The "what bike bits have you just bought" thread

[yellowjack]

Gizmoish said:

JustinF said:

Re. the Capo above, Sugoi's 2014 Zap has the same reflective bead fabric, £70.

Oooh.

I've seen similar 'grey' (silver?) jackets which are entirely reflective on the surface. Both at Halfords, and my LBS (Sylvester Brothers, Farnborough). No idea on the brand or price, though. I was considering one for my son's commute to college, as getting a teenager to wear 'proper' "Yellow!" hi-vis is a non-starter. Trouble is, he also needs to be able to roll or fold it up into his bag during the day, so I need one that's not too bulky.

[Craikeybaby]

My old summer gloves were looking a bit past it, so I picked these up in the sale.

[Superhoop]

Now that I'm back on the bike after a very lazy year off, I had a few sales bargains from Planet X

Merino wool arm warmers, a couple of pairs of over socks and a On One wooly hat all for under £20

[Bungleaio]

neilbauer said:

I've got that helmet, very comfy

You're not wrong. Been out for an hour tonight and it's a massive improvement over my old one.

[littleandy0410]

yellowjack said:

I've seen similar 'grey' (silver?) jackets which are entirely reflective on the surface. Both at Halfords, and my LBS (Sylvester Brothers, Farnborough). No idea on the brand or price, though. I was considering one for my son's commute to college, as getting a teenager to wear 'proper' "Yellow!" hi-vis is a non-starter. Trouble is, he also needs to be able to roll or fold it up into his bag during the day, so I need one that's not too bulky.

I was tempted by one of the Halfords ones. Proviz Reflect360, I think it's called. got good reviews online, looked quite effective, if a little ugly in daylight, but then I went and looked at one in store. It's very bulky, and feels like possibly the least breathable cycling garment I've ever seen! It's not like the Capo or Zap jackets, the entire jacket is covered in the same plasticky material as the stripes on a high viz jacket. Horrible, in my opinion.

I run quite warm while cycling, so I knew I would overheat wearing it on almost every ride, so I decided against it. I bought a Wolfbike softshell in hi-viz yellow from eBay, for about £16. It's not bad for the commute.

[MadDad]

'ere we go again........but to be fair the old chain has been on the bike for a couple of thousand k's;



And rather annoyingly a new Senson Xtreme after a vicious/sharp pot hole tore a bloody great hole in the sidewall of my brand new less than 300 mile current back tyre! Roads around the Chilterns between Marlow and Henley are so bad even cars are blowing holes in their tyres, only a matter of time before there is a serious accident as a result of a cyclist or car being thrown across the road as a result of hitting a wide and deep patch of missing tarmac.....



A pot of this;



and a pack of these;

[esuuv]

Although annoyingly it doesn't seem to fit nearly as well as my other two allegedly identically sized Giro helmets, it fits just not sure how comfortable its going to be - might have to go back

[option click]

littleandy0410 said:

yellowjack said:

I've seen similar 'grey' (silver?) jackets which are entirely reflective on the surface. Both at Halfords, and my LBS (Sylvester Brothers, Farnborough). No idea on the brand or price, though. I was considering one for my son's commute to college, as getting a teenager to wear 'proper' "Yellow!" hi-vis is a non-starter. Trouble is, he also needs to be able to roll or fold it up into his bag during the day, so I need one that's not too bulky.

I was tempted by one of the Halfords ones. Proviz Reflect360, I think it's called. got good reviews online, looked quite effective, if a little ugly in daylight, but then I went and looked at one in store. It's very bulky, and feels like possibly the least breathable cycling garment I've ever seen! It's not like the Capo or Zap jackets, the entire jacket is covered in the same plasticky material as the stripes on a high viz jacket. Horrible, in my opinion.

I run quite warm while cycling, so I knew I would overheat wearing it on almost every ride, so I decided against it. I bought a Wolfbike softshell in hi-viz yellow from eBay, for about £16. It's not bad for the commute.

I also looked at the ProViz one. It's cheaper than the Capo one, but apparently is totally non-breathable and the cut/fit is absolutely dreadful.
Cheap and nasty. They do a rucksack and rucksack cover in the same material though, so you can get a similar effect (from the back at least) without having to wear the jacket.

Edited by option click on Friday 9th January 08:50

[yellowjack]

Certainly agree re: the Halfords jacket. It was too bulky for it to be much use to my son, which is why I put it down as fast as I picked it up. I didn't really think about breathability though. He's using a cheap roll-up showerproof jacket from Trespass or somewhere similar at the moment. It does him OK for his short commute, but I'd prefer him to have something reflective on when it's darker in the evenings. A rucksack cover in that material sounds like a pretty good plan, so I'll have a little google. Thanks!

[richardxjr]

Supposed to be very comfy. For the rigid singlespeed when it dries out, otherwise I'll get a mud enema. Worth trying for the £8 or something it cost (via the slow boat from deal extreme).

[IroningMan]

option click said:

Just bought this in the hope of making myself slightly more visible/safe on my commute.
This looks to be a far better option than those awful, shapeless, yellow highlighter jackets.

And I always thought Sniff Petrol was joking...

[daddy cool]

Just received an XT rear cassette for my hardtail - direct replacement 11-36 for the bottom-of-the-range Shimano jobbie that was on there. That was 460g, and the new XT is 337g.
123g saving for £25...

[jamiebae]

I got a delivery from Wiggle yesterday, a Tiagra 10sp cassette and blue Tacx trainer tyre to go on my spare wheel, and a cheap Elite mag trainer to bolt them all to. Pics to go on the turbo torture chamber thread once it's properly set up at the weekend.

I also ordered a DHB Merino baselayer, which I tried on and found quite itchy - has anyone else had the same issues? I thought it was meant to be super-comfortable but I'd rather be in one of my cheap H&M synthetic skiing baselayers instead.

[DeuxCentCinq]

option click said:

Just bought this in the hope of making myself slightly more visible/safe on my commute.
This looks to be a far better option than those awful, shapeless, yellow highlighter jackets.

Mate of mine had a black one for a year or so, got knocked off after a number of near misses. With his compensation he bought a bright orange one. Reckons it far safer.

[walm]

daddy cool said:

123g saving for £25...

I reckon I am well over that sort of saving just by timing my bowel movements better.
Have you considered ex-lax?

[loudlashadjuster]

DeuxCentCinq said:

Mate of mine had a black one for a year or so, got knocked off after a number of near misses. With his compensation he bought a bright orange one. Reckons it far safer.

Decent enough point. Not going to attract much attention in daylight, is it? Or even at dawn/dusk when many idiots are tooling around with only sidelights/no lights.

Flouro helmet required = kinda misses the point. The point being to look badass, of course

[option click]

DeuxCentCinq said:

Mate of mine had a black one for a year or so, got knocked off after a number of near misses. With his compensation he bought a bright orange one. Reckons it far safer.

By the sound of it, the jacket may not have been the issue...

[DeuxCentCinq]

option click said:

DeuxCentCinq said:

Mate of mine had a black one for a year or so, got knocked off after a number of near misses. With his compensation he bought a bright orange one. Reckons it far safer.

By the sound of it, the jacket may not have been the issue...

Honestly, he is not the sort to jump a light, that sort of thing. Very passive on the road. Maybe that's the problem, but he reckons the orange replacement has worked far better for him.

[Rich_W]

esuuv said:

Although annoyingly it doesn't seem to fit nearly as well as my other two allegedly identically sized Giro helmets, it fits just not sure how comfortable its going to be - might have to go back

Do you mean it has pressure points? Or is it not tall enough for your head?

As someone considering a Synthe. I was told it's a smaller overall shell than other Giros

[mcelliott]

These arrived today - Planet X 45mm carbon aero rims. Got them for £245 delivered, reduced from over £400 I think. Got a good deal at the LBS on some continental tubs too. Mrs mcelliott has agreed to buy the block for my birthday. Campag c record is the lowest of the range isn't it...