Search found 14 matches

by Winterflaw
10 Nov 2018, 7:36pm
Forum: Cycling Goods & Services - Your Reviews
Topic: Wiggle
Replies: 105
Views: 136234

Re: Wiggle

Heltor Chasca wrote:Wiggle excuses/reasoning went from cute excuses about 'gremlins in the warehouse' (I hate that excuse) to 'it's the couriers fault (which was a lie that didn't tie up with another excuse I was given


Yeah. I had the same thing, I think. They silently cancelled my order and I only found out after two weeks when I contacted them. They claimed it was a computer problem, but asked me to contact their fraud team (which has a wierd name, can't remember now - something which isn't obviously a fraud team, you have to Google to find out) when I next placed the order. I think they lied to me. I think they stopped the order because they thuoght it was fraudent (possibly because I use Revolut). They do this silently, which may or may not be understandable, depending on how much fraud they see. However, that's all by the by; you can't lie to people, because you remove from them to knowledge they need to decide if they want to do not want to place the order again.
by Winterflaw
10 Nov 2018, 7:31pm
Forum: Cycling Goods & Services - Your Reviews
Topic: Chain Reaction Cycles
Replies: 135
Views: 200980

Re: Chain Reaction Cycles

meic wrote:It has finally worked its way from my subconscious to my conscious mind that I am deleting an email from them every single day. Enough is enough, time to unsubscribe.


I had the same problem.

I've had the same problem, to a lesser extent, with most companies.

Give your email address to a company, get put on a mailing list - you're not asked.

That's wrong, but the real problem is getting *off* the mailing list.

Unsubscribe links work I find about 50% of the time.

When they don't work, you now have a non-trivial effort to get the email to stop, and some companies turn out to be unable to stop.

I am a software engineer, so I've written a little script which sends a polite email explaining all this.

I send the email 10 times for the first email, 100 for the second, 1000 for the third and so on.

It works.

Only ever needed to do the 1000 once, for a *very* stupid Sports Center in Holland.
by Winterflaw
13 Aug 2018, 11:25pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Custom seatpost shim, 27.3 (three) to 29.6?
Replies: 7
Views: 789

Re: Custom seatpost shim, 27.3 (three) to 29.6?

So, what happened in the end is that I sent the seatpost back to USE, and where I have quite a bit of spare length, they have taken off the very top of the seatpost, where the broken part of the seatpost is, and they are bonding in a replacement.

35 GBP rather than 150 for a new post.
by Winterflaw
7 Aug 2018, 6:04pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Custom seatpost shim, 27.3 (three) to 29.6?
Replies: 7
Views: 789

Re: Custom seatpost shim, 27.3 (three) to 29.6?

These people;

http://www.racewaredirect.co.uk/

Tell me they can make custom shims in nylon for 35 GBP plus shipping.

In conversation with them now - colours, shim design, length, collar design, slit/slot design, etc.
by Winterflaw
7 Aug 2018, 2:24pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Custom seatpost shim, 27.3 (three) to 29.6?
Replies: 7
Views: 789

Re: Custom seatpost shim, 27.3 (three) to 29.6?

rjb wrote:Could you wrap some emery paper around a marginally smaller tube then insert into the plastic shim and twist it until its right.


Ah, to erode the shim! that is an interesting idea.

I still have the existing, broken, 27.2mm seatpost. I think I could wrap that in paper, and then try to slide the shim over it. It should stretch a little, to go over, and then I could try spinning the shim over the seatpost/paper combination.

Have you tried the seatpin in the frame with the existing plastic shim. The amount you need to remove may well be within the manufacturing tolerance and it may all fit satisfactorily. :wink:


I have not bought the seatpost, so, no.

I don't feel very happy about this as a solution, because I'm concerned about the possibility it all seems to work but in fact there is an unusual and unexpected pressure from the over-thick seatpost, which will constantly apply load to the frame and in particular to the wields.
by Winterflaw
7 Aug 2018, 2:22pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Custom seatpost shim, 27.3 (three) to 29.6?
Replies: 7
Views: 789

Re: Custom seatpost shim, 27.3 (three) to 29.6?

profpointy wrote:you could use aluminium drinks can. Not sure on exact thickness but easy enough to measure or just use trial and error

Or, you could buy some 0 .15mm shim strip from an engineering supplier


Thankyou for the idea. I may be wrong, but I think you might have got things the wrong way around? the seatpost is thicker than the shim, rather than thinner; it's not padding I need to add, but rather - if the solution was in terms of adding or removing - but remove from the shim.
by Winterflaw
7 Aug 2018, 12:50pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Custom seatpost shim, 27.3 (three) to 29.6?
Replies: 7
Views: 789

Custom seatpost shim, 27.3 (three) to 29.6?

Hi.

I want to buy a titanium seatpost.

There are a few out there, but there are various issues for me with all of them, except for a seatpost made by Enigma.

They have a few prototypes, which were delivered last week.

They are ideal except that there was a manufacturing error, and instead of being the standard 27.2mm, they are 27.3mm.

My seatpost tube on the bike is 29.6mm.

Obviously, 27.3mm seatpost shims as such do not exist.

Any suggestions on ways to handle this?

I have a USE 27.2 to 29.6 plastic shim.

I've thought about a custom shim, but no one has a service to make them, at least not on the net. I also expect it will be expensive. I've thought about 3D printing, but I'm not sure the plastic will be the right sort, and real shims have a slit down their entire length; the 3D shim I've seen only has a slit down part of its length, I presume due to manufacturing limitations. I've thought about thinning the USE shim by 0.1mm, but I have no idea how I would go about doing so.
by Winterflaw
13 May 2018, 8:46pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Stainless Steel water bottles
Replies: 92
Views: 9682

Re: Stainless Steel water bottles

mercalia wrote:My standard SS water bottle is DDHamocks thermaflask type -

Nothing worse than water that is hot/warm on a summers day, but a cool drink hits the spot?

https://www.ddhammocks.com/product/dd_water_bottle

It is wide enough to go in a cycle water bottle carrier but rather tall


What are you doing for a top, so you can drink while riding?

In the picture, it looks like a screw top.

(However, 500ml is too small for me - all the insulated bottles surrender volume.)
by Winterflaw
13 May 2018, 5:27pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Stainless Steel water bottles
Replies: 92
Views: 9682

Re: Stainless Steel water bottles

deliquium wrote:I too almost rejected the KK bottles with the 'sport' cap for both your points, but happily adapted and made them work for me by -

a) drinking from them with the 'carry hoop' angled to the left or right - which means it doesn't get in the way of my large nose.


Right - not really a problem, I thought I'd have the hoop sawn off by the LBS when they build my bike.

b) always leaving the too stiff for dodgy teeth, push pull spout in the open position. I only use water so am not bothered about any sugary drink potential leakage/splashage (of which I've not noticed any anyway)


Ah-ha!

This is exactly what I've been contemplating.

I was trying to think back to how I would drink from my SIGGs, ten years ago : bottle comes up from cage, top to mouth, pull cap open, *then drink*. If the cap was open all the time, there would not seem to be a problem, and the rubber spigot on the KKs looked as if it would keep water in whether it was open or closed.

By the way, use the KK bottles in standard Blackburn alu cages. No rattles and eventually the odd scratch, which takes seconds to remove with a green kitchen scourer (as does the KK logo etc)


The logo will have to go, since the spigot is off center - a previous poster, possibly you, said this was easy with a bit of "Astonish".

Interesting you're using aluminium cages. I bought two of the "Ibera" cages from Amazon, and they were very nice and I would have kept them if I had plastic bottles. What I found though was that being aluminium, they had very little "give". I could hardly flex them at all. Carbon must be even more so like this. I did not think this would go well with metal bottles, unless the fit was perfect or very nearly perfect.
by Winterflaw
13 May 2018, 12:27pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: How did we delude ourselves about 23mm?
Replies: 145
Views: 7931

Re: How did we delude ourselves about 23mm?

Racingt wrote:For decades, we believed that thin 23mm high pressure, 120psi tyres were the way to be fast. Now it appears we were wrong, and 30mm tyres at 85psi are faster.
Is it true or just the industries way of getting us to buy new bikes?


I suspect the difference might be so marginal as to be inconsequential, and so we can flip-flop between them because nothing *actually* changes.

It's all in the collective mind.
by Winterflaw
13 May 2018, 12:24pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Stainless Steel water bottles
Replies: 92
Views: 9682

Re: Stainless Steel water bottles

Sweep wrote:If anyone is interested I can post a link to some stainless steel bottles I bought from China on ebay.

They seem fine and for all I know are identical to certain branded ones.


I am pretty sure that every commodity item, such as these bottles, is manufactured in the East.

The purported retailers or manufacturers are in fact importers only.

However, I think the problem with importing from the East is *quality*.

You and I can't know if we're dealing with cowboys, competency or the cream.

The importers in that sense I think fulfill a vital role.

However, I suspect they charge way too much for what they actually do.

Why do you need a liner with a stainless steel bottle?


I simply want metal.

That means steel, alumninium or titanium.

Titanium is very rare and I can't justify the cost.

Aluminium seems to mean SIGG, since no one else gets the cap right : but I think aluminimum is basically the wrong choice.

Steel wins. Zero health concerns, price is fine, weight is fine.

What sort of liner?


I don't know. It's a coating of some kind, to keep the aluminium away from the water. Looks resin-y. It's not a smooth finish, so it seems to be liquid-ish at least when applied and then runs just a little before it sets - presumbly is applied after the bottle is formed. In the old SIGG bottles allegedy contained traces of BPA, FWIW, and I also read from one source that SIGG were not upfront about this.

Agree about the Profile Design cage - bought two old ones from some nice soul on here.

Very clever design - basically strong plastic and a bit of bungy cord. Looks indestructible, last me to the grave, no problem to replace bungee if needed.


The bungee cord broke on mine fairly quickly, and that made no difference whatsoever :-) I never replaced it. The "Axis Kage" models I bought a week or two ago do not have a cord (and seem absolutely fine).

By the by del kindly sent me three small sig bottles for free - as my bottle plans panned out now don't need them all so a couple will be offered on here for free.


What I really want are 1000ml (metal) bottles which are 73mm wide, or 8cm water bottle cages so I can take an 8cm 1000ml bottle.

Can't find either.
by Winterflaw
13 May 2018, 10:06am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Stainless Steel water bottles
Replies: 92
Views: 9682

Re: Stainless Steel water bottles

Resurrecting a moderately old thread.

I am rebuilding my racer after ten years and have recently been looking for water bottles and water bottle cages.

I have a titanium frame, and I used to have SIGG 750ml bottles, and I just like metal bottles.

It's been bloody difficult.

One piece of information which perhaps is useful and which I've picked up : if you have plastic water bottles, get a metal cage. If you have metal water bottles, get a plastic cage - or, to be more specific, glass-reinforced nylon. Profile Design do a range, and in fact they were the cages I had on my bike back in the day.

I ordered two of the 1000ml SIGG Traveler bottles, and returned them : 8cm diameter, won't fit in a cage. Heartbroken - they were gorgeous.

I ordered two of the 750ml SIGG aluminium bottles. I don't like them - I think they're ugly. I think also aluminium is basically the wrong metal for water bottles - you have to have a liner, and I've read some people writing the liner begins to flake after a year or so.

One thing SIGG have got right, IMO, is the cap. You can easily open and close it with your teeth. *No one else seems to have got this right*, not on metal bottles, which is maddening.

One thing SIGG have got wrong is their web-site, which is pretty awful in a whole bunch of respects. I'm annoyed with them because it's caused me some trouble and confusion.

I also ordered and returned two of the 800ml Klean Kanteen bottles.

I loved the bottles, but the top was a huge frickin' fail.

There's a carry hoop in the way and - much more importantly, since the hoop could sawn off - the rubber spigot in the top takes a great deal of force to open and close. Much too much to use with your teeth. I think it must be completely impratical for cycling, which leads me to ask the poster above, who has had a very postive experience with KK, what's going on with that for him?

(KK with the version 1.0 of the sports cap had a centered version of the spigot without the carry hoop. No longer made.)
by Winterflaw
23 Apr 2018, 6:55pm
Forum: Cycling Goods & Services - Your Reviews
Topic: Chain Reaction Cycles
Replies: 135
Views: 200980

Re: Chain Reaction Cycles

Best prices on the market, dreadful customer support.

I placed two separate orders, one for wheels, one much later for a groupset.

For the wheels, I was unable to pay using my Revolut Mastercard - transaction refused.

I contacted CRC customer support, who insisted repeatedly it was not them but the bank.

I contacted the bank, who were equally sure it was not them.

I gave up trying to order.

Shortly after, I noticed it's possible to pay via bank to bank transfer.

Customer support did not have the wit to suggest this (in fact, they were as I recall insisting the problem was that my browser needed to clear cache and cookies - despite the order being *placed*, and *then* refused, by their back-end server.)

I ordered because I would literally have paid twice as much at the next cheapest placed to buy these wheels - an extra 600 GBP or so.

This experience put me off, so I bought the groupset at Wiggle.

I didn't know Wiggle and CRC had some years ago become one and the same.

Wiggle actually managed to be worse than CRC.

CRC when the order could not be placed *told me so*.

Wiggle accepted the order, and then silently cancelled it.

When I chased them up two weeks later, they indicated the order had been cancelled, and they hadn't told me.

I think they then lied to me about the cause, claiming a system upgrade, because they told me if I ordered again to mark the order specifically for attention of their fraud team.

CRC are incompetent, but they're not actually abusive - they don't lie.

I went to get my groupset from them (it was just after this I found out they were one with Wiggle).

I placed the groupset order on Sunday and issued the transfer.

CRC unlike every other site on the Internet call the front mech band-on adapter a braze-on adapter, so I didn't see they had one - and I need one.

I realised after placing the order.

I decided to contact them Monday morning and have the order modified.

I contact them 10am Monday, and the response is : I'll need to tell another team, they'll contact you in a few hours.

I ask the chap if it would be easier for me to cancel the order, and re-make it.

"I will ask my colleague to get back to yo on this also."

FIve hours later *the same guy* emails me and says "it is now too late to modify your order".

Now, it might be these guys are just really quick at getting orders out the door and so actually this is a sign of a job well done.

But the order was placed on a Sunday and I contacted them 10am Monday.

I think they *could* have amended the order - just they *did not*.

There is a desperate need for more competition in this market.

If Wiggle/CRC can offer these prices, so can others - or somewhat more, if customer support costs money; but I can't imagine customer support costs an extra 40% on prices.

I suspect regulation is making it hard for new entrants to get into the market.

The choice now for good prices is Wiggle, who I think lie to customers, and CRC, who are dreadful to customers.

Thankfully I'm leaving the UK in a few months - hopefully overseas retailers are better (but they won't be - all companies are appalling.)
by Winterflaw
21 Apr 2018, 12:48pm
Forum: Cycling Goods & Services - Your Reviews
Topic: Wiggle
Replies: 105
Views: 136234

Re: Wiggle

Wiggle may be telling white lies to customers regarding silently cancelled orders.

I ordered a Shimano DA groupset.

Paid using Revolut (FInTech offering Mastercard debit cards).

Order went through fine, on a Monday, delivery expected Friday.

Two weeks later, I chase them up.

Turns out the order has been cancelled, and without notifying me.

I was told should I re-order to mark the order "FAO The Profit Protecton Team".

Googling shows this is the Wiggle name for their anti-fraud team.

I asked why the order was cancelled, and why there had been no notification.

I was told, "Unfortunately due to some recent system upgrades, when we attempted to process the order it failed", and that this was also why there was no notification.

I asked if it had affected many people and was told that it had (this would have on the 9th/10th April).

What I actually think happened is that Wiggle anti-fraud blocked the order, and then because they considered it fraud didn't notify - after all, you don't notify fraudulent buyers, you can't. It's like telling email spammers you've rejected their email.

I think Wiggle then lied to me about what happened - and this is a problem, because if it's true, they're portraying this as a sofware cock-up, rather than a false positive fraud block : if it *was* a software cock-up, why would I need to mark my order for attention of the anti-fraud team - or indeed do *anything* differently?

The problem with this is that it removes from me the ability to respond appropriately to what occurred. If I think a company ballsed up their software, that's one thing, if I think they are OTT on anti-fraud, that's another. It's not for Wiggle to deceive me to influence how I think of what happened.