Fly Air New Zealand. 2 x 23kg suitcases, plus an additional 10kg allowance for a bike.

1 x cardboard bike box.

Job Done.

Hi all

Read some of the above, but the arguments to seem to go round in circles a bit.

I'm not totally informed about British politics, so I may be totally off the mark here, but why does the UK persist with the First-past-the-Post system? It seems to me that that biggest problem here is that if there is no chance of a party getting in, then people won't vote for them, even if they represent a better choice for the individual involved. Instead, people end up having to make a compromised choice between the two large parties of Who Is Least Bad For Me?

Why isn't there some sort of referendum to get a Mixed-Member-Proportional representation system in place? It's not perfect, especially when you get minor parties attempting to wag the dog, but genuinely gets a better mix of politics and parties involved, which means that the bigger parties end up having to compromise a bit more.

Or is it all about History and Tradition and all that?

Genuinely curious.

Ta.

There are a couple of *cracking* bike shops in Honkers. Flying Ball remains my favourite of all time, so I reckon you'd find some biking there too.

I would leap at the chance of living in Hong Kong for a bit. It's a tremendous place – love the contrasts.

Good luck

I had some *spectacular* sirloin last night on the barbeque.

Reminded me how good meat can be when it's done right…

Cracking!

VinneyH, that still makes me fume. And all the more so because the rest of the world seems to be totally oblivious to it.

ourmaninthenorth, my grandad gave that speech to his troops at El Alamein on St Crispin's Day (25th of October). 'swhere I got my name.

Mark and Meg, my thoughts are with you.

All the best.

If you wanted to try the cx300s out for cheap, This Place has got them going for a song…

Mate, it's ridiculous! I love it. Really enjoying getting to know a bit more about suspension stuff too, and having a bit of a play with it in different conditions.

Great fun!

I bought TLR's old CCDB for my 5 Spot (cheers fella – it's great!). The most interesting thing is that after I got everything dialled in and had a play around, I no longer had a desire to get a new bike. That was 18 months ago.

Bizarre, I know…

Our total water bill last year (including waste water) was £1600 based on the rateable value of the property (rented).

The previous year, in our water-meter fitted place in London, we paid £300 quid.

Water meter has now been installed at the new place after the landlord gave us the go ahead. I'm expecting at least a 75% saving, but I'm fuming at the sheer wrongness of the rateable value system of estimating water usage.

"One's an array of cunning stunts…"

I really enjoyed it when I read it a couple of times a few years ago, but haven't looked at it (or the subject area) since, and suspect that things have moved on since then.

Well, at least a draw is *kind* of like a wee bit of a win…

Yup, I'm coming – a last minute draft for a mate whose team-mate broke his elbow and can't race.

I'll be there for the fun on my Turner 5-Spot. Bringing my 4 year old and father-in-law for support.

Pitch up Friday, leave Sunday/Monday, weather, knackeredness and wee boy dependent…

When the children arrived, I stopped having all-nighters, so tend to stick to PPs party timeline.

It's a real bugger, no matter how late you stay up boozing and yarning, the kids still get up at 7ish and still expect to be fed and looked after.

Enjoy it while you can, you crazy cats…

I used to do this – with a good instructor (like a proper, gnarly east-end boxer type) it was awesome – I nearly puked every time I went.

Then the chap left and we had a girly-girl fitness type instructor and the sheer intensity and gutwrenching hardness disappeared and I stopped going.

Enjoy!

Good luck with these. I had such a rubbish time trying to sort some out for a project, that I gave up and bought a new bike!

EDIT: You can also try on ebay, where they show up occasionally.

Unfortunately, there are differences in thread width, but also in the size of the thread itself – coarse or fine.

Old thread here…

As a result of that thread and my abandoned project, I have two spare sets of canti bosses – 8mm and 10mm that you can have for postage(ish) to try your luck with as they didn't fit my frame.

Gimme a shout if you're interested.

Cheers

Crispy

I reckon it’s pretty possible (I’ve done it three times now, and half way through another for the father-in-law) to put together most of a bike for around 150 squids, especially if you have a few bits lying around that you can use – and all the tools you need to put it all together.

The problem is the little bits at the end that add up – like the cabling, then I have found that a new chain and cassette are almost always required. The little bits at the end seem to tack about 50 quid on. Also, I find I lose patience towards the end of the project and ending up buying full price kit to finish up.

But, if you can afford the time and are patient enough to wait for the things you need, you’ll sped a good deal less.

Total build price for me is normally around 200 with deore level kit and (normally V-Brakes).

It’s a great project – especially if you get the bloke involved in the build. Nothing beats the feeling of building your first bike up and going for a ride!

Crispy

Hilarious and delicious – all in one!

Sorry, I didn’t get that from your post. You were obviously pretty shaken up by the thing.

Guess it’s just one of those things, hey? Do you think there was anything you might have done differently if you were to do it again?

If you were alright for only a few seconds before you got walloped by the wave, did you not get a look at the sets coming in beforehand?

Ahhh, harden up ya big girl!

I’m guessing you haven’t spent that much time in the sea, hey? It can be quite a powerful animal if you’re not expecting it.

I used to do quite a bit of coastering back in the days when it used to be called “Messing About Having Fun around the Rocks by the Sea and Jumping In”. Even managed to do a degree with it!

I’m with you epicyclo. Lovely!

Ok, cool thanks for the info foxy.

Right, Thanks for the offers peeps, but, bearing in mind that there are *issues* with the different thread sizes, I ended up calling Specialized UK (they’re for an old hardrock) forsome advice and they’ve said that they’ll send some out to my local spesh dealer for me.

Brilliant!

So, thanks for your responses, looks like there’s a happy ending here after all, but I’ll give yiz a shout if it all goes wrong!

Crispy

Foxyrider, I think I might love you…

Not sure about the bosses on that CRC link, but I would be eternally grateful (and, of course cover postage and senda beer to the folks in STW towers) if you would send me your bosses.

That still leaves me two short, though, so I’ll keep my eyes open…

Anyone else happen to have any laying about?

Crispy

The best thing I’ve discovered recently about my iPhone (and there are so many discoveries…) is the Remote App. Using AiportExpress(es) connected to my Hifi or powered speakers I can play any track or play list from iTunes from anywhere in my wifi range, choose which speakers around the house I want playing the music and control the volume while I’m at it.

Gadget-tastic. I love it.

:D

I’ve adjusted my tastes accordingly.

I now seek solace with gently warmed apples…

886ft? Hahaahahaha, we measure hills in metres up here. 886ft might just about get called a hillock.

A night ride after work up here could involve ‘hills’ of say, 950m (that’s 3117ft for you southerners)

Well, I’m from New Zealand, and you’re all a bunch of Northern flatlanders to me…

I laughed my arse off when I climbed to the top of the UK’s mightiest peak (1,344 metres! BAHAHAHAAA!) in jeans and a t-shirt while all the ramblers were kitted out with walking poles, gaiters and compasses.

Get yer **** hands off it, the lot of yiz.

Ya ‘bunch of whingeing puffs… :wink:

BTW – I live in Kent now, and it’s lovely, ta.

Hear hear!

Oh, bugger! Sorry, James, I was supposed to be checking those shorts out for you.

I’ll do that tonight and get back to you if you’re still interested.

Cheers

Crispy

Nice!

Joxter, how big is your Bianchi, please, and what model?

Cheers

Crispy