Thats my take on it Konabunny but of course that is just my opinion. It just seems to me that Israel is a very small country that makes a lot of noise and threats and does a lot of damage in a region of the world where the UN, US and UK would normally step in and put a stop to such aggressive behaviour.

Any criticism of Israel always results in cries of anti-semitism and ‘remember the holocaust’. The worlds governments seem reluctant to take Israel to task properly; there has to be some reason for it as without Israel causing a lot of hassle the middle East would probably be a much less volatile part of the world. I can only come to the conclusion that none of Israels allies have the stomach to say ‘the holocaust happened, it was awful, you’ve been given a country of your own as a result of it now move on’.

The link to the Finklestein video shows that even a professor of Jewish descent has a hard time trying to argue that the pro-zionist movement within Israels government is destructive and needs to stop living in the past. In fact it is worth looking up Finklestein (I was a bit sad and looked up some of his stuff last night), he makes a lot of persuasive arguments and has clearly spent his whole professional life trying to understand why Israel is, as he puts it, an ‘insane nation’.

I shall accept any vicious attacks on my views and principles from my fellow STWers with good grace. Let the flaming commence…

I think with all palestinian/israeli threads people should be forced to give their religious beliefs before posting

I think the problem when discussing Israel is that it is impossible to separate the Israeli national identity from the Jewish faith. Just because somebody disagrees with their security policies with regard to Palestine does not mean they are anti-jewish. My own opinion of Israel is that they are increasingly acting like a bully. For sure Hamas have inflicted some terrible atrocities on Israel over the years but as has been stated above in other posts if another country acted in the way Israel has (grabbing land that isn’t theirs, launching strikes on civilian areas etc) we would view them as a rogue state and treat them as such.

Perhaps the rest of the world needs to get over the collective political holocaust guilt which seems to be clouding everybodies judgement and stop treating Israel with kid gloves. Their increasingly aggressive behaviour could do a lot of damage in an area of the world that could do without further conflict.

I just crank up the volume on my stereo and watch the back of the garage door.

Try these guys:

MPB used

+1

I bought my Canon 400D from there. It was in great condition and I even got a spare battery with it. MPB are top.

I built up an Uncle John over the summer. I too was seduced by the low price and I have to say that I think it is a bit of a bargain. I paired it up with a Kinesis CX Disc alloy fork which is also a bit of a a bargain (it is also very well made). It isn’t that much heavier than some carbon CX forks and is about half the price. At present the current Uncle John fork won’t take discs.

The Uncle John frame seems plenty stiff enough and compared to my Surly Cross Check it feels a lot lighter and more responsive. I’m sure there are lighter alloy frames out there but for the price Planet X are charging I’m pleased with it. Never actually weighed it though.

Overall the bike seems to handle and ride well and it is nice and versatile. I’m running V brakes at the moment but it is good to know I can stick on discs when I want. Negative points are paint that chips as soon as you look at it and the BB shell was visibly on the wonk and needed a good facing. The pulley arrangement for the front gear cable is a bit of a faff to thread the cable through.

I’m happy with mine and I think there are a few on here who are as well.

I was wondering how long it would be before the ‘C’ word started being used on STW. I really don’t like the festive season for a host of reasons. Roll on the 26th December when all of this nonsense will be done with.

A cheery ‘Bah Humbug’ and all that to all those who have a similar dislike of Christmas. We’re all in this together :(

Just ride Swampt’ings

Possibly not the best option for ice covered lanes…

Did they explain what’s the difference between a bedding in run, and a non-bedding in run was?

Bedding in seems to involve running the tyres at a ‘medium’ pressure to make sure all the studs can have force put through them to help them seat more securely in the tread. You also need to ride slowly with no agressive braking or steering. The studs are effectively little rivets that are only half covered by the tread. High tyre pressures on hard surfaces and normal riding can easily rip them out.

It was quite possibly the most boring bike ride of all time although the noise from the studs was fantastic. It sounded like a million pairs of hobnail boots being thrown down the road.

Does any one ride them for 30 miles on tarmac to bed them in as recommended?
It’s only necessary if some of the studs haven’t been seated in the tyre properly

I thought I would take my studded tyres for a gentle bedding in ride last winter and lost a helluva lot of studs. I wrote to Schwable to complain/ask what I had done wrong as I had been riding like a pensioner. They said I had done the right thing and you should ideally do at least one bedding in run on all studded tyres. Schwables line is that some stud loss is to be expected. They very kindly sent a pack of replacement studs for me to stick in the tyres.

Got ice spikes for the bike, ice spikes for my shoes and as I work from home a lot of the time I’m happy for the car to stay on the driveway if the weather turns nasty.

After 2010 I also have a couple of snow shovels and a load of rock salt that has never been used as last winter was quite mild.

I always had a soft spot for the Renault Kangoo. Ended up buying one of these as a result:

It is slow and thirsty but very practical and for some reason makes me smile when I drive it.

Maybe Sean Yates is extracting his revenge after being asked to leave the team…

Do the v-brake specific drop levers, direct to mtb v-brakes work well

Yes, I’ve got nice powerful brakes up on my Cross Check using this sort of set up. I can pretty much stand the the bike on its front wheel so the brakes are plenty powerful enough.

Can i use my sti’s direct to mini v-brakes?

I believe so although I run down tube shifters on mine so it has never been an issue.

As for whether cantis are rubbish I think you either love them or hate them. Last set of cantis I had were on my old touring bike. Once I upgraded to V brakes I was actually able to stop it.

I have both a Crosscheck and a KM (Oh check me out).

Me too. I had my Cross Check for about a year before buying a Karate Monkey. I love them both and to be honest if you can get away with keeping them both you would probably be better off doing that as they are totally different bikes.

The versaility of the KM is legendary but it does mean that I feel tempted to take it apart every few months and make changes. As a result my reliable old Cross Check gets more use.

If I had to own just one of them I would ensure I killed the person forcing me to make such a painful decision and then keep them both.

The predicted dates keep changing ..july 21st, november 21st,

Yeah, Planet X customer service is shocking, always late with their deliveries :wink:

Lugging all that electric stff around on top of a petrol engine really doesn’t do much for your fuel consumption

+1 I had a Toyota Auris hybrid on hire for work a few weeks ago. It was an astonishingly bad car. I managed to squeeze an average of 55mpg out of it but by god it was hard work. By way of comparison the hire car I had before that was a huge Peugeot saloon with a massive turbo diesel under the bonnet. Even driving it like a loony I failed to achieve less than 55mpg. If I’d been concentrating on fuel economy I reckon I could have got low 60’s easily.

The Toyota also had no boot space as the back was full of flaming batteries. Despite this it would only cover about a mile in full electric mode before the petrol engine kicked in.

Many moons ago I worked in an open plan office and as I was working on a joint project with the guy sat behind me we would frequently have discussions on how the work was going across his desk.

A particularly moody co-worker complained to us both that our talking across the desk was distracting her and would we please stop it. She didn’t seem too pleased when our solution to our apparently noisy cross-desk chats was to ring each other up to discuss things! :D

I guess you could consider the Surly Cross Check. I’ve got one, it handle beautifully and is really comfy. It isn’t the lightest of frames but rides well regardless. Not sure if many people use them for racing on. It is certainly a nice tough frame if longevity is a concern you have.

If you were prepared to consider alu you could look at the Uncle John from Planet X. I’ve just built one up and whilst the ride is a little harsh compared to the Cross Check it still rides well and it does give you the option of fitting disc brakes in the future if you decide to given them a try. The Uncle John is also very cheap compared to the steel frame options that are available.

If they have sold something that is not as described tell them you’ll get trading standards involved. That should shut them up and make them more willing to give you a refund. Ebay isn’t excempt from the normal trading laws.

I’ve just built up an Uncle John and the BB shell looked quite noticeably on the wonk. The chap in my LBS said that it is rare to take off as much material as he had to when facing a bike frame. For that bike I’m glad I had the facing done.

For my Cross Check I never had it done and the same bearings have worked faultlessly for 3 years.

Whichever term is deemed acceptable I certainly won’t be hurrying back! I still think relentless is a valid term for some UK climbs however. Riding from sea level up to the top of Exmoor a few months ago reinforced that view for me.

I walked up Millook a couple of years ago when doing sections of the SW coast path. Great view from the top marred only by the sight of one of my friends collapsing at the top. To be fair he had overindulged in the pub the night before. I seem to recall he managed to unzip and take off one removeable trouser leg but felt too buggered to be bothered with the other one. Not a good look.

For its whole 500m or so in length

Yeah, not my finest ride but then it is actually 1.2km not 500m. I tried to tack it onto the back of a business trip thinking it would be a quick one to bag on the way home. Not a great idea after being sat on my arse in meetings all day. And a horse tried to eat my handle bar tape at the top of the climb :(

C’mon then – which ones… the S Wales contingent need to know

Starting with The Tumble and then slowly working West. As I’m a slow moving portly chap I’m spreading out the climbs over a long weekend and doing the tourist thing in between hurting myself. Think I’m finishing with the Black Mountain climb some time on Monday.

I’m busy working my way through the ‘100 Greatest Climbs’ for charity. I’m 20 climbs in with 7 in South Wales to tackle this weekend. I’ve decided that any gradient that goes over 20% is not my friend, even with a triple fitted to my bike.

One of the worst climbs so far was Crowcombe in Somerset; it’s just relentless.

I love maps and find the level of detail fascinating. Even when I’m using my satnav in the car I’ll keep a map handy. I’ve found that even when using electrickery to find your way having a map to place the directions in context of where you are can be invaluable.

apart from *&^*$@% front mechs building a bike isn’t that much harder than building an ikea wardrobe

Not just me who finds front mechs can be a faff sometimes. Good to know I’m not alone.

I’ve just finished building my fifth bike project. I would consider myself a complete numpty with a set of tools but most modern components are very easy to fit and adjust.I just tend to buy complete wheels though.

For suff like the headset it may be worth getting your LBS to do it if you aren’t confident or don’t want to buy a headset press. I bought a cyclus headset press and it has now been used enough times for it to have paid for itself.

If there is one tool you should spend decent cash on I reckon its a cable cutter. There is nothing more frustrating than having a cheap cutter constantly fraying the ends of cables. Oh yes, and good quality allen keys.

One job you may need to get your LBS to do is facing the bottom bracket shell. I’ve never bothered before on any of the bikes I’ve built in the past and have had no problems. With the last bike I built (a Planet X Uncle John) the edges of the shell were on the wonk so much so that you could see it and the chap in the bike shop reckoned he had never seen a BB shell that needed so much material trimmed off it. If I’d pressed on with the build I’d probably be needing a new set of bearings by now.

As said above, prepare yourself for an avalanche of cardboard and bubble wrap.

Fiat panda is a bit too heavy

WTF? The Panda isn’t at all heavy and the standard 1.2 has plenty of poke for the size of the car. The fuel economy is great as well.

Was out at Lidl first thing to buy some cheap cycle gear. Followed that up by taking the dog for a walk. Will very soon be swearing at tools in the garage as I give the Karate Monkey an overhaul.

Was out at Lidl first thing to buy some cheap cycle gear. Followed that up by taking the dog for a walk. Will very soon be swearing at tools in the garage as I give the Karate Monkey an overhaul.

What 60 on A roads and 70 on motorways?

Dons foil helmet and prepares for flame wars!

No quite: 50 mph on single carriageway A roads, 60 mph on dual carriageways and 70 mph on the motorway. The police in my area are very hot on nicking van drivers who do 60 on single carriageway roads which is why I bought a car variant of a Fiat van. Just as practical, cheaper tax, cheaper insurance and less restriction on the speed I can travel at.

I went back to studying full time to get my masters as I realised that with just an honours degree I would never be able to access the decent job opportunities in my chosen field. I did it in my late 20’s and had to self finance. It was tough going back to being a student even after several years doing unfulfilling jobs.

The money situation was stressful,as was having to put up with the antics and attitudes of younger students who didn’t have the same work ethic I did (being a mature student does mean you have a different take on things). On the plus side because I made the choice to go back and had to make a lot of sacrifices to do so I made sure I got the most out of the course and really enjoyed the studying.

I think it was worthwhile as even though not all of the jobs I have had since going have been great I certainly wouldn’t have had the chance to do them without getting my MSc. I pretty much walked into my first job after the course finished.

You only live once and you may regret not doing but are there any distance learning options for the qualification you want to get? It may be a better route to take if you already have commitments and can work out cheaper in some cases, especially as you will still be in work as you learn.

I had a chinese copy of a Veho Muvi. I suspect the rubbish mounting kit was the same. I attached mine to my bike helmet with a generous length of old boot lace:

It worked quite well until the camera fried whilst being charged up.

Well, its better specced than the model I had which had plastic brake levers. Not sure what it would be worth now but they handle and climb beautifully. I would think your friend has upgraded it a bit over time as the standard wheels on the ML3 were pretty pants.

Check the underside of the fork crown, the carbon legs are bonded to an alloy crown and steerer and I found that the carbon got chipped away over time by stones getting thrown up by the front tyre.

Nice fast bike if you can get on with it. The Italians know how to make a decent road bike.

I’ve never had a problem with them. The service is sometimes quicker than a certain Northern Irish operation and the local DPD driver that serves my area is actually quite helpful and usually on time.

I would guess it is about 7-8 years old. I have a base model ML3 from the same period which looks similar. My ML3 when new was fitted with Campag Mirage and was about £800. The bike in the picture may have had a few upgrades. No idea on what it would be worth now. The frame on mine is actually quite cheaply made and the fork started to fall apart. Not sure what the model in the picture is. It looks better specced than the ML3 in terms of groupset, possibly one up in the range.

Many years ago I had a Dawes that came fitted with biopace chainrings. They were truly awful and I always felt like I was pedalling in a jerky manner when riding on them. It was a relief to get some round chainrings on there. Shimano really got their bio pace stuff wrong.

Got a full MTB drivetrain on my road bike complete with MTB triple chainset. I built the bike specifically for riding up steep hills (it’s hilly where I live)and find that over the length of a long climb being able to keep spinning is a far more efficient approach. I do tend to run out of gears on the flat from time to time however.

Feeling the same way myself at the moment. I put it down to fatigue brought about by trying to do too much over the last couple of months. It isn’t helped by the rubbish weather which has sapped my motivation to get out on the bike more.

I see it as a sign that my body wants to rest which is what I’m doing. Its boring but sometimes you just need to back off a bit.

He intends to get up to 100mph on it once a fairing has been made. The videos of him making the bike in his kitchen have been very entertaining.

My grandad was apparently aircrew in the RAF during WW2 He never talked about what he did in the war to anybody and no one in the family even knew he was aircrew until after his death. I can only assume he experienced some pretty awful things.

All we knew was his final posting was as a driver for Monty.

Surly Cross-check? Had one for a couple of years. Bit heavy, but great geometry, incredibly comfortable, fast and downright fun to ride. In fact was as fast on the road commute I had as my Cannondale CAAD8. It got nicked and I’m seriously tempted to get another.

My Cross Check is the best bike I’ve ever owned. It is also the most versatile and gets used for off road stuff, towpath bashing and riding up and down steep hills for charity. Compared to some of the other bikes I’ve ridden I don’t consider it to be too heavy and it handles beautifully. It won’t take discs but fit some decent V brakes and you won’t miss them. Only downside is they don’t look too good price wise against some of the competition. The Cross Check really makes more sense if you are going to build it up yourself.

I used to be in the pub with my mates most nights of the week a few years ago. I didn’t consider it excessive at the time as it wasn’t affecting my homelife or work but looking back I was sinking a fair few pints each week and ultimately doing my health no good.

When I moved to another part of the country with work I slipped out of the habit of making regular trips to the pub and now when I see my old mates I find an evening in the pub quite boring. After the first few pints the conversation starts to go round in the same booze sodden circles and I usually find myself making my excuses and leaving early. I prefer to use my weekends having fun rather than nursing a hangover. I also have to drive a lot for work so that knocks midweek sessions on the head.

I shudder to think how much money I’ve peed up the wall over the years on nights out I can’t even remember!