It’s like the crazy ideas a 6y old has but he actually makes them come to life rather than the sensible adult in us stopping and saying that’s just daft

i love a bit of furze, lunacy at its best, just in regard to the point above, theres a nw show on netflix called making fun, albeit a little american, but they literally take kids ideas and invent them.

8ft taco vomiting dinosaur? sure no worries.
Twin racing unicorn bikes? go for it

I just like watching the though process from initial idea to how they and furze are going to make these things work, as someone who has no clue where to even start i find it absolutely fascinating.

Besides theres enough crap in the world, if you dont like it fine, but just move along quietly to something you do like.

I don’t see how they could try to claim it back now their eBay account seems to have gone. Nor how I could give them a refund for that matter.

they can go to their bank and claim fraud, however you have evidence to say its not, so it wouldnt go very far.

All seems very odd to be honest.
Good luck getting it sorted.

Have the funds actually cleared? And arent sitting waiting to clear?

Weird they have disappeared though generally if its a scam, they would keep contact until pick up hen request a return of funds through their bank.

Contact eBay help and ask their advise, did you previously let them know the address?

Shame there seems to be issues as i picked up my PS5 last night with GT7, havent set it up yet, thats on the list tonight as the wifes away all weekend.

Looking forward to getting cracking on it.

OP thats a very brave and honest write up, and i think we’d all be lieing if we said that life is amazing all the time.

I was similar to yourself, early to mid twenties, life and soul of the party, drunk every weekend and got out through the week whenever i could, i could literally go out on my own and bump into mates anywhere i went.

As i got older i realised i was running away from life, i lost my mum to cancer at 20 and hadnt dealt with it and was dealing with it by ignoring life.

Fast forward 18 years and i have few friends, dont socialise a lot and dont really see that many people outside of my family.
However the friends i have got are amazing so i dont need loads of them and im a bit of a loner.

The phrase happy with your lot in life springs to mind but its not even that, i dont think anyone has a “lot”

I still enjoy the odd night out but i dont need to do it every week or every day anymore, i dont need a lot of people i barely know, i need a few people i know very well.

Mental health is difficult – ive been through the lot – anxiety, depression, functioning alcoholic, but the other thing ive realised is that life is pretty mundane most of the time, with some low times and some good times but thats all normal.

Anyway thats my inner ramblings on the subject that together with a ticket will get you a ride on a bus. :)

Most little rash type black spots are actually little bits of Iron fallout that have rusted and as they rust they get a little bigger and get stuck in the paintwork – yes im a nerd but i like to detail cars as a hobby.

Before getting a clay bar and clay barring the car which will most likely work a less time consuming and far easier method is to get a fallout remover, you literally spray it on leave it and it turns purple as it reacts, then you can wash it off with a hose/pressure washer.

I use Bilt hamber korrosol – just be aware that it stinks.

It’s not a 2 dayer though IMO… it’s 1 day of fun for sure

Completely agree with this, we did 1 day and it was more than enough, we then did a 2nd day at BPW.

Assuming you mean Flyup417?

Went recently, ran well, couple of flowy blues with some big tables at the bottom, a few reds, which were fun and steeper than YT makes them look.

Overall had a good day but wouldn’t be in a rush to go back.

Depending on what kind of riding you want id be looking at either Black Mountain, which is where we wanted to go but was shut for the weekend we were looking at, or FoD.

I’ve seen it suggested that many scams are deliberately introduced in a shonky way

Yes and no, some scams are ridiculously well presented and complex, others not so much.

Some of the better ones ive seen was an airbnb scam which took you to a very realistic fake airbnb site, i knew i was looking at a fake website and i still couldnt tell it was fake.
Investment fraud is also generally very well put together, this can prove very lucrative for the scammers and also has big payoffs and time to “get away” as its only when the investment matures that the victim notices anything is wrong and it can be 3 years or longer before they expect a return.

in short – trust noone.

As scams go it is pretty transparent no?

Yes but dont forget there are people who still send money to fraudsters, despite people in the bank telling them its most likely a scam, and then getting the hump because 2 months later they realise they have been scammed and the bank say, we did warn you, theres no funds left for the beneficiary bank to return.

Never underestimate what people will do when it comes to this stuff.

They generally send out to hundreds of thousands of people, theres normally a few out there that it works on, they only need a response rate of about 1% for it to be profitable.

Currently using a Bell Super DH which has a removable chin bar, i wanted a full face and needed to replace my trail lid at the same time so works out brilliantly for me, really comfy fairly light and lots of airflow which for me is a must as i overheat really easily.

I saw this yesterday, i know its an early prototype but it needs to get a lot better looking, it looks like they have just stuck a motor on their existing frame, which im well aware is probably exactly what they have done.

I still dont like that thin swingarm, ruins the whole bike for me.

For any shock bushings i use BETD , outlast anything else i have used and not massively overpriced.

Just managed to pre-order a PS5 through smyths, no idea when delivery will be but they reckon by end of the month.

Looking forward to getting cracking through this, spent so many hours on the first 5.

I have a gloss blue 2017 cotic bfe with orange hope parts which looks pretty cool in my opinion.

No pics of my actual bike but you can find the colourway here: Bfe

This will be the reason i buy a PS5, anyone know when stock is likely anywhere?

Whatever id normally eat for lunch, generally a sandwich, wrap or pitta, filled with whatever i have in the fridge, generally tuna or chicken with some sort of salad and sauce, plus banana, apple and some sort of sweets for a sugar hit.

I can do a 2 hour ride without food but anything over and i need sustenance, im firmly in the eat a lot camp though, although its more of a little and often kind of jobby.

I notice the difference, but the shorter crank for me makes it easier rather than harder.

I do have an 11-51 cassette and a 32 chainring, but will be looking at a 34 chainring soon.

I was also there, apparently somebody binned it on Popty Ping and broke their leg, somebody was saying it was a hard hit from a berm rather than one of the jumps.

Think they were conscious when they got airlifted out but evidently immobile.

Running hopes own sintered pads currently with TRP rotors.

Had all sorts of issues with the uberbike pads, had zero issues with the above and can lock the front if needed.

Yep i get them, haven’t had one for a while, generally screen use and dehydration does it for me.

Like you say more annoying than anything else, i once got one when playing a mate at snooker, i couldnt see the cue ball to hit it, usually last 15-30 minutes for me.

Jedi aka Tony Doyle @ UK Bike Skills is absolutely brilliant

Completely agree – i did a group day with him last year and my riding really came on leaps and bounds, did stuff at the end of the day id never thought id go anywhere near.

I will say that since then have had a few spills, nothing serious but enough to dent my confidence, so ive booked another day with him and tried to really hone in on the lessons he taught me.

The best money ive ever spent or will spend on “bike stuff” will always be skills training.

Marketplace is a mixed bag for me, sometimes it all goes seamlessly but thats very rare.

I got rid of an old TV unit for free a week or two ago, first person contacts
– Is it still available? yes
– Excellent when can i collect and from where? I provide address and any evening after 5 is fine.
– Ooh brill ill be over tomorrow about 6 if thats okay? Yes thats fine see you tomorrow.

Tomorrow rolls round and 7pm hits, still no sign, message them to ask if they are still coming and i get, yes we really want it but im just waiting for someone to jump start my car, im only round the corner from you.

At which point i was out as i knew what was coming next – can you deliver? No.

Second person messages
– do you still have it? yes i do
– great i can be over to you in about half hour – great and they turned up and gone.

I seem to always get asked measurements of stuff despite all the measurements being on the advert, or i get a massive sob story of why they cant collect and i need to deliver.

Despite all the numpties it is still useful to get rid of stuff, but some stuff is easier to get rid of then others.

Although the better looking (IMO) 2015 RS4 is now in reach, at least for initial purchase:

I nearly ended up with one of these as a “suitable family wagon”, but couldnt find a decent example local enough to me.

Ended up going S-line A6 Avant, black edition, 3 litre TDI Quattro, only the 270bhp version, but still goes quick enough to get suspended in most situations. MPG is 20 around town and 35-40 on long journeys, it would probably help if i took it out of sport but for such a big car it just goes like stink.

Drink it – you wont care how much its worth in the future if you get hit by the number 5 bus on the way home.

I bought a switch9er FS at the beginning of lockdown, custom geo, frame and shock only.
Was told it should be around 8-12 weeks, ended up waiting 8 months and i still had to source my own shock bushings otherwise it would have been delayed longer, they originally painted it the wrong colour as i went custom paint, then it had issues with the rust proofing, which i believe is now done in house but could be wrong, communication was really poor throughout the whole process.

However with that in mind, if you dont mind waiting the bike is absolutely awesome, the finish on mine was good, and just the overall build quality is top notch.
Running 160 Fox 36 up front but when i first got it i ran the same fork at 150 with no issues, pedals well uphill and goes down like an absolute steam roller, it just soaks up and eats techy singletrack for fun, it makes me feel like im an okay rider.

It’s a shame if that has changed…

It is a shame but yes it has changed, Simon the painter (powder coaterer) has left and he seemed to be the one thing making the ship steer straight or at least trying his best.
Dan seems to be the “ideas man” with little to no interest in customer experience.

some owners is that it is pretty heavy

Yes it is fairly heavy, however personally i dont feel the weight when riding and it does make for a stable steed, i have also upgraded to the carbon rear end which has helped.

Would i recommend one – absolutely yes, just go in with the mindset of it taking a lot longer than quoted.

They then go into the same branch and withdraw money knowing that they can bypass the ID checks as the staff ‘know them

Very unlikely to be this, most high street banks have to jump through hoops of at least answering/providing evidence that you are who you say you are, even if they know you.

My bank now sends an alert to my app, which i then click on and say yes its me after i log in with my security details, failing that – i need the card for the account and they hand me a pin reader, where i enter my pin number which then in turn gives them a code to input into the system.

Sounds more like an error than anything else, not sure what they are trying to gain by paying in cheques which get bounced, is all that will do is alert the cashiers to the fact that cheques are being paid in which never get credited.

Are you able to obtain any info from the cheques, the bank should be able to provide images for you to look at, why are they bounced? is it due to the money not being in the remitters account? or is it because the name doesnt match yours.

Do you need to still accept cheques, can you ask the bank to not accept cheques into the account?

Loads of scams out there, but the only way i see this of working is if they can instantly withdraw the funds from the account and then the cheque bounces, in this day and age money from cheques isnt available straight away, so this is a non issue.

Does seem very weird, but not a scam ive come across before, i work for a bank in compliance and have dealt with lots of fraud cases.

So how does the scam work?

either what was quoted above, or courier (not a real courier) comes and collects bike and then buyer claims their courier hasnt picked it up etc.

Lots of scams out there currently, recent company i had on the phone asked me to confirm some details, i refused to confirm anything until they confirmed they were who they said they were, guy got all angry with me and shouted “IM ONLY ASKING YOU TO CONFIRM YOUR AGE” at which point i politely said no, explained why and told him to tell me his age, which he wouldnt do. he failed to see the irony.

As others have said, if you have to ask the answers yes. Walk away, report and block job done.

Sorry to hear this, cant really comment on the questions other than when to tell the kids:

From my experience tell them early, be honest and be concise and stick to facts, do not tell them that everything will be okay as it ultimately wont.

This will most likely be the most devastating news they have ever heard, let them cry, let them shout, let them do whatever they need to (within reason) to deal with it, let them know they can ask questions and nothing is off limits.
Anything they ask which you dont know, write down and find out and get back to them.

Equally get in touch with a local hospice or doctor and see if they offer counselling to relatives, our local hospice were brilliant with this.

I say all of this from personal experience, i was 14 when my mum got diagnosed and i was 20 when she passed, and i still remember sitting in our living room and my mum and dad telling us what the news was and what they were going to do, and what it meant for us.

Horrible time for you, thoughts are with you and family.

Currently using fenwicks but when that runs out will most likely move to slickwhips as the group im part of seems to rate it.

In all honesty i just buy whatever i can get in a concentrate 5 litres at a time.

I used to love Moschops.

Ahh good old moschops – i was explaining this to my wife as we were arguing about Diplo-docus vs duh-plod-a-clus.

She thought i was very odd when i told her it was about a bunch of dinosaurs and the worlds first flower. think she thought id been smoking something.

Yes everyone is over biked, bring back 500mm wide bars, full rigids and v brakes just to make the tame trails where i live more “Fun”

But in the same vain No, lots of people can only afford one bike, so they buy a bike for the most extreme riding they will do, which for me is bike parks, however lots of my local trails, flatish single track dont need a 160/140 full suspension rig.

I do also have a hardtail, however thats going up for sale soon as i cant justify having two mountain bikes and a road bike.

Feel your pain, my motivation went out the window during December, the cold doesnt bother me but the wet muddy kit is my main thing for not going out currently.

I have no washing machine at the moment so its a pain to clean regular stuff.

Got my turbo about 6 months ago, used it a fair bit then stopped, recently put the road bike back on it and had a r=ride on zwift.

No its not the same as getting out, however i can up my fitness without leaving the house, i can watch TV whilst doing it and i dont get muddy.

– Never catching a sleeve on a door handle.
– Never forgetting why they went into a room
– Shutting Dead peoples eyes has been mentioned – Apparently this cant be done (Mrs is a paramedic, im not a murderer)
– Shocking someone with no heartbeat.
– My wife would add anything vaguely medical to this list as none of it is very accurate.
– being able to just instantly send vast amounts of money between bank accounts to bad guys, whos bank lets them send over 100k without jumping through about a million hoops.

– My overall number one though is police going to catch the bad guy whos in hiding and putting the sirens on before they arrive.
They might aswell ring them and let them know they are on the way.

3yr old went off to see santa for the first time, He very excitedly proclaimed “im going to ask santa for a tractor”

Hoping he means a toy one as im not sure it’ll fit under the tree otherwise.

@gregbbb

Any suggestion on a bleeding kit and link to a process?

Check out Total Bleed Solutions they do kits for most brakes and have some useful guides.

I hate being followed as i feel like im constantly holding people up, even if im not.

I enjoy following people though especially people quicker than me as as i like to try and keep up and watch what they are doing to learn.

Firstly was it definitely your insurance company? Not an attempted fraud.
Have you phoned back your insurance company from a number you know is definitely them?

Secondly if its not a scam and someone is genuinely alleging you hit them then i would show them bank statements around the time of the accident.

If you bought something from the local shop then it will show you weren’t in Glasgow.
For example i spent a tenner in tesco yesterday on my bank statement it tells you it was Tesco Store 2164, which when googled gives you Tesco Extra in Bournemouth.

Whilst not completely foolproof it all helps especially if you combine with other evidence like witnesses suggested above.

**Edit beaten to it above**

Worked in an office a few years back, when i was trying out a new protein powder, turns out it didnt really agree with my guts and while i was trying to hold one in whilst i got my coat and snuck out for lunch i accidentally let one drop.

nice and silent, but by lord did it smell, one of the girls on a different team who sat about 20ft apparently gagged it was that bad, did i see her gag? No as i carried on getting my coat and sauntered out of the office.

It was so bad i had to apologise to pretty much the whole floor later in the day.

Im sort of proud rather than embarrassed.

Im not a fan of Christmas either for several reasons which i wont go into here,

My wife is a paramedic so sometimes has to work christmas day, one year she was scheduled to work and i got so much pressure from friends and relatives who told me “You cant spend xmas day alone!!”

Oh how wrong they were, my wife went to work at 6am, i prepped a little xmas dinner for when she got in, but that was all done nice and quietly on my own listening to the radio, i went out for a bike ride as it was dry, i got back had a nice beer or two and lunch while watching a film or two and even had an afternoon nap.

I still look back and think of that as one of the best christmas days i have ever had, no stress of presents opening or entertaining nephews/neices, no small talk with others it was absolute bliss.

I do enjoy my own company though and always have.

Dont beat yourself up about feeling the way you do.