hi Graham,

Good to see you still here!

Yes I was committed to the Supremes but they seem discontinued. Plus a wheel size change thrown into the mix. I'll try there panaracers and see how I get on.

Looking forward to late October in south of France... 

Cheers,

Emmet

hi Mike,

Will definitely do. If I've learned one thing in recent years, it's that a photo is a valuable thing, worth taking lots and lots...

I am getting the packages arriving one by one, the excitement is building

Hi Emmet, yes I’m still out and about. My wife and I even made it as far as Ireland in May.  For a very short visit. Not on bikes though. We cheated and used a hire car. 

St John St Cycles online shop looks as if it has Supremes in stock. And I have a few stashed away in my bike spares stockpile if you make it back to Australia. I have enough tyres to tour until I’m in my late 90s. 

Hi Graham,

The only sizes for 622 wheels are 40 and 42 which might have suited Emmet but are too large for my reqirements.

Interesting to note the price difference between the 559 and the 622 about 50% greater!

Mike the tyres I’ve had squirrelled away in my garage from the pre-COVID era have probably appreciated more than the ASX and other capital investments. Especially if freight from SJSC is factored in. Perhaps I should move them into a bank vault. :)

another five years Graham? 😯

Lolol sorry you set that up and I couldn't resist.

Regarding sjs... They are great but since Brexit I just can't order from them. The shipping and customs charges are off the charts. For example I was looking for some small part recently, would have been about €20, but by the time they had added their shipping charge it was almost double that. I can't say that's the same for every UK retailer, but in general now, I avoid ".co.uk" sites for this reason. 

To be clear, my statement above is only about costs, not a political opinion about Brexit. The sad reality is that trading with the UK now is significantly more expensive.

Hi Graham

Judging by SJSC freight prices they apppear to be using the Kelly Gang as their carriers!

Emmet and Mike it’s a while … probably two years or more … since I last bought anything from SJSC, and even then the costs had increased greatly. 

Freight costs were the most costly component I think. Plus currency exchange rates and a few other economic fluctuations designed to cause us antipodean cycle-tourers wince. So the situation is back to the expensive normal it was before the golden years of Wiggle and other online northern hemisphere bike part retailers shipping bike stuff cheaply to Australia.

Despite the added cost, I bought a few Thorn bike parts from SJSC (unavailable from other sources) in an attempt to future proof my two beautiful Thorn bikes. 

Fingers crossed I outlast the bikes, and their components.