Any question answered...

The bars were only cheap because the laser etching is off-centre. I couldn't give a flying fuck about the etching, but otherwise they should be normal budget alloy PlanetX bars. It's not like I bought carbon bars for 25p direct from China.

The majority of stuff I buy is second hand or reused (thus cheap) precisely because I hate things going to landfill/the ocean. And far less emissions/chemical and material waste/packaging/etc. to worry about with second hand.

I doubt anything planet X sells is made with carbon neutral manufacturing

Who is your go to for eco-conscious bike parts?

amazon

I don't willy wave that I got something for 50p and the complain that the quality isnt up to it either

Exactly, since @frankenbike uses mostly second hand, all that dirt that comes with old parts...

Well I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to willy wave, it was just supposed to be a bit of self-deprecation - I mean what sort of person re-uses bar tape, especially Deda? The stem I bought second hand from a guy down the road, the shifters from a bike recycling place. There's nothing wrong with either of them.

If I had bought bars from a bigger better manufacturer they still would have churned out a few duff ones. Zipp are not immune to manufacturing defects, they are just more thorough at throwing them away.

I don't really know what you want me to do to be honest. If you're wanting me to think about the environmental impact of the things I buy then I promise you I already do plenty of that.

Edit: we can talk about this in a PM if you like, I'm more than happy to listen/understand

No way on the chain and chainring. Would both make good plane hijacking tools.

Hi, where is the best place to buy a 50m roll of Jagwire housing? Maybe there is something else to consider for the same price? Thank you

Moore Large are the UK distributors, so most LBS will have an account, see if one will do you a deal, or ebay.

Thank you!

Does anyone know of a messenger style bag that has that hoop thingie on the back so that you can slide it onto the handle of your wheelie luggage?
There are plenty of bags with that slide down possibility, but I have only found designs with handles and a a zip on the top like a lady's handbag, as opposed to shoulder strap and front flap like a classic messenger.

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You could look at skateboard backpacks? Most will have 2 straps across the front for your board but could easily slide the handle through.

Edit: ignore me, just realised you wanted a classic messenger bag not a roll too type

Edit edit: looks like timbuk2 might do what you want. Nice but pricey

Does the 'bike lane on the pavement' marking on the left mean that bikes can hop onto the pavement and ignore the light if turning left?

Seen others do it but assumed they were RLJing.
Realised I don't know what that type of road marking means.

I think I have seen @pdlouche show some messenger bag he had made, maybe worth asking for the custom route rather to make compromises on "generic" bags?

The shared use path isn't controlled by the lights, so I'd say go for it.

timbuk2 might do what you want. Nice but pricey

Nice one. I hadn't thought of checking Timbuk2. I used to loathe them back in the day as their aestethic seemed consistent with the MTV definition of raaad.
But these new ones seem pretty nice and understated. Price is defensible if they really honour their lifetime warranty.

How much should I spend on a freewheel for a singlespeed? ie will I notice a difference between off-the-shelf £15 Shimano and a £45 BLB '72 clicks'... Cheers!

I'd say so. I would also say it's a really bad design though, because as a pedestrian at the crossroads I have no indication that I should be expecting bikes, so I'd probably get pretty annoyed if someone cycled at me - only to learn there was a vague marking 50m down the road indicating that this is what you're allowed to do.

Different question, when you go onto the crossing on Street View, you can see a 'bike lane' sign. What exactly is this pointing at / signalling?

Here: https://www.google.com/maps/@51.4408928,-0.0640709,3a,75y,214.72h,86.93t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sZ8UZMDONyiBJPSjNsM5JHQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Halo Clickster should be about £35.

Did the Dunwich with someone with a Halo Clickster one year. That noise got pretty old pretty quickly.

Does the 'bike lane on the pavement' marking on the left mean that bikes can hop onto the pavement and ignore the light if turning left?

Seen others do it but assumed they were RLJing.
Realised I don't know what that type of road marking means.

The marking is what is known as a 'jug handle' (because of its shape) and its purpose is to introduce shared-use provision (walking and cycling) on the footway there to enable cyclists to ride up to the 'Toucan' ('two can' cross, i.e. people walking and cycling) crossing, which they obviously wouldn't be able to access unless they were on the shared-use 'footway' first. If you look at the whole junction, all of the crossings have the dual provision of the normal pedestrian lights and the additional cycle green light. This means that all the footways around have to be shared use, and you can indeed see more 'jug handles' and the blue 'shared use' diagram up on the lamppost on the footway around that left turn.

In one of the many little absurdities usually thrown up by these crap designs, there's no 'jug handle' where the dropped kerb is for the residential driveway entrance, probably because the distance between the corner and the driveway entrance is too short for one and it seemed unnecessary to the engineer. By the logic of the design, there should really be one, both for clarity and because there doesn't seem to be any indication of where shared use really ends. I can't see any indication that shared use continues along the A205 London Road, but you could perhaps argue that the signing and marking is misleading if you were stopped for riding along the footway.

But yes, the signs indicate that shared use is lawful along this piece of footway around the junction and you're quite within your rights to mount the footway and turn left in this way. You should obviously take extra care in re-entering the carriageway at the driveway, because chances are that when you turned the corner the main drag will have had a green light, or that Sydenham Hill will have had a green light in the meantime, while you have to look up to 180 degrees behind to see what's going on. Both factors increase the possibility that you may come into conflict with traffic on the A205 after turning left at red in this way.

some freewheel chatter here.

Different question, when you go onto the crossing on Street View, you can see a 'bike lane' sign. What exactly is this pointing at / signalling?

Here: https://www.google.com/maps/@51.4408928,­-0.0640709,3a,75y,214.72h,86.93t/data=!3­m6!1e1!3m4!1sZ8UZMDONyiBJPSjNsM5JHQ!2e0!­7i16384!8i8192

I don't know what that indicates, either. There's a lot of signage like this that's problematic because it may have been turned, repositioned when there was a footway redesign or resurfacing (contractors often not knowing what to do with existing assets and engineers being neglectful about those), or just gone astray in other ways. I wouldn't worry too much about it. :)

Anyone taken flat pedals in hand luggage? Flying up to Edinburgh for some riding this weekend but need to bring my own pedals....My concern is, seeing what these bad boys do to my shins, they could certainly be construed as a weapon.

The marking is what is known as a 'jug handle' (because of its shape) and its purpose is to introduce a fucking nightmare for all involved.