But o’course that’s wrong- if other sectors outgrow manufacturing, then the % of GDP declines.

So, it’s not manufacturing that has declined, it’s the other sectors that have grown faster and left it lagging? :?

I guess I can’t get away from personally seeing one UK manufacturing company after another close down. I don’t think anyone who is, or has, worked in manufacturing within the last 30 years can deny that the sector took an absolute battering in the 1980’s and early 90’s. However, a lot of the companies that did survive did so because they were fundamentally good businesses. Ironically, one of the biggest problems that I’ve seen in the last 10 years or so, is that some of the best ‘survivor’ companies (with great reputations for well designed and manufactured products), were bought by foreign companies just to be asset stripped and closed down. I can think of a long established company in Leeds and another in Sheffield, where their main competitors bought them simply to eliminate the competition.

My wife previously worked for an American company with manufacturing plants all over the World, and in the early 90’s, the company closed down their UK factory, simply because it was the easiest Country for the parent company to close a factory in! So, even though the Dutch factory was less efficient and more expensive to run, the UK factory closed. (350 highly skilled engineering jobs went, plus all the business that sub-contracted parts suppliers had)

Again, a lot of this comes down to politicians who have lived in the
School/Uni/Career Politician bubble World – they simply have no clue as to what is happening in the real World, and they don’t want to hear uncomfortable truths. One only has to listen to some of the bilge spouted by the current Govt to see that they’re not business minded – couldn’t run a proverbial in a brewery!

If anything, the Eton and StPauls websites just illustrate the problem of the public school system.

I’m not quite a pensioner yet, but I’ve been around long enough to have met a fair few people in all sorts of different social and work situations. I try not to judge people on their background, and of course not everyone who has gone through public school is a lame duck. However, IME, the idea that public schools allow the mediocre to achieve positions of power that they wouldn’t achieve on a level playing field does ring true. Just because someone has spent years being coached into Public School, then through GCSE, A-levels and Oxbridge, it certainly doesn’t prove that they’re intelligent.

As far as thick politicians go, I don’t think the Conservative party has a monopoly by any means – but they do seem to have more hapless/hopeless products of the public school system than other parties.

To give you an example, a friend of mine treats one of the members of a local business family. Apparently, the son who was in line to inherit the family business was shipped off to an elite public school, then went on to Oxbridge – but the father said that he just couldn’t trust him to look after the business. So, guess what, the family suggested that the son stand as an MP (and he got elected!). Hmm….can’t be trusted to run a medium sized family firm, but OK to help run the Country – Great eh?!

As someone who runs his own business and is a prospective employer, I feel very strongly that England & Wales would be much better off in the long term if it did away with Private/Public schools altogether, and came up with a decent system that provides everyone with exactly the same opportunity. However, at the moment, a lot of people seem happy to go along with the same old system of ‘it’s who you know, not what you know’!

UK manufacturing was at an all-time high in 2010 and has grown consistently since the war.

Really?! Just out of interest, what is the source of your information and what measure is being used?

FWIR, as a sector of the economy, manufacturing in the UK shrank about 17% during the Conservative reign in the 80’s and 90’s, and continued under Labour at about the same rate.

since when have facts got in the way of a STW debate?

Exactly, one has to keep the standards up old boy :wink:

Eton, St Pauls – it’s irrelevant really, …he’s still as thick as sh*t :-)

clueless and thick

Well, Osbourne certainly ticks both of those boxes – another great advert for Eton eh?! :lol:

I’m currently running Maxxis Beavers on my XTC29er and prefer ’em to Mud-X’s, as they’re light and fast rolling (for a mud/loose conditions tyre) – they’ve coped well with local Dark & White Peak District mud.

Well, thanks for the suggesting to use GIMP – it’s worked a treat! (STW to the rescue again! :-) )

Thanks again for all the advice.

Just tried drag & drop and that hasn’t worked. There’s an option called Hyperlink on the right click menu that looks promising – but I’ve got to dodge out of the office for a bit now. Ta for the suggestions so far.

Ta for the advice. Looks like I’ll have to investigate what photo editing software I’ve got kicking about (new laptop, so not much software on it at the mo).

I’ve tried the right click on pic & save, but the right click menu thingie doesn’t give the save option – don’t know if it’s a crap version of Word that I have on here(?), ‘cos I’m sure I’ve used that option before.

I demo’d a Pace RC129, which rode very nicely indeed – only problem is the frame only price (£695). I did get a full build quote from Pace, which was extremely competitive, but not sure how open they are to negotiations on f/o price.

In the end I bought a Giant XTC29er (last years model), which I’m very pleased with. (funnily enough, the Pace 29er has almost exactly the same geometry & sizing as the XTC29er)

HMRC having a soft touch with big business is a much greater issue to the nation – Vodaphone, Arcadia etc etc. But according to callmedave, HMRC are doing the right thing and are in fact treating his mates in big business exactly the same as everyone else. Except they’re not. The Daily Mail doesn’t mention this too often either.

Yeah exactly, although I do gather the Mail has recently had a rant about corporate tax avoidance – which is quite ironic given their record (see video for details)

To me the dangers of not unclipping are, though slight (I’d ridden with spds for years prior with no real issues) a real, quantifiable risk, and not riding them is for me a sensible decision based on personal experience.

Well said. I’ve had similar experience to yourself by the sound of things. I had a reasonably bad off, with the most serious injury being caused by not being able to unclip one foot before me & the bike bounced around and cartwheeled through a rock garden. I might have still dislocated my kneecap, but at least my knee wouldn’t have been bent in two or three directions it wasn’t designed to travel in!

Ridiculous idea. You’ll fall off.

heehee, yeah, I wondered if it’d be a recipe for crash & burn.

I’ve got more sensible tyres on my other bike, but the Slant 6 would be on the back of my short travel race bike – tend to keep it for whizzing around Sherwood Pines & Cannock, rather than local Peak nadge trails. Don’t mind a bit of slip & slide from the back, but SB8 just doesn’t have enough traction to drive itself out of longer muddy stretches (anyone’d think it was a summer tyre eh?!)

I spent the first 20-odd yearsof my life on ‘flats’ that were just ‘pedals’ becasue that’s all there was.

Hee hee, glad it’s not just me that remembers that – oh, MTBing with toestrap pedals aswell :D I saw a couple of old dudes riding down ‘The Beast of Hope X’ a few months back, and they were in the absolute spirit of ‘keeping it real’…fully rigid 1980’s MTB’s complete with toestraps and pannier racks – really took me back – had to smile though, as their bikes sounded like a couple of skip fulls of spanners being dragged down a hill as they rode past :-)

I somehow felt very unworthy sat there on my 140 full sus though :lol:

Supposed to be the ‘holy grail’ I gather.

i’d say you gather wrong…

+1

Being an old f*rt, I’ve gone through loads of pedal/shoe combos over the years (both SPD/ATAC and flats). Used to ride SPD/ATACs all the time, then following knee surgery, went to flats, and SPDs for longer rides – now, I’m just too lazy to swap pedals all the time, so I ride flats 100%.

Personally, I find the V8’s in particular are too free-spinning, and they’re quite a tall pedal. Something like Kona wah wah/Superstar Nano’s or similar are (IMO) a far better flatties – to me, they feel more secure and, possibly because the sole of the shoe is closer to the axle, there seems to be less pedal rotation when in the air, and they’re easier to do the ‘scoop’ technique with. If your foot does bounce off nano/wahwah-type momentarily, the pedal won’t tend to spin out on you like V8/12’s.

I guess it’s a bit difficult knowing whether to bother spending more on new pedals and shoes, but IMO V8/12’s aren’t the easiest flat pedal to learn flattie technique on.

As far as technique goes, a lot of what people have already said re: foot position and dropping heels is good.

Again, only my opinion, but I think if you can perservere and master the bunnyhop on flats, you won’t go far wrong. The scooping your foot technique is demo’d by Doddy

I’m using something called Shelter Tape on the downtube of my carbon Stumpy (it’s NOT the same as ‘copter tape) – only problem is that it’s quite expensive. TBH, if you’re on a budget & can live with the looks, the strip of old tyre is hard to beat.

I’d go with the Anthem X, as you’ve ridden one and liked it. Based on past experiences, I’d not buy a bike that I hadn’t had a demo of – even if the spec and reviews look good.

FWIW, I have a 2010 Anthem X (amongst other bikes :-) ), and it’s such a fun and capable bike that it’s the one full-sus bike that I can’t see myself ever getting bored with.

The price that PedalOn are doing the X2 for is an absolute steal – go for it!

I had some old winter SPD boots ‘converted’ (if you can call it that!) by a resoling firm. They ground off the remains of the SPD-ey tread on the fore-foot, stuck a thin layer of EVA(?) on, then put a 5.10 dotty sole tread on. They’re not perfect, as the sole is a bit too stiff to give much feel on the pedals – but they do stay well stuck and keep my feet warm.

If you’re interested, I had ’em done ages ago at ‘Feet First’ in Chesterfield.

What a coincidence – I got my tax bill this morning. I’m self employed and I don’t have an issue with paying tax. However, the tax dodging activities of some of these corporations and individuals really gets my goat.

Given that Sir Philip Green is a supporter of, and advisor to, the current Govt., I don’t expect them to start retrieving what’s owed (well, maybe not by companies that supported their election campaign anyway!)

My recommendation would be Nevegal Stick-e, or maybe my other current fave, a Minion DHF 60a (although after riding around damp woodland yesterday, I’d say the Nev is a bit better on wet roots & stones)

I’ve bought a fair amount of Endura stuff and the only couple of items I’ve had trouble with recently were a pair of gloves (same prob as Boardinbob) and a leaky pair of MT500 spray baggies. I’ve recently sold a MT500 jacket which seemed very tough & well made (only sold it because it was black, & I wanted something Dayglo bright for commuting)

I’ve got a 2011 Carbon Comp Stumpy (the non EVO version) which has aluminium chain/seat stays and one of the first things I replaced was the dreadful Spesh QR on the rear (cam action is poor, so couldn’t get enough torque to really tighten – slight vibrations from rear disk were enough to loosen the QR!) I put one of the standard wind up DT skewers on and haven’t noticed any undue wibblyness since – sessioned part of ‘The Beast of Hope Cross’ descent and it felt great & it also feels OK when chucked around berms. A 10mm DT sounds a good option.

HTH

Not noticed it on my 2011 Zesty (er…but I pretty well laminated the whole chainstay/BB with ‘copter tape when I got the bike) Mind you, my wife’s just bought a Zesty 214 in the sales, so I’ll check the cable runs and do some ‘copter taping.

Cheers for the heads up.

I’ve had plenty of practice of rebuilding/servicing brakes, so normally service ’em myself. However, due to lack of time, I sent a 2005 Mini back to Hope a couple of years back for rebuild, and was very happy with the result. FWIR, they replaced the pistons, all seals in caliper and lever, bushes in lever, fitted a new hose and pads, then tested the brake – think they charged £35 to £40 inc post.

i have never understood why he never seems to appear on any great guitarist lists.the guy is one of the best guitarists i have ever heard.

Don’t know if it’s because he’s too eccentric, or maybe too difficult to categorise for yer average music journo(?).

I’ve always enjoyed his guitar playing – cheers for posting the vid (just wish there was a volume control for the audience!)

Hmmm…with the corporate tax avoidance thing, did any of the tax dodging companies put money into the Conservatives election campaign? Just wondering like :?

while my/your mum would probably fail, as her reverse parking isn’t what it was*.

(*i’m sure reverse-parking skills are genetic, mine’s terrible…)

Not an issue for my parents, as they’re no longer around – but I know what you mean. I think my eldest sis and my wife would both probably fail on reverse parking (just watching ’em reverse is WOAAHHH!!), and I think you’re right aboyt the genetics thing, because my wifes dad is c**p at reversing – his car has so many retro-fit parking sensors, it’s like a mobile radar station! I guess the threat of loosing their licence would force people to learn how to drive properly – I know it’d certainly improve my driving!

Alec Issigonis at his best!

:lol: be quite ‘interesting’ to do an experiment where people all had to drive original Issigonis Minis. er..I guess there are all sorts of potential ‘fatist’ scenarios in that one though :wink:

the fast lane

I think this is part of the problem with motorway driving. People don’t seem to understand how they work. The fact that this has slipped into common usage says quite a lot IMO.

Yep, exactly! My dad worked in Germany for a couple of years, and the locals warned him about the police fines for staying out in the overtaking lanes on M.ways.

I guess the only way it’s ever going to improve in the UK is to educate motorists better on motorway driving somehow (include it as part of a more comprehensive driving test?) – then introduce much heavier penalties for tailgaters etc. Personally, I’d like to see drivers re-tested every few years (including a proper eyetest!).

Strewth, there’s two scenes in the German forklift vid that remind of a couple of ‘amusing’ (er…not for the persons involved!) incidents that I’ve seen :? Bloke wandering about in shock with a piece of industrial sawblade sticking put of his forehead, and (one of my all time favourites) the time when my boss took his hard hat off for a couple of seconds to scratch his head, then with hat off, turned round and smacked his head on a steel girder and decked himself – oh, and the foreman had warned him to watch his head on low girders about 30 seconds before :-)

I’ve seen a lot worse in many UK industrial sites

Yep, me too! Remember when I started work as a teen, the boss said to me “most of the job is just common sense, but you’d be surprised how many people lack any at all”. Over the years, I’ve worked in or had to visit, so many potentially dangerous work environments, and some of the stuff I’ve seen beggars belief.

(latest was a 14 tonne excavator working 10cm from the edge of a sheer sided 3 metre deep unsupported hole in soft ground – with 3 guys working in the bottom of the hole, and bits of the top edge of the side falling in!!…(site supervisor just watched completely oblivious….t**t!))

IME, most of the people that come up with the ‘Health & Safety gone mad’ comments work in nice safe office type environments, and have no appreciation of how bl**din’ thick some people are.

We’re in S17, so will keep an eye open for it.

Still don’t know what you’re on about. Obviously, you’re too smart and witty for my simple question. Thanks for taking the time to help me out

er…yup! don’t be too hard on ’em though, they’re probably all penpushers…..heehee :wink:

I know of a couple of firms in Sheffield that do joiners handtools, but firms that do engineers handtools are a bit more hard to find (many were bought by foreign companies in 80’s & 90’s – they asset stripped ’em, then shut UK bit down to get rid of the main competition)

A lot of specialist toolmakers moved over to machine tools a good while ago, but some of the firms in this link might be worth a go:
http://www.businessclassified.co.uk/tool-design-mnfrs-makers/sheffield

p.s. there is a really famous manufacturer of top quality engineers going in Sheff., but typically I can’t remember the name right now. When I go in my workshop I’ll find something with their name on and let ya know.

p.p.s. Franklins might be worth a go – bit more wallet friendly FWIR.

The LBS is shut on wednesdays, but I’ll give ’em a try tomorrow and let you know what happens.

I have been looking for a 24 hole sp rear hub to rebuild a XT rear wheel, for about a year.

Hope make them, but do not supply them individually, only as part of a wheelset.

Oh bu**er, that’s just what I was thinking of trying with my XT wheel. What a PIA how Hope won’t supply seperately, I bet it’s just because they haven’t got a price listed for them as a single item, and it’s too much hassle for the aftersales person to find out. I’m sure if we could speak to the right person, they’d be able to supply!

(I might have a word with the LBS, as they’re a ‘Hope Tech Dealer’… or whatever they call it.)

…but the two old buffers I met out on my ride today were rather perplexed to discover that the train they had been hoping to catch home had been cancelled. And the station they were aiming for was shut. And the line had been ripped up. In 1964.

What a corker :lol: Somehow it doesn’t surprise me though.

Over the years the wife & I have owned an Uno, Punto, first generation Panda 4×4, second generation 2WD Panda and Panda 4×4. Apart from the last Panda 4×4, they’ve all been as reliable and hard wearing as various Fords, Peugeots, Citroens, Vauxhalls and Renaults that we’ve owned. Not as good as some BMW’s or Mazdas I’ve owned – but then the Fiats cost less than half the price! (er..and in some cases less than a fifth the cost :wink: )

(the last Panda 4×4 was an impulse buy by my wife…because ‘it looked cute’ – turned out to have been owned by a farmers wife who’d been using it off-road every day for 4 years…all the underside and running gear was completely shot)

No personal experience of the Doblo car, but neighbour had the van version. He bought it 2nd hand and really liked it – he’s quite a conservative bloke, and I think he was surprised at the reliablity & cheap running costs of it. He had it for about 3 years, and only got rid because he needed a larger van.

Completely different bikes? Ones a xc whippet, the other an AM/trail bike
Depends what you ride…

Definately agree with this. You could really do with workin’ out what you want the bike for, otherwise you could end up with a right costly mistake.

I had a quick demo of a Top Fuel and Giant Anthem X a couple of years ago, and bought an Anthem X – I was after a fast full-sus XCer, but the Top Fuel was too similar to a previous XC full sus bike I’d owned -excellent for a skilled rider and XC racing, but very little margin for error – loose concentration for a nano-second, and you’re on your off!

I also currently have a Stumpy FSR Carbon Comp – it’s a totally different beast to the Top Fuel. Quite a forgiving bike that has the potential to appeal to a broad range of skill levels (er..again only IMO!). Being the type of Trail/AM-ish bike it is, the Spesh is softer and ‘ploddier’ uphill than the Trek, but on descents, rough, and fun stuff, it’ll leave the Trek for dust. In stock set-up, the Spesh has quite a beginner friendly tall front end – TBH, it’s not too bad for general trail riding, but if you want to get some more bite from the front end and a feel for what the bike is really capable of, put a shorter low rise stem, wider bars and a sticky compound front tyre….and unleash the insanity :D the bike really comes alive and has a playful feel about it, without getting twitchy (it’s dead easy to pop manuals and hop off and over things).

Only thing I’ve found really annoying on the Spesh is that the rebound knob on the shock can move by itself every time the Propedal lever is switched on & off; so, if you’re not aware, it can end up at almost full fast rebound towards the end of a ride – I’ve stopped using Propedal now, and unless it’s a real long tarmac ascent, I don’t really miss it!

HTH

what bike is it on??

2011 Lapierre Zesty 514. For background info., the 2010 models came with boost valved XV RP2’s. The BV was dropped on the 2011 models (allegedly to hold price of bike the same as previous year), but shock volume and tune remained the same as previous year.

As I ride on rocky/loose terrain a fair bit, I wouldn’t really like to loose any more of the small bump sensitivity & grip of the rear suspension – hence the question regarding boost valved shocks.

p.s. when i mentioned in my OP that BV shocks on higher end Zestys have better characteristics than the shock on my bike – I meant in regard to mid to end stroke control.

er…p.p.s. apologies in advance if you got it covered, but don’t forget to check that the door frame is really well secured to the wall – according to my builder, if it’s given a good kicking, the frame is likely to give out before the ‘external’ type door blank does.