Ah, thanks for the up-to-date info LoCo …

I’ve heard good things about the Marzocchi’s, although they don’t seem to be very common compared with RS/Fox – is there a reason for this? (reliability, parts, repairs?)

I had a brief conversation about Christianity with a guy who stated he was Atheist … strangely he said he preferred spending time with ‘religious people’ (as he called them) as he found them more genuine and trustworthy.

… it’s easier not to eat too much of it in the first place. People’s mindset about food needs to change to cure the obesity problem

No no no, you’ve got it all wrong.

People want to be told that it’s someone elses fault they’re fat, or it’s their genes … anything other than be accountable for themselves, eat differently and maybe get off the sofa once in a while.

(this may be a massive generalisation)

They are a bloody nightmare for communication at wheelies but very nice people when you do get hold of them

I’ve dealt with Wheelies once before as an online customer … item I ordered took weeks to arrive … and yep, in the meantime communication was much less than ideal

Happy to share my experience if you’d like to email me (address in profile). Prefer not to put all the gory details out in public.

Thanks – I’ll see what happens first, maybe I’ll drop you a line later if I’m not happy with things, see if you’ve got some useful advice/experience

Fingers crossed …

chapaking – Yes, I’m with M&S

carbis – I spoke to the rep from Wheelies who went through each component asking what I’d had on my build, then referred me to the Custom Build team … although I’ve not had a conversation yet along the lines of whether they can get a like-for-like build (I know for a fact the frame is no longer available). Cheers for the advice about the cash though : if it comes to the crunch I’m best taking it from M&S rather than Wheelies

noidea – sounds reasonable. I’ll see what Wheelies come up with first, see if it’s something I’m happy with.

just accept that one morning it might be gone? Probably cheeper to write it off the £800 or so you think it’s worth in your head then if it gets nicked just accept shit happens than pay the excess and increaced premiums etc?

That’s one option!

However it doesn’t sit well with me if I do one day need to phone the insurance company knowing full well that I’d be lying to (or even defrauding) them by not admitting the stolen key …

should cover it if they boke into the house and took them. The lowest cost option for them would presumably be to do nothing and see if it gets nicked as well? Presumably if they wanted the car they’d have taken it to start with?

Keys were taken from in the house, so pretty sure insurance will cover it (and there’s no excess to pay according to my policy documents).

I don’t think the thieves knew they’d got the keys initially as they were in my camelbak that they pinched – if they’ve since realised, they may return.

Although my wife’s convinced the burglars are some locals (youths) who are already ‘well known to the police’ (apparently) and have a bit of a history with crime … but that’s a whole other story, not to mention speculation 😀 …

grim – Nope … although that’s worth knowing for future reference.

Damn you hindsight!! 😀

Hmmmmm.

They didn’t.

Just said ‘our cycle replacement is handled through Wheelies, they’ll contact you within 4 hours’ …

I guess if I settle with cash I’ve then got more options of what to buy, rather than being restricted to Wheelies’ suppliers.

Other benefits of going for the cash?

They’re 11 years old & have the glass chip that’s linked to the alarm/immobiliser.

I’m pretty sure getting replacement keys isn’t a problem, & getting the vehicle re-coded can be done also.

However in my situation it’s really a case of needing new locks as well, not just replacement keys.

I expect realistically it’ll be best going through my car insurance as I imagine new locks etc is a pretty costly exercise.

However, the car’s a 2001 Y, 80k+ miles, bodywork’s a bit tatty, rear bumper’s been slightly crumpled due to a slow-speed rear-end collision … definitely worth less than £1k I reckon … so the insurance might decide the cost of replacing all the locks & issuing new keys etc is more than they think is worth coughing up for

In which case, I might need to look at a new car 😕

Ragley mmmBop

After seeing that photo of whatsername Adlington again, I still think Frankie Boyle hit the nail on the head with his ‘joke’ – “looks … like someone who’s looking at themselves in the back of a spoon”

Been to Jersey I think 3 times, once with a load of mates and twice with my family.

It’s best if the weather’s good, what with the excellent beaches, although there’s loads to do in general.

German Underground Hospital’s well worth a visit, as are several of the other WWII bunkers around the island.

There’s thte Zoo, Jersey Pottery, St Helier for shopping, the castle, Jersey Pearl, a big crazy golf place, loads of restaurants/cafe’s, walk out to the lighthouse, tons of scenic locations & walks.

Greve de Lecq is a nice beach/bay, bit quieter than others, sheltered.

For evening stroll/meal St Aubins bay (nr the castle) was pretty nice.

The racists football fans should pay. Seeing as they’re the people who make it necessary for the extra policing.

Where does tipping restaurant staff fit into the morals of cash payments for services received?

if you can’t work this out for yourself you shouldn’t be allowed to breed

Excellent!

When is your ‘How to be a Perfect Human Being Like I Am’ book being published?

🙂

Not quite sure who the target audience is for this show.

Trying too hard to be ‘trendy’ with the hipster cafe setting.

Too shallow to be taken seriously by ‘proper’ cyclists.

No introduction of who Gary Fisher & Graeme Obree actually are, for the benefit of those not in the know. Not really sure why GF was there at all to be honest.

Cycling safety with Wayne Hemmingway (of all people) seemed to be just “don’t get close to a truck” and “be aware” 😕 again, too shallow to be of any real use.

We’ll see how (or if) the show develops over the series I guess.

I’m still using my 1st-generation M4 disc brakes.

Other than new seals/pads, all original.

Not sure exactly how old they are. Around 10 years I reckon.

“Aquatics Centre” 🙄

Who in their right mind has ever said “I’m just off down the aquatics centre for a swim”.

Pretentious fools.

Just call it what it is – a swimming baths.

Anything that involves Horses

This.

And football. Tennis. Road cycling. Mountain biking.

Higher, farther, faster. Anything that requires “style” points is not a sport and so should not be at the Olympics.

Agreed.

And anything that’s decided by a panel of judges – synchronised swimming, diving, figure skating … a proper Olympic sport should be measurable by something definitive like time, distance, height, weight etc.

It’s always wet.

damp as normal

😆

Last time I was there was end of June 2010.

Hot, sunny, gentle breeze, blue skies … trails were dry as a dry thing.

genetic mutations are what it’s all about

I’m not sure telling the kids “your teacher’s a mutant” would be very helpful. 🙂

I’m no biologist, but I don’t believe gender reassignment (or whatever the correct wording is) involves physically mutating from one thing into another

I would have thought the school might have put out some info to parents too in advance of this announcement

I particularly agree with this.

Well, they’ve been making GCSE’s easier and easier for years and nobody questioned whether that was ‘fair’ …

ignore it and I feel like I’m being a bit mean

Anyone who’s offended by their FaceAche “friends” not liking their status/photo/whatever is a massive baby and needs to grow up

My wife and I share a FaceBook. Well, I say ‘share’. I never use it. In reality it may as well just be her account seeing as 99% of the ‘friends’ are hers 🙂

What I have noticed is that a lot of her ‘friends’ just post links that fall into one of two categories : ‘youtube clips I think are funny’ or ‘pictures I found in the internet that I think are funny’ … nothing original or informative from their own brain, just a load of links … what’s the point?

When did you realise that you were an adult?

I have to do a lot of ‘grown up’ things (work, pay bills, bring up children, drive etc), but I don’t remember a time when I went striding about the place thinking “Behold! I am now Adult!”

Thought it was quite amusing myself … he’s just written down what a lot of us are probably being sarcastic about in the pub or what-not …

Bed around 10:30/11 pm, wake up around 5:30 – 6

I’ve always been a morning person and would happily go to bed a bit earlier to get an extra hour’s sleep.

Unfortunately HRH is a bit of a night-owl and would happily go to bed at midnight and sleep in until 8.

So, 10:30/11 as a compromise.

06.02 (when the alarm goes off – I hate round numbers).

🙂 .. alarm set to 05:53 for me 😕

Visitors moaning?

When in Rome. Etc.

They’re probably just trying to fit in with the locals. Who are also all moaning.

you have chosen to visit the largest sporting event in the world so don’t expect it to be run like a village fete!

I wonder if the British Olympic bid team thought of this – “it’s really big, so don’t expect it to be done very well”

😀

he can no longer engage in debate, refuses to accept that he may in anyway be wrong or that others have views which may be as equally valid as his own.

Sorry, are you referring to STW or David Starkey here?

On second thoughts, it doesn’t matter as it applies equally well to either.

Poor people can’t afford stuff…

I don’t think 99% of UK-ists really appreciate what being poor actually means …

I use bottled water sales to identify idiots 😉

Although, weirdly, my wife won’t drink water from our bathroom tap even though she knows it’s the same as from the kitchen 😕

Although she is from Brazil.

only to find once you get in you have to pay extra to jump the 4 hour queue for one ride

You don’t have to pay this extra charge, you choose to.

Or you just go on other rides.

Regarding the BBC article;

Children in poor and middle-income families are facing a summer “stuck at home” as they cut back on days out and leisure activities

When I was growing up my parents had minimal disposable income and ‘days out’ were primarily walks in the countryside, hiking, mucking about in rivers, building rafts, seaside, crab fishing, etc etc … things that didn’t require huge finiancial outlay.

There’s no need to be ‘stuck at home’ like the BBC are implying – just requires a bit of thought and effort to find something to do rather than just roll up and pay someone else to entertain your kids.

These days there seems to be the mentality that a ‘day out’ must inevitably involve a spangly venue with large entrance fees and a monopoly on (over-priced) food and drink.

As was posted earlier, your children are not ‘deprived’ by not going to Alton Towers or such like.

Free drinking water is available inside the venue.

Ah, right, so no point in getting out my angry Anti-Olympic words for this thread then?

😉

over the top profiteering by the vendors of drinks

It’d be massively naive to expect anything different.

SRAM 971 vs 991 ? … I almost always end up buying the 971 (£15 from CRC at the moment), or the 951 (£12.99)

Have bought the more/most expensive SRAM chains in the past and really can’t see the need in anything more than the 951/971.

Never had a problem with SRAM chains snapping, or wearing out any quicker than Shimano or KMC.

Ditto leftyboy re. KMC – have bought a few over the years & they’ve been equally as good as SRAM for me.

I suspect tales of chains snapping frequently (other than due to known manufacturing faults) are due to “User Error” …

Isn’t Health & Safety these days mostly going around frowning at people having fun and saying “stop that, someone might get hurt”?

Love a Brazilian churrasco!

Been to a few different rodizio-style places in london village, and the Rodizio Rico are the best in my opinion.

My wife’s from Brazil-land, and rates them very highly.

We had our UK wedding/reception in the O2 Rodizio Rico (actual wedding in Brazil), went back the next day to settle the bill & the manager gave us both a complimentary lunch & drinks 🙂

Unfortunately, similar places in Manchester are not up to the same standard. And we live near Manchester.

The problem for games like Football and sports like Road Cycling is that for the other 3 years and 48 weeks between Olympics’s there is no ‘Team GB’ (other than for the cycling world’s), so it looks like a team’s been thrown together for one event which makes it pretty meaningless in the scheme of things.

Add to this the fact that Football and Cycling are established enough in their own right so don’t need to rely on the ‘Olympic’ tag to attract attention.

I also think that certain sports aren’t considered ‘proper’ olympic events for some reason.

Have a beautiful day

😆

Seems to be from Bono …

lets not confuse weather and climate change eh

Oi! Stop being sensible.

😀