Any question answered...

Worked for carbon and steel bikes?

Buying a phone from HK, what are the likely import fees if it gets caught up at customs? It seems surprisingly different to google this, I'm only finding websites where you need an account or need to pick what category a mobile phone is from a list in a foreign language.

I packed mine yesterday in the Evoc bag .. you gave me the fear now ..

@aggi - I ordered a 5C in January and there was just taxes on it.
My province's (in Canada) combined is 13%.

I'm only finding websites where you need an account or need to pick what category a mobile phone is from a list in a foreign language.

Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs have their own web site, and that's the one you want for duty rates on imports into the UK.

https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/trade-tariff/sections

0% duty (assuming it's cleared correctly) but there will be VAT (20%) and likely a handling fee from whoever delivers it.

Some borders are funny about phones as well.

What's the best (easiest, most effective, achievable etc) way to capture carbon in a distributed/ "grass roots" way? If everyone with space to do so grew a tree or trees, would it have any impact? If so, what kind of trees work best?
There has been talk over the years of things like nanobots weaving carbon fibre out of the air, is any of this kind of technology imminent/realistic?

Has anyone seen any Amazon Prime deals on laptops that are worth looking at?

Cheers

Cheers, that's what I suspected but wasn't sure.

That is one of a number of HMRC pages I arrived on, nothing was too illuminating for me.

@Sumo

Bike Box Alans can fit in some taxis: https://bikeboxalan.com/about/technical-information/#section8 and http://www.bikebox-online.co.uk/useful-information/bike-travel-guides/car-guide/. Mine crossed town in a black cab, then went to Gatwick in an mid-size estate with the back seats down (i.e. one passenger only). Also got two in the back of a hired Ford Galaxy (?) MPV with two rows of seats.

They are definitely very big though, and the wheels are small enough that you want to minimise how far you drag them by hand. Cobbles, slopes and steps are a handful.

Also, while waiting on the curb for a black cab in London, a lawyer-type chap on the phone wandered over and used mine as a temporary desk for leafing through papers in his briefcase. When I pointed out that I didn't really mind but had to jump in a cab imminently, he apologised profusely and said he'd genuinely mistaken it for 'an item of street furniture'. I was near a building site with temporary plastic barriers, and I'd chosen the safety orange one, hoping that Easyjet might mistake it for staff gear and take more care of it....

Bike Box Alans can fit in some taxis

yeah, black cabs are generally fine, but try arriving in Milan Central Station and trying to fit two of them in one of these little guys or face a long and slow talk to your hotel.

.

A client in the states (a large university) has recently changed their payment system to suppliers. We submitted an invoice as per the previous scheme and also filled in various forms to set us up on the new system. They've now, months after invoice submission, written to say:

"needs to have the bank send us on their letterhead the wire instructions needed for this payment"

With NatWest. Suggestions? Is this a standard request? I'll call NW in the morning but having dealt with them before I imagine my request will be logged in a folder called Recycle Bin. It sounds like something a local bank would do in the 1950s if you were chummy with the manager but this is 2017. I don't even get monthly statements on paper any more.

Anyone heard of anything similar?

Can you point them to Natwest's website?

http://www.natwestinternational.com/nw/personal-banking/travel-and-international/g50/international-payments/receiving-international-payments/bank-to-bank-electronic-links.ashx#tab-section2

Yep, that was my in my first response to them but they say they need something written from the bank. Fucks. Went to Natwest who said they'd never heard such nonsense and wouldn't provide anything. Now thinking I'll have to write it off as a loss as talking to Yale is like talking to a petulant 7 year old. "I know you are but what am I!" etc.

I wouldn't write it off, just give your bank a call and speak to someone who actually handles business banking. I have my business account with RBS (who own Natwest) and going into a bank is beyond useless but the business banking team on the phone have been excellent and managed to sort out lots of things that staff in branch have said couldn't be done.

Suggestions for adventure/gravel/touring (or whatever they're called, drop bars, tyres up to 32 or so and preferably mudguard/pannier bosses) bikes for short people/women (5'2")? Probably something like a 47 frame or something I'd guess, under a grand for complete bike (preferably cheaper).

A brief lookaround is throwing up very little.

Have been to three branches and made 4 phone calls today. Even tried Twitter. Nada.

No more energy.

Calling it quits today and will try tomorrow.

Assume Pacer / Crosscheck / Straggler etc are too big?

They do a pretty broad range of sizes but are a bit over budget from what I could find (and shops stocking them over here appear to be very limited).

Can cartridge bearings be run side by side without a spacer inbetween? Do the plastic shields interfere with each other or something?

I have a freehub where there is a thin 1mm spacer between the 2 bearings that I want to remove for reasons.... (... less overlocknut spacing)

like this freehub:

So looks like I'll need to move a two bed flat from London to York(ish). However, I'd like to put the stuff from that two bed house into storage for a month as well. Any thoughts who would do this, and how much it would cost?

You can fit a two bed house into a surprisingly small space if you play tetris and build high. I did this a few years ago and got a 50 sq foot locker for a 2 bed flat, and it cost about £200 for four months. The first month is a lot cheaper usually, because they make money from people thinking they'll only be there for a month and then extending the contract.

Edit - this was at Big Yellow in 2011 so might be pricier now