If you are thinking of new have a look at the latest Honda Jazz. Incredible amount of space on offer for the size, like a tardis. The overall design is really impressize. Fuel economy is also very very good at 53mpg combined for a petrol 1.4! Smooth but not a driver's car. You won't be chucking it around corners…

Other than that I couldn't find fault.

Risers and shorter stem (try 80mm) may well go some way to helping. Worth getting something cheap on the classifieds to try a few positions and then 'upgrading' once you have found the right spot.

Also look at how much the forks are compressing when your weight is pushed forward descending. If they are set up too soft (i.e. could be too much neg chamber pressure) you will find that they dive into the stroke and steepen the head angle, making the bike more difficult to handle.

I spoke to Tony (I think that was his name) about 3 weeks ago, he was juggling work as Dave was in hospital. It may be that Dave is still off?

Like BigJohn says, Tony is often out on the road and may only be in once or twice a week.

Seemed very helpful when I spoke to him and got things turned around very quickly when he dealt with the warranty issue.

Thanks BJ (uh, maybe should use BigJohn)

It looks like you can have your cake and eat it. I've taken a punt with these folks:
5 Quid Hosting

They are PHP/Linux/MySQL friendly and come with excellent feedback here:
http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews-all-68837.html

Thanks Nezbo, I'll check them out.

Anyone used Heart Internet or One.Com?

My brief exploration of One.Com gave me the impression that the control panel is a bit limited.

Siren Cycles do a lush 29er softail. Very, very nice indeed. Colour options are good too. Bit out of my price range though 🙁

They've also been used on the GDR route.

Siren 29er Softail Cycles

Pedal on in Tadley is also very close – worth popping in there as well.

Maybe make sure the brakes are loose enough to move in the event of a crash? Can’t see it compromising safety as they could still be done up pretty tight.

pmsl@rocketdog & jtd XD

My girlfriend has one and she loves it. I think she pays £25 a month with Vodafone.

It has some excellent apps and features and all round seems a tidy phone.

Battery life – if wifi and GPS are turned off it can last a couple days. If they are turned on and the phone is being used heavily (video, etc) then battery life goes down to 3-4 hours. About the same as an iPhone really. I believe it improves in the first six months.

Build quality seems good, my only dislike with it is the sensitivity of the touch screen. I personally don’t think it’s quite as good as the iPhone. The scrolling isn’t as smooth either, but it’s still pretty good.

The possibilities opened up with 3g are excellent though – I think it’s pretty good value for what it is.

NZCol – Similar situation to yourself last Summer. Father had terminal cancer. I never grew up being particularly close to him emotionally in a father-son way, however, just spending a bit of time together chilling, going for walks when he was strong enough, talking about random day to day stuff. This was really therapeutic for both of us. I think at one point we were waxing lyrical about OS maps, and how incredible the level of detail is – stuff like that.

I did find it difficult to deal with, almost to the point where I felt like I wanted to bury my head in the sand. But in the end I was glad that we did spend some time together, and it was those little conversations about stuff that will be some of my overriding memories.

All the best.

Dancake – Fox forks are notorious for this.

[Cynic mode]

Seller probably thought ‘these feel a bit rough, better get them sorted – haven’t touched ’em for 2 years’.

So off he goes to the LBS, when upon inspection they tell him that they are knackered. Replacement stanchions + service will cost him the best part of 200 quid. ‘Stuff that’ he says –’ just put ’em back together’. ‘I’ll flog ’em on’ he thinks.

So that’s exactly what he does and unfortunately you are the unlucky chap to purchase said pony forks.

[/cynic mode]

Discuss it with the seller, he may well be hoping you wouldn’t pull them apart for a while.

Second Jacksta. Racing Ralph and Nobby Nic is a very fast and grippy summer combo. Roll very nearly as well as SB8’s but much more predictable when it comes to grip and less likely to get overfaced all round 🙂

Enjoy!!!!

FM, Cheers

It’s a fairly normal pattern for the GP to run out of options and lose interest if nothing shows up on the radar (which is not uncommon). There are plenty of long-term Lyme sufferers who have had a Negative result with the Western Blot test that the NHS utilise whom have gone on to test Positive with more reliable US methods.

I don’t claim to be an expert by a long shot, but this is the feedback I’m getting after a good deal of research.

Hope I don’t sound patronising but it’s easy to resign oneself to a long-term illness but there are long term implications for not treating Lyme Disease so I reckon you owe it to yourself to take action when you can.

All the best mate..

Nothing on mtbr and MTBCast as far as I can see, so maybe no racers this year?

Tour Divide taken over now?

Yes agree with TJ, this could easily be a similar post on a rambler’s forum complaining about mtbers on their favourite trails.

Also agree with the comment above regarding Thetford 🙂

Live and let live?

you want one if these-

http://www.whytebikes.com/2009/19cteam.html

That looks proper tasty and is light as **** 😀

Steve (Wilkinson) and Alan Goldsmith are way up there and setting a blistering pace – keep it up guys!

🙂

Kickstart! It’s like I’m living the dream!

Got to level 17 then had enough though, thank you very much… 😀

TJ – I have been in contact with Bruce and his info has been really helpful – thanks for sorting that out.

Fieldmarshall – I have joined a group called Eurolyme, it is very informative, I would suggest joining and looking for information on a Lyme literate doc.

By all accounts the tests carried out by the NHS are very unreliable. Unfortunately they are the key to getting treated – unless you seek out a private Lyme specialist, which appears to be what a considerable number of patients end up doing.

Kicks off tomorrow folks…gonna be a good one 🙂

http://tourdivide.org/

Don’t forget MTBCast for the excellent coverage…

http://mtbcast.com/wordpress/

Raglan – Try VLC,you can install it using synaptic package manager unders System>Adninistration. Should be a breeze.

EDIT – Justrealised that the new Acer Netbooks are running Linpus Lite, in which case ignore the above instructions as I assumed it would be running Ubuntu.

There should be some kind of Package manager that will let you install VLC if it does not already let you watch movies/video.

Hi aP,

haven’t been up there for a couple of years, but I’d say it’s definitely single-speed worthy. There are a few gradients, so I guess it depends like using your SS for that. Actually, now I come to think of it there is one steep climb you would probably be pushing up on a SS.

The Friston route can be a little dodgy when the chalk is wet, so watch for early morning dew or rain.

Thanks for everyone’s thoughts and experiences. Cheers all, appreciate it.

Alwyn – that is very kind of you, thanks. I hope he wouldn’t mind me dropping him an email. I wish all the best to your Grandma.

My email address is andrew_brough(at)hotmail.co.uk

Nice tick. Kind of reminds me of a raisin

Rich – have experienced a period very much like that 2+ years back.

I think the diagnosis was missed at the time, much better now thankfully, but have struggled to get back on the bike and have now developed arthritis in my knees at 28. Rheumatoid arthritis has already been ruled out, which I am partly thankful for 😉

Cheers all. Email is andrew_brough(at)hotmail.co.uk

Cheers Realman, read most of the info on Lyme now – particularly interested in anecdotal experiences and/or recommendations for docs in the South East.

I’ve got some Manitou Skarebs (05) on one bike, predecessor to the R7 and 07 Reba SL on the other.

I’m always pleasantly surprised by the Manitous, plush, relatively stiff and very light. The Reba is more adjustable, but not much better overall imho.

I’d be very interested in how the R7s perform.

Plant on here does some very nice photography, some HDR, some ‘vanilla’.

Worth having a browse through as they are very good all-round.

Linky to Flikr[/url]

Pick a nice day and it’s absolutely stunning.

Not challenging in the way of terrain, but there are a few sharp hills that might get the heart rate up for a couple of minutes.

There is a stretch of steep bumpy offroad descent about half way around that springs to mind – your dad might have to be careful post surgery, but that’s about it. The two or three other climbs are on road, but it depends upon the direction.

This post is rather Big Dummyesque in it’s surrealism 😀

Those old escort diesel engines are awful.

I love it when someone makes a vague sweeping statement like this. 😉

Go on, tell us why they’re pants!

It might be worth seriously considering a console.

I spent quite a few years casually PC gaming, in the end I got sick of tweaking settings to get games running optimally. Sometimes I spent so much time tweaking a few fps here and there, that by the time I actually got around to playing it, I had lost interest (Oblivion for example).

The beauty of consoles is that there is none of this – just stick the disk in and play, a very polished experience. I can’t say I miss having a mouse and keyboard either.

I bought an xbox for about the same price as a quality graphics card and I don’t regret it one bit. In 15+ years of gaming some of the most fun, memorable experiences have been in the last year playing with buddies, either split-screen or online (Gears of War, RE5, Left 4 Dead). To me, that says a lot about the quality of it.

Just a thought….

Looks like a really good UK bunch this year judging by the Provisional Start List

I hope the excellent coverage on MTB Cast continues. I’ll be doing a Paypal donation as soon as that starts going.

Steve, this is your second race, isn’t it? Going back for more pain, big respect! Good luck to you and all the other Divide racers 🙂

Obligatory Nelson pic:

Downloading, will check it out. you should check out themixingbowl.org

Thanks for that tip, looks very interesting! 🙂

Cheers for the mix, is there anyway I can get a copy of the m3u or cue file?

Assume that’s what your track list is from

I looked into this as I didn’t think you could burn cue files without a .bin, but apparently you can use them with mp3s in Windows/Nero:

http://www.tsyle.com/how_to_burn_cue_files.php

I’ve uploaded a .cue file to the link below, hope it works for you.

http://www.andrew-brough-design.co.uk/downloads/summernightsanddiscodaze.cue.zip

Cheers Lyons 🙂

I like minimal too, in fact all sorts, my other half plays a lot of fidget house and tech. I felt like doing something I could listen to in the car or chilling outside. Neither of us are serious about mixing anymore, but it’s a nice distraction.

I knocked up a web page earlier (I was bored as I’m off the bike and it’s what I do 9-5) – so if anyone wants to post this link elsewhere, or send it to mates then go for it. I’m not motivated by gigs or anything like that (been there, etc) but it’s quite nice to get it out there.

http://www.andrew-brough-design.co.uk/summermix/

😎

Sounds like Bob Hoskins going mental in a dustbin

Haha yes indeed. House music lover, are we djg? 😉