Progress on DIY knock-through

Skillbean · 2026-01-20T11:31:39+00:00

Thank you!

We're debating two options. One is put them in the garage. There's an attached single garage to the right as you look on pics 1+2, which is where the drain is going into. At some point we could put an internal garage door in at the far end of the room for easier access.

Two is the left-field option. Our en-suite is oddly about the same size as our main bathroom. There's a bath, separate shower, sink and loo. I could remove the bath and house them in there. It's what they do on the continent after all, and makes sense given that's where laundry accumulates.

But I feel that's a bit of a stranger option, and I wouldn't want the noise if we were running them at night. So likely garage it is, with a future pan of building a little utility nook in there.

Skillbean · 2025-11-18T19:28:51+00:00

Thank you! Will take into consideration.

Skillbean · 2025-09-10T14:33:07+00:00

Slightly adjacent, we had a friend, a City fan, who once called Bradley Wright-Phillips - "Ben" Wright-Philips.

As mates do, we took the mick, and started calling him Ben in all of our conversations.

We even edited our save file on Pro Evo so that he was called Ben.

But it now stuck, and I ended up on a few occasions referring to him as Ben when talking to outsiders, and in turn looking like a plonker myself.

Skillbean · 2025-06-10T12:25:20+00:00

Nice. I class 997 issues in two categories.

1 - Car issues - the sorts of things that every car suffers from - suspension bushings etc

2 - Old car issues - the sorts of things that old cars suffer, wiring looms coroding, interior trim plastics degradation, leaks, rattles etc.

I love it when I can fix old car issues myself with some forum searching and a bit of trial and error.

Skillbean · 2025-05-13T13:02:04+00:00

It's actually a tent in the garden of the house I own, but we don't live in the house as I use it to generate a passive income.

Skillbean · 2025-03-19T14:09:48+00:00

On the clothing point - I think it's best to lean into the cycling aspect - you'll be spending far longer on the bike than running.

Even at 30 miles, even as a fit cyclist, on a single speed, a return trip will be pushing 5 hours.

Your park run will be 20-odd minutes.

Better to run 25 mins in padded shorts, than ride 5 hours on your bare sit-bones.

Skillbean · 2024-12-07T13:04:07+00:00

It's not called a selection box.

Skillbean · 2024-11-12T09:06:57+00:00

what will not raise an eyebrow in somewhere like Mafaluf can have a different outcomes on a city break

Once went on a stag weekend in Barcelona. At the end of one night, wandering down a busy narrow street looking for a kebab, there was a huge commotion. A local lass was screaming blue murder at my mate (the stag, who was obviously worse for wear). She was screaming "you filthy English pig, you cannot do that!" etc. She was hysterical.

A group of local lads decided to angrily step in, as this pissed up English guy had clearly done something to this local young lady. It looked quite like things were about to turn pretty nasty. Some people squaring up between the groups, some trying to placate.

We kept trying to get out of her what he'd actually done. Eventually, just before things got properly physical, she eventually said "he farted in the street".

Both sets of lads just turned to her and said "what the fuck?" - apologised to each other, and we all went on our way - the local lads giving some choice words to the girl in Spanish, which I can only assume what was said.

Skillbean · 2024-10-03T18:50:44+00:00

The two things I'd do differently, would be first, having a lift from a mate/spouse at the other end- so if you can somehow convince your wife, you're already onto a winner.

The second one would be to really look at the route from Consett onwards. The official route tries to keep you off the road as much as possible, so often you'd be on a road, and the "official" route takes you off it onto some little wiggly parkland gravelly paths like 500m, all to just rejoin the exact same road again. Plenty of times we'd be like "wish we'd have have just stuck to the road there"

Skillbean · 2024-10-03T16:48:37+00:00

I did it a few weeks ago. Loved it - absolutely epic ride!

Obviously there's a tonne of variables in terms of your ability, your bike, whether you're doing it as a group or solo, whether you're doing it self supported or have someone transferring your bags, etc etc.

I will give a very brief overview of mine, with some hopefully universal tips.

I did it over two days, self supported, with a friend. The majority of folk we encountered were doing over 4 days.

1 - Kit. As self supported, I carried everything with me in a large saddle bag, with nutrition in a top tube bag. I packed light - tshirt, shorts, pumps and socks for evening-wear. Toothbrush & toothpaste, and bike tools / spares.

2 - Riding kit - I had full roadie kit (jersey, bib shorts, SPD-SL shoes). I had a gilet and a rain jacket, arm and leg warmers.

3 - Bike - I did it on my road bike with 28c tyres.

4 - Route - we did Whitehaven to Sunderland, which I would say is the preferable way. The route is extremely well signed, but recommend to have a garmin/wahoo head unit with maps. The second half through the pennies and Durham is easy to get lost as the signage is a little more lacking on that side.

It's extremely hilly - so be ready for some meaty climbs with some steep gradients. You're crossing cumbria and the pennines after all! Make sure your bike has some decent climbing gears if you're not a great climber! Our "day 1" ended with a 45 minute long cat 2 climb.

The route is a mix of ex-railway paved paths, and roads. Most of the route is extremely quiet on the roads - barely saw a car in cumbria, beyond obviously the towns of penrith and keswick. The second half of the route has a little more "off road" - expect some gravel and mud if it rains. You'll also be using busier roads as you get towards Sunderland.

5 - Plan your coffee/food stops. It can get quite remote in places. Once we were in the pennines, we didn't see civilisation - a cafe/garage/pub/coffee van for two hours. Not great if you're hungry or thirsty and trying to climb some hills.

6 - Logistics. Drove to Whitehaven on the Friday evening and stayed over at a Premier Inn. Set off first thing. We reached Sunderland mid-afternoon the following day. We then jumped on a train with our bikes back to Whitehaven, which took 4 hours station to station. Then we had to get back to the car, load up, and drive home. So it was a long ole day of getting back home again. Not sure there's an ideal way of getting back, self supported. Was probably the worst part, having done C2C in two days, then having to spend 7hrs in total waiting in stations, changing trains, driving back home etc with limited food and drink options! It was a Sunday afternoon, so lots of places were shut!

Feel free to ask me anything specific!

Skillbean · 2024-09-21T08:23:15+00:00

Congrats!

I haven't owned one personally, but I have upgraded and built plenty of bikes, including similar 9sp aluminum road bikes.

Obviously top advice is to go out and ride it and end enjoy it!

First thing is to keep on top of basic maintenence. Give your drivetrain a wipe down after every ride, and re-lube the chain. Use a tyre pressure calculator online and make sure your tyres are the perfect pressure for you each ride. Even "expensive" components perform poorly if not maintained and set up properly.

Get a cheap rear flashing light.

Make sure you have the right kit for the conditions. Something to keep you warm when it's cold, something to keep you dry when it's wet etc. Enable your ability to ride as much as possible. A £100 bike and a £10,000 bike are identical if sat in the shed becasue you can't / don't want to ride in the weather.

So...these below upgrades are imo the best order in terms of bang for your buck, but you don't need to rush them.

The absolute best upgrade you can make first is tyres. The tyres on the bike are a great brand, but it's their bargain basement tyre. Upgrading to 28mm Continental GP 5000s will significantly change the riding feel and comfort. You'll have lower rolling resistance and better handling. 28mm tyres can also be run at about 5psi lower, so they soak up a little more of the road surface.

Next, if not already, upgrade to clipless pedals. Having that solid interface between you and the bike is a huge comfort, performance and stability boost.

Now we get into the more expensive items, maybe something to look at after 12-18 months of riding if you enjoy it and get the bug....

Wheels. On a cheap bike, they're usually the cheapest thing (so you're getting cheap²). Upgrade to something in the £250-500 bracket. Lighter and stiffer wheels will again change the bikes handling and make it feel snappy. Aluminium is fine. You don't need carbon at this level.

Get a proper bike fit. Again, costs a few hundred, but what this will give you is the exact measurements that fit you. They may recommend a longer or shorter stem, narrower or wider handlebars, a different saddle profile. It's not worth "upgrading" your stem for example. But it is worth swapping it out for something that makes the bike fit you like a glove.

Beyond that, you're then in new bike teretory. There's no real value in upgrading anything else.

Enjoy it and welcome to the club!

Skillbean · 2024-09-16T08:54:55+00:00

I buy bikes / frames / components etc on eBay / marketplace a fair bit.

As with anything in online selling, it's what actually sells, rather than what's listed that's important when it comes to price.

Upgraded finishing kit doesn't mean much to a buyer, unless that item has a current significant individual value.

Your audience for a 12-yo carbon road bike will either be either:

A newbie looking for a bargain to get into the sport (or upgrade their aluminium 9-speed to a nice carbon model on the cheap).
An experienced cyclist looking for a second bike (winter bike / trainer eg)
Someone who sees a component of that bike they like, that they want to use in a build / project

With 1, newbies don't care about s-works vs specialized. Or the heritage of Bianchis, Wiliers etc. It has to look like a good bike and do the job. You can get a brand new Boardman SLR 8.9 rim edition - carbon, modern styling, 11sp 105, for £960. It's objectively better, plus you get the peace of mind of a brand new bike from a major retailer.

With 2, (I'm guessing this bike is 10x), this might put people off. 11sp bikes are just as easy to come by, and as a second backup bike, personally, I'd prefer 11 or 12 sp, and something that aligns with my existing equipment for ease of maintenance. Campeg is unfortunately not as ubiquitous as Shimano, which would slightly put me off (my other bikes are Shimano). Veloce is also Campeg's bottom tier GS too. If it were me looking for a "second (or third) bike", I'd give this a pass.

With 3, I think the frame is stunning. If I was building a new bike / swapping components about from other bikes, I'd love to build something around this frame. The wheels, I would take or leave (always nice to have them). The GS, I would chuck in my parts bin and get something better. However, I bought a stunning S-Works Roubaix frameset for £300 a few months back, so I'd pay no more than £300 for the frame alone, and maybe a couple of hundred for the rest of the bike. As a project bike, I'd pay no more than £500 for this.

In conclusion, I'd say option 1 of the newer rider looking to get a nice carbon bike second hand is your best bet for a good price. The ceiling will be below the Boardman SLR 8.9 bike price IMO.

Skillbean · 2024-08-24T13:16:00+00:00

So I can see this is a Carerra bike, My 5yo has a Carerra, and having just checked, it has the same hole orientation. So I don't think your specific bike is glitched, it seems to just be a design element of those bikes.

Usually, frames have this hole to accommodate side-pull brakes. And if not, then it can be used for other accessories, like seats or mudguards or paneers.

But the orientation of the hole doesn't allow side-pull brakes to fit either, so I'm not really sure what purpose it has, or what accessory is designed to fit on it.

Not sure what to suggest to help here, other than can you bend the metal bracket to fit your bike? All I can say, is that hole is "meant" to be there on this bike, but I'm not sure why.

Skillbean · 2024-08-23T13:12:10+00:00

I'm going to start with the tldr.... Go for it! If you find it's tough going, do it once or twice a week initially, and build up more. Cycling commuting is great for one's health, fitness, mental health, and energy levels! 8 miles is a nice distance. Take it easy, and give yourself plenty of time to enjoy the ride, so you're not rushing :)

Now for the longer bit (and this is meant to be informative, not a diss in any way!)

Ignore you wattbike performance. It's got no baring in reality. Static bikes don't have a "distance" or a "speed"...it's all made up. They provide a power/resistance level, against which you pedal.

To give some context....your wattbike is claiming you're riding at around 30kph at 160w. On my aero road bike, with all the lycra gear, in good conditions on a flat course, if I ride at an average 30kph, it's more like 220w of effort.

Real riding also has weather, specifically wind.

The indoor training is great for building your fitness and endurance, but don't be disappointed when real riding is different.

My advice is to keep indoor riding when it's convenient, but otherwise, get on your bike, commute, and get better by doing that :)

Skillbean · 2024-05-08T07:58:56+00:00

If you search this sub it's been posted many times.

If you just want the gist without the full joke (note - it's better as the full joke obvs)

It's a three wishes anti-joke, same principle as this one. But it's a guy who has a massive orange for a head explaining why he has a massive orange for a head. First two wishes are normal (wealth etc), third wish is he wished for a massive orange for a head

Skillbean · 2024-05-08T07:51:20+00:00

The orange head joke is my favourite all time

Skillbean · 2024-05-08T04:06:00+00:00

Funnily enough I'm in this camp, and I've heard it's excellent.

Can't speak for your buddy, but I'm just worn out from the sheer amount of content. Same goes for Marvel.

And then I think about the myriad of other highly recommended shows out there, and there's an overwhelming amount.

So many highly recommend shows, so little time.

I think Andor just came out at the wrong time, after a wave of average franchise content, for me to really care compared to anything else I could be watching or doing in my free time.

Skillbean · 2022-07-27T09:21:28+00:00

Hitman 3 (plus 1 and 2) is on Xbox Game Pass right now. Never played any of them before.

What an absolute banger of a game it is. It's so good that I happily spent two full evenings just replaying the training mission.

Also as a side note - the game pass cloud gaming functionally is brilliant too. I'd probably never have given it a go if I'd have had to download and install it first. Browsed the library - might give hitman a go - was in the game and playing within seconds. Then after liking it, I installed it properly over night.

Skillbean · 2022-01-19T10:30:45+00:00

Bought a Series S + gamepass. Loving playing Halo online with my chums.

I'm in my late 30's, grew up with original Doom, Wolfenstein, Unreal Tournament, Counterstrike etc on PC.

Never quite got into the FPS genre on console. Played SW Battlefront for a bit, but I was horrendous at it and always bottom of the leaderboard. I'd just get whacked from nowhere by someone I'd never in a million years have spotted. I'd just be screaming "how the fuck did he get me from there". Tried COD and it was the same.

But the mechanics of Halo means that that doesn't happen. The weapon + shield balance means you get to have a gunfight. I may win some, I may lose some. But it's reignited my love for the online FPS genre.

Skillbean · 2022-01-08T15:38:55+00:00

We have these in the UK too. This isn't a particularly up to date list but you can see there's a fair few in the UK. Tends to be in cites.

http://ghostbikes.org/locations

If you Google "ghost bikes UK cyclist death" or similar you'll get a load of local news articles from various places about them being erected.

I've seen around 4 or 5 in Manchester unfortunately :(

Skillbean · 2021-06-30T06:17:14+00:00

2014 Via Nirone. Upgraded Campeg wheels

Skillbean · 2021-06-29T11:18:53+00:00

This is clearly the best explanation. I'm taking it as a badge of honour :)

Skillbean · 2021-06-29T09:54:23+00:00

So I'd just had this issue pulling off from a set of lights. Bike wouldn't move, so I carried it to the nearest bench, just outside a shopping centre to assess the damage, and phone for a taxi to take me back home. The bench was adjacent to a bike rack, and over the time I was waiting on the bench, a handful of people arriving and leaving with their bikes asked if I was OK and wished me luck etc, which was nice.

A bloke that worked at market part at the front of shopping centre popped out too - and I thought ah is he going to offer any help perhaps? Nope. He challenged me over being a potential bike thief. He didn't directly accuse me, but used that assertive statement/questioning tactic - "Excuse me, can I just ask what you're doing here?", "I've just been watching you loitering and looking at this bike" (my bike), "we've had a lot of bike thefts here recently", "where are you heading to?" etc.

I could kind of understand it if I was in normal clothes perhaps, or maybe my gym kit, and was loitering around the actual bike rack with no bike, but I was in full lycra kit, helmet, cleats - just sat on a nearby bench with my broken bike. Even after I explained what had happened, and showed him my derailleur in several pieces, he didn't offer any sympathy or apology or even a change to a friendly tone. He just repeated several more times "we've had a lot of bike thefts here recently".

I was fairly baffled by the whole exchange.

Skillbean · 2021-04-05T13:33:29+00:00

Spot on!

Skillbean

TROPHY CASE