njee20

Laughing at that far more than I should! It's the facial expressions. I see Max has been told by Dr Marko he's not allowed to do any more late night sim races after Hungary!

SRAM Axis has a flat bar shifter. I think actually mech/shifter compatibility is better than ever; pretty sure Di2 and AXS are all cross-compatible (within each brand, not across brands). I agree with the point though; needing shifters and levers makes for an expensive conversion, even if you can recoup some costs. I would say drops come in just as wide a range as flats. Historically they have been quite consistent because of the UCI's involvement in road cycling, but gravel is not so afflicated, so they can do whatever they want. Canyon's 'double' bar on the Grail is mad!

First 3 are facts. Forth is speculation. Maybe Norris would have overtaken on the fresher tyres. He comfortably put time into Piastri after the stops.

Mark's covered it (and I think I agree entirely), but my £0.02: 1. hydrualic brakes are less maintenance than cables. They work extremely well these days 2. yes, a bit, and expensive, although you'll recoup some cost selling the combined brake/shifters, which are expensive. Much better to buy a bike that is the broad style you want in the first place IMO 3. Wider cassettes are generally better, sometimes the larger jumps can be annoying, particularly if you spend a lot of time on flat roads. Less noticeable elsewhere 4. If they offer flats, get with flats, or procure them elsewhere, don't need to be expensive ones 5. Yes, 700c is just a wheelsize, on mountain bikes it's marketed as 29", you can get wide tyres still 6. I don't believe so 7. If you want a suspension fork I'd steer you away from that bike. Do you really want one? Conclusion I'd say is that if you're wanting to change the forks and the bars just don't buy that bike. Conventionally gravel bikes are rigid (with some oddities like Lauf), and I'd be nervous that you're buying a bike and then making a load of changes which could leave you with something very odd to ride. What you're after is a bit of an odd niche (gravel, flat bar, suspension). There are myriad 29" hardtail mountain bikes which may be more suitable. Something like this Canyon are comparable on budget: https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/mountain-bikes/cross-country-bikes/exceed/exceed-cf/exceed-cf-5/3435.html, but that may be a bit racey (I've not ridden one). I would definitely ask why you want flat bars and suspension though, is it just because it's what you have now? I'd defnitely try and ride something like the Sonder before making that choice.

Shapeways are more of a fulfillment provider. So Stafford Road Models use Shapeways to print their models. Shapeways goes, they have no one to print their models, hence they're unable to provide them. You can order through Shapeways, or you could presumably order through other sites, but the models will have all ultimately come from Shapeways. Of course if Stafford Road Models find someone else to print their models, or decide instead to make their files available, then the models will once again become available.

Is it purely the downsizing driving the sale? If so I would definitely hold off. I've been 'collecting' stock for 10 years. I had a befitting layout for a short period, moved house and haven't had one for 4 years, so it's all just sat in boxes. Building a modest layout now which will house a fraction of it, but I'm still happy hanging onto the rest for a future time. Of course if the motivation is financial then it's different.

Yeah, I started to write something about that and then ran out of fingers and got confused! I guess "ceded 7 to Max" would be more relevant, as Oscar isn't his primary WDC rival.

You have to assume that was Kato's logic, given most of their wheels aren't shiny.

They didn’t sacrifice any constructors points, no, but Lando gave up 7 to Oscar. Obviously it’s unlikely as you say, but should Lando end up within 7 points of Verstappen at the end of the season then they have thrown away the drivers championship. Stupid situation they didn’t need to be in, and then just exacerbated.

As the man selling them you'll forgive me if I take your review with a healthy dose of scepticism! All good points, and hard to argue with any of it. I use code 40 track, and whilst Kato models are generally fine absolutely any variation will have them bumping on the chairs. Interesting a Revolution Pendolino also clouts the chairs if it's lost its traction tyres (which 3 of mine have!) 🙄

Bounds Green isn’t a series of dead ends - they form up again and become the running lines through Bowes Park. We did all this on your previous thread. If you want them to be dead ends then crack on. If you’re operating MUs that sort of works, stuff reverses in and out. For me, with loco-hauled stock like you said you wanted to run it’s just a bit clunky in N, involving the big hand in the sky, and wasn’t Bounds Green built for the HSTs? So a slavish recreation of Bounds Green to store Deltics and rakes of mk1s is inherently unrealistic anyway. personally I’d be wary of taking a snapshot of a real location and assuming it’ll automatically make a good model. Most of us value entertainment value, and play factor, neither of which rank highly when building real railways! The thematic plan Phil has come up with looks good to me, but I also thought the one you ended up with before looked alright. As for large reaches on deep boards you either need access holes or to make the baseboards strong enough to climb on.

The silver wheels look awful. How odd. The re-use of chassis is disappointing too. I have to be tickled by the £248 price being deemed expensive though!

I'm loathed to continue engaging you on this, but there are dozens of drop bar ebikes out there. Most of the big brands have them. The challenge (in the UK at least) is that the assistance can only work at a speed around/below that which is easily accomplished on road by pedal power alone. At that point you have a really heavy bike with assistance coming and going. I'm not even going near the idea of a singlespeed drop bar ebike, that sounds like a proper frankenbike 😆 Trek Domane electric: https://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/electric-bikes-c321/domane-al-5-electric-road-bike-2024-p43609/s117388 Scott Speedster Gravel: https://wetrocknride.co.uk/products/scott-speedster-gravel-eride-50-bike?variant=44406302769370 Giant Revolt E+ Gravel: https://www.giant-bicycles.com/gb/revolt-eplus-2022 etc

We've done that a couple of times already, there are a lot of illegal ones out there. If you buy through a proper shop it will be legal (that is unpowered above 25kph and limited to 250w or whatever it is. We don't need every other post to contain handwringing about how irresponsible people are. Gold star for blaming "kids" though. I see far more adults riding illegal/modified/downright dangerous ones.

You’ve gone back to a load of dead end sidings which for me would be a no-no. Personally I really dislike that junction too - it’s wildly unrealsitic, you’d not have the yard accessible from every line.