Bought any cycling stuff today?

[Littlesox]

Hussar !

A spending frenzy prevails chez Sox.

Cycled to Tweeks yesterday and brought Shimano 105 pedals to upgrade the Giant - which frees up a pair of R540's to (finally) convert the Peugeot to clip-less.

The mudguards (or fenders as they are called in the blurb !) arrived from Tredz for the Defy (despite an e-mail arriving yesterday stating that my order would be delayed) in preperation for an Audax outing.

And in a fit of further reckless frivoilty, a pair of special offer Shimano R501 wheels should arrive from Ribble later in the week, which will ponce the old Peugeot up niceley.

I just need to call into Dave Mellor cycles of Shrewsbury to collect some tyres.

So a bit of support for my LBS (Tweeks and Mellors) and a bit of t'internetery web-spending to not put all of my eggs in one basket and take advantage of special offers.

The only harm done is to my credit card (and my marital bliss once the bill arrives and Mrs Sox finds out what I have been up to).

[Tim Hall]

New Hamsterskin for the fixer.
Chain, (SRAM PC1) ditto.
Shimano pattern brake shoes ditto.
Spesh BG Gel mitts. Riding the fixer is giving me numb hands. The existing mitts are two years old and shagged out.

All on Evans Click and Collect thing to try and avoid the bloody waiting around while they get stuff from the warehouse.

[phantasmagoriana]

Some cheapo panniers from SJS, as a replacement for the identical ones I got in 2009 which have developed increasingly large holes in the bottom of late (and today I managed to rip one of the drawstrings). Nearly four years of daily commuting abuse from sub-£15 panniers isn't too bad.

[interzen]

From a variety of emporia:

• A 17-21T Surly 'Dingle' double-fixed sprocket
• A 104mm BCD 38T chainring
• A set of On-One 'Mary' bars and some grips (to get me over the free postage threshold - may or may not be replaced with Ergons at some point in the future)
• A 32h Rigida 'Bull' rim - a sensibly priced, eyeletted 26" rim which will take phat rubber
• 34 Sapim 'Strong' spokes (32 for the wheel, plus a couple of spares)
• A 160mm 6-bolt disc rotor

All for the fixed trail-monster project.

Also, finally got round to collecting my Topeak 'Fuel Tank' top-tube bag from the LBS earlier on - very nice it is, too (may soon be appearing on a pub ride or somesuch)

EDIT: The Fuel Tank is now in-situ on the singlespeed:



It's a chuffin' sight bigger than the tri-bag it replaces, but for my particular use-case that's not necessarily a bad thing. Need to swap the top-tube straps over, though.

[BrianI]

A bit of a cashectomy today.
65 squid on wiggle involving:

Deda RHM01 Black Road Handlebar, oversized, 46cm.
BBB  BHS-25 Highrise Oversize Stem 110mm

And since I'm putting new bars & stem on, A good time to replace gear & brake inners and outers, so I added them to the shopping basket
And 2 pairs of Kool-stop V-Brake dual compound inserts to replace the stock pads on the tektro cr720

£84 from local shed based supplier of cycling goods:
Ambrosio Evolution rim,
Shimano M590 hub, rear
appropriate spokes & nipples!

  
Tis only money. But hopefully the new bars & stem should solve my hand / wrist pain.  And the new rear wheel will make the bike go faster!

[Juan Martín]

A very successful morning at the Woodchuch bike jumble. Some clothing - a fleece jersey, a rather 'lively' short sleeved Italian jersey, a pair of arm warmers and a thermal cap. Some bits - a chain, a mini pump, a pair of Velox bar plugs, a pair of crank dustcaps and some steel tyre levers. All at bargainous prices.

So I walked out to the car park feeling very pleased with myself only to find that the car had a flat tyre. While jacking up the car to change the wheel, a chap asked whether I needed a hand - I didn't really but in the ensuing chat we discovered a mutual interest in old steel-framed bikes...he is in the vehicle painting business...we spend ten minutes discussing options for refinishing my Pat Hanlon next winter, viewing examples of his work on his phone. Serendipity!

[Marco Stefano]

A useful flat tyre? Well, well.

Today's purchases:
 - a Tubus Tara lowrider rack & pair of Ortlieb Frontroller Classics from Spa (I am off camping sometime)
 - a pair of 32mm Paselas from Wiggle (original 28mm pair on the Hewitt are 6 + years old & low mileage but a cut has become a small bulge so it's time to replace.

[TimO]

Some Brompton stuff, to aid with taking it on a plane when I go to Noordwijk in a few weeks time.  My Brompton isn't actually very roadworthy at the moment, it needs the front wheel rebuilding, which I've been putting off doing, and replacing the saddle.  I bought some MKS demountable pedals, a bag for the Brompton itself, to hopefully make it a bit more acceptable to the airlines and attempt to minimise damage, as well as a C-Bag to use on it.

It seems sensible to take it to Holland, since I've often ended up taking taxis from the hotel to the ESTEC site, which is only a few miles, and cycling in a country like Holland seems far more sensible than other places I visit (cycling up to the Space Sciences Laboratory at Berkeley requires about two miles of 1 in 10 hill!)

[rogerzilla]

n+1 turned up.  I can ride it, but it's not for me.  I suspect it will be the most expensive bike used in next year's cycling proficiency test.  Lighter than anything I own except the Fuji fixie.



Frame made in Vietnam, probably by the son of a guy who used to push bikes down the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

(yes, that is a free-range rabbit in the background, and a croquet hoop)

[interzen]

(yes, that is a free-range rabbit in the background, and a croquet hoop)

Your rabbits play croquet? How very civilised ...

[clarion]

(yes, that is a free-range rabbit in the background, and a croquet hoop)

Your rabbits play croquet? How very civilised ...

Nah.  He's just run out of hedgehogs.

[rogerzilla]

(yes, that is a free-range rabbit in the background, and a croquet hoop)

Your rabbits play croquet? How very civilised ...

Nah.  He's just run out of hedgehogs.

Coincidentally, the black cat was threatened with being used as a croquet ball yesterday when she was repeatedly pouncing on the rabbit (who doesn't mind much, and follows the cat around).

[Kim]

You could save a bit of weight by removing that axle nut protector...

[Greenbank]

CycleOps PowerTap Battery Tool. £8.10 for a bit of plastic that should come free with a £600+ hub. Bastards.

[mcshroom]

Some imitation Garmin mounts so I can fit the Etrex 20 to my other bikes. They are only £1.99 each (compared to about £10 for the real ones). So far they look the part and the device clips in ok, still need to give one a proper test though.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Sold my ribble, for £100

Seeing as I paid £450 for it and many of the parts are near end of life, I think I've done ok out of that.

[Kim]

Some imitation Garmin mounts so I can fit the Etrex 20 to my other bikes. They are only £1.99 each (compared to about £10 for the real ones). So far they look the part and the device clips in ok, still need to give one a proper test though.

Be interested to see how they turn out...

(Hope you're using a lanyard)

[interzen]

Some imitation Garmin mounts so I can fit the Etrex 20 to my other bikes. They are only £1.99 each (compared to about £10 for the real ones). So far they look the part and the device clips in ok, still need to give one a proper test though.

Be interested to see how they turn out...

Me too - I'm still scoping out GPSes for next year's little adventure and the I've narrowed it down to one of the eTrex series or a Dakota - in all cases, the cost and quality of the 'official' Garmin mounts has been a cause for concern.

Anything that still requires a lanyard to keep it in-situ isn't going to be suitable for 2500 miles of off-road riding ...

[PaulR]

Having recently decided that I didn't need my old Hope Vision 1 light, I sold it for £40. 

Then on the Oxford to London ride I felt nervous about my USB-charging front Light & Motion light, as it showed the low battery light from about Thame onwards. 

So today I visited the Wiggle website and spent £43 on a shiny new Hope Vision 1 in red, to match my red wheels, complete with matteries and charger.

[Greenbank]

Anything that still requires a lanyard to keep it in-situ isn't going to be suitable for 2500 miles of off-road riding ...

The lanyard is for insurance. It's so that if the mount fails it ends up dangling from the bars rather than in the road and under the wheels of a following car/lorry.

Annoyingly the Edge 705 doesn't have anywhere to fit a lanyard. I keep meaning to bodge something on to it so I can hook one on.

Luckily when my GPS made a bid for freedom yesterday (on the A25 between Shere and the turning for Combe Lane) I was able to retrieve it from the road before it got run over. It was my fault as I hadn't reseated it properly after giving the external power connector a wiggle.

[interzen]

Just bought myself a Surly 15T cassette sprocket for the S3X - now that the fixed-MTB is almost ready to roll I can 'reset' the gearing on the yellow Genesis to something more 'road friendly' rather than having to spin like a lunatic as soon as I hit tarmac.

Plus, even given that Surly sprockets aren't cheap, it's a heck of a sight cheaper than a new chainring.

[Kim]

Anything that still requires a lanyard to keep it in-situ isn't going to be suitable for 2500 miles of off-road riding ...

The lanyard is for insurance. It's so that if the mount fails it ends up dangling from the bars rather than in the road and under the wheels of a following car/lorry.

Exactly.  In my ~18000 miles of cycling (maybe 10% off-road) with various eTrexen, and excluding borrowed bikes and tandems where I've used the lanyard for its intended purpose, it's come into action exactly once, after I landed on top of the Garmin in a crash.  The old-style eTrex mount somehow released without damage, and the unit ended up face down in the muddy puddle along with me and the rest of the bike, rather than pinging off into the undergrowth.  I don't think that was really a win in context, but it might have been if there was a river for it to fall into, or motor vehicles to run it over.

On the other hand, the lanyard has caught it when dropped during fitting a few times.  Especially when cold fingers or gloves are involved.

And certainly worth it when testing out a new bracket of unknown quality.

[phantasmagoriana]

Hmm. This thread has persuaded me that I should probably attach the lanyard to my Vista HCX. (It's fallen off the bars once - and survived unscathed - but I'd rather it not happen again!).

[rogerzilla]

You could save a bit of weight by removing that axle nut protector...

Not with the propensity of kids to drop bikes!

[phantasmagoriana]

Some leather offcuts. This *is* cycling related...