As said before check the loom where it comes out of the door pillar and into the door. This was a common fault on the Passat. The looms are known to be very tight in this area. Get yourself signed up to the relevant forum, plenty of helpful advice on them.

Giant Talon 2 27.5 Paul’s Cycles.
https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b4s182p5832/GIANT-TALON-27-5-2-2015

I’m 6ft 4 and have a XL. It’s plenty big enough. Seeing as your only 6ft 1 I’d go for a L.

I went from a ip6 to a SE. No regrets. Better size more robust screen. Better battery life. Easier to carry about, fits in my saddle bag. No regrets.

Lurcher for the win, The original and best designer dog. I am biased having had several different versions.

I have this one a 5320. Best watch I’ve ever had. Would go out and get another tomorrow if I lost it.

The best tradesman I’ve ever had replaced all the windows in the house built a porch fitted patio doors and did the gutters and fascia. Didn’t ask for a penny up front and would only accept payment a month after to ensure we were happy with his work. He was a one man business. Needless to say he wasn’t the cheapest 12k was the bill. He didn’t advertise and only did work by recommendation. He was booked up 4 months in advance.

I would go for a 5s. They are more robust smaller and the cases are better. The 6 screen is more fragile due to its size. It will get broken! Been there 1 claim on insurance already because my son changed the survivor case we got him for a trendy hard case. My wife now has the 6 and he is very happy with the smaller 5s.

Durham branch is very good. Workshop open on a Sunday. Replaced two spokes on an Alex 29er rim and trued it up ready for a ride in the afternoon for £18. They are the worst rims I’ve ever had by the way.

I still like the old Deore Hollowtech Octolink cranks. Really stiff long lasting with a really durable BB and cheap!

Just for balance.
Got my 16 inch inbred 26er frame and Carnac mtb helmet for my son. Ordered on Sat morning came on Monday. No probs.

Paule good to know that some of these are actually being used. You are the exception rather than the rule. My dad got 3 boxfords from a school once because they were scared to use them and worried about health and safety. He made a great lathe from the 3 and then kept one for spares and sold the other.

Two acoustics, 1 classical, 2 electrics and a ukulele.
2 steel 26ers 1 alloy 29er and 1 alloy 27.5er.

Be prepared to spend more on the tooling than the lathe.

See if you can get hold of a boxford. They did plenty of single phase lathes for schools and colleges. There is one on eBay for 600.00ish. Not a lot of wear on these because they don’t allow the students to use them a lot because the teachers or lecturers don’t have a clue how they work. That’s not a dig by the way just fact.

Engineer in Aerospace Industry. 25 statutory days and 8 public holidays.

I used to get so hung up on what type of bike it was, what bars stem seat post shifters blah blah blah. Then something clicked and I just started riding for ridings sake. Enjoy just getting out and seeing the countryside. Not interested in Strava. Couldn’t care how fast or slow I am. I know people who wouldn’t ride if their bike just wasn’t so! FFS!

Matra 650 V12.
End of post.

I went to Earls Court for the Delicate Sound of Thunder tour. 88 I think. On the turning away was one of the finest bits of guitar playing I think I have ever heard to this day.

We get a lot of aluminium aerospace stuff heat treated at work. Vastly complicated and time consuming process including annealing. It will cost more than the frame is worth to do it properly. The welding is the easy bit.

There is a lot to be said for a mid spec run of the mill bike decked with deore and a decent set of tyres. I’m still waiting to replace an old hollowtech deore octolink crankset but it just goes on and on mega smooth. The BB crankset on the other hand is poo!

Unfitgeezer that sounds terrible. I had the old 1.8 vrs mk1, they are well known for having a tappety sound at idle because they have hydraulic followers on the cams that pump up properly when under load and at idle they kind of didn’t. That sounds very rough. I would be checking the water pump first then the other ancillaries. I had a water pump go on a Focus that sounded like that. Luckily it wasn’t part of the camshaft drive train.

I’ll measure up the waist of my bestest fit jeans and see what they really are. I really like the look of the 177’s.

Don’t skimp on the fat. Carbs will fuel you only up to a point. You need protein to maintain and repair your muscles. Full fat milk after a ride is great. Fat will fuel you much better over the long term than carbs. Have a break mid week to allow your body to recover.

Well I have just bought my 14yr old son a 16″ Inbred frame in Matt black for £145. They are now £154 pounds. It’s a good frame for him to crash about on. I’ll put my old but very good quality 26″ kit on it. He’ll have a niche bike that should be very capable if a tad heavy. I still think 26″ bikes are great for kids to learn all their skills on. Ordered on Saturday came today no probs.

I’m a 34 waist with a 33-34 leg but often have to buy 36 waist so my thighs have a bit of room and the trousers aren’t too tight. This must be common for mtb’ers. Have to keep em up with a belt. It’s a real pain. Mrs Inbred says I can only have a pair of 177’s if I try them on first! Women’s infallible logic strikes again.

Yep I tried to get through a few weeks back. Gate padlocked and barbed wire all over it. The bridleway sign has been removed as well from the gate area showing where access should be.

Make sure your bike is fitted properly i.e. Seat height position reach etc. The amount of people I see on very expensive bikes with the saddle to low or the frame to large. Stretch after exercise also.

Modelling amps are really rather good these days. I’ve got a 5w valve amp and it sounds really good but is probably to loud for practicing. If I was buying again I would go for a valve amp with an attenuator to drop the power down to 1 amp when practicing! Roland blues cube sounds nice. The mustangs are good amps. If I had the cash a new fender bass breaker would be on the cards https://www.andertons.co.uk/p/2260006000/combo-amps/fender-bassbreaker-007-1×10-guitar-amp-combo
I am restoring at the moment a Watkins Westminster 1962 valve amp with a valve driven tremolo with foot pedal. One of these https://soundgas.com/products/watkins-westminster-1?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=googlepla&variant=18532782021&gclid=COzRr8HR9s8CFUlsGwodUhYANA

Could be the frame that houses the press fit bearings is worn and under load the outside diameter of the bearing is rubbing the frame and creaking. Can you check for ovality in the bottom bracket?

Do titanium frames get stress relieved after they are welded? Most cracks seam to appear next to the welds. I wonder if the higher temps for welding Ti are causing localised stress points on the frames.

A work colleague of mine is a fell runner and all round endurance event nutcase. He will recce an event and hide snacks around the course. One of his mainstays are cans of mackerel fillets. Protein being key with a bit of fat. Fat is the key here, it’s easier to store. You can only store and convert so much carbohydrate. Paleo type diets make interesting reading. It’s not for me solely but some aspects I would consider and have included in my diet.

Really though once your body stops using carbs for energy it can fuel itself from your body fat. What did our ancient ancestors do for energy when hunting? Grab a sandwich or a gel! Your body needs carbs because it is used to getting them for energy rather than metabolising your body fat for energy.

I have found Grenade Carb Killa high protein bars with only 1.4g of naturally occurring sugars. For a 60g bar that’s not bad. They are a bit dear though.

Your metabolism has to learn to rely on the fat in your diet to convert it to energy rather than carbs. It took me about 8 weeks to get used to this. First 4 or 5 miles for me is generally crap then all of a sudden I feel great and can just keep going for hrs, weird! It does get easier. Peanut butter is your cycling friend. I tend to have this on Nairns Super Seeded oatcakes. Whole earth 3 nut butter is very good and no added sugar in either of these.

Paul’s have a trail 3 in M & LG for £529.00. For the better forks and brakes I would say it’s better value than the 4 or 5 maybe.

I have a trail 3 29er. I think the large and X large are 29 and the smaller frames 27.5. Great bike for general XC stuff. Mine is the XL. I use mine for general XC stuff and keeping fit. Okay on the road. I changed from the nine line tyre on the front and put a smart Sam on. For an ally frame it’s really compliant and comfy. If I was using it for trail centres I would put a better fork on the front and maybe slacken the head angle a bit. The cannondale seat post, bars and stem work really well. Mine has deore hydraulics on it with a deore rear mech. The wheels are ok. Had to get the back one rebuilt with a couple of new spokes but I did land a bit heavily once! Oops. Fork on mine is a Rock Shocks XC 30.

Gave up sugar, white bread, rice and pasta in April/May this year. Only eat wholemeal brown bread, brown rice and whole grain pasta. Don’t eat any product with added sugar so no cakes,biscuits or puddings. Cut my carbs down to a third of what I used to eat. Eat a lot more veg, meat and fish. Pudding now consists of greek yogurt with a bit of chopped fruit mainly. Struggled for the first 8 weeks. After that the weight just fell off lost about 2 kilos a week at one point. Im leaner and fitter than I was in my 30’s now 46. You have to really increase your good fats intake so plenty of nuts and seeds, full fat no added sugar yogurt, butter, olive oil etc. Oily fish is a good snack food.

I have been looking at these for my dad. That is a lovely car. Get it bought.

I ride my cannondale 29er 40m+ no probs. Smart Sam up front with a nine line on the back. Not the fastest ride but a capable all rounder. If I wasn’t planning on getting a Sportive bike next year I would probably consider a CX bike but the 29er isn’t bad.