The ability to borrow at a lower interest rate than savings interest rates is effectively arbitrage and so therefore cannot exist.

Our current mortgage with the Nationwide .75% above base is at a lower rate than they are paying us on our ISA. :D

We could actually pay it off but we'd be loosing money!

At least George got to cup a couple of Miss Worlds.

I listened to that the other day, unbelievable, I'd have waited for her to call the police, in fact I'd have given her my phone to call them.

I've ordered the Reba SL's from Merlin and they've been dispatched. Only problem is that from Saturday I've got a 21 day run of working so it'll be July before I can fit them.

You really can't expect the police to prioritise this when they've got Real criminals to deal with.

Thanks mboy, I can splash out on both a 2.5 and a 3mm allen key if I go for the cheaper SL's.

Well I'm leaning towards the Rebas on Merlin as I think the SID,s would be a bit like me putting a V8 in my Fiat Doblo. The only thing I'm unclear about is the differences between the SL and the Race. The specifications appear identical on the Merlin site and even the RockShox web site doesn't appear to show any differences. What am I missing?

I've said it before on another thread but scrap car tax and put up the taxes on fuel, the resources for collecting it already being in place. It saves all the resources that are used to run the system and those used to pursue those who evade it.It's not avoidable and therefore all who drive pay and it reflects the resources you are consuming. I can't really see a decent argument against it. I realize that it will lead to redundancies but so will any other option.

thisisnotaspoon I take your point and my bike is currently a tank at 32lb. It was configured as a road commuter when I bought it 4 years ago with touring tyres full guards a rack a Rohloff and a Son dynamo hub. Weight didn't really matter but 2 years ago I thought why the hell am I riding to work on the road when I can do it off road. This though is hopefully the first step in turning it into something a bit more pleasant to ride up the hills. The end goal is something not unlike Rip's belt driven Zion.

Thanks

Those SIDs do look a bargain.The Rohloff at the other end has made me rather lax with cleaning but if I went with the SIDs I've got RC31's I'd use for winter commuting.

Mine drives an Aston Martin DB9, previously a TVR Tuscan. But he still can't give me a pay rise over the last three years, or pay me £2k in overtime I accrued over 3 months last year…

Probably won't be able to afford to get it re-sprayed either then. :-)

Always ask for their number. Always know the name of his Chief Constable and his hobbies and tell PC it'll make an interesting conversation next time you meet the CC at the golf club tennis club or local dogging site depending on CC's hobbies.

Formatting could be screwed up though. Try and get to test it on a machine with 2007 first.

Gates quoted me £250 for two cogs and a belt.

The thing is until we find out how long these last in the real world we won't know if that's expensive or a bargain.

under the circumstances

Those being that his nett spend in his time at Anfield was within a few million of Chelsea and Manchester United? :-)

Does it have to be a random reservoir, can't you just choose one that's close to you.

Benitez did a brilliant job at Liverpool

You won't find a single Man U fan who'll disagree with that. :-)

On the noise thing I'm not surprised that the belt is quieter. I've always found my Rohloff at it's loudest after re tensioning the chain which making me think that it is the tighter chain that transmits more noise from the hub into the chainset then into the frame. A bit like two tin cans and a bit of string.

The maintenance advantage for me is actually less of an incentive than the weight advantage. My last cheap Sram chain lasted 3 years and was still working fine when I changed it. The current KMC 3 speed chain has been on for a year and is coping with my high maintenance schedule of wiping it occasionally and squirting some GT85 on it. This is a bike I use as an all year round off road commuter.

Anyway if I could have any bike I've seen on these forums it would be this one.

Cut ALL funding to any religious organisations. God will help them if necessary.

That's my favourite so far.

The tension the belt needs to be under may also destroy bearings faster

If Rohloff are happy with it I think you can be pretty sure that it's not a problem at least with their hub. Their not exactly the type of company that likes to rush in with new developments and are very keen to protect their reputation for reliability.

Can't really understand the no-maintenance claim either compared to chains. These belts seem to be very similar to those used as cam belts on cars….my old car needed a new one of those every 60,000 miles

good point that I'm not sure I can be arsed with changing a belt every 10 to 20 years on my bike. :-)

Whyte 19 though I'm not sure if they are currently offering frame only options.

Scrap car tax and increase the duty on fuel and you can get rid of everyone at the DVLA dealing with car tax. Plus a tax which a lot of people don't pay becomes unavoidable and there is an incentive to drive less. I don't suppose the savings would be put much of a dent in the deficit but if you include all the costs of dealing with people who evade the tax then it's got to help. Obviously the cost of more unemployed will reduce the benefit but I can't see any cutback in the public sector that won't have that effect. However I don't think there is a chance of it happening.

Thanks for the link Rip. I'd be interested to know what it weighs as I'm currently pedalling around 32 pounds of Rohloff hardtail.

Can't wait to here how you get on with it. I love my Rohloff but would appreciate a lighter bike and that looks like it would be perfect. Keep us posted on how you get on with it especially how it handles really muddy conditions.

85mm travel hardtail here that weighs 32 pounds. I only weigh around 130 pounds myself so I guess I could really benefit from something lighter but I just think of the weight as extra exercise. And if someone is ahead of me and I'm not catching them I can rest easy in the knowledge that it's only because I have a heavy bike. And if someone goes past me I know it's only because they have a lighter bike. And if I go downhill really slowly it's because I'm too light to get any more than 65mm travel out of my forks.And if none of those excuses are working for me I can convince myself that the Rohloff really is inefficient and that I must have left the Son dynamo switched on causing a vast amount of drag.

So although I would love to have a really lightweight bike I'm not sure I'm ready to face up to the fact that the really limiting factor is me.

I think by 9 I had both a sheath knife and an air rifle. I think it's fine if they no how to use it properly. a Swiss army knife is a very good starting point and those cuts you get when you first take all the blades out and try to get them in again are a good reminder that it's not a toy.

How do we know we haven't had visitors from the future??

Because I asked the fairies at the bottom of your garden.

It would only ever be possible to travel back in time to the point when the time machine were invented and as it had not been invented before Hitler's death it would therefore not be possible to go back and end his life earlier.

The above is based on the fact that if it ever were going to be possible to invent a time machine that could travel back to before its invention then we would have encountered visitors from our future,which we haven't.However this does not rule out the invention of a machine in the future that can travel back to the point of it's creation but no further.

the position opens your chest allowing more air into your lungs and giving you a quicker recovery.

I seem to vaguely recall everyone saying how Greg Lemond would not be able to breath properly using tri bars. I bet Laurent Fignon wished he hadn't listened to them.

When I'm in the office it's a 6 mile off road commute and when I'm out of the office it might be anywhere, Rome, Orlando and Rhodes for June.

cue homeopathic bombing campaign: throw a stick of dynamite into Windermere (this may be optional as it's probably already been done at some time), then drive to Newby Bridge and scoop out a glass of homeopathic liquid explosive. Use this to make some ink, which is then used to write "Bang! You are dead" notes which are posted to the intended victims. I think emailing a photo of one of the notes might be even more effective.

I think that off the other day has done more damage than you realise.

Agree with DaveGr people are talking about a return on investment while forgetting their capital is gone. I can't imagine that the the panels have much value on the second hand market and you've lost all the money spent on the installation. You may start to make some money after 10 years but what guarantees do you have that the equipment will last that long.

As you're still here 2 weeks later, appendicitis seems unlikey

Mine went haywire on 5 occasions before it finally came out. I was ultra sounded to check for stones poked and prodded around by several doctors, went to A&E on the advice of one doctor and no one seemed to be able to find out what was wrong. Finally after another attack a locum doctor at the surgery referred me to a specialist at Lewes hospital. I described what was happening and he looked at my notes and told me it was my appendix flaring up, effectively an appendicitis starting but then settling down again after 24 hours or so. He said it might never go nuclear but based on the fact that I travel a lot for work and there are places with a worse health system than the UK he felt it best it came out. I agreed, not a difficult decision considering how bad I felt during an attack. He opened his diary said when do you want it out and we agreed on a date around 7 weeks later, he could have done it in 4 weeks but I had work commitments. The pathology results showed it had been the problem and it was inflamed when it came out.

So although it's unlikely that you've got a dodgy appendix don't rule it out. I saw plenty of doctors all of whom took the situation seriously and sent me for all manner of tests but none of whom had thought it might be my appendix.

Yes on a 1960's Jaguar that I occasionally see driving around. It's a very dark violet. It was the inspiration for my Roberts White Spider which I had done in a violet to white fade. Some time later Muddy Fox did a similar colour scheme but it didn't look a patch on mine.

If my £1k+ lens couldn't pick out those trucks I'd bin it!

For £1K+ I'd be bitterly disappointed if I couldn't read the number plates.

And use end grain wood preserver on the cut ends.

As a Vango owner I'd say look at Outwell. They do a range which should cover any requirements you might have and always get good reviews.

600mm on my hardtail.
But today I put new cables on my East Peak and took it for it's first ride in over 3 years. Well I thought as I rode along I reckon these bars are a much better width, think I'll look at changing the bars on the hardtail. So as soon as I got home I measured them to see what I should be looking for. Looks like I should be changing to 600mm. :oops:

In my defence I think the real difference was the increased sweep of the bars on the East Peak.

The whole thing is like nurses and doctors

So engineers spend all their time trying to shag technicians!

Working