Any question answered...

What's the go to hybrid nowadays? Specialized Sirrus or others worth looking at? Guessing around £500ish.

Check out the Orbea carpe. About £520 hybrid with hydraulic brakes, alloy* fork, lifetime warrantied alloy frame. Edit- plus they’re a co-op, eco-conscious, etc.

Anyone London based know a decent place for PCR testing? Partner needs to go home for Christmas and it’s a minefield out there. Some prices are obscene.

If I wanted to flat back the paint after touching up some scrapes with humbrol enamel, what should I use - fine-grade Emery paper or similar? Or is this a terrible idea, and I should just touch it up and leave it?

Bit of wet and dry of increasingly fine grades, then some polishing compound to get the shine back.

Thanks

Is this salvageable? It's reasonably worn so not hugely fussed.

1 Attachment

Is it definitely available as in not occupied or just not reserved?

That's only good for the bin.

A point to note- Wald specifically state your friend will crash and burn if their basket is used with a QR front wheel. It has to be a "nutted" axle if you're going for dropout mounting.

saves me a job if anything. Farewell sweet continental prince.

Good question, I have no idea.

I've been down a massive rabbit hole on this recently. I have had a Galaxy for 6 years and it has been pretty perfect. I can fold a seat flat and fit a bike and our family in with no bother, just slides in. We have been on holiday with three kids bikes and my BMX in the boot along with all five of us.

I was torn between a Ford Grand Tourneo Connect, a Citroen Grand C4 Picasso, a Berlingo and something else van based with three seats at the front.

I ended up with the C4 on account of the cost of it, the fuel economy and the co2 which means road fund licence is £30 a year.
Not sure if I have done the right thing though. Out of my 14 cars, 13 have been Ford.

I would look at Vivaro (fleet used by my clients), Ford transit custom / Tourneo grand connect / Tourneo custom, Berlingo XL, Expert, Dispatch

My budget was 12k, most of the above were a bit out of my price range

Of course is how they came to fixie fame!

Cheers for the heads up, mid mount it is.

This post is already too long for no good reason, but I kinda want to figure it out for my own sanity.

It's because they prioritise creativity and aesthetics over design/engineering. If that's not you, then it will grate.

The no. 1 requirement of a coffee cup holder is that it holds a cup of coffee. She achieves that. But once you give it more thought, there are a whole load of other requirements. Very high up the list for eg is keeping it warm. In a cold arsed country wrapping your coffee in steel is a bit of a fail.

My 2p.

Get an estate, like a Passat or Superb,
with a roof box.

Use the roof box to store all the camping equipment in one place when not on your car. I'd argue that on camping trips having your kit in a separate storage area is superior anyway.

The Passat drives and parks surprisingly easily / similar to a Golf. Seems safe to assume the Skoda will too. The boots are fucking massive.

However, if you want a T5/6 just because. Get one. Although they're expensive and not good vfm upfront they hold there value.

Petrol though for any of these cars 5yo and 2nd hand will be tricky.

Cheers for this - I’m going to take a look at the models you mention.

@hugo7 I’m keen to avoid roofbox just because although I take your point about keeping all the camping crap in it, I just don’t really know where I’d store it when not on the car. I don’t actually particularly want a transporter - out of my budget I reckon. I’m currently looking at elgrands and Alphards as they’re petrol (I’ve seen a couple of lpg conversions, which appeals) and the level of comfort and doodads like parking cameras you get for the money.

where I’d store it when not on the car.

Outdoor storage box?

But yeah, it is a challenge. My folks ended up storing theirs on the roof of the car.

The boots are fucking massive.

Or so they seem, until you have a van. Even humongous estates only have half the load volume of the short Berlingo/Caddy/Kangoo etc., yet a medium estate like a Ford Focus is longer than the XL B9 Berlingo

This was the conclusion I came to. I’ve already got a large boot in the verso and from the suspicious peering in to random estates I’ve done, I’ll gain a little space but not much.

I have this hub:

I assume it's a rebranded novatec or quando.
Does it look like anything anyone else has? Can I get different end caps for it, to convert it to 12mm T/A?

prioritise creativity and aesthetics over design/engineering.

I reckon it’s prioritising YouTube clickability rather than anything else. And getting it done and made rather than sweating the details. Not a bad thing, just not my cup of tea. The dissonance comes from it being so close to something I’d like, but somehow it just winds me up.

No biggie tbf.

somehow it just winds me up

..dude! I'm with you! But you gotta let that shit go, fuck her cup holder! Live a little!

fuck her cup holder

Filth.

Cheers. Haven't heard of those before