Rab Ascent bivi. It's last years model so needs a wee loop on the upper zip area so I can maybe tie it to something and create a bit of airflow/ventilation in the right conditions.

Expect a flurry of tarp questions ;-)

BRP wrote: Which means I'll have another Thomson elite up for sale soon if anyone needs one in 27.2?

Is it a lay back or normal?

It's a layback. 41O with a little bit cut off, 27.2, black....brand new.
FLV has first refusal, but if he's not interested I'll make an ad.

Few bits for me....

Fuel tank bag from Pawel. Got a custom double-length one. Very impressed with quality and price.

Also got a cheap triangle frame bag which fits the other end of the top tube and joins up to the seat post. Bike looks a bit odd with so many bags but the all fit and it means carrying more on the bike and less on my back.

Nalgene hip flask. Super light cos it's plastic and hopefully won't leak like my stainless steel one did. I spent my trip to Wales last week smelling like a drunk after single malt leaked into my inside pocket on my jacket. Don't know what was more upsetting though as it was a waste of good booze!

Dan_K wrote:Fuel tank bag from Pawel. Got a custom double-length one. Very impressed with quality and price.

Could you post a link to where you got that from please?

I'm guessing www.bikepack.eu ?

johnnystorm wrote:I'm guessing http://www.bikepack.eu ?

Correct. I asked for it to be double length and then sent him a picture of where I wanted an extra tab at the back. Delivery was around 2-3 weeks. If you use a frame bag and you want a custom size, make sure you let him know where you want the velcro tabs to go so they don't conflict with your frame bag velcro.

have now got a nice jetboil sol ti with coffee press....what's better is the gf got it for me for £85 so that's going to Scotland with me. I've also brought two event sea to summit dry bags and best of all a wingnut 2.5-what a pack. so heading out tomoz to try it all

The post mans been but seems to have got stuck at the depot with a custom charge.

Hoping its a present from Eric at Revelate of a sweet roll & tangle frame.

Dispatched straight away but taken a while to get over here, still at least I got to track the parcel and see its route Alaska, San Francisco, sounds good.

Welcome Aidster Be interested to see how that Sweet Roll sits in a few weeks as I've had some brake hose issues with my current setup (On-One Fleegle bars, 2012 SLX brakes, Wildcat Mountain Lion). I've had to put my old brakes on to get things to sit nicely.

I figure that either this, or this is the answer...

The last little bits - two "lever boss covers" that the Ebay seller didn't think were needed to make the shifters work - to finish off my 69er off-road tour/commute/bikepacker.

InspiredRamblings wrote:Welcome Aidster

Cheers dude, all arived ok, once I wrestled it from the postman. Everything looks ship shape out of the box. It's all looking a bit crowded on the handlebars at the moment - an upgrade i handn't planned.

Received 3 Monkii cages and 2 Monkii clips today...very pleased with them but the clips are at their limit on my Fox 32's. I'm thinking of making some longer, curved bolts for them and using a nut on the ends so the bolt doesn't need to spin to tighten it. That way there will be some space for a rubber strip to go round the fork legs as I've only got some duct tape on them at present.

I also got a second hand Wingnut Enduro, thanks Zomarzi. I might look like I'm going on a mission to the moon when wearing it (it's part silver!) but it will come in handy for carrying bulky, winter bikepacking kit.

I'm off on a 3-day trip in less than 2 weeks...I'm the least fit I've been for a long time and there is still deep snow in the places I'll be going! Things should be 'interesting' at least, I'll post a report once done. :)

Two TINY packages for me today...Some more detailing on the English...tweaking it one part at a time. :D

Parts of passion seatpost yokes to tune my Thomson masterpiece...along with the titanium bolts I got last week.
Its now a superlight, but very reliable post.
I know there are better things to spend my money on, but this is my dream bike, so it's getting tweaked all over!





I also received some black Gusset 3/8" aluminium axle nuts to replace the overweight, and overlong Shimano Alfine jobbies.

BRP wrote:Two TINY packages for me today...Some more detailing on the English...tweaking it one part at a time. :D

Parts of passion seatpost yokes to tune my Thomson masterpiece...along with the titanium bolts I got last week.
Its now a superlight, but very reliable post.
I know there are better things to spend my money on, but this is my dream bike, so it's getting tweaked all over!





I also received some black Gusset 3/8" aluminium axle nuts to replace the overweight, and overlong Shimano Alfine jobbies.

Part of me thinks this is incredibly sad.

Part of me fricking loves this attention to detail :D


And then another part of me wishes I had a lathe (and the space for a lathe) to make bits like this

Oh it's without doubt incredibly sad and geeky...but this bike is getting special treatment...to make up for the abuse it will eventually get. :D
It's gonna be a long time before I build another bike to this level, so I'm making it a good one! :D

I appear to have a note from Royal Mail telling me I've got a £24 customs charge to pay on an item that they're holding...

The only thing I'm waiting for (apart from the mytimug kit from Stu, which is also at the sorting office but hopefully just because it wouldn't fit through my postbox and not because it suffers a customs charge despite coming from Wales...) is a couple of Mountain Feedbags from Veloista... But surely I shouldn't need to pay a customs charge for stuff from them...??

No, I paid nothing for a tangle from Veloista, EU init

Veloista are in Switzerland, which isn't in the EU.
Therefore I suspect goods from there would be subject to import duties just the same as N. America or Asia etc?

edit: found this via google:

On March the 4th, 2001, 77.3% of the Swiss people have rejected in a popular vote an initiative to join the EU. This is a clear an expression of the people's will you can get. Joining the EU is not on Switzerland's agenda.

Ian wrote:Veloista are in Switzerland, which isn't in the EU.
Therefore I suspect goods from there would be subject to import duties just the same as N. America or Asia etc?

edit: found this via google:

On March the 4th, 2001, 77.3% of the Swiss people have rejected in a popular vote an initiative to join the EU. This is a clear an expression of the people's will you can get. Joining the EU is not on Switzerland's agenda.

Their contact address on their website is in Koblenz (Germany)...

Interesting, hadn't noticed that... Whilst I've never bought from them, I've browsed their site a few times and always assumed it was Swiss as they'd priced stuff in Swiss Francs (see conditions). Appears their bank account is also a swiss bank account.

Ahhh....

Just had a very swift reply from Annette at Veloista explaining that they're in Koblenz in Switzerland... Another Koblenz... So now the bank account and currency make sense.

To be honest, I hadn't actually paid much attention to where they were apart from in Europe and that they had some in stock, though I think I'd seen generally chatter about not risking duty payments when ordering from them rather than the states.

Anyway, it's not much spread around 3 mountain feedbags given the price was much better than from the US, and that one is for Aidster (sorry mate, not quite such a good deal after all!).

As far as I've been told by suppliers, you pay import duty based on the country of origin of the goods...not where they're purchased from.

Ian wrote:Veloista are in Switzerland, which isn't in the EU.
Therefore I suspect goods from there would be subject to import duties just the same as N. America or Asia etc?

edit: found this via google:

On March the 4th, 2001, 77.3% of the Swiss people have rejected in a popular vote an initiative to join the EU. This is a clear an expression of the people's will you can get. Joining the EU is not on Switzerland's agenda.

I think duty free import applies to all Schengen countries, which Switzerland is part of.

So the post man has been (or rather, I went to him) and he gave me this from Stu...



and three Mountain Feedbags from Veloista (one is not for me) upon payment of this...



So I've been charged about £5.45 VAT on each feedbag... but no import duty as the goods were valued at below £135.. More details on HMRC's website