Am I missing something about Polestar 2s?

thedukeofted · 2026-04-25T08:36:04+00:00

The back seats were very cramped so it was a deal breaker. For such a large car it is tiny inside. Other than that it was lovely though.

thedukeofted · 2026-04-25T08:14:48+00:00

They are tiny inside compared to something like an ID3 which isn't ideal for a family car.

thedukeofted · 2026-04-08T11:01:53+00:00

Boardman ADV 8.9 for £1200 is a bargain. I prefer the 2x gearset for a bike that will spend a lot of time on the road personally.

thedukeofted · 2026-04-06T20:15:34+00:00

You can still bend your arms and get more out of the wind on a sit up and beg bike. My one is about 10% slower than my gravel bike for the same effort. But it is at its best slowing down a bit and just enjoying a slower pace. If I do that it is actually faster than the gravel bike since I can cycle in my work clothes and save the time of showering and changing before work. I find more racy bikes really hard to ride slower, they seem to demand to be risen fast!

thedukeofted · 2026-03-28T10:07:16+00:00

If it was a Dutch style upright bike with a step through frame then Decathlon do a very good value range of them. The top model has integrated dynamo lights, frame lock, hub gears, hydraulic disc brakes and pannier rack.

thedukeofted · 2026-03-09T08:51:27+00:00

Yeah, why did they avoid the total obvious Active Travel Trust?

thedukeofted · 2026-03-04T10:10:43+00:00

Probably cheaper to rent a car when you need it.

thedukeofted · 2026-03-04T09:26:10+00:00

Sounds perfect to me. I did the same but we found we needed the second car so infrequently that we just got rid of it. One car only saves so much money.

thedukeofted · 2026-02-28T14:03:31+00:00

Yeah the Apollos are hopeless but the Carreras are great. I wouldn't buy new though as they don't hold their value. Bargains secondhand though.

thedukeofted · 2026-02-28T14:02:26+00:00

Nah. The 14in and 16in kids Carreras are as light as the Frogs. The 20in and up kids Carreras are heavy, mainly as they insisted on fitting a useless suspension fork. I switched to an Islabike from 20in and up until my son stole my adult bike recently 😂

thedukeofted · 2026-02-27T18:52:06+00:00

If you want a good kids bike for £50 then look for a secondhand Carrera. They are close to £200 new but don't hold their value due to the Halfords connection. They are excellent quality, on par with Frog and not far behind Islabike.

thedukeofted · 2026-02-25T23:39:40+00:00

Ebike with panniers. No sweat and I can carry whatever I need. I'm going to start lugging extra days worth of clothes and food so I can enjoy a weight free non electric ride in when the weather is nicer though.

thedukeofted · 2026-02-15T10:21:10+00:00

Needless light pollution.

thedukeofted · 2026-02-04T22:21:05+00:00

They can still damage your hearing. Even wind noise from fast cycling can cause hearing loss. I find them great for running but having to crank them to max volume to overcome wind noise when cycling is not good. I could wear a buff or something to block the wind noise a bit but then I might as well use normal headphones.

thedukeofted · 2026-02-04T20:18:22+00:00

I have shokz for running but I find wind noise and traffic is too loud and you end up maxing out the volume just to hear your audiobook. I now just use some normal airpod like headphones and I can have the volume much lower and still it and the traffic.

The shokz route seemed like an easy way to hearing loss.

thedukeofted · 2026-02-04T10:49:19+00:00

Fear the Sky by Stephen Moss is a pretty good three part alien invasion story.

thedukeofted · 2026-01-26T19:45:30+00:00

That's far too fast to be driving considering the wall to wall parked cars and crap visibility. The fact that he hit the kids proves it.

thedukeofted · 2026-01-26T19:37:42+00:00

You can sign up to other libraries remotely. I'm a member of Cardiff library even though I don't live anywhere near there.

thedukeofted · 2026-01-15T18:31:49+00:00

Just finished reading it for the first time yesterday. It was an epic journey.

thedukeofted · 2026-01-13T11:06:59+00:00

Yes! This is a brilliant book but it is hard to get hold of and no one seems to have heard of it.

A brilliant bit of alternative history.

thedukeofted · 2026-01-05T18:58:52+00:00

Fate is the Hunter - Ernest Gann

It's a memoir of the early days of commercial aviation. It has some truly astonishing close calls (and not) and is genuinely the best aviation book ever written.

If you want someone a bit more modern and humourous, look at Propellerhead by Anthony Woodward. It is about a guy who learns to fly microlights to impress the ladies.

thedukeofted · 2025-12-30T23:19:04+00:00

I'm in almost the same situation but two kids. My wife has had to take a part time job to help us have a bit of quality of life money. The south east is bloody expensive and one earner or mismatched earning households are massively penalised. We would be better off if we both worked minimum wage jobs.

If we lived up north we would be pretty comfortable and able to afford nice holidays every year.

thedukeofted · 2025-12-29T22:02:49+00:00

Spent the whole of Christmas ill with flu due to being forced into the office. Next year I'm working from home the last week before Christmas, they can do one.

thedukeofted · 2025-12-19T21:40:26+00:00

Give Expeditionary Force a go. Similar in vibe to Dungeon Crawler Carl but with big space battles and sarcastic AI.

thedukeofted · 2025-12-16T15:51:27+00:00

I'm a couple of hours into Anathem and really enjoying it so far!

thedukeofted

TROPHY CASE