The post man's been ...

[Fat tyre kicker]

A box of Goodies from the Penrith Survival Sale

[Dave Barter]

Camera batteries and porta pow charger for extended swearing on the HTR550 next month

[InspiredRamblings]

A Bear Bones carbon pole for the Altaplex that is on order...in a nice little padded sleeve... Thanks Stu

[Richard G]

Cycling bib / shorts for trainer use. Not leaving the house in that stuff, it's indecent!

[Scattamah]

Some Hammer consumables yesterday. Today, his 'n hers matching Sickle Ti sporks (wifey wanted one too), fresh tubes for Lois and a box of Clif bars in Choc/Almond fudge. Mmmmm....fudge :)

Greetz

S.

[Richpips]

Use Exposure Vybe suspension seatpost for Tom on the back of our tandem.



Also a couple of pairs of Crikey, how much bib shorts that have been alteredfor him, to fit his skinny arse.

[Scattamah]

Rab Flashpoint jacket just arrived to replace my 10 year old Burley. I'll miss the pit zips, but won't miss getting wet where the old fabric was getting thin. Bring on the wet weather this weekend!

Greetz

S.

[Zippy]

Rab Flashpoint jacket just arrived to replace my 10 year old Burley. I'll miss the pit zips, but won't miss getting wet where the old fabric was getting thin. Bring on the wet weather this weekend!

Greetz

S.

Be interested in how you find that. it's between that or a Rab VR flex jacket. I rate breath ability over waterproofing these days (when doing active stuff), but need something inbetween my paramo enduro (winter only!) and my pertex microlight smock (summer only!) for when it's raining.
I might rule it out because it has a membrane

[Richard G]

* Lightweight tubes (just for emergencies as now running tubeless).
* Dehydrated food (the good stuff!).
* Lightweight Drybag (oh the excitement!).

[Scattamah]

Rab Flashpoint jacket just arrived...

Be interested in how you find that. it's between that or a Rab VR flex jacket...

For me, it was between 3 different materials...
- Montane Minimus Smock @ 20K HH/20K MVTR/136g/Pertex Shield+ fabric;
- RAB Flashpoint @ 20K HH/40K MVTR/180g/Flashpoint fabric;
- Mont-Bell Torrent Flier @ 20K HH/? MVTR/240g/Goretex Paclite fabric.

I took the middle ground based on breathability, weight and a full front zipper. Figured I could live without the pit zips the Mont-Bell offered and switch into a Montane running smock if need be when I need to keep spray off, wind out and stay somewhat cool.

The Flashpoint in medium size feels pretty big on me...certainly not cut for cycling. I guess time will tell if I've made the right decision or an expensive mistake.

Greetz

S.

[Ray Young]

2×20 boxes of high5 mixed energy gels for £17.16 Inc p&p .

[Scattamah]

Double bonus today...box from SiS just landed on the doorstep...2 lite endurance bundles...normally 70 quid...scored for 25. Thanks to whoever posted the April40 code.

Greetz

S.

[slparsons]

-Osprey Hydraulics cleaning kit for their bladders,
-Altura Commuter pannier and hi viz night vision rain cover,
-Altura Mayhem jacket for commuting duties.

[Richard G]

My mayhem no longer seems to be waterproof. Quite annoying.

[benp1]

A 30cmx30cm cargo net for the Topeak Trolley Tote I stick on the rack on my cross bike for quick shopping runs and errands

[Taylor]

New bib shorts and a pair of tyre levers.

[Scattamah]

Final delivery for the week...Rudy Project Rydon glasses to replace my broken ones and a set of tickets to get me to Banff for 2nd Friday in June. Happy days.

Greetz

S.

[mountainbaker]

An Industry 9 classic rear hub, in blue from JRA. Super fast delivery. Just need the carbon rim, which is en route from Light Bicycle in China.

[Ian]

An Industry 9 classic rear hub, in blue from JRA. Super fast delivery. Just need the carbon rim, which is en route from Light Bicycle in China.

That will be a very fine wheel, sir

Liking the i9 hubs I have on the fat bike. Nicely made, good engagement, easy to service - knocked the old hope ones into a cocked hat

[Mart]

Use Exposure Vybe suspension seatpost for Tom

be interested to hear how you get on woth this Rich, Im warming to the idea of comfort (or going soft more like)

[mountainbaker]

That will be a very fine wheel, sir

Liking the i9 hubs I have on the fat bike. Nicely made, good engagement, easy to service - knocked the old hope ones into a cocked hat

Yeah, I was gonna build another hope hub, and then I thought I may as well build a lasting wheelset, can't afford to stretch to King, so i9 is a perfect halfway. Lovely feeling hub, super fast engagement, it's going to be noisy (good for announcing myself to bears).

Same rims as you have on the new Shand, I've built the front already onto a SP-PD8X, big rims! make my 2.4 x-kings look huge.

[whitestone]

Slightly OT but how long did your Hope hub/wheels last? What went and was it sudden or just built up? I've Hope wheels and a year and 2500Km in they are still fine.

[mountainbaker]

Mine are still going, but my rear hub has done nearly 3500 miles, mostly in muddy crappy conditions. I've cleaned and greased the freewheels regularly. I'm building a new wheel for Tour Divide, and I want it to be less needy for servicing. My hope wheel is also on a Light Bicycle Carbon rim, but the narrower 30mm ones, not the 35mm. The old rim has a huge gouge in it from a flint or a piece of metal. The rim is still true and not cracking or anything, but I don't want to risk it on the divide. I'll be keeping the old wheel for winter riding or an SS 29er at some point.

The Front hope hub has be a massive pain. 3 sets of bearings in 3000 miles, and the 15mm end caps rock about and never get a good fit. I'll be getting an i9 up front too at some point...

i used to be a proper hope fanboy, loving their hubs, brakes etc. Now, i have XT brakes (miles better than hopes) and ditching their hubs. Only hope thing I still like is the seat-collar!

[Ian]

Only hope thing I still like is the seat-collar!

I had one of those once, and even that broke

Apart from my Hope Fatsno wheels, the other hubs I've had have been largely fine, if slightly needy in terms of maintenance. The pawl springs break for fun, the bearings don't last that long (basically as mountainbaker says), though I was reasonably tolerant of it. The final straw was the Fatsno hub body that split on last years Cairngorms Loop - I was proper pissed off, Hope replaced under warrenty, but the £300 of other associated costs of getting myself equipped, up to and part way around the race, not to mention time, emotion and everything else were a complete loss (yes, I realise they don't warrenty against that, but if you buy reputable kit, you don't expect it to break). Turns out it is not a common problem, and various people in the trade told me they'd seen plenty of cases like that.

Then, the front fatsno hub I had I decided to convert to 15mm bolt thru' seeing as that was a fairly well established standard. Turns out that 15mm bolt thru' fat bike bike hubs were not on their radar when they produced mine, and in less than a year my old wheel was obsolete. I contacted them about it to see if there was any way of a converter and their response ranks among some of the worst customer service I've ever received.

I've had Hope stuff for 20 years - up until very recently there was always a component (often several) on my bike, but not any more. Shimano brakes work better than Hope, i9 or CK hubs are better (and yes, more expensive), Thomson/ Salsa/ Straitline seat collars work better, and so on. I need stuff that won't break on me while I'm out riding. Not an unreasonable request, I don't think

As you were...

[mountainbaker]

Buuuuut, they do purple anodizing!

Oh, and wtf is up with all the laser etching, fugly.

I might replace my seat collar now you've told me yours broke!