The money you save in buying a chinese light is likely to be less than the money you lose when you’re off work after it fails at an inappropriate moment!

I have a Joystick which is c 8 years old and still going strong + Flare and Flash which have just been replaced FOC by Exposure after repeated problems with the first set – you wouldn’t get service like that from yr Chinese manufacturer

Just post up a pic of your bike or ask a question about kit/new components etc and we’ll tell you what the rules are, in fairly direct terms 🙂

Pillow. Makes a big difference to comfort IMO.
I find Thermarest (as the name suggests) warmer than an inflatable bed which does nothing to insulate you from the cold ground, so maybe something between the sleeping bag and mattress or underneath the mattress?

Maybe OP and Orangeboy should report to Ebay and/or Police – maybe there’s an insider with access to home addresses who for some reason likes wrecking other people’s property?

The Denon amp I bought in 1994 for £160 is still going strong, after some recent repairs. Still not sure how Oasis managed to get presented as ‘great British music’

this is at a time, it seems, when the number of careless/lazy drivers has increased who consider ‘kiss touching’ other cars as they park as acceptable.

This + standards of driving in residential areas and around cyclists is leading me to the conclusion that modern cars isolate their drivers from the outside world so well that we’re losing basic empathy and awareness of other peoples’ needs once we get inside.
You wouldn’t walk up to a cyclist and push them off, or walk up to a parked car and boot it, so how when you do this with your car, can you walk away as if you;ve not just done damage to someone or their property?

This is where you find out what type of person she is,

Well from what the OP says, she’s not made any effort to make good on the damage she must surely know she’s done to his car. Although you’d have to be a very special kind of stupid to leave your car next to the one you’ve hit with matching paint scrapes making it very obvious there’s been a collision.

You would hope, therefore, that she hasn’t yet round to coming over to admit what she’s done…

My theory about cats is that they evolved beyond human beings, realised we’re a bunch of mugs and that if they acted a bit dumb and looked cute, they’d be able to get away with being fed and kept by us without them having to do anything themselves anymore.
Smart creatures 🙂

If contactless cards were a significant security risk, you’d know about it by now… there’d have been a major fuss by the British Public.

It might feel less secure than Chip and PIN but it’s clearly more secure than cash, which it’s designed to replace…

If you read the info from Visa below, you’ll see many safeguards are in place. I would check with your bank what their fraud policy is as suggested below and basically not worry about it

Info from Visa

Each participating contactless bank sets a limit on the number or value of Visa contactless transactions that can be made before a cardholder is asked to do a normal chip and PIN transaction. If you are a regular user of Visa contactless, you may have noticed this happening – as, every now and then, you will be asked to verify your transaction with your PIN to prove that it is you in possession of your card.

And, just like any other Visa transaction, your bank is routinely looking out for any unusual transactions that may show that it is not you using your card. You will get the same level of protection as any other Visa Debit or Visa Credit transaction. And, if your card is lost or stolen, the card will be blocked by your bank instantly.

If your card is lost or stolen you should notify your bank as soon as possible. If anyone has fraudulently used your contactless card to make a payment, providing you take reasonable precautions to protect your card and let your bank know as soon as you realise it’s gone, you will not be responsible for any losses incurred (subject to your bank’s terms and conditions).

Half your friends will envy you and the other half will be laughing at you behind your back 🙂
And just wait till you turn up at the trail centre carpark with it!

Carbon summer bike for dry days. It’s way too nice to drag it through all the wet and filth of winter roads, doesn’t have mudguard fittings and prob not even the clearance for 25mm tyres.
Winter bike has guards to save me and clubmates from a faceful of filth + and more relaxed geometry + 25mm tyres for the rest of the year.
Singlespeed for commuting.
You know you’ve had a good summer when you look at the winter bike around July time and realise you’ve not been on it since March 🙂

What are you guys having pre ride food wise when you end up bonking?

IMO it’s more than this – it’s what you have the night before + breakfast + during the ride.

it’s amazing how much you’ll eat after bonking 🙂

£30 is about 1/4 of a tank of petrol for a car that size isn’t it? Not surprised people are driving so badly if the response from the law is that weak…

Wishful thinking there. It’s barely believable that the likes of Vino and Riis are allowed to manage teams with what’s already known about them, so I doubt this’ll make much difference.

We do have new blood at the UCI now tho

Hence ‘value’ brands like VW having such a strong following.

Back in the day (late 80s) VW were a premium brand and the standard other cars were seen as needing to work towards. Ford Escort was the best-selling car. Vauxhall Astra, Renault 11, Peugot 309 family cars etc were what most people had.

That VW is now seen a ‘value’ brand tells you how much ‘status inflation’ we’ve had since then…

Northwave[/url]

I’ve been happy with this – very close fit – not flappy and doesn’t let water in round the neck or cuffs. I run very warm but this seemed pretty breathable.

Personally I stay away with people who are so unhinged about such minor matters that they have to play passive aggressive games instead of have a face to face chat. You get dragged into their screwed-up worlds…

I’ll take it off your hands. 2p?

Pads. Makes me worry less about falling off. And then I don’t fall off 🙂

Also worth reading the Brian Lopez book (not whilst you’re riding, that would be silly) 😯

Well Burke’s Peerage has an online search function, and there’s NO ONE with the surname Shark in there, so I’m calling BS

He may have got confused with Peer’s Berkage which lists the achievements of utter idiots 😀

Go ltd. I used an umbrella company for a while and compared to perm I was losing £500/month through their fees and calculations…
With Ltd you’ll take home far more of an equivalent annual salary too.
IMO with pay rises looking unlikely for the foreseeable, Ltd is the best way to go if you want to maintain your standard of living.
Plus, being allowed to get on with your job and not worry about corporate politics is a wonderful luxury!

if anything my bias was that stories of cyclists’ bad behaviour is wildly exaggerated.

Sorry, not having a go, just increasingly alarmed at the amount of anti-cycling propaganda I hear from otherwise sensible people… you’re correct – the stories of cyclists bad behaviour is widely exaggerated and ignores the behaviour of some/many drivers.

I ride in London 2-3 times a week and absolutely don’t recognise the stereotype. Experience and observation tell me the vast majority of cyclists are legal and benign.

Confirmation bias means people are more likely to tell others about the times they saw cyclists break the law because there’s nothing remarkable about a cyclist stopping at a red light or riding quietly along the road.

When the TFL ran a study in 2007, only 16% of cyclists ran red lights. Didn’t say what proportion of drivers did but it’s certainly not zero!

Please don’t fall into the anti-cycling propaganda trap – it is, literally killing people…

I am in a fortunate position to have a large family home that (at current value) is worth around £450k (due to an inheritance) that will be fully paid off around my retirement age. We then intend (unless we have had any further inheritance by then) to sell it and move to a smaller place that would be worth around half. Part of the proceeds would be to provide funds for our twins higher education should they wish to go down that route, the rest will be invested in the best way to see us into our retirement years.

😯

And if house prices crash between now and then?

Look at what happened between 1990 and 1995 to house prices and assume the same happens over the next five years (noting the similarity in the pattern now and then)

I’ve dug out my copy of 1984 to re-read. It may not be enjoyable!

+1 re decent lights. Drivers aren’t looking where they’re going, they might well keep you alive. Personally I go for 2 front and 2 back, one constant and one flashing a) maximum noticeability b) in case on fails halfway through the commute.

Otherwise, enjoy, it’s a great way to start and end your day

The key thing to think about is, once you’re too old/infirm to work, how’re you going to pay for food, heating etc? You need an income from somewhere. Given the UK has massive national debt, I wouldn’t expect too much from your state pension.

I’m shocked that for quite some time now, a lot of people seem to have seen a pension has an option rather than necessity…

Some people think they can sell their house and live off the proceeds. But if a whole chunk of the population all try and sell their houses at the same time, prices will just drop as supply outstrips demand…

As mentioned above – the tax relief you get on your pension contributions far outstrips any other kind of investment, or even house price growth, so there’s no better place to put it

Speak to Leigh Day and/or BC/CTC and get some experienced cycling lawyers IMO. The fact the driver tried to blame you and then the Admiral guy then tried to suggest you were partially to blame would make me see red and want to stop them at their game…

I would get some legal advice based on what’s happened so far and take a view how much cash you think you should have and how much you want to stop the driver and insurer being dirty cheats 👿

If WCA’s demographic analysis is anything to go by, the problem will dwindle away as they all trot off to nursing homes over the next 10 years!

Life’s too short to spend your days in an uninspiring job that doesn’t challenge you.
It’s also too short to spend all your time in an office, generating cash which you have no time to enjoy.

I know people who have done both and tbh the ones who’ve gone for the easy option are the least happy overall – they’ve made no progress, on low salarys and are steadily less and less employable.

We’re all facing competition from immigrants/offshoring and technology, as a working generation we don’t have the luxury of an easy life – IMO only those with a work ethic, personal development ethic and an ability to adapt will have anything like a decent standard of living over the next 20-30 years.

Have you looked at Glassdoor.com for the employee reviews of the bank? It might help you make your mind up… there’s a reason why banking often has to pay well!

Your best option might be to keep looking for a role which pays well enough but won’t take its pound of flesh. That said, if it’s a route into being a self-employed consultant, the short term pain of the bank might well be worth it

Imagine how soul destroying it must be to actually be a letting agent.

Knowing that you have, literally, one of the most pointless and worthless jobs in the world.

And knowing that almost everyone hates your guts to boot.

Quite – if you had any self-respect or talent, you’d work in almost any other job you could find, surely… which suggests the only people available to work in EA/Lettings are either massively incompetent/unemployable, of very low IQ or massively lacking in self-respect…

But then again I work in Marketing, so what do I know? 😀

I don’t like this prime position rubbish. You are forcing drivers out across the road or they are stuck behind you for miles. I’d rather let them pass safely.

I obviously don’t put myself down grates or in any other danger, but I feel that it is safer for everyone concerned.

It also saves all this anti-cyclist attitude that seems to be becoming prevalent

pls read the links I posted above.
ALL the official bodies responsible for providing cycling lessons (Bikeability/Local Authority, BC, John Franklin) explain the very good reasons why Primary position is the recommended way to ride in many cases.

Don’t forget if you tuck in, you can encourage a driver to overtake straight into a head-on collision (2x cars at 30mph and you’re talking 60mph closing speed and very possibly death)

With the current ‘I pay road tax so I’m allowed to drive how I like’ culture, my bitter experience is you can’t fully prevent close overtakes. 3 times in a month I’ve been in primary (either about to turn right, overtaking other cyclists or riding through repeated pinch points) and been tailgated/run off the road… I have to say this is a spectacularly bad run and most drivers do respect primary.

If you want to get the official line, go to your local authority website and sign up for the free Bikeability training if you want to understand best practice (and have your own riding style analysed). Also, buy Cyclecraft by John Franklin. British Cycling also has something to say

BC link

This is an excellent discussion on the matter which comes out 100% in favour of riding primary – including the guy from Institute of Advanced Motoring.

Guardian article here

If you take the course you don’t get the points.

I still have no points after 20 years – cos I took the course when I was flashed 3 years ago.

I figured I already knew what I’d done wrong – 35 in a 30 limit but I learnt loads- some stuff I’d forgotten and some stuff I’d never known. tbh it’s well worth it. I’d quite like to see it as compulsory every 2 years rather than a re-test (maybe with a few facts about cyclists’ rights and needs thrown in for good measure!)

One tip I well remember is someone who’s tailgating ‘is just lonely, pity them’ or ‘aggressive drivers are just angry people who got out of bed angry and are taking out on you just at that moment. You can’t change them so best thing to do is just pull over and let them go’

Makes driving around idiots a lot less hassle

1. Pity them in their inability to think beyond what everyone else does, whilst they just get fatter and angrier

2. Remember that the reason cyclists are getting hassle at the moment is because there are so many new riders are out there, which is a very positive change. It’s just that some people can’t cope with change

3. Look over your right shoulder more often so you can see the lousy drivers coming

4. Ride primary

5. Get your Bikeability training from your local authority

6. Yoga

Maybe just seek out mpre positivity (and fellow hippies) to surround yourself with?

Best way to do this is to start with yourself – go around being really nice to people and in time, you find the nasty people drift away* and the nice people stay with you

* you do still have to beat some of them off with a stick though – you can be resented for having the strength to be nice…

An interesting experiment can be when you’re cycling – if someone’s driving towards you through parked cars where one or the other has to give way – give a pre-emptive big smile and a wave – more often than not leads to a wave back, and they let you through. Or when someone hangs back or gives you lots of space to pass – give them a thank you wave – and plenty of times you get a wave back… hey presto, your world’s a little better. Doesn’t happen all the time, obviously, but every little helps

I’m sure that when I was a kid (70’s and early 80’s) we knew that too many sweets/chocolate, fat, alcohol and not enough greens or exercise would lead to you getting fat. I remember being nagged by my parents constantly – e.g. we weren’t allowed chips or Coke and were told off for eating between meals. They’d learnt this from their own upbringings (early 40s and 50s)

I’m not sure how we’ve managed to forget this as a nation, and how most of the rest of Europe seems to have remembered it…

Jimmy Saville autobiography on Amazon, check out the “customers also bought section” ?

on amazon

I think I’ve just discovered an internet ‘thing’.

Max Factor Pan Stick Foundation? 😯 (if you scroll across past the Rolf Harris books…)

Colin Mortlock – Spirit of Adventure

Erich Fromm

Some interesting reading here: Colin Mortlock’s analysis of what makes for good character is very interesting – and he laments that it’s fast disappearing.

Erich Fromm’s chapter called Love And Its Disintegration In Western Society is also an interesting analysis. It feels like it has the 90’s and Noughties spot on, and then you realise it was first published 1957 (pre-Thatcher, fact fans :D)

1984 and Brave New World are obviously the best known of the Dystopian books, written in 1949 and 1932 so the idea of society falling apart is nothing new…

Personally if you want to look at what’s shaping the mood in the UK in 2014 you only need to look at the figures showing falling standards of living, lower incomes and no pay rises looking likely for the forseeable. Very few of us have adult experience of dealing with real economic hardship.

I remember powercuts in the 70s and we just got the candles out. Powercuts now, you get the feeling would lead to some kind of panic!

Some people have the character to deal with it and some don’t, but underlying a lot of our day to day lives at the moment I suspect is quite a lot of fear about our future wealth – we’ve become conditioned over the last 15 years to a very high level of material wealth which is likely to fall away now.

Some people will deal with this by being more co-operative, and more collaborative with their communities but the more scared people will be more angry, more selfish, more aggressive.

Hopefully the former will dominate – which seems to have been the reaction by the UK public during and following WW2, which was probably the last major national hardship in terms of economics and shortages of material goods