Ian – I’d guess yes, though Superbad is more like a teen version of The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

Hilarious.

Michael Cera is even better than he is in Arrested Development.

Good point Junkyard, I suppose parts like forks and wheels can be worth more than frames anyway and are far less traceable.

Sacrificial bike is an interesting idea, perhaps I’ll lock all the bikes up apart from the wife’s.

;)

I find a wet shave less hassle, personally.

Am probably extending house this year, so I’ll take the opportunity to get a ground anchor cast in while the footings are dug.

Is a wall-mounted ring a worthwhile stopgap, would you say?

What chains do people use?

Getting twitchy now!

Road bike. Just a £500 job would do me.

But I know I wouldn’t use it.

Definitely still possible to get a 2008 bargain…

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b4s1p1752

I had the 2007 Zero, brilliant bike.

Looks good, very monochrome, nice price.

But it looks like a strange bird has landed on your handlebar.

Can’t quite work out what I’m looking at.

Yellow would be my first choice on one of them, lovely colour.

Posh Spice is from Hertfordshire actually, went to school with her.

The area we are both from is culturally indistinguishable from Essex though.

:)

Pre-2008 Giant Reign?

Very thoughtful to leave room for a cyclist on the inside.

Write them a review of the jersey.

That’s a bit of a project.

Been building new bike up and tidying garage, sorting and filing all my bike bits into boxes.

A good day’s work.

:)

Up until last week I was all about the plain chocolate Hob Nobs, but then a wonderful thing happened and I discovered Fox’s Millionaire’s Shortbread.

The way the caramel centre liquifies but holds in place to be eaten after a dunk in my tea is a taste sensation.

Isn’t that a bit extreme? Don’t complain when their money goes to the RSPCA.

Haha, couldn’t have put it better.

It’s often the case that the parents of those getting married have closer ties to the rest of the family than the bride and groom – so you have to be very diplomatic.

If you do decide to have a bigger bash, the best tip I can offer is not to use any specific wedding suppliers.

Just book a venue, hire caterers to do a buffet, don’t have a seating plan (too much hassle), and hire a cheesy mobile disco DJ.

You’ll save thousands and people will tell you how relaxed and fun it is.

What a stupid statement! Guess you never called the parrafin budgie out then? I have, and trust me, its no embarrassment, its a relief – it saved my mates life and I and he are forever indebted.

OK, point taken, what I meant was “if I had to be rescued by helicopter because of my own stupidity or unpreparedness in poor weather”.

Maybe others wouldn’t, but I’d feel like I’d cocked-up.

About 15 miles, can’t be arsed to find out exactly.

Lived in or near London all my life. Used to think I could never move away. Still love it, but could easily live elsewhere now – and will do in a few years.

I don’t need to defend or sell the city to you haters – but I’ve noticed these sort of arguments are always dominated by northern Englishmen with a seemingly disproportionate dislike of the capital.

Do Londoners really bang on that much about how great it is here, or is there another reason for the hatred?

Too many chores to do, in-laws visiting, heavy rain will have turned local woods into a quagmire.

That enough excuses?

I understand that attitude RudeBoy – I also find climbing types to be arrogant **** more often than I do MTBers (just for example).

And as a sometime hillwalker I’d be mortally embarrassed if I had to be rescued by helicopter.

But MTBing can be quite a dangerous hobby too, and taking a spill somewhere remote and rocky could have nasty consequences and necessitate a mountain rescue team coming out.

More bikers than walkers are probably inadequately dressed/prepared too (at a guess), but perhaps that’s a different debate.

Think I’m down to either the SE K800i or W660i.

Probably leaning towards the 660 as I can find less negative comments.

Cheers for your help guys.

Cheers, but I’ve considered cashback deals and they’re not for me. I have too much paperwork that I don’t have time to do as it is!

Decided on Three as tariff and price seems competitive, and already take mobile broadband from them which has been good.

My mate did this a few years ago and still hasn’t reached the earnings he had before, and he’s spent all the cash too!

Well, that’s the other side of the coin to my comment – and why only the OP can decide I suppose.

Got to take your likely career arc into account, are there better prospects in new job? Will you be changing careers and be able to climb the ladder further there than you can in current role?

£17k is a nice lump off the mortgage though. Or even £15k after a nice new bike and holiday.

£15pcm, 500 texts or minutes

plus handset included

My wife is 5ft 1in.

Got her a 13in (XS) Giant XTC.

Still only just fits OK, so on no account buy a 15in Merlin!

Nice dinner?

Nice pair of shoes?

Nice coat?

Very nice bottle of scotch?

Which year and model?

I just took the fork off a 2008 Reign 1 and there were no odd-shaped bolts involved, if that helps.

Single all the way

You don’t really think anyone on here is going to admit to watching CBB do you?

At best you’ll get “oh, I’ve seen it a couple of times when the missus has had it on”.

I’ve had to watch it every other night through the whole run for work purposes and I can’t believe she won either. She’s a moaning, supercilious cow who clearly thought she was better than the whole show.

In fact, thinking about it I’m sure most of STW would have voted for her.

I’d take the redundo too. In fact I was in a really similar situation last year and did, even with no job to go to.

You’ve got to make your own mind up of course, but there are quite a few people who didn’t take the redundancy when I did who now say they regret it.

I’d stop now if I were in your shoes and you’ve just had a warning.

You don’t want to be one of those poor saps who gets made an example of.

Thanks guys.

Anybody got any more general preferences on Nokia vs LG vs SEM?

Three were trying to push their own spec Skype phone on me. I don’t use Skype but the guy said it was still the best one on the list.

No idea if that was BS and simply because it’s the cheapest for them to supply.

Painfully slow.

“Dude, it was gnarly”.

:-)

Or buy one of those Genesis Altitudes off the peg.

Nice 853 frame, modern geometry, well specced, fairly priced.

I don’t work for Madison btw.

Their ads have disappeared from STW now.

Do you think this was because…

1. The interest stimulated by this thread generated loads more clicks on them, and they quickly filled the quota they had paid for.

2. They realised you’d rumbled their marketing BS and pulled the ads, as a consequence of which the ST staff won’t get any dinner.

At my former workplace in the last-but-one round of redundancies, several people asked to be re-scored or contested their scoring – and at least one of them is still there now as a result.

Appeal and cause a fuss by all means, but don’t make it personal and concentrate on your plus points rather than your rival’s negatives. Too easy for HR to brush you off with “we can’t discuss other employees” otherwise.

Get them to break the scoring down for you, contest anything you reasonably can.

I wish my outgoings were as low as £1.2k per month including mortgage, food and bills!

Never budget, prefer to waste my time on MTB forums I guess. :oops:

Do make informed buying decisions and am naturally a bit tight though, so haven’t ever felt need to.

Why is it OK for actual messengers to ride stupid bikes and dress like knobs, but not for civilians to do the same?