Mike, the problem with that is that the policy isn't guaranteed to cover me under the current FCO advice. As soon as the FCO say "don't travel there" then a lot of policies become null and void by default.

at the moment i am wading through as many companies as i can think of but as nobody seems to know their asre from their elbow it's very slow progress :(

Tails, i know i can do that but the point is if i can't get a policy and then someone steals my camera or i go cliff diving in Koh Phi Phi and break my ankle then without insurance i am buggered

I've just spoken to 3 people at 'More Than' and each person gave different advice. The first woman offered me a policy, the second said i'd be covered for any part of my holiday other than in Thailand, the third said "no i am sorry i could sell you a policy but it would be no use whatsoever"

:roll:

I would save your pennies if i were you.

Used some 7wt oil from the LBS (can't remember brand) and 80-90wt gear oil for float fluid.

Spot on. I get mine from my local motorbike shop and it's top quality. about 7 quid a bottle. I've got a deal with the old man on gear oil where if i take a few plastic syringes in he keeps a couple and fills one up for me and thats my fox float fluid. No way i'd pay for the fox branded fluids (apparently it's just rebranded Torco RSF medium).

just buy BB7's ;)

i had bruised ribs and it took months :(

I've never had problems with my brakes overheating because i've got Avid BB7s :)

I really feel sorry for all you fashionistas with sketchy hydraulics ;)

Just to make a quick update, i've been doing the rubber band exercises a couple of times a week and also over the last few weeks i've been doing simple tricep curls with 5kg weights and it is coming on leaps and bounds. The more strengthening exercises i do the better it gets. I did it early in December and it's taken 4 months to get it to this stage 8O

exercising over the head is still a no-no but i should think a bike ride *may* be over the horizon in the next few weeks!

possibly too far but thanks for the tips

as a slight hijack here, if i'm right on the measurement for the medium 661 kyle straits, should i get the medium or go for the small?

cue the chicken legs jokes…..

Tacx stainless

Frame and forks don't match and the blue bits look a bit chav..

But it's still a nice bike. If it were my build though i'd have floats and xtr cranks and maybe stan's flow rims on hope hubs.

You might like a bit of tack? are you a darts player?

Thanks expat i was thinking along the lines of hitting it myself but it didn't work :lol:

no its just a normal monitor. not a flatscreen one – big type. tried system restore and nothing changing :(

also tried settings on the monitor itself and no joy :(

Escuse me?

reading the manual is a great start!

To get a sharp pic you must:

– Enable AI servo autofocus mode (to constantly track and adjust focus)
– Up the ISO. Ignore what bez says – up it to about 400. you'll get a faster shutter speed that'll give you a sharper shot at the expense of a bit of noise. I'd rather have a noisy sharp pic than a clean blurred pic any day.
– Panning – do it. and practice makes perfect here. do a google search on panning technique; loads of vids on youtube.
– If you're in a dark forest under trees you'll need to use the flash. you can still pan with your subject but the flash will light up the rider and freeze him/her.

Happy shooting!

Still rocking the NAD amp i bought in my first year at uni 11 years ago

From what i've read there's different degrees of damage ranging from a sprain to torn to snapped completely and i think mine falls into the sprain category. I'm hoping those rubber band exercises are going to sort me, cheers deluded :)

I'm the same it's any movements above the head which cause pain. It's good to know you're ok on the bike, the doc has told me i'll be ok unless i fall off and land on it again in which case it might be serious. So i'll try and get out again now the snow's gone but just take it steady

There's definitely no need for steroid injections or surgery for this one, i'd know if it was torn :)

Mmmmmm that's lovely! That's exactly the finish i'm after, where do you live? are you near me? (leeds way)

i saw my gp this morning and he said to do some exercises against resistance so i've bought a big rubber band off ebay and plan to do some of the exercises off that youtube link. Many thanks :)

No offense tom, but the first one looks like a bad photoshop and the second one looks like you got drunk and fell asleep and someone placed a bike behind you and took a picture :lol:

seeing the gp tomorrow

cheers deluded, i did go to see my gp about it a while back and he told me to take some painkillers and use ibuprofen gel which seems to help, but nothing about exercising or about what the actual problem might be. pretty useless really. This is what gets me about GPs – he could have easily referred me to a physio there and then but didn't and now i'm still having problems with it.

Camera I bought UK supplier

The cheeky git has put the price up from £14.99 to £15.99 and now £16.99 :x

it's just that I thought the idea of applying "love" to a mass produced machine rather odd

and some would say the same about you :)

Just pulled the trigger on the optical stabilsed version.

well i hope you didn't pay a lot of money for it as the reviews aren't exactly stellar photozone review

thread marked! ;)

pete i've got a sigma 17-70 and i love it. it's quite fast for a general zoom lens (2.8-4.5) which means you can get some nice wide shots in darker conditions (like forests). It also has a macro feature which means it's good for up close. you can get RIGHT in people's faces – the dog, kids etc. and the build quality is nice and solid. i fully recommend it. I got mine for 140 on ebay second hand.

your 28-200 that you're looking at is not very wide so not that good for landscapes but if you prefer the longer reach for wildlife/sports etc its ok but remember it's not very fast either so you'll be bumping up the ISO to compensate for slow shutter speeds on cloudy days/indoors etc.

Here is a pic i got of my nephew with the 17-70

buy a little chain wear indicator. £5 off CRC, it's just a bit of metal with 2 edges – one side indicates 0.75% wear (change chain to keep on top of drivetrain wear), the other side indicates 1% wear (deffo time to change chain otherwise drivetrain will be fooooooked). one of my fave tools – saves a lot of money in worn out drivetrains :)

get some lock ons for the winter wet weather.

what?

i'm saving up for a canon 70-200 f4 L. i wouldn't trust a cheap zoom, but if it's just a stop-gap until you upgrade it's probably ok.

I suppose it all depends on your location and what kind of customers you want to attract but…

Know your sh*t

read the magazines and know what the current trends are. stock up on lots of Shimano stuff… and be prepared for lots of boring fixes like brake cables and gear alignments. And watch out for people who come in with worn drivetrains that don't work with new chains. the number of people who go into a bike shop with a broken chain and then complain when you tell them the whole drive train needs replacing… what do they expect? maybe offer a cheap "complete drivetrain replacement" package to suit people with no knowledge, and maybe an information leaflet explaining why they need to change their chain once in a while.

I think he's got the wrong end of the stick

Anyway on the bright side the chants stopped a while ago and now i can hear a wood pigeon.

Now where's my gun? ;)

cheers Pook

Now what would happen if you parked up outside said mosque with a barryed up sound system blaring out music????
Just curious.

Or an ice-cream van with church bells playing and the slogan "mind that muslim child"

JOKE- ITS A JOKE!!

well obviously i thought i'd be branded a racist for complaining about it so i thought i'd pre-empt it. Church bells are **** annoying too. DING DONG DING DONG! why can't they play a nice tune like a bit of James Brown or something?

Tune please

and when was this? did you happen to see a guy with a camera and tripod just a bit further up from the lumpy bit (shown on one of the stills at the start)?

My stable is a Mojo SL, Cotic simple, SX trail and a commuter
if you must know

don't you just hate that word? you know, that horsey one?

do you make galloping noises? I bet you call it a steed…

admit it

I've got the normal mule and it's dinky. after a hawg so i can fit a camera in there