The death of Joe Blow

Farewell my old and faithful friend for you have served me well through the last ten years

The death of my Joe Blow Sport Track Pump has hit me badly

You've serviced Peugeot, Ambrosio, Ribble, Langdale, Giant, Planet X and Kinesis bikes in that time and oulived them all. I've relied upon you time and time again. You've hit that magic 120 psi with little excess effort and I've taken you for granted as a result. You've done more than I could give you credit for in any review

Your lungs have now failed and it's time for you to go up to that bicycle shop in the sky

Rest in peace my trusty Joe Blow Sport Track Pump.

If this was a review I'd give you a 10 out of 10 for longevity. 10 years is a long time.

Planet X RT 57 Bike Problems after a month of use

I previously showed a selection of images of my new Planet X RT-57 and after a months worth of riding I thought it's be a good time to take you through a few negatives to bear in mind if you're considering buying  a Planet X Bike and looking for reviews and feedback



Planet X RT 57 Review and Problems

Planet X RT 57 Bike Problems (A review)

1. I found that when I collected the bike Planet X's builders hadn't done the best of jobs in tightening the various nuts and bolts. Particularly the bars and stem. The handlebars slipped on their first use and I was rather fortunate I'd bought a set of allen keys for the ride. Therefore I have to mark Planet X down on the bikes build quality
2. I had to spend time myself setting up the rear brake which hadn't been fitted centrally. I wanted to simply get on the bike and ride- finding that you needed to adjust the brakes before your first ride is a real annoyance
3. Bottle cage bolt placement is too close together. If you look at the monochrome photo above notice how close the bottle cages are together. It means that water bottles will not fit correctly into the cages i have. I'm currently on the lookout for a set of bottle cages which sit high up and close to the bolt fixing positions
4. The Planet X CNC Ultralight brakes are pretty weak on stopping power. As someone who previously was used to the strong yet stable breaking of Dura Ace Calipers. The Planet X Ultralight CNC brake set looks good but is relatively weak and in return takes a lot of work to stop- particularly in emergencies. I'm even at the point of considering changing to a set of Sram or Shimano Caliper brakes once I get paid next. 

Planet X CNC Ultralight Calipers offer lightweight and light feeling braking

To be honest most of these are minor issues. The bolt tightness I would recommend anyone to check before they ride a bike anyway but my real worry is the bottle cage bolt fixings being so close together. This is a size large (56cm) RT 57 frameset so I would expect the bolts to be closer together on smaller framesets as well. 

This Planet X bike deep deep is a great bicycle. The frameset is fantastically responsive and I absolutely love it however the above have been a few minor issues I thought best shared with the world and blogosphere. 

Newfield Dairy Ice Cream Parlour and Cafe, Hockerton- A great cafe for cyclists in Nottinghamshire

Cycling and coffee go hand in hand. There's an importance on the social side of cycling and most cyclists love to stop for coffee and cake or breakfast. Here's a little review of Newfield Dairy Ice Cream Parlour and Cafe.

Newfield Dairy Cafe Sign

There's a new cafe on the scene for in Nottinghamshire at Newfield Dairy on the outskirts of Southwell in Nottinghamshire. The cafe only opened back in December 2011 and judging by today's visit has great potential to establish itself with cyclists that visit the Nottingham area especially in summer

Fantastic Ice Cream Cabinet, cakes, drinks and specials board at Newfield Dairy Cafe

Newfield Dairy Ice Cream Parlour and Cafe is situated on Caunton Road just off a 90 degree bend around a mile from the A617. 

Plenty of outside space for leaving bikes at Newfield Dairy Ice Cream Parlour and Cafe, near Southwell. 

Outside are bike racks, a small children's play area and plenty of seating for topping up the cyclists tan lines in summer. Inside is a spacious, modern and very welcoming cafe characterised by a mesmerising selection of ice cream. Yummy. There is also a fantastic logging fire in one corner for those bitter cold rides too so summer and winter is sorted. 

Plenty of bike racking at Newfield Dairy Cafe

When a big group of cyclists walk into a cafe there are a few things they usually consider.

Price- We'd rather spend our money on expensive carbon fibre components although we'll pay out for the right things. The cafe prices we're neither cheap or extremely expensive. Middle of the road pricing is fine by us. £1.75 for two slices of toast and marmalade and £1.90 for a large coffee are acceptable prices. 

Choice- there are generally two schools of cyclists that go to cafes. Those that order toast and those that order desserts like cake. Newfield Dairy offers the exotic opportunity of some amazing ice cream based dessert options. Today I tried a fantastic After Eight Mint Ice Cream Smoothie (pictured below) which I will definitely have to try again in future. 

Speed of Service

We hate to wait ages for food (like everyone) and while a cafe stop is a social experience we don't want to hang around for too long. Service was not a quick as we would have liked and was towards the wrong side of acceptable. We'd have liked to have seen drinks bought out much quicker followed by food instead of orders being bought out together which meant the few that had ordered breakfast that needed cooking waited an extended amount of time. Those people may have had a second drink if they'd received their drink close to time of order so maybe Newfield Dairy Ice Cream Parlour and Cafe needs to consider that option to ensure they maximise revenue in future. 

After Eight Mint Ice Cream Smoothie at Newfield Dairy Ice Cream Parlour and Cafe

Updated- 15.04.2012

Due to training and other non bike related commitments I've not been back to Newfield Dairy Cafe until today and I have to admit it seems to have now become hugely popular with local cyclists. Spotted jerseys there from Mapperley CC, Sherwood CC, Mansfield Road Club, Pedalpower Loughborough, Nottingham Clarion and Sherwood Pines amongst the large numbers of cyclists there today- maybe I should have kept quiet about it's existence and not told the whole local cycling community!

The queue was huge and they had to have two tills in place to manage it as a result. Service was ok yet again rather on the slow side so we avoided a second coffee (as per earlier post Newfield Dairy are losing money as a result of this). Orders of large coffee's came out as small and names were not taken down well which led to a huge amount of confusion. It's a great place but the service needs really to be addressed!.