We went to ‘Whinfell Luft Drei’ in May; didn’t do any riding at all.

I hope that helps!

(Jokes aside, it’s lovely. However, we didn’t really do anything local, but when the lakes proper are only a few minutes away there didn’t seem much point.)

OP – following on from ‘Unsung Hero’, Shackleton’s ‘South’ is free on the Kindle. It uses quite a bit of antiquated language, and is a little dry in places, but it’s bloody facinating.

I’ll have to put Crean’s book on my shortlist.

I usually read only non-fiction, so the wife set me a challenge of reading more fiction. I’m currently about 4 books into Pratchett…

Search for ‘Roadkill’. Similar to the Top Gear cheap car challenges, with a little more focus on the engineering involved in dicking around. A little American, but acceptably so.

Also, ‘Dirt Every Day’ from the same channel. A bit more American, and with a focus on 4x4s.

I’ve had a 456 for 6ish years and enjoyed it very much. I fancied building something a bit special (in my mind) last year. Its the first bike on which I’ve put some really good quality componentry (Hope stem, headset and hubs, XT brakes, P35 rims, Cromoto forks), although some bits were from the spares box, like the cranks and seatpost.

Not the best picture, but you get the idea:

[Quote] Grass needs cut what, exactly?
I believe you meant to say, “The grass needs to be cut.” [/quote]

I suspect you may have overlooked the subtle irony in this joke…

The Icelandic adventure sounds awesome!

I ran 32×16 on my 26″ singlespeed, which is 52″. When I built my 29er, I went for 32×18 which is 51.6″ ish.

When they need replacing I’ll change them for 31×17, which is 52.9″, but more importantly uses prime numbers…

Ladder chassis, coil sprung live axles, locking diff (of sorts)… It’s like a 2/3 scale Land Rover that doesn’t leak. Or break down.

If you’re after an off road toy or farm hack, it’ll be awesome. If you’re after a car, I think you’d be disappointed.

If you want to entertain Americans go though a load of slang. They love it.

This is always a great bet. We have a group of Spams working just down the corridor from us now. We printed off a load of British slang and made up a translation guide for them. We now refuse to help them unless they ask for it ‘correctly’, for example “cor Bliley, Guv’nor, you couldn’t nip out and lend us a hand could you? Cheers!”

In my experience, when in small groups they are usually great people to be around. When in large groups they can be very difficult; especially in a work context. Admittedly, my experience of Americans is primarily with Military types.

The other thing to remember is that we are exposed to a lot of their culture (film, tv, media, food, et cetera) but the only bits of our culture they get exposed to are Downton Abbey and Piers Morgan.

[Quote]I did a SCAT audit last week when my sister wanted to use my computer.[/quote]

You need to modify your working practices. You should always proactively manage your scat records. That way you’re always prepared for a snap audit.

From what I remember of the Murray monster trails, it’s perfect hardtail territory. I went up there on my 100mm singlespeed HT and loved every minute, hopping and pumping all over the place. The 140mm FS trail bikes ridden by most of the rest of the group seemed very unnecessary by comparison.

A few scuffs here and there are simply where the bike has earned stripes of promotion. As others have said; it’s for riding, not looking at.

‘First Light’ by Geofrey Wellum. A first hand account of flying Spitfires during the Battle of Britain. Recommended on here a few months ago, and very much enjoyed!

‘Just a little run around the world’ by Rosie Swale Pope. A 50 something year-old lady decides to… erm… run around the world!

‘Survival of the Fittest’ by Mike Stroud. He has spent much of his life with Ranulph Feinnes on crazy adventures all over the world. He explores the amazing abilities of the human body to do (given enough fuel) pretty much anything. An incredible book which really changed the way I look at exercise and endurance. My favourite book of all time.

Certainly looking forward to this, although I wasn’t impressed by the ‘Back to Earth’ shows.

My Salsa Cromoto forks came with the same warning. Quite two steel tubes bonded to an aluminium steerer can cause cancer I’m not sure…

That’s a no then, is it?

We’ve just bought an Ibiza FR. It’s got some revolutionary new technology called ‘petrol’. I don’t really understand it myself, but it’s brilliant!

Jokes aside, after years of running only VAG diesels, I was really surprised at how good the petrol engine is. It’s only a 1.4 turbo, but goes brilliantly. It feels pretty much as quick as the Octavia VRS it replaced (although objectively, I realise it’s not). Also, when you’re cruising it shuts down two cylinders so will do 60+ mpg.

I would carefully concider whether the Leon is big enough for your needs. We found the Leon to be very similar in interior size to the Ibiza, and miles smaller than the Octavia. We went out looking for a small car, so the Ibiza is great for us. Otherwise we’d have got another Octavia.

Eating less will make the biggest difference. As for exercise, you’ll be best off doing low intensity work over an extended period of time.

I’d recommend spending out on the Motherboard, and getting a decent mid-range processor to go with it, such as an Intel I5 with a K suffix. That will ensure you are future proof for 5 years at least. RAM only costs pocket money, so knock yourself out. SSDs are not expensive these days, but will make a huge difference to the way your machine performs.

The Graphics Card will be where the biggest gains are to be had, but you’ll need a solid base to get the best out of the GPU. I’d go for a mid range GPU, with an eye on an upgrade after a couple of years.

Unlike with bikes, you can save yourself a lot of money by buying the parts and building it yourself. There are plenty of guides around if you need some inspiration. £500 is plenty to build yourself a decent machine, although you’ll also need to consider a keyboard, mouse, monitor, headphones/speakers and Operating System.

Have a read through some of the forums such as Tech Radar or Overclockers.

Fallout 3 is excellent, but I think if I had to choose between that and Fallout New Vegas, I think I’d go for New Vegas.

Personally, I’d disagree. I enjoyed Fallout 3 much more than NV, but that’s just my opinion. They are both great, but I’m not sure they really fit the OP’s brief… Similarly, Skyrim is worth a look if you’re after more of an RPG.

The trouble with taking the Astra is that you’ll have to drive an Astra. Regardless of tyres, I’d take the Mitsubishi. Failing that, I’d walk.

I’ve had two; 18 months in a factory straght out of school at 16, then nearly ten years at my current place.

That said, I’m constantly moving around within the company, between different positions and locations: Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, North Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire so far!

Agreed. I miss Privateer, so I’ll be keen to have a good look at this one when it’s available.

I gather the newer designs are physically indipendent, but digitally linked. Where there is a discrepancy, the computer will favour the left-hand seat.

Others will no doubt be able to provide a more detailed answer.

If you trigger both at the same time, you’re likely already in complete stall.

The cause of the stall is irrelevant to the OP. The question is; how can an aircraft stall at FL320 and make it all the way down to the water (it must have been in freefall for 2 or 3 minutes), without at some point getting it’s nose into the airflow? I was under the impression they are designed with a natural tendancy to right themselves…?

I’m not a pilot (clearly) but I do work in load planning, and we go to a lot of effort to make sure the aircraft trims and ballances correctly. Yet this one seems to have lost ballance altogether.

Since it’s been announced by the Indonesian Transport Minister, to a parlimentary hearing, I struggle to believe it’s based purely in conjecture.

Another shout for the Infinite Monkey Cage. Although it’s BBC, it’s funded by the Open University, which means that the old episodes don’t vanish from iPlayer after 7 days.

Also, Friday Night Comedy (mostly for the ‘Now Show’) is ace.

After reading some of the reviews, they seem like an expensive bug-fest. Coupled with the problem of needing to keep them connected to the Internet at all times, I think I’ll give them a miss. Shame.

I’ve been out of the loop for a couple of years, so I’m not sure of the different model numbers et cetera. However, it’s usually much cheaper to buy the parts individually and build the machine yourself (the opposite is true with bikes). I can recommend Scan for parts.

As above, a top level I5 will serve you well. RAM costs next to nothing, so knock yourself out (although you’ll need to check whether your OS can utilise more than 4gb). You can save quite a bit of money by using a decent graphics card from the pervious generation, which will give you an upgrade path should you want it. Also, I’d strongly recommend installing your OS onto an SSD.

All in all, you should be able to build a top quality PC for around £600 or much less if you’re willing to make intelligent sacrifices.

Doesn’t get much better than a Singlespeed Inbred! What more could you need?!

swavis – Member

Anyway, here’s mine

Nice. Is that a Sturmey Archer? How do you find it on a trail bike? More info please!

I had mine custom made by CTBM because i was after something a little more specific; red hubs, singlespeed rear and built onto Velocity rims. If you’re after black ones with Stans rims, then you may as well get them off the shelf.

I’ve been away from the Mendips for a few years now… where abouts is the Yoghurt trail?

Air rifles are illegal? Really?

How about a black widdow? That’ll bring down a flying rat.

I don’t understand it, personally. It’s like a revised Baja bug. It’ll work well in Callifornia, but less so in Chiswick.

I’m sure it’ll be great fun, but I think the Atom will be even more so.

Looks like a baby Fatty, fitted with 700c wheels and Midge bars.

I like it. It’d look even better with a truss fork.

A budget alternative to a Jones / Stooge?