There’s some seriously misguided fox thinking here, as usual.

Fox won’t damage bars, they may peel back fencing or thin grating but unlikely to leave one alive unless scared off first. Damage to a hutch sounds more like people too me.

Hmmm I hope this Lennox forest venture doesn’t trash the nice quiet open access we have up there now and make it another crawling trail centre :(

Curious ,why not Kwik Fit?

I’ve yet to see anything good come out of kwikfit. Incorrect silencers bodged onto cars and female owners told it’s right but their original parts were wrong. Pads and tyres changed that didn’t need it. Oil filters left loose.

Find a local recommended garage if you are not capable.

We used Avon ice touring tyres – seem to have lasted well and work well in the ice and snow. Were about £40 a corner IIRC. That said, on my daily driver I don’t bother and I’ve driven that all over the highlands in the snow without any problem so far.

Best riding is done alone. I’m not worried about crashing, bad things happen and sometimes end really badly, but the likelihood is very low and the consequences relatively limited. I’ll take that risk.

Lived here for nearly 5 years. Not lived anywhere better for riding or dodgyness on my doorstep. @That said, I’d not ride in pollock park or other inner city spots much because theyre dull. I suspect that those complaining havent experienced living in a flat English rural village?

Just a quick warning to those who might be so inclined. The “sample” apps available from insurance companies for mobile phones have persmissions that allow them to collect the data despite it being a demo. All they have to do is combine it with your mobile number and you have a potential black mark.

Personally I wouldn’t mind cameras in case of an accident (my fault or someone elses) but I wouldn’t like GPS logging etc, because it relies on someone elses interpretation of what GPS and accelerometer data means, and since I’ve no idea how the tech works (ok I know exactly how the tech works, I just don’t have their algorithms to judge for myself), exactly how it scores me and exactly what it considers dangerous – I’m not going to have it reporting on me.

I once tried out an early version of this gadget when working for an intelligent sensor system group, it was designed to pick up on tired drivers by their steering inputs etc. It was convinced I was falling asleep down scottish country roads despite me plodding along in a company van. While this was an early version, I’m just not convinced the technology is trustworthy enough.

I rarely drink anyway, once a week I might have a glass of wine or a beer, or my favourite single malt (Im building a collection!) usually with a meal. Occasionally (once every 3 months or so) I will binge on half a bottle of jd and coke but I rarely have the time or inclination to drink. It just doesn’t figure in my mind as something overly pleasurable unless its hot, sunny and Im really thirsty. And then its just to refresh.

There is no reason why you shouldn’t providing you take care when others are, or could be, around. Its simple observation and care. Going fast doesn’t mean being careless.

I’ve not seen any of what you’re talking about personally so hard to know. FRom my experi ence of kitesurfing mmobilizing to protect it’s places to play, I can say that organising into groups initially seems to help but then later gives the anti brigade a stick to beat you with. We went from “we will form a community to help protect our access” to “your community isn’t doing what it said, you’re banned from all but here and everyone is because you speak for them”, forgetting that the bulk of beach users were not part of the club, were transient and had no interest in the club. It eventually just became the equiv of an expensive trail centre legally requiring insurance and registration to use it. Not for me, mainly for the restriction and small group paranoia itpoduced .

Oooh ooh a parking thread, I’ll reel out my usual one:

We cc anyone involved, including bosses as they need to know which resources are doing what. That and the fact that pretty much everything needs to be logged and double checked for quality purposes but I suppose we are relatively rare in quality demands (one off products that have to work first time, cant be retrieved for repair and have to pass stringent tests on the way).

Wonder why construction is doing so badly? The only other person I know in construction is run off their feet and can’t cope with the workload coming in (winning 30-40% of bids, normally win 5-15%). All of the engineering/manufacturing firms I deal with through work are run off their feet at the moment and quoting 3-6week lead times when just 6 months ago they were quoting 1 week. Seems like things are on the up in my current sector?

I just priced up a 350z and it comes in at 430 for me, which I think is pretty reasonable. I pay 550-600 for my Celica when it’s on the road, which considering it’s more powerful than the 350z, significantly modified and you can gain access to it with a plastic ruler I think isn’t too shabby, but it’s not worth that much financially (it’s a 21 year old toyota). My peugeot 306 diesel is about 380 a year, all the same terms and location. Makes me seriously consider buying something fancy :)

where did I say 25%?

Sorry if this sounds harsh but I get sick of people reading what they want in order to try and make someone look stupid.

Not trying to make you look stupid, wouldn’t benefit me in any way – I’m quite happy with who I am and what I do to need to put folk down. I just point out when people put information up that could be mistaken for advice to do dangerous things – the number of clueless people on the internet spreading “advice” is scary, I don’t know who you are or what you do so I questioned it. It’s possible I’m over-sensitive to it and jump the gun a little :)

You said you were putting 42psi in 306 tyres unless I completely mis-read your post, in which case I apologise. Considering the recommended unladen pressure for 306 tyres (depending on exact tyre) is around 32-34 psi IIRC (not run outside to check) that’s a 25% increase?

You said:

Not sure if that was due to me running 42psi on the rear or if they were on before the old beam was knackered but keeping an eye on my new tyres and have dropped them back down to 37psi

So you were running 25% extra… you then said:

I run quite high pressures on my 306 diesels as I find newer tyres have a lot more grip and work better with a few more psi in. I am still within the ‘max load’ pressures though.

Sure they won’t go pop at 42psi, but from experience with the very same car it’s rather unpleasant how much grip goes down on an unladen estate 306 as you approach 40psi, let alone pass it, especially wet weather grip. Only time I’ve had the rear end of the 306 HDi estate out was under heavy cornering when I forgot to drop the pressures after a long heavy trip moving house :)

Slightly crossed wires but I still don’t advocate running pressures much above the recommended unladen pressure and I certainly don’t agree you get more grip from upping pressure, even on a D estate 306. :)

Taff – not sure I can help much more to be honest, without having a play with it. I’d consider replacement shocks on whichever end feels worst if you’re happy that the bushes are satisfactory, but I suspect new tyres will make a stack of difference anyway and you may find it puts it back into the acceptable bracket :)

It doesn’t like your tv programme choice :)

Looks to me like part of the signal decoding is going wrong. Don’t know enough to fix it, but I suspect it’d be cheaper to replace whole boards inside than track down the error. Which may or may not be more expensive than buying a new tv.

Only dunlops I’ve had were shockingly bad but my experience with tyres suggests even between models of the same brand the difference can be huge. Also different sizes of the same model can be constructed differently internally so comparisons across different sizes isn’t really valid but a reasonable indicator. Search for reliable review sites with large numbers of testers who state what size they got before making a final decision. I’ve never gone far wrong with uniroyal rainexperts or proxes 4s but I am more than willing to trade lifespan for grip. 12k miles from a tyre suits me fine.

Certainly older tyres can harden and become less grippy but also with low tread depth you won’t get the same pliability over rough surfaces (the carcass has to deform rather than the tread) so it won’t help in that way either. Took me a long time because my new job gives no opportunity for daytime internetsing!

Andyl – Tyres have certainly progressed but the basis physics of them hasn’t changed, but assuming one pressure suits all tyres would be a mistake certainly. I would say 25% extra is mental, a few percent may be suitable. Its more likely that you got rounded shoulders from excessively hard cornering in a car not designed for it and have tried to counter the tyre and suspension flex by increasing tyre stiffness artificially but I don’t drive your car so that’s just my guess. At the end of the day it is horses for courses but putting out comments like modern tyres work better at higher pressures is the sort of thing that gets people in accidents when its wet and the car is lightly loaded because they have reduced total grip. If there had been a revelatory change in tyre that worked better at high pressure the manufacturers would have pointed this out to save people getting angry over early wear rates?

– I run quite high pressures on my 306 diesels as I find newer tyres have a lot more grip and work better with a few more psi in.

Wtf? Grip goes down with increasing pressure (due to smaller contact patch and higher loads on remaining tyre material). The only time that may help is if you are using tyres that have a very soft sidewall and are not designed for that axle load and deform too much under cornering?

It’s a Peugeot – everything is expensive! 

Seriously?! Never owned a bmw or Toyota then?Or Audi for that matter.

You want expensive repairs, try getting a new turbo for a Toyota engine, or doing a dealer clutch replacement on a 1991 celica (1200). Or replacing the in-car entertainment computer on a 5 series bmw (1800).

Recently had to replace most bushes on the front sus of my 306 at 158k, everything but the inner arm bushes for <100:). Replaced a pulley on it once too, 32 quid. I assume we are talking about newer pugs when saying they are expensive?

I’ve given up diagnosing cars over the internet, mainly because people rarely catch all symptoms and descriptions are very subjective. But I will say shocks can pass the bounce test and still be shafted, it only tests the slow speed response which worked with oldschool shock designs but doesn’t test high frequency response like stutter bumps on corners. Also play in bushes is not always obvious without a lot of load. “tired” bushes on the arb will generate higher roll without knocks, from experience.

Not something I’ve ever heard anyone complain about around here. But anyway, it’s only damned if you do [badly and without thinking].

I was about to say ubuntu until I saw you wanted to do autocad and memory map, which I’m not sure whether they have linux licenses. You might get away with running them under Wine but ultimately 7 is probably your best bet.

Asking nicely gets you fobbed off 9 times out of 10. Tell them nicely that it’s wrong.

We have the same problem, it’s bloody ridiculous – so bright I can easily walk around my house with the curtains drawn and the lights off.

There’s absolutely no need for such stupidly bright lighting on local residential roads and even if there were, there’s no reason that the lighting head can’t be created in a way that it does not cast light onto house walls (think barn-doors on stage lighting). IT’s just laziness on the part of the street lighting folk at the council. There are actually rules regarding how they should be mounted and certain types are meant to be mounted in certain ways, but it’s mostly ignored. After I complained to my council they fitted barn doors to the sides of the lights completely missing the point that the whole head was angled upward and it was that the was casting light onto opposing houses. A quick check online showed those heads were not designed for angled mounting (no surprise) due to the beam angle. I contacted the council but they’ve ignored me.

None of this surprises me. After my contact with the council regarding their contractors shockingly poor and highly dangerous signage on roadworks, I was told twice that the signage was correct. It’s only when I quoted the law/guidance from the relevant regulations that they admitted they were wrong and told me to make a claim instead. I swear half the folk in my local council are only there because they wouldn’t be employed in a company.

I genuinely think more people should complain – loads of my neighbours have said the same but none bother to complain.

Our local footy ground have un-guarded stadium lights that project a) up into the sky lighting up the whole bloody area and b) across the fields directly into your eyes on nearby roads. It’s almost as though the whole world thinks brighter is better and forgets that darkness is good and needed.

I once crashed on the Malverns too, went over the bars at the bottom of a bombholey bit at speed. Front end washed out unexpectedly and I decked into the floor without braking, landing on my chin/chest, bending my neck back. Got lockjaw and pins and needles down my arms, whilst also being winded. Lay very still for a while. Everything calmed down and went more or less normal again. That was probably my closest call, that probably and the time I was crushed against the pavement/railings by a wagon that overtook me at about 35mph downhill – only the fortunately placed end of the railings and the fact that I was physically pushed up the kerb saved me. But I’d forgotten about both until you mentioned it so obviousyly didn’t make too much of a dent on my confidence lol

Has anyone conclusively proven anything yet, or is it just people’s word so far?

Rivi was getting quite demolished when I left the area 4 years ago, I’m surprised it’s not been controlled by now.

A mate has confirmed high thyroid. What I notice is he’ll wear just a T-shirt when I’m in a fleece, seems to generate lots of energy. Also he has hollow legs. But he’s always had them.

I was like this when I was <25, I could go out mid-snowstorm in a Tshirt and shorts happily and could eat several whole meals a day without gaining weight. >25 that all changed, strangely at the same time as I stopped regularly exercising lol. Even so I can’t go out biking in long sleeves/legs, even in the snow – too hot in a nanosecond.

I don’t see why accident implies no fault, it means no intent. Oops I dropped a plate by accident. It was my fault, but I didnt’ want to do it. ooops I wet myself, I didn’t intend to but it’s my fault for not controlling it. oops I wrote my car off in a field, I didn’t intend to but I did it, it was my fault.

Any definition I can find does not mention fault.

It doesn’t mean to, the word never implied fault or lack thereof, it implied lack of intent. The definition of chicken doesn’t include “uncooked”.

People need to get a better grasp of English before complaining about “incorrect” use of words methinks. If people use it as a way of absolving themselves of responsibility it is THAT that needs adressing, and the fact that they don’t seem to realise accident!= no fault like many on here. Maybe a better standard of English teaching in schools?

Why are RTAs now called RTCs then?

Poor education and people in control of the wording having to deal with the general public who have a poor understanding of english?

:) Smiley face added because this wasn’t intended as stabbing at cynic-al, more of a general observation which just happens to be reflected in online forums. I’m no English expert but before I called for a change of wording I’d check whether my use of the wording was correct and change me if not.

I was, on the retail side for a while. Not anymore. Didn’t seem like an overly viable route to anything more than a nominal bill paying income due to the huge players in the field, but it was a nice time in my life enjoying fixing bikes, selling bikes and writing websites to sell bike bits.

Was Wiggo wearing hi-viz? Would it have saved him from being hit?

No, it wouldn’t, but it falls into the same category as lights – if it’s dark you should be wearing something suitably reflective to help people see you. The same as road workers have to when working at night.

FWIW this may all have been pointless, we were advised to use sudocrem on our cat by the vet once and from other reading online (not exactly reliable I know, but one does claim to be a sudocrem sales rep who might know more than most) it’s not animal (or at least cat) toxic.

http://www.vpisuk.co.uk/portal/Vets/Substancesoflowtoxicity/tabid/140/Default.aspx

You could probably have put the cat outside and let it lick itself clean.

We’re in with lions we don’t need hi-viz and lights, we need something done with the lions.

You’re in with lions, but legally you should be using lights and it’s common sense.

^^ what he said, why try and set ourselves up for accusations that it’s our own fault

A LOT of the time it is partially the cyclists fault, I see **** endless cyclists on my commute home running reds, weaving all over the road without lights and wearing dark clothes – why should the drivers get all the blame? Why avoid the chance to improve yourself and make things safer without having to change others?

I also rarely have a problem with heavy goods vehicles so I’m not sure where that opposition comes from, you just use common sense and avoid them. I really don’t understand the “we’re so vulnerable on the roads, please protect us” shortly followed by “Shhh don’t suggest high vis and lights enforcement”. Or “I jump red lights where I think it’s safe” followed by “Ban HGVs as they’re dangerous”.

I think it would be far more sense if everyone involved accepted they had to respect other vehicles on the road, had to do all they could for their own safety and if either were found to be in the wrong they get slated, irrespective of method of transport. I’m sick of this childish blame game.

I do agree very bright vehicle lights swamp cyclists lights generally, which is a safety issue. I do agree many drivers are aweful at dealing with cyclists. I do agree that many cyclists are horrificly bad at using the roads. I don’t agree that everyone needs licenses, more training, the roads changing – we just need to use more common sense, have more respect and calm the **** down a bit on the road.

Hardly surprising really, as with all the attention whores and media tripe that’s written and spoken, the news is barely ever worth reading as it’s generally tainted with utter rubbish, false figures, poorly gathered figures, rumours, opinion and other such waffle that shouldn’t be fed to the public as if it’s fact.

Yes, but it’s not going well.

Therefore the punishment needs to apply to anyone who can ride a bike, not just those who can ride a bike and have a driving license.

You can be given points on a license even if you don’t have one, apparently it gets applied to your license as soon as you get one (should you do so) but the usual expiry of them applies also. Unless the TV programme I was watching on just this point had it all wrong.

I’m not sure about the laws regarding red light jumping on a bike not being punishable as it’s not a vehicle, I think you’d have a hard job proving that and it’d cost you more than a £30 fine. Unless you’re unemployed and sat at home bored most of the time.

Personally I have no problem using the roads properly

I think LED lights are more directional than their counterparts usually but I’ve never had issues seeing them. They have to meet the same standards as lights always have so I assume it’s partly just in peoples heads and partly because modern headlights are so bright and dazzling tha they often completely mask bike and car rear lights when there’s a few in a line.

My eternal “lights shouldn’t be an arms race” argument will get shouted down again I’m sure so I won’t bother arguing it again lol

Charger should be smart enough to do the right thing. They are stored at 40%ish for longest shelf life.

Clear skies in Glasgow