Thank you for the replies.

I got to thinking that instead of having a gopro on your bike helmet, maybe something lighter like a webcam, connected to the smartphone for power and data transfer…that way you can use the smartphones screen to ensure the shots are framed properly (and not pointing directly at the front wheel!!!) as well as lightening up your bike helmet.

A quick look on youtube suggests that Android devices can power such external devices as well as transfer the data through their ‘ on the go’ technology. Sadly, Apple products of recent years don’t supply enough power via the camera connection kit.

I,m not totally sold on any of the android devices and still have my eyes on the Nokia 820 ‘cos of the free navigation apps.

Anyway, I had quick look around DealXtreme and I stumbled upon this,

http://dx.com/p/sj212-waterproof-cmos-12-0-mp-wide-angle-1080p-hd-sports-camera-w-hdmi-tf-usb-av-out-black-239203

Its got the autofocus, image stabilisation and a load of mounts as well as being cheap so maybe its got the nod!

sorry I’m not familiar with his condition, but as a slightly bizarre suggestion, why not try to see how he likes different kinds of cat litter…fullers earth, sand, gravel, earth or even the bits of paper left over from a document shredder.

Cats can be quite particular in that respect!

Hope that helps :o

afaik, pretty much all of the work of H.P. Lovecraft is available foc from amazon.

likewise the Jules Verne work ‘The Mysterious Island’ is worth reading.

@chiefgrooveguru: well done! if only I could be so very succinct. :-)

@Countzero…Yes I was making a sweeping generalisation and you are definitely right to point out that Jazz is not the only genre to avoid ‘bombasticness’, not least Folk, Classical and Ambient for example.

However, what I was trying to illustrate is the general excessive-loudness, identified by other members that I experience when listening to daytime ‘pop’ music, in general.

To illustrate this, I find that if I use my ipod/ mp3 players voice recorder to record daytime pop music and jazz then there is a clear difference in the extent to which the drums saturate the audio ‘mix’.

In all cases I am listening to a Tesco’s dab radio plugged into the aux input of my hi-fi and comparing ‘jazz fm’ on dab with other dab stations.

Granted, the microphone on the mp3 player may exaggerate the low frequencies, but try it yourself and you may be amazed at just excessively ‘loud’ most daytime radio is…not to mention the tv, but that’s another story!

Far from being a jazz-snob my preference is towards most music from the 1960’s not least the Beatles and Beach boys. :-)

seems like pre-1970’s, the drums were given less ‘space’ in the mix.

Stereo was still an object for experimentation as the Beatles records demonstrate so there wasn’t the orthodoxy we get nowadays of miking up every part of the drum kit and putting that centre stage before any other instruments.

Nowadays, regardless of the musical style (except jazz!) the drums just sound overblown and intrude on the other instruments.

If you take your Ipod, etc and record 10 mins from ‘jazz fm’ and then compare it to a 10 min recording of daytime radio 6, or even radio 2 , you will be surprised at just how ‘bombastic’ most modern music is.

Seems like overdoing the volume of the drums is a substitute for interesting percussion.

Not that over-emphasising the drums is always a bad thing as our heavy metal records attest, but to do it properly takes real skill.

I’m always surprised at the quality of the recording process in general from the 1950’s to 70’s …bands making classics in 1 take…and I guess it was down to the personnel.

In the aftermath of ww2 the Americans not only got their hands on magnetic tape recorders from the Nazi’s but I guess a lot of scientists and engineers (liberated from slave work, etc) who may have found employment in Americas fledgling post-war recording and creative industries. 8)

better late than never!

mind, its 2.15 on rear, 2.35 up front with topeak 29er specific rear rack and sks ‘velocross’ mudguards. Bit of ‘Mecanno’ style ss strip to hold rear light!

best of luck! :D

I don’t know what kind if clearance your bike has so I would recommend trying the 2.15 for the rear as the 2.35 is so humungous that it might rub against the stays if knocked slightly out of line.

The 2.15 is still a humungous size and a different beast compared to the 2.0

Bike-Discount-de. might have some 2.15 in stock.

Highly recommended…huge grin factor.

Will try and post some pics later. :wink:

Rosebikes still sell Alivio shifters for £23 a pair.

They do add a fiver or so for postage so it may make sense to buy a few more pairs while you’re there as well as a stash of their 8 speed cassettes. :-)

a new aussie soap?…the characters are wooden enough! :lol:

7″ ‘ace of spades’ by motorhead .

7″ Y&T ‘mean streak’ in picture disc.

There’s a very thin line between outright dismissal and cries of “burn the witch”! :wink:

I use my HRM to help stop me from over-doing it and overheating…a bit like using the tacho on a car.

You might be surprised how hard you are working even when pushing the bike so using a HRM is a good discipline.

I have just replaced my £10 Aldi’s HRM with a Polar F2. I found the Aldi’s one to be too complicated with way too many functions and not at all intuitive or reliable. The Polar F2 may be dearer but its way easier to use, with a much more consistent signal and from previous experience, much more reliable. So far so good. :D

I would have been tempted by the Cateye Stealth 50 which can be paired with any ANT+ HRM strap but decided on the Polar at the mo. as it worn on the wrist thus allowing it to be used should I try Kayaking.

thanks Ampthill, way better articulated. :-)

thanks folks, will have a look at Picasa, ingur,com and Flickr.

Sorry, couldn’t resist it! :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gciFoEbOA8

a couple of solutions spring to mind;

buy an air-filled mattress as this will allow you to find the right level of firmness by changing the air pressure via the built in pump.’Aerobed’ are worth buying from as they include non-PVC mattresses in their range. Downside is that you might find them chilly come wintertime?

or, to recreate that camping feel, try using ‘gro-bags’ from your garden centre as a mattress. Best to experiment as a single bed at first…find some spare bit of floor in your bedroom and lay the gro bags out according to your height (its best to use the cheap slender gro bags as they tend to be less likely to mould to your shape). Place a camping mat on top of the gro-bags along with your duvet/ pillow and enjoy a futon like comfort at a fraction of the cost.

The only downside I heard of was from a bloke who used gro-bags to replace the mattress on his girlfriends bed. She practically had a fit, not so much because her favourite mattress had been thrown in the skip but because she believed that he was trying to ‘fertilizer’. :lol:

best of luck…

I found that riding in a ‘prone’ position then the likes of the specialized ‘phenom’ saddles with their hammocking action could be useful.

It wasn’t till I switched to proper back-swept handlebars and a more upright position that I came to appreciate the Charge Spoon. It made better sense to me in this role than for ‘racier’ postures.

Only problem with the ‘spoon’ is that at near 20st in weight, my behind is too wide and the saddle too narrow at the back to negate the feeling that I’m going to slide off the back of it!

So I decided to add a few grammes to the bike and bought a re-branded ‘selle’ comfort saddle from crc. Works an absolute treat now.

maybe not enough tread?, but inexpensive:

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/TYSCSILW/schwalbe_silento_puncture_protection_wired_tyre

just cover the afflicted part of the garden in orange/ tangerine peel.

cats wont go near citrus smells.

best to suggest to neighbour that he/ she gets some sand delivered from builders merchant to their backyard (space permitting) as continued use of soil by cats ususlly results in their moggie becoming infested with worms.

29er wheels, even with the tyres on easily fit inside the large blue ikea bags.

so maybe use a couple of those per wheel in combination with ‘christhetall’s suggestion of using an old duvet for protection? :D

“grabs the trail by the scruff of the neck” (and/or) “with an alacrity that borders on contempt” :lol:

Is the pond large enough to put a boat on?

Might make a nice man-cave.

As daft as it sounds I’ve often wondered what the regulations are if you put a boat on a private pond and use the boat as living accommodation…can you bypass planning controls?

like a naff joke, I still can’t expel “descends with the precision-forged accuracy of an exocet missile” (MBUK 1993) from my consciousness. :?

Saracen kili trail 29er’s worth a look?

good topic. wouldn’t mind buying one myself as an alternative to the 71/73. angled 29er’s in my possession.

I guess these long forked bikes would be as capable as most FS bikes in the alps?

i guess the obvious candidates are

a) the ‘glen loin’ loop.

b) a loop of the the ardgartan penninsula.

as for gpx i dont know, but there was a route map of the glen loin loop in ‘mountain bike rider’ magazine a few years back so maybe worth searching out the relevant files.

as for the argartan loop again, i dont know of the relevant gpx files but if you are really stuck then the route should be available either on the forestry comm. website or as a leaflet from their ardgartan visitor centre.

if all else fails, the routes are also to be found in

‘bike scotland:book 2 by fergal macerlean’ and

‘loch lomond and the trossachs…by paul and helen webster’

good luck! 8)

jakatta ft.seal

might be time for firstbus to utilise this approach and offer a direct service between glasgow and the trossachs.

there seems to be very little in the way of public transport connections to the trossachs (puzzling, considering its tourism potential).

might even be quite profitable! :D

slack-ish angled, long-forked 29er hardtail?

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pinnacle/ramin-1-2013-mountain-bike-ec044226

or,

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_907521_langId_-1_categoryId_165499