Thanks for all the replies – definately some food for thought…

neil’s wheels in east molesey (surrey) had a lovely krampus in the window last time I looked.

Definately worth the price. Our boy was feet-up balancing just before his 2nd birthday. A friend of mine was getting gently frustrated by his daughter’s inability to balance on her kiddy bike, but was able to go feet-up on the very first attempt on our isla. Not just lighter and well made, but well designed too. Our boy is 6 now, and on his third islabike.
As everyone has said, when the bike’s outgrown, you get almost all of your money back, making them the cheapest childs bike going.

Not sure about breakfast, but for dinner curry at The Two Idiots was excellent last weekend.

the tiny Squire Retractable Cable Lock fits in your pocket. Probably not massively secure, but a cheap deterrent for opportunist thieves

…or turn right out of the Wetherspoons, go a few hundred yards down the road to the hobgoblin. Nice ale, can be quite lively in the evening (if you like that sort of thing!) either way the Swan mentioned above, or the Hobgoblin beat the wetherspoons.

IIRC there’s a lovely post-war shaft drive bicycle in the BMW museum in Munich

Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll take a look at those and see whats suits.

OT I know, but I would buy a COTIC CRYPTIC OPTIC. If it existed.

And an On-One 45650B – oh old on, that one does exist…

untelligible sizings on the ebay ones. Is there some special code for these?

+1 for On the cranks

Dont ride on the A316, its terrifying

Whoppa Cross .lovely

There is (or was?) a MTB specific brooks – I’ve one on my inbred.
Its the same shape as the B17, but with thicker (possibly more weather proof) leather, and some VERY stiff springs.

I think the models called the ‘Conquest’

Any of the Parker books are good. (by Donald E. Westlake
aka Richard Stark)
The recent Parker movie with Jason Statham ruins everything…

it hung on to me for 5 weeks – finally visited quack who gave me some steroid pills which did a miraculous overnight fix. I think it was the same prednisolone as mentioned earlier..

Brooess, they’ll never get them through customs

i got some spots under my helmet strap once

One ring BB Tool to rule them all, One BB Tool to find them, One BB Tool to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.

HOPE. Mine is as smooth as the day it went.
Which was a Tuesday about 2 years ago.

we had our big boy james rolling around on a islabike rothan; he was balancing well, when he was 20months old. He skoots along, leans into corners etc. We’ll get him a pedal bike (probably another Islabike)when he’s 3 and I’m absolutley positive he will take to it within a day.

call me petty, but….
is it just me or does everybody struggle to when see the blue links on the dark green backgrounds?

burmaboy i misread your post, and spent 30 seconds thinking about what sort of manual this would assist with…

“This is how i do it.

medium to fast pace, stand up and cough a bit with your weight slightly forward.”

Epping forest. You can get there on tube, and its full of track trails and bridlepaths.

motorcyclist sitting near me says +1 for sticking them inthe freezer.

If the aircon in you car starts a-reeking set it to maximum (ie coldest possible) then leave it running for 10 minutes; same process kills the stinky bacteria in that as it does in your pongy old mittens.

about 20 years i played rugby and our team used to do circuit training in this big gym hall. Later in the season some footballers started; they struggled a lot more than us. Then, bizarrely, a rowing team started ; they musch much fitter (at circuit traing sessions specifically) than either the futblers, or us rugger types.
the rugby and football teams had similar training regimes, but I think the rowers were doing their thing 6 times a week, mixing up longish runs with heavy weight training etc

how would one go about getting hold of a copy of rogers book?

My boy James has Islabike Rothan. He learned to balance after 3 days, when he was 22months old.
He's 2 1/2 years now, and loves to get on a slightly downhill bit of pavement so he can stick his legs out and pick up some speed. On the flat I have to jog to keep up with him.
He loves his bike but now he wants to know where his pedals are!

If I was at a rave with bikes and jerseys, would I wear 1 on-one jersey when I was on 1 on-one whilst I was on one?

I got these are from a running shop, they fit great for the broad hootered gentlemen. FTBHG?

A Buff over the nose and mouth helps me in the winter – its gets a bit damp after a while, and then seems to moisten the air you suck in regardless of whether its through your hooter or cake-hole.

It might work the same in the summer, worth a try?

I live near a USB port.
Is THAT safe?

for me, the cause was core strength. After starting some regular sit-ups, the lower back pain was 75% cleared up.
Post-ride hamstring stretching fixed the last 25%.

Twice last winter I had to cut rides really short due to almost complete loss of front brake – boths times it turned out that brake fluid had squeezed past the seals. Both days were sub-zero.
Googling showed this has happpened to other riders in cold weather.

I cleaned everything and replaced the pads both times – I'm still using the same seals with no further problems.

So I think shimano seals are adversley affected by the ambient temperature, perhaps they pull back the pistons better when its a warm day, but get more brittle/rigid when its cold, thus leaving our pads rub-rub-rubbing away at the disc.