I’m not certain but I think they would fit. 1 1/8th inch steer tube, 195mm steer tube length, and I think the medium frame has a 150mm head tube. 45mm should be be long enough for a stem and a few spacers shouldn’t it?

The axle to crown is 395mm on the forks, and that’s what the frame was designed for.

Cheers drewd

Do you experience and toe overlap?

No worries. I do experience toe overlap, but I have a size small, and have experienced toe overlap with every bike I fit full length guards to. It’s not terrible though.

I’ve got the plug 3, which is the same geometry but using the lower spec tange infinity rather than the tange prestige used on the plug 5.

I got it as a replacement for a Triban 3, which was a bit too big for me. This is the only experience I have with drop bar bikes.

The plug is heavy, about 1.5 kgs more than the triban with stock predals, reflector and bell, but it does seem more comfortable, probably due to the steel and larger tyres. It’s noticeably slower, but rides well enough, is more versatile and is a nicer ride over the broken road surfaces around here. It’s great for my 34 mile mixed surface commute when I can be bothered to ride in.

If you build it up with better components and lighter wheels it could make for a nice bike, just expect something potentially slower than an all out road bike.

Cheers drew have ordered a speed controller. Might also order another buggy for racing withe the eldest

No worries. I started looking up how much R/C have moved on based on a thread on here before Christmas and concluded that if buying new and you want something fast look at brush less setups and brands like Traxxas. It started looking expensive so I went with a cheap used Tamiya.

You can get new 2.4 GHz radio gear from eBay for about £25, and it’s supposed to be much better than the older transmitters for range, lack of interference and battery life. I am tempted to try it myself.

To be a bit more helpful, I have
this charger

and this battery pack

Add an ESC like this one and you should be running again. You may want to go for a better ESC, but that one’s cheap and the reviews suggest it works.

You can get NiMH batteries that will work instead of your old NiCad pack for not a lot. I got a 3000Mah battery and a compatible charger from Wireless Madness last year for £25. You can get them a bit cheaper online, but Wireless Madness are local so I gave them my money.

A cheap electronic speed controller will work, and replace the mechanical speed controller, servo and resistor that is getting hot on yours. Shouldn’t be more than £15 looking on eBay and amazon.

I bought a Tamiya drift car off ebay with a cheap ESC as I fancied playing with one. Bought the above battery and charger and haven’t really used it since :(

30% rent is about right for us. However you may want to reconsider your bills and other outgoings. Things like TV Licence, phone/broadband, insurance. I think our water alone is £18.50 per month. We also spend about £60 a week on food, then there’s clothes etc. And transport, fuel costs etc. It is doable on £1500 but I don’t think you will have much left at the end of the month. I know we don’t.

Sorry for the hijack, I was going to start a thread about turbos, but will ask on here. I am looking to get my 1st turbo, and don’t want to spend much. Is there much difference between the Elite Magtrainer Halfords are doing for £50 Minoura B60 Remote that Evans are doing for 90?

Both are mag, have remotes for changing resistance, and 600g flywheels. There are loads of positive reviews for the Minoura, mostly from bike mags so not exactly unbiased. User reviews mention some of the plastics are fragile. Can’t find much about the Elite, I think it has been discontinued, hence is so cheap?

Has anyone used either, or both? Or can anyone think of better for similar money? I’ve read that fluid is quieter than mag is quieter than air, but how loud are mag trainers at this end of the market?

I’m not a powerful rider and don’t race, just want something I can use indoors as I don’t like riding on cold, dark and wet lanes.

Based on what you describe I would stick with a triple.

I’ve got a 26 running 3×9, and converted my old 26 hard tail from 3×8 to 2×10, but wasn’t that impressed. I ride to my local trails, so do 50/50 road and off road, and did miss the top end gears for the road sections.

I found that I was spinning out on the road descents, and that I could have done with the extra speed to get me up the following ascent. If I rode more off road I would reconsider the merits of 2×10 or 1×10, but for mixed use I prefer a triple. I’m not that fit either.

Like others mentioned I also found I was changing between the front rings quite a lot too, whereas with 1×10 or the middle ring of a triple this would not have been such an issue.

That’s just my experience though, is there any chance you can try some of your mates bikes with different setups to see which you prefer?

I thought Chromecast Audio multi room support had been added as an update this week?

Awesome! Looks like loads of fun.

You don’t have to do this.

Ah, right. Sorry, I’ve never used one. Just going by what was in the video I saw

I’m also in the not seeing the problem with a pan approach.

I’ve just watched the Morphy Richards promotional video for their soup maker, and I can’t see how this would save any time over a conventional pan. The soup maker has a saute function so you can saute your veg and/or onions etc like a pan. After doing this you add the stock and other ingredients, and only then can you close the lid, set the timer and wander off to do more interesting stuff.

You still need to chop the veg, prepare the stock etc like you would if you were making soup in a pan, and preheat the soup maker before adding any ingredients, the only benefit is that if you don’t want chunky soup it can mix it as it cooks. But it also has a blend function you can use after the preset cooking time is up, so it looks to take as long as just using a hand blender anyway.

Think I’ll give them a miss.

The Olympus sold out before 9:00 am at that price. There were other sellers, but at £700+.

If you don’t need an electric view finder the Olympus pen pl6 or pl7, or the Sony 5100 come in under budget.

Not to derail the thread… But can you explain what you mean by …

and offered some behavior that we were also able to get him to do on command using the clicker.

Sure, as an example we were trying to teach the dog to play bow on command as part of a trick training course the wife was doing, but he kept going into a down. During a training session he went into a play bow, we clicked and rewarded him and so he repeated it and we treated again. Then we added the cue “bow” to it, so we were able to teach him on command.

We also got him to close drawers using the same method when he nudged an open drawer with his nose. Not great examples but hopefully demonstrates what I was getting at. You don’t need to have an idea of everything you want to teach your dog, if it does something off it’s own back that you would like it to do you can use positive reinforcement to teach it to do it on command. The clicker is a great tool in helping to achieve that.

You can drive it to get the faults fixed, or to take it back in for the retest. You can’t just drive it around though.

https://www.gov.uk/getting-an-mot/after-the-test

I forgot to mention the most important things but the other posters have nailed it. Much of this ‘play’ is really training. They need training from day one, never too early to start. Ours has a good sit after 10 days and will recall haphazardly.

Puppy book and trying classes is great advice too, or the nightmare will continue indefinitely. Probably takes more effort than most realise, especially in the first 12 months, if you want a decent dog at the end. But it can also be very rewarding and they are great companions.

Yeah, good point, play along with everything else they encounter helps shape them into the dog they will become.

When we were training our collie as a puppy (six years ago now so the advice may have changed) we were told that the first 16 weeks of their life is the most important for socialisation. During this time they are at their most open to new sights and sounds, so introduce them to as much as possible, and make sure they see things more than once.

Things like traffic, construction work, school children, buses, trams, trains, joggers, cyclists, loud bangs, fireworks, laughter, breaking glass sounds, lawnmowers, people in hats, big coats, walking sticks, walking frames, playgrounds, livestock, running water, other pets any anything else they may encounter in their lifetime. It sounds like a lot of work but it really is worth it, collies and collie crosses that are under socialised can be really hard work. (Any dog can, but collies with their high intelligence and high energy more so than most).

As others have said, training is really important as it not only helps teach you how to teach your dog, but also helps you to develop a strong bond. We did the Kennel club puppy then good citizen bronze silver and gold classes before he was a year old, and the wife did some rally obedience training too. We also tried agility, but didn’t really take to it. The trainers and other dog owners can offer advice with any queries you may have.

I would also strongly recommend reading Control Unleashed Puppy

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Control-Unleashed-The-Puppy-Program/dp/B0077BTNFS

And looking into clicker training. Our dog was taught no end of stuff using the clicker, and offered some behavior that we were also able to get him to do on command using the clicker.

Any suggestions for brain games for a 9 week old? I have a kong feeding toy, tried teaching sit and fetch. And the hide a treat in a cup but I don’t think she has the attention span for this, she will generally lose interest in any game within a few seconds.

Young puppies have a ridiculously short attention span. The key is to repeat things over and over throughout the days, rather than try and do it all in one go as they get distracted by everything. The more they repeat sit, fetch or whatever they are learning the better they get at it. Praise it each time it does what you want and sooner or later it will realise that you expect it to do something, and you will reward/praise it for doing it.

We had a collie until last year, and got a poodle in September, who is now 20 weeks. The collie was much better at working out what we wanted, then applying that everywhere, the poodle seems to have to learn what we want all over again in each different location.

As for games, we found changing the toys around helped loads, and whenever the puppy starts doing something it should be doing getting it’s attention back with a toy seems to work.

Very sad news indeed.
My condolences to her family and friends.

It is a bit rubbish to be fair. A rough estimate would be ideal. I can’t even find the +minutes after take off guide for the waypoints. Any ideas?

Click on the waypoint and a popup appears on the left with the +minutes.

I bought one of these from Maplin a few months back for £25 to replace my previous one that cost about £10 as the screen died.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/uni-trend-ut50a-manual-ranging-digital-multimeter-n77cb

I originally bought it to try and find a battery drain on my car and went for this one as it was fairly cheap but could measure current up to 20A, whereas others for similar cost only measured up to 10A.

It does the usual volts AC/DC, resistance, continuity, has a back light and measures temp. Don’t know how it compares to others but I am happy with it. If I was buying again I would consider an auto ranging one, but I don’t use them much so am not planning to replace it till it breaks.

I think you can tax it if they have the green new keepers slip. I think it’s the V62, it has a document reference number on it that you can use.

That said I would want to know why they have no paperwork for it.

As said you have 24 hours to report to the police.

When someone drove into the back of me while I was stationary 2 years ago I went to the GP to get checked over. That way I had piece of mind that I was ok, and it was on record that I had sought medical advice. They advised not to do any heavy lifting, and to take ibuprofen.

I didn’t claim for whiplash as although I was sore it didn’t stop me working as I have an office job. If I were to not be able to work though it I may have persued it further, but I hate people who claim or see it as a way of making a bit of extra cash and didn’t want to be that person.

As said speak to your insurance company about tools etc, and take pictures of any damage before you open the van doors. I also found that my insurance company dragged their heels as they wanted to claim as much as possible from the other persons insurance. They were trying to perusade me to take a courtesy car and claim for whiplash etc as they have their own departments that deal with it. It was blatently obvious that they were trying to push me down that route to make even more commision from my claim. If you do go down this route it may delay the process even more, as they can bill the other persons insurance company for this.

Good luck getting it sorted.

As above. It was overpriced compared to the competition when new, and is more of a do it all road bike than a CX racer. That said I’ve always liked them, but have never ridden one.

The market has been flooded with this type of bike in the last year or two, so consiquently prices have dropped. Have a look at what you can get new vs the asking price for the RX9.

I’ve got a Plug 3 which I bought in the sales late last year, and a Duster I got from eBay earlier this year. I like the bikes, and like how they ride.

They aren’t the lightest, or fastest bikes out there, but they don’t claim to be. Sure they don’t offer the best value for money, but you can spend more and get less from other british manufacturers.

As has been said if you don’t like what they are offering no one is forcing you to buy from them. The industry is changing, but a company the size of Charge will have very little influence on how most of the industry is going. If they didn’t change their line up people would be asking why are they still selling the same models as they were 3 years ago.

I noticed that Rutland also have the non TNT Saguaro’s in when I was looking over the weekend. I might go for those as I am still running tubes as Rutland Water is only a few miles from my parents and I am due to pay them a visit soon. I don’t fancy snapping tyre levers if I get a flat while riding.

Thanks for updating.

OK, so mixed opinions on front suitability of the saguaros. I think I will order a couple and if it’s not grippy enough up front I’ll keep one as a spare and order something a little more aggressive. They sound ideal for what I want though.

Thanks all

Cool, thanks for your feedback. So people rate the saguaros on the back, what do most people run up front? I did consider the Goma, is this too much for general riding?

I take it no one has used the Barro Mountains?

Transition rapture?

Incidentally I have a charge plug 3 and rate it for what it is.

That would make sense, even if only from a mathematical stand point

Mathematically it would be half the time. His point was that it would be less than half the time as he claimed his students that left a full week between lessons took longer to pass in terms of total lessons than those that had more than one lesson a week.

It took me about 45 hours, which was a long time, much longer than my mates, but I was only having a one hour lesson a week, and never went out with anyone else.

I was a slow/cautious driver, and my instructor lost a few students as not everyone got on with him, so probably not the best combination but I was a student and he was all I could afford.

In all the lessons we had he only took me to the town where the test centre was twice. That said we did a lot of reversing round corners and parallel parking, as well as hill starts at junctions etc. We only did the emergency stop once as when I did it he said the last time he saw someone do an emergency stop that good was when his instructor was teaching him.

My instructor did say that having more than one lesson a week will get you through in less than half the time, and recommended going out with family/friends to get more experience. I wish I was able to do this as I passed the week before Christmas and we had a lot of ice and snow in January, not the best conditions for an inexperienced driver, but I did learn a lot about car control.

oliverracing – Member

Torco engine assembly fluid – works great and can get it much cheaper than specialist bike products if you know where to look and is supposedly the same stuff as the bike stuff..

Can I ask where you get it from and how much you pay? I was considering getting some for the lowers of my Maguras. Cheapest I’ve seen is about £8 online.

I made an order on Tuesday evening using free delivery and received it on Friday. I was happy with this but the estimate of next Tuesday to Thursday did seem very slow. All items were showing as being in stick when I placed the order.

I’ve not ordered from them in a while prior to this one so not sure if they normally arive prior to the estimated date.

EDIT – Seller was Amazon, not a reseller

If the Duster suits his needs give him that. I’ve got one of the original ones (non skinny) that I bought as a full bike off eBay in January this year. I really like the bike as it suits the riding I do, but the complete bike with dated but usable kit (Mavic EN321 rims on Deore hubs, Magura air fork and 3×9 XT) was only £250. It needed a service but they don’t seem to be worth much as the geometry is too old school and the frame has a straight head tube, plus no one wants to buy 26ers any more.

It sounds like you really want to keep the Cove, and it is doubtful the Duster will increase in value any time soon. If it would do a mate a good turn I’d let him have it.

What type of bike, and what wheel size is it? Obviously personal preference will dictate what is right for you, but the bike and type of riding you intend to do may point you in the right direction.

In terms of width a narrower bar will give you faster steering (some say twitchy), while a wider bar will give you more control as you have to turn a wider bar further than a narrower bar to move the wheel the same amount. In general the shorter the stem the wider the bar to keep you balanced toward the center of the bike.

If you have a tall front end, or a 29er you might want a flat or shallow rise bar, if it is a 26er perhaps you would want more rise?

As said On One have various width and rise bars starting from about £10, so think about the rest of the bike and choose something that you think will be suitable. If you find that you have bought something that isn’t right you can probably sell them on again for close to what you paid for them.

I updated my Moto G (1st gen) to Lollipop yesterday morning. Still seems perfectly usable, just the UI is a little different.

It’s not too difficult to regulate it yourself, you just have to be careful and make very tiny adjustments of the regulator.
Should be pretty easy to pop the back off a 5, I had to buy a case opening tool to do my SPORK, which was gaining about the same. Asked a mate who’s a goldsmith to have a go, but it first went fast at a minute a day, then slow by the same.
At that point he suggested I get the tool from Maplins and do it myself!
Took a couple of goes, the amount you move the little lever is microscopic, the last time was a fluke, I nudged it a bit further than I’d intended, then just gave it a tiny push back, and left it to see how it went.
Just checked it against my phone clock, which I set it against when the clocks went back, and it’s currently 50 seconds fast.
Which I think is pretty acceptable after nearly four months.

I had heard it was easy to adjust, as I briefly looked in to it when I first got it. Is it easy for a novice to do or would you recommend taking it to a pro?

I don’t mind tinkering with things but as this was a present I would rather not F it up for the sake of adjusting it once a week. I’m not sure how much it would cost to take it to a pro either, would it be cost effective bearing in mind the low value of Seiko 5’s?

^ I have one like that, but in green. I wasn’t really a watch wearer, but was looking at getting a Seiko 5, so my wife bought me one in July for my birthday.

It looses a minute or so a week (not too bad for a cheap auto), but so far has just worked. I love it.

Must resist buying another…

I’ve not got much experience of walking boots, but I do have narrow feet. I’ve been using a pair of Keen Mid boots for about 5 years and can’t fault them. May be worth trying if you can find a local stockist?

I’ve not seen any of his recent stuff but his older stand up was pretty good. The TV show was terrible iirc. Have a look on youtube to see if it’s your kind of humour.