The Conjuring is the best horror I’ve seen in recent years

As Drac says, we really shouldn’t be leaving anything behind at all. It sounds like LAS has a forgetful member of staff

@monkeyp can you email me some photos please? How long is the steerer? What’s the a to c length?

Good luck to anyone finding some Salsa CroMotos in stock anywhere!

@Rob2 I’m interested but I’ll have to check the steerer length on my current forks first

I’ve also just noticed this problem today. I don’t think it’s a coincidence so i’m just going to leave it to fix itself…

I sort of don’t, maybe do, but probably don’t but might, need a 2nd jacket for commuting this winter…

Damn PSAs!!!

Cheers ‘Steve’, mystery solved.

Yes. But what is it used for and any idea why it fell out of the packaging for my free grips from my STW subscription?

You’re welcome

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/crc-mystery-discount-code-1

No idea if my voucher has been used yet

I moved to Wellington a few months back and have been getting up on the Quantocks as much as I can. I absolutely love the place. It would be good to get to know more of it and learn some proper routes rather than just exploring all the time but I don’t think I’ll ever get bored.

Molgrips.

I’ve tried no gloves and struggled with grip due to sweat and then sore hands for the next few days.

Looks like I’ve got a few options to consider then, cheers guys

I paid £3.6k. Slightly more than I would like to admit to paying for an old Passat but with the FVWSH, new cambelt, water pump, 12 months tax and MOT I was very happy.

Coming from a 19 year old Peugeot 306 anything was going to feel nice but I do think the 130bhp PD TDi is bloody lovely.

Cheers, I’ll check out ukpassat if I need some help

For anyone who cares, I’ve ended up buying a 2005 VW Passat estate, 1.9 TDi (130) highline with 114k on the clock, full VW dealer service history and a camber and water pump done at the last service. It came in well under budget but i honestly preferred it to the 2008 Passat that I test drove

Imve just widened my search distance and found a really nice Accord Estate 2.2 diesel, great colour, the GT version, 90k miles, full service history for £5k over 100 miles away.

I’m not scared of driving, I did 25k commuting last year and I drive as part of my job too. I just worry that I might lose some haggle room if the seller knows I’ve travelled, or I might lack the will power to walk away when the car isn’t right when I’ve gone through the effort.

I think I need to working will power

I love all these ‘you’ll easily get one for £5k’ suggestions. Then I go on Autotrader with an 80 mile distance setting and it brings up 5 cars…

I appreciate all the input but I think some people are as ignorant as I was to what £5k actually gets you in my area

Not round my way it doesn’t. I think cars are just more expensive in the South West.

I went to a garage to check a few cars out and strangely found myself having a good look around a Ford C-Max 1.8 petrol…

Never thought I’d ever see the day that an MPV gets my interest

They look like they’ve got a really small boot? The whole car looks like it’s built for style over practicality. Am I wrong?

A lease car? Not sure that’s my thing. Especially when it’ll cost £150 and you still have to pay for servicing and tyres.

I’m more confused as ever now. My 306 still has a few months tax and MOT on it so I think I need to use that time to get my head around things.

I’ve considered the Octavia and even the Mondeo ‘saloons’ because they are almost like a hatchback but I still think they’re a bit restricted for my needs.

Overnight my search seems to have been focused on 3 cars:

Hatchbacks:
Focus 1.6 (115bhp petrol) Zetec with climate pack for about £4k. Big boot and lots of space for a hatch.
Golf 1.6 SE FSI for about £4-4.5k. Just because I like them. Not really that big on space.

Estate:
Passat 1.9 TDi PD engine for under £5k. Old engine with only 105bhp and 5 speed gearbox but a nice modern car.

Basically I have no idea what I’m going to buy but I’m still disappointed with what £5k buys you. I almost feel like I should save some money and just spend £3k on an older Golf or Passat with higher mileage.

I forgot to mention that i need a hatch or estate for the spaniel, so saloon isn’t an option. Even without a dog i find a saloon a useless option for practicality reasons.

I was sort of hoping for the traditional STW response of recommending what you own as I think that would be a valuable source of information and hopefully help weed out the bad cars.

I also need to consider that in about 12 months we will be using the strollers a lot less so boot space will be less of an issue but still a nice thing to have for days out and weekends away etc.

I think i’d have an 1.9 TDi Octavia estate if they were in my budget with less than 150k on the clock.

I understand that service history is important and high mileage can be a red herring but i just worry that if I plan on keeping a car for 3-5 years then the mileage will only get higher and depreciate the car more.

I’ve sort of excluded people carrier type cars as I don’t see why I need them.

My main priorities are having a ‘nice’ car, that is enjoyable to drive, i will still be happy with in a few years (so not dated in looks). Boot space is important, carrying other people other than the 4 of us isn’t.

I understand that petrol engine come with less risk of unexpected costs and reliability, but i do simply just prefer diesel.

Things like focus C-Max have small boots due to extra seats don’t they? Plus i need to stay away from the 1.6 TDCi engine apparently

There’s only one way to find out…

Does terrain come into it? Surely the amount of climbing is what you’re interested in, not just the distance travelled?

I have to agree with some that the weight penalty has a massive psychological effect on your ride but there’s also no denying that extra weight will be harder to move around.

I’m afraid the 456 Evo 2 is a standard head tube;

“No fancy pants oversize tapered stuff for this one”

You don’t need to pay £15/month for the whole Sky sports package. The Sky F1 channel comes with the HD package which I pay £5/month for

Obviously there’s an element of ‘want’ in my thoughts at the moment, I’ve had the Zesty 314 for 3 years now and a change would be nice. After a bit more thinking and research I soon realised that I was never going to get £1k for it, which is a shame. I just need to keep mulling it over for a while as I keep changing my mind on what’s best right now.

The options going over in my head:

1. Sell the Zesty for £800-900?, and Inbred for about £200 and buy a second hand LT HT.
2. Buy Cotic Soul or similar frame and use Zesty as a donor bike before selling the frame and shock for £300 and inbred to recoup the money for the new frame.
3. Just keep the Zesty and sell the Inbred and get on with life.

Option 2 sounds great but the Zesty unfortunately has standard QR 140 forks and wheel which I’m not sure I’d be happy with for long.

I suppose everyone will suggest option 3 but that doesn’t involve shiny new stuff…

It has crossed my mind that i could buy a frame with a tapered head tube and swap across the components from my Zesty before selling that frame on. The only down side to that is that my forks and wheels are standard QR and I liked the idea of getting something stiffer.

I really haven’t got a lot of money to play with, the only money I will have is whatever I make from selling my 2 bikes. So splashing out on new forks and wheels is out of the question, and yet another reason why i’m thinking of looking out for second hand complete bikes

Del, The 456 Evo does look good but i was hoping to take advantage of someone else’s loss and look for second hand bargains. I’m getting way ahead of myself though, i need to sleep on the idea for a bit and then sell the Zesty and the Inbred which might talk longer than i hope. I won’t want to spend anymore than £1k on sorting another complete bike out

I’ll be searching the ‘what steel hardtail’ threads a lot over the next few weeks I think

I think there’s going to be a Zesty and an Inbred on the classifieds sometime soon. My life has changed so much over the last 6 months and having a do it all hardtail as my only bike makes so much sense.

I’m sure I will miss having a FS bike but there’s bigger things in life to worry about

I guess I could convert a HT to SS for the winter months which would help. So I suppose it’s just a case of working out if I’d miss the FS.

I enjoy and use both bikes in different ways and they both get used lots depending on the seasons.

After being so happy with 2 bikes it just feels like I’m taking a step backwards if I go down to 1 bike. I think I just need to MTFU and make a decision.

It’s either keep the Zesty or buy something like a Soul for all year, all round duties.

Charge Cooker or the Genesis High Latitude.

How come a ‘non-biking’ mate is so caught up on wheel size?

Nothing. I always starve myself for at least 24 hours and then only eat small portions of dry toast, scrambled eggs or bananas for a day until I’m sure the squirs have gone.

Get some Dioralyte to stop you getting dehydrated.

I got a coffee machine and a son for my 30th. Can’t complain really

This is me. I also use a fishing rod left handed (reel arm on the left). I’ve never really considered it to be an eye dominance thing, I just assumed its because both my parents are left handed so I was taught their way. I’m definitely right handed but I play pool/snooker, shoot and fish left handed.