Instead of going down the “buy a frame” route, I bought a complete bike and think I got a good buy. I got myself a Intense Tracer 2 with Fox 36’s and basically XTR running gear. The beauty of the Tracer 2 is I can replace the rear drop-outs and got the 650B route if I want and the 36’s just about accept a 650B wheel too.

Fastest engagement on any hubs are the Stealth ones with the clutch system. It’s instantaneous so better than any others.

We’ve been making some custom bushes for the Ohlins at work.

I’ve ridden the steel Switchback and it’s a very nice ride. However from my past experience with a titanium Merlin Oreas I owned, the softer feel at the back would be a bonus to take a bit of sting out the back I imagine. The Merlin was a softer ride then any steel frames I’ve owned and felt sublime over the rough stuff. So if you can afford it I’d go for the titanium one any day.

If your German is any good try their version of eBay for selling guns. Some sellers will post and there’s some fantastic stuff to pick up on there.

No MoseyMTB it doesn’t.

I’ve just found myself a nice Tracer 2 and can’t wait get my mitts on it.

Very sad news and a totally tragic set of circumstances with the accident. RIP Jules.

I had very serious food poisoning just before Christmas, caught from chicken and diagnosed as Campylobachter. I lost a hell of a lot of weight, wasn’t throwing up but spent hours on the toilet. Purely because I hydrate lots was the only reason I didn’t end up in hospital but one night I almost passed out and I was alone at the time and it was very frightening. Took me weeks to get back to “normal” living but months later I still suffer from after effects from it and thought I was actually allergic to chicken after which is common apparently (the food that gave you the illness).
I wouldn’t wish “proper” food poisoning on anyone and sounds like you’ve picked a bug up and could be gone in a couple of days.

That’s the beauty and pleasure with vinyl. Moving the arm over the record, gently lowering the stylus down and then listening to the whole album, especially if it’s one you’ve never heard before.
I’m an engineer by trade, now doing CNC stuff so I love all things mechanical. I love my LP12 with Zeta arm, how it’s made, the asthetics, it’s looks and of course how it performs. I have a Michel Orbe with SME V arm and that’s the same, it looks mechanically right and they both make listening to music a pleasure. Long live vinyl.

I can thoroughly recommend the DV range of players as an audiophile quality CD player. I have a CD192 in a system and its superb player. Arcam make some very good kit indeed.

Your very lucky if you can get a moult out in perfect condition as some spiders tend to shred them. The good ones I try save and then show my friends and then I usually throw them away. Some people do save the very good ones and you can mount them in a frame.

My snakes are a male Commom Boa “Dave” who is 7 feet long and a gentle giant, my Green Tree Boa and my female Dwarf La Bahai Boa “Maria”

I’m waiting for my delivery of fresh food so I’ll upload a video then hopefully.

Haha dannybgoode that’s a great idea. If you finally get one DON’T get a Chile Rose which are always recommended as beginners T’s because they are bullet proof, get a Curly Hair Tarantula instead as they too are very easy to keep but they feed really well and don’t have fasting periods like the Rose which when that happens really worries the new owner as they believe something is wrong. Curly Hairs are much better and look good too.

Sorry Roper the only picture I have of the minx Big Black is the one below as she’s gone into pre-moult now and is all webbed up in her lair. As soon as she’s in her new clothes I’ll try get one of her.

This is my juvenile female Ceratogyrus darlingi “Horned Baboon” saying hello. She’s made a fantastic web all round her tunnel and it’s amazing to look at.

I now have an X immanis spiderling which looks nothing right now but as an adult they’re a stunning purple colour and the only thing wrong with them is they’re not cheap. Right now a 2cm sling can sell for £70 but I now have more expensive spiders as my collection gets bigger

I have a male Boa and he’s really tame. He’s just over 7ft too. I also have a Royal Python and Dwarf Boa and again they’re very tame. My Green Tree Python is remarkably calm too which is good as they can be very snappy.

Touching wood I’ve never been bitten and I don’t hopefully intend to. Their venom varies from something that feels like a bee sting to some that can give serious long term problems lasting many months and giving you serious pain.
Some of them have the urticating hairs which they fire at you and then you itch like crazy. Again they vary in potency and some give you blisters that itch not so bad and some itch very very bad and if they get in your eyes can be exceptionally nasty.
Yes i do have them in various rooms in my house but I am turning one room into a dedicated spider/snake room. I have to ensure they’re all safely housed and cannot escape as I also have a dog and the spiders are lethal to her and if she got bitten it would kill her. The venom to us isn’t lethal.

I wouldn’t say there’s an “appeal” as such. It’s just I have a collection of the more “popular ones” and as my interest and confidence is better the feisty ones are the ones I’ve bought recently. They actually aren’t aggressive but defensive and non of them actually go out their way to attack. In a confined space as they are, it just appears they are aggressive and if left alone they are fine. It’s a natural reaction they have to show their fangs or rear their legs up as it lets any would be attacker know they mean business.

No probs, love showing the spiders off. I’ll get a video done next time and show how quick some of them are.

This is my Mexican Fireleg on her back and moulting. The process takes anything from an hour to a few hours depending on the age of the spider and it’s a traumatic process for them and some sadly don’t survive. My girl Flick did and so here is the pre-moult and then the actual skin after

And this is her in her new skin

No probs 😉 I’ll load some pictures up of the more friendly ones next time.

The company I worked for used to make the wiring harness for them. Needless to say it wasn’t a good business deal because of what happened. Saw the early prototype when it was shipped to our factory. Did look sweet too.

I’m a Liverpool fan, been attending since 79 so seen good times and indifferent. I’m a realist and I believe level headed too and like so many Red fans, the target was a top 4 finish which considering the squads of the top Prem teams. I thought was going to be a difficult task but hopefully it would happen. Low and behold to then be drawn into a fight off the title, it was a great blast and beyond what I expected and yeah I dreamt the good times could return. Sadly, Henderson’s sending off, our defences total inability to defend and I’m afraid to say Rodgers bad tactics, that dream of a title has gone. But win against Newcastle and its second and if City screw up, which I don’t see happening, the title could slip into our hands so I’m still smiling and still happy as there’s more than one team in the league who would love swap places with us and that’s all that matters.

Billy Bob really is playing a brilliant part and is funny and quite dark with it too. Thoroughly enjoying it.

Non of them as they’re all so unreal. Firstly, any firefight indoors non of the shooters are blinking when they’re firing the guns. Really? Trust me I was shooting for years and you fire a gun in an enclosed space and your ears know it! It’s deafening and your reaction is to wince. Secondly muzzle flash. Because they use “soft blanks” you don’t see any or very rarely and again, in an enclosed space it’s very very bad with big calibre guns and semi auto/auto weapons. Thirdly is recoil. They shoot a gun and it doesn’t move. Really? I’d love to have had those when shooting in my competitions pmsl. Anyone who shoots knows the guns recoil and they just don’t on any shooting scene so sadly I shrug my shoulders at them all basically.
BUT the opening scene on Saving Private Ryan to me conveys how horrible, scary and brutal a battle scene can be and is very distressing IMO and it’s the only scene I congratulate and think wow.

Funny thing is, the 535 M Sport diesel with the twin turbo engine is a fabulous car with almost M5 performance at a fraction of the cost. Pulls like a train, delivers very good economy and is a very very underrated car.

I had a 330Ci M Sport. Fabulous engine noise, 270bhp. Loved it

Heat – De Niro and Pacino both at the same time. Sorted.

Sorry can’t help with the fault but I doubt it’s worth repairing in all honesty. There’s a lovely one on eBay right now going for £99 or offers and a repair will almost certainly be somewhere near that cost unless it’s a very quick fix.
Did the problem show itself on the LCD rear screen when you took the pictures or if you previewed them?

Stop eating cheese before you go bed.

Cheers bennn, you must have bi-passed my Neat Ultimatums 🙁
I was lucky to get them at a bargain price and think they’re stunning little boxes and bettered my previous B&W PM1’s by some margin too.

I have some Monitor Audio 7’s for sale that would be ideal as they’re small bookshelf speakers. Just had 2 new drivers fitted to them from Wilmslow Audio at a cost of £75 but I’ll let them go for less than that as I just want shift them. Very highly rated speakers in their days as well and would cost over £500 today if new. My emails in my profile if your interested.
If your going new the ones you mentioned, the BX2’s and Dali’s I can definitely recommend as well.

Kans are very sought after, especially in the Far East and here in the UK. You will get good money for those and depending on how the wind blows that could be anything between £250-£350 maybe more. Mk1’s and Mk2’s are IMHO the best Kans and I’ve both types so if they’re in good nick you could do well. Remember eBay with it’s fees though.
The Rega will get £200 easily on eBay even with a worn out cart. I know it’s not got the RB300 arm but the older RB200 is still highly rated. I’d be tempted try both for free on Gumtree first as you will get local buyers and it saves the hassle of carriage and boxing them up etc.
The other things can get £20-50 each I guess and again try Gumtree first.

I’m using some Neat Ultimatums XLS and also have some lovely little Dynaudio 42’s which I can recommend if you can bring them away form the walls and give a little space to at the sides. They need good stands though as well. The Neats are just stunning but they should be for the price.

No they don’t get accustomed to anything as I’d hazard a guess they’re brains aren’t big enough. They do possess remarkable senses though and even a soft breath or tremor can alert them so best to never breathe over them as those that are skittish can then try bite you.

He will have had to have gone to great lengths to be able sell DWA stuff. The council will have been involved, he will have them in what’s called a “hot room” and prove they cannot escape form that room if they get out of their enclosures. It’s a very strictly controlled business.

I avoid Stoke for other reasons pmsl. Here’s the actual moult of my Brachypelma boehmei and once it had come off I could examine it and found out she was a girl. It’s preferable to have them turn out as girls even if you don’t breed them as girls live much longer than the boys and so it’s money well spent when you buy them as an “un-sexed” juvenile

Staffordshire Exotics is the name of the club and they held a show at the White Star pub in Stoke. I’m sure they had some snakes there last time, sadly I couldn’t make it but I’ll keep my eyes peeled for the next meet.

Ahhh a Wandering Spider – so she’s venomous and a DWA spider here in the UK? That’s a Dangerous Wild Animal here in the UK for those not in the know. It’s what you need for keeping things like Cobras, Crocs and Black Widow spiders. Here in good old Stoke there’s quite a few DWA keepers, especially of snakes but it’s something I’ll never do as I just don’t want take that risk.
Lovely spider though and ouch to those symptoms too. I’ll remember that for the future.

I do have a dog as well and I’m ultra cautious and think of her well being too as a bite from any of my spiders would be lethal to her. She did watch them as they moved in their homes at first but she’s used to them now, same with my snakes when she sees them but whenever I am re-homing the spiders or when I’ve put new ones in homes I’ve always kept the dog out the way. I’ve only had one “accident” and that was my own stupid fault.