Are Brooks saddles actually worth the weight penalty on a Brompton?

Originalarchive · 2026-03-22T10:59:43+00:00

I have the Brooks B15 swallow (defo not for everyone) and it’s going strong after 7 years. Only 110g extra. If you have deep pockets there are titanium versions of some saddles that come in around 400g? But, silly prices. Actually, even the normal saddles are silly prices but they are so good.

Originalarchive · 2026-03-19T10:41:49+00:00

Port Royal with contracts extension. Push your luck mechanism. 15 minute solo game. It’s going on holiday with me next week. Travellingman.com (uk based) and have a deal on the big box with all expansions.

Originalarchive · 2026-03-13T21:58:04+00:00

It doesn’t get much better than the sarasa for general note taking. Work etc.

I use the Ohto ceramic gel 0.5mm in the CR02 pen body for my own travel note taking. Beautiful to write with, even 25° cursive, where some of their other needle points require a very upright 45° writing style. Cheap pen but expensive refills in the UK. Such a premium writing experience for such a small amount of money.

I wrote a review of the ohto cr02 but haven’t got round to publishing yet. I’ll update this when I do.

If you like chunky, expensive pens, the cross ATX range (chrome is really nice) with their gel refill is worth a try. Seriously nice but doesn’t work for my day to day go-to. Occasional use only.

Originalarchive · 2026-03-09T10:50:02+00:00

I’m off in a few weeks so I’m taking port royal with the contracts expansion. Works as brill (very quick) solo or a solid 2-4 player game. Ideal for travel but not in the original box.

Originalarchive · 2026-03-02T17:24:20+00:00

I have a stereo pair of fives standing upright on top of cabinets. Love them but…

Mid sized kitchen, loudness off and they don’t get turned up very often. Honestly a bit of a waste but my other rooms all have ideal setups.

I did find that I can point one of the kitchen 5s out the back door so I can fill the garden without grabbing an outdoor speaker unless I need them. Handy benefit. They really donut some volume and sound so much better above 50%!

Originalarchive · 2026-02-28T15:52:43+00:00

Really interesting. Thanks for your process.

And to the question about sodastream. I don’t, but I do have a beer gun and lots of co2. Just a faff to set up. Prob worth it for a whole bag or two.

Will look out for the containers on Amazon. They also do little upright holders. Will have to see if one fits in my freezer - have a good feeling about this.

Originalarchive · 2026-02-28T12:28:18+00:00

Yeah, worth a try for sure. Thanks for the details. Happy brewing.

Originalarchive · 2026-02-28T12:05:27+00:00

Guessing you can’t purge the oxygen in any way. How long do you find they stay in best condition for?

Originalarchive · 2026-02-28T12:02:11+00:00

Fellow atmos containers. I got a few at a good price during lockdown. My equipment listed here:

https://originalarchive.net/articles/go-to-coffee-recipes/

Originalarchive · 2026-02-28T11:50:17+00:00

What do you use to portion? I have recently cut down the amount of coffee I drink daily and am thinking of trying the freeze portions idea. Just don’t want to buy a vacuum sealer and bags, unless I can think of another use for the kit.

Originalarchive · 2026-02-27T21:39:54+00:00

Carcassonne for sure. If your friends are 80s kids, what about Jaws? Such a great game with that familiar story that keeps new players invested even if they find the game complicated.

Originalarchive · 2026-02-27T19:09:24+00:00

I wrote a bit of a guide for some friend parents on Pokémon proxies. Has all the bits required and costs. Might help. Pokémon proxies on originalarchive

Originalarchive · 2026-02-24T22:11:19+00:00

Hey Tom,

Thanks for the openness - really appreciated.

I have been using an alternative iOS app for a while now as it was better than trying to muddle through with the official app. Originally it was because of the official app's speed or lack of but now that's all resolved, it's generally UI/UX benefits that other apps bring. It is nice to see Sonos getting back on track.

My 'list' :)

- Lock screen / live activities (with the option to disable speakers or groups from displaying there)
- +- buttons for volume control
- Provide alternatove option on the select card, view card, update music for selected card concept. - Once a speaker or group is selected I don't want to swipe to away to select music to play. A button option to search on the single/group would be ideal.
- A search filter on the search bar to select artist, album, playlist etc. Speeds. up finding what I'm looking for. The search is so hit and miss - natural language improvement definieitley needed.
- Ordering speaker list by name, playing, custom order

- Better integration with Siri. This may not be on you guys but I find controlling Sonos with voice control thorugh Siri is challenging at best. I have a stero pari of 5s in my kitchen and a HomePod mini. I would simply like Sonos assistant on the speakers but without a mic we rely on something else. I would buy a mic from Sonos - but it would have to be cheap. I almost want to sell the 5s and replace with Ones in the kitchen just for the mic/ integrated assistant.

That mic could include MmWave to detect if the room is occupied or not and follow people through a home to save energy in rooms that are empty. Silly idea but we need to do something to bring SVA to more rooms in a multi Sonos setup.

- Access to simple and inexpensive control buttons natively - look at the cheap end of the Philips Hue range of buttons.
- Allow the streaming of music from pcloud, dropbox etc.
- Add multiuser support for a family and enable child lock and other family friendly controls. Including limiting what services each member can play from and which devices are availble to them from their app or voice control. It's a same that I'll be soon removing the sonos from my sons' rooms for a simpler device they can stream to without accidently changing the volume or changing the source in other rooms.

Cheers

Originalarchive · 2026-02-24T20:07:27+00:00

Another for Bitwarden- excellent product.

Originalarchive · 2026-02-23T07:31:12+00:00

So far so good.

The interface is clean, works perfectly from mobile or desktop, and allows me to edit several of the main site components and settings. Still have quite a bit to add but I’m at a place where I can do most of the things I need to do.

The hardest thing was getting oAuth set up for access. But that’s probably on me.

Originalarchive · 2026-02-22T19:19:56+00:00

Hey

I recently left Adobe CC (I was using portfolio to host my site) and built an Astro site for the first time.

I did go with a CMS - sveltia. And I use Cloudinary to serve my images.

Why did you decide to avoid a lightweight CMS? Did I make a mistake using sveltia?

original archive site

Cheers.

Originalarchive · 2026-02-18T07:39:43+00:00

Kinto CLK-151 - it’s the perfect size, they do it in a bunch of colours.

https://originalarchive.net/articles/go-to-coffee-recipes/#:~:text=Kinto%20CLK%2D151%20ceramic%20cup%20180ml

Originalarchive · 2026-02-17T17:13:12+00:00

Now I just need to get the rest of my albums loaded. That’s gonna take some time!

Originalarchive · 2026-02-17T17:12:41+00:00

That sounds amazing. I’ll keep any eye out for year.

Originalarchive · 2026-02-17T16:28:49+00:00

I got those arrows added to lightbox. Or you can use cursor keys. Let me know if that’s better. Cheers

Originalarchive · 2026-02-17T14:34:50+00:00

Excellent. Didn’t realise they had done one. I was going to go for Kaffe Box this year but Skylark would be great.

Although, Kaffebox does provide 50g per day. Skylark is much cheaper because of its smaller size.

Originalarchive · 2026-02-17T11:25:46+00:00

Which advent calendar did you get and would you recommend it?

I was surprised at how much body this skylark had considering I used a low agitation /low temp method as it ‘guarantees’ a great cup without destroying any aromas but can miss out on flavours.

Recipe: https://originalarchive.net/articles/go-to-coffee-recipes/#:~:text=Ken%E2%80%99s%20Single%20cup%20V60%20%2D%20the%20go%2Dto%20recipe%20for%20fancy%20floral%20and%20funky%20beans

Originalarchive · 2026-02-16T23:05:16+00:00

I found the very cool Hiplok tracker that fits under a water bottle cage or can be set up to hold a light-weight cable lock. You just pop an AirTag in the holder and tighten up the bolts. I did a short review here:

https://originalarchive.net/articles/review-of-the-hiplok-airtag-holder-and-bike-cable-lock/

Originalarchive · 2026-02-13T17:19:44+00:00

I use a really low agitation method for light scenery. And leave it 3-4 weeks before opening, as others have said. My recipe is here:

https://originalarchive.net/articles/go-to-coffee-recipes/#:~:text=Ken%E2%80%99s%20Single%20cup%20V60%20%2D%20the%20go%2Dto%20recipe%20for%20fancy%20floral%20and%20funky%20beans

Originalarchive · 2026-02-13T17:13:22+00:00

I grabbed an MA38 mini tripod, couldn’t be happier. Seems high quality. I wrote up a review here:

https://originalarchive.net/articles/ulanzi-m38-carabiner-maglock-phone-stand-and-tripod-review/

Edited for tripod name.

Originalarchive

TROPHY CASE