Bought any cycling stuff today?

[Kim]

Word to the wise, if you're slightly larger than normal in any dimension, forget Endura unless you're in a position  to try it on first - their sizing is so inconsistent it's maddening.

Seconded.  They make the usual mistake of ignoring the fact that women come in different shapes, but they also have a lack of consistency across ranges.  It's worth persevering, though: some of it actually fits.

Endura make some nice stuff, I'd like them more if they made more of it in my size.

My experience with the likes of Assos and Etxe-Ondo is such that if you're not a racing snake, forget it.

My experience of Assos is limited to a set of arm warmers for budgetary reasons.  I had to send them back to get the largest size.  I consider my arms to be neither particularly flabby nor particularly muscular, so I'm not sure how anyone with a substantial amount of either is supposed to get on.

[L CC]

I assume when I'm rich, I'll be thin. There's a HUGE correlation between wealth & size¹. It's only us plebs who're fat. The world will be my cycling clothing oyster.

_{1: Having just looked it up, apparently that's only very true for white women. Sorry chaps, you could still be fat when you're rich, too. It's just me who will magically become thin when she's rich.}

[interzen]

I assume when I'm rich, I'll be thin.

And Endura's sizing will still be batshit crazy.

[clarion]

I am larger than average in most directions.  Yet my Humvees are L.  I expect clothes to be XL.

I've seen a lot of spendier options, btw, and I don't like them.  No need to spend more than necessary.

[Kim]

I assume when I'm rich, I'll be thin. There's a HUGE correlation between wealth & size¹. It's only us plebs who're fat. The world will be my cycling clothing oyster.

I don't remember clothes fitting particularly well when I was thin either (shoulders were the problem, rather than thighs), though admittedly I wasn't buying cycling-specific ones in those days.

[L CC]

Don't be ridiculous Kim, next you'll be telling me thin people can also get depressed, and being rich doesn't solve all your problems.

[Kim]

Don't be ridiculous Kim, next you'll be telling me thin people can also get depressed, and being rich doesn't solve all your problems.

Must be true.  Government policy, innit.

[Canardly]

I am larger than average in most directions.  Yet my Humvees are L.  I expect clothes to be XL.

I've seen a lot of spendier options, btw, and I don't like them.  No need to spend more than necessary.

You must be suffering from slenderbum. My XL HV don't go near despite alleged sizing which was a huge disappointment.

[interzen]

I am larger than average in most directions.  Yet my Humvees are L.  I expect clothes to be XL.

I've seen a lot of spendier options, btw, and I don't like them.  No need to spend more than necessary.

You must be suffering from slenderbum. My XL HV don't go near despite alleged sizing which was a huge disappointment.

This proves my point about their sizing, I think - my shorts of choice are Endura FS260Pro bibs; I can get away with an XL. XXL Humvees? Not a chance in hell, but then I do have pretty big thighs. I still have a couple of pairs of their old MT500 shorts which I use on the turbo - size? Large 

Endura tops? Don't even go there - being a 50" chest means that getting tops is always going to be tricky at the best of times, but despite being (supposedly) for a 48-50" chest, Endura's XXL tops are insanely tight. Altura, on the other hand, I can often get away with an XL without feeling like I'm wearing a straitjacket

[CrinklyUncle]

N+1 A Brompton Barcelona (S6L)

[interzen]

N+1 A Brompton Barcelona (S6L)

Needs more orange - did they run out halfway or something? 

[Deano]

N+1 A Brompton Barcelona (S6L)

 

Can I have a go, mister?

Does that mean one of the interviews went well?

[CrinklyUncle]

Needs more orange - did they run out halfway or something? 

I agree but at least there is some orange. I had decided on a S6 so it was a case of what ever Cycle Heaven had in stock when I got there tonight as I need it for tomorrow.

Can I have a go, mister?

Does that mean one of the interviews went well?

Yes, I got one of them. I'm working for 6 months in Billingham, so getting a train to Thornaby and then 4.5 miles to the site.

[Karla]

Umm, see you on the train?  I get the 07:32 out, then the 18:03 back from Yarm.

As for cycling stuff, yesterday's tyre fitting revealed a rear hub in need of repacking.  That's fine, I've got cone spanners ... except that my hub turned out to require a 19mm model which I wasn't even aware existed.  Two new cone spanners ordered from Wiggle, plus some puncture patches to make up the cost so I didn't have to pay postage, plus some spoke reflectors off fleabay to replace the brown ones on my spokes at the moment. 

[Deano]

Congratulations!

Top tip for getting out of Thornaby - ride along the pavement on the RH side of Victoria Bridge (I think it is a shared use path nowadays), bear right past Mecca bingo and across the pedestrian crossing on the Riverside road. This means you get to avoid Bridge Road roundabout, which is fucking awful, and I'd be surprised if the recent roadworks have improved it any. Then i'd probably go up the A139 as there's a bridge over the A19 into Billingham. Mind you, the road from Norton down to the roundabout with the A19 is fun, as there's a long ish downhill and if you find a decent gap you can take the roundabout at 35 mph It's less fun from the Billingham side, mind.

I suppose the alternative is to go over the Tees Barrage and through Portrack, but that is truly fucking horrible at commute o'clock, with some ghastly cycle lanes.

[billplumtree]

Thornaby - ride along the pavement on the RH side of Victoria Bridge (I think it is a shared use path nowadays), bear right past Mecca bingo and across the pedestrian crossing on the Riverside road. This means you get to avoid Bridge Road roundabout, which is fucking awful, and I'd be surprised if the recent roadworks have improved it any. Then i'd probably go up the A139 as there's a bridge over the A19 into Billingham. Mind you, the road from Norton down to the roundabout with the A19 is fun, as there's a long ish downhill and if you find a decent gap you can take the roundabout at 35 mph It's less fun from the Billingham side, mind.

*wistful sigh*

[arvid]

A new shiny Cane Creek headset and a new bottom bracket. Turns out the worn out bottom bracket was a Shimano! And I thought only the quick release in my Rohloff was Shimano...

[Gandalf]

One of these http://www.birzman.com/products.php?src=prod&subclass_sn=19  certainly makes things easier.

[mcshroom]

Replacement outer chainring for the Horizon, and a tool for undoing the chainring bolts holding the old one on.

[interzen]

Replacement outer chainring for the Horizon, and a tool for undoing the chainring bolts holding the old one on.

Get yourself some Truvativ chainring bolts - no more weird-ass tools required, just a couple of allen keys.

[mcshroom]

I have some in a box somewhere, but I also have four chainsets with the silly slit bolts in so I figured I might as well get the tool to work on them.

[zigzag]

Replacement outer chainring for the Horizon, and a tool for undoing the chainring bolts holding the old one on.

Get yourself some Truvativ chainring bolts - no more weird-ass tools required, just a couple of allen keys.

fsa does allen-key type chainring bolts as well. does anyone know any other makes?
(the slit type chainring nuts should be outlawed)

[interzen]

A pair of master link pliers - I've now got supremely calloused thumbs and an expanded vocabulary as a result of trying to remove the Pugsley's chain by hand.

[interzen]

Replacement outer chainring for the Horizon, and a tool for undoing the chainring bolts holding the old one on.

Get yourself some Truvativ chainring bolts - no more weird-ass tools required, just a couple of allen keys.

fsa does allen-key type chainring bolts as well. does anyone know any other makes?
(the slit type chainring nuts should be outlawed)

SRAM do some.

I know that Truvativ are part of SRAM, but I would imagine that the SRAM-branded bolts are more road-oriented, whereas the Truvativ-branded ones are aimed more at off-road setups (I use the Truvativ single+bash bolts - they do a fine job of keeping the two chainrings on the fixed MTBs in the right place, as well as the pukka single+bash setup on the singlespeed)

[rafletcher]

An Argon 18 Gallium Pro frame for my "birthday build". Not an especially notable birthday, but hey, so what