If you’re considering streaming check out the Sonos stuff. It’s a piece of cake to set up, can even get an iphone app to be the remote control. There’s an active version and a version that’ll just feed into either amp or DAC.

If you can think fast enough it’s often possible to turn the negative into a positive.

As mentioned above “what’s you’re weaknesses?”. Maybe the answer is “I like to get things perfect rather than just fit-for-purpose” – it’s not ‘really’ a weakness.

Personally my favourite reply to a question went like this
Q “Do you take risks?”

A “Yes I do”

{Stunned silence in the interview room.}

A “Everything you do is a risk. The key is to minimise the risk and the handle any impact appropriately”.

And it’s lift the bottom bracket up a touch too, which might be a bonus of you’re catching rocks a lot.

You’d need to budget for some cantis or mini v brakes too.

And presumably budget for a canti/v-brake specific frame and forks to put them as well 🙄

Are you tall as well as a 36″ waist? On previous experience with Endura Stealth longs they seemed to have made the waist bigger on the larger sizes but left the leg length quite short. Oh, and expect you to have massive ankles too.

some arguement that or a set time period a road bike will get you fitter, where as for a set distance a moutnain bike will.

say road bike ave sppd 18mph, and mtb 14, if you go for an hour u will do 4 milesmore so more pedalling and also bigger gears for leg strength.

I can’t see the logic in this – a road bike is easier to pedal (mostly due to thinner tyres/less resistance) thus you can achieve a higher speed for the same effort put in.

metal won’t wear as quickly as the plastic of the outer

Erm, the plastic is just a cover for the metal core of the outer cable.

As PP says, if you’ve got the cables off anyway then it’s probably sensible to do outer and inner.

+1 for the Pro PLTs.

The normal shallow choice seems to be FSA Omega, but take a look at the 3T ones (think they are called Ergonova).

I’m running some Campagnolo Veloce Linear mini-vs n the cross bike with SwissStop green pads. Never had a problem and really happy with the performance.

Like others above they run pretty close to the rims but for road riding I’ve never had an issue with that. Only slight pain to start with was I had to trim the noodle bit so I could pop the cable out to drop out the wheel (and Campag levers have the cable release on the levers – SRAM and Shimano don’t so might be even more of a problem).

No shuddering like my old cantis either.

Off the top of my head (and from experience) “wins” from VR

a) Tax free lump sum waaaaaay over what you’d get next week when they tell you it’s compulsory redundancy. Don’t forget a “year” of tax free will get you much more than 12 months of taxed wages.

b) If it’s big numbers of compulsory redundancies everyone will be queing up for the same limited jobs in the area. We got rid of a lot of IT people pretty much in one go. All other job adverts were swamped.

c) Obviously the older of us could look at early retirement even

d) Getting another job back in the same company that gave you VR 3 months ago. Seen that happen too.

Downsides:
All the people with any nous take the VR and suddenly you’ve a) not got any decent people left in the company b) the ones left suddenly need to “step up to the plate” (which is management speak for doing the work of two people, or above your grade).

Best mates a postie. I get really worried when I get the red card after some of the things he tells me. Basically now all non delivered parcels get dropped off at a post office (posties don’t go back to office anymore, political thing, they’d need to be paid until they clock off blah blah blah) so they all get collected again, sent back to the big area office and start the process again back to the postmand again (that’s why it’s 48 hours before picking up from sorting office).

The area office is renowned for things going missing especially at Christmas time when they employ casual labour.

Good point, Cotic might not have the ability to absorb vat increase, maybe if they’re not selling many it might not be worth it, though it must make sense to write off the £25 or whatever to get sub £1000.

Probably think larger companies would do almost a “loss leader” to get a bike under the £1k mark (like mark-up wouldn’t cover a lot of that anyway…).

Suppose the obvious other one is the venerable Kona Jake, not sure what the pricing is like these days, mines nice though.

Wouldn’t worry, all the courier firms are at the same level of incompetence, including but by no means a definitive list
a) leaving a £800 dvd player in the wheelie bin ‘because it was raining’ despite being a signed-for parcel.
b) Rifle left at back door of parents house, despite the 3ft high fence anyone could see over
c) Set of Hope Hoops left at my backdoor, despite visible from road
d) Collecting one parcel from depot the guy threw it from the first floor and the guy ‘catching’ missed

and too many ‘Home Delivery Network’ parcels left at front door to count.

All different courier firms.

Think you can get spacers, but of course there is less thread in the crank arm so could be an issue. Certainly putting 7mm of washers per side as you imply would be pushing what I’d think was safe.

I imagine if Lance decided he needed wider q-factor they’d just build him a set of pedals with longer axles and not faff about with spacers. The holy grail of road cyclists is narrow q-factor for aerodynamics so I’d be surprised LA spent so much time honing his bike/clothing/position only to ruin it all by ‘opening’ his legs out.

Could you not push the road cleats as inboard as possible? Or are you using MB shoes/pedals on the road bike?

Plastic pipes have an inherent flex in them that copper doesn’t so you might find you can connect two points with one run of plastic (or feed though a hole easily) whereby you might need a cheeky joint in copper. Not that that is a showstopper for copper of course.

Speedfitted a couple of taps to the existing copper piping and it was a godsend in the 1mm x 1mm area I had to work in under the sink.

FunkyDunc – the plastic stuff is actually more expensive but the argument is that you don’t need additional stuff like solder etc. and they are potentially reusable, quicker (time is money!).

And remember to ask for it before you hand over the parcel, they don’t seem to be able to add it on as an afterthought with their fancy computer system. Though if they get stroppy you can get a little hand filled certificate for up to 8 or 9 addresses they should be able to fill in.

In fact next time ask for a few of these – saves time – you fill them out and the post master just stamps it.

Nice one Gravity-Slave – looks like it ticks all the geek boxes in me. Might even talk myself into a Sonos box one day for sounds around the house!

In terms of TV streaming – any more boxes required or is it literally dropping a, say, ethernet cable into the TV and all controlled by the tv remote. Or is that all too simples and for the future?!

Yeah, most things are backed up onto a portable HDD too, and the little ‘uns photos when she was growing up are burnt onto a number of DVDs and given to the family to look after in case of major fire etc.!

Just sick of being on laptop and realising my work files are on the PC. Sob, lifes hard. 🙄

Might just invest in a QNAP. It’s nearly Christmas after all and it’ll be more fun than a new jumper/slippers…

Campag triples are 115mm axles apart from Chorus and Record IIRC which were 111.

I am guessing the government have done the sums and this ends up with them netting more cash in the long run !!!

More likey as with most governments, they won’t be around to worry about/pay for it in 30 years…

Bike for life? Depends. If you’re still riding an original Stumpy and thinking it’s cutting edge then ti is for life. Look back even over a couple of years to see what’s changed – frame angles are slacker now, longer fork travel, tapered head tubes, disks etc. etc. even full suspension – if you’re someone who needs the next shiny thing then it ain’t for life, but don’t let that stop you.

To be honest I’ve never seen anyone stopped for ‘just’ having flashers. And the traffic cop who lives next door hasn’t batted an eyelid either as I go stand chatting to him as I get in from the commute.

Get as many lights/reflectors as you feel you need.

The legality argument will probably only raise it’s head in court. It’ll be a debate by some clever legal eagles as to whether you contributed to your own accident by not having pedal reflectors fitted, or whether the defendant was in error. Bit like the rulings on using helmets and cycle paths.

TO be fair to companies, they probably buy a lot of boxes and they’ll get a better deal on ‘x’ thousand of a standard size, rather than a hundred of this, a hundred of another. And you have to store all the combinations, and people have to go off and pick the ‘correct box etc. etc. – all costs money

My mates mum always used to drink Yorkshire tea because (and I quote) “I don’t like that Indian rubbish”…

2B or not 2B?

(see what I did there?! I’ll get me coat…)

Either get a £100 quid watch you like, or spend some money on a decent (well known) brand IMHO. The middle ground is a dangerous place.

If you buy a niche one like the Sinn etc. mentioned above you’ll just end up trying to bore people that it’s the same internals as a Omega, blah, blah blah, blah blah.

In car terms, it’s like buying a Nissan GT-R. Yes, technically it maybe be a better spec than a 911, carbide ceramic titanium cupholders, 15000bhp, 8 turbos etc. but in the end of the day a) that girl you’re trying to impress will be bored witless and b) it’s still got a Nissan badge on it.

If you have to explain something it’s not worth it.

Are you after a drop bar or flat bar style frame?

If it’s a flat bar job I’ve just picked up a Kona Smoke brand new on eBay for £190, then flogged all the stuff on if for £150. £40 for a Kona frame, P2 forks and v brakes and levers brand new is a canny deal.

Assuming you’re taking paypal only and don’t have to wait for payment through the postal service?

Day or two for buyers to paypal me, then they get the invoice sent to them as a reminder. Then few more days ntil the “are you going to pay me, I don’t mind if there’s a delay but let me know” message, then payment not received initiated with eBay.

Maybe they’re trying to wait ’til payday at end of the month before paypaling you, especially if they’ve no slush funds in PP.

Once upon a time in the west

+1.

Oh, and remember when the clocks go back – you’ll think you’re putting on to finish at 20:00 the following week but it’ll not!

PP – sounds like you’re pretty much doing all the right things. If the photos are that good maybe it’s actually worth saying these are pictures of the actual product (rather than stock pictures some people use)!

Not much you can do apart from bang it on, and clench buttocks for the last 10 second frenzy to ensue….

They’ll be waiting for the 29er niche to get bigger, then they’ll drop in the “650 is betterer than both” and hope the market is big enough to make some money.

I just think 29er got to the party first and got all the press. Not too sure how people will react to another new boy on the block.

Sunday evening 20:00 to 21:00 is your sweetspot, just after tea, bairns in bed. never noticed a rise in prices on payday weekends to be honest but I might have a look.

Saturday is a night out potentially so maybe your audience is on the pop. Though I’ve seen some crazy bidding at midnight on Saturdays as the drunks get back in from the pub and start bidding!

Decent photos, though don’t go mad with the numbers.

And for Gawds sake, no txt speak. It makes you sound like you’ve nicked it. And personally I’ve been put off by the ‘hardball’ statements people put like “payment within 30 seconds”, “don’t bid if you don’t agree with my (extensive) conditions listed below”.

And be honest with the details.

And don’t bother with 10 day auctions, people will get bored and similar items will come and attract their attention in the meantime.

I’d contact the seller first with something like “I’ve just received the shifters but I’m a little disappointed to find the indicator window isn’t working on one of them.”.

Maybe see what response you get back and take it from there. If he offers you a fiver back then that’s up to you. If he/she however sends the “buyer beware” snotty one I had a while ago then just throw it into dispute. You’ll end up with all your money back probably and the shifters but it is quite a blunt instrument.

Avid Arch Rivals v brakes anyone?!

Yes, that Gadget Show article didn’t really mention that whilst, yes, running your xBox only costs £8 a year, you might need to turn your television on as well to really use it properly too….

Think I read an article about someone using a titaniun Bianchi to win the Paris-Roubaix painted up in their celeste blue.

Steel/carbon/titanium can be built up however you want it – massively springy, stiff as a board. It’s not really the material, it’s how much and what you do with it. Plenty of ti frames raced on, though I suspect becuase the big brands are into carbon fibre at the moment the majority of racers will be on CF, not necessarily the best option but you get what you are given by the person paying your wages.

They need to sort out ways of voting before they could ever mandate voting.

Even “texting” is open to too much abuse in my opinion. Okay for Strictly Come Dancing.

Ultimately it’ll come down to one thing only. Money.

It’ll cost more to open polling stations longer hours, more staff etc, increased processing. And for what? Not sure what it would achieve.

The Swiss idea might be better to get people involved – vote for major changes in law/policy but not sure how practical that would be.

I’ve worked on elections many times. You see many elderly people who still feel “we won the war to enable me to vote”. Likewise I’ve seen plenty of people shouting across the station “dad, who do I vote for again?”. Some give you hope, some just make you wish for better childbirth precautions.

Cheers Scaredy, in my excitement my brain stopped working!

Putting it aside to pay for the uni fees (or deposit for a house). At this rate it’ll let the little ‘un about a months worth of a university course.

Nothing you can offically do on eBay about it – you can’t add a buy-it-now once someone starts bidding.

Suppose the only thing would be to cancel his/her bid (check with them first) and then you might be able to amend the auction.

To be honest, I’d just say “sorry, can’t do anything now you are bidding”. Let it run and you’ll probably get more anyway – just chancing his arm I’d say.