I’m not looking for an argument, I’m just saying that people break the rules on the road every day. When I’m in the car, I don’t chase down every speeding motorist to tell them what I think, any more than I would a RLJ.

Ironically doing one and not the other, I would suggest, is a moral judgement. It’s just my opinion, I’m not trying to win anybody over.

I cycled through Paris once, they were far from patient and understanding…

Around Burgundy and the Massif Central they were awesome. I would wonder if the level of understanding is directly related to the level of traffic, and French/Spanish roads are generally much quieter.

I really don’t see how the average motorist has any right to judge the average person on a bike. I’m not going to add to the judgement.

When I drive to work, I’d say half of all motorists break the speed limit. When I cycle in, it seems like one in four is on a mobile phone (this has got a LOT worse in the last two years, at least in my experience) or having a fag/drinking early morning coffee.

I really couldn’t give a rats what the average motorist thinks of us. I know what I think of them…

I’m not sure it’s helpful comparing to other industries. In car and motorbike dealers, the workshop will be paid by the manufacturer for handling a valid warranty claim: diagnostic time, fitting time and so on. It won’t be at full labour rate but it’s still income,and assuming the workshop has capacity they’ll be grateful (or should be) for the work.

From above, it sounds like cycle manufacturers might not pay labour time for fixing under warranty: have I read that right? If that’s the case, then you could see why a non-supplying dealer might not want to take the work on on goodwill alone (I know I probably wouldn’t in the same situation).

Paying a non-supplying dealer for the time for warranty work might seem nuts, but if they never made profit on the original deal I would argue it’s fair enough, if they won’t be paid for the time from the manufacturer and you want them to spend time on it…

I was getting 8,000 to 12,000 PAC and PVCs a day for a year or two, mostly not during exercise, but sometimes in the first 30 minutes. I was often in bigenemy and trigenemy for hours. Saw a couple of cardiologists and had Holter, Echo and MRI – caught everything but they were insistent there was no underlying problem. I could pretty much get them to start if I bent over or lay on my left side, or if I was dehydrated as above. I spent ages reading about the Vagus nerve and stomach problems that manifest in ectopic beats. I was in danger of starting to obsess about it, and honestly it was at risk of stopping me enjoying life.

Conclusion was if I wanted further treatment they’d stick me on Beta Blockers or send me to a psychiatrist to understand why I was so worried about them (!). The Cardio’s equivalent of MTFU, and I’ve barely thought about them since 🙂

One day last year, they just stopped occuring. Not a single one for months, after no rest from them. Weird. Had none to speak of for months, and now I only seem to get them if I’m at the start of getting a cold, when they ALWAYS re-appear for a few days; or if I drink too much coffee or alcohol (most days for one or the other).

Get checked, but probably nothing to worry about.

I’ve got two boys, five and two: no matter what they sleep, I can’t remember the last time I didn’t feel knackered…

Local loops the answer for me as above. I treat myself to a Kickr last year too and honestly it’s the best thing I ever bought. I wouldn’t call it enjoyable, but coupled with TrainerRoad I at least get a decent ride in when I can’t get out (which is often)…

The five year old will happily cycle now for 6-8 miles (although I really need to get him a bike with gears now, as he’s pushing too big a gear a lot of the time) and those rides through the woods with him and up to the pond to feed the ducks are some of best rides ever 🙂

^^ I meant aren’t particularly bling. Too late to edit.

I really rate CK headsets and bottom brackets, hubs I’ve had needed a lot of adjustment and oiling of the worm drive.

Hope hubs are particularly bling, but I’ve never had any bother and maintanence is so easy. It’s the only Hope product I like.

Awesome. Why didn’t I think of Wheels Mftg? Might consider the Hope option too…

Thanks everybody. Isn’t this forum awesome 🙂

That’s exactly what I mean, thanks. Do the spacers sit on the bottom bracket cups forcing the bearing further apart, or between the bearings and the crank arms?

Thanks Jamie. I’ll drop you an email tonight. 🙂

Nothing’s as simple as that, eh…

I think I’ll get in touch with a local catering co and get them out. I’ll ask about extraction regardless as I’ve yet to find an extractor for that doesn’t make a hell of a racket whilst extracting nowt of any note.

Thanks again.

Yes, thanks: sensible suggestion. Looks like there are a few options too.

In theory then, if I have a u6 meter and only use 5 rings if the heating and oven is on…

What would happen if the boiler wasn’t quite getting enough pressure, would it just be less efficient or is it dangerous (can’t imagine how, but hey)?

Edit: looks like I could get a cheaper Lincat oven with a much lower max consumption. http://www.lincat.co.uk/uploads/spec/S-LINKGASRANGE.pdf

Thanks all, by the way. Very grateful 🙂

I’d thought about propane chewkw, but I’d rather not have the hassle and expense of a couple of whacking bottles in the garden…

Only because I’m standing in front of it 😉

It’s a Flexicon 18hx.

Thanks for that.

Just a modern boiler (Glow-worm Flexicon). Not too far, about 25ft. Do I just get an engineer out to test the pressure with everything running?

I’ve just picked one up from Swalwell, Gateshead. Still quite a few there.

Lady on the checkout told me to keep my receipt for a three year warranty. 🙂

It looks like you can’t order online, or check stock in a local store. Am I being a thicko?

Same here. Both the early and the later 9000s all creak like buggery for me. I am a bit of a fatty at the moment mind…

I’d have thought it was a good lesson. Pudding is a treat, if you don’t do as you’re told, no treat.

If there’s going to be consequence for her actions, then what would you have preferred she was denied? Story time, playing outside or something else entirely? Or do you not think it’s the nursery’s job to discipline?

Not saying you’re right or wrong, just curious.

EDIT: just read your other post, see you prefer time out. I suppose it depends what was said to your daughter first then. Not sure it’s worth being furious about, just tell nursery how you want it to work. If they don’t agree, choose a different nursery.

Honestly, I need to post twice how happy I am with the U2515H. £250 and 2560×1440, decent accuracy and no discernible bleed.

The bezel is really thin so if you do a dual monitor setup, it’ll be as good as it gets.

I still run 2408, 2413 and 3011 Dell Ultrasharps and I think this is the best of the breed yet. Only downside is DP and HDMI connections only. I realise it doesn’t fit the OPs description after re-reading his post, but I’m super happy with it and need to tell somebody (again). 😉

I’ve just bought a Dell U2515H for exactly that reason. It’s (another) excellent Ultrasharp Dell in my opinion. Bit over budget, but excellent 🙂

I’m another firmly in the ‘cherish it’ camp.

I do wonder if they should just concentrate on national broadcast services though, and leave any regional broadcast TV and radio to the commercial stations. I’m sure it’s a considerable expense and for most (sweeping assumption) people it’s becoming less and less needed/valued.

It might be worth thinking about a Mac Mini. I’ve recently bought the middle model and have it hooked up to an (excellent) Dell U2515H monitor. Neither the MacMini or 21.5 iMac can have user upgradable memory (unlike the 27s). Agree on 8GB minimum.

Performance of the Mini isn’t much worse (the Dell monitor is excellent), for a few hundred quid less. You do have to run a script to get OSX not to treat the monitor as a TV – straightforward though.

It’s my first experience with OSX. Can’t say I’m preferring it to Windows yet. If he uses Office for work then Office 2011 for Mac is bloody horrible; at least Outlook 2013 is available now, as is OneDrive Business (beta, but stable).

Fast Cars and Songs for the Deaf are good shouts.

For me I still get lost in:
Automatic for the People
Paul Simon, Graceland
Leonard Cohen, I’m Your Man

Just finished 12 months with BT and now back on Sky (for the TV). The Youview box would have been impressive 10 years ago, but compared to the Sky OS is slow, laggy, unstable and frankly not anywhere near as nice to use.

Maybe we need to differentiate between main dealers who are part of a big group, and those who are still family ran, privately owned businesses (admittedly there are less and less of them). I’ve had mostly good experiences at the latter, mostly bad at the former…

Personally, I’d keep to a main dealer within warranty period. There’s often not that much difference in cost anyway.

I guess it might be: if it is, I think its nuts…

Weeksy: you want them to spend the margin they make on employing someone (and buying/renewing their tools) to fit bought items for free? I’m not sure I understand that model…

I struggle to find the time to get into my LBS, but obviously I can order what I need from the Internet whenever I want. Price is important to me, but actually just getting what I want, when I need it is more important.

The last time I went to an LBS was a few months ago. I needed a carbon fork expander plug, and a new Park carbon cutting blade. I didn’t expect them to necessarily have the blade, but I tried EVERY shop in Newcastle and not one had a carbon expander in stock, not even a cheap and nasty M Parts one or similar.

Ironically, got some great advice from one shop about a 3T part, where you epoxy in an aluminium sleeve and fit a fairly regular SFN. Sounds great I said, I’ll have one of those instead: we don’t stock them, he said.

I get that the LBS can’t afford to stock items with a poor ROI, but ultimately the convenience and reliability of supply of the Internet is taking most of my money away from my LBS, not the price.

And without wanting to tar every shop with the same brush, when I do order parts in invariably they often forget to order it, almost never remember to call me when it arrives (and wait for me to call back) and are more emotional when dealing with returns. I like LBSs, a lot, but I think most have to decide exactly what they need to do to compete. And again, I’ve said it a few times now, for me it’s not about the price…

Edit: sorry OP, I forgot to comment on your post. I’d buy online, but still see your LBS for the bottom bracket. They should appreciate the chance to take some money off you through the workshop…

I now buy all my cable from cablemonkey.co.uk. Their customer service is excellent, as are their prices.

For reasons I couldn’t explain, a 305m roll of cheap CAT5E I bought from eBay would only ever sync at 100 base, no matter how long I made the cable. I’d normally (as a novice) have laid the cable before testing it and I was lucky this time: I’m very wary of buying non branded stuff now…

I’d buy CAT6 FWIW. The price difference is negligible.

Conversely, I’m on 31.9mpg average here on a 330d xDrive F31 so far, with mixed driving. Was hoping it would be a bit more frugal around the doors, but I’d accept it is economical for the power. I do get a 45mpg at a steady 80, I suppose.

Hard to argue against a RWD 320d really…

wrecker – Member
Is it just me that finds it a bit odd that you’d buy an estate then put your bike on the roof, beside the rood box?

Yeah, because the baby in the back and the dog in the boot would be happy to be cuddled up with my dirty bike. The roof box has a pushchair in. This was a family holiday.

Shoot first, ask questions later. STW summarised in two posts… 🙂

I’d probably say avoid the X Drive actually, and just get winter tyres (again, only if you really want to *really* enjoy driving it). The F31 is nowhere (nowhere) near as sharp to drive as the E91 IMO, and the X Drive just makes it worse, even with the adaptive suspension fitted.

The F31 feels a lot bigger than the E91 though, rear seat space and the boot are both much, much better. 8 speed auto box is awesome if you go for that too.

Ultimately, it’s probably closer to a 5 series in size and to drive really, which is a bit of a disappointment – to me, at least.

^ Bloody predictive, I meant pedalcover.co.uk too.

Speak with Darren Thomas at pedal over.co.uk. He did a great job for us after a recommendation on here…

Get into a decent local bike shop. More important than anything else is buying the right size. Lots of people start off on the wrong size, and any good bike will be hopeless if it’s the wrong size.

You’ll probably end up on a 16″ frame if you’re normal proportions, but you need to see a few and get some advice on size regardless.

If it’s ice, then run whatever psi you want. It’ll make no significant difference IMHO… 🙁

I’ve had a play with mine today, very impressed.

I went out and recorded a 45 minute ride, 1080p, wifi on and GPS on. It’s used about 30% of the battery. A brand new GoPro Hero 4 on 720p 60 fps, wifi on has pretty much ran out of battery on the same ride…

Video quality seems perfectly adequate for what I want it for. Software update went through first time and control via wifi/iOS worked first time and without crash too (can’t say the same about GoPro).

For £200 I’d say it’s a bargain, at £127 it’s nuts. Assume a new one is on the way, but it won’t be this price. Happy 🙂