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Swapped this bike for a couple bottles of wine last night: got brand new wheels, tires and cassette and pannier rack with it; and used it for the morning commute today. Usually I'm on a steel frame peugeot with 700x25 tires, so thought this would be sluggish as hell. Was very pleasantly surprised; it's much comfier ride, only a little bit more effort on the flats to keep up to my normal speed and so much better at going over drains/rubbish tarmac etc! Not used to really wide handle bars so couldn't filter as much, but that's probably for the best.

That's hilarious. I have blown a few kisses at annoyed boy racers and merc/bmw/audi drivers when they've yelled something obscene at me. You get similar results ha.

Yea the eye contact thing is spot on, but with cars coming from behind it can be a bit tricky. Saturday I made eye contact with someone who still edged out and caused me to have to come to a complete stop. There was no cars behind me, and he was crossing a single road to another side street so waiting would have been zero time or effort for him. I was just shocked at the complete disregard, as was other pedestrians and the other cyclist. I try not to get angry but appeal to their human side like "cmon, you made eye contact and still did that? Why?" etc etc.

get down Khans Bargain in Peckham Rye: they do industrial amounts of all sorts of beans, pulses, lentils and dhal. Think 5kg of chana dal cost me under a tenner the other day!

no way, i've tried this and yes it looks like meringue but it's well chickpea tasting!

That's a good idea on re-routing. I'm starting a new job soon, so will be doing Peckham to Blackfriars, which means no more Eccleston bridge clusterfuck through Victoria/Pimlico. I have started going a bit slower, and it has also helped. Cheers dude!

no offense taken, and I was thinking the same to see if I am doing something wrong. I've driven for many years, and like to think I have a good handle on the road systems etc. My problem is I'm a pushover on the road, cos I'm always worried about slowing cars down and getting in their way, which means I regularly don't ride in primary position when I suppose I should. I guess it's not as bad as I think; just scares the shit out of me when vehicles are so close to you when passing.

I disagree on the red/puy similarity arguement as puy hold their shape much better, and have a more earthy taste. That said puy are very expensive. I just buy 5kg bags to get good deals!

man that's just around the corner from me, lovely bike; but alas, no funds :(

Depends on the lentils...
Red lentils: Tarka Dal, spiced moroccan soup, lentil loaf...
Green or puy lentils: short crust pie (can get the jus roll vegan pastry and make one in 15 mins); cottage pie etc.

yea man, do it with green or puy lentils., just cook them and do like you would a 'normal' cottage pie. I'm personally not a fan of sweet potato top, but it swaps out very easily for normal/sweet/carrot etc.

lovely day to cycle in, but I am seriously considering giving it up. I am so tired of being nearly hit by cars and vans that refuse to acknowledge cyclists as a person when dangerously overtaking. They leave so little space between my shoulder and it's side that I probably couldn't fit a cigarette paper down there. If it weren't for the absurd price of the tube I'd use it in a heart beat; yes it's stressful but at least you don't regularly almost die.

Was glorious this morning, albeit a tad cold for the first 10 mins or so. Was chatting to a couple mopeds at the lights, who though I was mad with just my shorts and tshirt on ha.

That's so sad, but good that you have a replacement frame lined up. Best of luck with the Mercian!

That's heartbreaking, I'd be so gutted if mine was destroyed like that.
Hope you manage to find a replacement.

Same thing happened to my mate's carbon frame: lock didn't break so they just kicked the fuck into the frame and broke it all up. Brake cables were the only think that stopped them in the end.

As the title says: I'm looking to trade a rear Tektro short reach caliper for a long reach one.
This is the 'light weight' one, but happy for any other long reach rear caliper.
It's used but in good condition, with wear on the pads, but still usable.
Happy to meet in london, or post etc.
PM me thanks!

For the last month I've been leaving Peckham at about 0715 to get to South Ken before the temperature got too high and traffic too bad...today I decided to have a bit of a lay in and left at 0845. Oh my god, the clusterfuck traffic and pedestrians all over the shop was shocking after not doing it for a while! I really can't believe I used to optionally cycle at that time everyday; back to the 0645 alarm I think!

Tektro brakes arrived and are in great condition, thanks man!

I thought the same too at 730ish, left about half hour later than normal which is usually a killer for traffic increase but it was if I'd left early. I checked my watch to make sure I wasn't in fact an hour early! Pleasant ride in.

lucky on the British BB!

Oval to Vauxhall this morning was pretty busy! At about 7.40 some dude on a mountain bike wheelied out of most lights and kept it up for at least 100 metres, and going as fast as the Lycra brigade! Was pretty funny to watch, especially he did it most of the way up the segregated highway approaching Vauxhall.

sent a pm

Good point. I meant in regards to replacing it, as mine is Swiss and fucked! I could spend a shit load on those custom ones (can't remember the company) or go over to a threadless BB. Not sure what they are like though...

If you have an early 80s one, it's going to be a bit of a task finding out what it is. They transferred from French to British threads with a small period of Swiss around that time. Below is a pic of the Swiss one (according to the cyclespeugeot site!). You can see the line on the fixed cup that I mentioned...good luck!

Also fair play to the dude WITH ONE LEG cycling on Belgrave Road past the passport office yesterday morning. He was on a Brompton (or other generic fold up bike), clipped in and bombing it as well! Whenever I don't feel as determined to cycle in, I'm going to remember that.