Cycling UK Forum

There's a paranoia surrounding kier and the Labour Party. Are there members of the PLP scheming to steal the leader's limelight and agenda? Was Raynor cynically taking Starmers headlines? Was the resigned shadow employment spokesman part a left wing n plot? Was Corbyn involved in the scheming n in his late night conversations with the resigned front bencher before his resignation part of that or are they really "old friends"? Is there a labour mp going around promoting himself as available if there was to be a leadership contest. Was Burnham also doing that?

Who knows but apparently the mp putting himself about as a potential Starmer replacement is apparently true and Raynor did become the headlines of the conference for a day or two.

Personally if you have to be abusive you've probably lost your ground in the debate. However I'm not convinced debate or discussion was her aim but promotion. Look how some of b you lot appreciated her b comment.

I was looking at the ravman lights. They have a car like beam in that guy have the narrow, focused and very bright beam but flick a remote switch and it dips and becomes wider, more focused on the road. Kind of spot beam and fresnel lens, directed beam option. Sounds good in theory.

I'm not convinced by a head torch option. They've got a different beam pattern as they're for different uses I guess. I've tried it with n bits petzls and a very bright silva one 27th 1100 lumens and remote battery. When you get into the higher lumens settings ime they get too narrow.

The low down light and light on bars is the better option as that can give contrast that helps you to see the surface better. However with Brompton bikes you have to be careful about the fold. I'm not sure what the brake boss light bracket is like and what lights can fit it. The Brompton front light isn't that bright I think. Would few good to fit other light brands down there.

Twitchy for sure but I've got used to the steering. Feels normal. Before it got dark going into work I was getting nippy.4 minutes into work was my time when it was dry and light then 6 minutes back due to the hill. Now its more like a wary 6 to 8 minutes down and 6 back up. Currently same time going home because its daylight. At worst 7 due to flooded road.

Change the route? They're all a lot longer as in twice the distance with roads that aren't much better. It was going home the other way that I had my accident. Big and deep holes with one's going all the way across, sunken utilities as in sunken enough to have a 2" step in them! Quickest and safest way is my current route but I guess I might have to walk a section if really bad.

Mudguards work well except for the fragility of the front one due to the fold or more accurately the unfold. In on my second with an eerder metaal bumper for protection/reinforcement.

Currently using cateye volt 300 which simply isn't bright enough. I think I need at least 800-900 lumens. At that time there's little chance of dazzling others. Except that guy on a 30mph electric scooter! His lights are pretty bright too.

Never needed spiked tyres round here on road bike so doubt I'll need it on my brompton. Are they slipper than 700c tyres? Both 35mm width. I think my marathons are a good winter tyre.

No idea what front light to get. Any suggestions? A few websites suggest lezyne hecto drive 500. I'm thinking if I'm spending £40 or 50 or more on a light I might as well spend a bit more to be sure of seeing the potholes.

I should say my accident has caused me to be wary on the small wheeled brompton. They don't handle potholes very well. I just can't avoid using it because the trains are overcrowded and I would get kicked off without a small folding bike. They tried stopping me getting on with the brompton folded once! I put them right on that straight away.

First year of commuting by bike and train. Second week flyer and broken arm makes me cautious when unsure of terrain. Cycle into work includes all the worst you can imagine. Steep, dark potholed roads and mixed use path. Gravel filled potholes with potholes in the gravel. Oh the gravel often has broken glass in it too as it's straight out of a recycling operation. Huge puddles and flooding. No idea where the puddles and potholes meet. No lighting. Trucks manoeuvring and busy. Oh and I've got 8 minutes to do what takes 6 minutes in daylight and good conditions.

So what is needed above a stock M6R? I've bought marathons, meant to get pluses but couldn't wait to order from cheap place so bought in lbs. I've got the stock guards. Currently using cateye volt 300 upfront and lezyne laser drive out back. They were my old road bike commuting lights and were great for the roads I used to take. That was approaching from the other side with a reasonable route in.

I'm thinking a higher lumens light. Any suggestions? Other than that I can't see what else could be done.

PS this morning the road onto the estate was flooded and the gravel in places felt like cycling through treacle at one point. I hate this place but work is here so no choice right now. Only if some kit can help then I'd appreciate the advice.

PPS I need to be seen as well as to see. Whilst I have reflectors in place, orange coat with reflective (rucksack covers it a bit) and a great rear light I can't see the road well enough. I also worry a high lumens light might be too directional and narrow a beam for good visibility by others. I have the truck issue.

I find marathon and marathon pluses everywhere for £29.99. Unless you're going for the schwalbe ones or something I am surprised at the £40 price tag.

Just googled and the tyre mentioned above was £55 for a brompton and £30 in 700c tyre size. Tanwall in 16" but black wall in 700c in case that explains the difference.

I've no interest in highest end. Marathon and marathon pluses suit me as I'd rather not get a puncture when commuting. Those are the same price as I pay for full sized road tyres.

Do you really need schwalbe one? Nothing close but cheaper? Doesn't matter if that's what you want just you pay for it. Although it does seem like profiteering somehow.

UpWrong wrote: ↑27 Sep 2021, 11:41am I'm selling on Gumtree. Parcelforce don't charge any extra for delivery in NI and there is no information provided in the quote about customs although elsewhere a CP72 declaration form is mentioned.

You'll probably need to give contact details as they'll probably contact the buyer for customs and VAT. With some couriers they're not very persistent and simply return the goods if there's no easy contact with the b recipient. There's a value of goods up to which things are easier AIUI. It's not that high. If you were selling on ebay there's a one stop shop that charges the buyer upfront for that and gives customs a reference to track that payment. It's fairly efficient and hassle free. I have no idea whether gumtree has the equivalent system. If it does then it might make things even easier.

[XAP]Bob wrote: ↑27 Sep 2021, 8:54am

Tangled Metal wrote: ↑27 Sep 2021, 7:33am The reason is both NI and Republic of Ireland are enforcing the rules incredibly strictly. Nowhere that we've sent to is as bad. We've sent to USA, Canada, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, France, Spain, Portugal and probably other countries too. They got delivered first time every time. Island of Ireland almost always a problem. Either returned or late delivery.

IMHO try not to sell there, you'll probably have problems. I hate sounding negative but it's our experience.

By incredibly strictly you mean they are actually enforcing the rules (and I'm not sure NI are, the ROI are when things arrive there directly, but NI is a bit of a shambles at the moment)

The USA/Canada are obviously completely different rulesets - so a very odd comparison to put in there.

I listed some of the places where we send stuff and you edit out the eu countries to make a point?

The point is rules changed for shipping to many areas and there's similarities for shipping small packages to many of them but IME NI and Republic are both equally being strict with the rules post Brexit. But it's more than strict there's other countries that strictly follow the rules. Both NI and Republic have more friction than other EU nations. If that's the NI protocol or other issue doing it I don't know. I just know we are close to turning orders down from that island.

It's one thing to supply documentation, that's no issue at all, it's when the processes of couriers going into there actively make the importation excessively problematic. Fortunately there's some couriers better than others and it's taken trial and error to find the ones with systems that make shipping to Ireland easier. My preferred it's parcelforce. Worst is DPD.

Bear in mind we're shipping into EU countries several times a week and the small orders as and when. We're efficient at it now and rarely have issues. They're almost always with Ireland. You might have different experiences but this is ours.

Ebay has a one stop shop for sellers importing. It's easy and automated.

Other than that be careful which courier you use. Some are hopeless. You pay for your item to go out there (I think, no guarantee it left England), they make some feeble attemp at collecting vat or duty and then after several days with no update it turns up at your address returned with no refund. Iirc DPD do that.

It got so bad with couriers that we considered not selling to the island of Ireland. The reason is both NI and Republic of Ireland are enforcing the rules incredibly strictly. Nowhere that we've sent to is as bad. We've sent to USA, Canada, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, France, Spain, Portugal and probably other countries too. They got delivered first time every time. Island of Ireland almost always a problem. Either returned or late delivery.

IMHO try not to sell there, you'll probably have problems. I hate sounding negative but it's our experience.

I read that quote about white rose but it made me wary of labelling anti vax groups as anti semitic because some others are and a few such dogwhistles appear on their chat. That article seemed to say they are anti semitic because other anti vax groups are. I'm sure there's been anti semitic dogwhistles on here before are we anti semitic.

Don't get me wrong there's so much wrong with this group that anti semitic would not be a surprise or indeed might not make it any worse, its propaganda is killing so is that not bad enough?

Powerful globalists and even mysterious cabals is something from the extremes of politics on the left and right i reckon in one form or another. Indeed not so far left or right in some cases. Perhaps we could find them and tax the globalist!

Extremism takes many forms, each to be opposed. Imho the worst forms are those who get close to power.

Just got the marathons in the end from a lbs where I was this weekend. Impulse buy I guess. Just watched the rear tyre changing video. That lead to hub gear adjustment video and derailleur gear adjustment. That led to a can't be bothered this weekend. I bet I get a puncture now.

I wonder what it would feel like with a marathon front, easy change, and a racer stock tyre on the rear? Until next weekend and I have more time, of course, to play with the hub gear. If it's stuck in 2, I can always just use the derailleur gears to get up the steep hill. I rarely use 1 and 3 I can freewheel to avoid. That's if I stuff it up.

How hard are hub gears to adjust? I can see how they need it but what about the derailleur gears, will they need adjusting? Taking off a rear wheel of my road bike doesn't affect the gearing so I don't think the 2 speed derailleur on the Brompton will be affected, right? I need to learn sometime, although I doubt I'll change the tyre on the side of the road anyway. There designed for public transport afterall. 20 minutes walk to the train then catch the later one home. No issues. I think Brompton are made for taking home to sort out.

I riding over gravel filled potholes, gravel supplied by waste recycling centre on estate. Contains glass and don't know what. Think M pluses are the toughest tyres out there so perhaps best choice.

Best price I've seen, thanks.

Ken Loach seen through the eyes of a true believer!

I thought that he could have simply replaced the name of kier starmer with Jeremy Corbyn when he was talking about gaining control of the party, power, dishonesty and lack of democracy. The corbyn lurch to the left, the purging of those centre left in the leadership positions, etc, etc, etc.

I think this view is outdated and stuck in the past. Every new leader of a party comes in and changes things. Corbyn, McClusky, McConnell and momentum certainly did that. Or do your redtinted glasses not see that? I think that's a good thing, a renewal of a failing party's politics from something that did not work to perhaps something that might. Something that might reconnect with voters and get the tories out. I never thought I'd say this but we need a Blair that believes in the rule of law. Starmer might be that or the one replacing him might be the one. Can't keep losing the battle in the same old Corbyn way, they need a purge like Corbyn's lot had but one that moves back to the centre left.

I need something tougher than stock racers for my work brompton. Something real tough! Any recommendations? Both tyre choice and place to buy from.