Santa Arrives Early

With a long wkend of climbing looming, at Afan, I'm keen to ensure that my drivetrain doesn't suffer from chainsuck again - as it has at a wet and gritty Cannock, twice! :x I already have a spare set of chainrings but my rear mech has seen better days and no longer shifts cleanly in the lower range, in part due to it's now wobbly mount. Also after a years worth of hard riding, finding the limit and often exceeding it, my shifters have managed to survive many an "off" but the levers are now somewhat bent. Albeit still functional, testomony to the SRAM design.

So after a some surfing and emails to our good buddy in Montana I was ready to place an order. I also asked the posse if anyone else was short of any gear so that we might share the shipping costs. Rob fancied some mega bling in the way of some CrankBros Candy 4Ti's and a silver Thomson stem.

For those of you that haven't imported before, here's the scoop; Chad typically sends his parcels via USPS Global Express which is about a 25% the cost of Fedex and typically gives a fast delivery - in around 4 days. I then get to track the parcel travelling across the US and over the pond to blighty before it sits in customs for a few hours. Unfortunately, I've not had one parcel slip through without Duty and Vat charges :( The dastardly charges are explained here. This particular shipment was also perched in customs for 21hrs which is most unusual - perhaps they were catching up after the wkends bbq's ?

Once clear of the calculators, ParcelFarce then charge a disproportionate amount to push the shipment the relatively short distance from the airport to our local depot. Where I then have to trundle along and cough up the dosh that'll top up Gordon Brown's kitty before they'll release our goodies.

Needless to say, the discount was well worth a little effort and it was a treat to see Rob's face light up when presented with his mega bling 4Ti's. Here's a selection of some of the bits;

I'd like to give big thanx to Chaybo and his "team" for such favourable prices, putting up with us ;) and the odd feeby gave me a nice warm glow :)