We would all be driving round in Volkswagens, BMWs and Mercs instead of Humbers, Rovers and Austins.

I doubt very much that his lying was part of a coverup for squads of agents provocateurs or some other conspiracy theory. I expect it was down to a much more common human failing.

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity (Hanlon’s razor)

I, like the MPs, await further details of his stupidity.

New XJ, getting a reported 37mpg. Thats mostly A, B and Motorway work not too much time in the city.

To answer the OP: if you really think its going to bite then swing away. Then have a moan at its stupid owner.

SurfMat – I spend quite a bit of time in Finland with the inlaws. The Finns are a pragmatic bunch. Winter tyres on a reliable normal car seems to do it for them (along with leaving people a bit of room on crappy roads). From what i’ve seen there are no more AWD cars on the road there than here, and there are definitely less SUVs. All the builders just use normal vans/lorrys with the correct tyres. If it gets really nasty they just bypass the 4×4 and go straight to the tractor.

I reckon AWD versions of “normal” cars could do well.

I think the higher road tax, company car tax and fuel consumption would continue to put people off even if we could buy AWD astras, meganes, mondeos here. I reckon there will be a few more winter tyres fitted to regular cars next autumn though.

We are all consumers. While some of our consumption is basic and driven by need, quite a lot is fashion led. People seem to like big SUVs, they are a fashionable vehicle. They also fit in nicely with our obsession for conspicuous consumption.
When 4x4s are being used as a tool they won’t make anyone angry, when they are being used by a tool to show how much money they have then that will wind people up.

Flashing glowplug light normally indicates an electrical issue which isn’t covered by any of the specific warning lights. You’ll have to do a diagnostic read to find out which specific trouble code has been stored.

Have you tried any honda forums?

Spy who loved me.

Bond is getting his end away in a log cabin. Rudely interrupted and then chased down the mountain by kraftwerk on a skiing holiday. Skis off a cliff, union jack parachute opens.

It peaked when the word colour or its plural were replaced with the altogether betterer “colourway”.

6? Thats just showing off.

Good advice from the police – don’t open the door to gun toting bike ninjas.

Jimmy Glass

Melvin Bragg

Concrete it is then…

Thanks.

The automatic version of the honda system in the insight is pants (IMHO the prius is far far better), but in the CR-Z it makes much more sense. Great car for razzing about in.

Drove one last week. Great fun to drive.

Its not the fastest car in the world, but it wasn't a slouch either. The best thing was the handling on country roads. You could really chuck it about. Its small and you sit quite low which i find helps in the fun factor. The drive train was great – it felt more like a 2ltr car. I was intrigued to try a hybrid with a manual box. You could podge the sport button for more motor assist, which gave a bit more shove when you put your foot down.

The only big downside for me was the interior. It looked like the hifi section of the 1995 argos catalogue.

Thanks. The chain and chainrings are all being replaced anyway, everythings a bit shagged after 2500 miles.

Use a zip tie. Make a loop a few cm's across, poke that in the hole, feed the hose down the swingarm until you get it in the loop and pull it out. Worked for me.

Had my first go round the Monkey trail this morning. Top work chaps!

The car park was absolutely heaving as you'd expect but on the trail itself there was no problem with it being crowded. I liked the switchbacks, as they added a bit of challenge to the climbs.

What a fantastic race. The course was great, very tough to race on for 24hrs but nothing nasty enough to catch you out when your brain was fried.
I struggled with the heat on saturday and had to have a lie down in the evening.

Big thanks to sip, the sponsors, the marshalls, rock uk, the locals who were full of encouragement, and all the supporters/pit bitches.

Inspires on New Union Street is great – all your strong continental beer needs under one roof!

cynic-al – Member
Yeah shame group B died but I guess they were losing too many spectators.

And crews too. Wasn't it one of the Lancias going off with the death of at least one crew that really shut the book on Group B?

Group Bs were banned just a few hours after the death of Henri Toivonen and his co driver on the corsican rally in an S4. The trophy at the race of champions is named in his honour.

I'll be somewhere near the very back of the field. I've only ever done two 24s before, and i definitely won't be riding non stop for the full 24!
Hopefully i wont get in the way of the fast guys too much.
Off for my final "training" ride now.

Any chance you can try before you buy?

Try and find out if its just a rebranding exercise or if BOSE are actually making any of the components. They won't be doing the speakers, but if it's got an amp external from the headunit they it may well be worth it.

Thanks for the responses.

I'm doing it solo.

I've done two solo before:

1st time I changed to another pair of shorts after 12hrs, had some cream on all the way through. My arse was okay until about 6 hrs to go.
2nd time I changed shorts every 4 to 5 hrs and didn't bother with any cream. Arse wasn't too bad until the very end.

I've never had blisters or blood involved so maybe I should count myself lucky.

The pain in my legs will take my mind off the pain in my arse anyway.

Does anyone have a local shop that does trade ins?

Mike Vaughan in Kenilworth*

*other shops are available.

Second hand?

The garages and sheds of all these people who only buy new bikes must get full at some point. If you don't want to take the risk of ebay then start hunting round all your local shops for any trade ins.

Just go to the workshop in your nearest decathlon.

The press love a bit of doom and gloom.

I guess solihull will go, with disco/rrsport going up to halewood. Range rover might go to castle brom with the jags.

Hopefully they'll put a bit of thought into a boxster rival.

Astil hotel in Ueno. About 13000 yen per night.

Right next to Ueno park for the zoo, museums and some great rodin sculptures. Close to Asakusa for the shrine. Its great to slowly amble down to akihabra through all the markets. Also, there is a great bike shop on Chuo-dori (main street running south from Ueno station). They always seem to have loads of nice skinny steel framed italian cyclocross bikes.

Enjoy.

Could be Japanese giant hornets, in which case you’ll need to stick a badger or two in the roof void.

Lumicycle will post the lights out to you I think. It’ll add to the cost though.

Give em a ring and have a chat about what you require, they were very helpful on the phone when I arranged mine.

FYI we hired the 1 x HID lampunit per team and 2 batterys. Came to about £50 ish. It doesnt take long to swap the light and battery from 1 bike to another.

If you only need them for 1 race then try hiring them.

Find out who is doing light support at the race and give them a ring.

I’ve hired from Lumicycle before (For Clic24) and they were great.

Q:What to do/see?

A:Women

But take lots of spending money.

Had one just over a year. Great bike, very versatile. It gets used for my commute quite a bit with panniers on, plus some nice long mixed on and off road rides.
The finishing kit on it is great for the money and everything seems to be lasting well. Only things I’ve changed are:
1 – adding a fork mounted cable hanger for the front brakes to get rid of a bit of fork judder (shouldn’t be a problem with the latest bikes as they have Vs on I think)
2 – Swapped the tyres for Kend small block 8s. I can highly recommend these tyres for mixed riding.

A spacehopper. I spotted one of its ornage horns sticking up through the leaves and rubbish at the side of the road. A sad end for mr hoppy.

As mentioned above, the Rocket is fine for a few pints while you wait. An alternative is Inspires which does loads of nice belgian beer. Head towards the city centre through the under pass, after a about 5 minutes walk you start getting to the shopping precinct – head for the bar in the bottom of the old church spire.

Don’t wait for the nights to get lighter, go and buy your lights now. That way you can test your equipment, get more miles in per week and have fun – I’ve found riding at night makes my rather tame local routes just a bit more exciting.

Hopefully this is still there, only thing worth seeing

thunderbird rocket

Maybe the only other positive thing about Blackpool is that it makes the rest of the UK seem much better.