The post man's been ...

[Taylor]

Carbon pot lid from rota locura.

Not the best of finishes but a very snug fit and helps to bring my 400ml cup to a rolling boil on the BB 8g stove perfectly.

Whilst I was ordering from them I bought a pack of three small flexible water carriers(approx. 0.5 litre each) for high level bivi's where water may not be available close to site.
They roll up small when not in use.

[Dan_K]

Montane singletrack jacket from CRC. Snug fit (too many sweets and not enough riding of late) - should work off some of the bulk with a road riding trip to Wales this weekend.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Carbon pot lid from rota locura.

Any pictures? The ones on their website aren't that clear. Ta

[Taylor]

The imperfection's don't stop it from working so I'm not really bothered.

Weighs a wopping 3g.

[Cheeky Monkey]

...... wIth a card for the Custom's charge and their £8 handling fee. Hey ho, some you win, some you loose

I assume it's for some Dutchware stuff. Fingers crossed the Borahgear bivi sneaks through

[Anthony]

That carbon lid is pretty cool!

I found the lid from a large tin of Lyons golden syrup a perfect fit for my 400ml mug, but being steel is a back breaking 10g.

[99percentchimp]

.... a few weeks ago - I liked Pawel logo and he's sent me a nice jersey... mud is models own from CyB today.
][url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/99pe ... .jpg[/img]
Pawels Bikepack Jersey by 99percentchimp, on Flickr[/url]

[Cheeky Monkey]

...... wIth a card for the Custom's charge and their £8 handling fee. Hey ho, some you win, some you loose

I assume it's for some Dutchware stuff. Fingers crossed the Borahgear bivi sneaks through

Son of a bitch, just got another card. That means they caught both the Dutch Gear stuff and Borah Bivi. Hey ho, some you win, some you lose

TBH the tax isn't so bad, it's Royal Mail's £8/item handling charge that's made it a bit of a stinger.

And as for carbon pot lids, I don't know whether to laugh or cry

[Normg002]

KS Lev Dropper post, DHB knee and arm warmers, and "Lifeline High Pressure Floorpump". Ordered from Wiggle at 1721 on Saturday, delivered 0900 this morning. vaguely exciting service.

Shame I won't be home for 2 weeks to play with my new goodies!

[Ian]

Finally - got my carbon pole for my Hexamid today :D

45" long in 4 sections, 0.450" diameter. 80g on my scales. Not a bad piece of kit, has an alloy point at one end and a plastic cap at the other. The critical reason for purchasing is the extra stiffness compared to my other two poles (Z-packs carbon and Easton Nanolite). To test the relative stiffnesses, I put a set of bathroom scales against the skirting board, and with the pole in the centre of the scales lent the top against the wall, so it was off vertical by about 5 degrees (which is about how I pitch it with the Hexamid). I applied force vertically downwards at the top of the pole, i.e. parallel with the wall, to simulate the force exerted by the tarp once it's all guyed out and recorded the weight on the scales when I got about an inch of deflection in the middle of the pole.
The forces required were as follows:
0.303" carbon pole (31g) - 4.5 kg
0.344" alloy pole (48g) - 6 kg
0.450" carbon pole (80g) - 20 kg

I've yet to try it with my Hexamid yet (raining here), but I expect it's going to make the world of difference to how it pitches and how stable it'll be in wind. Will update in due course.

[99percentchimp]

... with what I thought was an empty envelope - turned out to be one of Stu little meths stoves that weighs next to nothing. It's had a first test in the garage and seems to pack a punch for such a flyweight!! Very nicely finished. Thanks Stu!

Ian - I got a 49" carbon three section pole with my SMD Lunar Solo that weighs in at about 51g and, to quote Ron Moak, is "Made from carbon fiber and wrapped in fiberglass, this poles will not shatter even in the strongest winds"..... yet to be really pushed to the limit but he seems encouragingly confident. Have fun testing yours to destruction!

[Ian]

Thanks Mark - I see that the SMD ones are actually Easton poles, but as I've found with all other sites selling poles, plenty say that they're stiff(er than alloy), but not by how much or compared to what?
Whilst my experiment is fairly crude, it does give me confidence that the Rota Locura one isn't going to bend anything like as much as the others.

[Ian]

...with some new Gore Bike Wear gore-tex shorts to replace my dhb eVent ones that wetted through in a very short space of time in Sunday's rain, despite having had a reproof. I'm inclined to take any chances for the BB200

Also, a bivvy bag that tips the scales at 105g with fully enclosed hood, mesh panel to keep the midges out and zipped access 8-)

I'll get some pics up when I have a bit of time.

[Cheeky Monkey]

Finally, after getting stuffed by Customs and the Post Office, got the first of my orders from the States.

Pair of Buckles with straps for hanging
Pair of Stingerz (combo of tarp Fly and mini-krab) for rigging tarps etc.
Pair of ridgeline krabs.

Might need another roll of Zing It now

[Taylor]

@cheeky
Is that from Dutch?

Just ordered some stuff last night from the man himself.
Placed the order, twenty minutes later I got an email saying "Dispatched".
Thats fast.

[Cheeky Monkey]

Yeah, Mat (UKhammocks) doesn't have any of this stuff so went straight to Dutch in the States. Just fancied some stuff to muck around with. He just announced the Ti clips after I'd got my despatch email which was a shame as would have liked to try them. Can't be fagged with another order as Customs seem to have me sussed at the mo' :?

Plan is to try a stinger and ridgeline clip as the adjustable ridgeline that is in the "Ultimate Hang". I've done it with 3mm climbing cord and mini-krabs and it's good, leaves big Vs for the whoopies etc and positioning the tarp over the hammock is a cinch. I've found I don't "eye up" the ridegeline very well and have to fiddle with prusiks, hooks and the fly to get it all int eh right place. THis, I hope will be more foolproof If it doesn't work they'll be fine to use as intended.

Have you tried Stein Skyline? Just ordered some off the site you gave me for Zing It. About £10 cheaper (although there's 5m less on the roll). Worth a punt I thought.

[Taylor]

Not tried that as I'm still on the original Zing it Spool.
What size did you go for?
1.8?
Let me know how it goes.

[Cheeky Monkey]

... I'm still on the original Zing it Spool.

I've got a bit left but after; 2 ridgelines, guys for all the tie outs on the Superfly, guys to share between the Silwing and bicycle tarps (probably do individual sets as swwapping them over's a PITA and one day I am bound to forget which will be even worse), bunch of soft shackles and prusik loops.

Guess I got carried away splicing

Yes, 1.8mm Couldn't see much reason to go up or down in size. Will let you know.

[Ian]

Box of bits and pieces from CRC - mostly mundane stuff like chainring, brake pads and brake hose. But also an Exposure Joystick, shown here beside my new bivvy bag (on a new pair of weighing scales too ):



The Joystick is a tactical purchase to help me navigate across Carnau in the dark (and possibly rain) on the BB200

[Bearbonesnorm]

my new bivvy bag

C'mon then ... I was wrong when I guessed Borah, so now I'll say MLD? I figure it can't be Zpacks as theirs weighs 156g.

[pedalhead]

Careful that rubber band doesn't wear through that uber-light material Ian . I couldn't guess what it was but Ian revealed it to me the other day. I won't spill the beans (yet!), but am very interested on how much space there is in there for a Neoair / Peak Elite plus lofty bag..?

[Ian]

It has a 10D upper, which I think is similar to the Momentum 50 fabric that Borah use. The floor is sevenD silicon-coated fabric which is waterproof (its 7D in one direction and 10D in the other I think). It seems unfeasibly thin, but still feels tough when you try and stretch and pull it.


Wasatch bivvy - 105g by ianbarrington, on Flickr

The dimensions of the bag isn't over generous (keeps weight down I guess), but for me it's just fine. You can forget about putting a mat in there, but it'll take my -2 degree Rab bag no problem. The big plus for me, besides the weight, is the way they've done the mesh hood. It's more enclosed than the Borah one, which I prefer.

[Cheeky Monkey]

Thought it was one of those after I looked at the site yesterday. FYI and from the looks of that photo the cut of the head netting on that looks very similar to the free hood mod that Borah do.

Just yesterday a spool of 1.8 Stein Skyline and Borah bivi with hood mod.

[Dan_K]

Vango Orchy 500 family tent arrived yesterday for a weekend of relative comfort in the New Forest with the family. Think there could be some mtb riding involved too...... :D
We're staying at Sandy Balls and the local pub is the Fighting Cocks

[Ray Young]

I used to live in Bournemouth and me and my mates would visit a pub (the name of which I have forgotten) in the New Forest. However, they served a beer so strong that if you drank two pints and could go and order a third without slurring your words you got it for free. We never managed!