Ignore the plastic options – buy some Nukeproof Horizons when they’re on offer on CRC. Easily the best flat pedal overall, which is the reason they always come on top in bike magazine tests.They’ll also last much longer than plastic pedals.

JP

I really dislike all of the politics of envy on this thread. The level of ignorance about how independent schools operate is also astounding. It almost makes me want to vote Tory (something I’ve never done), just to piss off all of the self righteous, let’s-drag-everyone-down-to-a-mediocre-level lefties who shout the loudest on this forum.

That is all.

JP

tjagain

Member

Errmmm – no – they are social democratic – surprisingly enough like Corbyns labour which follows the nordic / European social democratic tradition very closely Most of Scandinavia remains at least as far to the left as Corbyn. Most of Scandinavia does not follow unfettered neoliberalism either. Where do you think the taking money out of private companies to buy shares to give to workers came from?

Most of Scandinavia has much higher taxation than the UK, Much higher benefit rates, much more worker protection, much higher environmental standards and much more egalitarian societies

Friend of mine who is Finnish has just returned to the UK after having moved the family to Finland, with the intention of it being a permanent move. The main reason they didn’t stay was that taxation was so high that they had far less money than over here and they consequently were having to work much harder to makes end meet. Hardly some sort of socialist paradise, eh?

I should add that she’s a social worker, so not one of your greedy capitalists.

JP

My Magic Mary Ultrasoft lasted for a year or so on the front. That’s riding twice a week, on average, but all off road, and mainly on surfaces that aren’t that abrasive (ie not armoured trail centre stuff, which seems to kill tyres).

JP

The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
The Smiths – The Queen is Dead
Love – Forever Changes
Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
The Beatles – Revolver
Suede – Dog man Star
Gene Clark – No Other
Primal Scream – Screamadelica
Van Morrison – Astral Weeks

JP

Sky do this every year to me. I then do the annual ‘I’m going to leave’ rigmarole and they decrease it back to the original price. This has been happening for around 10 years now.

JP

Do the experts subscribe to the theory as once expounded to me that (assuming you like the bean variety and roast) the three main aspects in order are how fresh the grind is, how you do the grind, and then how you brew.

So as above, if you grind and store ground coffee then it’ll oxidise and degrade so better to buy beans and grind before use, and how you grind is secondary to how fresh the grind is (other words, preground in the best burr grinder in the world will still oxidise and taste worse than fresh blade ground)

And then whatever you do to get your ground, a posh espresso machine won’t rescue oxidised coffee whereas (good) fresh ground coffee in an aeropress still tastes pretty good.

Yeah – that’s pretty accurate. Having said that, I do pre-grind coffee on the EK for camping trips and it often tastes better than expected.

JP

That’s really expensive. The insurance on my highly modified Elise and the wife’s Freelander only used to be £500 combined.

JP

We do subscriptions too. I’ve got a really nice natural from Colonna Coffee in stock now – DM me if interested and I’ll do you a deal.

JP

[Threadjack] I have a stove top coffee pot – will switching to grinding my own beans improve my brew? [/threadjack]

Grinding your own will make a massive difference to flavour; coffee oxidises very quickly after grinding (the surface area exposed to the air is much greater when ground into thousands of tiny pieces.)

However, grind quality varies enormously between grinders, and this is where further improvements can be made. Go for a burr grinder – a hand powered one if you want to not spend too much money.

JP

Build quality and a garden bigger than a postage stamp are what are missing form most new builds.

JP

Does anyone know if the charger damper (considering one from the German site for my Yari) is the same unit, regardless of travel on the fork?

The ones listed don’t seem to show any travel options.

The airspring dictates travel – damper is the same for all travel lengths for a given fork.

JP

Check your home insurance to see if it provides legal cover for employment cases (many do).

JP

jjprestidge

Member

Labour also plans to raise corporation tax significantly, which is moronic. Most small businesses are not rolling in money

They are suggesting an increase to 26%

This is still lower than a decade ago.

It’s still far lower than it was under Thatcher.

These really aren’t radical policies.

Not radical but still moronic. Have you ever thought what would happen to profits if corporation tax were reduced?

JP

In what way? Will there be large groups of kids with no schools to go to, or will those schools be government funded? If the “charities” behind schools can pay grotesque amounts to the people running them while doing the bare minimum and sometimes not even that to qualify as a charity, except on paper, is putting them out of business such a bad thing? Let’s at least agree that under the Tories schools have become commodities and made profits in various ways for the people operating them and that that is a bad thing for education.

Do you have any experience of the independent sector or are you just basing your opinions on what you read in the Socialist Worker?

JP

Northwind

Subscriber

jjprestidge

Member

Labour also plans to raise corporation tax significantly, which is moronic. Most small businesses are not rolling in money

Most small businesses don’t pay corporation tax

Source? Otherwise I’m calling that out as BS (knowing what we pay in corp tax as a business with 3 employees).

JP

tjagain

Member

On the independent schools – its high time they paid their way – all they have to do if costs increase and they lose their mostly undeserved charitable status is to put the fees up. I would also make them pay the government for the training of the teachers they take out of the general pool

corporation tax? IIRC they did state there would be transitional help for small businesses – and of course staying in the EU will be a huge boon for small businesses.

Sorry, but your answers show complete ignorance about the financial implications of both of these policies.

I really don’t think you have any understanding of how independent schools operate. They can’t simply increase their fees because they will experience significantly decreased demand. Most independent schools aren’t busting at the seams with billionaire’s kids; the majority of students are from relatively modest backgrounds, so even small fee increases would result in many parents transferring their kids to the state sector. I think that you and the other class warriors on here are conflating Eton and the sector.

As for corporation tax, your reply is a complete joke. I don’t want some pathetic transition help, followed by a massive hike in what I’m paying in corp tax – I want an environment that encourages entrepreneurs, not discourages them.

This is the first time in my 27 years of voting that I will not even consider voting for Labour. I don’t want that to be the case.

JP

JP

Momenteum does not drive labour – thats one of the tory press lies

What sort of thing are you afraid of? I bet its again tory lies

OK – let’s give you a couple (there are plenty): my wife is the registrar of an independent school. Labour have already said that they plan to make life hard for this type of school. Regardless of how far they take this, with the exception of a few of the more famous schools, most public schools aren’t rolling in money, and even small changes, such as those to their charitable status, would have disastrous consequences.

Labour also plans to raise corporation tax significantly, which is moronic. Most small businesses are not rolling in money, and suddenly having to give an extra 7% to HMRC could easily make them non-viable.

JP

tjagain

Member

Why is tory support so high? When yo have control of almost all the media its easy to boost support for your party. Its about propaganda.

I don’t think Tory support is anything like the polls suggest.

This said, the reason the Tories are not doing worse is because many swing voters think that Corbyn would be a disaster. I really don’t want a Tory government, as I’m a staunch remainer, but, as a business owner I have real worries about the sort of mad stuff that a Momentum-driven Labour government would implement. There are lots of people like me who have similar worries.

JP

Each to their own I suppose and I would say look elsewhere if the op rides a lot of hardpack/rocky trails, but I find the Shorty to be the best up front for this time of year. The lad who recommended it is Danny Harts world cup mechanic and said that after testing prototype versions of the Assegai Danny still uses the DHR2 front and rear most of the time. To be fair Danny seems to ride in mud like most people ride in perfect conditions so I’m not ruling the Assegai out in future

I think the DHR has got just as much grip, but it’s got a bit more of an on/off feel before it really digs in at greater lean angles. This doesn’t bother the pros, but I prefer a smoother transition.

JP

You’re totally deluded if you think that Farage is in this for anything other than

Which candidate is not in it for
themselves? Help me choose

There are plenty, many of whom are useless, though. I’d place Corbyn in this category – I think he really believes in what he’s doing, even though much of it would never work.

JP

pothead

Member

+1 for Shorty / DHR2, Doubledown casing on the rear, both 3c maxterra. I almost bought an Assegai for the front but could only find DH casing and was told the Shorty is a better tire in mud/wet conditions despite the shop in question having the Assegai in stock and no Shortys

Shorty is better in mud, but the Assegai is better on wet roots/rock, and much better in mixed conditions.

The DH casing isn’t much different in weight to the DD – I think there’s only 30g in it.

JP

@kayak23 Are you the guy who shouted “Lydon, you’re shit!” at every opportunity when PIL were supporting the Roses a few years ago?

JP

You’re totally deluded if you think that Farage is in this for anything other than himself.

As I said before, I know several people who worked for him and others who worked for UKIP MEPs when he was the leader. They have all reached the conclusion that he is not genuine at all. I should add that this doesn’t mean they’ve changed their opinion on Brexit.

Vote for who you like, but don’t be taken in by confidence tricks.

JP

Vietnam produces a lot of very poor quality robusta, grown at fairly low altitudes.

Very good robusta can taste somewhere near the lower end of specialty grade arabica, but it’s very much a case of why bother. It is much more resistant to leaf rust, though, which is one of the few good things you can say about it.

Life’s too short for bad coffee. Even a £40 per kg bag gives a relatively inexpensive per drink price, so I’d always drink decent stuff even if I didn’t work in the specialty coffee industry.

JP

Low mileage old cars are rarely a good idea. Don’t waste your time.

JP

Del

Subscriber

I think Farage is serious about standing in most constituencies and that will really damage the tories badly.

I am now thinking well over a hundred seats to the smaller parties and a hung parliament

So what really do you think his game is? Is it as simple as keeping the gravy train going? There are worse reasons I suppose…

That is exactly his game, as confirmed by people I know who have worked for him.

JP

The Asssegai Maxxgrip has more grip on wet roots, rocks and slippery stuff than any tyre I’ve ridden. The next best tyre for me is the Magic Mary Ultrasoft, which clears slightly better, but isn’t as good at everything else.

The downside is that it’s really heavy and is pretty slow rolling – two things that don’t really bother me that much, as almost all of my winter riding is uplift or grinding up a fire road/push up.

JP

Assegai is the best front tyre I’ve used and I’ve tried loads. Works brilliantly in all conditions.

JP

All this argument ignores the fact that economists have been universally useless at predicting anything. Remember economists in the 70s telling companies that they needed to be diversified conglomerates to survive? Or the disastrous reliance on supply side economics in the 80s? There are innumerable other examples.

JP

rone

Subscriber

There is a creeping move towards authoritarianism on the left. You can witness it in action on this forum, where there are frequent calls by the more left leaning members for all sorts of things to be banned.

You must have many sound examples lined up?

Wow – you really can’t see it, can you?

I had an elderly relative (long dead now) who once argued until he was blue in the face that it wasn’t high tide, despite the fact that he lived so close to the harbour that high tide was clearly visible at that moment just by looking out the window.

So, please, continue in your dreamworld of Corbyn as the great leader, Labour having no issues with antisemitism, and certain electoral victory for them being only a few weeks away. I’m sure that nothing I or anyone else on here say will lure you into the real world.

JP

They do love their authoritarianism though, those lefties.

And they don’t seem to like our Jewish friends very much

Why tarnish a few specific people when you can tarnish whole swathes of the electorate?

Not true, though. There is a creeping move towards authoritarianism on the left. You can witness it in action on this forum, where there are frequent calls by the more left leaning members for all sorts of things to be banned.

Labour’s proposed policy of seizing private property doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence in them.

JP

The Brian Lopes one is probably the most useful in terms of technique.

JP

Get out of the public sector – it’s an awful combination of hopeless bureaucracy and creeping early 90s corporate culture. It really is the worst of both worlds these days.

JP

lunge

Subscriber

2nd Fabba, tights is the answer, under shorts if you must.

We’re not roadies, man! Turning up at somewhere like Wind Hill in tights is about as appropriate as wearing a mankini to a white tie event.

JP

I reckon the BP will only field candidates in Labour strongholds and won’t contest anywhere that might result in a tory not getting/keeping their seat. Farage will be rewarded with a seat in the House of Lords as a thank you from Johnson. Drain the swamp indeed…

I don’t believe that’s the plan.

JP

I’m surprised so many on here like Specialized tyres – IMO they’ve been rubbish since Maxxis stopped making them.

I’d say one of the following for the front: Magic Mary, Assegai, DHF, DHR
For the rear I’d go with: Hans Dampf, DHF, High Roller II or DHR (DHF if you want it to be faster rolling)

I like the ultasoft or Maxxgripp compound for the front, as both are so good on wet roots and rocks, but I appreciate that some on here find them a bit slow on the climbs.

JP

I suspect the Tory vote will be split by BP and they will win considerably fewer seats than the current polls suggest.

JP

dhrider

Member

No idea what shop it is but i’d guess its not just as simple as “just ordering it in”. The item will need added to their system, Potentially needs a barcode created, someone will have to pick up that item has been added and order it then the logistics of getting the item to the shop and allocated to you. By the time they’ve done all that, it’s probably not worth the effort.

I’d say black outsells all of the other colours.

That’s really not difficult – my business adds new products all the time and it’s the work of about 10 minutes. And that’s a completely new product – colour is just a variation, so should be quicker.

JP

Buy a petrol if you want to be able to drive it into city centres in the next few years. /Awaits STW eco keyboard warriors who will say that you shouldn’t drive into city centres.

JP