One note on fork oils… they aren’t all the same as one companies 5w will be thicker than another’s 7.5w etc…

So might be worth buying the right fluids, on do some research as to what you need. There always used to be an oil chart about which gave a comparison if different companies oil weights. No idea if that’s still about though…

Dead easy if you have any mechanical ability, and if in doubt take loads of photos as you take it apart.

There are all the tech manuals available on t’internet which tell you what to do too.

Just don’t take a set apart without taking pics and think you’ll remember how it goes back together a couple of years later!

It’s the middle ring tabs that cause the fuss when fitting new Deore rings to my Deore Octalink chainset, soon fixed it with a Dremel though.

Don’t recall ever having the same problem with the outer ring, but then again it got swapped for a bash ring some time ago…

But what happens when you turn the front wheel?

And I am sure that pink one could work… although you might need to beef up the seat stays somewhat!

All these tales of inadequacy have reminded me of several more…

Out with my friend Anni and had just done a route around Hayfield, me being on my newish disc-braked Inbred, this was a few years ago now mind. We decided to swap bikes for a play around in the Hayfield car park, just to compare as she still had V-brakes… what I hadn’t quite realised was just how digital her V-brakes were compared to my discs…

Ended up over the bars just outside the car park and tore all the ligaments in my shoulder! Over 6 months off the bike after that one, but I probably ended up fitter than I have ever been as I bought a turbo trainer and used that endlessly instead!

Another time, was at the Dyfi enduro doing the ride on the Saturday before the big day. Was having a great time until I completely misjudged the exit from one of the singletrack sections and instead of just riding straight out onto the fire road, I somehow managed to hit a rock and somersault onto said fire road leaving a rather large amount of skin from my right arm behind as I slid along.

Somehow I did manage to ride the Dyfi the next day even though I was bleeding through a rather large bandage wrapped round my arm! Even managed to fall off during that ride as well!

Pretty much stationary, unclipping one foot while leaning the wrong way…

Not my finest moment that one!

We’ve got some really nice Teko socks, which have been the most comfortable and warm walking socks I’ve ever had…

Would definitely recommend them as a brand.

Right, I’ve checked on the Magic gov website and it’s not listed as an SSSI or conservation area. Have also checked on the local council site and it’s not listed there as a conservation area either. Not checked on the TPO situation yet as apparently that search needs paying for… unless I go to the local council offices. So will send t’other half there one day for a look.

I have spoken to the Woodland Trust and the general message I got from them was that officially they would frown upon it, but unless there is some higher level of protection in place there is nothing that could be done anyway. However, if stocking densities are kept low and the area kept under observation to ensure it wasn’t getting damaged then it shouldn’t really be a problem. That shouldn’t a problem as we are only planning on keeping a couple of pigs for ourselves and to cover their costs, so would only have them for a 3-4 months a year, the rest of the time the area would be left to recover.

And yes, I know that they had thickets of brambles back in the day… I was just trying to point out that this isn’t some idyllic glade full of woodland flowers, it’s an overgrown, unmanaged area of woodland, next to a road, surrounded by farmland, which we have been given permission by the owner to keep some pigs on.

No tree felling planned, maybe some branch trimming to stop damage to the fence, but nothing else.

And burko, thanks for the offer but unfortunately it’s not actually our woodland, the owner is allowing us to keep animals on it. I will mention it to them though, to see what they say, and I’ll also speak to the local FC woodland officer to see what they have to say about it too.

My thinking too Brick, it’s what would most likely have been on there years ago!

Good call on the Woodland Trust… will give the a call tomorrow…

And cheers gk, that would be ace thank you.

I’ll just point out it not a huge wood, just looks like a normal patch of woodland, no really old trees that we can see, lots of silver birch and the like. We have access to about an acre next to a road, and at the moment it’s hard to walk around due to all the bramble everywhere. So it’s not some pristine bluebell filled oasis that we are looking to destroy!!

Top bodging…

So, assuming that the join has been pinned as well as glued together, why do people assume this would not be okay? Isn’t this just how rims have been made for a very long time?

Jamba… I am not sure it works like that.

Lets try an example:

Country A exports 50bn to Country B and imports 100bn from them. This is 90% of Country A’s exports, but is only 10% of Country B’s.

Now, according to you, Country A has all the power as the balance of trade is in their favour.

However, any change in the amount of trade has a far bigger impact on Country A than it does on Country B.

If there was a sudden trade dispute between them, and they stopped supplying to each other, the immediate impact would be a loss of half of Country A’s exports, but only a 10% loss in Country B’s.

I would postulate that the impact on the economy of Country A would be massive, whereas Country B might have some problems, but nothing like those of Country A.

In this case I would say that Country B has the upper hand in any negotiations on resolving this trade dispute.

I appreciate that this is an extreme example, but I don’t understand why the relationship between the UK and EU would be greatly different.

Now, another question….

Obviously there are two quite extreme opinions on this matter…

1) one side saying that we won’t necessarily be allowed to operate in the single market, although we might be allowed in under some terms eg. payment etc…

2) one side saying that we will definitely have access to the single market and there won’t be an issue.

Now, what is the backup plan for each camp. I’d wager that the first group would actually be quite happy if we did manage to get easy access to the single market.

However, the second group currently don’t even seem to entertain the possibility of the idea that we won’t have easy access. So if the worst does happen and there is no access, what is the back up plan for them?

Ninfan… it’s not impossible to run a small scale slaughterhouse though… just within about 5 miles there are two butchers who both slaughter on their premises, plus a number of small abattoirs.

The thing that annoys me is that is highly likely that we won’t be able to take the blood home from slaughtering pigs… however that appears to be a UK thing, not EU.

Jamba… why would the EU just concede to giving us a free trade deal with them? Don’t other non-EU countries who are allowed access to the single market have to pay for the privilege?

I understand we buy a lot of stuff from the EU… but isn’t the amount we import from them just a small proportion of their total exports? Something like 10%? Whereas our exports to the EU is approximately 50% of total.

So, if they the EU did decide to impose tariffs on trade with the UK, who would be worse off? Us who rely on half our exports going to the EU, or them who rely on only 10% theirs coming to us. It appears to me, even if by value we import more than we export, that we are more reliant on our trade with them, than they are with us. To me that seems like they have the upper hand in any trade negotiations…

Again, if we are so important, surely David Cameron would have been able to get far larger concessions than he did from the recent meetings.

Anyway, a large value of their exports to us is probably in BMWs and Audis… and even with extra tariffs on those I can’t really see that making much difference to the sales!!

Just as an aside, I wonder if we’ll lose European wide warranties? Companies could no longer honour a warranty on a product bought from Europe, as they would likely be considered a grey import. I’m sure it would save them money to not do so… and I think the only reason we have them at the moment is because the EU passed a law about it, but once out of the EU this would surely no longer apply.

I lived in or around Nottingham for almost 15 years and really like the place, would probably still be a local if I hadn’t got a job 40 miles away!

Anyway most of it has been covered so far, but I’ll definitely stick up for Nottingham riding.

Okay, it’s not the Peak District, and it might not be the mighty Surrey hills, but it’s pretty easy to link loads of woodsy singletrack together going north out of the city for a good days riding. And then if you make it up as far as Sherwood Pines there is loads of singletrack to play on. A good while ago one of the rangers there told me they’d been out looking and had found about 40-odd miles of trails, on top of the official ones.

Okay, there might be a bit of connecting road on the rides at times, but it seems it’s only relatively recently that people seem to have stopped going out doing more traditional cross country routes in favour of it having to be gnarr all the time, but then I guess hardly anyone had full suspension bikes back then…

Edit: Oh, and the University used to have a pretty active MTB club… so might be worth tying up with them.

Right, I’m a little confused about something, so maybe one of the great minds can explain for me…

If we leave the single market, why would it stop us buying things from Germany, I’m fairly sure it won’t be the Germans doing that. As I understand it there is nothing to stop us buying goods from China, or anywhere else outside the EU for that matter, it’s just that our government impose import duties and VAT on them, which all adds complication. So surely if we as a country want to continue buying things from the EU we are perfectly fine to do so, and our government can keep the tax rates as they are.

Although as soon as we are out of the EU, we won’t have a reciprocal VAT agreement anymore will we? So we’ll then have to pay VAT on it anyway, but then maybe have to go about claiming back the tax from the EU country… it all sounds like it’s going to get complicated…

But does that sound about right for us buying from them?

And the other way round… if a company in the EU want buy something, wouldn’t they essentially look to buy from inside their single market before looking outside? Isn’t that part of the idea of having a single market, to promote those who are part of it, and exclude to a certain extent those who aren’t by adding import duties?

So, as soon as we are out of their club, surely they be very happy to sell things to us, after all it new money coming into their club. However, buying things from us then becomes more expensive as they add import duties, so becomes less favourable.

Now, I am sure we’ll be able to negotiate some kind of deal which gives us some access to this club, but I fail to see how that will come out in us getting a deal even close to what we have now. Come to think of it, haven’t we just tried some negotiation… surely if we had that strong a position, wouldn’t we have come away from the recent talks with some far better deal? In order to get a fantastic deal, don’t we need to have a better bargaining position then they do?

So, have I missed something vital which will mean we are actually in a much stronger position than I thought? And if so, does anyone know what it is, and why we haven’t already used it to improve our position at the recent talks?

Yours,

Confused of Rugeley

Superficial… the data on the phone is all encrypted with some pretty strong encryption from what I understand (256-bit AES?). If this wasn’t the case then the FBI would have just downloaded the memory contents by now.

To allow the contents to be unencrypted the user of the phone needs to input a 4-digit pass code. This pass-code then allows the processor access to the strong encryption key hidden within another part of the processor which can then read the contents of the phone.

However, in the case of the 5c, the software which controls the input to the pass-code, checks it, and tries to stop anyone brute-forcing it, runs on another part of the processor. It is this code that the FBI want Apple to modify for them.

On the 5s and above, this section of code which is able to be modified on the 5c is held in yet another secure part of the processor, and this part is not supposed to be accessible in the same way. So theoretically, the 5s and above are not vulnerable to this style of attack.

Or something like that anyway…

I believe the 5s and newer use a secure section of hardware in the processor to control this, which is not supposed to be modifiable…

But then again, I’m sure that not long ago Apple were saying similar things about the 5c. I also seem to remember them claiming that bricked phones with the Error 53 problem could not be fixed as it wasn’t possible to update the software until it had booted properly.

I wonder how soon there will be a class action suit in the US from owners of bricked handsets who were told by Apple they had to buy a new phone… but now it appears they have had the ability all along!

As I understand it Apple have, in the past, used methods already at their disposal to help law enforcement in the US by unlocking phones on the say so of the US courts.

The big bru-ha-ha in this case is that the method that Apple would need to employ to help the FBI, while possibly technically feasible does not actually exist at this point. It might be trivial, although I seriously doubt this, but it will require a fair amount of effort by Apple to implement it properly and securely.

If the FBI and the US courts do get their way, Apple are then forced to build a system that allows them to disable the pass-code security checking on the iPhone 5c.

If in the future, another law enforcement body requires access to an iPhone 5c for whatever reason, they don’t need to go through all this hassle with the All Writs Act to do the same thing, it has already been done, they can just get a US court to request Apple disable the pass-code security as the methods and software for doing so already exist. As I believe it does for the previous iterations of the iPhone.

The only reason this is being discussed like this is because of the use of the All Writs Act, and using it to force a company to write some software/come up with a method to break their own security. If the methods/software already existed this fight would not be happening.

The fact that they are only asking for a single phone to be modified by this method using the Act is immaterial as changing the phone ID in the software would be trivial, whereas writing the initial software is not.

Essentially, once that method has been established to exist, it’s then fair game by the US law community on it’s use.

Mart… I’m in a similar position to you with respects to my location to an exchange, and we are directly connected to the exchange so no local cabinet and apparently no chance of getting fibre either. The exchange is a couple of miles away and isn’t ADSL2 enabled.

We are with BT on an unlimited contract which all in is about £37 a month without any phone calls and usually get about 6-8mb/s.

No real issues with it so far apart from the BT Homehub 4 being a pile of *****.

I did Hellrunner at Delamere a couple of years ago which was pretty good… no artificial obstacles, more a half-marathon length cross country run with lots of mud… some hills… some muddy hills… some bogs… a lake crossing… and did I mention some mud?

I think they do them at different locations up and down the country and would recommend them if you don’t fancy the electric shocks, nettle bashing and the like of some of the others.

Also loved the Notorious night runs that Rat Race used to do around Sherwood Pines… even managed to convince my other half to do one after one year there were queues at all the obstacles so you could easily get your breath back. Obviously, the next year they had changed things slightly and there were hardly any queues at all!!

If you are happy with veggie, the Rattle Gill café is very good…

The Dog and the Monkey are wet but not really muddy, being mostly pebble/hardpack then they standing up pretty well.

Pretty much anything off-piste on the other hand is interesting… in a muddy, slippy, slidey sort of way!

Use the Heritage trail which runs up to Birches Valley from the centre of Rugeley. You then only need to battle the traffic for a short way along Horsefair, which while busy has always seemed quite manageable.

Other than that, I would have thought Hednesford would have been the closest station.

Edit…

Just thought, the end of the trail is closed, and has been for ages, so it’s been diverted through the playing fields instead. Just use the open gate into the playing field and head for the track up the side.

For kVA in 3-phase it’s either…

3 * phase_voltage * current / 1000

or

sqrt(3) * line_voltage * current / 1000

Both should give identical answers.

However, are you sure you have the loading correct? As 300A 3-phase would normally mean 300A per phase to me, not split between equally between the phases.

Love my ’04 5 Spot, gets used for Wales, Peaks and Alps trips, and currently running modified 150mm Revs and a old Van R coil shock.

In general I find the geometry spot on for me, although was tempted to look into seeing if I can fit an angleset type thing after my last trip to the Alps… but not tempted enough to actually do anything more about it than look on the ‘net!

As for bushes, I grease them every now and again when I remember, and think I have changed them once since I bought the bike secondhand in about ’06.

I guess a dropper post might be nice, but then none of my other bikes have them either!

God knows what I’ll be able to replace it with when it does go to the big Turner graveyard in the sky… certainly couldn’t afford a new one!

For us, the reason we keep on paying is that we know there will be more scans and tests at some point in time, and while we are about even with the monthly costs, it is the extra costs of the tests that we are insuring against.

For any future dog we’ll probably insure for the first year or so, and then pay money into a savings account to cover any possible future risks and self-insure after that.

It’s pretty much the same for all pet insurance as far as I can tell… we are stuck paying over £70 a month to cover our doggie as he has liver problems, have to pay the excess every year and can’t change insurers otherwise any liver issues aren’t covered.

But then we are claiming around the same as our premiums most months, so can’t really grumble too much!

If both oils are the same brand then it will slow down the rebound etc, as said above.

However, oil weights are different for different brands, so one brands 5w could be the same as another brands 10w…

So, if they are different brands, it could be a bit of a lottery as to what would actually happen!

If you have samples of both, then you could just compare the oils themselves to see…

When the chain engages on the sprocket it is actually ever other roller/tooth taking load

Sorry, but that sounds like complete bobbins to me!

But, in the interests of science, please can you expand on your theory and explain why you think this is so…

2011 – Power electronics…

Mind you, I did start it in about 2000! I guess I was just slow…

Bought some bits off CRC once then got an email through saying that 1 of the items was out of stock and would be sent later, which was no problem.

When the package arrived I opened it to find everything I had ordered in it. I thought they must have found the out of stock item on the back of a shelf or something and so thought nothing of it.

About 3 days later I received another parcel from them… which I opened and was surprised to discover that I had been sent the whole order again. So I then phoned up CRC who were adamant that they had only sent out my order once, despite me telling them I now had two of everything… but their computer said no.

I kept the bits for a while after, to see if they worked it out, but didn’t then hear anything from them about it… so gave the bits away in the end.

It’s easier to see how it works if you just use 3 balls… 2 white 1 black..

www = (2/3)^3 = 29.6%
wwb = (2/3)^2 * 1/3 = 14.8%
wbw = 2/3 * 1/3 * 2/3 = 14.8%
wbb = 2/3 * (1/3)^2 = 7.4%
bww = 14.8%
bwb = 7.4%
bbw = 7.4%
bbb = 3.7%

So, for all white the probability is 29.8%, however for 2 white and 1 black it’s approx 45%…

Although… on second thoughts…

If I draw the balls in order, then I can get (b for black, w for white)

bwwwwwww
wbwwwwww
wwbwwwww
wwwbwwww
wwwwbwww
wwwwwbww
wwwwwwbw
wwwwwwwb

Now, each of those probabilities is (1/8) * (7/8)^7… but there are 8 of them..

So, to revise my original answer… about 40%

I am possibly very wrong though…

Approx 5%…

Edit: See what Stoner said above…

Just think yourself lucky, it took me about 10 years to finish my PhD, but unlike others above it was actually one of the things that got me my current job… well, along with being a mountain biker!

I use Plex on a Asustor AS-202TE and have a Samsung TV which has the Plex app on it, and it works just fine. It was a simple install, as with the Synology it was just a single click. Not tried it with Chromecast though, but can’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work.

I’m not sure you’d need the transcoding, the 202TE isn’t powerful enough to do any, and I’ve not come across any files which wouldn’t play.

The TE also has an HDMI port and can be used directly connected to a TV as well, using XMBC I think, but I prefer the Plex interface.

It would have to be Mark Thomas… after all, he already has most of his manifesto sorted!

Used to live just up the road from where I am guessing the Nutbrook Cafe is, and we used to chat to them as we walked/ran/rode past…

They talked about opening a cafe there so am really pleased to hear they have managed to open it.

Will have to make an effort to go next time we are in the area.

I design power electronics and their control systems, both for power conversion and motor control. Now I know what you are thinking… how is it possible to stand the excitement!?!

But actually, because we design and build bespoke products for rather specialised applications, it’s actually pretty good, although I would like my current project to finally get finished, I’ve only been working on it pretty much exclusively for the last 4 years!

Thankfully, I’m a massive geek, and love what I do, it just a bonus that the folks I work with are some of the nicest people I have met, and that it seems about loads of people here, and about half of the management, enjoy riding bikes!!

Now if only I could get this darned project finished then I’d actually have some time to ride mine!