Hi All,

Well I got to my lidls for lunchtime and most of the gear was gone !!!

i fancied getting the socks but they had been sold out...

Did anybody else grab a bargain ?

Cheers
Geordie

I went into the New Malden Lidls today and managed to 'blow' £90

Good battery chargers at £10 , and the 'trickle' charge for 6v and 12v at £5 also got some engine and anti rust sprays and a balaclava, rest of the gear too small for me, even the xl gloves.
I think this branch changes its 'offers' on Mondays.

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'He who laughs last, was too slow to get the joke'
Never confuse the map with the journey.

I went to the Arnison Centre branch this morning. It's near M&S Motorcycles Durham showroom, about 5 minutes from the A1 junction at Chester le Street. They still had a fair bit of kit when I called in after work this afternoon.

I picked up a tankbag and winter gloves for my mate as he's new to touring. The tankbag is a bit lightweight compared to Oxford and Hein Gericke items but for £17, you can't go wrong. I also got a balaclava, disc lock alarm, extra bungees, intercom set and some waterproofs which need to go back as they're too small.

I've used the intercom set before but had to buy another to replace the headset one of our cats took a liking to. Before that, it worked well with VOX enabled walkie-talkies if you're looking for cheap bike-to-bike communication.

I looked at the flip-face helmets but what put me off immediately was the front was difficult to release and it had one of those seatbelt style buckles on the chin strap which I don't trust. The overall quality didn't look great but you can't expect it for that kind of money. The full face ones are the same as those that were badly criticised by Motorrad magazine.

Hi All

Looks like Aldi is doing bike gear on Easter Monday


Heres a linky

ALDI - Monday Special Buys 24th March 2008

cheers
Geordie

Well, it's gone this time, drove past Planet Bikes today and the whole place was empty. Leicester is a backwater for main dealers now.

Bought a tank bag from Lidl yesterday, spent ages in the store opening all the zips and pockets, looks pretty good. Put it on the bike this afternoon, then the heavens opened and since I wasn't going anywhere in particular, comfort won over courage and I took the car instead (I know, fair weather biker).

Why do you think I'm called Indoors.

Anyone get any bargains? I got the padlock and chain for £10 and a couple of the zip neck shirts for £7 each.

The waterproofs are not available as there's some kind of problem with them. The tankbags they had in looked quite decent, certainly appeared more robust than the ones Lidl had in last week and possibly have more capacity.

Went to Aldi yesterday.

Bought a jacket and trousers, jacket was £40, trousers £30. It says they're waterproof, who knows, but they looked pretty well made, lots of pockets, body armour of a sort, detachable quilted liners, don't know about the zips. I've no doubt some people will think I'm stupid but they'll do for now.

Sizes were weird though, definately try stuff on in the store, I got a large jacket, medium trousers, but the smallest size gloves were still too big.

Tank bags did look good but I got the Lidl one last week so hey ho.

Thermals - tops were short-sleeved, waistband on the pants looked iffy.

Indoors.

Hi all,

Well I grabbed 3 pairs of socks, 2 tops (short Sleeve) and a long sleeve turtle neck top... just to add to all the other tops I have lol.


Didnt need anything else, The beauty about Aldi is that you have a 30 day money back....... If you dont like em take em back no questions asked !

Cheers
Geordie

This month's RiDE magazine in the UK has a test of tank bags.

Held, Cargo & Hein Gericke were all recommended but the Vanucci Race bag, £69.95 from getgeared, sounds practically the same as the Lidl bag I boughtfor £17! And my bag's expandable whereas they say the Vanucci isn't.

Wore the Aldi jacket and trousers last weekend for a soggy 100 mile trip from Bristol to Leicester and they held out pretty well too.

Indoors

Aldi's have some cheap camping kit in this week. Although the tent's and sleeping bags are probably only good for festival use, they had some waterproof, roll top duffle bags.

I've seen a few people using this style of bag instead of tailpacks so thought I'd try them out instead of taking a small rucksack. When closed, they're about 50cm long (excluding strap) and 30cm diameter. At only £6.99, they're worth a look.

BTW, the motorcycle balaclava from Aldi's was pretty crap. Badly fitting, not as windproof as my usual wool necktube but without a doubt, it's worst feature is that it caused a correctly sized helmet to be too tight leading to an absolutely splitting headache.

£6.99 is an excellent price, assuming they are reasonable quality.
i use an ortleib sack for a tailpack when i camp, a big 96ltr one. my khyam tent and folding armchair (dont believe in slumming it) fit in it as if it was tailormade and it bungees onto the back seat behind the topbox across the panniers without interfering with the topbox lid.
you need some long thin luggage when you camp, a tailpack is just another square box, got plenty of them already!

now, if i could just figure out a way to load my pop-up tent on the bike without looking like an AWACS plane......

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dave

The quality seems acceptable though I wouldn't expect anything less than the Ortleib ones to be much better considering the price difference. Spoke to the owner of an outdoor shop in Sunderland who used an Ortleib bag on the back of his Suzuki Bandit. I wasn't convinced at the time but having seen so many riders in mainland Europe with them, they can't all be wrong.

I've got this Aldi bag on the back of my bike now. It takes a Vango Banshee tent, 2 season sleeping bag and fleece liner, Trangia army cookset and a gas stove/cannister. If I find that I need more space, I'll just pick up a bigger one from a Hein Gericke or Louis shop when I'm Germany.

Unlike the Ortleib and Hein Gericke bags, it has no side handle so I used 2 webbing straps with quick release buckles to wrap around it, just so I had some secure fastening points. I used 2 diagonally placed bungees under the webbing straps and 2 bungees straight over the top at each end to secure it to D-rings on my soft luggage. Seems safe enough and better than many luggage lash ups I've seen.

BTW, while on the subject of pop-up tents, what is it with staff in outdoor shops wanting to sell me one, despite explaining that it's to go on the back of a bike? Obviously shows that their camping experience is limited to festivals but it's worrying how little thought they put into it when you ask them for a recommendation.

its actually quite a good tent, nice and big and obviously easy to put up! but not for bikes! its an odd shape and quite heavy.
i bought mine as a car camping tent, then thought about how to get it on the bike. its ok to put on top flat and bungy to death, but looks ridiculous. it would probably look better without the topbox but i couldnt do without the secure luggage. i though about making a side rack to put it flat against a pannier rack but that would mean losing a pannier. now i have a much bigger bike(varadero) i might roll out the ideas again......

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dave