Huey ‘bruised knob’ and Carlos at the top of the Blauen. cold.

Also – after recent advice about fueling properly, the porridge this morning deffo gave more gas in the tank. legs still had it 3hrs after starting. Excellent!

Kev

Jenson USA are very good. Exceptionally fast, and even very good on the phone. They are also reasonable about import requests, having done a few ‘birthday’ deliveries, or ‘returned’ items. :wink:

Make the order, then give them a call. They’re pretty good.

Kev

AT-AT – still remember that one, and the cool thing is all my star wars kit is at my folks house, and now my kids play with it when they visit Grannie and Papa. lovely! :-)

Interestingly, new one looks basically identical to the one i got 25 years ago:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Wars-Imperial-Terrain-Transport/dp/B0039X06OU/ref=sr_1_3?s=kids&ie=UTF8&qid=1291800612&sr=1-3

Kev

does this mean my current frame now enters into classic retro bike status?

Result!
:lol:
Kev

superb!

Wall-E. Wonderful film and I think the best of all the pixar movies.

After that, gotta be jungle book. The good test is that the kids love those both also.

Kev

Everone here pretty conistent with our experience as well. Our flat here in Schwiez is bloomin warm all year, and our second never reall slept that well.

A quick trip back to ice station zero, otherwise known as my mum and dad’s house in glasgow, always sorts my kids, and me and the missus!, sleeping out. Cool better than hot.

Absolutely, massively, totally support comments for baby grow bags, bloody brilliant. Seem expensive (are expensive!), but you can buy second hand and if you have a few different togs you are are covered.

Kev

Cool, thanks for that, was looking for an interesting new author, looks good. Bought!

Kev

Surprised these have not been mentioned yet (warning, hideous amounts of money!):

http://www.vajacases.com

aside from the interesting name 8O they offer some truly lovely cases, but you do have to be careful as they can be bulky.

I still have one of thiers from my original iPod circa 2002, and it is still doing great service.

For the iPad I got the leather agenda 2, in custom colours, and it’s great. I had a macally one which appears a great combo of price and functionality, but the tab broke off after a month, and it did it again on the replacement. Avoid.

I also had a belkin one that had a handstrap on the back, quite handy for reading in bed, but a bit bulky and hideous.

Love my vaja. ahem. :wink:

Kev

yamyamblade – Member
Apparently James Blunt is going to perform at Bernard Matthews funeral.

Details are currently unclear about which song he’ll sing.

:lol:

like woody2000, took me minute, but then proper LOL!

Kev

should have something to add this Sunday, currently pegging it down on the hills round us, so the ususal Sunday group ride might be rather ‘interesting’. 8O

Kev

bling-tastic! Very clean, very nice. looks real fast and should be a blast to ride, have fun! :D

Kev

looks like fun, another reason to take my bike home with me next time!

Thanks for posting.

Kev

And just to add some confusion, their XXL merino base layers (crew neck), are a really good size and length for me (48″ chest, 42″waist) but obviously they are meant to be a snug fit so this is possibly not the most helpful response…

HTH!

Kev

LOL ton! :lol:

By your logic I should be on Singular Pegasus, seeing as how I am dead handsome and that… Form and orderly queue ladies! 8O

Notice steamed up glasses and visor smashed off cheap helmet. Nice!

Was genuinely trying to navigate with my iPhone. Not good. :roll:

Kev

Is Planck fluctuation like when a stupid person wobbles? Are you suggesting we put them all on a wobble board attached to a turbine? I’m in! :lol:

The whole warp thing does indeed seem to be a bit tricky, but nobodies said owt about folding space time, multiple dimension type malarky. Must be a way to do it? It’d be a bit sad if there was this whole universe kicking about and no way to get out there and explore it.

Kev

Ooh, hang on, had another look a the Foes and the ETT is spot on for me (I have shortish legs). WANT! But my goodness it is pricey.

Looks fabulous in black, and that shock seems an absolute ripper!

Nice!

Kev

I love this stuff, I know it is probably hundreds of years away from being tangibly useful research that impacts the masses, and there will no doubt be a couple of disasters along the way, but this bleeding edge kind of stuff is just so damn cool. :mrgreen:

I also love the fact that the starting building the thing, guesstmating that technology would have caught up enough 15 years later to actualyl make the whole thing work. 8)

Fabulous work boffins! Reverse the polarity of the flux generator and take us to alpha centauri! Warp 9! :oops:

Kev

bigdugsbaws – Member
That was just the suspension working Ton

:lol:

Sultan just seems a bit BMW 530d – nice, but awfully competent and dull. Sorry! (surfer mat to the forum!) is that fair? or will it blow me away?

Foes—- how much!?!?!? 8O , wow! bit short also? bit like thier AM bikes, I need something hard hitting-ish, but also ride all day ability. make sense?

can no-one say anything positive about the intense? :-)

Kev

Ooh, ****, I really need to get out and ride some of these and see which is best. :?

Niner RIP9 is a bit steep in the HA. I have actually had a go on one and it was steeper than the current chumba, and by jings you noticed it if the trail got steep and techy. Can anyone say “whooooooops” over the bars? :lol:

Ton, you aren’t going to be anywhere near Glasgow/Edinburgh this Christmas are you? We’re heading back for Crimbo.

In fact, anyone else with a big FS 29er in that area prepared to let me have a spin?

You can have my smallest child as insurance. No really, you can have her. She’s three years old and dead easy going. honest! :twisted:

I was sooooo taken by the tracer, geometry all seems about right for me n’all, and the black one is lush! :oops:

Kev

Ton, I had a feeling you might chip in! You have said that the el’cap is a belter, but, and I Wally mean no offence, it doesn’t grab me in the looks department. Now, this is no basis for bike choice, however I do want to look at my bikes and just Want to ride them.

Did you get it straight for, the US?

Clink, you know, I had forgotten about the lenz. Seems an old design? Have you been on one? Anyone here been on one?

Thanks for input so far!

Kev

I do enjoy riding on my tod, but I prefer a good laugh and some companionship.

Got 2 real core mates, the three of us have similar outlooks to type and speed of riding ( as well as on the constant progression of kit, almost as important:-) ), then a load of other guys from triathletes to Sunday morning newbies. I love being with pals in so,e amazing scenery, picking up the pieces after a good off, enjoying teh view or whooping through a forest. Brilliant!

But, only really one good ride a week. We are all dads, all either full time work or full time housemen, and have competing prritites, but over the last year the Sunday morning ride has become a big fixture, something we all look forward to, with occasional cheeky evening rides ( even more of a blast now with lights. Weehee!).

Ride to commute every day also.

Long answer short – just about right in terms of normal riding, but would love to do some more big weekend epics through the year.

Kev

Yes.

We have a lot of friends up there, and visit often. Love it.

Would love to live on the Black Isle, just over the kessock bridge, stunning. I like the folk, but then, i’m a closet tcheuchter (sorry, not at all sure how to spell that!), and so’s my missus, we will deffo end up there in a few years. I can come round and buy your old frames straight from the horses mouth Ton! :lol:

It is well different to living down south, will take a bit of time to get into the community, but once your in it’s fab.

Top secret hint, on a good day, rosemarkie beach on the black isle is the most beautiful place on earth.

Do it.

Kev

You get the big hardcase that’ll take the frames, plus two sets of spare lenses (and also the cloth bag will fit in also).

It is pretty big however, and hardly a convenientshape to pack away. Protects your kit though.

The cloth bag itself is 2 sided, one side for the frames, the other side to hold a spare set of lenses in a wee pouch with a divider so the lenses do not touch.

Nice!

HTH!

Kev

Been years since I lived at home in Scotland (although frequent trips home to stock up on patter and tattie scones), even longer since I’ve been proper biking up there.

That was a great article, and the piccies make me homesick. Alps are nice n’all, but ye cannae beat a guid scottish view to get the chest swelling.

Kev

We stopped once on Rannoch moor on the way to Glencoe in a van at university. It was autumn, crisp, cold, no moon.

Strewth that was amazing, I have never been anywhere where the only light was star light. Amazing.

Seeing the milky way like that is quite incredible, and with so many stars visible it is acutally quite hard to navigate your way about as it is jsut mind boggling.

We used ot live north of Aberdeen, and it was only a 3 minute drive to get somewhere proper dark to view the northern lights.

Great stuff, but quite geeky!

I ahve some experience, although kids have meant it will be taking a back seat for a few years. That’s OK with me, saturn and jupiter will take a couple more years to be back at their prime viewing angle.

Anyhoo, standard advice still applies: it is not about magnification, but about light gathering and quality/stbility of optics.

1st things first, get the recipient a good book, and the best introduction book I know, and have had many compliments about is ‘Turn Left at Orion’ by Dan Consolmagno. Utterly wonderful book.

IMHO, avoid a refractor at this price. (that’s a ‘normal’ telescope, lens at one end, eyepiece at the other). Crap optics, dim views, very shaky mounts. A crap mount/tripod makes the whole thing pointless.

Best bet is a reflector, or newtonian. Big mirror at the bottom of a tube, bounces light to a wee mirror at 45degrees in the cetre back up at the top, into the eyepiece. More light, easier to make reasonably at cheap price, much more fun!

This is an example of on on an Equatorial mount. decent scope, not a bad mount. EQ mounts can be a bit complex for beginners though (takes so much time to figure out how to work it that fun is gone!).
http://www.celestron.uk.com/viewsubcategories.php/telescopes/astromaster_series_firstscopes/36

I might be more inclined to go for a Dobsonian reflector, which is basically a completely manual push/pull affair, but is extremely steady (cannot stress how important this is) and means the money has gone to a better scope/optics. a quick google shows this one, which looks well cool!
http://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/Products/Sky-Watcher_Heritage_130_.html

I have been through numerous scopes over the years, computerised or otehrwise, but I have stuck with a Dobsonian. it is a big bugger mind you, csutom made wooden beauty in Nottingham (David Lukehurst, what an artist), but the views are stunning and is fast and easy to set up for me or family viewing.

HTH, happy to answer more Qs if you got em. If you get it right, it is an amazing hobby, but it can be frustrating. Oh yeah, and expensive!! (just google Televue nagler/ethos – and these are just eyepieces!)

Kev

GrahamS – Member

they are also demoing a way to use an iPad with Photoshop, with all the brush selections and other menus on the pad

There are also a few apps where you can use an iPhone as a palette and the iPad as the canvas, which is pretty cute.

That sounds well cool! I was playing chopper 2 on a long flight recently, using the iphone as the controller and the ipad as the screen, had a queue of people wanting a shot. I love that kind of thinking to deliver cool integration.

The animated kids stories are great, a very interesting way of using teh tech.

Kev

I found three phases with it (64gb 3G) over the first month, now firmly in phase 3 (6 months in now)

1) OooOOooohhh – isn’t it lovely!

2) Wait a minute, this is just a big iPhone

3) Hang on, not it isn’t. this is rather clever.

Key hooks for me –
Goodreader and PDF annotation on the fly with ftp integration, same for keynote and idisk. brilliant way for me to work with info for my team and my suppliers instantly, on fly and completely mobile. brilliant, really brilliant, not at all possible with our current corporate IT systems.

Teamviewer: diagnosing and fixing my family’s computer problems by taking control of thier computer with my iPad from anywhere in the world – amazing!

Filterstorm, photobucket app + camera connection kit and ability to edit Canon 5D RAW files on the fly – great. Still use Lightroom for major imports but for mobile stuff it is great

Reckless Racing HD, Madden NFL 11 HD and NOVA HD are terribly addictive games

Miss Spider series, 5in1, Pirates, The Lorax, AniMatching, Drawing Pad, face melter all great for the kids.

Remote is great for controlling apple TV and music through airport express (that really gives people a mindf*ck)

And of course then there is the standard browsing, mail, video and ipod stuff. Brilliant.

Add to that the instant on, incredibly fast in and out of apps and physical size and it is a winner.

HTH

Kev

I’m with ericemel, but with etymotic er4ps. Truly amazing sound, volume low on long flights (I do a lot of travelling), and can keep them in for as long as you like. 8)

Noise cancelling over ear jobs are OK, but for me they always get real painful after more than 2 hours, and I have it in my head that I can feel the ‘extra’ noise being forced at my ears with them and it freaks me out. :oops:

Dtymotics are expensive, but if you use them a lot, bloody well worth stand knock anything else into a cocked hat.

Kev

Maybe, but it is a pretty commonly held view. And actualyl they were defending fox news… maybe there is a patern emerging! :-)

julianwilson – Member

We hate the EU!

Is that a ‘royal we’, Kev?

I like the EU.

Ah, yes, as an embittered scot now living in massively anti-EU Switzerland, I may have jumped to a conclusion on that one. soz!

Actually, it has been interesting to spend time with Americans recently and hear their opinion. I feel like most of you, he seems a decent bloke, decent policies that make sense, and a nice change in style from the last few US presidents (esp. Bush of course).

However, and maybe this is because my colleagues are all white collar, they HATE Obama. Most voted for him, but now they say that everything out of his mouth is lies, and that the country is too large and diverse for the style of big goverment he is advocating.

I cannot validate the comment about lying, but the piece on big goverment I get. It costs a lot of money, is inneficient and is open to corruption on a biiiiig scale. Think the EU and the member countries. We hate the EU!

tres interesting!
Kev

I have spent the morning looking. Oh God.

Just bought 2 VIP tickets for the missus and her pal, don’t ask the price. 8O

I am a wee bit sad I’m not going as I bet it would be fab. But, as ‘instant hit’ said, a weekend alone with kids will be a laugh for me, and it gives me a pass for an alpine weekend with the boys for a good biking blast. win win! :D

Kev

If I was hungover, I would deserve to feel like crap, but that does raise an intersting point as that is how I feel, and what is hangover? – dehydration and lack of nutrients.

All advice good, but I’m only listening to raddogair. Another bike please!
Ton, Chumba still fabulous, I am so enjoying riding it. Now about that chip on the headtube… :-)

So, mistakes made this Sunday: meal the night beofre was stodgy chicken pie with few carbs, still a bit dehydrated from previous week, only half a banana for breaky, no intake during ride. Probably not drinking enough either as it was cold and wet so didn’t take that much on board (maybe 1.25 L).

Prep seems to be key –
good spag bol night before,
a porridge breaky (love it, so looking forward to that!),
some fig rolls or malt loaf (why those 2 in particular? I love them both, but interested as to why),
plenty of fluid intake and a choccy shake after (will a strawberry one do? I don’t like chocolate – FREAK!)

Should I be careful about what I eat for breaky? Most of our rides start from the house (and fooking UP too) so don’t want to be dry-boaking (or ‘puking’ for our non-scots readers) into my mouth 15 minutes into the ride.

Thanks all, you lovely bunch!

Kev

Sh1te, sorry about that si. Proper nightmare. Hope you get it back, and almost as importantly that the thieving scumbags get what they deserve.

Kev

Had a 115mm with 5degree rise, with carnegie bars (which do bring the nhands back a bit), but felt too far over the front on the steeps, so recently switched to a 70mm 0degree stem with 685mm flat bars. Feels very good.

Kev

Slight hijack, but hurrah to awesom-o for being another HX2 owner. Hurrah!

Kev

Still like the look of that big top though!

Looks pretty fabulous, I am sure it will be truly brilliant to ride. I love the way my wagon wheels get over stuff, esp multiple logs, rock as and stuff that would hold up wee wheels.

Interested to know how the carbon rear takes some of the sting out of the ride, esp compared to my VERY rigid chumba.

Aspens are great, easily my fave tire for soft and muddy. Racing Ralph for the summer are great in mahooooosive 2.4 size.

Look forward to the updates, great job on the build. Go get it muddy!

Kev