I frigging hate gender stereotyping

I’m not – I was talking about my kids actually…

I thought boy’s tantrums were bad.
And then we had a girl.

Apparently there’s a swingarm mount thingy for the ipad which attaches to a headrest and positions the ipad inbetween the two front seats, thus allowing all back seat passengers to view the screen.

This was going to be my justfication for an ipad over a pair of dvd screens.

+1 for Look Keos here. And thats with years of Time Atacs on the mtb

err just the one bit…but a good covering

I spend white space browsing stw, whilst avoiding the elephant in the room

+1 for linkedin – an up to date profile attracts recruiters, plus there’s a few groups that post jobs.

A mate of mine works for these guys http://www.ic-software.co.uk – might be worth giving them a call – ask for Alex Fothergill.

Not really an issue is it. If you’d bought a landrover to work in the fields and then changed jobs to become a barman would you still drive the landrover to work every day or pick a more suitable vehicle?

No but I did buy a car to drive on the roads and that requirement hasn’t changed. I’m not aware of people generally buying a car for the motorway only.

Now its out of warranty I hadn’t explored the option of taking it out – how much does that cost and is it classed as a custom mod by the insurance company?

Or rather, not driven a certain way all the time

As in the type of journey, rather than how you drive. Circumstances change – 2 yrs ago I did a lot of motorway miles, now I don’t – as a result I end up doing a lot of shorter journeys – dpf light comes on more frequently, requiring detour to piece of straight road.

DPFs may have been around for a while but are now mandatory – and it is only since they became mandatory that a lot of issues have arisen. Difficult problem yes, but badly engineered also.

I have an ’07 Golf with one and I hate it.

As said above, every so often the light pops on and it needs a 10-15min run down a dual carriageway/ motorway to burn it off. Who thought that it was ok to produce a car that needs to be driven “in a certain way” every few hundred miles?

And what if you can’t get to a bit of road without obstacles long enough to run it for 10mins? Apparently VW now advise that its not suitable for people in the Channel Islands for that reason.

When I spoke to the dealer about it, they start waffling on about suitable for motorway driving, not short distances – but who buys a car knowing how they will drive it for the next 3yrs?

The whole thing annoys me ’cause its a badly engineered solution rushed out to meet an EU requirement (which is trying to do the right thing). Not sure if the technology has moved on in the last couple of years – don’t seem to hear muuch about BMW diesels having a problem, but I would seriously consider buying a car with one in the future.

This has reminded me I need to speak to HR as well. Had a letter through a couple of weeks ago.
For me, if the bike is 12-18mths old they will be charging me ~23% of RRP to exit scheme, regardless of condition/ mileage.

I was under the impression that HMRC guidelines were for the residual value to be treated as a taxable benefit, not charge to HR – assuming there’s a bit of employer discression here?

There is obviously no reason to take ownership of the bike after the first 12mths, but still slightly annoying if you end up leaving the company for some reason…

A work colleague bought a pair and found it difficult to stand still at a urinal, due to the rocking motion….

do you want to watch and record other programmes upstairs?
Co-ax plus magic-eye would allow you to watch sky in two rooms, albeit the same channel.

Suffer from terrible circulation in hands and feet in the cold.
Tried various combinations, but Endura merino socks and neoprene overshoes seem to work best for me.

Wedding Present. In fact I have tickets for the up and coming Bizarro tour. Can’t wait!

Bought an alloy one off here last year and its great. As it was for my move back to a HT, I was a bit concerned it would be a bit too stiff, but its been fine – flies downhill and shoots back up again.

Have left the dropout as per manual – not bothered fiddling as it works as it is.

Its the shonky brickwork I’d be worried about – I’ve heard that brickie you’ve got is not what he used to be…..

Just about to get a new floor laid in a couple of rooms downstairs for this reason – we also get slugs popping up at night for a wander – they get up through the radiator pipes…

They’re laying ply on top of the existing floorboards, then new boards on top. Am leaving the void as is for air to circulate – I guess you could put celotex between the joists if it was really cold?

My C2W scheme has a £1k limit with no option to add a bit extra so currently have a CAAD8 105 on order. Went for the CAAD9 initially but there's no stock in the UK – still likely to be significantly better than my 15yr old steel roadbike used for commuting.

Am running mtb shoes and time pedals at present with no ill effects, but thinking of investing in a proper pair of pedals once its delivered.

I've got a Columbus tubed Cougar road bike circa 90s (which I think is Terry Dolan?) which sounds v similar – still riding it to work without any problems.
Done a few sportives on it as well without any problems – certainly makes passing guys on £2.5k of italian carbon more satisfying!

There was one local to me on Sunday which was asking for £50 on the day for 100km, so ended up riding the route and not using the facilities.
Nobody stoned me…and having started quite early, I hardly saw anyone on the route after the first hour.

What about the Ragley Rodwell? Been thinking of one of these myself, but not seen much about them

can't remember if its before 9, but you could just park at coral reef or the kebab van cp?

Still running 52/42 on my now retro-tastic road machine…

Hooky

Never a right answer here and depends on circumstances. The missus was always keen to have some sort of lie-in at the weekends so an early start has not been an option, certainly not frequently. However night rides were, so bought myself a decent set of lights and can pretty much go when I want after they're in bed – as long as my minds willing.

Changed jobs about 18mths ago and now bike in most days which has made a big difference, so am less inclined to get out at the weekend as well as I try and put the miles in to and from work. When I do, I try and time it when the youngest is having her afternoon nap.

Having said that a mate of mine has four under 6, and has a regular sat morning ride for four hrs regardless – how he gets away with it is beyond me!

the purist – not sure you can – thought there was a big set of gates/ park entrance, rather than just a farm track.

Ours were 6wks early (first)and 5wks early (second). Just in case you were thinking of putting your feet up….

Thanks. This will involve relaying some explicit instructions…

I'd like to hope not. However if they don't, they might devote more funds to Hotel Babylon and Hustle.

Ta very much. My finger is now hovering over the order button…

And are they ok for those odd days when the sun appears, or will I find myself looking to purchase another lens as well?

Nobby Nics all round for me seem to do the job. Used to put a trailraker on the back but haven't bothered this winter and seem to be coping.
To be fair though, we've had a couple of deluges this week and its pretty grim even by normal Chilterns standards…

Replacing the disk is very straightforward – lots of info on the net on how to do it. Look at avforums.com or google.

Price of replacement disk will be less than the initial callout charge so worth having a go imo. Chances are sky will try and charge you for a new box.

buffalo tom – velvet roof
wedding present – my favourite dress

Yes. A good friend. I wish he felt he could have talked about it.

Kebab van car park. Doubles up as after-ride refreshment.

Had problems with the DPF on mine (GT 170). I think that recent software updates have fixed it, although there's quite a bit on various vw forums about it – have a look at uk-mkivs.net.

Mine ended up having replacement camshafts and head gasket, although I think thats an exception rather than the norm!

Just coming to the end of a 3yr lease. Very happy initially, but circumstances have changed – new job about a year ago has meant I now commute by bike pretty much 5 days a week. So my monthly cost is sat on the drive all week doing nothing.

It also seems to have accumulated more nicks and scratches than I've had before in owned cars, which may become annoying if the leasing company decide is more than general wear and tear, or maybe I just notice them more cos its not mine.

I too am awaiting some goods…