I had one of the later 170bhp models for 5 1/2 years from new. Overall I averaged about 26-28 mpg, which is about the same as I get out of my current 2.0 TFSI Quattro.

Engine sounded wonderful, ran out of puff a little as the revs climbed IMO, which was a shame because it was a nice free revving engine.

My worry would be the cooling fans. I went through 4 sets in 5 1/2 years and at the time VW knew there was a fault with their supplier but never changed it in the time I owned the car. Perhaps this has now changed.

My VW garage told me it was only a problem on the V5s. First time it happened on my car my local dealer had 10 V5s in the back waiting for new fans !

Very sorry for your loss.

I went to see my mother after she passed a number of times, firstly immediately at the hospital and then every day at the funeral home before her funeral and burial.

I didn’t upset me as far as I can remember it just gave me a sort of empty but peaceful and relaxed feeling and a little more time to say my final goodbyes.

I am glad I went, it comforted me, and I think it helped my dad through those first few dark days.

But when it comes to my own father will I do the same, then I honestly do not know.

Take care.

Sorry, but we might as well get this cheap joke out of the way, so the the informative posts can start. But have you considered a hair dryer? 😀

never made it. what bread works best ?

It seems a bit harsh to suggest that just because someone has only today joined the forum that it therefore must necessarily be a scam.

hp_source – not sure if the Chase Lodge has parking as it is in a quiet residential street with residents parking.

hp_source – will you have a car? Jools – Do the trains to Hampton Court go through Twickenham? Nice looking Hotel.

Here are a couple of places near me in Hampton Wick, about 4-5 stops down the trainline line from Twickenham (10-12 mins) a bit longer on the bus (15-20 mins).

Hampton Wick is a charming little “village”, it has one of the best road bike shops in the UK (SigmaSport.co.uk), is a two minute walk from Royal Bushy Park, on the River, and a 10 min brisk walk from Hampton Court Palace. A nice place to stay for a night sort of thing with some very local attractions.

I was not aware that Twickenham has a University mind 😆

Chase Lodge seems very popular with people attending weddings (but it is a small hotel)

Places for hotels near Hampton Wick, Greater London
The White Hart Hotel
http://www.fullershotels.co.uk
6 Google reviews – £89?
1 High St
Kingston upon Thames, Surrey
020 8977 1786

Chase Lodge Hotel
http://www.chaselodgehotel.com
2 Google reviews
10 Park Rd
Kingston upon Thames, Surrey
020 8943 1862
More results near Hampton Wick, Greater London »

There are also a couple of the standard Premier or Travel Lodge in Kingston, one train stop further down the line.

Email in profile if you want more help etc.

Gary

Bloody hell and I thought I was a slacker 🙂

Not rode as much in the last 12 or months as I used to. I guess about 6 times a month over the last 12 months when I checked the Garmin, which surprised me as I thought it was a lot less.

But the quality and length of my rides has fallen off dramatically. Route often governed by which cafe does the best coffee and cake.

Current problem is that my Local cafe seems only to employ stunning young girls and insists they wear only shorts and low cut t-shirts all year round. Wouldn’t be too bad but it is only a couple of miles away. My cycling is doomed 😆

cynic-al – Member
They’ll be under the same pressure from every airline.

Not strictly true. The low cost no frills carriers business model is premised on higher daily rotations to provide higher asset utilisation. The traditional national flag carriers whilst still seeking maximum efficiency maintain schedules that are not so sensitive to turn around times.

Here’s hoping the low life scum get caught, get their free canoe trip and drown the process. A cheap coffin and burial is efficient and effective use of my tax dollars.

I consider myself a leftish wing liberal in my views but middle age is catching up with me

Oldgit – has the Pearson served you well! I see you have won a CX medal :lol:Gary

trailmoggy,

thanks for the tip on ST angle. My assessment was based on my LBS taking measurements from my existing bike, so we are not far off. I reckon I need TT between 535 and 545 depending on ST angle and a good length HT. 535 will require steeper ST angle and 545 a lesser one. Sod HT angle 😆

Gary

Thanks – I agree they do seem to come up a little heavy by modern standards although Time/Colnago etc are not known for lightweight frames, and I suspected they may be made in China rather than Taiwan, but I don’t know whether that should be a concern or not?

Local LBS is SigmaSport who stock them, that is where I saw the matt black one.

I recently switched from a 300 to the new 200 and I regret it. I never used any of the navigation features or the HR function on the 300, but at least it could tell me the fookin time.

The Garmin 200 is too basic for my very simple needs I wish I had bought the 500.

How much do you reckon I could sell it for? 😆

I have 4

1. Spend more quality time with my Dad as he is close to 90 now.
2. Try not to get too stressed out by/at work – I am only one guy and I can’t solve everything right here and right now. If they want to fire me then so be it, better that than chronic gastritis
3. Ride my road bike more, fitness has really fallen off in the last 12 months, but weight doing OK due to the gastritis
4. Have a drink now and again, years since I had a nice cocktail, leave the car at home and get a taxi.

Well as a technical numpty I am well impressed. For sofa browsing it is a pure joy to use. I should have bought one 12 months ago. It puts my MBP to shame for surfing. The touch screen works so much better than the tracker on the MBP.

I have not used 3G yet, but it can’t be any worse than my android phone.

Just one more mince pie left and then I can go back to my normal unhealthy diet.

The 1.6TDI is a shockingly bad engine in my opinion. I didn’t feel it even gave me enough confidence to overtake a cyclist. Admittedly I am not a diesel lover but this one put me off derv for life.

But now with pedals and mud

Gave up after about 20 mins I think. Utter crap.

Grantway – i would put it as the balance of uber portability and ease of use.

An iPhone/Android phone does well on the former but not so good on the later other than for very limited uses. A Mac book pro/air – if truth be told doesn’t score too well on either. It is not that portable, I am not suggesting that a mac book pro/air is not easy to use, but it is not suitable for all contexts (e.g front line airline staff flying at 35,000 feet).

Could I have survived without an iPad and just got by with a mac book pro then yes I probably could have done. But an iPad will “enrich my life” in a number of small ways. Are they worth the best part of £600 then probably not, but that is true for many of us and our purchases.

Thankfully, I am fortunate enough not to have to think too hard or worry much about such things, but it is revealing that I started this thread in the first place. If it were a no brainer for me I would have just gone and bought the damn thing without eliciting the views of others.

I have a 13in mac book pro and have just bought the iPad. I did consider buying a mac book air, but thought it was too close to the pro in terms of usage, and more money.

Horses for courses iPad much better at some things and mac book better at others. I am impressed with just how good the key board is on the iPad and how quickly you can type etc.

In terms of portability and ease of use, ie. like a phone it is always on, rather than pc, then the iPad has many advantages.

Re data packages I am going with O2. The very attractive young indian woman in the O2 store won me over, but I had already really decided they seemed the most “flexible”. £10.21 for 1GB a month will do me

Thank you everyone, bar CFH :-). Blew my budget this morning now the owner of a 32GB 3G model.

OK thanks everyone we are getting there.

Need to read more about iCloud but am I right in thinking that it is only for content bought from the iTunes store?

mboy – do you sell more white than black or vica versa. Apple shop are very evasive when asked simple questions like which do you sell most of.

Is it rumored that the iPad 3 will be out as early as late feb/mar – I was thinking more like May based on the ipad2 launch

eSure where about £200 cheaper for me last year. All the others were pretty much in line with each other give/take (LV, direct line, more than, Tesco etc etc)

I have two 🙄

A 2009 Whyte 19 and a 2011 Scott Scale. I have had the Scale for about 3 months now and absolutely love it. Had been riding a Spesh Epic for the last two years.

For me it rides more like a carbon road bike than a mountain bike. It just makes you want to ride it harder and harder. I ride up hills in 2 or 3 gears higher and it just seems a lot easier to keep the momentum going.

I was a bit concerned about my aging back but it hasn’t been a problem. That said, I probably haven’t ridden it for more than 3 hours in any one ride. And when I was off work for a week and rode it every day then by the end my back was starting to ache a little, but that could have happened anyway, not used to riding more than 2/3 time a week.

Don’t know about the Whyte 19 still haven’t ridden it in 2 1/2 years 😳

I bought myself an ex-demo NAIM NAP 200, well you did ask 😯

I have never had any problems with them (Kingston branch), but it is my LBS of last resort. As others have said you sort of feel dirty having shopped there, and I do not feel there is any relationship between us. My other LBS are SigmaSport, BikeLab, Pearsons and Cycleworks

My main criticism is that they always make me feel that they are more interested in just making the sale rather than actually ensuring that I get the right bike/part etc. Also, the staff’s knowledge is very inconsistent/patchy, but generally I find that their staff are friendly and helpful, which for a bike shop you can not take for granted.

Buy on line and collect in store is a plus for me, but only used it a handful of time to be honest.

No warranty issues. For me you only really know the true value of a shop when things go wrong.

A colleague lives off the interest on his savings, so he’s saving his entire salary every month. When I last caught sight of his pay slip, the net salary began with a 3.

Ok but how many following digits before the decimal point. 😆

Fink – Perfect Darkness

As a singleton I budget on £600 per month. No booze, fags, drugs, or hookers and I barely go out. WTF

Buy this one it will sort out your problems !!!

As we have seen the banks are more than capable of shafting themselves in their arses ad infinitum without the help of the average man/woman on the street.

It therefore seems somewhat hypocritical for the employees of banks and their partners to be critical of how others manage their own financial affairs. Pot Kettle Black.

jumpupanddown you really should not be so quick to judge. Have you not figured it out that it is down to the likes of Jools and all us other tax payers which mean you still have a job.

What better business to be in than one where you are rewarded for such gross incompetence and failure.

I bought my last one £25k on finance, because the interest rate was so low it was cheaper to take the loan rather than forego the interest on my savings. Not sure I could negotiate the same deal in the current climate.

However, even if that were not the case I would have still financed it, as you never know when you need access to your savings / liquid assets and £25k is a shit1 load of cash.

Last 4 cars have all been new, kept for 5-6 years. Happy to accept the depreciation for the benefit of a new car and it hasn’t proven too painful. I can’t live with unreliable cars.

Honda x2 perhaps £1.5k per annum, Golf £2k per annum, Audi probably nearer £3k per annum, which I guess is about my limit before re-evaluating my options.

I think generally I would go 50% cash/px 50% finance, but I don’t like huge loans so would probably not wish to borrow much more than £10-12k

Are we talking road or mtb here?

My scott scale came with SRAM 10 speed shifters and SLX front mech. So if it works this way around then why not the other way? What am I missing?

miaowing_kat – Member
No music, too personal a gift for someone who doesn’t really know her! Nice alcohol and maybe tiny, nicely presented box of chocolates would be enough. Or duo of luxurious bath stuff and moisturiser (if you know anything about organic/sensitive creams)?

Just to reassure GJP- as a young woman who has done plenty of cleaning jobs, if someone gave me some luxurious/unusual hand cream (not a value tube of vaseline ) I would absolutely love it. Cream is bloody expensive and always needed, so to me it’s a nice gesture.

OK m_kat I am willing to take the risk, tomorrow is cleaning day. I have also bought her some expensive chocolates and will give her a nice cash bonus to boot so hopefully I will continue to have sight in both eyes.

Giving your cleaner “handcream”. **** sake man, why not go the whole hog and buy her a new hoover! To give your “domestic” a gift that accentuates the servile hand callousing nature of her menial duties to you in exchange for minimal reward, is so thoughtless that if she doesn’t stab you in the eye, be grateful.

I was saving the Hoover for her 18th birthday present 😆

Vitamin C and Zinc. I am convinced I am less prone to colds and sniffles since starting them. I never quite got used to the bright yellow pee so multi vitamins got binned.