There are at least hundreds, if not thousands of places to eat in that area, so you might have to be a bit more specific.

Indeed, I realise this could be a problem 😳 Pub food will be fine (in fact a decent pint would be nice), though we’ll eat anything – I guess I am after places that are likely to be less busy/slightly off the main thouroughfares. I realise this doesn’t really narrow it down any…..

Thanks all – keep’em coming

Katron looks to have the manufacturing covered, but, ideally we need a design and certification service to support this as well….. in that sense Magellan looks to be a good shout – I’ll given them a call.

It’s just a motor and gears, but it’s poorly sealed.

Your ‘not sealed’ is a manufacturers ‘profit margin and ongoing revenue stream’ 😉

Depends what hot water system you’ve got. Mira Combiforce (or is it a combiflowflow….can’t remember of the top of my head….) has been faultless for me, on a combi bolier

Do what one of my colleagues did for ages – treat it as a double bluff – use the simplest, most uncomplex and memorable word, without capitals or digits, you can think of….. those cheeky hackers with their la-de-da bits of code will never think of that, no-sir-eee….

….yes, his password for everything was ‘password’…..

being ‘king expensive

Noted, and grudingly accepted….

Pay by phone is the only option for long term I think.

Parkopedia suggests cards+cash as well for the main car park…..

Ace. Ta.

Went last month – what they all said really ^^^. Properly good, in a kind of ‘hyper-reality’ way. As Taki says, food is uniformly, ‘fast’ generic, of poor quality and expensive beyond belief. If you can keep the kids up til 11, do hang around for the Disney Dreams show – Video, lasers, lights, sound, water, jets of fire, fireworks….. there was probably a kitchen sink in there as well!! 😉

….take an angel grinder to a new frame…

I gotta me one of those…..GRRRRRR!!!

If the resistance in the bearing is greater than the friction between the outer race and the frame, then the bearing will turn in the frame – i.e. if the bearing was a lose-ish fit to start with, the bearing may only need to be “quite rough”, not “totally seized” in order to spin.

Could be down to the tolerance stack-up between the bearing OD and shell ID, but I think you’ll struggle to prove that now as the wear will mean the bearing fit will NOW be sloppy, regardless of what it was to start with.

Look at the stick Gilbert is getting from everywhere, especially the massive-paycheck-signing Andy Rihs for not even coming close to winning anything this year.

FTFY….. it’ll be interesting to see what he comes up with at the Tour.

I’ve got a Makro card through work – similar concept – echo what they all said up there. Be aware that the prices are GENERALLY cheaper than a supermarket, there are times when specific supermarket promotions (BOGOFF’s etc) will still beat the cash+carry’s, so it’s worth shopping around.

If my memory is correct, the George and Dragon used to be home of the championship winning Felton Eccles tug-of-war team. What’s not to like…..

Edit: Google says yes – they used to have a large poly-tunnel in the pub garden for ‘humidity training’……

Pony and Trap, nr Chew Magna

+1

….nice touch that they’ve used a photo of Wiggins for the “team shot” in plain kit, as he defo won’t have the national RR jersey by the time the tour starts. That’s my cast iron tour prediction – where do I put my bet 😉

Imperial March from Star Wars

Have a look on Ebay for ‘Stainless Steel Offcut’ or similar if you can’t find anything free here. Usually cheap-as chips. Casual search gets pretty close….

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stainless-steel-round-bar-off-cut-400-x-16-mm-/261039982814?pt=UK_BOI_Metalworking_Milling_Welding_Metalworking_Supplies_ET&hash=item3cc73208de

So even if the team focus more on Wiggins (which I think they should) that doesn’t rule Cavendish out.

Probably as soon as one week into the tour I think the team will decide if Cavendish is going all the way to Paris – my point is that I don’t believe they have already taken that decision, or at least I’d be surprised if they have.

Indeed anything can happen – Sky very much had to refocus last year having lost Wiggins. Also, I agree Cav can look after himself, and has been doing that quite well this year, albeit winning less. I still think Sagen will give him a run for his money over the 3 weeks for Green as he is much more the all-rounder that can sprint, so you’re probably right to some extent that they’ll see if Cav is in the hunt before the mountains and then decide, rather than chasing the Green jersey all the way to Paris regardsless of whether he’ll win or not.

Can’t see the end of the spoke in the failed hole, but it looks like the spoke elbow is still intact?

If that’s the case, the wheel section in the STW Materials Science textbook needs to be re-written: ‘..silver spokes are stronger than black spokes, which are stronger than red hub..’

Even if Cav wins a few stages but is not consistent enough to get the green, that is still well worthwhile, from the team’s pov. Wiggins is going to score well in the tt, and try and hold his place in the mountains – I can’t see that having another rider instead of Cav in the team is going to do much to alter that picture.

To go in with a stated aim that Cav is basically on his own, looking for stage wins, and the rest of the team is there to protect Wiggins is fine. Likewise, taking a train for Cav to use for stages and for points at the intermediate sprints in pursuit of Green, and Wiggins does what he can, is also fine….. Over three weeks though, to expect the team to ride on the front to protect Wiggins for GC, pull in the mountains for him AND ride to pull back breaks on the flat stages then lead out Cav and help get points in the intermediate sprints as well is asking quite a lot. Chapeau if they can do that.

I know Telekom managed it with Zabel/Ullrich, but Zabel was on his own most of the time and the whole team wasn’t doing it on bread and water alone, ahem 😉

“I will win stages but I may not win five. My sprint has suffered a little bit, but the guys who are sprinters, like I was, won’t be there in the [Olympic road race] finish.”

Maybe he thinks he’s a GC rider after the SterZLM Toer result? 😉

KOM
god knows!

Hoogerland says he wants to go for it this year – one do-or-die raid for the bulk of the points on one of the big mountin days and follow-the-leader after that should be enough for anyone who wants it.

Will be interesting between Cav and Sagan for green, if Cav goes the distance – otherwise I think Sagan is a shoe-in, barring mishaps….

I predict when someone else wins Franck will moan that Andy Shleck wasn’t there.

Any excuse…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubEfM5npOvo

I could go abroad and work in Australia (its fairly easy in my line of work) but am I just running away to something that’ll be pretty similar to here (but slightly warmer).

My brother-in-law did this (though for different reasons: ‘…Britain is sh!t…’ etc). Came back after 6 months with a new world view (‘…Everywhere is sh!t…). I guess my point is if you do this, do it for the right reasons – if you think you’ll be just running away, then you’ll probably just be running away.

Whatever – I hope you work it out and it works out for you!

I did look at them, but Griff’s is local(-ish) to work which made things a little easier for me. As mentioned, was mighty impressed when I got mine back, so no regrets spunking £50 on it.

Obv, pics when you get it back! 😉

Terry’s in Yate will do it for less than a tenner (NB: – please check as it was a couple of years ago last time I used them). Having said that, I got my last frame powdercoated by Griff’s and the BB threads and faces came back beautiful and colour free (well, all the threads an faces actually), so you may be lucky and your powdercoaters know what they’re doing/masking.

Would that rule out a 26T chaingring with a 20T rear sprocket ?

I believe so, yes – in the sense that the 2:1 drive ratio is the Shimano recommended minimum.

Buy once, buy right – if you want a real off road hub get the Rohloff. Katie’s Alfine 11 is quickly losing all it’s oil again and shifting sounding distinctly ropey

For balance, my 11-spd is going in for it’s second/6000km oil change at the end of the month and has been rock solid.

Agree with B-O-A-S…… just don;t drop the drive ratio too low (2:1 is it?) and over torque it.

Bottle of squirt and white lightning on the way – let battle commence!

How about working out how long it would do to 10000 steps at average speed and average stride. Then work out how far you would travel in that time at average off-road pace in the same time. Should give you a distance for steps/riding over the same time, so you can then work out a distance conversion. Rough-and-ready, I know…..

It keeps working well even in sloppy mud.

Good to know, but this will only be for the bikes that go out in the sun – it’s fair to say the recent weather has given me ample testing time for a selection of wet lubes on the other bikes!

Two votes for Squirt, but hardly a conscenous! 😆

I was born in Tiverton (in the hospital that is no longer there….) – I’ve no idea if that’s a 😳 or a :D. TBH, I have no idea about the off-roading, but I always try and take my road bike when I go and see the folks (more Uffculme way) as the road riding in any direction is v good. There used to be a reasonable amount of semi-cheeky stuff around Culmstock and Blackborough/Ashill, but that was many moons ago, but that is quite out of town and needs a bit of linking up.

I found the Finishline ceramic one you’re using resulted in a really dirty drive train after a couple of rides

This is true actually – another reason for a change…..

Another vote for Dairyland – whiled away a wet day there with a 3 year old. Loads to do, not all farm related!

You couldn’t physically get a bigger seatpost in the frame, it’s just not possible. #floggingadeadhorse

Alright then – everything is perfectly in tolerance, perfectly aligned and within tolerance. Hmm…. it must be pixies then…. yep, pixes, in the night, with tiny little pixie files, filing out those two cracks night after night, micron-by-micron. B@stard little creatures of the night they are……

No, seatpost is the correct size, a nice tight fit.

If it’s a perfect fit, tightening the clamp should generate naff-all stress there – even if you were a complete gorilla with the clamp and somehow compressing the tube through its thickness (grrrrr!), the hole should still see no signficiant stress.

Something else is going on here – my money’s still on undersized post 😉

You sure you’re post is the right size for the frame. A touch small perhaps? The crack are right where the stress concentrations would be if the post was too small/large and the circle was being compressed/expanded around its circumference.

Anything from £50 to £100 per cubic metre, depending on the mix of species and how long it’s been seasoned. Work it out from there.

Totally agree, and the emphasis, IME, is very heavily weighted in the favour of stroke victims. Stutterers, esp. adult ones are not given much thought.

Yep, that’s about the size of it.