Recent Posts

1

The Pub / Re: Grammar that makes you cringe

« Last post by Kim on Today at 04:33:56 pm »

'So' at the start of the sentence is certainly a filler, like 'Um...' or 'Right.'  It can be a useful preamble, but overuse makes the speaker look uncertain or thoughtful.

I think the valley girl 'like' is used more as a kind of, like, emphasis.


Obviously the wrongness of such grammatical constructions is proportional to how  a) young  and  b) USAnian  the speaker is perceived to be.

2

The Knowledge / Re: Bikepacking Bags - what's your favourite/hated and why?

« Last post by Frank9755 on Today at 04:32:39 pm »

The issue with the rack-pack for me isn't, necessarily, the roll top it's more the 3 straps that you have to undo to get anything out of the bag. Then you have to connect them all again. With luck, they haven't dropped onto your oily chain.....I know there's a side pocket but that's too small to be any use at all.
OTOH, I love how stable the rack is and the mini-panniers are excellent and they don't wobble around at all.

Back on topic: I don't camp so I don't need a tent and all the other paraphernalia but I've found that even "rigidly" mounted seat-packs cause too much sway when I'm out of the saddle, hence my preference for the Tailfin rack.

Thanks for the warning about the straps!  I like the Tailfin rack but I don't like their bag as I would rather trade waterproofness for ease of access.  I will try to see if I can fit a different bag on to it, one with a zip. I'm not a fan of Ortleib as they seem to be obsessed with roll-tops. 

The way to cope with poor access - whether tailfin or saddle pack - is to only have stuff in the tail bag that you won't need during the day.

The Arkel seat pack really does not sway - it's basically got a rack inside it so it can't, any more than a Tailfin can. 

3

Further and Faster / Re: New bike for Audax from Halfords.

« Last post by andyoxon on Today at 04:29:16 pm »

...I shall ride 25 Km in the cyclo park first...

Another 2p.  As a training goal you could see if you can eventually build up do 25km in 1hour.  Not that I've done an Audax at an average speed of 25km/h before, but over 25km - if have reasonable potential fitness, may be a challenge to try.  Training on the same track could be 'boring' though, so after a while perhaps take it to a decent handful of diff routes...

4

OT Gallery / Re: Readers' Instruments

« Last post by bobb on Today at 04:24:39 pm »

The shorter Gibson scale length makes A-shape barre chords a bit harder if you have fat fingers

If you can tell the difference at any given position on the fretboard, then you have an astonishingly sensitive touch! Even if you're barring at the 1st fret, meaning your fingers are squeezed up* at the 3rd fret, the difference between a 24.75" and a 25.5" guitar, centre fret to centre fret is less than 1mm! Having jumbo rather traditional frets will make a more noticable difference....

Nice rig though 

* No self respecting guitarist plays an A shape barre like that anyway, use the flat of you 3rd or preferably 4th finger 

5

The Sporting Life / Re: County Cricket 2024

« Last post by Wowbagger on Today at 04:06:17 pm »

Indeed they are!

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Where The Wild Things Are / Re: A random thread for the wildlife stuff - you know the drill

« Last post by Mrs Pingu on Today at 03:55:22 pm »

Awful photos, but I was about to remove last year's barley straw from the pond when I found this dragonfly nymph on it, so I put it back sharpish. *dances vigorously*

PXL_20240426_124848623 by The Pingus, on Flickr

PXL_20240426_124858854 by The Pingus, on Flickr

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OT Gallery / Re: Readers' Instruments

« Last post by PaulF on Today at 03:52:12 pm »

Very nice, and the only colour for an SG

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OT Knowledge / Re: Wall repair prep pre decorating

« Last post by Mrs Pingu on Today at 03:50:54 pm »

So I was thinking about replacing this 10mm quadrant with 15mm quadrant to hide the gap a bit once I've done the filling. But that's not going to work when I get to the horizontal bit here which isn't deep enough to take 15mm quadrant.
PXL_20240419_151559263 by The Pingus, on Flickr

Any fantastic ideas? (Besides knock the house down and start again)

9

The Pub / Re: Grammar that makes you cringe

« Last post by fimm on Today at 03:38:04 pm »

"So" has just become a filler word, just as "like" has, I think.

(I was laughing at a club member who was having a small rant about the English Of The Youth Of Today, while, like, using, like, "like", like, every, like, other, like, word. I felt guilty, though, because I suspect he has a bit of a stammer and that's how he covers/deals with it.)

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The Sporting Life / Re: County Cricket 2024

« Last post by Peter on Today at 03:38:02 pm »

South Africa II recovering well against Essex.