Road Cycling Essentials

booyaka · 31 Jan 2014 at 15:27

One More Solo said:
Apparently reflects the cost charged by the scheme operators to retailers for supplying a bike which Planet X can't afford to absorb.

basically yes - they sell bikes with little margin in it, the various cycleschemes charge between 10-12% Admin fee so they have to pass this on to the customers.

booyaka · 31 Jan 2014 at 15:28

Going to Cali said:
I wish I'd got some in large whilst I had the chance, and I'm still waiting for the campagnolo top I ordered from them earlier in the week. Hopefully they had stock when I placed the order.

You might be waiting a while.

I ordered, still showing as waiting for stock, and ZERO contact from them, or response to my email so far.

Nothing new mind you with On-One, useless customer service.

FrenchTart · 31 Jan 2014 at 15:45

booyaka said:
You might be waiting a while.

I ordered, still showing as waiting for stock, and ZERO contact from them, or response to my email so far.

Nothing new mind you with On-One, useless customer service.

They almost certainly don't have the stock and don't plan on ever getting any in.

Ring them - that's the only way you'll get any kind of answer/resolution.

FrenchTart · 31 Jan 2014 at 15:47

SkodaMart said:
Just had a phonecall out of the blue.

When I moved into my house in 1996, I contested the council tax bracket and succeeded getting it lowered for half the street.

However, because my house was built with 3 bedrooms it had to stay in Cat B.

Girl on the phone said that we have been overpaying and it should have been Cat A as it is based on property value.

£2000+ rebate and over £100 savings a year sounds nice.

Ribble 525 may not be as far off as I had imagined!

edit:

http://www.wigantoday.net/news/local/don-t-fall-foul-of-council-tax-refund-scam-1-5363663

I'm not sure why you'd believe this even for a second. Receiving a phone call out of the blue should have set alarm bells ringing instantly.

SkodaMart · 31 Jan 2014 at 15:49

FrenchTart said:
I'm not sure why you'd believe this even for a second. Receiving a phone call out of the blue should have set alarm bells ringing instantly.

Seems it's right, looking into it now.
My next door neighbour is in CAT A and my house was worth less than £40,000 in 1991

FrenchTart · 31 Jan 2014 at 15:52

SkodaMart said:
Seems it's right, looking into it now.
My next door neighbour is in CAT A and my house was worth less than £40,000 in 1991

If it's right don't deal with this random company - speak to the Council Tax office directly

booyaka · 31 Jan 2014 at 15:52

FrenchTart said:
If it's right don't deal with this random company - speak to the Council Tax office directly

agreed.

SkodaMart · 31 Jan 2014 at 15:54

booyaka said:
agreed.

Done and done!

It's challenged, done it myself via the VOA website.

Fingers crossed!

#Chri5# · 31 Jan 2014 at 15:58

platypus said:
What's the justification for the 10% C2W scheme?

Can you have a nice word with somebody at work? PX website

Additional Payments

An admin fee of 10% applies with a cyclescheme.co.uk, On Your Bike and Bike2work vouchers, as well as a Salary Extras letter of collection. A 12% fee applies with Cycle Plus vouchers and a 12.5% fee applies with the NHS SME HCI scheme.

We keep our prices competitive by selling at very low margins. All of these organisations charge us a fee on each bike we supply to a customer as part of the cycle scheme so we pass this exact charge on to you without adding anything extra ourselves. The additional charge DOES NOT APPLY if an employer is paying us directly for the bike.

My SL Pro Carbon came from PX and I used the company credit card to pay for it (as a C2W purchase)

platypus · 31 Jan 2014 at 16:17

#Chri5# said:
Can you have a nice word with somebody at work? PX website

?

daveski · 31 Jan 2014 at 16:22

Looking really grim outside the office window. Not looking forward to this commute home, just hope the plumber has actually managed to fix the heating otherwise I'll be wet through in a cold house

Jonny ///M · 31 Jan 2014 at 16:45

Re the Planet X cyclescheme situation. Cyclescheme are a middleman between the shop and the customer so if you raise a £1000 voucher the shop gets paid £900. That's fine if you have good margins but not if the bike is reduced or has little profit in it.

Some employers don't use a middleman and some people come buy the bike on a company credit card. This just works like a normal transaction so you can get any discounted price.

Phantom Shadow · 31 Jan 2014 at 17:54

First go on trainer road/turbo today, did the 8 minute test and I'm quite dubious as to the virtual power readings.

Think I went off too easy on the 8 minute intervals as I still had enough power for a sprint at the end of them, and it gave me an FTP of 357W. I've only been cycling since last summer and haven't even ridden 1,000 miles yet. On the road I'm quite slow, not even up to a 15mph yet so I was expecting <200W FTP.

Checked that I've got the right turbo selected, "(Beta) Elite HydroMag 3" and the resistance control is set to 3/5. Only thing was the tyre diameter was slightly low so I've increased that, but that would presumably push up power readings now as speed will be slightly higher.

Not sure what is going on with it but that can't be right :confused:

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/694780-8-Minute-Test

edit: Just had another look through the list and found "(Beta) Elite Crono HydroMag 3" which I hadn't noticed the first time. Note sure what the other one I picked is as the only elite hydromag trainers I can find are either the crono or the supercrono verison. Guess I need to go the FTP test again.

touch · 31 Jan 2014 at 18:08

Berger said:
Touch under 1000km.

No he's not, touch is over 1000km

Phantom Shadow said:
Not sure what is going on with it but that can't be right.

Don't worry too much about it. It's a little annoying if you want to compare yourself to others but for keeping track of your own progress, it'll be fine.

gpuerrilla · 31 Jan 2014 at 18:14

Phantom Shadow said:
First go on trainer road/turbo today...and it gave me an FTP of 357W.

What gave you the reading?

Have you got a power meter or a computer that makes values up like in the gyms? :eek:

The Darkness · 31 Jan 2014 at 18:18

Grim journey home, but at least waterproof gear now properly tested. Worked a treat too..

Phantom Shadow · 31 Jan 2014 at 18:18

Th0nt said:
What gave you the reading?

Have you got a power meter or a computer that makes values up like in the gyms?

Trainer Road, but I'd picked the wrong trainer. Expecting it to be lower when I do the test again.

Not overly bothered if it isn't accurate, as long as it is consistent for tracking progress. Though if it is more accurate with actually having the right trainer selected then I'll be happier

touch · 31 Jan 2014 at 18:31

Th0nt said:
What gave you the reading?

Have you got a power meter or a computer that makes values up like in the gyms?

Trainerroad works by matching speed against the known power curve of your turbo. It's not quite as accurate asa power meter but it is (usually) very close.

physichull · 31 Jan 2014 at 19:25

That PX Ultegra bike does look good for the money. I can't believe you can get a carbon frame with ultegra for a grand. What is the catch? Bad wheels? I can't figure it out.

It just looks too good to be true. A mate at work is getting one and I am a little jealous.

Womble · 31 Jan 2014 at 19:27

touch said:
Trainerroad works by matching speed against the known power curve of your turbo. It's not quite as accurate asa power meter but it is (usually) very close.

Kurt Kinetic Road Machine at least seems pretty accurate - have an FTP of 204 which is roughly pushing 220 for 20 mins, managed 260 over 10mins in the gym this week on a Watt bike so good enough for me but it wan't pleasant

Also just topped 1k km for Jan (1044km to be precise) - does include commutes though