Ton, I’ll email you.

MrNutt, fancy Les Gets in July?

should add, I get a (rather mean) 4800.00 in my wages (taxed) and 17p a mile.

It costs 8.5p/mile in diesel so the rest pays for tyres and servicing.

Been running my own cars for business for about 8 years now. In fact when I first did it, only a handfull of insurance companies would consider it. Now most do I suspect.

I would never go back to a company car.

Now in a TDCI Mondeo (54 plate) with almost 120k miles under its belt. It does 50mpg + costs next to nowt to service as well. Paid 10k for it when it was 8 months old! bargain.

I’ll be sad when it finally has to go. Maybe another 2 years when it will be nudging the 180 – 200k mark.

Don’t forget to factor in tax claim back on the difference between the government pence / mile rate and the one you get paid by the company. at around 25k business miles a year, I get back 1000.00 roughly, per year.

You made me do it MrNutt!!

on that ride we did in September (ish) sick of clipping in and out for technical bits etc and clipping in just when I really didn’t want to

coffee machine steam nozzle here and a very very long boot lace with a big knot in the end as a pull through chord.

Take up road riding. a poor substitute I know but at least it’s still riding a bike!

Also, do what I’m going to do when i can’t ride any more, take up golf.

Either that or a nice plus full sus and see how it goes.

Best of luck by the way.

Thank god there’s BBC i-player.

used sintered pads last year with no boiling fluid issues and didn’t even say goodbye to any pads either. In fact, they are still in the calipers and going next time!

HT. More fun.

FS is fine too but not really a necessity and not as fun.

Used the XT calipers there last year with no problems but not sure I could be bothered with dual controls this time as I’ve got used more to normal shifters again.

Ideal world would see me ditching the dual controls and getting standard brake levers and shifters. I’ll keep an eye on CRC etc..

Anyway, S-works Enduro (shuttle in low BB, slack head mode) Pikes, DT Swiss 5.1 rims on Pro hope 2 (F) and XT (R) on with high rollers wrapping them up. Dual control shifters and XT calipers on it at the moment with the 200mm rotos. Just some flat pedals and a chain guard go next but they have to get here first.

Nowt like being prepared, I’m not off there until July….

this was lovely

Hotel Jacob, Bruge

Any merit in using XT calipers instead of the M525’s apart from looks and weight?

I also went HT, FS,HT, FS and now back on a HT. I prefer HT’s but went FS the first time because I fancied it, back to HT when I realised HT’ing was more fun and then started riding bigger stuff so kept bursting tubes so went back to FS as a cure. It did cure the puncture bit but took away a lot of the excitment too so I went back to HT with beefier wheels and tyres etc.

I don’t think full sus is needed in the UK.

Hardtails are more difficult to control so need more skill and I maintain that full sus is a skill compensator.

IME, you have to ride a lot harder and faster on a full sus to get the same buz you do on a hardtail.

I do have a hardtail (456 summer season) and a full sus (s-works Enduro) but the hardtail does all the UK stuff. The enduro has only really been kept on for trips to France etc where I know the hardtail would be fine but the full sus is just more comfortable for 5 hours a day riding, oh, and I’m not good enough for out there either.

Save your money and bling up your hardtail with beefier wheels and tyres and better forks and a more freefidy frame.

I stopped about 2 years ago and don’t miss it at all.

Smoked for about 18 years between 10 and 15 a day, 30 on the ale.

Now I just seem to collect "pocket" money as I just take out the same amount of money I always did, to last me the week. Guess where all that money goes now, instead of tabs, You got it, blinging my mountain bikes.

One habit to another I guess.

I don’t think I brake much then as a set of sintered pads lasted me the 3 days DH’ing lats year.

Had 203 and 203 then but seem to remember the back being overkill?

Perfect solution. Eurocamp static caravan somewhere in France, take the bikes so you can get about (away for a quick blast)

Done it the last few years and always manage to find a bit of a ride out :-)

OK its hardly like trail center stuff but at least you can still holiday with your bike too.

Are you sure it’s a Pike spring?

[troll] And WHAT’s wrong with Nescaffe???? [/troll]

Frank Zappa, Bobby Brown

Thanks one and all.

Just bought some Wellgo MG-1’s off Merlin.

Got to be sacked. Why not tell his wife? or does he still live at home with his mum?

Install CCTV or get him net nanny on his PC. or block internet access for him unless strictly supervised whilst on tinterweb.

He clearly has issues so perhaps refer him to the sex offenders register.

There’s time and a place FFS…

Oh, make sure he has plenty of tissues too.

Well done Daffy for owning up to mistakes. It takes strength of character to admit you’re a total numpty in public.

:-)

I have 2 LBS’s Merlin cycles and Chain Reaction Cycles.

Nowhere near my house but the best ones IME and I’ve learned how to do stuff myself.

Stoney, sorted thanks.

Brill lot here.

gixer.jon, his ladder was totally unsuitable as it was on the trailer edge leant up against the chimney of a mobile flare stack (for methane burning from landfill)

It was at about 85 degrees and he was hanging onto a skinny bit of metal tack welded to the chimney for balance.

When I explained why I didn’t want him to carry on working etc… he was almost relieved.

When I said quoted, it was more like named. I’m not that familiar.

I work for a waste management company and am in charge of the landfill gas pipework installations team for gas extraction for power generation purposes. We’re sick of paying good money for CDM coordinators who know absolutely nowt about what we’re trying to achieve so i did the NEBOSH to put myself in the position of the CDM coordinator for some projects plus a few good bow strings to boot.

Cool guys, everyone is well kind. Thank you all.

Emailed you teatosugars. Cheers.

Snowcard.

Paid up in full when I took a tumble in France and paid the local doc for an x-ray etc.

I’m using them again this year.

6 weeks, be careful when sneezing and avoid laughter. its not at all funny

Don’t forget to breath deeply every so often as normally with broken ribs you take shallow breaths…

Unless you empty your lungs of stale air, you could be in line for some sort of lung infection.

I found a towel wrapped around me tightly helped when sneezing or going for a few deep breaths.

All been top people so far. Special mentions to MrNutt, Ton & Vortex Racing because they’re the only ones I’ve met so far.

Everyone I’ve dealt with in Classified section have been top people too but not met many of them.

I think most are as they would seem to be IMO its way too hard being something you’re not.

This sounds like that old CD vs Vinyl debate now.

Watch a few first. The jumpy scroll thing / jerky picture annoys me on the cheaper LCD tv’s

Film slows you down, makes you think as each click costs.

Digital is way too easy so you simply snap away without regard for what the camera is up to. (in general)

This is why film is better to learn with. Like learing to drive a manual car as opposed to an auto

I have a D300 that I use for weddings but whenever I want to do some proper photography, out comes the Contax g2 and 45mm lens and a roll of Tri-X.

I agree that kicking dog’s doesn’t teach them anything but….

Since when has it been the general public’s duty to teach other peoples dogs how to behave?

If a dog owner can’t properly train or control their dog, they deserve to be kicked.

The kicking of the dog would be in self defense and therefore perfectly acceptable in normal society.

Do what I did when I saw a woman’s dog being savaged by two “Stray” dogs…

I punched one in the face and grabbed the others collar and sort of back handed it into the air where it did a 360 with a pike and but failed to get any points for the landing as it landed on its back.

When I went to the one I’d just punched to hurl it, it yelped and pegged it, followed by its now right way up friend.

You should have kicked the dog really really hard. You cannot let dogs behave like that.

The womans dog is a nice little spaniel, on a lead and it was clear that the other two were giving it a bit of grief. Her dog was badly bitten and it took about 6 months for it to mentally recover.

No body suggesting a DIY hol in Les Gets?

We did that last year and had a great time.

Ahhhhh, the beauty of the wide open aperture and a fixed focal length. Its a wonderful thing lost in the mire of handy (but often not that good) 28-80mmm f3.5 to f5.6 give away lenses.

I find a fixed focal length lens not only gives much better sharper results but makes you work that little bit harder for the shot.

The pissed Sexdolls

It is simple enough but you will get covered in brake dust. I found the hardest but was fitting the pads into the calipers. Simple but frustratingly tight fit in all the ones I’ve ever done.

Don’t forget copper grease for behind the pad as well.

You will probably find the first side takes an hour, the second side 25 minutes because you will have the hang of it.

Don’t forget they will need bedding in.

Yo Vortex!
My Retriever used to run with me (died in March 08) around the streets, always on a lead, always with a poop scoop.

I also used to take him to Rivi as well, off the lead, with poop scoop.
He was a well trained dog who was quite used to the bike but I started along the roads on a lead first then around the fields near my house etc.

In the years he rode with me, i never ran him over either but his nose did get quite close to the front tyre on occasions.

He used to go bananas for the first couple of minutes though so holding the lead with one hand and braking with the other is a skill you will need to develop.

He also wrecked a pile of spokes too with a stick being carried in his gob that he kindly shoved into me wheel.

I never did a proper ride with him in case he slowed me down or got mowed down by me or other bikers and off road stuck to tracks rather than trails.

You will have a pile of fun with the dog if you can train him up. Good luck and let us know how it develops.