HI All,

I found some stuff in a box in my cellar yesterday.

If anyone wants some bits of a Tamiya hotshot – Suspension arms / chassis / body etc then let me know.

I would prefer someone on here to get them rather than have to ebay

No chunkypaul, it was excellent.

The course was greatm with lots of cobbles and just enough mud to get in the way and make it fun.

There were some fun bits like climbing up the stage steps and running through the back of the stage, a scaffold bridge in the heats.

Then in the floodlit finals you went along the middle layer of the piece hall, by the shops.

I think it was the best bike related event I have attended!

I wouldn’t go for slick tyres as the grass will get cut up very quickly!

I enjoyed the first one at the old Shrogs tip so much I am entering with my daughter too. Its her first race at the age of 8!

I’m getting excited at the thought of a day of cycling related activity with the family / Pizzas and beer!

I noticed that there are 2 Go Pro cameras to be one from Cycle Gear too.

Fingers crossed for good weather.

Hope to see more STwers there too!

I have a 320d m sport estate and it is fine in all regards,

It is not the most entertaining car to drive but is quick(ish) and very good on petrol (25k in last year or so and about 50mpg average.

However Mercedes seem to be giving their cars away to leasing companies at the moment. I am sure a quick google will show C220 or C250d at less than £400, some of them even cover maintenance and tyres too!

I don’t think I would pay approx. £100 premium for a BM over the Merc!

I would never bother with a condenser one if a vented one was a possibility!

They use so much more electric (condensers) and damp is an issue as you mention.

Vented for the win!

The easy way to do this is to get some flexible fittings and then use these to couple up the new taps with a short length of pipe in the bottom.

You can also get flexible fittings with stop valves on which can be helpful in emergency or when changing things around.

I used some speedfit ones and they have been fine.

(The other alternative is to use copper pipe all the way to the tap, this can be a little tricky as the pipe needs to be exactly right!)

Tools required pipe cutter (hacksaw) wire wool for cleaning edge and flexible fittings x2

Very dependent on journey types and driving style.

Recent examples:

Scirocco (200bhp) fronts 17K , rears 65K

BMW 3 series 184 diesel 25k rears (prob need changing in about 1000 miles or so. Fronts still fine.

It is a nice film, but is anyone going to help the OP?

(This is a mixture of altruism and self interest as I am planning a similar thing in the next few weeks)

Specifically I am wanting to install a wood burner of about 6Kw into the coach house my wife uses to paint and restore furniture.

1. Do I have to use an (expensive) fixed flue or will a flue liner be OK?

2 What are the building regs about this sort of thing?

3, I’ve not done this before, how do you go through the roof? Metal plate in place of one of the tiles?

Any help would be appreciated

Cheers
AL

Pretty sure it is Steve Peat as he tweeted a few days ago and said he was doing some filming and had a picture to prove it!

Oooohh get me and my modern social media!

The kitchen we did had those same handles OP.

They will need a little filler where the pins are that help to hold the backing plate on.

Do it first, then you wont be spoiling your lovely finish later!

:?

My wife does Shabby chic furniture and was recently asked to do a kitchen.

As mentioned above, sugar soap to get the grease and dirt off and then a good sand before priming.

She used Farrow & Ball paint at the customers request, the eggshell finish was really good. (worth leaving a few days if you can as it seems to be a bit tacky afterwards for a few days – easy to chip)

She also painted around the corner of the shut lines to reduce the chance of chipping.

It can look really good if you take the time, time will tell how durable it is!

Whilst more spend can definitely get better quality sound, I was very surprised by the X mini stuff I bought recently:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=x%20mini

You can get a couple of these for around half your budget and they sound surprisingly good with a reasonable bass!

My cat seems to prefer voles for some reason.

I guess he must catch them in the woodland behind our house.

No traps yet!

Does anyone have any experience or thoughts on the wood briquettes that you can buy?

I’ve seen some on fleabay for £100 per 500kg. They suggest very low moisture levels approx 4%)

Seems like a reasonable deal?

Not sure if this will help but basically it sounds like they are running you through a capability process

They need to show that they are giving you enough training to do the job (training of a reasonable quality).

These things take time as it is unreasonable for you to be expected to turn things around immediately.

You may find that the process allows for a good few weeks whilst they support you, this also offers you some time to get a plan B

Hope it goes better than you seem to expect!

Oh Sorry I thought this was a straight swap deal and I have an old Marin I am keen to get rid of!

:evil:

I’ve lit the fire but the wife has pushed the button!

Did I mention that is is a continental?

(Not really)

joshvegas – how do you know?

Excellent, thanks all.

3 options within 5 mins of posting!

Now can anyone help with the correct lottery numbers for saturday? :lol:

I cant remember if I asked for one in the initial thread, but seeing it earlier this week I went onto the site and requested one.

It came today, so either it took ages like everyone else or they are now in a position for a very quick turnaround.

In any case happy to try it and thanks to the makers for being generous!

If you use Strava / I map my ride you may be able to find routes that fit the bill by searching around the places you want to ride.

There are some great routes from Holmfirth up towards the reservoirs for example.

Depending on the program you use, some of them allow GPX download (you can then go to raceshape for a quick transfer into a course file!)

Hope this helps!

Al.

I have a specialized Alled that I am running a spoon on and it is fine.

(I tend to use new saddles on the road bike and then transfer them to the MTB when they are looking a little tired)

Having said that I do find the Specialized saddles very comfy too!

If you want to drive to the track, then a 996 turbo would be a great choice for the journey and the track

Westfield / Caterham would be excellent on the track but maybe too much of a compromise on the way there.

(I may be slightly biased as I am selling a 996 turbo!)

I have had a go at referring you assuming I have guessed your email right!

Thanks Stoner, will have a look at the magazine sub.

Interesting article tootall

I would think that we may get a bit more sun than in Alaska, but clearly the balance of air flow and temperature is needed to dry wood effectively.

The freezer one looks interesing Phil!

I think I might look for an old greenhouse and try some solar fans / blacking to see if it works OK

Maybe I should do some comparative stuff to see if the extra expense of the fans is worth while?

Thanks for the input!

Welsh!

:lol:

Not until you posted!

Would it be worth getting some solar fans too? and maybe painting the back wall black to act as a solar collector?

**hurries off to see if there are some local greenhouses for sale**

I had a bit of this in a property I renovated a few years ago.

Basically the extension had moved a little and allowed some slack in the joists. After checking online I fixed it by jacking up the joists with an acro-prop and then packed the bottom with slate, then dropped the joists back down.

It has been fine for 5 years so far since, with no further movement.

As others say if you think there is rot then poke around, if not slate is your answer!

A removable one will obviously look better.

I would urge caution with the VW fitted items for a couple of reasons::

1, they outsource to good independents any way and add a couple of £100 to the price

2, They will talk about the electrics being necessary for best function of the car………..this is a bit of nonsense. Basically the factory fitted option tells the cars ECU that there is a trailer fitted when you plug in the light board. This enables some cars to not turn on the car rear fog light for instance, just the trailer one to avoid glare, is can also be programmed to ignore the rear parking sensors etc/

However a good independent can do the job without the above features, generally for a few £100 less with a black box thingy (cant remember the name!)

Where are you based, there is a great fitting service near Bradford I have just used!

Hi Ali!

If this is anything like the City cross event in March then it will be great!

(Although that event did cost me a little finger!)

I’ll probably be there as it is across the road from my house!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Generation-Capsule-iPhone-Laptop-Speaker/dp/B001UEBN42/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1375445548&sr=8-2&keywords=x+mini+speaker

I bought some little ipod speakers on the way out to lake Garda this year.

For their size they sound fantastic and only £15 too!

I would echo some of the above about SB8’s

1, Bigger is better – the 2.35 is substantially more robust than the smaller sizes

2, You can run them tubeless (even the normal ones) I have had a front 2.35 as my first foray into tubeless and it has been fine for 2 months now.

Hope this helps!

They are getting better!

I had one of the first 3.2 audi TT’s in 2003, it was great and the gearbox was part of that greatness!

Upshifts were smooth and quick so you never get the toing and froing when accelerating quickly.

Only real problems were reversing (sometime set off like a scolded cat

I would say paddles are useful for when you want to drive it, leave it in D for the rest of the time!

I had an 8 speed auto 3 series whilst mine was being serviced a couple of weeks ago – really good gearbox and made the fuel consumption less than the manual.

However I also drive a manual, and really enjoy it as you feel a bit more connected to the experience!

Did mine playing football probably nearly 20 years ago

Had a cast on for about 6 weeks in total

It’s fine now, full motion and strength and does not hut in cold weather.

Broke my little finger in March and it is still not happy, swollen and hard to move. – seems it is a bit random how breaks heal

To follow up on Chakaping’s suggestion I have a mid 2000’s Marin Wolf ridge that has done nothing since Jan when I bought my new(ish) Orange 5

I’m not sure how much it is worth, but I would have thought it might be a worth a look at –

Has Fox forks and rear shock / hope brakes and adjustable amounts of suspension (I always ran it in full boing mode though!)

PM me if interested and I can provide photos!

I came back from Melcesine a few weeks ago and had a few great rides, some around the town and one day up on the cable car.

I dont know the tremalzo run, but would suggest being cautious – some (most) of the off road is very steep, rocky and technical in nature. You don’t want to put him off do you?

He may be OK on trail centre stuff over here, I think the trails over there are from another league!

Hope you have a great time whatever you decide

PS Take your bikes if you can, they have some good hire bikes, but the brakes the wrong way around!

I am running 23 on the front and 25 on the back.

Seems to work fine.

The main reason is I needed a new tyre at the back as the front one was not worn & I felt as a 100kg rider it might offer protection against flats.

So far I have not died!