I map my ride, the lite (free) version is ok, the paid is fantastic.

The chicken wings are excellent for protection and are one of the few pads that actually stay in place during the ride. Sizing is very important. The have a hole cut in the neoprene at the front of the elbow joint to prevent chaffing and pinching. If you get the wrong size, this will be a pain and will start to get uncomfortable. I use 661 knee and elbow pads in the Alps. My only criticism is that they do seem to be fairly sacrificial. I have had two big crashes, one on a fire road in the alps which tore open the elbow guard and one in the forest of dean which again tore open the pad.
To be fair, the spill in the alps was a 30 mph off on rocks the size of melons, very sharp. I think it would have been an airlift and a trip to the hospital without them.

Thoroughly reccomended. Hope that helps!!

Brother in laws missus has a new MX5, It's not so much the weight but the mid engine design, there is no weight on any of the wheels, same for MG,s 911' s2000's etc etc.
I'm in an S reg corsa 1.3, yet to be totally stuck and if I do start sliding down my road I just steer into the banks, it's only worth about £50. Definitely the way forward, cars you don't care about .
I live on a steep hill in the cotswolds, I agree with the revving thing, people don't have a clue when it comes to snow.

Body board, the best by far.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDEQH2n2tN8
Last years action!!
O anything put inside a compost/dog food bag, goes like stink!!
I am still looking for a free set of battered old ski's for next years super build if any are going???

Never wear a pair of speedo's if the the "S" has worn off. Nothing to do with this thread but the photo of SB in those shorts and the last post made me think of it.

Vodaphone get the I phone in a little while. Call them and find out when. It is by far the most user friendly phone I have ever had, takes good pics and as far as music, you can download form itunes wherever you are and as it's a apple product, it actually works on itunes. Internet is actally useable and very easy to navigate
Apps are awesome, even if you don't really use a phone for much more than calling and music, you will still find loads to amuse. Map software is excellent, can download sat nav apps for less than £20.
I give it 10/10 all day long, just had a nokia N96 which was shocking and a samsung jet which I thought at the time was a good phone, i now know it was also abysmal compared to the Iphone.
I tend to try and avoid being sucked in by marketing, but in this case I am glad I was.
In fact your only problem you will have that I can see is that you have the misfortune of being a Vodaphone customer. i feel for you!!

I did Cranham last year in the snowy conditions. It was -3 so positively warm compared to tonight. My camelbak valve was faulty, at the end of the ride I looked down at my top tube and it had hundreds of little balls of ice. The water dripping onto the top tube froze on impact. Very cold tonight, you are a braver man than I!!
Good vid.

Awesome place, start from the very top, good maps to keep you on the blue and red runs. If you are a competent rider, the blacks are great tracks but may be a little much for the missus.
Riding over glaciers is something else. I must say hough. I did a two day trip there from being based in Morzine. It was plenty for two days. The descents are KILLERS on arms, hands and brakes. Take spare pads.
You are exposed to the sun the entire time you are on the mountain, there is little or no tree cover as it higher than the tree line for the majority of the time.
The fire roads at the top are sketchy with sharp rocks, even a low speed off could be nasty so put on basic arm and knee armour.
1 of our group had asthma. He really struggled 3300 m up, bear that in mind. Take 4 spare tubes, it would be no fun at all to miss the descent after 30 mins of lifts up for the sake of a blow out (which WILL happen)
All in all a fantastic place to ride, not sure it would keep me amused for a whole week but it's epic scenery and short of Whistler, the best singletrack riding in the world with descents of 45 minutes achieveable.

Have fun!!

Combi boiler, only about 5 years old. There are polly pipes running inside the house but under the eaves, i guess it might be them but they are inaccessible.

Any ideas on how to locate the pipe 2nd floor sucks air in when opened, as does the first, so i am guessing the blockage is on the ground floor, does that sound like reasonable logic?

Just waiting for the patch of water on the ceiling at the moment!!

41 mph on a run down to the chalet in the french alps, on a dh rig. I didn't believe it when I was shown and insisted on a re run the next day, It was correct. It was at the end of the week and the center strip of the tyre was bald as you like. Overtaking cars on some sections 😯

Thanks for the help, but still no further.
bigshape, yes you are correct. I have looked on the netgear site and I have the download.
I download it but I am a new Mac user. I have to unzip the file. In windows it is just that, right click and "unzip". No idea how to unzip with a Mac (that sounds wrong) When i try to install the updated software without unzipping, it goes on for hours.

Any Mac users out there can help. I think the update to the router will sort the problem, but can't do it without the above.

Waiting with baited breath.

Cheers all.

WPK-PSA I think it is. I connected with an ethernet cable and it was fine, connected straight away, so it should be able to connect wirelessly shouldn't it?

Tried, but can't keep out of this one!!
My job brings me into contact with addicts daily.
Some nice, some leeches on society once addicted and some leeches on society before they were addicted but now have an excuse!!
Relative was a junky for years, she turned her life around and is now married. She is guess one of those that some in this thread would have given up on?
But don't go thinking am soft on addicts. EVERYONE comes to a junction in life and most make a conscious decision to take a specific fork. have had the opportunity to use cocaine, cannabis, speed and heroin. Some friends did, I never chose to. Had I made the conscious decision to use, who's fault would the consequences have been? The dealer, no not really. There are hundreds of deadly things available to us, when a fatal car crash occurs, is it Fords fault…..
We are all individuals who's choices are there to be made. We live in a free country. Death, taxes and jail if we do wrong are unavoidable and will be enforced by the state, everything else is choice.
I go to lots of overdoses, all sad but only because it is a human life. The majority of OD's are of benefit to society as a whole, each addict is responsible for a MASSIVE slice of crime in his/her local area,but not to the family who have lost a much loved son, daughter, mother or father.
When you see the children who are involved in the life of a junkie, it is shocking.
I shall stop now or else i could go on for days.
It's a shame that this link is off line, it would open some eyes on this forum but the introduction is very informative. Favorite it and re visit when it is up and running again, if you bothered to post on this thread you should see it.
http://www.talesofgloucester.co.uk/

There are loads of them. I am in the same position as you. I read the reviews but they all seem to get criticised for one reason or the other. The Sanyo mini flash recorders seem to be the ones to go for. This one gets a good review and is waterproof. A fairly useless feature on the face of it but if you are likely to use it for riding, you can film in the rain or not have to worry if it is in your pack and get caught in a storm.
Toshiba camileo seems to get bad press, not good in low light and slow to focus.
If you do get one, let me know which one and how it performs.

Oops forgot the link.. edit!

What are you waiting for?? it's the chance of a lifetime.

Come on!!! Supposed to be buying it tomorrow morning (organised as always)

Have you tried mountain biking? 😉

Get a Bengal, they are nuts. Ours attacks the two 16 stone mastiffs, which really pisses them off and gets played with by the kids and doesn't bat an eyelid. Cost a few quid mind. If you go for a pet, £4-500, a breeding cat £800-1200 and a show breeder £1200 and up.
They love water and are happy to be pushed and pulled around. Oh and they look absolutely stunning, everyone who visits will want one.

I think she already scored a major coke deal before she came on, she was wasted. Cosmic!!

Dirtynap, I can relieve you of that feeling by taking your 303 for free, you will feel all warm and fuzzy knowing you have helped a fellow biker. Send your address and i will pick it up tomorrow. I won't even charge you petrol costs to get there. there you go, problem solved!! Lucky Bast**d!!!!

Susie is right. There is a lift but a long walk at the end of it.
On a similar note, in Chatelle this year, we did "one last run" down the super Chatelle. The sign at the top said the lift was closing at 5.30. Got to the bottom and the lovely French man said it closed at 5.05??? lazy git. We had to push downhill bikes up the super chatelle in the rain. It took 2 hours and was probably a 1200m climb up.
So yes, be careful. They don't seem to care that they put tourists in extreme danger, potentialy laving them stranded on top of the Alps in bad conditions, just want to get home for tea!!

http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/2962130/

Can anyone give me a plain english instruction on how to post pictures on here??

Anyway, my bike, an 07 front with an 08 rear so it doesn't go snap like all the other 07's did!!
See very few of these around, i love it. It went to the Alps again this year, it was the only bike that stayed in one piece!!

Wounding involves using a weapon. If the weapon is used with pre meditated thought, ie picking up a glass and walking over to someone and using it to inflict injury (consistent with at least a ABH, that being breaking the skin) that is wounding with intent, section 18 of the OAP act 1861 reflects. Punching someone and knocking their teeth out is GBH. If he is saying that is what he has been charged with and he used no weapon at all, he shouldn't be charged with a wounding.
Although I'm guessing someone who did that is probably not overly proud of telling others and we humans are very good at feeding others the information that we know will get the answer we want. What I mean by that is that he probably had a hulking great ring on or something he KNEW (pre meditated) or ought to have known would inflict injury, but has rather conviniently omited that little snippet of information from the story!!

Darrell,
I appreciate what you are saying, but… I do have larger than normal dogs but as an example, my oldest mastiff, Sadie had a knee operation that cost 4.5K all in at the time. It took 6 months to get her walking properly. Her other knee is now playing up, Guess what, another 4.5K operation. Simple I hear you say, however the insurance company is saying (and strangely, I agree) that the stress of using 1 good leg for 6 months to do the work of two legs while the other was healing is effectively the same injury as it is likely the cause of thr second knee. £9k!!! I am insured for life with no limit. Can you imagine having to foot that bill without insurance.
Anyone with a pedegree dog would be mad not to insure.

Cheesy,

That is "ebay crap" GOLD. i have just finished an uncontrolable laughter fit having woken my wife up who is now wonering why I am crying.
What's up with these people?
Class.

I have gone off malt loaf.
I discovered it makes a fantastic meal suppliment. So fantastic in fact, I ate two of the things straight from the pack for 3 days running. Kept me going a treat and filled me up nicely…………………………… 2 weeks and a prescription later I finaly "ejected" the part my body didn't use. Worryingly, had I kept the bag, I could probably have taken it back for a full refund, It looked exactly the same (round, not square obviously!!)
Let that be a lesson to you all, it cloggs you up.

Sorry if anyone was eating while reading that, which is more than I could do with burst blood vessels in me eyes!!:-0

WTF!!!! Having sat through the olypics, I should have known beeter than to click the jar thing.
Never again will I moan about catching me 2 veg on the back of the saddle!!
Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong!

Sale of goods act states "fit for purpose" and "as described" Which these appear not to be. The job of a tyre is to provide grip, which these have failed to do. You will struggle to prove it's not your wifes driving (not that I am suggesting she has done anything wrong, but they will)however, they are still obliged to do something. Suggest getting the original spec ones from the same company to show loyalty, then taking up the issue with their head office. They will struggle to answer why you would go to the expence of fitting new tyres so soon after having the Yokos fitted.
Good luck

Gooner,

Hi, I breed English mastiffs so have a good idea from the customer and owner point of view.
Don't scrimp on cheap policies, It is a scarily false economy. I hope your dog is healthy for life, but if it's not, it can cost as much as a half decent car over the life of your dog.
Yes, the premium can be reviewed but will still be cheaper than trying to get a new policy with a pre existing condition, So:
Don't go for a 2K(for example)per illness policy as if in later years, your dog develops arthritis as a result of the injury that cost 2K years ago, the insurance company won't pay out
Do go for a covered for life policy but as I said, make sure there isn't a limit on the claim per illness, at least not a stupidly low one.
Do check that the insurance company will pay the vet direct. Some will ask you to pay then reimburse you,also check your vet will let the insurance company pay them and not expect you to fork out first
Do get your puppy chipped and tagged
Being a springer this next one might be difficult!! Try not to let your dog out of sight in popular walking areas. Theft of pedigree dogs is becoming huge. (at the risk of sounding cold hearted, the insurance will cover replacement, but that hardly helps). Hope that helps. I have used Sainsburys, Tesco and Pet plan, all of whom have been fantastic and have never quibled a claim. Currently with Pet plan.
If you have any other questions, email me at twinfolk@aol.com
All the best

I think it depends on the frame. Mine is a GT DHi, for those not familiar, this is it http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/2962130/. The carbon tower comes off but the frame is a monocoque with lots of angles and hard to reach corners. If you have something like a 222/3/4 with internal cable routing, its not so difficult to run an electric polisher over it, otherwise you have to remove cables.
Anyone got any idea of how much a clear coat will cost for the front and rear?

Pants,

Sounds like a cracking idea, but I have polished it myself as I need to do it on the cheap

RealMan,
I hadn't thought of that. I will give it a go after I have finished lacquering my sandwiches!!

I will post a link to pinkbike soon where I will put pics. Still got the swingarm to do so it will be a few days yet. looks awesome, but I suspect it will end up painted i it needs polishing after every ride!!

Cync-al, why so cynical.
No you are right it is going to look gash. At the end of the day, I will have to ride it as it is. I have started on the front triangle already.
I bought nitromors as it said “paint remover” on the tin. It should say “paint teaser” on the tin, it’s crap!! I don’t know what GT used to paint the frame but it is obviusly baked on, I have done more scraping than anything.
Anyway, one of those wish I had never started jobs and a lesson learned for the future.
Thanks for all the help.

Right, tonight I will do battle with a very complicated (GT Dhi, the monocoque one) frame. The front triangle is easy, it’s just a block of ali. The rear swingarm is a pig, the suspension tower is a tangle of struts and braces. Wish me luck!!!

Cheers for all the replies, very helpful. I am looking at getting the web site designed at the moment.
To clarify, i am not buying a going concern but starting up a new company from scratch. I think I can finance the first couple of months with the sale os my bike!!!!!!!!!!:-( If the clients come my way, I will then be confident enough to aproach a bank and will have a proven, if small client base.
I am also in full time employement but have 4 days off in 10, usualy weekdays so it is wasy to work towards the start up.

I will bag it up and take it to the tip. I’m supposed to be riding it tomorrow evening and the person I am riding with is coming down from Leeds to see me so I can’t cancel. Anyone got any idea if I will be able to get it done in a few hours or so??? I know it’s a bit of a silly question but I don’t want to get half way through the job and not be able to ride. On the other hand, I have started sanding and it looks like a bag of S*** at the moment, at least if I get the paint off, I can strip it after the ride and re paint it.

Jonb, Is nitromors available from most DIY stores? and is that a trade name or an on the shelf name?
How long is it likely to take to strip the paint, I know it will be a gooey toxic mess but will it come off fairly easily?

Cheers

Thanks for all the advice. It’s so easy to talk about, so hard to start. It’s a business that already has 4 main operators in this country. I don’t think they are doing it very well though. No advertising, no chasing of customers and seemingly no “spark”. From what I can make out, the current operators are just waiting for the customers to come to them rather than chasing, I’m sure I could offer a better service, product and ongoing business relationship with customers.
Not much needed to start up either, I am selling my motorbike and borrowing a couple of K. Think I just have to dive in. To be fair, I’m not looking at re mortgaging the house so there is no huge risk.

I’m irresistable to women,
they just haven’t realised yet!!