Pretty much as others have described it; the discomfort varies by the location and 'density' of the tattoo (i.e. heavy colours/heavy shadows require more ink for a given area, and hence more needle time!).

I have two, one bikey (derailleur and chain on left shoulder/bicep) and one not (Orca sculpture on back of R shoulder). Both were original designs 'commissioned' by me from ideas/photos/a piece of chain…

I'm getting a bit addicted now; I can see the Orca turning into something bigger on my right arm sometime this year.

You definitely want to go with a design you like, and with an artist (note that word!) you are comfortable with and can communicate with. My studio (Lifetime in Derby) doesn't have flash on the walls; this (imho) is a good thing – I'm not looking to be put through a tattoo photocopier!

Expect the tattoo artist to want to spend some time talking to you but don't expect to wander in of a Saturday afternoon and have a chat, book a date in the diary. Lifetime in Derby (who've done both of mine) charges £70 per hour of needle time (i.e. the time actually spent tattooing), this price includes their set-up/clean up (which should take and hour each) and design time/consultation etc.

If you're not happy, for whatever reason, walk away. Laser removal (if possible) costs a lot more than a tattoo!

Buy some tattoo mags, go to some tattoo conventions. Become one of us!

Spandau Ballet was the 'dance' when someone was executed by machine gun (Spandau being a make of same).

I was quite taken by the words above noting that for captial between 14 and 23k it will be assessed as generating an income of £1/wk for every £250 of savings.

Or put another way £61.54 pa on £250 capital (23% annual interest, compounded weekly!)

Stone me, I fancy a little bit of that investment!

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Et Voila.

As per many others here:
Singletrack gloves – 2 pairs in quick succession; gave up with consistent stitching failure.
Humvee Shorts – 2 pairs, both had popper failures, had them repaired at local dry cleaners (would have sent to Endura, but living in upstate NY at the time!)
Singletrack shorts – Great so far in Size M however…
Clickfast liners – Apparently I need Size L; how is that if outers are M?
Baa Baa LS base layer – comfy but still on the short side of L
Just bought an MT500 jersey/jacket which is fab – I hope it lasts

I think that CRC should be far more explicit about when they are selling OEM kit and when they are selling 'new' kit (for want of a better description – I know OEM is new!)

OEM can also mean disassembled bike parts from new.

Wiggle are far better at noting that a part is OEM. Personally, for most things, I'm happy to go with OEM if I'm confident in the source. However, this really should be clear in the item description to my mind.

If the parts don't match the description, then that isn't simply a question of OEM vs non-OEM; that's the wrong part. To be fair to CRC if you call them I am certain they will sort if for you; their customer service is generally very good.

Chris

Thanks for all the help/input chaps.

The Manitou 130 has a axle/crown length of 508mm, so a new fork doesn't seem to be the answer! (I don't think my skillz are up to noticing a 2mm difference in fork length!).

I need to try a few things (including just getting more time in the saddle and seeing how I adjust to it); a shorter stem might be on the list, alternatively I may go for replace the lower headset for one of these

Cheers again for the thoughts.

Chris

I will, thanks for the tip! It's true that the pack is clearly very carefully designed for riding; I had an initial idea that I could use it for a light day pack walking – that didn't last long out of the car park!

There are a lot of good trails in the area, especially if you are able to venture up towards Cromford/Black Rocks and are flexible in your interpretation of cheeky…

Totally agree, especially with petesgaff; the GDR and Iditarod articles were superb (especially Jenn's GDR), the usual columns/articles were the usual (some good – take a bow Mr Ferrentino, some more 'blokes in pub talking toss about bikes' – I can get my mates to talk cr*p for free you know…) and then there's the dross ("Juncket News! – Places PR Flacks Have Taken Us to Convince Us to Write Nice Things About Their Kit! And All The Free Gear They Tried To Buy Us With! Oh, Its All A Laugh!").

I think ST have managed to tap into my mind – just when I'm at the point of cancelling my subs (having been a subscriber since issue 7) they produce 54 with two superb articles, and I decide not to… until next time.

Various keys
Wiggle bottle opener
4 links of Shimano XTR chain in a loop.

Sounds like my problem is having the steam head too far submerged in the milk, hence it heating but not frothing. Thanks for the help, especially the link to the article mattstreet, hopefully my wife will be fully satisfied from now on…

Cheers

Chris

I had a long traverse over Rushups Edge last Monday (took about 90mins from the Edale/Castleton road over and down to the main road – usually takes 30-45 minutes!) and that ride ended with a long very slippery walk down Cavedale, which was mostly sheet ice.

Broken Road from Castleton up to Rushups Edge was an icerink too!

Might have improved since, but I would be cautious.

Chris

Am I right in thinking that "fully integrated" means that the frame headtube has a bearing race surface machined into the inner surface whereas a "semi integrated" means the bearing race cups are part of the headset (as per conventional) but the frame headtube is sized so that the cups sit entirely within it?

Slightly moot point, as Hope seems to be the consensus on the way to go – thanks for all the responses.

Tails, is your headset new? What size? How much do you want? Email is in my profile…

Cheers

Chris

Thanks guys, will give that a try.

Chris

If the place is still available, I’m very interested!

Cheers

Chris

Gwyneth

If Labmonkey doesn’t come through, I’ll happily buy it from you; I have accomm booked and everything!

Cheers

Chris

ccpalmer AT hotmail.co.uk

As I thought, thanks for the confirmation.

To be honest, it doesn’t greatly surprise me of this particular LBS; most places faced with being 1/4 mile from a site of 1200 engineers about to implement such a scheme would be trying anything possible to get the business…