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What happens when you brake via the pedals though, does the chain not drop onto the chainstay?

Does the steel-skinned carbon seat post from the T-Line fit a normal Brompton?

Ignore me, I have just seen on Brilliant bikes that it does fit. Only 90g saving though!

Looks really promising. Like the mudguards.

Is it an Alfine hub and do you have a link to details of the Renthal triangle?

Dehumidifiers: got an Ecoair DC12 4 years ago, works very well. Can certainly pull out 4 - 6l in 8 hours or so.

A month ago, I became convinced that it wasn’t working as well as it should, and got a Ebac 4250, at around twice what I paid for the Ecoair. I am coming to the conclusion that it is nowhere near as good and that there is bugger all wrong with the Ecoair. I’ve experimented with different locations and settings and have yet to get it to take out more than about 1 - 1.5l / per day. Ebac’s guff suggests not to fiddle with settings, just put it on “smart”, and let it do its thing whereby it supposedly learns about its environment.

The Ebac does use less power though. I am beginning to think this is purely because the fan is relatively feeble compared to the Ecoair.

Sold to first dibs (for the asking price). Thanks for the interest.

Albion Zoa rain trousers, size M:
https://www.albioncycling.com/products/zoa-rain-trousers-olive-grey

Bought early last year. Worn only for a few short rides and in excellent condition. Have never seen mud.

The only sign I can see that they have been worn at all is slight furring on the insides of the ankle cuffs, as seen in the photo which shows the inside leg length (other side same).

There is a velcro fastener on one side of the waist. Depending how you line up the velcro, you can adjust the waist (although it is a fairly stretchy material anyway). I make the available range from 40.5 to 43cm, approx, laid flat but not stretched.

Selling because after a year sitting in a drawer it’s time to accept that these don’t fit me.

£100 + post.

Had an email from Donhou - closing up their (Greek) shop and ending production of frames.

What’s the deal with cleaning the chain before re-waxing?

For previously waxed chains, I just use a microfibre cloth to wipe off any dried dirt or flaky old wax, in my case there is never much to clean off, and then re-wax.

If this is the initial switch to a waxed chain, make sure the cassette, chainring, jockey wheels etc are also completely degreased before you put the first waxed chain on or it will all be a waste of time. Worth spending time on - you won’t need to do it again.

Best to have more than one chain, with a freshly waxed one to swap in. After a prolonged wet ride, the wax is going to be washed off and it’s time to swap the chain and re-do the first one.

The rest of the bike? Depends on the crud level, you might not need to bother at all, but if it’s been serious SFAB then you are going to be swapping the chain anyway so you can just clean the rest of the bike normally if needed. With a waxed chain, there won't be any degreasing needed from here on out. In fact you’d want to avoid any risk of residual degreaser or solvent on the cassette etc.

I have found “top up” drip waxes to be a waste of time, for me freshly waxed chain with nothing further until the chain needs swapped. Drip wax top ups could be useful for longer audaxes or other situations where you aren’t going to be in a position to swap chains.

For me, waxing only works for bikes that aren’t ridden in the wet. I only use it on my gravel bike as that’s only ridden at weekends. If it’s wet at all then the chain will need to be swapped out afterwards, or at least dried off until it can be swapped.

I do prefer waxing, it makes for a cleaner bike and swapping chains is easy, but it just can’t withstand getting seriously wet. Even more so on a Brompton due to how low the chain is.

Did he just go straight from getting it on the rim to loading the sealant? I always inflate without sealant first and then leave it overnight if poss.

Isn't it? Sorely tempted.

On the matter of shoe trees, I was in Crockett and Jones the other day to rectify a complete lack of proper black shoes.

For shoe trees, they wanted £110! I politely declined.

Just want to take the edge off the cold down in mid/lower single digits really

I'd recommend these:

https://www.galibier.cc/product/ardennes-light-winter-cycling-gloves/

Very interesting. Do you have any photos showing the rear dropout, and the bike from behind?

Re the Paul Brompton brakes, I asked them about converting normal Racer M to sidepull. No, there is no set of parts available that will allow a conversion. Also, the next batch of Brompton brakes will have longer arms than the first batch - I did think they looked a bit tight over the mudguards on the pics I have seen.

I had no idea Paul made brakes for the Brompton. I’d never splash out that much on rim brakes for mine, but I happen have a set of Racer Ms, never used - in black - that I had plans for once.

I wonder if it is possible to get the bits required to convert them to side pull?

Agreed. And Shimano brake calipers wouldn’t have dented the profit margin too much.

I think if they had upped the spec a bit I would find it easier to swallow the fact that it’s double the price of a standard Brompton.

As it is, for my needs, the T line remains the more appropriate machine but will be forever unaffordable (although I might have a sneaky look at what the payments might be on the work cyclescheme (Vivup)). I might have swung towards the G-line if they had thrown in carbon fork, stem, bars and Di2.

I’ll still have a test ride though.

Looks good but it is a pity, at that price, that they didn’t use a carbon fork. Or, at least, not an alloy fork.

Cheers all.

Rubberducky, it’s not that I can’t get it high enough, more that’s I am too often finding myself not quite right on it, even when I tried the insert.

Recycled, that sounds like my kind of technology.

M_V, black seat post but perhaps there is a suitably tough and thin white marker that would work.

I should have said that I have tried the insert. I found I could never get it quite right, either 5mm too high or 5mm too low. I still have both said inserts so maybe I need to give them another go, but I was wondering if there were other solutions. Is there a Brompton seat post that has markings?

I find myself very sensitive to slight changes in seat height on my Brompton. Or maybe it’s just that I rarely get the saddle height right first time, but by the time I notice I am well on with my journey and CBA stopping to sort it out despite either side of knee pain (when a bit too high) or riding inefficiently (a bit too low). I do judge it with finger widths when I set it but clearly not very well.

Any other tricks / solutions for quickly setting the height correctly? I think I remember something about a scribed line but I am a bit dubious about that.

Thanks all. I ended up getting a peace lily (and a kentia palm but ended up putting that elsewhere). It seems happy in its new spot so far.

I decided to go for coir compost for a change, in both normal and cactus forms, so we will see how that does. When I took the monstera out of its pot, the bottom layer of the pot was a dense layer of very wet compost with no roots in it so I am hoping this coir stuff will drain better.

Any suggestions for plants that do well - or at least survive - in bathrooms? The room is east facing, the plant(s) would be on the windowsill which can take a decent size pot.

What is a good source of composts of various sorts for houseplants? I need to repot a few things, ranging from small cacti to a spear plant that seems to want to exit its pot despite supposedly preferring a tight squeeze, an elephant ear, and a very unbalanced monstera.

The last couple of times I have bought houseplant compost it’s either been riddled with bastard gnats or is full of bits of plastic, glitter, and hair.

Ignore me if it’s Di2, but otherwise I’d check the shifter for any frayed cable, and at the other end I’d detach the cable and check for grot in the cable outer.