Olle

This Kathmandu Saddle Bag (Deluxe)  was on sale for $20 so I grabbed it and finally replaced the frame bag I had since Day 1 of my cycling. Build quality is very good, lots of pockets, and it's pretty light as well. Due to preferred position of my saddle seat, the bag protrudes at the back. I could have chosen the smaller saddle bag but it would mean limited contents.  At the moment, I have these items inside this bigger/deluxe bag: spare tube, multi-tool, puncture repair kit, a couple of chain quick links, spare light, energy gel, electrolyte tablet tube, and a 10,000 mAh external battery charger power bank.

After almost 4 weeks of waiting, my Oakley Split Jacket sunglass is finally delivered. I ordered it locally but the prescription lenses had to be 'grinded' in good ol' USA. The prescription lens is also photochromic. I used this an hour ago during my night ride and it's perfect! No need for me to bring 2 prescription glasses (clear & deep black) on some rides. I also ordered the ' wind gasket ' from UK. It should be delivered within 3 weeks from now.

Our  Logitech Gaming Mouse G700 just went nuts so we 'retired' it. In comes  CoolerMaster CM Storm Sentinel Z3RO-G Gaming Mouse ; will unpack and start using tonight.

Had to upgrade PC speaker from Audioengine A2 to A5+ . With D1 , I can definitely hear the difference. Happy. In this photo: A5+, Dell U2711 , Logitech G510 , and D1.

PB12-NSD is a ported subwoofer. This port is located front top-right and, even with the supplied grille, is quite accessible by any normal 'adventurous' toddler. One day, I found some small toys hiding about 4 inches inside. To prevent more serious 'breach' in the future, I bought a grille just for this port opening. Fortunately, I found a metal grille that is perfect for the job - a 6.5-in black metal grille from Altronics. And to make it easy to remove someday, I just used a double-sided tape for its mounting. Here it is - This metal grille has larger holes than the supplied grille by SVS so there should be no impact to subwoofer performance. Here's another photo of the subwoofer's front (driver + port) -

Unlike the previous Fiio E10 USB DAC where installation was literally plug-and-play, my experience with Audioengine D1 is quite challenging. Issue 1 - only USB 2.0 ports can be used in my Asrock z68 Extreme4 motherboard. USB 3.0 ports are no good. Issue 2 - USB cable length should be 1m or below. If a longer cable is connected to a USB 3.0 port, Windows 8 reports an unknown device. In a USB 2.0 port, Windows 8 reports good Audioengine D1 installation but audio performance is NONE (only quick beeps or buzz). Issue 3 - my Audioengine A2 speakers sit on my desk but my PC is on a shelf around 1m above. My oxygen-free RCA cables are only 0.75m long. Fortunately, I have an unused 2m Toslink cable lying around. So using a 3m USB cable (for D1 power) and this Toslink cable (for D1 audio source), I found a setup that satisfies my needs. In Windows 8, S/PDIF is set as Default Playback Device while Audioengine D1 USB is automatically set as Default Communications Device. I set S/PDIF to

Due to annoying 'popping sound' at every audio stop & pause, just had to replace Fiio E10 USB DAC  today with  Audioengine D1 Premium 24-Bit USB DAC .

Pre-order done! will be collecting at EB Games.

Upgraded from Yamaha YST-SW216 to SVS PB12-NSD .

I have to make a complete backup of our NAS and Desktop PC so I bought this external HDD. Disc used by WD is Hitachi HDS5C404ALE630 - MPAOA3B0. This HDD will be kept 'off-site'.

This enables me to bring the bicycle on long trips with the family and also makes going to ride staging areas easier. Before, no one could come with me as I had to fold the rear seats down to make space for the bicycle. Quality: 5/5, Installation: 5/5, Cost: 3/5 Highly recommended.

Local drive (SSD) Crucial M4 256GB Local drive (HDD) Western Digital 1TB Caviar Blue Network Drive Synology DiskStation DS211j 6-May-13 update: From our office network - Pretty poor, eh?

So after 29,378km, my 2 front tyres are just about 1mm away from the thread wear indicator. These stock tyres are Kumho Solus KH15 215/65/16 98H. The rears are still at around 3-4mm so still OK. Though these 4 wheels were supposed to be rotated/exchanged during the vehicle's annual servicing. Hmmm.... Anyway, I went to Costco Auburn this evening (7pm) and had them replace the fronts with Michelin Energy XM2 . Cost is AU$189.00 each; job took around 20 minutes. I'll post my thoughts on these XM2s perhaps after using them for 500~1,000km.

Our very first modem router, a D-Link DSL-2642B , was acting up for the past month or so. WiFi or internet connectivity cuts off and required power reset; had to do it around thrice a week. Also, it's only 10/100 ethernet while almost all devices connected to it are gigabit ethernet. So that old unit retired today and in comes  TP-Link TD-8980 N600 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit ADSL2+ Modem Router . Setup was pretty easy and home network is up and running within 10 minutes including removal of old unit and re-routing of some cables. With the old unit, average network speed when moving large files (>100MB) is around 5MB/s. With this gigabit-capable router, average speed now is around 13MB/s with peaks at 22MB/s, nice! Also, WiFi now stays connected when wireless home phone or microwave is being used; thanks to 5GHz WLAN band ;-)

I now want to capture as much cycling data as possible so I added a Wahoo Blue SC Speed/Cadence Sensor to my ride. Along with a Polar H7 HRM, Cyclemeter can now provide me tons of data thus making post-ride analysis more interesting ;-) One of the many graphs on my 43km ride this morning:

SSC P7 LED (center) and Cree XP-E LEDs (sides) Light is controlled via the blue-colored button Here's a quick video clip that I created - CLICK HERE .

Recently heavily discounted at Evans Cycles ,  Campagnolo Gironde Windproof Thermo Jacket. Front - Back pockets - Rear -

Torpedo7 recently had this on sale so I grabbed one. This should slow down the wear rate of my other cycling shoe, a Shimano MT23 . A separate purchase of proper set of cleats is required. In my case, it's the SM-SH51 . Check your pedal documentation for confirmation. This shoe has better interior seal than MT23 as cleat mating plate is already secured behind a fixed semi-plastic layer. With MT23, you have to muck around with a flimsy sticker.

So after 1,200km plus of cycling, I'm still getting bum sore though not as uncomfortable as during the early weeks. This sore becomes quite significant at around 30km for every ride. So today, I replaced the stock Giant saddle in my bike with  Serfas Eliminator RX Performance Saddle . I have a 60km ride this Sunday so let's see if there's any improvement. Stock saddle - Comparison ( Serfas saddle is a bit wider so should help with my ischial tuberosities aka “sit bones” ) Serfas Eliminator RX Performance Saddle - Rear view ( with PDW Radbot 1000 LED Rear Light and stock rear reflector ) Giant Boulder 29er 0

Due to hand discomfort during long rides (>2 hours), I had to replace the stock handle grip, remove the Ritchey bar-ends (which I purchased a month ago), and put a Tioga Ergo Comfort Grip. Hopefully, this can help on long rides. We'll see... Settings: Exposure Time = 1/40" F Number = F1.8 ISO Speed Ratings = 6400 Focal Length = 35mm Body = Nikon D800 Lens = AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G 22-Mar-13 UPDATE: this grip works - I feel no significant discomfort for up to 2.5 hours and discomfort easily addressed by changing position in this handlebar grip.

Last night, I was in a hurry so I shut our PC down by pressing the power button for more than 5 seconds. I normally don't do this... Anyway, this morning, when I tried booting the PC up, I was greeted by a " Insert boot media and press any key " screen. I went to BIOS and there it showed that my SSD (which contains system OS) isn't recognized. After scouring the web & trying various solutions, this is the only one that worked: 1) Ensure PC is off 2) Remove power & SATA cables from SSD 3) Put power cable back into SSD 4) Turn PC on; eventually "Insert boot media and press any key" message will be displayed 5) Leave PC on for 20 minutes 6) Then connect SATA cable into SSD (yes, SSD is still powered) 7) Then push RESET button in your PC; don't turn PC off, just the RESET button 8) SSD should be back in business at this stage Whew!

For now, I ride 98% on concrete/bitumen bike paths. So the stock tyre (Giant 54-622) of my bicycle isn't the right tyre. So I changed it today to  Continental CityRide Reflex City Road Tyre Black 37-622 . The stock tyre which is for mountail trail/gravel paths - The new road tyre I put today - Comparison - The changing of tyres and tubes is really easy, it surprised me. There's nothing to it really. Notes: - Stock rim is Giant CR70 which has a 25mm width. - Stock Giant 54-622 weight is 750gm. - Continental CityRide 37-622 weight is 600gm.