Looking at these complaints, you obviously all work in IT. :-)

rocketman – Member

Don’t get me started on irritating colleagues

3-2-1 Go!

Cheers, that’s a joke though. These services should be made very attractive to business owners.

Evil Sovereign.

Solo – Member
molgrips – Member

So you hesitated pulling out.
It was clear that I was going to move. I was signalling for a start.

Why are you defending this guy?

Well, in Grips defense, if Grips was indicating his intention before either car could move out. Then its a simple case of the other driver ignoring Grips and putting himself first.
But, the road is full, verge to verge with folk like that. Its the way of the world, on the road. I’m sure worse happens on roads elsewhere, Shit happens.

It’s a dog eat dog world out there, and the ‘snooze you lose’ principle works here.
Thats a very dodgy philosophy to subscribe to when lives could be at risk.

Solo – Please don’t quote part of my post to suggest I’m a lunatic. You missed this bit out:

I’m not encouraging bad behaviour or lack of care/respect for others, that causes accidents and nobody has the right to put others at risk.

Cheers

At the same time a flashed my headlamps…

Oh my. This can be taken the wrong way by someone who was considering the overtake and watching you in their mirrors. Lucky they didn’t assume you were letting them out!

molgrips – Member

It’s a dog eat dog world out there

Yes, and this is bad thing. And at odds with experiences when people are not in cars.

One incident I can remember – long straight, one car coming the other way, I’m a decent stopping distance back. There’s someone in a quick car behind me. Once the car is alongside I signal, and accelerate whilst pulling out. The car behind has accelerated earlier, swings out immediately and by the time I start to move out is alongside me. He’s deliberately forcing me to wait.

Very reckless.

And this was a bad driver, and a bad experience. He put you at risk. I wouldn’t do that.

It looks like you made your intentions obvious, and they ignored this. Agreed, reckless behaviour.

If however you didn’t make your intentions obvious, didn’t immediately take the opportunity to overtake, then I’d be gone.

It’s a dog eat dog world out there, and the ‘snooze you lose’ principle works here.

I’m not encouraging bad behaviour or lack of care/respect for others, that causes accidents and nobody has the right to put others at risk. But, if there’s an appropriate overtaking opportunity and the person in front doesn’t take it, then I will – providing it’s safe to do so.

London to Brighton off road? The BHF route is 75 miles, so you could go down have chips on the front, and come back? All easily doable on a CX bike. Bit boring in the middle though. (Downs Link)

davidtaylforth – Member

Format it and start again

^This.

More importantly..what do you think about overtaking? :lol:

Again, see this too, where people will sit & wait indefinitely behind even the slowest moving vehicles. Sometimes it is necessary to pull out & pass those dithering too. Extra caution required & wouldn’t “steam” past.

Yes I agree, it is rare though. Generally the ditherers seem to be the most unpredictable drivers in my experience, so extra caution is prudent, as you say.

Yeah,it’s Matt Black which I think is the 2013 colour scheme, unless that was an option in 2011 too?

I’ll get on to CRC now, and see what they say.

I don’t think there’s any sort of order when overtaking. I think you make your own decision, check your mirrors and pull out to overtake. If someone has already commenced the overtake behind you, then it’s your own fault for being too slow/hesitant, you simply wait for them to pass and have another go.
If you sit and wait for people to overtake in turn, then you could be there for ever waitng for people to overtake who have no intention of doing so.

I think the only exception to this is when there’s a queue of traffic behind a VERY slow moving vehicle in a 50/60 mph zone (tractor/roller etc), where everyone is going to overtake. It’s realistic to assume that nobody in a car is going to be content doing 15/20mph so hence all will overtake. Steaming down the outsie is likely to cause an accident.

Yes, it is a choice/decsion whatever you want to call it, but it is also a good and positive one. Not a poor one as was suggested, otherwise I’d make the decision/choice to change it! :P

grum – Member

I think a big part of the problem here is that everyone (but especially people on STW) thinks they are above average in terms of driving skill/competence. So everyone thinks the way they drive must be safe/correct.

Pretty sure there was some research recently showing many people perceive themselves to be good drivers, but this wasn’t backed up by actual driving standards.

Best decision I ever made. I’ve gone from an employee to a company director and share holder within 3 years, because of this move.

If money is that important I guess. Personally there’s no amount you could pay me to spend 3-4 hours a day driving on congested roads.

Umm. I don’t remember moaning about my commute, which you said was a poor life decision. I used it as an example! And you’re assuming that my move was motivated by money! But no probs. I’m happy which is what counts. :-)

It’s also down to conditioning, your bum gets used to longer periods in the saddle the more you do it.

Good fitting saddle + Good padded shorts + lots of practice time in the saddle = epic ride comfort.

grum – Member

I’m with the OP on this one. I have a 1hr 30 minute commute via car.

There’s your problem. Poor life decisions.

Best decision I ever made. I’ve gone from an employee to a company director and share holder within 3 years, because of this move. :P

I’m with the OP on this one. I have a 1hr 30 minute commute via car. If I do not take opportunities to overtake, briskly pull out at roundabouts and take every opportunity to ‘make progress’ then my commute can easily become 2hrs+
Yes I could leave earlier, but where do you draw the line? Leave 3 hours for the commute in case you get stuck behind a tractor? No. The journey takes an hour at a weekend, and 1hr 30 mins midweek providing you crack on, within the law that is.
As for making progress, you are actively encouraged when you do your bike test to make progress, get up to the speed limit swiftly and safely, and you will fail if you don’t. The reason for this is that on a bike you put yourself at risk by not driving at or close to the limit.

I still maintain that the roads would be a far safer place if everyone had to pass a motorcycle test. You realise very quickly how vulnerable you are and how simple things can put you at risk.

tiggs121 – Member

Looks like a bloody expensive way to be a boy racer!

Each to their own and all that! :-)

+1 for a minion. I run a HR 2.35 60a rear and a Minion 2.5 Exo 60a up front. Great results, and not as draggy as you’d think.

Been out a few times. We do the organised track days, rather than public days. Feels a bit safer, and less likely to come across a 4×4 towing a caravan!!

I don’t have a problem with flavour. I’m not drinking gallons of the stuff. I have a camelbak with plain water in, and a 750ml bottle of High5 that I take a slug from every half an hour or so, so flavour isn’t really an issue.

I use the High5 stuff, but the zero calorie option. It’s just cafeine and electrolytes. I’m convinced that it stops me cramping on epic rides. I’ve ridden up to 100 miles off road with no cramps. For energy, I prefer real food, like flapjack, malt loaf and the occasioanl SIS Energy bar.

Very much depends on your riding. If you’re a weekend XC warrior, and do bridleways and non techy stuff, then no. If you’re into more technical stuff, and your rides consist of lots of ups and lots of interesting downs, then yes. It will allow your riding to flow more, without stopping to put your seat down.

Is second hand not an option? Get a great second hand bike for that money.

As the OP, yes cheers for the link. I will now wait 15 years before returning to this thread.

Maybe they’re short of a few bob?

grum – Member

Seems to be the way it goes.

Yes, there’s a wealth of information about the criminal justice system in the tabloids – I find it brings a really keen insight and sense of perspective.

Cool your jets crusader! I put IMHO and I meant it.

Agreed, it’s 15 minimum, but likely he’ll only do 15 if he keeps his nose clean IMHO. Seems to be the way it goes.

Is that because of his crime – or his lifestyle?

If that’s to me, then I think it’s a joke because of his crime, I couldn’t care less about his lifestyle.

Fair point. It’s just the circumstances that boggle the mind. Setting a fire in your own house when your kids are asleep upstairs is just horendous, whether you intended to harm them or not.

Just take the packaging back to Customer Services and get a refund if you’re unhappy.

They will always refund if you have a problem.

Support your local Butcher too. The meat is better, albeit more expensive.

I sent my SLX brakes back under warranty. They were leaking from the resevoir. I would experience no lever feel at all after a few days of non use, and would have to pump them repeatedly to get some pressure before a ride. Eventually they stopped coming back, and after a lot of faffing, repeated bleeding etc. I sent them back.
If I looked closely at the top cap of the resevoir and pulled the lever hard, I could see fluid oozing out where it joined the res.

I googled it at the time and I wasn’t the only one.

Incidentally, Tweeks sent me a new rear brake within a few days, no quibbles. I think Shimano were aware of a problem and just replaced it.

yes

I did San Francisco to Seattle via the Redwoods, back to San Fran, to LA, to Vegas, to Arizona, to Mexico. All in an open top Mustang. Bit of a cliche, but we were in our mid twenties, and didn’t give a monkeys. We didn’t plan any of it. We stayed in small Motels, spent most of our money in Vegas, got busted for speeding on the Freeway, met some nice girls in Bakersfield :-) , and loved every minute of it.

We knew when we had to return the car by, so the only planning involved was to get it back on time. The rest we just winged. America is a brilliant country, despite all its faults.

errr…Neoguard? MuckyNutz? ;-)

I used to buy oakleys, but as I’ve got older and wiser, I buy Bolle or Bloc. Much more for your money.

For riding I use Bolle safety glasses. They’re cheap, indestructible, realtively disposable and obviously very protective. Worth a look.

Screwfix for a try on?

Don’t get me wrong, if it was on my doorstep I’d ride it regularly for fitness. It suffers from a lack of elevation, but the fact that it’s flat means you never really coast, so it’s good fitness.

The features the trails do have need to be ridden fast to be fun. Give it a go.

5thElefant – Member

So you have dogs that have never run off?

I know you’re just trying to start a pointless argument. This being where it is.

But… yes. And that’s quite a useful trait that the majority of dogs I’ve known don’t share.

I can confirm this. Vizsla’s are like velcro, they hate to be seperated from you for too long,and will constantly come back to you on a walk without even being called or whistled. It’s like they want to keep checking you’re still there. We’ve never had one run off.