Even better moving pictures!

This is actually a video that convinced me the Qubo was the right car to go for.

If you tumble both of the seats forward, or better still take them out, you can. I was sure I had a picture of my Cross Check in a similar pose but can’t find it.

I believe the Qubo shares a lot of the chassis with the Grande Punto and the levels of grip are pretty good although the tall heavy body does induce a fair bit of roll.

Ultimately it is a van with seats and that is reflected in the way it drives.

If you want to get a warts and all picture of the car the Fiat Owners Forum is a good place to look for both the Qubo and the Doblo.

I own a Qubo. I bought it last year for the express reason that I wanted to carry my bikes in it. Like any small car based on a van it has its flaws but I love it. When transporting one bike all I need to do is remove the bikes front wheel and one of the rear seats (they come out very easily) and I am left with plenty of space for my bike and luggage and still have some seating in the rear. I’ve yet to take out both of the rear seats as I don’t normally need that much space.

Used the Nemo/ Qubo/ Bipper is generally a bit cheaper than a Berlingo but then it is a bit more basic and shorter. A Berlingo with the seats out should take a complete bike no bother.

I’ve travelled all of the UK with my Qubo and think it is a great little car with a very comfy driving position. Just make sure you go for the diesel option. Mine is a 1.4 petrol and the fuel economy is OK but not great.

Woolacombe is an hour from Tiverton/ J27.

Keep driving, don’t stop at Travelodge J27

^^^This^^^

The North Devon link road isn’t actually that long, just make sure you get past Bristol before 4pm on a Friday and you may avoid the stop start traffic that can take until Bridgwater to clear.

My beloved employers have booked me into a training course in Oxfordshire on the Friday that marks the start of the school summer holiday period. It finishes at 12.30 and at 12.31 there will be a cloud of tyre smoke and the sound of a car disappearing down the A34 at speed as I attempt to drive home to North Devon before the M5 gets clogged with the remains of somebodies caravan.

ACDC Radio FTW 8)

My touring bike is built around 26″ wheels. Not quite a road bike but with high pressure slicks it rolls pretty well and is very good when climbing steep hills. However, it loses speed quickly and actually has quite a harsh ride. It is also ugly. Road going bikes with little wheels just don’t look good.

My LBS built up a back wheel for me using a System EX flip flop hub. I’d never heard of System EX before but the hub seems to be doing the job just fine and didn’t cost a whole lot.

Steel is real

I once snapped a steel framed Dawes tourer. Not through crashing it either…

8 years and still going strong on my touring bike. It is a bike that has been used in all weathers and even off road.

Surly Karate Monkey, although I am convinced it may be down to the way I’ve built it. Its currently in bits waiting for the time when I have the motivation to build it up differently. Never quite seemed to get on with it despite trying different specifications; it feels very heavy and dead on the climbs and I can’t see why people get so evangelical about them.

I’ve only taken Bingo into work once and it was met with fits of laughter. Sitting there amongst the Mercs and Audis he did look a tad out of place…..

They are probably laughing more at the fact you’ve called the damn thing Bingo.

Have you considered a San Marco Rolls? One the best saddles I have ever used. I’ve got them on a couple of my bikes. Totally different type of saddle to a Brooks but they last for ages and can take a lot more abuse. Bit cheaper as well.

For some reason I read this as 100 Lamas attacked them

I’ve been attacked by a llama. A horde of angry sherpas is nothing in comparison.

Ohh, up to 11 followers. I’ll have to start writing interesting tweets at this rate.

Try Steephill.tv, they usually have live streams for all of the major races.

I managed to stream the British Eurosport coverage for the Tour of Flanders the other week.

I started tweeting as it means I don’t have to constantly write long updates for my blog (I’ve linked the two). It’s also really good for following certain sports.

Just as well I’m not in it for the adulation of the public as I have a grand total of 10 followers. One of those is my local bike shop probably wanting to know when I’ll next be in with a broken bike. @braveluggage

I’m 6’1″ with a 33″ inside leg. I own a 58cm Cross Check and it fits just fine. I run a 120mm stem on mine.

Trying to compare Surly’s sizes to those used by On-One is guaranteed to give you a headache. My On One Maccinato is an XL and yet feels a bit small but my Uncle John is a large and feels a little too big?!?

Check out Thorn bikes: http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/
And have a look at the SJS website–they may have something suitable in their clearance zone: http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/clearance-zone-dept756_pg1/#filterkey=cat&page=1&page=1

I have a Thorn Sherpa with 26″ wheels. It isn’t a very sexy looking bike but it is very well built (but also very heavy as a result). It is also a very comfy and stable bike. I’ve ridden it on and off road with no problems. In my experience the smaller wheels are no slower than 700cc wheels when fitted with decent high pressure tyres. The only problem with the stuff from Thorn is that their prices are getting pretty high these days and their designer thinks disc brakes on a steel frame are the work of satan.

Grief is a very strange and sometimes overwhelming set of emotions and feelings. It took me about a year to get back on an even keel after losing my mum. It is different for everyone but as some have said above, look after yourself, take some time off if necessary and just take things as they come.

On a positive note, losing someone close to me has made me realise that the world won’t wait for me and life really is for living. Two years on from my mums passing I’m now more ready to start making some big positive changes to my life and feeling excited about the future again. Hang on in there and life will start making sense again, just don’t feel you have to force it.

I’ve got an Uncle John. It doesn’t seem overly heavy. Not tried it with discs yet. The Planet X fork to go with the frame isn’t disc compatible so I paired up the frame with an alloy Kinesis CX Disc fork instead. It was less than £70 when I got it and no heavier than the majority of carbon CX forks that can take a disc brake. It is actually a very good match with the Uncle John.

I may be sticking on discs later this year once I decide I can justify buying another set of wheels.

I went back to university to do my MSc in my late twenties. My career was in a massive rut and I wanted to branch out and do something different. It was certainly the right thing to do and as others on here have said the experience of learning when you go back as a mature student is far more satisfying. Having done the whole ‘student lifestyle’ thing when I was younger I was there to learn and get a qualification and found that attitude helped me get through the course.

There are usually a few mature students on most courses so you won’t be faced with an endless sea of silly haircuts, weird fashion and binging on alcopops

WordPress is one Blogger.com is another you can use.

They are free to use and provide standard templates for you to get started with.

I use blogger myself but need to revamp it a bit to get a few more hits.

If you are setting up a blog for a local race series you may be able to host advertising on the blog and raise a bit of money.

I thought my fixed rate was steep at £350/annum.

£621 is criminal, which water company is that?

You want to try living in the South West Water catchment area, that would be considered a small bill. Even with a water meter my bills are astronomical.

I’m fed up with hearing about the snow as my little corner of North Devon hasn’t had any. Just rain, seemingly endless fcekin rain. A bit of snow for a few days would have actually been a welcome change. The weather forecast for the rest of the week is for dry weather thankfully but I can’t see things drying out for some time. Getting fed up with the endless bike cleaning, which usually takes place in the rain.

These days I tend to judge the worthiness of a new shirt or jacket on the basis of how many pockets it has. I also only own two pairs of smart shoes, one in brown, the other in black. The rest of the time I wear a battered pair of trekking shoes.

I think it is fair to say fashion has passed me by. Well, it probably ran for the hills when it saw me coming :D

Why not buy a car based on a van like a Berlingo or Doblo? They aren’t the most attractive of vehicles but with the seats out you’ll have all the space you will ever need and you won’t have to pay higher insurance, higher tax, higher bridge tolls or endure the lower speed limits that apply to vans.

I bought a Fiat Qubo last year. It isn’t the sportiest or prettiest of cars but but I’m so glad I bought it over a van.

Never seen what all the fuss is myself. So this American chap liked a drink so what.

Oh, hang on…I’ve gone and confused EPO with IPA. Bugger.

I’m most of the way through building up a Macinato. Just waiting on a bottom bracket to turn up. For such a cheap frame and fork its a really nicely put together bike and looks very good. The Macinato is meant to have clearance for up to 28mm tyres although I reckon 25mm is more realistic as there wouldn’t be much room for anything larger.

No room for mudguards and I suspect even race blades would be a tight fit. I’m going to get wet and muddy on my training rides :(

As said above ^^^ If its pouring out both ends you have norovirus. One of the most unpleasant illnesses I have had to deal with.

Lost my mum to cancer a week before Christmas 2 years ago. All the best to those missing someone.

leave your dirty shitting dog at home.. we dont need our beaches crapped on by your dog cheers.

As a responsible North Devon dog owner may I suggest you go boil your head.

Oh yes, Instow has a nice little beach for walks in the evening before popping into one of the very good pubs in the village for a drink. Crow Point is also work checking out.

Cheap fixie for winter training. Need to up my strength on the climbs. Also fancy riding a bike I’m not worried about getting covered in filth.

A huge and messy pile of paperwork and old bills that I really need to bin. No picture but try to imagine an explosion in a filing cabinet.

Very funny, sort of like the mountain biking equivalent of Dom Joly with a bit of Hot Rod thrown in for good measure. The Steel City Downhill video is particularly funny.

Travelodge every time. They can sometimes be grim but there always seems to be some bike storage space in the rooms. I use them all the time for this very reason and most of the time the staff don’t look like they would care if you curled one out on the reception desk so a bike doesn’t even get a raised eyebrow.

Many years ago when I worked in that there London I rolled into work one Monday morning following the staff crimbo do the preceding Friday. Everyone in the office insisted on asking me how my shoes were, were my feet OK?, were my trousers damaged? I was quite confused by these questions and it was obvious I had done something stupid in the pub on the Friday night.

Turns out the fire in the lounge bar of the pub where we ended up looked a little small for my liking and so I decided to give the coals a prod with my foot to get more air circulating. I was of course totally hammered and after half an hour of prodding the fire someone had to take me to one side and explain that it was a gas fire and that the smell of burning shoes was putting people off their drinks….Ooops. When I finally checked the soles of my shoes in the office they were glassy smooth!

Should stay off the road, where cars are meant to be

Sadly people forget that there were roads many many years before cars even existed.

As for the prat with the glasses it seems he has a more sensible side:

Silly Cyclists

It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be but it was a missed opportunity as the main message they wanted to get across seemed to be that both cyclists and drivers can be numpties. Yeah, we know that, tell us something constructive and new. I was surprised at how little road craft the majority of cyclists shown seemed to have.

The documentary didn’t really attempt to deal with the main issues facing road users; namely an over stretched and over capacity road network, poor driving standards (on all sides of the argument) and a lack of will both politically and legally to make motorists more accountable for accidents they cause. Until drivers start being given stiffer penalties for hitting pedestrians and cyclists it is hard to see how things will change much. I cannot for example believe that the daughter of that poor woman had her death recorded as accidental; she was killed by a careless driver and careless driving is an offence. Similarly cyclists need to be penalised for breaking traffic laws. We can’t have it all our own way.