Personally I won’t use crc again….

I think if you shop on the internet this sort of thing is par for the course. Sure CRC have not handled this particularly well, and they have no doubt learned some very valuable lessons but I’m sure they’re now more on the ball with security than some retailers who haven’t been hit yet.

All you can do is to be vigilant, use a credit card (or paypal) and not a debit card, and watch your bills like a hawk, which all seems like common sense anyway. Either that or go back to waiting weeks for your LBS to source parts from perhaps the same suppliers and charge you more for them (that’s not a dig at LBS’s by the way, just a statement of fact).

Woohoo! £30 voucher for me too. All is forgiven, I’m very easily bribed. Think I’ll be using Paypal from now on though.

Just spotted this thread, I got done too. Ordered stuff from CRC on 2nd March, and card was used twice last week fraudulently at John Lewis and Stagecoach. Luckily the CC company were on the ball and alerted me straight away and stopped the card.

Quite worrying though, and seeing as this seems to be a known issue which has affected a lot of people I find the lack of contact/notification from CRC extremely disturbing. I won’t be using them again any time soon.

I used them for the first time last week. Put 3 in a chilli. They’re very hot, but very tasty and aromatic. Like a very intense habanero or scotch bonnet. Gloves are advisable for chopping and try not to breathe in the fumes when cooking. Two lessons I learnt the hard way.

The tescos I bought them from also had Dave’s Ghost Pepper Insanity sauce which is made from Naga Jolokias but I’ve not tried that yet. Bit scared of it to be honest!

Peter Beardsley.

I would vote for optional insurance. Was musing on this last night, I have spent £3k insuring my van over the last 6 years, and claimed £0. Its a state mandated gouge.

So you’d rather risk bankrupting yourself if you happen to cause a crash and kill/maim someone?

I accidentally (Mrs Daz forgot to renew the policy!) drove around with no insurance for 9 months last year and the potential consequences scared the shit out of me when I found out. It’s really not an advisable way of saving money.

Hard drugs? As long as they’re of good quality I don’t much mind. Secluded from the ‘civilized world’? Sounds perfect!

The rock pavement section is lethal, you need to keep a very close eye on your front wheel when there is any moisture on it.

It was fine when I did it in the p*ssing rain so I’d re-assess your tyre choice if I were you.

It’s good fun but I’d hesitate to call it a classic. All a bit samey and repetitive I thought. They could have easily mixed up the features a bit and had more interesting stuff rather than just a load of table tops in a row.

Anyone know if free-ride trail is finished yet?

My point being that it’s very easy to look at any government through whatever biased prism you want. Painting broad brush generalisms such as ‘A labour government has proven to be disasterous (sic) oh so many times to the economy and social fabric of this country’ is pretty silly.

On a more general point though about the economy, I’d like someone from the ‘it’s all the labour’s fault’ camp to explain to me just what opposition the tory establishment and their supporters were voicing to the laissez-faire, light touch regulatory regime which caused this mess.

Funny how when the city was lining it’s pockets they were all shouting ‘Regulation is bad, leave it to us to make the country rich!’, and then when it all goes tits up they shout ‘It’s all your fault for not regulating us properly!’.

A labour government has proven to be disasterous oh so many times to the economy and social fabric of this country

Err, there have only been 6 post-war labour governments (if you count different PMs as separate, only 4 if considering continuous periods in govt). This on it’s own would seem to contradict your ‘oh so many times’ assertion. One of these was very successful, resulting in post-war reconstruction, the welfare state, NHS and near full employment. Another one was also pretty successful, resulting in 11 years of economic growth, massively improved investment in public services and very low unemployment until it was undone by an economic crisis caused by global macro-economic forces over which they had little control. And lets not forget the massively successful tory governments, like the Heath govt which resulted in a 3 day week, or Thatcher which ended with millions on the dole, the destruction of the country’s industrial base (for which we are now paying the price), social breakdown and inequality. Not to mention the Major Govt which was such a massive success!

This increases taxes, This increases capital in circulation this increases wealth for EVERYONE

You’ve obviously been reading ‘Economics for Dummies’. I think the situation is slightly more complex to be honest.

Capiche?

Jesus! You really are stuck in the 80s aren’t you.

society really doesnt reward the people who go out fo their way and do crap jobs to help the vulnerable members of society

Dead right. My missus is a drug worker and gets paid roughly the same as myself. She comes home exhausted and stressed out, whereas I do nothing of any particular use, get to go for the odd pint at lunchtime and waste time on internet forums.

And today I had to sit and listen to some stupid woman at work ranting about how her taxes shouldn’t be used to pay for public sector pensions.

I have the same problem, although with mine it’s not the spring as I can’t even push it into position. After much investigation I discovered that the limiting screw for bottom gear (largest sprocket) obstructs the mech body, preventing it from dropping down into top gear. I could resolve this by unscrewing the screw a bit so that it doesn’t obstruct the mech but then this meant that the limit for bottom gear was wrong which resulted in the chain shifting past the largest sprocket and getting stuck between the cassette and spokes.

Seems to be a case of bad design if you ask me. Maybe it’s fixable with more tweaking but since I never use top gear anyway I just ignore it.

Decriminalise the lot I say, I am sure the people of Mexico would thank you.

Off topic, but why decriminalise instead of full legalisation? Or is that what you mean?

IME the Council will do **** all, but give yours a try.

Probably right. In our case the noisy neighbour was a middle class type who probably didn't fancy the idea of an ASBO, whereas the scally in this case would probably wear it as a badge of honour.

Moving is probably the best option.

The council won't ask you to confront him. They'll get you to keep a diary of the disruptions. Then they'll write to him to tell him to stop. Then they'll send round a noise abatement officer, then prosecute.

Probably worth getting the neighbours to complain too. I went through all this with a neighbour who insisted on leaving his dog in the garden all night, keeping everyone within 100m awake due to the incessant wolf-like howling. It worked, but you have to jump through the hoops and it takes some time.

I grew up in the Killingworth/Camperdown/Burradon Area.

I would avoid it unless you enjoy getting into fights on a Friday/Saturday night and are partial to a bit of geordie chav culture. If you do end up anywhere near there, you can blend in by wearing a toon shirt, a cheap berghaus jacket, drinking Tennants Super and referring to Raoul Moat as a 'Legend'.

Thanks all for the recommendations. I'm torn between a nukeproof generator and the element technium, but will probably go for the nukeproof.

Just need to decide what rims now. Mavic XM719 or EN521?

PS. RicB, my present rear wheel has an XT hub and it's totally knackered from me failing to service it regularly which is why I'm after a cartridge bearing one which I can just forget about until the bearings need replacing.

I have one of these:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?PartnerID=79&ModelID=11428

Only showerproof but it's quite warm and packs incredibly small. If you've nothing on your arms and it gets wet it sticks to them in a kind of cling film type way which isn't too pleasant but apart from that it's ok.

What's the collective wisdom on tubes for dual ply 2.3 high rollers/minions? I'm off to the Alps for the 1st time this week and have 2.3 HR 42a front/2.3 Minion 60a on the back. I put some downhill tubes in them but they're now so bloody heavy I can barely lift the front wheel off the ground and doing a bunny hop requires super-human effort.

I'm thinking of binning the DH tubes and putting some thin XC ones in as I'm used to the bike being much more nimble than it currently it is but I don't want to be afflicted by bloody punctures in the middle of nowhere.

I clicked this link thinking it was going to be an amusing story about your OH's reaction to a new bike purchase. Now I feel slightly robbed.

Well I liked Ae. Even though I did it on the last day of a 4-day trip which included Kirroughtree, Dalbeattie and Glentress so I was knackered and it was pissing it down.

It probably doesn't have the 'sophistication' (whatever that means) of the others but if you like going fast and getting your wheels off the ground then it's well worth a visit IMO.

I've a Cotic Bfe with 150mm U-turn Revs. Fantastic going downhill usurprisingly, including very rocky stuff. Very good uphill too though, even with the forks wound right out. So much so that I now use it as my do-everything bike and my spesh epic has been consigned to the cellar for some time now.

The way I see it unless everyone stops eating meat (which is not going to happen) its still going to be farmed and then get killed so we ought to eat it really otherwise the poor things are going to waste.

Jesus. What is it about these threads that brings out the idiots?

Sorry, but for the majority of this country it's a necessity

Obviously the millions/billions of people around the world who eat no meat have missed this. No doubt they'll probably be dead soon.

Same applies to the battlefield.We rely on soldiers to keep us safe…

I would think that was a matter of debate too.

chewkw, are you for real? I've come across some fairly contrived and ridiculous justifications for eating meat in my time but this takes the biscuit.

The simple fact is that if you eat meat then you're inherently involved and culpable in the killing of the animal, in much the same way that a peadophile is guilty of abuse for looking at dodgy pictures of kids on the internet. Whether or not that culpability is acceptable or justifiable is down to you to decide. But at least have the balls to admit that you've no problem with animals being killed purely for your own convenience or pleasure, rather than trying to shift the blame onto someone else.

You probably deserve to be locked up according to some people on here.

Rules are there to be obeyed without question, however stupid or unfit for purpose they may be :lol:

I get far more stick for riding non rights-of-way from other MTBers than any other category of person!

Quite sad really. Other special interest groups (walkers, climbers, surfers etc) get organised to achieve progress for their respective sports/activities, whereas we cyclists seem to spend most of our time sniping at each other about riding on footpaths, jumping red lights etc. Either that or highlighting the differences (eg mtbers v roadies) between us.

If you go over to http://www.ukclimbing.com you don't see the alpinists slagging off the boulderers or the trad climbers having a go at the sport climbers.

I've always wondered whether a mass trespass on bikes around say, Kinder Downfall, would be a good idea. It would certainly point out the bare-faced hypocrisy of it all.

You don't live in Cumbria by any chance do you?

http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/cumbrian-residents-anger-at-vandal-attacks-on-cars-1.743478?referrerPath=news

In the office where I work the underground car park is filled with Porches, Lamborghinis, Range rovers and other ego-mobiles and I sometimes find it quite difficult to restrain my more base instincts :-)

Presumably if there were a rule that it's fair game for drivers to run over cyclists with no penalty (which not too far from the truth TBH) then you'd be quite happy with that too?

Fair enough, but the point still stands that however reckless and law-breaking cyclists can be, it's still much less harmful than even a mild case of reckless behaviour by someone driving a vehicle, and so the two things cannot be equated or even sensibly compared.

Whilst I could never condone such breathtaking lawlessness, it's interesting that despite the speed they ride and rules they break, there still don't appear to be any accidents of any seriousness.

You could even take this as significant evidence that however reckless or dangerous cyclists ride, it's still pretty harmless in the grand scheme of things.

If you catch-up with said idiot, just open a door, preferrably a rear one, and leave them to have to stop to close it.

That's brilliant! I'd never thought of that. I've often fantasised about somehow getting the keys off them and throwing them away but the logistics are problematic to say the least.

Scariest incident I ever had was whilst waiting to join a roundabout in Manchester, I heard a car with a screaming engine speeding up behind me. It was obvious it wasn't going to stop so I quickly jumped out the way on to the pavement. When it pulled alongside I was about to start a foul-mouthed rant at the driver when the passenger looked at me quite threateningly and waved what looked like a gun at me and asked me what my problem was.

I guess the lesson is to always get a look at who's driving before taking any verbal or physical retaliatory action.

But did you jump any red lights?

The original Garage Days. Not an album I know but the best record they made IMO.

Well this morning on my 4 mile commute from Levenshulme to Manchester city centre, I went through 2 of the 5 red lights I was stopped at. One at a crossroads which had no traffic crossing which enabled me to get a headstart on the 2 lanes of traffic behind me, and another nipping through a crossroads when the ped crossing was on the green man and there were no peds.

In the same ride I also had a car cut in on me without looking in a cycle lane so that it could undertake another car turning right, and another car turn right across me at some lights.

So in one, fairly typical, ride I had two events which could have caused a bad crash simply because the idiot drivers weren't looking where they were going, yet probably still what you would hear is people going on about the fact I jumped a couple of red lights which affected no one.

It only bothers me because there seems to be a large misguided consensus among people that the biggest issue of road safety at the moment is whether cyclists run red lights or not, and not any of the multitude issues to do with dangerous, ignorant or incompetent driving.

But why should it bother you whether someone else may or may not ruin their day by waiting a few minutes? And whilst you may think drivers and cyclists disobeying the rules of the road is the same, it just isn't. Maybe you should direct your ire toward a more worth target.

Wow. Really?

Well judging by the usual things you hear about teachers (lazy, whingeing, incompetent etc) it would seem the misconceptions my dad had about it are shared quite widely. So yes, I guess. Really!

Never jump lights or mount pavements myself and get pissed off when others do.

Why though? Fair play if you want to live your life to the letter of some rule book, but if people who take a more pragmatic and logical view as to whether a certain rule is worth obeying annoy you, then maybe you should take a leaf out of their book?