Carradice Super C Rack Pack Review and Pictures

Carradice Super C Rack Pack Review - Overview

If you need a high quality rack pack ( a pannier that mounts on top of you pannier rack rather than at the sides) then look no further than the Carradice Super C Rack Pack. Made in the UK from cotton and built to last it truly is a lovely pice of kit.


I purchased this Carradice Super C Rack Pack to fit on my folding bike (giant conway folding bike), as there is not enough clearance for my heals when pedaling if I use a side mounted pannier.

Carradice Super C Rack Pack Review - Build Quality

I paid £ 60 for my bag from some online retailer, and so I was expecting somthing failry well made, and that is exactly what I got, the bag is bomb proof, and although time is the ultimate test I have a feeling that the bag will last. For those of you who are familiar with the old army webbing pouches, that is the style of construction, built to last for sure.

Carradice Super C Rack Pack Review - Fitting

There are four velcro straps that are used, the rack on the bike I fitted it too was smaller than average, but it fits on very securely no worries there.
Carradice Super C Rack Pack Review - Style . . .

Dare I say it (wince) but this is probably suitable to carry around over your shoulder with the supplied strap. It is a nice looking bag, if you compare it to some of the offerings from ortlieb etc, it has a bit of a nostalgic look about it.Carradice Super C Rack Pack- Official Write UP from Carradice

Range	Super C
Weight (grams)	550
Capacity	13 litres
Dimensions	16cm wide x 21cm high x 36.5cm deep
Fixing system	4 large velcro straps
No of Pockets	External pocket to the rear
Materials	Cotton Duck
Other features	Tough 100% Waterproof Cotton Duck Heavy duty black cotton duck delivers super performance year in, year out in the toughest of conditions. The durability of cotton duck makes it a great choice for situations in which a strong, hardy fabric is needed. Many hard laborers, for example, swear by the quality of garments made with cotton duck, which protect them from the perils of the workplace. Easily straps to any rack Drawcord top under easy access lid All round reflective strips and LED mounting strap to rear Carry handle on lid plus shoulder strap for off bike carrying Ideal for long day or weekend rides Environmental Permitting Desktop Study Sustainability Consultants

Kenda K123 / Giant Super Light Tyre Review

Kenda K123 / Giant Super Light Tyre - Intro

These Kenda Tyres (K 123) also branded as giant super light came fitted to my Giant Conway 1.0 folding bike. And are very average in fact they are soooo average I am not sure I will able to keep awake writing this post.

Kenda K123 / Giant Super Light Tyre - Tread



The tread ion these K 123 tires is an all rounder and on the whole is perfect for just about everyting you might want to do on a bike. BUT

Kenda K123 / Giant Super Light Tyre - Build Quality

As with other kenda tires , the build quality is only OK, you get what you pay for. With a max pressure rating of 45 psi these tires are only any good for very light people. I have had some other kenda tiresin the past ( Kenda Semi Slick K847) and they didn't last long, but they were very cheap.

Kenda K123 / Giant Super Light Tyre - Sizes

I have these tyres in a 16" size but there are other sizes available. 18", 20" and 24".


Kenda K123 / Giant Super Light Tyre - Price

At about £5 / $7 a pop these are about as cheap as tires get, but you get what you pay for.

As an alternative I would recommend Schwable Kojaks, Schwable Big Apples or Continental Super Tour all of which are available in 16".

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Giant Conway 1.0 Folding Bike Review (16")

Giant Conway 1.0 Folding Bike - Intro

My Giant Conway 1.0 was on sale for £110 nearly new. I am still trying to work out whether I have got a bargain or not. It is Giant brand so you would expect functional quality and up until now that seems about right. I have now upgraded this folding bike.



Giant Conway 1.0 Folding Bike - Weight

The first thing I noticed (when I took delivery) was the weight, official stats put the bike at around 11 kg, which is not too bad. But I am not convinced this is accurate, it feels heavy for its size. The frame, seat post, mud guards, main part of steerer, are all steel. With alloy only for the bars.

Giant Conway 1.0 Folding Bike - Folding

The Conway 1.0 folds up quiet easily, but could do with folding peddles as these add to the width a fair amount. Don't get be wrong it will go in the boot of a car easily, even a small car, but it makes for a knobbly package.

Giant Conway 1.0 Folding Bike - The RideThis is fine. The ride comfort is surprisingly good, with an upright position if you want and a more "flat back" ride if you prefer, the adjust-ability is immense I am 6 ft 1", and I am pretty sure my 4 year old daughter could ride this as well.

Being single speed you are limited to how strong your legs are as to where you can cycle, steep hills are not OK, but shallow ones are fine, and walking or riding up a steep hill takes around the same amount of effort anyway, if a little slower.

The biggest let down are the tires, which only inflate to 45 psi, even for a fairly light rider (which I am not) this is not high enough. I overinflated the rear tire to around 60 psi, and it didn't explode. See one of my other posts for a detailed look at the Kenda 123 tyres.



The bike has a nice little rack over the rear wheel, but don't expect to put any panniers on this bike as your foot will bump in to them whilst peddling. A rack pack is your best bet, or maybe something on the handle bars.

Giant Conway 1.0 Folding Bike - Giant Specs

Frame: Steel
Net Weight: 11 KG (???? Will confirm)
Size: 16 inches
Brakes: Front and rear
Load: 120 KG
Folding Time: 15 Seconds
Tyre: Kenda 16*1.75

Giant Conway 1.0 Folding Bike - Brakes

It is a long time since I have ridden a bike without v-brakes. Oh my goodness calliper brakes on the front are fairly useless, and the rear hub brake (although neat) is not much better. However with both clamped on as hard as possible you can pull up fairly quickly and the fact that you won't be traveling too fast helps.

Giant Conway 1.0 Folding Bike - Suggested Extras / Upgrades
I would suggest getting some better tires for this bike that inflate to at least 65 psi or higher. Schwable Kojaks would be ideal, or continental super tours. The mud guards are pretty snug so I wouldn't increase the width.

Update 12/ 11/12 - I have upgraded the tires for some Schwable Marathons with Green Guard. Which have made this bike roll very well. The gearing is a little low for a strong rider. I have also changed the brake levers they were rather bendy under load, and have swapped them for some alloy one. Braking is still poor, especially on the front brake!
 

For carrying stuff around I would get a rack pack too I opted for a Carradice Super C Rack Pack which is a nice bit of UK made kit.

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La Marquise Hotel - Rhodes

La Marquise Hotel - Rhodes - Review

Poor Food and Management let this place down. If you can book it for cheap then why not, but don't pay full price you will be disappointed.

La Marquise Hotel - Rhodes - GOOD

1 - The Pool - Best one I have been in.

2 - The Staff (Not Management) - Waiters / Waitresses, Cleaners, Porters all really talkative and happy despite the heat and being totally overstretched.

La Marquise Hotel - Rhodes - BAD

1 - Food - Although this would be good quality for a 3 star hotel the good is not 5 star quality. Evening meals were very repetitive, and there was no juice included with breakfast only orange squash, I would have settled for concentrated juice and been happy with that. . . who drink squash for breakfast?

2 - Noise - Who ever designed this hotel was obviously not having a good day, in the family suite we were staying in the noise from upstairs was terrible, the scrapping of furniture and voices could be plainly heard, and we were woke up (not the kids though) early and kept up late. I am not a light sleeper. This was due (I suspect) to upstair floor tiles being laid directly on to a concrete floor slabs. Not clever.

3 - Location - Don't expect to walk any where from this hotel, you are marooned or paying for taxis. It is a 7 minute walk to the beach which is doable, but they do keep this quiet.

4 - Management - It was peak season and I so I was expecting everything to be overstretched, but the poor cleaning ladies looked fit to drop, they were running between rooms in 40 degree heat, and our bedlinen was unchanged for a 7 day stay, dirty glasses and cups were left in the room for 3 days. This isn't the poor cleaning ladies fault, the management should hire more cleaners, I think there are plenty of people looking for jobs in Greece at the moment . .

If I had paid 3 star prices for this hotel I would have come back home happy . . .

Illustrator Devon 

Using Thin Clients at Home

Using Thin Clients at Home - Why?

Ebay is awash with thin clients that offer a very quiet energy efficient way of running a workstation at home without the outlay of a second PC, and all of the software that goes on it! Potentially a saving of £500?? $800?

1. Most families in the UK have 2 kids right, well they can effectively share one PC without it feeling like it.
2. If you work from home then perhaps you don't want to hog the PC the whole time, and would like a second workstation for your wife to work / surf at.
3. If you have loads of photos and music setting up a thin client means two people can access the same stuff at the same time, this includes software like MS word and Excel.

Using Thin Clients at Home - Basic Principal.

If you have a copy of windows server then this is increased to two admin logins via thin clients, and one person working on the server, so three way share of 1 PC. If your kids are at school you cabn get a free coipy of windows server via Dreamspark.

If you are a linux fan then you may which to check out Userful MultiSeat Linux 2011™

Warning: You will need a little bit a patience.

Using Thin Clients at Home - Which One.

You have to be careful to choose a thin client with a windows operating system this will probably be some form of windows CE, I am using an HP 5530 with windows CE 5.0, and it works OK proving you don't want to watch videos! T5530 Display Issues.

The main thing is that it has some form of windows on it that supports remote desktop.



Feeling stingy. If you have any old PC you could use that to log on to your new PC and share its resources and files, and make use of its greater performance. XP service pack 2 or more will do this quiet nicely for the client computer.

Using Thin Clients at Home - Setup Your PC

Setup Your PC - Users

Your PC will be the "host" and we will need to make sure we have two administrator user accounts set up on that one.

Setup Your PC - Static IP

Most thin clients will need a domain (similar to a network) to connect to, but home users use networks . . so you will have to assign a static IP to your host PC so you can log on to it from the thin client.

In order to fill in the boxes you will need to known your gateway IP (yours routers IP) and choose an IP for your host PC say 192.168.0.155

I stumbled on the DNS server info, in the end I put my gateway IP here too and that fixed the problem.

Setup Your Thin Client

Most windows clients will be running windows CE or similar, the bit we are interested in is remote desktop connection.

To get going type in the IP adress you assigned to your host PC and connect you will need the log in details for the 2nd user you set up for the host PC.

With a bit of luck everything should connect and you will be working on your host PC before you know it.

By clicking the options button before logging on the the remote desktop, there are loads of options to tweak.

Under the "General" Tab save your details for next time, which will create a file on your client desktop, with all of your preferred remote connection settings.

"Display" Tab - Uncheck display connection bar (you can disconnect) using the shut down button.

"Local resources" - normally good as it is.

"experience" - if you are LAN the max this out, (check all boxes)

"advanced" - server authentication - turn off warnings

All Good - Great
Not Working - Leave a comment and I will endevour to fix the problem.


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