The ‘luxury 4×4’ thread – comedy genius from my perspective although I have a feeling it’s not meant to be…

Cheesy balls
Diet Pepsi
Today’s Vuelta on hard drive

Living’ the dream…

I use rack on mine but it is possible to fit in a bike with both wheels off – you may have to drop/remove seatpost as well though.

PS a dimwit will be along shortly to ask if you are a planning a career in hairdressing or to make some vaguely homophobic comment… :D

Or keep the triple and try this…
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=48105

Balance bike worked well for my son. My daughter got the balance bit fine but still can’t fathom pedalling so at the moment she is riding a bike with stabilisers – although today we’re off to the park to see how she gets on with stabilisers removed… Which may end in badly :wink:

Another vote for a Forester here (unfortunately fuel economy is rubbish if you buy an S – great to drive though…)

Never test rode a bike either – in fairness the first mountain bike I ever bought (a 20″ Diamond Back Topanga back in 92) was probably a bit big but it rode ok at the time… I just do a bit of research on geometry/reach and go from there.
For interest the list is:
19″ Kona Cindercone
L Bontrager Race
M/L Tomac Revolver
L Turner Flux
55 Ellsworth Flight
56 Kona Paddy Wagon
All of them have been set up to have about the same reach etc by tweaking the saddle position/stem length

Wow – you can tell it is raining outside – this could end up more fun than a religious thread :D
Keep it going guys – my favourite so far is that a double ‘looks better’ – thanks Realman – almost as good as the ‘slammed stems’!

Still got a 3×9 set up on my main bike (a Turner Flux) but use a Raceface half bash ring thing – best of both worlds from my point of view. When it all wears out I’ll consider a move to 2×10 perhaps.

I’m watching the most fabulous sunset out of my window, watching light glistening of turbine blades (really – it looks gorgeous). The good news is that I live on the western side of the lakes – with a bit of luck it’ll stop raining where you are by the time its gets dark… :D
Seriously the forcast is good for tomorrow!

Shame our loyalty goes unrewarded… :-)

Maybe he is sitting there fuming that you’ve taken over… :D
I’m assuming that it’s your son in law rather than your son too. If its your son then you definitely didn’t bring him up properly…. So it’s you’re own fault!

Diamond Back Topanga – couldn’t afford the Ascent :-)

Best idea is to probably ignore them – same way as I ignore the self-righteous cyclist threads. Oddly enough some people love cycling but actually quite like driving too! How weird is that?
Speaking of weirdness – there is a really cool thread about cold war aircraft kicking about at the moment – you may not like that either. Just as well it’s in the chat bit…

I’m not seeing this at all – seems to be a few more cyclists about but can’t remember last time I didn’t get a nod or suchlike (roadies in full Lycra included) . Guess I must just live in a friendly place.

Cumbria – middle of the country – perfect!

Any Warhammer 40k sci fi from the black library – proper pulp fiction and a real guilty pleasure!

Juan – are you being deliberately obtuse or just trolling?
Go and play a game of five-a-side at the local sports field and see how many people are made of sugar. Who knows you might just get why people like it.

How about David Millar?

No or rather it depends on specific circumstances. Must be nice to live in such a black and white world though…

Bottom ‘feet’ of the Saris Bones sit on the bumper. Does a 2008 Focus have a bumper? If not you might have a problem…
I use one on a Mini and Forester without any problem – the rack is excellent if it’ll fit.

I’ve got an old Finepix XP which has been pretty robust and works well for out on the bike/running etc. It has survived umpteen drops and even my kids taking photographs in the pool at centreparks.

Also cheap enough that I don’t get paranoid about using it properly – i.e. taking it with me if the weather is rubbish or trail is a bit dicey…

Maybe worth looking at the more modern version (XP30 I think)?

If you are serious, buy a copy of ‘The Housebuilders Bible’ by Mark Brinkley. I think it is up to the 8th edition now. Loads of useful advice and from my experience pretty accurate (read realistic) costings. We built a house 5/6 years ago (the sixth edition was out around that time).

Accord Mortgages are well worth a look at in our experience.

And definitely not being negative – self builds are great – but your budget sounds a bit optimistic unless you can do a lot yourself.

alpin and postierich – I just bet you two are proper manly…

I’m off now to swap my car for a more masculine vehicle – do you perhaps have any suggestions :)

I bought my Saris Bones 2 from Rutland Cycles (£96 delivered). Biketart are currently selling them for £95 delivered (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Saris-Racks-Bones-2-Bike-Car-Rack-Grey-/330749010780?pt=UK_Sports_Leisure_Cycling_Bags_Panniers_SR&hash=item4d022d635c)

My S is a 2003 (so an R53 rather than an R56). I can’t see that making much difference to how it fits but you might want to check…

I’ve just bought a Saris Bones for mine – rack fits car fine. Haven’t quite figured out the best way to fit a Turner Flux onto it though…

Campagnolo use them too! And they’re even easier to adjust than Shimano.
Personally I have C and C on my road bike Zonda wheelset and Hope cartridges on my mountain bikes. I’m not sure that I think one is better than the other though – both are hassle free and work well.

Another Malian here…

I use one on my road bike – hasn’t ejected a bottle yet… BUT the reason it hasn’t is because they are bloody tight! I ended up removing the rubber bit just so I could get the bottle in relatively easily.
They are very light though and I haven’t broken it yet either.
I use normal cheap SIS bottles – i.e. I don’t mind that they are now scratched.

I’ve used hairspray to attach Ritchey WCS grips to Easton EC70’s for the last 5 years – haven’t failed (yet…)
As to taking them off – just pull really hard – I’d be wary of using a knife.

Thank-you!

Great for tool boxes…

Daniel Craig as Bond
Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark

Genuine question – are you sure you’re not mixing up cause with effect?
Like most people, I run my qr’s on the disc side so I’ve just gone and opened them to see if I could get the lever to open into the disc – they don’t.

Perhaps a particular make of q/r might though?

As I said this is a genuine question – it’ll also be easy to demonstrate in the shop.

Come on Greece! I ended up with them in the works sweepstake but on the plus side we also have a pot for worst disciplinary record… :lol:

Just wanted to say how much I’ve enjoyed this thread – particularly Mark’s comments – thanks guys (and girls)!

Went round the back o’Skiddaw and then went to a street party in my village – only just come back to put kids to bed – fantastic!

:D

StefMcDef – I wonder how many of the ‘fawning, grovelling subjects’ are being forced to stand in the rain? Maybe they’re all there because they want to be? Maybe they are proud to be British and actually like the monarchy?
Personally I’m ambivalent about the Royal family but I’m certainly proud to be British and I’m not embarrassed by, or for, the people who choose to show a little respect…

:D
To repeat my original comments – I just bought a Stans kit and I use non-UST tyres on my 717’s – clearly I am going to die…
Joking aside – the whole set-up was retrofitted to a 3 year old wheelset and works fine. Most of my riding is in the Lakes – i.e. rocky and technical – so the capability to run lower pressures without pinch-punctures is a big deal for me (I hate fixing punctures in the rain…). I run 2.1 tyres which seems to avoid tyre rolling/burping.