As a rule of thumb the further you are away from an airport the better the exchange rate will be. I tend to use Marks and Spencers for spare foreign cash I need.

Mate rolled off a ramped kerb from a deadstop behind me last year, flicked a twig into his front wheel and stopped the bike dead. Think the mudgaurd stays acually kept the branch nicely square in the spokes long enough to hit the forks – face plant, broken arm/elbow from about 2mph top speed. The safety things didn’t pop out in time. Concertinered the front guard.

That was on an old curly Hetchins frame so massive space under fork crown.

But I’d certainly buy that rear guard. If you can get a front one working I’d have one of those too.

Oh, and a wide 29er ones too for the commuter – add me to that list too!

I think physically you’ve got to be strapped in for take off/landing, but I suppose if that’s just to the wall it might technically pass safety examination.

Oh, and the man’s quite a rich idiot.

In the context that they’d have more money in their pocket had they rented for a couple of years and bought now, then yes they have lost money.

Well, if you rented for free then technically, yes you have more money. The fact you probably rented probably meant you spent you money on rent rather than mortgage.

Isn’t that what people are complaining about now? Having to pay rent, they can’t afford to save up for the deposit….

So how much have you actually wasted in interest whilst your house has devalued?

Well, as interest rates are current 0.5%, not a huge amount. And thats assuming my mortgage compared to an similar rented house are the same, I would expect the rent to be more.

No-one who has been renting a house since mid-2007 has been wasting their money. On the contrary, those who have been paying a mortgage in that period have lost thousands.

Yeah, right. Assume say, £1000 per month rent – you’ve just wasted £24k in two years on nothing. Me? I’ve paid £24k off my mortgage (less interest). Potentially my house “may” be worth £24k less, but if nothing else I’m a couple of years closer to no mortgage, whilst renters will be paying rent even after they retire. I realise that’s maybe an over simplification but to say houseowners have wasted money is not true.

Bontrager do an alloy version of their Switchblade(?) fork.

Has you’re antivirus/firewall thingy had any changes recently? It might be that it’s on a setting that won’t allow cookies (and hence isn’t storing them anymore)

Is there any Radio 1 or 2 DJ/reporter/sportsreader not at Glastonbury? I believe there might only be 173 actual fans there to see the bands. The other 163,827 might be employees of the BBC.

Suprised no-one has mentioned “Under the Bridge” by the Chilli Peppers

No-one has a right to the space outside their door. Annoying it might be, if you’ve got a car and they haven’t what do they expect.

If you want a really compromise maybe next time say if their grandkids do arrive (I assume they don’t visit everyday) then you’ll try and move the car if possible. Could you park over your garage entrance as a gesture?

Or if you’re feeling really nasty paint a ‘disabled’ parking space outside their houses, and a fake bus stop.

Peachos – similar thing happened to me, think he actually mounted the bus onto the kerb showing me how “big” and “hard” he was. Alas, the letter to his boss (maybe pretending to cc in the police helped) and the witness statement earned him a disiplinary.

If one busdriver thinks before ‘playing’ with bike riders next time then it’s worth it.

You never know, it might have been his final warning before sacking for example.

As to OP – it’s a near miss, consider yourself lucky she even stoppped. She might have learnt her lesson.

You’re right, kid will come before you. So don’t expect maybe any short notice “let’s go out tonight for a meal/drink”. From experience it’s just a case of planning ahead a little, or maybe doing ‘afternoon’ things rather than nighttime. Of course, daddie may have the little one at weekends.

And just nod appreciatively when she tells you all her woes.

Oh, and always bring wine AND chocs!

I worked next door to Dick Dipper and Reg Chicken in my old job. They were a good set of lads.

Though it might bring you down to levels to claim tax credits etc.

Nope, you be given the usual “you’re lucky to have a job, fella” speech if you ask.

Certainly higher up into the “xc race” type mtb shoes, aren’t the road equivalent just the same shoe without the tread on the bottom? Not sure how that makes them more ‘efficient’.

Pedal platforms, I could possibly see a correlation to being more efficient.

Suppose in theory a carbon soled mtb shoe (ie doesn’t flex) will support the foot as well as the road version. All they are doing is transmitting force from leg/foot into turning the crank around. If there’s flex then I suppose a wider platform (aka road cleat) should make it better.

Currently doing a 30-50 miler every Sunday on the road bike with spds. Just out of interest I’m gonna try out some road shoes (if I can find some comfortable ones).

Isn’t twitter just an ideal tool for those people who feel the need to write a blog, then realise if fact (mostly) their lives are dull and boring and that one good idea for a rant does not equate into a lifelong blog…

“Guy had no idea what to say.”

Your kidding me right? I saw that interview and I hate to say it but that BNP guy probably made more supporters than that stupid Labour crone they dragged out.

And so much for the news teams being neutral – Khrisnan pretty much set the tone of the interview with that “attack”, however justified.

Interesting reading that poll they did, BNP voters vs normal voters. Looks like the rest of the electorate ain’t far behind in much our thinking…

Dont dumb it down, not everyone is clever or capable.

Woah, hold on a minute. What about poor Kylies “deferred success”?

Seriously though, there does seem an idea running through all these BNP threads that people who voted for them shouldn’t be allowed to vote and actually I’m far cleverer than you are and therefore I know best.

Yes, if you are of a certain status, have enough money to buy a £2000 mountain bike you have certain views on the world. If you have just been made unemployed/a result of (Labours?) poor education policies/watched your job go overseas etc then maybe you have a different point of view.

Much as I don’t like it, BNP are a legit political party. If the Labour government chose to allow them then that’s their decision they might regret. I bet a large proportion of BNP voters we lifelong Labour voters, maybe their MPs didn’t stick up for their constituencies feeling and had to toe the party line.

I vote for the puppy as the first dictator…..

Brown is like my missus – a first class degree in hindsight. And he can never seem to make a commitment to anything as it may be proven wrong in the future and the blame laid squarely on him.

Though we could look at this as an advantage – hopefully they can shoot themselves in the foot as they get a wider audience to ‘”preach” to and the wider audience realise what they are. And that audience start preaching to the people that voted for them.

The thing is, if you were a Labour MP harbouring some aspiration to be Prime Minister would now be the time the time to throw your hat into the ring? You’d spend your year as PM deflecting (justified?) calls to have an election early, and then maybe be in charge when the Labour party disintegrates and possibly becomes a minority bit-player after the bad electin results and thus fell like you need to resign.

Better to wait another year, then at least get 4 years to play Labour leader, blaming the Tories and old Labour for the failings…

Well in order to stop idiots from voting for idiotic parties why dont we just restrict voting to people who are actually educated enough to make a rational well thought out choice.

Why don’t we just cut out the voting bit too? Have someone really clever to decide what is right for the whole country, the clever and the stupid people. Ssve a bit of cash of ballot papers etc.

I do believe some of the clever well educated people have already brought this country to where it is (bankers, MPs etc.)….

You’d be looking at fairly low-spec Campag, might stretch to Veloce

In order of most blink first Campag is
Super Record
Record
Chorus
Centaur
Veloce
Mirage
Xenon

(think the last two IIRC are being phased out, Campag can’t seem to compete with Shimano at entry level stuff.

Not an exaqct like for like match to the Shimano groupsets – think of Super Record/Record as Dura Ace, Chorus/Centaur as Ultegra, Veloce as 105. Ish.

SRAM have a smaller range still I think
Red
Rival
Force

Red being their Dura Ace equivalent, again, don’t think either Rival or Force are real ‘entry level’ a la Sora or Tiagra.

Think for 800 quid you’d probably be looking at Tiagra or Veloce. Maybe find a nice last years season model. Campag have ‘upgraded’ Veloce recently so you might find the older style knocking around on bikes with a discount.

Prepay meters are ‘good’ for income. Normally you would always pay for extra. If you leave early and someone takes your spot then they’re effectively getting two payments for the same parking place. And obviously the cheapest method of extracting cash.

Always wondered these days with plain paper tickets, a scanner and a modicum of photoshop expertise whether you could just scan an old ticket in, amend the times and use it the next week? Obviously, not that I’d condone that sort of behaviour…..

Stick it in the smallest rear cog (and keep clicking the shifter a couple of times after that) – if there’s loads of slack cable then tighten it up.

Plus there are adjustment screws on the rear mech to stop it pushing the chain into the spokes – they might need a tweak too.

Doesn’t she front up a kids TV programme too – Nina and the Neurons?

I suspect there might not be many people who won’t admit it out loud but probably will vote BNP when it comes to standing in the booth in private.

{to set the record straight that WON’T be me).

And I suspect in the North East many of those BNP voters will be lifelong Labour voters and not some hardcore rightwing conservative followers.

Alas.

As opposed to “proper” of punk band lyrics…

“Standing at a party talking to a bloke
Said he fancied me, I thought it was a joke
But when he tried to kiss me
I thought it time ti hide
Tried to find the bog and lock myself inside

Chorus
“Never made it, never made it, never made to the bog in time….”

Mate has just ordered a Kia under the scrappage scheme – be warned with your calculations – apparently they only have one “solid” colour which is now sold out, so you’d have to order the “metallic” paint option at another £400 on top of on-the-road price if you want it any time soon (i.e. this year).

BA employee, moi? Nah, just personal experience of a budget airline who wasn’ as cheap as it looked to start with, then dumped my sister (and the rest of the plane) at an airport because their plane broke down.

Italy £600 return, so is that a cheap flight or a flexible one or in fact is it neither?

Well, the RyanAir flight might have started off as £20. But then it’d be £30 to book in online (sorry, no choice, no offline option), bags? £40 to you sir. Oh, did I mention that was just one way. Suddenly you might not be far off.

Oh, the plane has a technical problem and your stuck in Italy. See ya.

Cough, Spech Rockhopper maybe?

Here here Rudeboy.

Having just come back from the States and driving one of their “US” built cars, I’d take the Far East version any day. Isn’t bike manufacture the only place where we think US built is actually better than Far East?

“A Ford focus does the job just as well as an Aston Martin. One is assembled by machines in a factory the other is lovingly assembled by craftsmen with many years expertise in their craft.”

Isn’t it the Focus that’s got a good reputation for reliability, and the Aston is a joke in terms of breaking down?

Think Specialized do a “version” of the Ergon grips, and I think Edinbugh do too if you want to try a cheaper version.

Recommend the Ourys though if you like a chunky grip. Oh, and Cane Creek Ergo bar ends if that kinda thing floats you boat…

For that extra twist of the knife you need to pretend to be on the mobile as you cruise past them too….

Offshore?