Miele white goods

I quite like Christmas Pud (not cake) but rarely eat much (if any) as I’m too stuffed.

I really, really do like the sound of your Boxing Day breakfast though. Perfect fuel for a Boxing Day ride, me thinks

Thanks Nick

Something odd going on here though.

I removed the ‘gritty’ bearing from the linkage thinking I could remove the seal and clean / re-grease it.

However once removed and free it felt nice and smooth so I removed the matching bearing from the other side (which was nice and smooth) and placed into the ‘problem’ side. Hey presto it’s now feeling ‘gritty’ and a little ‘tight’.

Suggests to me that the machined housing for the bearing is tight but if so I’m surprised I could get the bearing in – I don’t have a bearing press, I just carefully tapped it in. Neither the outer bearing surface or the housing is dirty. I suppose it could be in very slightly off-line but it seems fully in place

Any ideas

@ drofluf – guess it just shows how quickly it dries out

Yep the fat bike picked up a lot of clag. Frequent stops to clear

Is there a brand that hasn’t appeared here yet?

Can’t see any mention of Whyte, Salsa or Lapierre

I’m looking forward to this series. I think it’s very hard to predict.

England have a core of 6 players – all top performers (Stokes would make it 7). The rest are unproven and well who knows…. If a couple of them have a great tour, England could be very good. Alternatively, if they all fail, England could be very poor.

Not really sure on Australia but I think they’re similar

Opportunity knocks for someone

Great thread. Kids on bikes = happiness.

I’ve been going out with my twin boys for nearly 10 years. Now that they’re 17 they both spank my arse around Swinley most weekends.

That’s tough Eddie.

keep talking to someone – us or one of the suggestions above. And please don’t do anything daft.

I’ve had some tough times lately – lost a parent, shit work, depression & anxiety. You’re not alone.

Where are you? Happy to lend you a bike (fancy a blast on a fattie?) and go for a ride / chat / pint. I’m in the Chilterns (Stokenchurch)

Also happy to pitch in with some bike bits – though it’s all 26″ :oops:

Spesh or Trek

No good reason; they make excellent bikes. And I own a Giant and would have another

Has anyone put 29″ wheels in an On One Fatty Trail

Any issues?

Thanks again all

I’m currently looking at this one from Lomo

Lomo Hurrican 2CX

5mm, and with a more durable backside and arms which presumably will be good for coasteering?

He’s bang in the middle of their sizing guide for a ‘S’ too

Seems a reasonable price especially considering he’ll grow out of it very quickly and likely (being a teenager) either lose or wreck it!!

He’s doing his first watersport session tomorrow (using one of the college’s suits). I’ll see how he gets on and will take it from there. Comments on boots/mitts/hoods duly noted

I agree with a lot of what’s been said above.

Yes the novelty does wear off. But I still use mine a lot and I wouldn’t want to be without it. Mine’s rigid and I occasionally have thoughts about a Bluto but I’ve not committed the cash yet.

In my opinion it’s the best bike I own for bimbling around on. And I like its relative simplicity.

Do be prepared for all sorts of comments from people!

also the quickest in certain situations. Most notably downhill

For me, most notably uphill. So long as you can keep turning the cranks it’ll keep going up.

Wow, what a lot of replies – thank you all. I shall take a look at all the suggestions above.

And I get the message – fit, fit, fit!

Budget – not fixed. As little/much as it needs to be to do a proper job.

Dry suit has been dismissed as too pricey and more to the point – likely to get damaged and be rendered useless by a teenager

@Scotroutes – yep, got shown one of those at the open day 8O

@matt outandabout – BCA, Burchets Green, Berks.

I’m picking Senna simply because, when he was on it, he was untouchable

Gonna give a shout out to Giles Villeneuve too. Okay, obviously not the greatest but a ridiculously fast and talented driver. Didn’t he once take pole in the wet by 6 seconds?

Susan Hill’s Woman in Black is pretty atmospheric and creepy. Well worth a read

I hate them…..except the chicken and mushroom which is my ‘dirty little secret’. Needs MUCH more soy than the sachet provided though

Can’t do this Sat but if anyone’s there Sunday am up for a meet

Not my local but saw a pub yesterday called ‘The Mechanical Elephant’ which was a new one for me.

Can you negotiate with a mechanical elephant?

Yep – like MrSmith says. They spent over £700K. Just plastering and finishing the inside would have been peanuts extra.

It’s beautiful from the outside – but the inside, just no.

Tut, tut Frank – a bit early for Christmas talk.

But I do like a mince pie and I shall look out for those frangipane ones.

Understand SaxonRider :lol:

Hate is a bit of a strong word but Michael Portillo may fit the bill.

Was: The epitome of the Thatcherite, uncaring tory boy.

Is: An interesting and engaging travel journalist and also an excellent, common sense pundit on This Week

I’d certainly be happy to enjoy a pint or two with him

I think bikewhisperer’s shout ^^^^ could be on the money

More pics would help

Named after Popes, I fink

John
Paul
George
Ringo

Love to have an opportunity to sit and talk about music and wildlife over a couple of beers with him, I reckon he’d be really engaging company.

I agree, but suspect he’d turn down the invitation.

Thanks for the PSA

Just watched it on iPlayer. A really, really excellent piece of TV.

Although I’ve always admired his encyclopedic knowledge of the natural world, I’d never really warmed to him. Probably because he goes from one extreme to another; wildly enthusiastic to pretty dismissive and I thought it was a kind of act. Seeing this program, I now realise he’s being 100% ‘himself’, so good on him.

The end scene with his step-daughter was lovely but seemed to coincide with me getting something in my eye.

I’m looking out for four horsemen here in west London – very spooky

I love Christmas. 10 days off, family, food, drink.

But it’s way too early to be speaking of it. I won’t speak about it in our house until December – other than a few necessary invites and so on

Bump – for normal, sociable hours folk

Mountain Trax (a few miles from Swinley) will let you test as many of their demo bikes as you want in a month for £50 (one at a time, obvs). They stock Orange, Cannondale and Santa Cruz. Whether you feel it’s ‘ethical’ to use it as a rental service is up to you

Rhod Gilbert’s Best Bits

Very, very funny

It’s good geoffj and I enjoyed his parody. The guy is certainly clever, knows the tricks and can work the audience.

But does he have gravitas?

That’s tricky. I would certainly concur with CFH’s advice; behaving in this way will give you more gravity, whether it gives you gravitas is altogether different.

For me, to truly have gravitas you need an absolute conviction in what you believe and say and not give a f*** what anyone else thinks.

In my workplace (aerospace) we have an senior engineer; highly competent, highly educated. He picks his words with care, speaks slowly and deliberately and if he doesn’t know he’ll say so. Most of all he can be relied upon to state his honest opinion. This will often turn the spotlight onto his management or other departments / individuals (and I don’t mean in a blaming way – just stating facts). Nobody ever interupts him, and everyone has the highest respect for him. He also happens to be extremely (independently of work) wealthy. Personally I believe this gives him a freedom to speak his mind that few enjoy. The irony being that because he doesn’t need the job, he’s very good at it.

I quite like this definition:
‘Gravitas: My notion of gravitas (and I know there are different views) is that it is the external evidence of a deeply held conviction that the individual is totally competent to do what is expected of them and handle anything that comes their way, without feeling the need to prove themselves.’

Few people in today’s workplace are able to live up to that level of integrity.

On a more practical note – I’d ask the feedbacker to be a little more specific

I live between Oxford and Wycombe. Wycombe is awful – end of.
Oxford has plenty of highs – but I’m too old and grumpy to tolerate the crowds

Best bet is to head off into the Chilterns on the bike

Yep, there are assholes everywhere. There’s a single lane bridge you have to drive over as you come into my town, which is often busy at rush hour.
If you get a long stream of cars in one direction, it gives no chance for the cars in the other direction to cross.
If I see a long stream has been going over the bridge, I’ll stop to let the oncoming cars have their turn.
Holy Crap! The shaking heads, fist waving, swearing and banging on steering wheels that this generates is amazing (and fairly amusing)!

Exactly the same in Marlow, near me. The world seems to have got to the point where, if you’re nice, you’re somehow seen as ‘soft’ or a loser.

NHS just as good as private – often it’ll be the same dentist

The problem (in the SE at least) is finding an NHS dentist who’ll take you.

If you can get one – use them

Years back we had a cold call from a guy trying to sell us a conservatory. I agreed for him to come round and advise us what he could do.

We lived in an Edwardian terrace in west London. He arrived at the scheduled time, I let him into the shared entrance and told him ‘we’re in the upstairs flat’….

Fair play to him, he gave a rueful smile and asked about our windows.

This isn’t going to win me any ‘coolness’ points but I’m 48 with two teenage sons, so no longer care what people think of my taste.

So I’m putting forward Supertramp. Crime of the Century in particular.

Oh yeah, and a Yaris is the pinnacle of automotive lust

Mk iv Golf

Plenty about, cheap, bombproof – still looks modern

Probably get two for 2.5k