Jacob Rees-Mogg brands 20mph speed limits "an anti-motorist, cash raising ploy"; Have you ever crashed on the turbo? Home trainer sprint snaps sweat-corroded bar; Six Day pro suffers serious injuries in major crash; Pothole party + more on the live blog

.... and then he was sacked.

Another bonus for disc brakes - I found wet rides ate rim brakes, half a block would get me through summer, a couple of blocks through winter, but occasionally a bad ride could eat most of a block - and a fair chunk of rim too. Disc brakes don't seem to be so weather sensitive.

Completely agree on rim blocks, already on my 2nd set of the autumn and the weather is only just getting wet.

But with mech discs at least if the pad is worn close to its limit, they can hop from seemingly fine in dry, even fine on a wet ride but go through a puddle to got no brakes in the wet at all, which is a bit unnerving, a simple tweak on the adjustment screw and alls well again, but it's that no warning feel that's not nice, hydraulic self adjust.

I'd still pick disc regardless this time of year

Awavey wrote:

Completely agree on rim blocks, already on my 2nd set of the autumn and the weather is only just getting wet.

Yikes!

The Kool Stop salmons on my commuting/wet/winter bike were fitted in March and still have some depth left. The lanes I use are muddy again now and I hate the sound of grinding rims but a frequent (sometimes daily) 5-minute wash gets them clean again.

But having done that job 3 times already this week I started to wonder whether my next bike - whenever that might be - should have disc brakes.

I started to wonder whether my next bike - whenever that might be - should have disc brakes

Of course it should! Muddy rim-grinding roads- you're the perfect candidate for a Damascene conversion

I added a bike with mechanical discs to my stable a couple of years back (Avid BB7 - not even top-flight).  No issues with them - but that was on my niche (and fair-weather) bike.  Been through a pad change or two (hills!) - a little tricky to get the old ones out but not a drama and not IMHO "fiddly" in the same way as adjusting V brakes.  They're either in there or not, then just dial in the clearance and done (assuming your rotor's OK).

Recently I got Shimano hydraulic discs on my new all-weather hack / commuter / maid-of-all-work bike.  Unfortunately they are now with the thief, but while in my possession they were great.  Indeed there was so little of the usual "feedback" (e.g. squeezing hard, getting slight vibration or sound) I still locked the rear on two occasions.  Even though brake modulation was excellent and I was watching for it!

I was interested in how long they'd last in Edinburgh road-sludge / winter by the sea rust-inducing conditions but until I save up more pennies that's moot.  Certainly my (cheap) rim brakes don't last a winter if out much (I wipe rims / pads after each ride, full bike wash I'm not as conscientious as I should be).  Wheel rebuilds come round quickly.

Of which - back to rim caliper brakes again on the Dawes Galaxy rust-bucket and for the first ride they suddenly seemed a bit weak - so much that I adjusted them!  I've re-adapted quickly and they're fine - like they always were.  However (assuming you've the right ones, correctly set up etc) discs are excellent especially for grimy conditions, less physical effort and more modulation.  Braking is always limited by the grip of the tyre at the end of the day but I doubt you'd regret getting discs.

Well, I never wash my steel, cable-disc, 9-speed Sora, trailer-towing, Pennine Bridleway, used-almost-all-the-time bike and I rely on the rain to do it for me. I did have to use a stick to remove the huge mud-packs around the frame on a very bad section near Settle. Pads last about a year, and mud and grime virtually never accumulates on the discs

The pads on there were put on at the beginning of August, so thats over three months.

Annoying thing is I don't have a light (or room) in the shed, and I'm not allowed to bring the bike in the house, so I'm riding Bike B until the weekend when I can do the work outside.

This'll be him.

Alessandro wrote:

Jacob Rees-Mogg is a total bellend. 

He was quite keen on new licences for fracking, so I suspect he may have some financial interest from oil companies. It does seem that the Tories will only back something if there's a nice back-hander in it for them - they've got to get all the money they can before the collapse of society.

He may look like a possessed pencil, but he sure ain't the sharpest one in the pencil case.

I was wondering what was nagging me about him ... he's Clippy, isn't he?

Didn't he go around all the civil services offices in London, leaving little passive-aggressive notes on the desks of WFH staff, saying he hoped to see them in the office soon?

brooksby wrote:

Didn't he go around all the civil services offices in London, leaving little passive-aggressive notes on the desks of WFH staff, saying he hoped to see them in the office soon?

Probably not quite the motivational tool that he'd hoped... I'd definitely be avoiding the office if I stood a chance of running into that bellend.

"Jacob Rees-Mogg is a total bellend." You really are being too kind to him

The thing is that he seems to be demonstrably wrong about just about everything, and generally you don't often even hear his comrades agreeing with what he says, but somehow he seems to have influence.

Baffling.

Reminds me of a roller session with my mate on a track bike in his Mum's kitchen some 50 years ago. He really went for it, lost control, came off the rollers and shot into the kitchen door and was left wedged in a bike shaped  hole like a Tom and Jerry cartoon! Fortunately only a few minor cuts but the door was a write  off. His Mum was  remarkabley relaxed about the damage, but she did have 3 boys!

I exited my rollers when braking for the cat who had walked in front of me.

Turbos are much safer. 

The cat came out of nowhere! It should have been wearing hi-viz, had insurance and paid cat-tax. Reflective material not required...cats eyes 

Indeed... it was (actually still is) a ginger and white moggy so I should have seen it but.... the sun was in my eyes despite the fact it was after sunset and I was looking north.

Actually I noticed last night that on one of the new Zwift worlds there is a dog and cat sitting by the side of the road watching.... I'll cover my brakes whenever I pass from them from now on....it could be a trick....

Don't point percy at the porcelain...