Sorry to hear that. At least the Super X and the 25th will be an easy spot. I assume you’ve put it up on BMX talk? Have a free bump to the top.

The skater was the standout one for me. Mindblowing control. The flatland vid was just too produced, and not enough actual riding.

All in all though, excellent. Nice to see some more imaginative programming going on, and for 1.5 hours of prime-time tele. Nice to see my licence fee….oh, never mind.

Mleh….Needs some shakey go-pro headcam footage of middle aged mincing I.T stormtroopers at llandegla set to coldplay….nowthatswhaImtalkinabout

…now you’re talking. Where can we commission that?!

I quite like it, but it’s trying to hard to be like one of their TT bikes at the front.

iDave – were you a sports science guy “in the midlands” back then, and one time owner of an green DB with a nice Ti Flexstem? :wink:

Well as a spammer brought this thread back from the dead

I look forward to a “where is Mark?” version of this.

I think it’s really good news that Renshaw is going to do his own thing, but I’m a bit surprised. Asyou say it will be good to watch them race. I thought Cav would go with him and Eisel to sky as he’s pretty much said that during the tour.

Crispy, the one I posted is a Bialetti one. Induction hobs need steel pans (bases). The Bialetti Venus is the only one they do that will work on an induction hob. If you have a traditional halogen / ceramic ring as well then the Moca stoner posted will be fine – it just won’t work on the induction rings (though that one has a plug :) )

If you need a new power supply and a new set of pans, it’s going to get very expensive.

That’s a very good point. When we got ours a few years ago we had to have the mother of all cables put in due to the max rating. We’ve never had all the rings and the plates on full but it saves on burning the house down.
Check the rating.
Otherwise they are brilliant.

Rather than the one above, this is the induction hob one. Not used it though.

http://www.gallacoffee.co.uk/acatalog/Venus_Stove-top.html

Actually I don’t think it has anything to do with what Postie can or can’t carry, or how big a letter box is. I think its what the automatic sorting machines can handle is the limiting factor. larger packets have to be sorted manually – hence more cost. Its not as simple as how many you can fit in a bag/lorry

Well, it’s all of the above factors and more, put in to a cost calculation engine for the delivery pipeline. RM made huge investments in machines like these and sorting kit to go in APCs like these. Mail that could be processed through those was the most cost effective. Larger mail has more manual steps in the pipeline and a higher cost to process and deliver.

“Weight vs Volume” doesn’t have to be binary, but it’s too complex a pricing model to do both; for RM and its customers – so they picked volume as that was a bigger determinant on processing cost than weight (as did most of their competitors).

Folly Farm is around there I think? Our kids loved it.

The beaches are fantastic.

Oh and walk from Stackpole through the Bosherston (sp?) Lily ponds to the beach – beautiful.

A bit more in keeping with the yoof of today, and a bit less obvious…

“Listen Against” on radio 4 ran a series of “what’s distracting Robert Peston” gags. Sums up his drawling tone perfectly, and very funny.

another simple one

http://www.mapbuilder.net/

centre pages of Guardian sports section today, good picture of contador landing a right jab in the face of a spectator

I saw the footage from the camera bike following him, looked like a very impressive jab, especially as he was probably doing 15 mph or so. I’d like to see the riders issued with tazers. The number of nutters who chase the leader in a group then slow down and block the following riders drives me mad.

Is Evans like Stoner in MotoGP?

Good but nobody likes him?

Yes, though more a case of good, but hard to warm to because of the sulky whining. In fairness Evans takes the whining to another level.

Speaking of interviews, this made me laugh a lot (though it is a bit cruel).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubEfM5npOvo

PMSL “Where is Frank?…”

1:52 – brilliant, so true

Been away for 2 days so just caught up on Sky+(having avoided this site, twitter etc!)

Brilliant riding and racing. Voeckler’s done a cracking job, but even more pleased to see Rolland getting the win after his work over the last week.

I’ve gone off FrAndy (picking up on the “schleck haters” comment) after Andy’s moaning about the descents and weather. That’s racing,get over it. Everyone has the same challenge.

This has been one of the best Tours I’ve seen in the 28 years I’ve been watching it. Loving it.

Takisawa, Can you fwd me the details of that coater, always looking for good ones around here.

Email is in my profile. Cheers.

Well if you go for a 1-2 year old one it’s not much different to a new Skoda Superb :), or a bobby basic 5 series. New prices are silly though.

It HAS laid eggs!! :lol:

Craig, I think your build is the nicest Sov I’ve seen. I’d seen some pics of it before somewhere. I’m splitting hairs on the guides. They’re not a problem, they could just be better spaced, and a reverb guide would be handy going forward on new frames but nothing a zip tie can’t fix.

I’m looking forward to getting out on it this weekend.

Ash, the good thing about Thors is the stiffness. The ride is a bit marmite. The only time I’ve had a problem with them was on the beast where they’d blow through the travel and the rebound couldn’t cope for the next hit. Otherwise they’re nice forks (if you like their linear feel – I do).

Cheers all. This is one of those “itches” that needed to be scratched :)

Bruneep, yes the front brake could do with a trim now. It was spot on when I cut and bled them but I’ve moved the brake more inboard so it’s now just a single finger pull. The downside is there’s now excess hose & I cant be bothered to do another bleed.
The other offender is the reverb which I took straight off another bike (where the hose is the perfect length). Just in case it goes back on that bike there’ll be no cutting of that one either.

Ash, It’s a VERY metallic green, and far better than I expected. It doesn’t photograph particularly well. For a frame that retails at £550 though there were a couple of swirl marks in the paint which was a bit of a surprise.

Fortunate, I was going to run a double and bash but that chainset was a bargain. I’ll try the triple and see how it goes but a bash could be on the cards.

My only gripes are that the seat tube was pretty rough / not reamed which again for a £550 frame is a bit shabby, and the cable guides are just a poor design and could be simplified.

I pinged Evil in the US a few questions when I was sorting out the build and setup. I have to say they were great. Loads of advice and really helpful.

Richie,
For info my cage bolts were also missing, but more importantly so was the seat collar. I bought one.

All the sprinters teams will be on their toes today. Breakaway’s definitely in the suicidal camp unless they can get a 20 man effort going from the non sprinter teams.

Another vote for Cav, more so by the way he’s ridden prior to his stage win.

grtdkad, mine was 20.something on the bathroom scales, though probably a little heavier at the moment.

SLR kit carbonio flow
EC90 post / SL bars
Rotor S2 (cracked !) now running an EA90
Marta mags
Carbon double chainset
SID WCs

Samurai, thanks for digging that out, it makes me chuckle and a very surreal couple of hundred meters on the road.

What I object to about this whole affair is the duplicity – any other rider would be unceremoniously booted out.
The Spanish authorities and WADA dragged their heels, and now the UCI are in cahoots. It makes a mockery of the sport, though I can’t see how they’d have the nerve to strip him after the Tour. No one is suggesting it’s a clean sport – the point is to clean it up, regardless of how big a star the offender is , and do it consistently. That’s the only way to get the message across.

He may have aright to be there, but his presence isn’t good for the sport, or him IMO. At least with him being so far down on time already he’ll be attacking more this time (as per the Giro).

A spectator at the tour has just been told off by police for waving a juicy steak around on a BBQ fork, me thinks Contador is now the pantomime villain this tour!

,

Very funny, but already done on the Giro with a fan running alongside Contador on a climb holding out a long stick, with a steak on the end of a rope, right in front of him. Couldn’t find the video unfortunately. I would like to see a “herd” in fancy dress running alongside him though.

I reckon he’s there with the aliens already, he certainly has the pace, though the important “staying on” part is proving difficult.

I just skimmed through today’s FP2. Sic and Vale got huge cheers (particularly Vale). Dani and Lorenzo were whistled at like crazy, though they did seem to whistle at everyone else to some degree. Lorenzo was pretty funny though smiling and waving back at them. There’s nothing like a bit of partisan support to whip it up.

…Off to register on road.cc to do the Fantasy league !

“Toby or Julian off Eurospurt accused Simonceli of being thick last week.”

Ironic that as I was accusing them of being the same – or at least blind to the action; yapping amongst themselves whilst Ryder repeated some crap story / “joke” he’d been harping on about in every session. Moody did eventually tell him to shut up though which was a saving grace.
I was “pointing out” to the TV how could they fail to miss the progress Crutchlow made at the start (though at least they apologised – they must have been abused on twitter).

As for Moto2 being better than Moto GP – it’s always been the case since the class started , as were many 250 races (and 125s). The fact there are 3 Brits in Moto 2 and 4 in 125’s makes it all the better.

The simple problem with motoGP is there are too few riders on competitive packages, and the gap from the fastest to slowest is astronomical. I think I read that a number (3 or 6) of the moto 2 riders were setting faster times than the GP boys? Sounds bonkers if that’s the case – though that may have been due to rain at Silverstone & le Mans.

Stoner whines but he’s brilliant. Just watch how far he gets off the bike out of a corner (he gives Elias a run for his money). Amazing style about him.

Anyway, Sic to win, and poke fun at pedrosa hopefully. I really would like to see the press conference if it’s Sic, Dani , Lorenzo / Stoner / Dovi on Sunday. Comedy gold potential.

It all turned nasty in yesterday’s press conference with Dani, Marco & Puig all slagging each other off apparently.

It’s an Italian round – Sic will win in glorious style with daring overtaking and flair. Dani & Lorenzo will get booed out of the circuit etc etc. (this will be as accurate as my prior predictions).

Recording FP on Sky today so should be worth a watch later for any handbags.

Thanks Bikebouy.

DT – Do it! Find a dealer who’ll let you test ride one if you’re not sure.

Err Dave, It had a black ( Rotor S2 ) stem…it broke, but just for you (and you’re wrong ;) ).

I can’t do anything about the rider though, though that’s prone to breaking as well.

I love mine, and it’s my bike of choice for an all day ride.
Mine have both been built around a frame rather than a complete, and for what’s basically an xc race bike it’s an excellent descender. The frame is very stiff but it doesn’t feel harsh at all, giving a really comfy ride. It’s got good clearances as well.

The BB30 BB is a pain if you hate all these competing standards, but you can fit a sleeve to run a normal BB – though that’s not an issue if you’re buying a complete.

Cable guides on the newer (2011+) frames are a bit of a faff as they use an insert which makes fettling a bit more of a pain. I don’t think the finish quality is as good on the current frames as it was on the 2009 frames, but it’s still good.

Sizing is great for me. 5 10, riding a medium with a 90/ 0deg stem. Built up mine’s 20Lbs. They’re really good bikes and good value IMO at RRP so if you’ve got a deal on one, even better. I know Stanley Fearns in Matlock had one on offer as well.

Here’s a general, constructive question. Do trailquests allow in kids / juniors (My son is 9) ?
I fancied taking him on a local trailquest; just for the ride as much as anything else, but also an opportunity to build his map reading skills. I got a very unhelpful reply from a local organiser basically pointing me to a rubbish document that was more vague than anything. So is there a general restriction on under 16s? What about your event? cheers.

I guess were being offered the tat the even more special people passed up on. I have 2 invites for tomorrow, one each for different accounts I have – I feel slightly more special :)

There are three guided bus tour routes as well. They superficially look expensive but being able to hop on and off at all the key locations is brilliant, plus it’s a great way to see the City.

Corners, not laps :oops: I think he’s brilliant but his team must be getting a bit bored by now. At least it’s an Italian and not a Spanish round next week,

Oh God no. More ammunition

Do you want 6 numbers between 1 & 50 ? :lol:

He had to have a problem there as he just kept dropping. Wheeler will no doubt explain it on twitter. I don’t think I’ve seen him lapped in any class before. Edit – Ian wheeler’s just tweeted that “He had no grip, the rear was coming round on him every time he tried to open the throttle…”

Ride of the day goes to Max Neuk / Westy

125 and Moto2 is rarely lacking in action (unlike the GPs). 4 in to the chicane shouldn’t work, but it does :)

Gutted for Stafford who was doing great, and you’ve got to feel for Iwema getting punted.

Redding will be at the front if this rain continues. Should be a great race, like the 125s. Moody has just reminded me about how far Smith came through the field at Silverstone though as well. You tend to forget he can be handy in the wet.

Sic to win. He knows he can’t bin it for a fourth time.

Kent & Webb in 125s were around 10th as well so that bodes well. Particularly impressed Webb has kept his head so far while they’re developing the mahindra.

Moto 2 – Iannone had a crap Silverstone and he’s way down the field @ Assen. I expect / hope to see him scything through the field (without knocking anyone off).

Stoner is, and always will be a whiner, but that doesn’t stop him being brilliant – it just detracts from it.