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Today October 2020!

That is an amazing picture and must have been a beautiful sight. (I need to start getting up earlier.)
It was so lucky I saw it. I was riding ahead of it until I came up under the bridge at Nikotama. The real rainbow was much clearer and double in places. It was like we were surrounded by Saturnian rings. On the other side of the bridge, the sky was a brilliant hue of orange. It was like the cover of the cheap sci-fi paperbacks from the 60s and 70s. It was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. And even strangers were talking amongst ourselves about how spectacular it was.
And then it faded and we all went back to what we had been doing.
Utterly surreal, but one of the greatest cycling experiences I have ever had (topped off later in the day with a climbing KOM and then dragged back into reality when I swallowed my false teeth!)
 
@Kangaeroo I've never seen anything like that. Great that you were there to see it, capture it and share it.

I often sit out on my balcony and watch the sunsets. Each one is different. Much better than TV.
 
@Kangaeroo I've never seen anything like that. Great that you were there to see it, capture it and share it.

I often sit out on my balcony and watch the sunsets. Each one is different. Much better than TV.
They surely are. I've been cruising around the neighborhood and -woods with my wife at sunset time lately. Those sights are moments of pure beauty with the power of turning even a bad day into something good.
 

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Today I came across this old Cinelli track-shopping-bike with a super strong-looking diy front rack.
Lovely craftmanship, too.
Only changing the position of the handle bar seems tricky. But I guess someone who can build such a nice rack could take care of that, if it ever becomes an issue.
 

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Yesterday I ordered a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt as my new bike GPS. In 2011 I started recording rides with my phone, then soon moved on to a Garmin Edge 500 before abandoning it for the o_synce Navi2coach.

Overall I had been pretty happy with the N2C. While it may lack the bells and whistles that Garmin keeps adding to its devices, it has all the functionality I really need and it had been rock solid. No freezes, no random reboots, no lost recordings (the things that drove me away from Garmin). Even torrential rain was a non-issue. My only reservation was longevity: The micro-USB port tends to wear out prematurely while the rest of the device is still functional and without a working USB port there's no way to upload courses or download recorded activities from the device so that's it. That was such a shame, since the battery -- the part that tends to die first on a Garmin -- is user replaceable in the N2C. So buy a new unit, which I had done a few times over the past 7 years or so. Before the USB port becomes dodgy, the little tether of the silicone plug that covers the USB port when not in use would also usually tear off, but a bit of electrical tape would still make it work.

When another N2C started having trouble with the USB port (not charging or device not seen by a computer) earlier this summer, I ordered two of them from a distributor. I set one up and used it on rides, keeping the other spare. However, on each of the first three long rides I had GPS issues. The device would lose satellite lock, becoming unable to determine speed and stopped counting distance. It could not see enough satellites. It would take a long time to recover from that, usually only after a reboot. I worked around this by using RWGPS on my phone and by merging multiple recordings into a final track for Strava. The surprising thing was that the backup unit had the exact same problem. If I put them both on the bike using their own mounts and recorded in parallel, they would stop working within minutes of each other. They all have the same firmware version. Maybe some new satellites have joined the GPS system that are not being recognised by the old receiver? This is pure speculation and I have not heard any other reports of GPS generational compatibility issues, but it would explain the symptoms.

In any case, after 2 months of testing and experimenting with these two units and with RWGPS, I have decided to move on. The Wahoo Elemnt Bolt seems to have received a lot of "it just works" kind of reviews that make it attractive to me. I like buttons that can also be operated with winter gloves and don't hold much faith in touchscreens still working in the rain. The battery life of 15 hours is enough for most of my rides but I can also recharge it during a ride with a micro-USB cable from an external battery.
 
Hope you have better luck with yours than I had with both of mine.
 
I'm still using a Garmin Edge 705 bought back in 2009 with no problems, I have changed the battery and it's pretty basic (now) but how much information do you need to remind yourself that your 22 years and half that many kilograms past your best?
 
Oakley have just won the 2020 Half-Fast Mike GARMIN AWARD for shitty aftersales policy.

The other day, 18 months after purchase, the metal bridge clamp on my Jawbreakers crumbled into aluminium powder as I took out the lens for cleaning. My options, according to Oakley store in Harakjuku, are ¥10,000 for a replacement lower frame, or a big bag of tough shit.

Mike: Nonono... I just want this 100-yen piece of metal.​
Oakley: Not gonna happen.​
Mike: You have these replacement lower frames in pretty colours on the shelf. Sell me one of them and I can fix it myself.​
Oakley: Not the policy. Sorry. You have to send it away for a week while our engineers suck their teeth at it and we count the money.​
Mike: Byeeee...​

So for about 4 solidi I've ordered a pair of 'Foakley' sunglasses from Amazon; this will give me three sets of lenses that I don't need, a frame that I don't need, and the metal clip that I want. More importantly, not a single denarius will to Oakley or their owners Luxottica. I don't suppose they care.

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stupid, they had a customer that was happily throwing money at them and they lost him probably for life and a few more potential customers.
 
Hope you have better luck with yours than I had with both of mine.
How long did your Wahoo units last and what happened to them?

I am not in a hurry to give Garmin another try, not after losing a 380 km ride recording that sealed the deal last time (after several similar misfortunes).
 
My bolt has been largely ok with a few gripes. The battery will not last 15h as advertised if you have the top leds enabled. Also Bluetooth on your phone should be turned off so only use live track when you must.
The biggest issue I've had is the battery door isn't very durable. So after about a year of opening and closing to charge it broke off. Now it's held in place with electrical tape. There seems to be a new version with black rubber instead of blue. I'd be curious if that is less brittle than mine.
 
How long did your Wahoo units last and what happened to them?

I am not in a hurry to give Garmin another try, not after losing a 380 km ride recording that sealed the deal last time (after several similar misfortunes).

Unit #1 was ok for a while but the rubber stopper that protects the charging port wouldn't stay in place. Also the rubber gaskets that cover the side buttons came off. Finally, I pressed the top buttons and the screen fried. This is all within a few months of the purchase. Wahoo replaced the unit, no charge.

Unit #2 - Same problem with the gaskets and stopper. Eventually it wouldn't connect with my phone. They offered to allow me to buy another one at a reduced price, but by then I didn't think the build quality was up to snuff and decided to go back to Garmin. Bought a 520 and so far it is doing OK.
 
I have had my Bolt for a few months now, and admittedly, I have been riding indoors for the most part for the obvious reasons. So I can't speak of its weather sealing capabilities. But the zoom feature that got me sold in theory is as great as I thought it would be. Plus, their support is ace. They borked ANT+ connectivity to my Tickr heart rate monitor in a firmware update and they fixed it a few weeks later.

Although I do wish I would have shelled out the extra money for the Roam when navigating. Inside towns the b&w screen can get a little busy.
 
@OreoCookie For me it was a toss up. Garmin's build quality is better but Wahoo's user interface and setup is far better. Both are glitchy but Wahoo again gets the edge on better software. And, as you mention, the ease of use of the zoom function is great. Customer service for Wahoo was OK (they replaced one unit without any hassle), and they are better at responding to issues. Garmin's CS... not very responsive or helpful in my experience. It was mostly the lack of longevity of Wahoo's units that was a problem for me. But, with bike computers, it seems kind of like luck of the draw. Some people swear by Garmin, others Wahoo. So, YMMV.
 
If we broaden our scope to include things like trainers, it seems that none of the companies have had a stellar record in recent years. I've heard of cases where Garmins have failed spectacularly, too, and on the other hand seen well-used Garmin head units that still seem to work flawlessly.

To be honest, I have yet to really challenge my Bolt since I haven't been riding much, so I can't say whether it is super reliable. Water ingress is really a big and surprisingly hard problem. I have had a pair of see.sense lights that I loved — until a ride in the rain flooded the electronics.

There is another thing I really love about Wahoo: you can order by mail via your bike shop, i. e. I can place an order for, say, a Wahoo Kickr with my bike shop. That gets sent home directly and my LBS gets a cut. That's a win-win-win in my book.
 
Went out the balcony to inflate the bike on the trainer, saw a big wasp(?) and remembered the "murder insect" or something. fortunately it flew away after a couple of minutes. this guy flew high as we are on a high floor.

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it sure does :( did some scouting to make sure that it wasnt there anymore and/or left any nests or something. a bit scared of it honestly because of their reputation
 
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