Yes, bought a chainset recently and will sell the cranks / BB on Ebay – or maybe keep the BB as a spare.

Tks for the replies – are combis less reliable than a regular boiler? From internet it seems the life expectancy of modern boilers isn't very good – current one is 27 years old and still working. Never thought about an immersion as a back up – forgot I had one as I've never used it!!!

Run air U turn revs 100 – 130mm. Most of the time have them between 100 – 110. Sometimes wind them out to 120. For bigger downhill bits run them at 130 just for confidence. Oh and medium here with a layback setpost but would now go for an inline one so I'm more over the forks when sitted.

had two sets – first was destroyed at the first HTN, second hasn't lasted much longer so have replaced them with worn '09 XT rings off another bike 'cos Shimano '09 XT shift better and last longer in my experience.

EDIT – yup loads of chainsuck with them – no problems with XT.

I found these guys very good for answering questions. They actually have people on the end of the phone to speak to !!!

http://www.heartratemonitor.co.uk/%5B/url%5D

From their FAQ

Do I need to use a chest strap and do all monitors come with one?

Yes and No ?

Yes, if you want the heart rate monitor to continuously monitor your heart rate and keep you within a target zone. And yes if you want the HRM to give you accurate calorific and heart rate feedback, i.e. average HR, max HR, calories burnt etc.

No, if you just want an occasional snapshot of your heart rate.

For three hours @ 14mph on Continental semi slicks – plodding along and getting the base miles in. Full MTB tyres would cause too many pins and needles for that length of time on tarmac.

IMO the Thomson design is better and under £50 – on the Thomson the clamp supports the saddle rails rather than clamping either side and adjusting the tilt is easily done by slackening/tighening the relevant bolts by the same amount. Had a USE Sumo and would never use that style again, even with independant bolts the design looks too similar.

You get camping, some food, a tea shirt and a mapped out course. Sometimes the course is good – Builth Exposure weekend last year was good – sometimes they're not very good and end up going thru boggy bits or muddy forests. not much back up if things go wrong so think of it more as a normal ride with some food stops/mechanic – though if something goes wrong you make you're own way back which can be a long walk.

At the weekend the main news story on ITV was the England football coach not wanting to talk about sacking his captain. Turned over to the BBC and the main sports story was about a draw for a football competition in a few years time rather than sport that had taken place that day.

IMO first was a non event and the second might get a mention at the end of the sport for a few minutes.

No chance of a chainsuck plate. You're the only person who's ever asked!

Only thing wrong with mine is the chainsuck – tried new kit but now swopping drivetrain from another bike to see if that cures it.

Think I'm on my fourth pair of front discs/pads and have done 80k. Not yet worn out pads before discs need replacing. IMO the inside of the discs get pitted due to water and the garage says to replace them. I provide the parts as I can get geniune mazda parts (or aftermarket) cheaper on line than the garage can get them. This also includes Mazda dealers who have a massive mark up on their parts as well as an inflated hourly charge.

What if you own two houses? One odd number and the other even?

Hang on, cull everyone in odd. Tell remaining people to pick what house they now want to live in and that next year the even numbers will be culled. Introduce a bit of "intelligence" to it.

As with any investment you have to think what the potential market will be like in 5 or 10 years time if you want to sell it. If you buy wine then it's likely that people will still be spending vast sums of money on old/vintage bottles of wine so the market will be there. At the moment the people buying the bike are most likely those who wanted one when they were younger. But in 10 years time those people could be too old/moved on so who will buy in then? Sounds like a "nostalgia investment" to me.

Buy it. Ride it. Enjoy it.

Ecover @ 40C on synthetics wash along with rest of biking kit.

British Gas and power flushes pops up on other forums quite often – seems to me that you're on a contract but they want to sell you an extra so they make more money out of you irrespective of whether it will help or not. So DO NOT USE BRITISH GAS. But I'm guessing that if you don't get it done then next time something goes wrong they'll say "it's because you didn't have a power flush and we're not covering it" so you're really tied into whatever price they quote !!!

You can DIY the power flush – it's not difficult so long as your follow the procedure. Also thread here

Oh, looked at Magnaclean (or one similar) a few years ago and I would go for one in any system from now on.

I used Cyclefit in London and IMO they were a waste of money – didn't identify the problem and they are very biased towards road and didn't have the knowledge/kit for modern day mtb's. Would suggest before you go to any of these types of people to get the underlying problem sorted rather than rely on wedges in your shoes (BTW, I use Specialised ones as they are easily transferable between shoes and don't wear like the cyclefit ones)

This year went via NHS and after a bit of wait got to see a specialist, get an MRI and am now seeing a physio which is slowly sorting out my problems – to do with core strength (or lack of it) which was causing problems in hip and leg including an excess of toe out (or heel in) of my left leg and a general twisting of my body to the left.

F/S for comfort and skills compensation. Cube AMS100 but have upgraded brakes, wheels, bars, drivetrain, forks for lighter stuff in the 12 months I've owned it.

Used Middleburn slickshift / hardcoat as replacement on an 08 XT and they didn't shift as well or last as long as the Shimano rings. Shimano 09 XT I use on another bike are great and still going strong. Won't waste my money on Middleburn again.

had problems with the heating a couple of years ago and couldn't get a plumber to come out and look at it – around here they seem to like large jobs and/or working for the wrinklies who'll pay over the odds for work. I treid the chemical flush, takign radiators off and using a hose to clean them out. Eventually got a guy off internet to come and flush the system on a "if I can't fix it you don't pay" deal – in the end he had to replace a blocked pipe (caused by bad design of system) and also power flushed the system for the agreed fixed price.

System is great now but it was the blocked pipe that was causing the problem but the power flush certainly cleaned it all out. You can hire the equipment yourself – it's not a hard job to do if you tackle it methodically.

Bloke I used[/url]

Used Teco a few times – great for obscure DVD's (ie Neil Peart's anatomy of a drum solo which was @ £25 to buy) or when you have a lot of spare time. Good VFM if you do get to watch the dvd's and you can temporarily suspend the account if you want a break. Agree that for box sets you can buy on line then resell for a small loss which I've done a few times. A few discs haven't worked but they sent them out again and not had any lost in the post.

Some Muller Rice are now veggie 😀 just have to check on the pot as not all are.

If you're making stuff from scratch then plain Tofu should be marinated in some spices etc. before use otherwise it's a bit dull. Lentils are not the devils food if you flavour them and get the ones that you don't have to soak overnight/cook for hours. Quorn is OK but controversial as it's manufactured, veggie mince is great in spag bog etc. Processed, Lynda Mcartney pies are yummy and some of the quorn fillets IMO are nice.

Almost forget – when feeding the 5000 "Pot Noodles are a bloody miracle"

so quite like the whole head-down-arse-up stance

too much information 😯

Bought two Hope ceramic BB's at the same time and fitted to two bikes – neither lasted more than a few weeks use before needing to be regreased. Also not impressed with the fact the bearings run on the axle so when (not if) they seize up on a long weekend away the axle will score slightly. So wouldn't go near one again (no pressure washer etc just ride a lot). Shimano XT lasted about 4 months on one of the bikes. Now got a King due to the ease of regreasing but not used the bike enough to know if it makes a difference.

IMO the bearings/material etc. are secondary to how good the seals are and then how easy it is to regrease them.

that site's rubbish!

Why?

Second noscript. Also use DownThemAll which allows you to rip all pictures etc. with one click.

The Cycle Studio in Stratford sell them so might be worth giving them a call. If you're close then they usually have a few in stock for you to peruse and test the weight of 😉

I run 32:18 usually and have done 32:20 for 24 hour racing which is really low but good after X number of hours. From your ratios I'd go 32:17 better to spin out a little on the downhil/flat bits but have an easier time on the ups to start with. IMO 32:15 would be too hard to start off with, 32:19 to low.

Looked at the Trans Provence before and found this

"To register you must to be one of the first 64 people to email us with an entry request" and results from last year go down to 29th.

which suggests there are a maximum of 64 prople in it which seems a bit small, more of a large holiday than a stage race.

Is 853 really worth the difference?

Just for the sticker alone, yes.

Depends on mud kos if it's muddy the Spot will be out!

That routes only muddy once per year … from November till April 😉

MY EYES ……

MY EYES

Any thoughts on the following as aiding cooling ? There are two types, one solid (mk1) and one vented (mk2) which is similar to the ones on Ebay. The manufacturers web site doesn't give dimensions apart from "fits electric motors".

Clip-On Alloy Motor Heatsink

Hi, does the driver with dim mode reduce the current draw from the battery and therefore increases run time or does the battery draw remain the same but some current is used by the resistor and therefore a reduced current gets to the LED's? Tks.

Looks nice. Any piccies of part assembled shots so we can see how it fits together? To give an idea of sealing etc. And what power settings are you using via the driver – ie high/med/low with an idea of current draw to see the different run times possible. Tks.

if she had told me she physically moves bone X into position Y

can someone tell me how much movement is possible in the bones and at what point do the individual bones of the skull start to fuse together?

Highs….
loads of riding in Lakes, North York Moors, Exemoor, Peaks, North/South Wales
Finished MM solo in top 25
Cube FS – a superb bike
Simple – urm a simple bike
Lows….
still can't get confidence where I'd like it to be
track stands still elude me

Back in the day when I was a lad I was being bullied. So I introduced his head to wall at high speed. Never had any problems after that.

Few years ago at work I was being bullied / threatened by three managers – the senior manager recruited people as nasty as she was. Much as I would have liked to have done the same with their heads and a wall I got it out in the open, put it in writing, got the backing of the union and they backed off. Helped that there were a LOT of us in the same position.

Unfortunately today I think you'll have to gather evidence, put it in writing, escalate and then go down the legal route. Do not let the school off in any way.

Tks. Already gone to GP who referred me to physio – she's very nice but NHS physio doesn't do a lot TBH. Might try one of the chiros round me.

mtfu??

This weekend I shall be riding off road in the Cotswolds on a steel rigid with slicks @ 60psi. Now there's niche…..and there's NICHE 😉

Steven Moffat wrote it along with some of the other excellent episodes. As he's taking over the lead writer and executive producer on the new series fingers crossed it should be getting better.

Factor in selling current house, buying new house and buying rental house costs as they mount up and people often forget that. Oh and tax on any rental income (not sure figures).

Can he rent out one or two rooms? Can bring in a nice chunk of money if you don't mind sharing (upto £4,250 tax free).

Check out http://www.moneysavingexpert.com as there are loads of hints/tips on there and a good forum.

All well and good planning for old age but if you can't live now there's no point in planning to have enough money to live later when you're too old to enjoy it.