noob questions

also, any london people have a favourite LBS that'll do a full clean / servive jobby on my bike? feel like it's taken quite a battering over the last few months.

VAT is just a national sales tax, gbx

right, but isn't it structured in some complicated way? liiiiike at several points along the supply chain, whereas a US state's sales tax is only applied at the final point of sale? i dunno.

actually it wasn't the cheapest bb i got, forget the details but 'cause of the bike he had to get a pricier one (and nah i wasn't being fleeced, they're pretty decent, would recommend for full service etc...)

http://www.londonbicycle.com/repairs.html

right, but isn't it structured in some complicated way? liiiiike at several points along the supply chain, whereas a US state's sales tax is only applied at the final point of sale? i dunno.

no, it's just a sales tax.

oh. huh.

noob VAT questions

I never have to worry, cuz I always get mine back upon departure... B-)

it's not just a sales tax, although the effect is much the same. It is a tax on the value added at each point on the supply chain. When you file your quarterly VAT return you pay the VAT you charged your customers less the VAT your supplier charged you.

However, as a consumer you just see the price, inclusive of the 20% VAT and what you pay is functionally the same as if you paid a 20% US style sales tax.

It is very annoying that, as a non resident british subject, I can't claim the VAT back on departure.

aha!!

tire recommendation: i LOOOVE my vittoria randonneurs 700x32, it is the first puncture resistant tire that i think actually does something other than add weight. xpost

I have some Schwalbe Durano Pluses - light and racy (to a point) but with extra puncture protection. Only done a few hundred miles on them to date but none so far.

Apologies - they're Stelvio Pluses (the rest of the post still applies).

any idea what this is likely to go for: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150559531383. i mean are we talking £300 or £900?

I'm going to say above £600 possibly nearer £900.

on the one hand, its probly "worth" 800 to 900 really, but irl i don't know what the market is for nice shit (assuming its not clapped out) on a scrubby (though entirely satifactory) frame. seems like surly should make an effort to source a steel fork that isnt a boat anchor, really.

or, what Ed wrote.

haha, ok

50/34 x 13/29 = fat mantis friendly.

bought a 2010 secteur triple on sale at the LBS at £399 from £549. should get me through to the summer relocation without further devaluation. first road bike in 10+ years, and certainly the first non-beater.

that surly went for £600 in the end btw.

cycling from bristol to bath and back (~30 miles) tomorrow via lunch on friend's canal barge. luv my bike.

sure, i wasn't wearing cycling shorts, i've not been on a bike for ~1 yr, and i was used to a slightly more padded saddle when i was cycling around town regularly, but should i really be this saddle sore after 30 miles? could it be a setup problem?

no chamois + 2hrs? + sweat + friction + no riding for a year = no surprise to me duder.

yeah i guess. saddle set up feels ok.

feel like someone took a tenderizer to my bum.

there is a thread for this feeling iirc

right now its the US politics thread afaict

Sounds right caek - a few more miles/weeks and you'll be fine.

my bum is better!

Hurrah!

Well that's pretty subjective.

got a problem with my front derailleur: small ring seems ok, but with the left shifter under full tension (i.e. trying to change into the big ring), the chain rubs against the inside of the derailleur cage with the chain stuck on the middle ring (this is on the smallest rear cog). i've already got the adjustment screw as loose as possible, so the cage is free to more as far as possible away from the frame. is this a cable tension issue? or is it a problem with the alignment of the derailleur mechanism? new bike, done maybe 100 miles.

on a possibly related issue, is it normal to service a new bike after it's had a chance to settle down

My guess is you have probably had a little cable stretch and a little slippage through the retaining screw. It's not uncommon with a new bike. You'll have to set it up again which is pretty simple, give me a moment and I'll find a how-to.

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/front-derailleur-adjustments
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/derailer-adjustment.html

is the cage mech contacting the limit screw? if not, then it is cable adjustment. if yes, it is an alignment/derailler swing capacity issue.

another way to test this is can you manually pull on the front derailler cable and cause the cage to swing further? if yes, it is cable adjustment.

this can happen if the derailler pinch bolt was not tightened enough and the cable has slipped.
xpost

my city bike has those suntour symmetric shifters described on the sheldon brown page. they suck.

i don't understand this: "is the cage mech contacting the limit screw?" could you elaborate?

not quickly. if the shifting used to work, and now it doesnt, and you haven't crashed or banged the mech, it's almost surely a cable adjust.

is it normal to service a new bike after it's had a chance to settle down?

Yes, they usually say give it 100 miles or so to stretch the cables and then get everything adjusted/checked

Did you adjust the limit screw? That was your first error. This sounds entirely like cable stretch and is incredibly easy to fix, but if you've buggered about with the limit screw then either try to return it to how it was or get an expert to sort it.

And yes, it is normal and sensible to have your bike serviced after a few weeks' riding. Ideally this'll be a freebie from the shop where you bought it.

the limit screws are back where they were afaict, and it is certainly no worse.

i am go away for three weeks on monday, so i will get it serviced when i get back. two rings are usable in the meantime.

(sorry my last post reads really sniffy!)

haha no problem!

I'm a total noob looking to buy a bike, and trying to decide between a road, hybrid, or touring style. I am looking to do longer rides on paved surfaces, in a hilly area (bay area). Friend of my swears by his Surly Crosscheck because of how rugged it is. I rode it once and loved it, but it strikes me as maybe being too heavy.

don't do like i did and buy a hybrid if you think you'll be at all interested in cycling more than in the city. i got the bug real quick.

going to buy a pompino

i got one. is nice.

yes hello. i would like to buy a bike for purposes of recreational riding on various paved trails in the area as well as possibly commuting to work on days when it is not ridiculously hot. i am guessing some kind of light weight, hybrid thing would work. but i know NOTHING about bikes, pricing, shopping for them, how to pick out what's good, etc. halp!

for reference: this store is across the street and the people who work there are reportedly very good/helpful, though it is also rumored to be quite pricey. at any rate, i could certainly hop over for being measured or browsing different types of recommended bikes.

can anyone recommend a place in chicago to check out bikes? i am broke. maybe a coop or something

i had a bike that was like a psuedo-mountain bike made for cruising around urban areas, so like some of the bikes posted at the beginning of the thread, and i sorta suspected that ppl had recommended those to me so their bikes look better. im probably crazy, but it seemed like most of my friends had bikes w/ thinner looking skeletons that traversed ground much more quickly. sorta felt like these bikes were recommended to me so they could feel like pros, lol. i do still have the frame from this old bike (the rest of it -- pedals, tire etc -- were destroyed by bike pirates when i left the bike out too long)

Theresa, I really like the two bike stores by the key bridge. The one nearer the bridge is a little less serious roadie store but the people in both of them seem really nice. REI is good too, especially if they have a 20% coupon deal on (plus you get 10% back at the end of the year for being a member). About 50% of the people I know have REI own brand bikes, Novarra.

Worth going to a store and talking to someone about fit. I notice from the website of one of the stores I mentioned above (http://revolutioncycles.com/) that they have a "ladies night" where they'll feed you wine and sell you a bike.

I would recommend a "flat bar road" or hybrid bike unless you find you like drop handlebars. I'd err away from a heavier step through frame with an upright position. You could go singlespeed in DC although I think gears are preferable, IME some of the trails kickup a little and you might not find doing rides like the one along the C&O canal trail to great falls quite so enjoyable. (that said my friend did DC to pittsburgh on a singlespeed in 4 days last year so what do I know)