For road bikes Pearsons in Sutton charge £90 and SigmaSport in Kingston/Hampton wick charge £115 for a “full” service – so £100 does seem to be the going rate.

Unless it needs a complete overall I would invest in the minimum set of tools required and learn to do it himself.

Thanks everybody.

My understanding is that the majority of medications that work on the serotonin system, or at least the SSRI type ADs affect the ability to orgasm easily. I have read that paroxetine is one of the worst in that respect and it also has one of the worst discontuation syndromes.

Although there are other ADs that are rarely used at least as first line or sole agents that can enhance orgasm (e.g. Trazodone and perhaps even Mirtazapine although perhaps with the later the effect is just neutral)

From personal experience I have unfortunately developed a deep distrust of Psychiatrists whose approach has been nothing more than prescribe high dosages of very potent ADs (like Venlafaxine) to make one as “High as a Kite” (ie. bordering on Mania – Hypomania) and then going on to prescribe a cocktail of drugs (e.g. adding in a mood stabiliser or two) to smooth out the rough edges caused by the first line of treatment in the first place.

I am not in too bad a place at the moment and would prefer not to go back on the meds (especially a pure SSRI after previous very bad experiences) but am loathe to go back to a shrink – but I am finding it very very hard to get out of bed and motivate myself and it is clearly affecting both my work and personal life (ie biking). I am hoping come spring and the longer days things will pick up but April still seems a long way off.

Milsonwheels – unfortunately my own GP seems to have gone AWOL. It took me two weeks to get an appointment in the first place and when I turned up I was told he was not available for an unspecified amount of time. So I am guessing he is sick or some other problem.

Thanks guys

I searched through the “amended NICE guidelines” for “venla” but all that seems to have changed is some sections have been deleted and others are now in italics. I couldn’t find anything on who can and cannot prescribe.

The issue as I understand it is with increased risk of cardiac arrhythmias but that doesn’t help me to ascertain whether all primary care physicans are now unable to initiate treatment or not.

From my experience I believe Wiggle use Royal Mail (unsigned) and CityLink (signed) depending on value. My deliveries this week were Royal Mail – one small and one large package

All mine have come through OK to SW London from Wiggle and Merlin – but chose to avoid the worst days (Mon/Tues) here.

Have you considered the s/h route?

Road bikes typically do not have hard lives and they depreciate very quickly. You could get a very nice s/h carbon or Ti road frameset for £500 +/- a bit.

From my experience it will make a very noticeable difference.

I have been with HSBC for 20 years and have never had any problem with them at all and have always been impressed with their service recovery.

My only whinge is that for the last few years they have pushed this HSBC Plus Account very hard and to be honest I am getting a bit tired of the hard sell.

I did once nearly sign up – but then they revealed it would mean a new account with a new sort code and bank account rather than a simple status change on the existing account.

That ruled it out for me.

Have you taken a look at Enigma and their Ego MTB frame.

I haven’t yet seem any reviews but it looks good in the flesh and is sensibly priced – although not as attractive price wise as a couple of months ago.

I considered it but then had a change of heart and opted for a Whyte 19 carbon jobbie.

It been a complete mix for me. As it happens all but one my road bikes were “custom” built from a stock frame and I would expect this to be the case in the future. But my history with MTBs is that most have been bought off the peg or at least to start with and then bits changed.

Are you comparing like with like with your head tube measurements i.e. is one for an external headset and one for an integrated headset as this could account for a 20-30mm difference.

I believe all road forks are the same axel to crown or at least those that use standard 49mm drop dual pivot brakes. Otherwise the brakes wouldn’t align with the rims.

I have road frames with 110mm and 145mm integrated headsets and use more spacers on one. It is about at the limit of looking sensible without rotating the stem which for a 100-110mm stem assuming 6 degrees could make a 20mm difference in bar height.

I just “googled” Google and got the same message 😆

clwydrider – That is stunning – real class.

Guilty as charged over here – its a fair cop.

I read a review that said that they had quite a harsh ride and not therefore best suited for many hours in the saddle. That said, the review was positive. Think I saw it on bike radar.

Kinesis Maxlight XC is a very capable and versatile frame – nice compliant ride but still very responsive.

Wiggle and others were selling 2008 Kona Kula frames for less than £300 albeit they were the stock Kona 7005 and not the Easton Ultralight tubing.

Giant does look nice though

I bought one of my road bikes in Nov and never road it until the following June waiting for that good old British Summer to arrive!

Stuart – thanks for that – that’s not a bad idea!

Yes, I was advised at my Endoscopy that taking byopsies for H Pylori was pretty standard. And there was no **** way that camera would have gone down my nose – it was a lot thicker than I was expecting!

And although not a pleasant experience it wasn’t really painful or too uncomfortable.

MrNutt – I read somewhere advising not to use two pillows as it “squashed/kinked the stomach” or something to that effect that made it worse?

Yeah sorry for that I obviously can’t spell it either way … You say “Tomato and I say Toe-mato”….

As RD says don’t get hung up on info related to Barrett’s. It is a complication that arises after several years of uncontrolled acid reflux IIRC. Clearly I did and read far too much for my own good.

My doctor first gave me a blood test for H pylori which was negative and then after a couple of courses of PPIs (Proton Pump Inhibotors)which didn’t resolve the issue he sent me for a gastro endoscopy for a good route around and byopsies which are better tests for H pylori etc or at least that is what they told me.

Mine started as just feeling really sick in the mornings the then the acid reflux seemed to kick in a few weeks later. In the end mine was diagnosed as gastritis so nothing too serious etc but I did lose an quite a lot of weight.

I certainly had and still have periods of a sore throat but only really in the mornings which is down to the acid flowing back when you are asleep. My endoscopy revealed I had a loose LES (Lower Esophagal Sphincter!)

Not sure whether I am still considered to have GERD or what. For me the PPIs seem to be as much the source of the problem as the solution.

I can’t say mine is completely resolved fine for a few weeks and then flare up for a day or two. Although my appetite has returned and the weight is back up 🙁

In the shower – but I live in a flat so all on the same level or sometimes in the communal hallway

Hopefully a long road ride in the Surrey Hills tomorrow which will be the first road ride for a couple of months.

Sunday will depend on the weather – could be wet in the morning so may be just a pootle to a nearby coffee shop.

Kona Kula – but not sure about the mud clearance since it is not a huge issue for me. It has a noticeably “stiffer” ride than the MaxLight I had which I thought had an amazingly springy ride feel for an aluminum frame. Can’t say the Kona I have now feels very different from the Rocky Mountain Stratos I had which I now regret selling very much.

I seem now to have settled on White Lightening Epic which I have used all year round for about 2 years.

Previously used the finish line Red and Green – although I never liked the stuff thought it was very messy but didn’t have any reason to believe any others would be that different.

If it meant the difference between keeping and losing my house then yes I would take the job; but if it I would end up losing my home anyway then not really sure what is to be gained – completely fecked either way.

No – I just had to throw away some pasta sauce from Waitrose cos the seal was broken and order in a curry instead

A friend of mine bought his from either comet or currys before Xmas – not sure which but defintely one of those two.

He seems very pleased with it and again he is a right fussy bugger in all respects

Thanks everyone I think I can see the principle now – not really sure how I had been doing it before – certainly realised that brute force was not the answer.

One of my friends has just relocated albeit for a internal move within the company – so things may be a little different. As far as I can recall it was less about a single figure but more about what items the company would cover – e.g. stamp duty, legal fees, moving expenses etc. but overall I believe it was close to £25k.

If/when you have neglected your expensive blades then what is the best approach to get them nice and sharp again – or is it time to take them to a professional?

I have a steel and some other contraption but neither is making much difference.

I have certainly neglected mine over the last few years and they need some TLC

Relative youngster at 44 which suprises me – but I am now starting to feel it a bit with nagging little aches here and there(knees and back etc) which I never had up until last summer really.

Also, pretty sure it will only a couple of years before I will be needing reading glasses. I had to take my LOOK Keos to my LBS so they could read the date and see whether there was a recall on them!

And this is in the bike forum – why 😕

But to answer your question I have absolutely no idea as I can honestly say we are not keeping count – but I am pretty sure that is much higher than my household otherwise we would be buying new loo paper every week

[MOD: moved to chat 🙂 ]

Pearson Cycles in Sutton, Surrey were advertising them at £275 but only 49 and 58cm showing now.

Norwich Union IIRC – but they only cover upto £1500 per bike (but as many bikes as you want) – but they were good value if that level of cover was sufficient.

I am also with M&S but this is my first year with them and no renewal notice yet – but there have been a lot of previous threads about them hiking their premiums in year 2 etc. Whether this is only linked to those that have made a claim I am not sure.

Are you going to take your Patriot then?

Have you taken a look at the Rowlett ones. Much nicer looking IMO than the Dualit but similar design ethos – pricey but I have had mine for nearly 10 years with no issues.

Mine goes from £210 to £215 and then to £245 which isn’t too bad really. If it rockets up after that then at least I can rest assured that I will have finished paying for the damn car in the first place 🙂