Any question answered...

I've always rated Riemann p20 as it's so much easier to apply. It isn't the cheapest option, but may work out slightly cheaper than Pelotan.

How would I strip the black off these rims, and how hard is that likely to be?
https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m20b195s116p3831/KINLIN-XR-31T

Is an umbrella company a very specific thing or just a colloquialism? What if another (friendly) limited company billed on my behalf and I gave them 5% or something? Would that be legal? Isn't that basically what an umbrella company is?

Great, that'll do the job.

Another vote for p20 here - really works. You do need to give it 10mins to sink in before putting on jersey/t-shirt/going out into the sun. Now comes in spf 30 and 50.

Best bit about P20 is getting doing your face and getting that heady alcoholic cloud overwhelming your senses.

They’re almost definitely anodised, so possible, if you’re into dicking about with noxious chemicals, but a ballache big enough to make it absolutely not worth it…

An umbrella company basically becomes your employer so they're paying all the correct tax and national insurance etc at source, the whole point of being inside ir35 is that you're paid paye and not invoicing.

You might not need to go through an umbrella company if their payroll will pay you paye but à lot of places won't do it for the hassle so just farm everything off to umbrella companies.

They are your employer. The end client contracts with the umbrella, you get a zero-hour contract with the umbrella

But can anyone be an umbrella as far as the end client is concerned? If it's a very specific thing where they will ask to see proof of my employment/contract with the umbrella, then I'll just start googling umbrella companies (unless anyone has any recs). But if they just need it to be a ltd company then could I ask my FiL/his ltd to invoice them and I give him a cut.

Have asked my accountant so will follow their lead.

Seems like I'd lose between 1/4 and 1/3 of gross pay through an umbrella company though which seems a chunk. They've said they'll increase dayrate but by how much I don't yet know.

I don't know the answer, but at the very least your father in law would need to provide insurance for the work you carry out and pay you via proper payroll.

My end clients only allowed certain approved umbrellas, probably to avoid being accused of knowingly setting up tax-avoiding quasi-employment schemes.

Seems like I'd lose between 1/4 and 1/3 of gross pay through an umbrella company though which seems a chunk.

Of course - it's PAYE income tax / NI, plus a (usually fixed) fee per week for the umbrella (which also pays for stuff like insurance.

You can also claim some expenses through the umbrella. Not a lot.

Thanks - yep, this all makes sense and thinking about it I did see something about only FCSA accredited umbrellas so that will narrow down my search.

I'm such an unprofitable sole trader (I've spent more on equipment than my house is worth) I'm just not used to seeing chunks of tax like that.

The whole point of an umbrella is that there's a clear trail showing they've complied with ir35, paying a random Ltd company is no different to paying a freelancer who's working through their own company. They'll have a list of suppliers that they'll work with.

There's plenty of calculators out there to calculate what your rate needs to be to make up for working inside ir35

https://www.contractorcalculator.co.uk/ir35calculator.aspx

Yes, that's basically what I meant, but I've also worked for agencies that do it all in-house so don't work with umbrellas. Obviously this is a lot of work for payroll so the only places I know that do that are big studios that are constantly hiring in people on zero hrs contracts anyway.

I'm such an unprofitable sole trader

So I'm not the only one 🙂

Can somebody explain in terms a simpleton can understand how your client hasn't got their IR35 policy arse-backwards? I thought the whole point was to stop sole traders from interposing an incorporated entity between themselves and their customers (and taking profits as dividends and capital gains rather than salary)

As leshaches said, outsourced umbrella described above paying minimum wage plus a separate "commission" looks like exactly the structuring of payments IR35 was supposed to stamp out.

If you're a sole trader, there's no opportunity to structure payments as anything but taxable profits.

paying minimum wage plus a separate "commission"

The whole amount (less umbrella fees and minimal expenses) is PAYEd though

Alright - any positive experiences from anyone with any particular FCSA accredited one?
https://fcsa.org.uk/directory-of-members/
End client don't have their own. They suggested Yuno Juno (who don't do their own) or Major Players who also don't do their own.
It's only for 12 days and so many seem to be a subscription based / 12 month thing. Also loads of horror stories in the reviews I'm reading of so many of them about slow pay or incorrect amounts etc. The one Yuno Juno recommends (or used to before they stopped recommending) got hacked not so long ago as well...!

How would I strip the black off these rims, and how hard is that likely to be?

We've been here many times before, recently here https://www.lfgss.com/comments/16749121/incontext/

I'd be a little cautious about dipping a structurally critical hollow component into an aluminium-dissolving solution. Your local high-end anodising shop would be able to do it, but it would be much better to find a source of the same rim which has never been black, they are manufactured and sold through the usual suspects, although the whims of fashion mean they are seldom in stock.

My usual Kinlin distributor doesn't have 31s or 26s in silver and 22s are limited, I know I've had some off them in the past but I guess there's not much demand and @cycleclinic nabbed the last ones. Halo have rebadged 22s but the halo logo is pricier than the Borg one.

Not really, no.

It was successful though.
Exhibit A:
Didn't do a die yet re steel interface.
The pellet stuff was weak, had to resort to mix it into a paste and apply liberally with a brush and patiently waiting whilst it bubbled away.
Was fun though.

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Have we got a bibshorts recommendations thread? I haven't bought any for a few years and now there are loads of new brands. Tried a new pair of what used to be the go-to (rapha) and the fit has gone wildly off piste so I need a new option

Albion will do you well. They are 'on here' too...

I prefer the Calypso Once a Day to P20, doesn't feel as greasy and dries almost instantly.

I've been trying to get a siphon working in a 30m 3/4 hose. Drop is about 1m with the first 10m being pretty much flat, so I need to move quite a large quantity of water to get it started . I did get it working once with a jiggle/ball siphon valve but it's a lot of work and I haven't been able to make it work since.

Considering making my own from some kind of plunger with 2 check valves. Does something exist off the shelf that will have a high throughput and for 3/4" hose, or does anyone have any tips on what construction would look like?