I’ve got a high roller LUST on the front and a monorail on the back of my ETSX. The monorail is really fast and resonably grippy (but any kind of gloop confuses it!).

On the hardtail I’ve been trying Spesh purgatory 2.2 up front and captain 2.0 on the rear. Not a bad combo in my experience and grip is great but they are large volume for their stated size. Adds to the comfort a bit though.

There is a Canon 70-300 with IS second hand here on talkphotograpy. Not a canon user but perhaps someone could offer an opinion. Might be a good deal.

I tried the Adidas evil eye glasses with the optical inserts. They’re ok, but your vision is limited and the frame on the insert is pretty thick.

Make you look like a psycho with anything other than dark mirror lenses too!

I’ve ended up with contacts and normal glasses. It’s the best compromise for me. I only wear the contacts for biking and it does take a little getting used to but the clarity of vision and flexibility is well worth it IMO. depending on your prescription you might be able to use daily disposables which you can get for less than £1 a pair these days. I use monthly disposables because my eyes are properly broken (astigmatic and +6 long sighted!).

I’ve got a Black Diamond Blizzard which I find pretty good. It’s also closed cell foam for winter type stuff (doesn’t absorb water/snow) but can be a bit warmer in summer.

I couldn’t get on with the Petzls. If you’re feeling flush the Arc’teryx ones look very nice…

Just get one that fits you well, that’s the main thing.

Depends what you’re going to use it for. Focus may be a bit slow for fast action.

Sigma don’t have the best reputation for consistency so if it isn’t producing the right kind of results early on it might be worth checking against others with the same lens.

The talkphotogrpahy.co.uk lot are pretty good with advice. Post the request there for more specialist advice.

There are also a few comments here on DPReview. They make a good point about IS, at 300mm with a relatively slow lens you are likely to suffer from motion blur as well as potential softness.

In the right conditions (bright) it looks like will produce good results.

You could probably cut these down too. Lock on at one end only but doesn’t cause my GF any problems.

Lizard skins do a short lock on. Basically with the cm or so taken out.

See here

I use them and they’re great.

HTH

I don’t think they’re saying Macs are a bad thing, but variety is. More variety means more support skills required. I think it’s a fair point.

I bought my first Mac on Monday after a lot of thinking and 12 years as a PC user.

I’m finding it pretty good. To be honest, At the price I got it, I felt the hardware was the best option for me. I like Aperture for my photos (of which there seem to be millions) but most of the other tools are available cross platform. I am also running into issues with compatibility, I can’t use my Satmap with it or my mapping software without buying a copy of windows (for another £100). I could happily use either, that might change as I get more used to the Mac.

I like this one from opera[/URL]

DT Swiss XRC80 and XMC100 are available at http://www.lexs.co.uk for £475 just in case you’re rejecting them on price.

I’ve got the XMC130 and think it’s a great fork. Light and responsive yet stiff.

I don’t believe that Cotic works with Halfords any more.

I got mine last year. Cotic built it to my spec for me.

Don’t know whether you’ve seen this offer.

Reba Tem 09 with Maxle lite for £412! They’re £500+ on merlin…

I would take the biggest, heaviest bike you’ve got so I can keep up! 😉

I’m going. Want to increase the odds of getting better pics!

I believe it’s only the Team that has the new Black Box damping. The Race has the normal Motion Control.

Thanks for the help. I’ll check it out.

Some recent shots (December)

Proposing to the mrs (to be!) on Grassmoor

The Crinkle Crags

Another on the Crinkles

I tried that on with the RP23 mine came with. It’s a 2007 model and the valve fouled the adjustable section by the quick release. It could only be ridden in 4″ mode, which I rarely do. Just give it a go, the bolts are the same diameter at each end.

HTH

BTW, I had a pretty long search for an appropriate camera bag. The main problem I had was that I wanted a bag that was long enough to take my camera with lens and hood attached but was also snug so the camera didn’t rattle around in it. The best I came up with was this Tamrac bag. It has four D rings to attach the straps securely, is very well padded and fits my camera vary well (Oly E3 but they do do smaller bags) and also has both zip and clip lock lid. It means if you want to be quick, you can just use the clip. If you’re more worried about the weather, you can zip it in too.

As you’ve already got a bag it’s less of an issue, but I thought I’d drop it in.

I use the same “SLR on chest” set up but rather than clip it to my pack, I have two normal camera straps (like the one you get with the bag) threaded diagonally (i.e. top right loop on one end and bottom left on the other). I find this really stable, holds the camera up high enough to be out of the way and it means I’m not tangled up in my pack! The other thing it does is reduce the tension in the pack shoulder straps but obviously you’ve got an independent weight in the bag.

If you do use elastic tensioners, make sure they are not too elastic as it’s a fair bit of weight and it will move a lot on the rough stuff.

HTH.

If you must upgrade I’d go with whichever feels best. You’re more likely to use the camera if you find it easy to use. I upgraded my Olympus E510 to an E3 (about the same size as the D300) and am happy with the significant increase in weight because the image quality and usability is great.

If you fly at all take a look at the dixons tax free website. You usually get pretty good deals with the kit lenses. My E3 cost me £130 after I’d got a great price, subtracted VAT, sold the kit lens and sold the free flash from Oly. Not bad at all.

You get slightly faster continuous shooting with the D40x as well as a bit more resolution. The faster shooting might be useful for the action shots.

DPreview has a review of the D40.

HERE.[/url]
and the D40x HERE.[/url]

I assume they come with the same lens, that could make a bigger difference than the small changes in the actual body in my experience.

Comaprison can be found in the DPRreview site here.[/url]

Hope that helps

Definitely the way to go. Works well for me. If you are having trouble applying soap foam to the rim/tyre will help oo.

14 hours with the GPS on is pretty impressive. Someone must have come up with waterproof cases for them now too.

There was an issue with the old 60csx and AA batteries but it was actually the circuit board, not the use of the AA’s that caused it. It was pretty easily fixed too. I have no issues with my Oregon turning off on rough decents.

TBH I find the topo stuff is perfectly usable if you’ve uploaded a route. I use it becuase I’m out on my own a lot and don’t like stopping!

The OS stuff is great if you plan your routes on the device but I don’t so it’s only necessary on my laptop to get the route right in the first place.

If you’ve got the chance of getting a 60CSX they are great GPS units, albeit a bit bigger, and the screen is much better. Would save you some cash.

I’ve got an Oregon with the old Topo maps. You can use the old routes as they are stored in the same way no matter which maps you use. There isn’t really any disadvantage to using cards in place of DVD except that you can’t just pick the regions you want, you have to have the whole card. Not a big problem in my opinion. More of an issue is that you can’t just buy a bigger card and have the whole country in all of the time.

I assume you mean you “don’t” need a cycling specific ones as you’ve discounted these.

The oregon is pretty good. It’s easy to use with gloves on. The screen isn’t great in bright light but it’s usable. Hope that helps.

Forgot to add, mine’s the flat bar version.

I’ve got a medium (I’m 5’10”).

It’s not the lightest of bikes, but I don’t really notice the weight. The frame is fairly compliant, but given the poor roads near me that’s fine. You can feel the flex if you’re standing on the pedals with full panniers but I suspect this would affect most frames and I certainly wouldn’t want anything lightweight for that job.

Love the disc brakes too.

Go and try a few. It’s amazing how different they can feel in your hand. They change the models so frequently these days that you can always find bargain ‘old’ models that will get you started. A DSLR from 3 years ago will outperform your compact.

I believe there is a cashback offer on Sonys on here

The Olympus E420 (small) and E520 (slightly bigger with in body IS) are pretty good cameras for the money. The Olys tend to have more ‘manual’ functions in the basic models which means it takes a while to find the limits.

You could also try the new Panasonic G1 which looks really quite good and is still pretty compact.

Take a look at DPReview for some reviews and tips.

They’ve also got XT hubs on Arch rims for £200. Looks like a good deal (if you like the hubs that is)

How about Hope Pro II on Stans Arch from JRA:

here

Got them in stock apparently.

I really rate mine, fairly light, definitely tough and great tubeless.

Gotta love the Pro II tick tick!

I’ve got the XMC130. It’s a great fork in my opinion. Pretty stiff and light. I like the Launch control, although the rebound adjuster can be moved if you cycle on overgrown paths a lot! I’ve got the QR version, I think they’re now doing the 15mm thing which should be stupidly stiff.

I had a similar problem with my old revs and the +ve air cap. I found the best way was to set the U turn fully clockwise (up?), flip the travel adjust lever up and then you can grip the whole cap and travel adjust. You just need a couple of turns to get it going. Grease it before you put it back on.

The Sony Vegas software is pretty good. You can download a trial on their website. It’s pretty comprehensive but the platinum pack does cost around £60 .

Here are a few from this strangely sunny winter (assuming I’ve got the tags right):
Pike O’Blisco

Snow angel!

From the Crinkle Crags

Crinkle Crags

Snowy Buttress on Aonoch Mor

I’ve got a slingshot 200 too. It’s a good bag but I found it got uncomfortable if you were carrying it any distance (all the weight is pretty much on one shoulder). I’m not really using mine any more if you’re interested? It’s in top nick. Make me an offer if you want.