We’ve got a late 56 plate 2.2d estate – just turned 100k and so far has been great – had it 2+yrs. Doesn’t set the world on fire but 6spd box and cruise control makes long journeys with loads of kit very comfy. Get about 52-54mpg on long runs and is more economical on those than my 1.6d 308sw company car with 10k on it. Bags of room and quiet.

Available in a range of horrid old man colours. Chain drive rather than timing belt too.

Some sage advice there – feel bad enough asking because it’s a Five and worse still it had BMX-style 26″ wheels.. :wink:

Now where to find some Loctite threadlock over the counter..! Definitely needed?

Ta, I should have checked their website first though – according to their FAQ it looks like 10Nm with Loctite threadlock for good measure. Needless to say I don’t have any…

Bel Air RL for me too, couldn’t get on with the Gobi. No idea about the Specialized one though!

Thanks again guys, just ordered them from UK Bike Store whoever they are..

A.

Cheers guys, I’ll check both out.

Here’s to stopping! Andy

My old man has the 18-200VR and uses it and its pretty much stuck to his D300. I already had an 18-55VR so I just went for the cheap option and got the 55-200VR but even though its a cheap lens it does fine for me.

Have a look here too..
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/

Forgot to add, if I were to buy anything now it would be the 35mm f1.8 though.

Another vote for the Bel Air RL, my Five came with a Gobi XM but I couldn’t get on with it..

Yeah, that’s quite good. Nothing more than quite of course. ;o)

Cheers guys, M:part it is…

Andy.

*bump*

I’ve got a couple of Thule 951s that my 18″ fits on ok (140mm Floats up front). Its a bit tight at the front (the wheel is quite close to the end) but probably down to my cack handedness.

Andy.

I’ve got the same tellybox and wish I’d got it for £360 now – ace price! I didn’t bother with the WiFi dongle though, just moved my router and hard-wired it in and most times I get no problem and can watch anything on iPlayer in normal resolution and occasionally HD too. My broadband is about 3mbs apparently and luckily the telly sits by the main phone line. I got a USB WiFi adaptor for my PC instead.

Strangely, what I did notice is that I now get much better connection speeds with the router in the main BT line-in socket rather than a phone extension socket (download speeds now ca. 400kbs instead of 150kbs) so it might be worth trying that.

My router is nothing special – a 54mbs one which is still way faster than the broadband connection so I doubt thats your issue.

Only other thing I do is if the connection is a bit clunky I just switch the router off and on again. Seems to help clear the decks or something!

Might also be worth running a broadband line test to see what download speed you’re actually getting – e.g. http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/%5B/url%5D

best of luck! Andy.

Edit: hadn’t noticed the bit about iPlayer working fine on your laptop – that does seem odd..

Thanks for the continuing advice guys, very much appreciated. The old chap is more or less all with it up top but I’m sure he is at least to some extent emotionally dependant on the carer.

Will let you know how it pans out but hopefully it can be nipped in the bud.

Cheers, Andy.

There must have been some suspicion on her part that she was doing something borderline illegal or else why would her husband rather than her have bought the car? Typical old person too – unknown bundles of cash around the house which is another major worry should anything happen to him.

Cheers for the link TJ – what I don’t know is what constitutes abuse of this nature (i.e. will changes being her doing or suggestion at some low level) rather than the old boy just wanting to make a parting gesture that she is not a party to. It seems unlikely or at best bloody stupid on her part if it is the case (not her doing) but I don’t know that it can be ruled out completely.

No problem with being an executor and beneficiary, its the professional standards / ethics / code of practice that we’re concerned about and whether its even legal for someone to be perhaps abusing their powers to such an extent.

Will drop the company an email I think, just a gentle enquiry for now to find out what is legal / what is ethically or professionally wrong / what is downright illegal.

At least if I do it it shouldn’t be traceable to any particular carer as it may just be blind stupidity on the her part so a quiet word might sort it.

Thanks for the comments so far guys, much appreciated.

As I understand it the executor(s) is responsible for clearing the house, dealing with bills, closing bank accounts etc. I wouldn’t be happy with a stranger dealing with my parents’ effects, particularly when they could be of sentimental value.

Cheers JY, no problem with a gift being left for the carer, quite right that this can happen, but there have got be limits as you say!

FWIW the old boy’s neighbour was already very suspicious of the carer before the car thing happened..

Yeah, but she’s in her mid 60’s and lives nearly two hours away. They do all they physically can without making themselves ill!

Mine is a 2007 year one I think, just checked and it has Alex Ace 19 rims. Think Onzadog is right about the 28mm minimum tyre size as the Ultra Gators I have are steel beaded 28c jobs.

No info on the Alex website but check here http://sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html – there’s a table near the bottom with green and red boxes for each tyre and rim combination. 28 seems to be the minimum recommended.

But, the 28c UG’s roll WAY faster than the Boroughs! The Tricross is never going to be mega fast but my 28c’s are a big improvement on-road and just that little bit more comfortable too. You’re unlikely to be disappointed! I have 23c UG’s on my “proper” road bike but the tricross gets more use..

Cheers guys, will give them a try!

Quite straightforward, just be careful not to over tighten the t-bolts that hold the arm to the wheel rail. I did and I’m having trouble finding a replacement one :-(

Anyone help!?!

DCS A-10C – not for the faint hearted!!

aldomac – what flavour is your dropper? quite fancy one but I gather the options are limited for a 2010 5.

Oh, and mine is grey too.

Fb

Not sure that these are quite the same routes either unfortunately, hoping to join the Minigaig from the west at the top of Glen Bruar and head south from there. Will avoid the high boggy bit of the minigaig but not the gnarly track / gorge and bog in this “pass”!

There for a week anyway so I’ll check it out first. Can always go down the gaick or comyn’s road.

Cheers, Andy

Cheers TJ, hadn’t seen that website before – very useful! OS maps show tracks from either end hitting the plateau at the watershed but it looks pretty damn gnarly from photos!

Cheers, not quite the same route unfortunately, the route I’m thinking of crosses into the Minigaig from Gaick a bit South of there, round about NN800815. Looks a bit iffy as to whether or not its doable / rideable!

Just had mine through, its gone up from £251 to £268 including tax so its not worth the hassle of changing / chasing them for a better quote etc. Thats for everything except Home Emergency so Premier B&C and cover away from home too. Guessing bikes are still covered – not mentioned anywhere so appear not to be excluded. Calling them now to check though..

Done properly its just great! +1 for andalucia – pay for a small beer or even a coke and get food. Brilliant!

Best i've had was with some friends from lagronia (sp?) in rioja one sunday afternoon. They took us around all the bars and ordered so we had some great stuff. Not convinced it would work over here though, not in the same format at any rate.

And yes, you can mainline chorizo

I saw texas at the barrowlands many moons ago on 23 dec 19??. It was some sort of glasgow homecoming / xmas bash supported by gun, but some of del amitri appeared on stage too. Superb night, texas used to turn up in fat sams in dundee quite regularly too way back…

The Big Dish were pretty good too, just amazoned some cds earlier tonight…

Think they were from the homeland anyway!

Just bumped into Mother Earth briefly, no alcopops..

Bumps are just a little odd, not a criticism as its a great trail!

Just back from a pleasant afternoon there, great conditions. Not convinced by the new rollers and table top etc., seem a bit out of place both in general and in location!

Cafe shut when we got back about 1530! Weird! farm shop on way back south of thornhill open though :-)

I would go for ullswater too, drive to askham south of penrith, up the hill to the very top, down to the cockpit (stone circle) then down to howtown. Up to martindale, cheeky fp then back up the same way to the cockpit. Fast grassy descent to car to finish.
Cockpit to howtown v good descent. Will take a couple of hours without any dramas

I have a fairly new one bought late last year, the only trouble I find with it is that I need to leave the QR just shy of fully closed so that it has maximum grip.

As for Hope's service, very impressed. I emailed them at the weekend asking if I could buy just a top lid adaptor so that I can use my bleed kit with the Tech X2s on my new bike. They emailed me back for my address and sent me one FOC which arrived on Wednesday.

All the best matey, my life won't be changing forever until November..!

Mine ends in November so it'll be interesting to see what happens, not happy if I end up being charged 25% though as I think this makes the whole scheme very borderline!!

Whats a little odd is the suggestion that if you are responsible and look after the bike then you could be charged more than someone who rags it around and knocks heck out of it and can therefore claim it isn't worth as much as the HMRC guidance states. Completely stupid if thats the way it pans out!!

Hmm, might just take the burger apart then and see whats what. How dangerous can it possibly be..

Where would I get a new fan? Same place as a replacement element?

Thanks again all!

Cheers for the advice, will try Smeg I think. Forgot to mention that when the element "went" it tripped out the oven fuse / trip thing in the fuse box – probably no bad thing though!