bought a pair of these.

I've done a review of them, here.

[hubner]

I just received my Carradice Super C rear pannier bags yesterday, first use was yesterday and today.

Recent purchases going back a few months:
Sunrace 5 speed freewheel x10 (stocking up)
Vittoria latex tube x5
Feedback Sports Pro Ultralight workstand (£116)
Weldtite puncture kits
Topeak chain tool
Zefal toe straps
KMC X8 chain x4
Veloflex Corsa Evo 700x25 x3
Vittoria Corsa Graphene 2.0 700x25
Nervar 6 speed freewheel plus remover (Decathlon)

Earlier this year:
Zefal toe straps
Zefal HPX pump

[JefO]

I bought a ridiculously expensive front light. It comes with a robust clamp which it bayonets into and out of. The quality is what sells these things, but I found the spring loaded bayonet fitting rather sloppy considering the price (£48 on "special offer")... the light moves around annoyingly in the clamp, over bumps. So I devised a way of keeping the lamp loaded lightly to one side.

It is a Town Mouse Light and runs off a removable 18350 Lithium cell. That is the best thing about the lamp, as other cells can be bought to extend the useable time of the lamp, which to my mind is a few hours short, at 5 hours on steady. It claims to do 16hours flashing, and I had misread the advert and thought it would run for 16hrs on steady. USB C lead will recharge the cell in situ. A rubberised seal should prevent water getting in the charge point, but the quality of the rubber seal is not great either, so it is only a matter of time before the charge point will become a failure point. 

Will take pics if anyone is interested.

[hubner]

Does it have a "shaped" beam, like a dynamo light?

[JefO]

Does it have a "shaped" beam, like a dynamo light?

Having been only up and down the road this evening to test it (and typically, the road is soaking wet, and very busy, so it was a total waste of time) I don't think the beam is particularly "cycling at night" oriented. You need to angle the lamp downwards slightly, the same as all normal lamps, to get a pool of light where you need it. The pattern is not a single splash of light though, as there are four LEDs visible, so I might be wrong. On steady may well use the LEDs which direct the light at the road, whereas flashing may be a more random scatter. The website says a lot without mentioning it, IIRC. If we get a dry evening, I will do another test. 

[SpaceBadger]

I’ve added a disc brake mount facing tool to my arsenal. This might better belong in the tool junkie confessions thread.

It’s lovely, but I can't get past that it shouldn’t be needed. It’s what I pay frame and fork manufacturers for.

[De Sisti]

A mat that I can put under my rollers when doing a session.

(I don't have carpets* in my house, so need something to dampen the noise the rollers make).

(*Only on the stairs).

[Paul]

A mat that I can put under my rollers when doing a session.

(I don't have carpets* in my house, so need something to dampen the noise the rollers make).

(*Only on the stairs).

I really thought the first set of brackets was going to finish: "...soak up the sweat"

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

An almost new Brooks saddle half price, including maintenance kit.

[cycleman]

A cateye rear led/brake  light 

[rogerzilla]

A new stem and bars for the 1930s clubman.  The existing set have been on there since 2008 and are life-expired.  It's done a lot of miles and a lot of steep hills.  Also got some new(er) cranks to go on.

[trundle]

Good old Cateye - it's easy to buy parts that break. In this case, the mounting tab for an AMPP800 light.

[JefO]

Leather saddle bag (advertised as for M/cycles) does exactly what I wanted though; it takes a rain jacket. The fact it is not big enough to carry the tools I want with me, as well, is not a problem, as it works with my original tool bag, which is still on there and supports it.

The new bag is wide enough to prevent the saddle from getting scuffed when I lean the bike on brick walls etc.

It cost £12

[rogerzilla]

One of those knock-off Knog Oi Deluxe* bells that's better made and 1/3 the price of the real thing.


*the "classic" Oi bell lasts a few goes before the hammer spring bends plastically and it's scrap; the Deluxe has a much improved striker mechanism, yet they still sell the crap one alongside it

[Kim]

100m of cheap microphone cable, and a reel to spool it onto.

[Robh]

A TACX flow smart turbo trainer, second-hand.

[JefO]

Park Tool DAG 3
Having tried cheap ones, decided to treat myself to something with hopefully less play in it, to meet the needs of 9,10,11,12 speed indexing.

Downloaded the ebay app onto my phone to get an extra fiver discount 

Then deleted the app again, as I much prefer to use the laptop to do my purchases. Having both gets way too confusing for my 2-bit brain.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/305041153194

[Afasoas]

A set of Pirelli Cyl-E Crossterrain XT tyres turned up today, in 700 x 35C (37-622) guise. They are meant for e-bikes but I'm sure they will be fine on my non-electrically assisted hybrid.

They were only £14 a piece. My usual go to for this type of bike is Schwalbe Marathon Plus, but they are quite spendy now. These have reflective sidewalls and feature some degree of puncture protection. They have a semi-nobbles on the outer edges of the tread, every 2.5 cm or so but therwise look like a touring tyre. It will be interesting to find out whether those nobles make any difference on the loose surface cycle tracks around here, which I occasionally venture onto.

They look to have a 2018 date code making them 5, getting on for 6 years old. No signs of any dry rot on them. Presumably they were discontinued not too long after they were introduced, which is why eBay is the only place to procure them now.

That either means I got a genuine bargain (assuming I get some miles in before the dreaded dry rot sets in) or I've made a mistake and I'll be ponying up for the Schwalbe's faster than the dog woofs down his dinner.



I'm also pretty excited that some unused NOS 1995 Shimano Altus hubs turned up yesterday. I only needed an axle, but it was almost as cheap to buy these. Will hopefully mean I can get some new wheels built for the hybrid before I wear through it's rims or the spokes get too corroded. Suspect the grease in the freewheel is past it's best but I've done a couple hundred miles on the hybrid's 'cleaned and relubricated' freewheel and it's still engaging properly and fairly quiet when freewheeling.

[JefO]

Park Tool DAG 3 ...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/305041153194

It turned up at 9am today, I am over the moon with it. Superbly engineered.

[campagman]

I have acquired a Caradice saddlebag with a longflap. I don't think it's a camper or a Nelson. Were there any other models that had a longflap? I don't know how old it is.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

There was a Lowsaddle Longflap too but they were noticeably smaller than a Nelson Longflap. A Camper Longflap is big enough to put a baby in, comfortably.
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/carrababy.html

[campagman]

There was a Lowsaddle Longflap too but they were noticeably smaller than a Nelson Longflap. A Camper Longflap is big enough to put a baby in, comfortably.
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/carrababy.html

Yes thank you,I do have a couple of Nelson's and one is a lowsaddle. They both look older than this one but could be used more. This bag is smaller than the Nelsons although looks similar, has side pockets and a longflap. The size of a Nelson hasn't changed over the years has it?

Sent from my moto g(50) using Tapatalk

[LittleWheelsandBig]

A Lowsaddle Longflap is a smaller saddlebag than a Nelson Longflap (there is also a Nelson without a Longflap). A Lowsaddle is not a variant of a Nelson.
https://carradice.co.uk/collections/originals/products/originals-lowsaddle-longflap-saddlebag
https://carradice.co.uk/collections/saddlebags/products/originals-nelson-longflap-saddlebag

[sam]

One of those knock-off Knog Oi Deluxe* bells that's better made and 1/3 the price of the real thing.

I'm not a bell guy – "Hello!" is how I announce my presence to ramblers, dogs with human companions, and equestrians – but I do quite like the look of that.



on edit: admittedly this approach is much easier for country mice. The city is one big obstacle course, and frankly I just try to stay out of people's way.