I went for the non-3G and so far have no regrets, but, I only use books rather than periodicals.

Samuri, interested in the tethering too. Wonder if Amazon are likely to pull the plug on the ‘free’ bit if lots of people start using it tethered…

One huge sign for me is a sudden lack of power, I literally fall off the back of the group as soon as my BG drops. Problem then is even with a fist full of carbs it still takes a while to get back up to speed.

Has he been riding recently on his own/with others or not at all? If he is struggling to keep up it could be lack of fitness and/or going low.

Just give him a chance to test when you stop and all should be fine.

I bought my Scott Spark from them about a year and a half (possibly two) years ago.

Answered my questions (promptly via email) about stock etc and arrived in a couple of days as promised.

Not much else to say really, haven’t had to deal with any issues so couldn’t say how quickly they would sort them out.

We bought a repo at the beginning of the year and it was a nervous six weeks. We were told 28 day turnaround (in the end it was about 31).

Our house was in perfect condition, no different from any other apart from being empty and services not being ‘guaranteed working’. The ex-owners had obviously looked after the place and it was exactly what we wanted.

Key things we learnt from the experience, make sure you have everything you could possibly need sorted asap. Once our offer was accepted we had a struggle to get a surveyor in quickly – this was our main stumbling block. Obviously make sure you have as much done on the mortgage (assuming you need one) so it can be put in place asap too.

Be careful of estate agents ramping the price, we were up against another bidder (apparently, still don’t think there was anybody else involved), you have to be willing to stick firm with your offer if you think they are pulling a fast one.

2wheels1guy – if the break is big (towards the edge of the shoulder) then I don’t think you get new bone growth, at least that was what I was told when I did mine. The bone is under tension so won’t come down again naturally. They said that it would just be scar tissue holding it together but not to worry about it.

I was given three options re an op but none of them sounded particularly great and had a high risk of failure, was told to leave it six months to a year and if it still hurt after that consider the op.

Ten months on and my left collarbone still sticks up about 3/4 inch above where it used to be, no problems and doesn’t hurt. (Aches very occasionally, but nothing more so far).

Oh, and OP, I’d rest a couple of weeks, won’t hurt and give you some good healing time. :)

On my Bontrager’s the tubeless strip was black, it was the standard rim tape that was blue.

Dunno what other brands are like but it was dead easy to fit. :)

Cheers, guess that’s my only excuse (off for the whole summer) out of the window.

Out of interest – how long before you’re back on the bike? Sadly enough that’s the only thing putting me off! :mrgreen:

Echo most of the comments here. In the last three months I’ve had a Bold, Torch and now an IP4. (All for work, wouldn’t buy them myself!)

The Bold was excellent for email/phone usage, but using the web was painful. If I didn’t want to use the web I’d have one of these back tomorrow.

The Torch didn’t do anything for me, hated it. Too thick, too heavy, not as good as the Bold for email, not as good as the Ip4 for web.

The IP4 is brilliant for all the media bits, eg web, gaming etc. Email is alright, it functions, but still a little clunky. For me I think it’s just the lack of a physical keyboard, makes it a little slower to type with. But that could just be me.

For lots of email I would still take the Bold, otherwise the IP would win out.

Done.

Munqe-chick – Big Rock Climbing in Kingston, next to Costco.

Top roping, lead climbs and bouldering, cracking place. :)

I’ve used Plusnet for the last few months, seem OK so far. Nice and cheap too.

I had an R32, didn’t do it for me. Whilst the handling was ‘OK’ (again, not brilliant) you could never really forget about the weight of it. I didn’t rate the handling as any better than the S3, the S3 was slightly disconnected (as mentioned above), but my personal opinion is that that is down to weight/weight distribution. The drive wasn’t *that* different between the two cars.

I very rarely got more than 200 miles to a tank (don’t know the mpg, but it wasn’t a lot) and it wasn’t particularly quick.

Made a nice noise though.

As for a 55k example with no history, I wouldn’t bother. Plenty out there with history, must be a reason its not there.

I'm similar to Votchy, been diabetic for 28 years and been on a pump for 2 now. Ride both mtb and road. FWIW I would fight to keep my pump, wouldn't live without it now. It's great. :D

Unlike Votchy I don't use energy drink at all, I tend to use water and Nuun instead and take a variety of food with me. There's no real reason for this, just prefer it that way.

I actually find I need to lower my basal more on the road than I do on the mtb, so like most say, test, test and test again to see how you react. When I first got my pump I jumped on the turbo trainer and tested every 20 mins for two hours to see what was happening. Probably a little overkill, but hey, it worked!

Good luck, mail in profile if you ever want to ask anything.
Dan

+1 for Snowcard, sorted me out in March when I broke my collarbone.

I went to Brian too (did mine 5 months ago) and it made no difference whatsoever, although mine was fractured right near the shoulder (distal I think).

It's still b*ggered now but have been told surgery is only 50/50 so still contemplating what to do….

anjs – My in-laws have just had to pay for a replacement FTA card, about twenty quid if I remember rightly, don't think you can get them for free any more.

On the other hand, if you don't want regional channels and can live without channel 5 you don't need a card at all. I've just put our old Sky+ box upstairs and it works fine cardless. No recording though.

Five weeks for me, broken collarbone, hopefully mending soon!

I got all excited for a minute, until the FTB bit was added. :-( Just about to exchange and since I had a mortgage 12 years ago (for less than a year) we can't get the relief.

Ho hum. You win some, you lose some.

Just read a post on dpreview that somebody had a recent receipt dated 1/2/10 so they could claim £50 – seems Panasonic might be doing a cashback deal next month.

I'm still looking for a small camera too, I've used an LX3 and owned three S90s!

Whilst the S90 does a really good job of low light the build quality is just not there. All three of mine had faults, and all three faults were different. I didn't like the optics on the S90 either, quite soft even with the sharpness ramped up.

I prefer the lense/video of the LX3 and the reach/colours of the S90. Hopefully something will come out this year that's a nice hybrid of the two. :-)

Good shout sandwich – mine reads 'E-1' when it's cold. Only takes a few seconds to warm up though. Pity I haven't got a spare cleavage handy, would make warming it up a bit more fun. :)

Votchy, will email shortly, just got dragged into helping with revision… 8O

What they all said above. :)

Been diabetic since I was five (thirty three now) and have been on a pump for just over a year. You'll get good days and bad days, but make sure you join the postive group rather than the negative group.

I've always been in the positive group, I'm going to go riding and it's just something else I have to take along. :)

One thing I will mention, is that just because you are a 'diabetic' doesn't mean your treatment/amount of insulin etc is the same as anybody else. Whilst we can give advice and point you in the right direction, you have to find what works for you and in what situation. It is a lot of work, but rewarding when everything is going peachy.

Like the others, feel free to email.

I've got a Spark, and yes pedal bob is pretty evident. You have to use the shock settings quite a lot. Putting an RS Monarch (I think it's the Monarch) is supposed to change the ride for the better.

And 140mm is a definite no-no.

I've had three now, when the current one goes back I won't be getting another…

First one was an open box (despite being sold as 'new') and had terrible backlight bleed across nearly half the LCD display, the second one had a couple of duff pixels smack bang in the centre of the display and the third one's lense is so poor the entire righthand third of the image is out of focus. The bit that is in focus isn't particularly sharp either.

It's a shame as the camera seemed to tick all of the boxes that the LX3 didn't (ie good colours, small and a semi decent zoom, I can live without the HD video), but I'm dismayed at the lack of QC for what is supposed to be Canon's top of the range camera.

If you get a good one I'm sure it will be a keeper, just make sure you look for the known faults (and accept, if that's what you want to do) as soon as you get it.

Thanks, don't think SD will take this as the box is too big. Will check out standard parcels, might be worth splitting into two boxes to reduce the insurance needed.

dr_bakes – you'd be surprised what a pump can do for you, I got one last year and wouldn't be without it now, despite 27 years of injections. If anything just changing a canula every couple/few days is better than injecting five or six times. :)

I don't remember getting any grief at school, just that I was the 'special one' that could eat a snack at breaktime. Suited me!

Just about to embark on CGMS myself, interested in the peaks and troughs that follow running and biking so thought I'd have a crack.

Quick bounce for this thread.

Having read this: mtbr.com Review[/url]

It would seem that they have been updated.

Anybody seen both the 2008 and/or 2009 kits?

Although you probably won't get it for £150 the Storm 2 is due out soon, I think they've got rid of the clicky screen on this one so might be worth a go. (Bold user at the moment.)

Had one of the original Nomad’s and you’re pretty much on the money with your information.

I rode mine in the Alps and the UK and went through a set of bearings every six months or so. (I’m not a big lad either, 11 stone dripping wet). If you’re just riding in France or only on ‘big’ days out they should last a while.

I had a variety of forks on mine. Started with 66SL ATA which didn’t work properly from day one, then went with a 2-Step Lyrik which also didn’t work from day one, then got a U-turn Lyrik which I didn’t like and ended up with an 06 model 66SL. Superb fork but a little heavy for the rest of the build, worked very well in the Alps though. Depending on your brand of choice I’d look at RS Lyrik/Fox 36, although I’d probably go for the coil version of either if you can handle the extra weight.

The main problem (and the main reason for selling it) was the shock, I bought mine with a DHX Air and it was quite simply terrible. Absolutely useless. Swapped it out for DHX Coil and it transformed the bike. Unfortunately, it also made it into a ‘mid 30lb’ bike rather than an ‘around 30lb’ bike. If you can handle the extra weight for short rides in the UK you’ll be fine. (Especially if you keep your other bike for xc duties).

Can’t think of any particular issues that I had or would check for other than the state of the bearings, you can feel the play (a little click) when you lift the seat on a fully built bike. The full bearing kit was (I seem to remember, could be slightly out) about £35 when we had a 2:1 dollar exchange rate. I bought from enduroforkseals.com.

Had the Fuel and for me it was a little too ‘XC’ to do anything reasonably big on. If you’re just riding Uk trail centres it would be fine but with any uplifts etc I think you’d struggle.

Remedy for me.

So they are, must’ve crossed my wires somewhere. :0

Repack – Slane Cycles have a couple of ’08 model Spark 30’s left for £1800, the spec is ever so slightly lower than this years 30 but around seven hundred quid cheaper.

Plenty left to turn it into a Spark 20/10 as I’m planning to do, mine should be here tomorrow/Thursday.

And if anyone wants to buy an ’08 Trek EX9 drop me a mail, will be up in the classifieds soon. :)