Hold on… let me get this right… people actually pay good money for mains conditioning their hi-fi, which will have perfectly good power supplies in anyway?

Excellent… my PhD might not be wasted after all…

:o)

Now to just make up some marketing bollo… ooops, spiel, about how good matrix converters are for hi-fi!

I ordered from them for the first time in a long time a couple of weeks ago, for some forks seals which they said they had in stock but about £10 cheaper than anywhere else… they then immediately emailed to say they were out of stock and would have stock on a certain date.

The bits actually turned up earlier than they stated, so my only gripe would be stating they had stock when they didn't… but that seems to be the case on a number of sites, but they did keep me informed.

I'm still not sure whether he paid cash or paypal either…

Hmmmm… directional bike frames anyone? To go with the chain lube?

Oh, hold on…. :oD

But it's not like they are the only ones who are that expensive, look at the top of the range CC, FSA or Crank Bros headsets and they are around that price too…

That'll be for cycle paths then, and not to extend the BW network…

But can only be a good thing (fingers crossed).

PP… so they are not worth the money then? ;o)

I've got a CK on my Turner(came with it), FSA XL IIs on my two other mountain bikes. I've not really noticed any difference between them in use, but I have had to replace the bottom bearing in one of the XL IIs, but it was over 4 years old and that bike rarely if ever gets cleaned. But as that headset only cost me £20 in the first place, and a new bearing was only about £10 (from Wiggle, even cheaper from a bearing supplier), I reckon that it'd cost about the same as a CK in about 30 years!

Saying that, I'd probably buy another CK if I had the cash and it was for a bling bike… or maybe a fancy CC… but it would be for the bling factor, and not due to better function.

I went through something similar recently with Halfords trying to get hold of a Cotic Roadrat, and after speaking to the people on the C2W team on the phone they gave me a list of suppliers that they could get bikes from, which didn't include Cotic.

In the end I went to Leisure Lakes with my Halfords voucher and they sourced the Cotic themselves and did it all on the voucher, no problems…

But, I think Focus is only available through Wiggle, so even LL might have problems getting them too…

I only use them on my bouncy bike as I tend to find myself flying down rockier descents faster than on my other bikes, and when I was hurtling down a rocky bridleway in the Lakes recently and my foot unclipped from the pedal, I was very glad to have M545 platforms as I could just stamp down onto the pedal and keep going with my foot feeling relatively secure…

While I love my Velez, and think it's the best thing since sliced bread, it is quite warm for riding in, and although I do wear it for biking, it does tend to be when it's more on the chilly side. Saying that, I have worn it at other times, and it does exactly what it says on the box and wicks sweat away from you very well. I've had a feel of the lighter one too, but am not sure it would be that much cooler than the original, but being lighter is good!

At the moment though, for more moderate temps, I am looking at the Montane eVent jacket, as they seem to be doing some very good things at the moment…

Picked up the BBC Folk Awards CD a while back and have to say, there is some very good stuff on there, not that I can remember any names or anything…

Oh, and there's a bonus CD with new/young artists which is really good too.

Probably because unlike a halogen lamp, it takes a fair bit more time and effort to design to get the best out of, and you could get some pretty expensive halogen lights!!

The problem is that people relate it all to their age, as when you pass your 10th birthday, that is one decade… but that's because we started counting at 0…

Whereas I believe there wasn't a year 0… we went straight from 1 BC to 1 AD and so all dates have to be taken from that starting point…

Or something like that anyway..

It very much depends on what you want from breakdown insurance…

For me, I just want something that will fix or recover my car if I breakdown away from home, but that car is just used for commuting. For that I use Inurance Choice and it costs me £29 a year..

Hadge… all of which I wouldn't argue about, as each of those are entirely subjective and down to someones personal tastes. So if you are saying these cables are entirely subjective then I'd agree with you there too…

The problem comes with comments like those from Ti29er, stating that there is definitely a difference and if you can't hear one then you must be a luddite.

Ti29er… aaaah, so only those enlightened ones can hear the difference between directional and normal cables? Doesn't that remind anyone of the Emporer's New Clothes? :o)

PS. wanna buy some directional chain lube?

Excellent… I see some of you sucke*cough* discerning customers are already aware of this most amazing of products…

Although I'd like to point out, we do not magnetise the lube… Castrol have got that market sown up on their own! ;o)

The directional oil is made by adding a tiny shavings of chainrings and then diluting it many times… it uses a property which I can't explain called 'oil memory'. Although this might not do anything at all, we can't measure it, but once we have bottled it, it is then easy to tell the directionality of the oil… although how we do this would be telling.

:oD

Hadge, surely the hifi purists dream is to listen to the music in as pure a form as possible, and to sound as close to that intended by the musician…

In which case, you'd be wanting the exact same kit that the studio used to master the album/track…

Okay, so maybe the snobbery element is more important then… ;o)

So… after 5 pages of blather can we sumarise as follows:-

Cables can make a perceived difference to the quality of the music listened to, but they don't appear to offer any measurable differences.

So, it's a bit like the memory effect in water in that regard then…

:oD

Mr Woppit… unfortunately that appears to contradict that other quote you posted from the founder of NAIM…

It doesn't seem to matter how the bundle (of copper) is drawn, single direction or mixed direction, but as soon as the insulation is
extruded onto the bundle, the directionality is established. This
means that one can mark the insulation and it will always be the right
way round.

This states that it doesn't matter what the cables are like beforehand, but when the insulation is applied, it affects the cables in the same way…

Whereas the new quote says

We listen to a sample of all our cables, to determine directionality, before manufacture

It appears NAIM are a little confused about what it is they actually do…

:oD

I think the quote

But all our attempts, over many years, have failed to find any
measurement to show the directionality or indeed whether one cable
will sound better than another (other than the obvious – resistance,
capacitance and inductance)

says it all…

If they can't measure a difference, how do they know it's there?

The telecoms industry? Care to let us know where within the telecoms industry they use this property? Lemme guess though… long distance transmission cables maybe?

If that's the case, and it's a noticable phenomena over an 8ft run of cable, it must be massive over long distance cables.

Oh, any why doesn't the IEEE have any papers on it? You'd think they might…

Obviously it does GrahamS, otherwise why would people spend soooo much money on it…

;o)

Directionality of cables? You've having a giraffe!!!

Do you think anyone has told the National Grid? Just think of the power they could be wasting!!!

Doh… just assumed it was another speaker cable thing, they usually are!

Anyway, how would interconnects only being grounded at one end work then? Where is the signal return path?

Earth shield? On a speaker cable?

Are they taking the piss?

Yes…

Next!

Oooh… good thinking Seamus, but do they do black marigolds?

Aaaah… hadn't realised that as my other half gets a car allowance instead of a company car.

Bicycle repairman?

I've used Seal-Skins for a while now, and they are great if you can stop them filling up with water! So, how do folks stop water coming down your leg?

Was thinking about getting some diving drysuit cuffs and wearing them just above the boots and folding them over to top to see if this keeps out any more water…

robdob… I've got no idea about the private/business mileage thing, but I suspect it will be to do with making sure it's not a perk and is a business necessity, and would have an effect on the tax rates..

On the mileage claims, you can't claim back the full 30p difference between what you get paid and what the HMRC rates are, but you can claim back the tax that you paid on the difference. I can't remember the form number but the info is there on the HMRC website.

The bent needle that Turner used to sell was just a long grease gun needle that they had bent to the correct angle…

So, if you have a grease gun already that will do the job, see if you can find a new long needle and get that and bend it yourself. It'll save you buying a whole new gun.

Xan – Member

Also had a similar experience when I asked for Dot brake fluid and he told me that I would get it from the car section???? WTF!!!

Erm… I hate to burst your bubble, but the guy is right, DOT brake fluid is what you use in cars. I guess you could buy some chi-chi bike specific stuff at hugely inflated prices, but it'll be no different to the Halfords stuff in bottles in the car section… maybe he was trying to save you some money!

The woods are about the size of a postage stamp, so there's not really going to be too much, but there are a few lines that people ride… most of which are reasonably obvious, and most seem to start from the very top of the hill.

Also, I'm not sure exactly how sanctioned the riding there is, unlike the stuff over the back of Hemlock, which is… and as you say, it's usually full of people, kids and dogs so hooning about on the bike is never gonna be the best option! Although at night it's pretty much deserted… :o)

You'd probably be better getting yourself over to Bestwood though really…

Well, the Esk trail certainly seems to be getting some votes…

Thanks chaps..

Not your normal stilettos then Greg? ;)

Cheers for your comments…

Hmmmm, looks like I might have to rethink then, and save that lil gem up for myself at some later stage.

I'll look at those two routes and see what I think.

Cheers again..

Coward… you just want an easy route! :wink:

The spare tyre is not a legal requirement and is not included as part of the MOT.

Although the time I did have a dodgy spare on the tester commented about it, but the car still passed.