On those prices surely the bargain of the moment is the Ariel frameset with RP23 from Saracen at £999….?

Universally acclaimed by all in the industry who rode/tested it but not fashionable at the moment so largely unnoticed….shame, British firm and all that.

Ordered a set from his ebay account last year (EN521’s on XT hubs)….they arrived quickly and were fine all of last year, maybe he’s bucked his ideas up?

Cheers, thats what i thought.

Ebay app is easier than using a laptop.
Facebook.
Amazon Kindle is very good, effectively turns your phone into a Kindle.
Mytracks. (GPS tracking, distance, altitude etc sports app)
Google Maps and Navigation.
Yell. (yellow pages thing)

I downloaded loads when i got the phone but the ones above are all i tend to use now.

Tubes here too….read an interview with Steve Peat the other day and he still runs tubes so probably not the holy grail some claim them to be.

When i was young and reckless a mate got beaten up by a friend’s dad that he was having some banter with at a kebab van after a nights drinking…we were all pissed and a comment got taken the wrong way and the dad of the lad we knew gave my mate a decent hiding….uncalled for, he was about 40 and built like a brick wall and we were about 18 and scrawny teenagers….anyway, we went home got some petrol and set fire to his car.

Just saying like.

For maximum comic effect it would have to be a white man blacked up playing Lenny Henry….and then developing tourettes…obviously.

(runs and hides also….)

Trimix….gas, coal, nuclear…not fussed as long as its cheap and positioned out of the way.
Sticking wind farms all over the countryside smacks of politicians wanting to show how achingly green they are.

Only red corduroy can be described as ‘dashing’….were they?

LHS….i like that, make it happen.

Perfect excuse to make motorbike noises while riding i’d have thought.

(on a serious note, use lock-on grips to stop this happening)

Pikey?

Binners, beautiful….shame about the eyesores they’ve erected in the background….whoever decided that wind farms could be a realistic way of generating energy needs taking outside and shooting….preferably while being made to look at the hideous contraptions.

geetee 1972….well said, Cameron’s detractors conveniently forget about that when trying to paint him as some uncaring ogre.

Slightly off topic but there was a bloke in the news a few years ago who was collecting rain water in various ways simply from what fell on his property/land….he would purify and store said water and use it as and when he wanted or needed to, it meant he rarely turned his taps on and didnt have much of a water bill….the water company tried to take him to court for stealing THEIR water….thankfully the court told them to sling their hook as they dont actually own the water, they are simply a water supply company.

I didnt think is was racism if the people on the receiving end are the same race?…Scots and Irish are white north europeans, same as most English….is there such a thing as ‘regionalism’ as i think that would be more appropriate!

Elfin….the funny little man in your picture appears to be trying to look all ‘gangsta’….while making a gun gesture at what looks like a Tesco value packet of rice….epic fail….has also made the sartorial mistake of wearing the hat indoors and the massive faux pas with the hood also….disgraceful.

Nasher….charging for parking would lead to all manner of moaning threads, which is ludicrous really when people have spent thousands on their bike, hundreds on their kit but wont pay a nominal fee for parking/use of the trails….always makes me laugh that one.

Turnerguy….it happens, there is a video on Youtube of someone with a full-on DH bike pushing up some of the trails in Swinley….obligatory full face too.

Too funny.

Despite only being a cycle ride away from the better known place in the Surrey Hills i avoid them like the plague so i dont run into these pillocks.

Struggling with depression?…. :lol: people need a generous dose of MTFU!

Theres enough land in the Surrey hills area for people to ride all they want, hardly errode the trails and largely go unnoticed by locals….but as others said there are often groups of 10+ people and they seem to home in on the trails around Peaslake.

I dont get it either, seems more like a social event than a bike ride…if they want to chat like a group of teenage girls then they should do it in the pub.

In my usual spot (also in the Surrey Hills) i rarely see another rider, just have to get out and explore a bit.

Zilog….i think that post was trolling but i’ll bite anyway.

Its not about need, if somebody chooses to work long hours, have two jobs, work overtime etc then why on earth would you penalise that person with a 95% tax on their higher earnings?….seems like punishment for having a work ethic.

Really simple, i sometimes do it to take the cassette apart and clean all the crap from between the individual cogs, you’d be surprised at what collects in there!…like others said you’ll need a chain whip and cassette tool.

Battery life isnt great on any of the current smartphones. If i use my Nexus-S for just calls and texts (in other words like a 90s phone!) then i have had 52 hours use from it….but if i have Wi-Fi switched on, browse the internet during the day, post on some forums, listen to music etc then it needs charging over night…no great hassle but compared to my old basic Nokia its pretty poor….my Nokia 2730 Classic would give 5 days use between charges!

I have a Nexus-S but in all honesty all the top smartphones do the same thing now.
They all have a decent camera, all browse the web at speeds you’d have been pleased with from a laptop a few years ago, all have integrated diaries/organisers, all have loads of Apps, great displays etc etc….

….basically pick the one you like the look of the most or can get the best deal on.

The only thing i will say is that the new dual core phones havent been the great leap forward that many had hoped, processor speed only went from 1Ghz on the top phones to 1.2Ghz and developers writing Apps havent done anything amazing with dual core facilities yet….the next round of dual core smartphones should be the next big step, everything that came out late last year (iPhone 4S, Galaxy Nexus, HTC Sensation etc) were good phones but not noticeably better than their predecessors.

I dealt with an extraordinarily good firm of solicitors who sent me a cheque refunding me the total costs so far of any work they’d done and fees i’d paid when a house move fell through a few years back!….they didnt tell me it was coming and i didnt expect anything to be refunded, it just arrived in the post about 6 months later when i’d completely forgotten about the incident.

GSXR-750 rider here, its a great bike….i’ve had 1000cc bikes too but the engine tends to be the dominant aspect of riding a thousand….it becomes the only thing you get your kicks from, enter a straight bit of road and crack open the throttle as the front wheel lifts, change gear and repeat to fade etc etc….fun but ultimately one dimensional.

Also had a 600cc sportsbike which to this day has the best brakes i’ve ever used (2007 zx6r) but was lacking in cheap thrills at anything less than 10,000 rpm….so i got the 750, the engine is enough, the handling is superb, the brakes are good, it looks nice too….no single area dominates proceedings meaning you can enjoy the ride and focus on whatever you fancy….let the engine take care of things and concentrate on braking and lines….but it still has enough go to put a smile on your face when the road opens out….i would say its a keeper but there are so many good bikes out there i usually change every couple of years regardless of how good the bike has been.

I would say though that if pillions are going to be a regular part of your riding then its probably not the best bike….the 750cc engine is an improvement on a 600cc with noticeable shove from the midrange but you’d spoil all this by sticking somebody on the back….if the other half was a regular pillion then i’d get a Hayabusa or Kwak ZZR1400….still fast but longer, lower and pillion friendly.

busydog, more Police carry than is publicly known.

I think the view by joe public is that if a firearms incident occurs then special officers are summoned from some hidden base in spectacular SWAT team style….the reality is far more mundane.

I can only comment on Surrey Police since they are who i have the closest working relationship with but their firearms officers patrol as normal and the only way you’d know there are guns in the car is because of the fluorescent yellow dot in both the rear side windows (about the size of the base of a coffee mug)….they dont routinely wear their sidearm, instead keeping them locked in a gun cabinet between the two officers in the front roughly behind the handbrake/gear stick area….only once have i come across them at an RTC when they had pistols openly holstered on their belts.

Elfinsafety, there are many different types of air gun in the same way there are many different ways of providing suspension on a MTB….some are more efficient than others and you always get what you pay for.

A cheap spring powered air gun will be way under the legal limit and crap for shooting vermin….think BB gun for an idea of what these things are like….but an air pressured air rifle on or near to the legal limit will easily kill small animals around the 25 yrd mark.
A mate has one that is perfectly legal and we tend to use that for rabbits as a shotgun is too loud and scares the others away.

Yes!….

:lol:

Derek the pedant, sorry i got the exact terminology wrong.

I was explaining that the point at which an airgun becomes a firearm is dependent on the force with which it shoots….and i was correct was i not?

To Elfinsatey, your neighbour is legally entitled to use an airgun in his garden provided no pellets leave the boundaries.

Use in a public area has always been a no go area as far as i’m aware….the distance ruling you speak of relates to proximity to public highways….the distance is 50ft not 50m and your neighbour would have to be ‘causing upset or inconvenience to anybody using that highway’ for the Police to be interested.

As kids we all used to own airguns and shoot in our gardens, never had any complaints from neighbours or interest from the Police…this forum really is full of grey killjoys.

An airgun is not a firearm unless its been massively modified…there are rules regarding the pounds-per-square-inch they fire at and the police have equipment to test this.

wrecker, exactly….TJ seems to want to ignore that statistic?!

From memory TJ works in mental health, as far as i’m aware its always been the poor relation in the health service….when i last did any mental health training i remember the lecturer telling us that 20% of the people coming through A&E have a mental illness of some kind and yet the mental health budget of the hospital was only 5%….this has been the same under both recent labour and Tory governments.

Just before Christmas my father was taken to A&E in an ambulance with chest pains, there is a history of vascular disease in the family and he had a stent a few years ago….he was admitted for 5 days and told there would be a follow up appointment with the consultant to discuss future treatment options….the letter arrived and the appointment is for March….unacceptable, so my mother rang the company they have private cover with and got an appointment with the same consultant later that week….yes TJ the NHS is just fine and dandy and it’s improved care that leads to these delays i’m sure! :roll:

Elfinsafety, PMs cant micro manage. To blame a PM for the NHS failing to do more with an increase in budget is a stretch to say the least…was she supposed to make an appearance on the wards everyday and organise the improvements herself?….is it too much to expect NHS managers to improve their services when they get a budget increase from the government?….or are you seriously suggesting they need their hands holding by somebody from central government?

The NHS was also incredibly well funded under the last Labour government, now i cant comment on all areas of the NHS but in the areas i work we all saw a nice pay rise and the patients saw….no change.
Brilliant….money in the wrong place as always.

Elfinsafety, he’ll be able to legally hold those weapons because they have been modified to fire single shots.
Automatic weapons are not legal so his guns are fine….if he converts the H&K back to assault rifle spec then it becomes illegal.

I dont have a firearms certificate so i’m no expert on those rules but with my shotgun certificate i cant have multi-cartridge pump action style shotguns like we’ve all seen in the movies….UK rules restrict a pump action to no more than 3 cartridges.

Also the certificate covers me for several guns at no extra charge, dont actually know how many i could own but the licence is for the person not the gun.

(this thread has given me a semi, might have to whip out the credit card and treat myself to a new gun for 2012) :lol:

v8ninety….i agree with the last part of your post and its reflected in the murder stats with 93% of murders occurring without the use of a firearm….those espousing the end to home held guns seem to think it will bring about some utopian murder free country, it wont because guns are only used in a small percentage of murder cases. This is conveniently ignored by those who think gun owners are ‘violent fantasists’….

Wow, this is still going?!

The argument re. roads deaths vs gun deaths always comes up and like others said, a car is designed as transport but sometimes has the ability to kill (usually accidentally) but the original inception of guns was to main and kill…in more civilised times some guns have evolved to become purely sporting kit that would be next to useless as a weapon but this is the minority, most home held shotguns will kill somebody quite easily.

Has anybody mentioned though that provided somebody takes their gun ownership seriously and safely then why should the rest of society poke their nose in and tell others what hobbies they can and cant have?
The risk of gun death in this country is tiny but the hysteria is massive….kind of like the nonsense that went with the anti-hunting campaign.

Live and let live, there are plenty of hobbies i think are crap but i wouldnt legislate them out of existence.

To use my own particular bug bear (in the same pointless vein as the car vs gun argument) walk into an A&E dept on a Sat or Sun afternoon and look at all the footballers and rugby players waiting to have their ankles, collarbones, wrists etc x-rayed….this undoubtedly costs the NHS more than the gun deaths we have in this country each year…should we ban contact sport?…of course not, others enjoy it so let them get on with it for Christ’s sake.

Some of the statistics make interesting reading, despite the hysteria in the media you cannot buy a gun on every street conrner.
There are 1.8 million legally held guns in a population over 60 million, not as common as the Guardian would have you believe….and the UK seems to have between 50-100 deaths each year from firearms….again, not the thousands slayed by firearms that some newspapers would like you to believe….

….finally only 7% of murders involve a gun, thats the most startling statistic for me….if you took guns out of society you would barely dent the murder rates in this country. Knee jerk reaction from the antis?

To those who are concerned it will be beyond them….sign up!

I did the Eastridge round last year on a short travel HT, yes there are parts of Eastridge that were once graded Black for DH comps….and yes i did go over-the-bars twice on these sections….but it highlighted in a massive way exactly where my riding (and bike) were lacking.
Until that weekend i had ridden almost exclusively in the Surrey Hills and thought i was a bit handy on a bike….i was wrong but it was the kick up the arse i needed to bring my riding on.

Aside from the riding the atmosphere is brilliant, there are sponsored/pro riders competing alongside rank amateurs….its all smiles and everybody is full of banter….i took along my better half who competes in Horsey stuff and she couldnt believe how relaxed and friendly it was compared to the often stuffy and sometimes openly hostile events she goes to….there was a PA system cranking out music and the weekend had more of a festival/party vibe to it than a competitive event….i only hope this continues even if Steve Parr makes a push for his series to be recognised as THE national series.

I’ll be signing up for as many as possible this year!

Cant believe i missed this thread!

TJ is comedy gold, his trolling is so poor and obvious that it has become funny in itself, how dull must his life be?

I havent read all 9 pages so far but some thoughts:

The generalisation about ‘violent fantasists’ is ace….as others have said, certain ‘right-on’ posters on here will scream the place down if you make a generalisation about race, ethnicity, social class, wealth etc….but when they want to make a sweeping generalisation about something they feel strongly about then its all Kool and the gang…..you really couldnt make it up.

I also have a shotgun certificate, to be honest the gun doesnt get used much….couple of clay shoots during the summer and occasional rough shooting for birds when i can get a friendly land owner to let me use a field for an afternoon….i love eating meat and pheasant, pigeon, rabbit etc are great….virtually free when shot yourself and of course there’s the satisfaction in being skilful enough to actually hit said animals while they are (usually) moving across the sky or field.

Being sensible for a minute i’m pretty sure that if you found out how many people held fire arms certificates or shot gun certificates and then found out how many of these owners end up shooting people then the likelihood of a gun owner ending up a homicidal maniac would be miniscule….but dont let the facts get in the way of a good knee jerk reaction eh?!

Finally, shoots can and do generate huge revenue….brother-in-law arranges them where he lives in Warwickshire and charges £1500 per person for a days shooting….8 guns per shoot, beaters to be paid, lunch at the local pub etc….its good money for him and some of it goes into the local economy too.

Teamhurtmore. Ceasars camp is good, parts are as steep as Hindhead but its more open with more line choice. Leave Farnham up the steep Castle Street, turn left at the lights at the top and park in the lay-by opposite the petrol station. Ride towards the trees and have fun on the test ride!
The FS 140 stumpjumper is a nice bike, it was only the SRAM componentry that put me off. If you want FS but without too much travel try a Specialized Camber….120mm at both ends and nice angles….3 different models at various price points I think?