Bought any cycling stuff today?

[interzen]

New freewheel seems smoother, and the bike is now nearly silent   

Should have gone for White Industries - they'd have heard you coming in Scotland.

Northern Scotland 

(I've used Token freewheels in the past - they're OK. White Industries is still the gold standard though)

[IanN]

cassette. chain. brake blocks. inner tubes
and three bells!
ding! ding! DING! (respectively) 

[Kim]

A replacement Monkii Clip arrived courtesy of the lovely CycleMiles, with a note about being less forceful this time.  This has duly been installed using thin-end-of-the-allen-key torque limiting technology.   

[bumper]

Just got a go pro chest harness. I should now be able to film and watch rocky descents without feeling sea sick

Just need to get out on the bikes first 

[Karla]

You will never get that down the chimney!

Of course she will: it's a sootbike! 

Very nice too 

[phantasmagoriana]

You will never get that down the chimney!

Of course she will: it's a sootbike! 

Very nice too 

Sadly, it's not happening now. On goes the search...

[citoyen]

New rear mudguard for the Brompton. Old one basically snapped in half, presumably from too much bashing against the ground when folding the rear wheel under. Quite excited to see that Brompton mudguards are now available in stealth black as well as trad silver. Almost tempted to replace the front as well, just so I can have matching black mudguards front and rear.

Actually, I fear my Brompton is on its last legs and may need total replacement before long. This is going to force me to make some difficult decisions: I would really love to get a new Brompton but I'm not sure I can afford it at the moment - certainly not in the specification I'd like (S-type, full Ti, singlespeed, pink). The Dahon Mu Solo is looking like a temptingly affordable alternative.

[matthew]

So over the last couple of weeks:

Lights for my brother-in-Law for off road night riding (Hope R1)
Commuting winter boots for me NW Artics
Time Atac Cleats for same
New battery pack for my Hope Vision II

and for collection today / tomorrow two Conti Contact II tyres and a lockring spanner (nicely using the £50 voucher from the previous purchase)

[Torslanda]

New rear mudguard for the Brompton. Old one basically snapped in half, presumably from too much bashing against the ground when folding the rear wheel under. Quite excited to see that Brompton mudguards are now available in stealth black as well as trad silver. Almost tempted to replace the front as well, just so I can have matching black mudguards front and rear.

Actually, I fear my Brompton is on its last legs and may need total replacement before long. This is going to force me to make some difficult decisions: I would really love to get a new Brompton but I'm not sure I can afford it at the moment - certainly not in the specification I'd like (S-type, full Ti, singlespeed, pink). The Dahon Mu Solo is looking like a temptingly affordable alternative.

What? You can't blag one as a 'long term test'? 

I don't know, call yourself a features editor . . . 

**licking device firmly wedged in the mandible**

[citoyen]

What? You can't blag one as a 'long term test'? 

That would be an easy line to use on some companies but I doubt it would get me very far with Brompton. Besides, I have my journalistic integrity (ahem) to consider.

It's one of the cruel ironies of my job (and I dare say yours too) that while I have access to lots of cool bike stuff to play with, it's generally whatever the PRs are promoting - when it comes to the stuff I really want/need [such as new Brompton mudguards], I still have to pay for it like Ordinary People! I could probably get trade rates on a lot of stuff, but I doubt I'd get much of a discount on a new Brompton - I understand their margins are already pretty tight.

I don't know, call yourself a features editor . . . 

Production editor, actually.

[Kim]

New rear mudguard for the Brompton. Old one basically snapped in half, presumably from too much bashing against the ground when folding the rear wheel under. Quite excited to see that Brompton mudguards are now available in stealth black as well as trad silver. Almost tempted to replace the front as well, just so I can have matching black mudguards front and rear.

There's a lot to be said for the rear rack on this basis (and also making the bike stable when you do the first-stage fold), even if you hardly ever use it for luggage.  Of course, the front mudguard is still at risk of being crunched by the fold if you're not careful, but it seems to have enough give not to be damaged by that.  I'm surprised the mudguards on L models survive as long as they do. 

Annoyingly, the stealth black mudguards weren't an option for new bikes when I ordered mine (think they might be on the 2015 models?), just available as spares.  I'm warming to the silver ones, though I still think that silver mudguards look crap as soon as they get dirty.

[citoyen]

Annoyingly, the stealth black mudguards weren't an option for new bikes when I ordered mine (think they might be on the 2015 models?)

No, I don't think they are. I was just playing with the bike builder app on the Brompton website and black mudguards don't appear to be an option, which is disappointing. Maybe you could request them specially though.

Tbh, I can live with having to buy a new rear mudguard every couple of years if it means saving the weight of the rear rack, which I wouldn't use anyway (much prefer the front luggage block option).

[Kim]

Oh, the luggage block is awesome.  Ideally you want both

(As with so many things in life, it depends on what you want the bike for, especially wrt how much carrying it around you'll be doing.)

[citoyen]

Commuting winter boots for me NW Artics

I've got my eye on a pair of those so will be interested to hear what you think of them. How is the fit and sizing? I would tend to assume that being Italian, they're small and narrow.

[jsabine]

Commuting winter boots for me NW Artics

I've got my eye on a pair of those so will be interested to hear what you think of them. How is the fit and sizing? I would tend to assume that being Italian, they're small and narrow.

I've got a pair of either Fahrenheit or Celsius (the SPD one anyway) and really like them, albeit they're not the Arctic variant. Fit and size is, for me, normal - 43 in them, 43 in Shimano, 43 in Pearl Izumi, 44 in Sidi ...

[zigzag]

intrigued by a topic on this forum i got a cateye tl-au100 rear light. it looks funny on my bike - so chunky (weighs 60g without batteries) . it gives a mellow red glow, so i can see how it is friendly for group riding. oh, and it came with the batteries, that expired in 2001 - a blast from the past!

[phantasmagoriana]

Commuting winter boots for me NW Artics

I've got my eye on a pair of those so will be interested to hear what you think of them. How is the fit and sizing? I would tend to assume that being Italian, they're small and narrow.

I've got a pair of either Fahrenheit or Celsius (the SPD one anyway) and really like them, albeit they're not the Arctic variant. Fit and size is, for me, normal - 43 in them, 43 in Shimano, 43 in Pearl Izumi, 44 in Sidi ...

I've got some Celsius and find the fit pretty generous - I'm a size 8 in normal shoes and have a 42 in these, and I can get 2 pairs of wool socks on with room to spare.

In contrast, I recently bought some Northwave shoes and found the 42 too tight. I assume the boots are sized to allow winter socks!

[citoyen]

I love those lights. I still have three of them in my box of bike bits in the garage. Only thing I don't love about them is the fact that it's too easy to lose the little rubber switch cover. Hence why I don't use them any more (only keeping them in case I can ever source spares).

[zigzag]

I love those lights. I still have three of them in my box of bike bits in the garage. Only thing I don't love about them is the fact that it's too easy to lose the little rubber switch cover. Hence why I don't use them any more (only keeping them in case I can ever source spares).

thanks for the tip, i'll put a drop of glue on both sides of the rubber switch cover. i like the old-skool red glow, most modern bike lights shine orange-red. i also had to hide the rubber seal which looked totally wrong in gray (why not red or black like the adjacent colours?..). it's impossible to remove batteries with just bare hands, so they better last!

[Bledlow]

Sora rear & triple front derailleurs, 9 speed wide range cassette & chain to match. Mrs B's road bike will cease to be 7 speed very soon.

Apart from the cassette, which it didn't stock (only higher gears), Ribble had the best offers across the board.

[Bledlow]

Rear wheel for Mrs B. Tiagra hub, Mavic Open Sport rim. From Tredz. It's not their own build. I think I'll check the factory truing before putting it on the bike.

Now I have to wait for a while. Her gears are working well enough for her to be willing to risk a brisk ride tomorrow.

[David Martin]

A pair of gloves - went around all the shops in Dundee trying different pairs on.

[phantasmagoriana]

A carbon seatpost. I was bored on the train and browsing the interwebs for shiny things.

[phantasmagoriana]

I didn't buy anything today, but I did take a trip to one of the LBSes to see what shiny things they had. I was rather taken with one of these:



I have no need or desire for an MTB. And it has weird sized tyres. But it's so pretty!

[Quint]

I have no need or desire for an MTB. And it has weird sized tyres. But it's so pretty!

        Very good reason to buy one I'd say