I may be cowardly but i just can’t do it.
My wife took our previous 2 dogs to the vets to be put to sleep.
I knew it was the time but i just wanted one more day with my friend.

The frames are likely to be just generic far eastern stuff like most brands.
Look at the spec on the bike and the total weight and it would give you some indication as to the quality of the frame.
If its cheap enough give it a go just make sure you know your sizing.

“How do you feel about losing £5 million quid on the last question”. Gutted ! Hear it all the time on quiz shows.You’re not a fish!.

Are you sure that you’re shock is not packing down at higher speed because the rebound is too slow .

Nissan Terrano TDi if you can find one for the price.
My SWB one is 12 years old and has only ever needed the routine brake pads,servicing,tyres etc.
Engine is derived from Japanese taxis and is built to cover mega mileage.Tough as old boots and better to drive than a Daihatsu Fourtrak.

No recession around here.
Everyones out in there new cars,going to the pub or the shops.
Courtesy of Mobility of course !

“Maxxis make tyres specific for the Orange “

Does the 5 have different shaped wheels or some sort of radical suspension design.
What a load of marketing crap.

I believe if you are a British resident then you would declare the income on a UK tax return.There is a section in the short return for overseas income.
A friend rents an apartment out in Spain and declares this in the UK ( a police officer so i think he’ll get it right).

By coincidence my wifes just been to see the surgeon today after 2 years of pain following a hip replacement(not metal on metal).
Turns out during the operation tendons are moved to one side to access the joint but one of the tendons went back in the wrong position and is rubbing on the joint.
Its either a keyhole operation to re-locate the tendon or injections.
The joint is perfect and my wife was walking and cycling within a few weeks of the operation until the inflammation started to creep in.

You can get gel pad kits on e-bay,less than 3 quid i think.

I believe part of the Guardias wages are made up out of fines.

Its not unusual for tourists to be targeted or foreigners in general.

The Spanish had a law that said motorists must have a bulb kit in the car.The law was withdrawn but 12 months later the Guardia were still fining people for it.Having lived in Spain for a number of years this is one aspect i really hate.

I have a 2007 Reign 0 and its a great bike.

Before it i had an Orange 5 for year which i gradually hated more and more.Crude,poor climber with a really ropey finish.I was riding my £350 hardtail more than the Orange as it was more enjoyable.Sold the 5 and took a chance with a Reign bought over the internet.
The first ride showed i’d wasted a year of riding on the Orange as the Reign was so much better.
The finish and detail is great.Rear suspension far smoother and an excellent climber for its weight.
The best thing for me though is the bikes balance.I seem to be sat in the perfect position for pedalling and the front end feel is way more than the Orange.
My only gripe would be that its a bit underforked with a Fox 32 but it highlights how good the rear suspension is.
If i was looking at buying again it would probably be a Trance X but definitely another Giant.

To remove or tilt the rack on my Thule you just loosen 2 sprung bolts on the bottom of the rack which pass through the towbar bracket and its done.Mines a 4 bike one and i think it would be a bit flexy with 4 bikes,but i’ve done thousands of miles with 2 bikes no problem at all.

My first mountain bike was a full rigid steel Marin which cost me nearly £500 in the early nineties.
Look at what you get now for the same money,especially if you can find something discounted,and its far more bike for the money.
Its a point of diminishing returns.
As you pay more so the benefit gradually gets smaller.How many people actually need a 3k full suss bike for UK trail centres.I ride my local black routes on a 12 year old Giant hardtail but see people on expensive bikes puffing and wheezing up the hills.
Expensive mountain bikes and components are now no more than just jewellery.

The last lot of oil cost us 63 pence per litre.We never fill the tank because of the theft problem,usually ordering 500 litres at a time.

I think for a full year it will probably be about £1000 on a 3 bed terrace thats pretty well insulated although 100 years old.

Its more of a road bike area into the mountains behind Benidorm.

There is a private bike park with downhill runs and limited cross country routes near Alicante,but i can’t remember its name.

The best mtb area is down the road to the Sierra Espuna,about 90 minutes away.Orange test prototypes there.

Camping Sierra Espuna is the best base and they can give you loads of advice.

A friend had a 6 diesel estate with nearly 200k on it and it was pretty reliable.Clutch (expensive) and some suspension parts were biggest expenses.
A bit of a hard ride and coarse feeling.Plenty of power though.
I have a Mondeo and think the ride is far better.In fact a mechanic friend with an Audi commented how smooth it was on rough roads.
I think the diesel engines great,plenty of mid range,and no expensive cam belt to change.Would definitely look at another but the mileage on used ones tend to be very high.

Road bike !

Try and get some test rides.

Orange 5 was the worst bike i ever rode so it obviously didn’t suit me,and lost me a lot of money.

I wonder if the sentence would have been the same with a reverse situation.
Say,for example,if a Muslim cleric had used racist language towards christian white people.

I’ve got some bib longs for the road bike.
Sizing was on the small size and the seat pad pretty poor.For another tenner i could have got a branded pair in a sale and should have done that.Wouldn’t use Tenn again.

We had a clothing business in the early eighties and everything we sold was British made as we bought it straight from the factories.

By the mid eighties it was becoming more and more difficult to buy knitwear produced in the UK because of the gradual retraction of manufacturers.The imported stuff was no cheaper but the range was far larger and in the end we had no choice but to move over to the imports.
The foreign factories invested heavily in new machines,mostly Italian,and used their technicians to get them up and running.
The British made underwear we sold was great quality and price but even that supplier went bankrupt and all the underwear sold moved on to imported.
There is plenty of imported rubbish about ,but the far east can and does turn out some great quality stuff as they invested in the long term.

I’ve combined the red and the black and found it entertaining enough.

The fire road climbs on the red are easy if you’re used to biking.
I can’t believe how many people i see pushing on moderate climbs in Hamsterley.
Have a look at the Hamsterley Trailblazers website as there is more info on the routes.

Had a kitchen tiled and the charge was £20 a square metre.

I provided grout and adhesive,and it is in the impoverished North East.

I live in County Durham which i believe is a mecca for the travelling community.
My insurance on the car has gone down and in the row of houses where i live a garage was broken into over Christmas,the first such thing in over 20 years.
There are a lot of pick ups and vans about with 3 “fellas” sat in the front,with none of the vehicles having a company name.
The travellers have plenty of cash and around here have bought smallholdings and some quite expensive,for County Durham,properties.
Talking to neighbours its a council estate in the next village which houses feral families thats a problem,not travellers.

Used Kaesaes bearing kit for my Reign as it was cheaper than buying separate branded bearings from a bearing specialist.Stay away from the e-bay 2 quid stuff.
Easy to do if you’ve got a vice but make sure the bearing you’re pressing in starts off parallel,and stays like that until its seated.

If the people affected by the 50% tax band are using tax avoidance schemes to pay less tax do we really think they will stop using those schemes just because the rate goes down to 40%.

I have a flat barred road bike and use it all the time on club runs.
You do need specific brake levers to convert it,not mountain bike ones.My LX levers felt terrible until i changed them to some specific flat barred ones(CRC).
A couple of problems.
The top tube length is shorter so not the most efficient position for pedalling.
After fitting bar ends,which felt a lot better,i have numb fingers after a ride which never goes away because i use the bike regularly.
Not sure if its the stiffness of the flat bar,unpadded bar ends or riding position.

I have always put a small amount of fluid syringed into the bottom of the fork lowers whilst the fork is upturned and before the lowers are bolted back.This could be what the lower lube mix is for.
If you store your bike upturned then this fluid trickles down the inside of the lowerslubricating the bushings.

My wife hired one for a week and absolutely loved driving it.

She had some runs to do to the tip and the council guy was amazed at the amount she got in what looks like a tiny car.After this she had a new Ford Fiesta for a week which she thought was ok but preferred the IQ even though its a smaller car.

I had all the ridge tiles recemented on a commercial property and some gable end pointing done.Two guys,nearly a days time,£150.
Recently did my terrace house myself . The heights don’t really bother me as much as a bloody big bill(Yorkshireman).
Some tradesmen really do take the mick for what is an easy job.

Mines a MK3 TDCi.
Replaced the front discs and pads at 60k,easy diy job and £55 for Mintex kit.
Clutch ,DMF,can be costly but no more so than any other car with same type.
No cam belt to change as its cam chain so saves a few quid.
Tyres are less than £60 each at my local national tyres and slightly cheaper with event mobile fitting.
The only niggly thing is the rear seats don’t split but apart from that really happy with it.

Have a look at the towequipe website.

Besides the towbar they give you all the bolts and in some cases a wiring kit(probably a scotchlok one).If you want to pay extra then you can have the proper wiring harness.I bought the towbar,bolted it up myself then took the car to an auto electrician to wire the 7 pin plug.

My wife had a hip replacement done about 2 years ago.
She’s now concerned because its probably a metal joint and the operation details from the surgeon about the make of it have not been very forthcoming.
My wife still has pain from it but its probably because she didn’t follow the aftercare routine,and has never consistently done the exercises she was told to do(women know best!).

Bought an Orange 5 without a test ride.
Used it for a year trying to get to like it because i must be wrong,its a fantastic bike.
A waste of a year when i could have been enjoying myself on something nice to ride.

Just a thought on a tax raising measure.
In Spain if you buy a house you’ll pay around 7% purchase tax,depending on the region.
The buyer prices this into the offer they make,as no one pays the asking price.The buyer does not notice the tax as they should have accounted for it in the offer.The seller gets a lower than asking price but overvalued it to start with.
The tax raised goes direct to the local governement and keeps the council tax down to levels we can only fantasise about in the UK.

I have a Cube Agree Pro in aluminium,2011.Its mostly Ultegra with Mavic wheels and got it for less than a grand which i thought was pretty good value.
The sizings a bit strange as i normally have a 54 but Cubes equivalent came out at 58.
I ‘ve no experience of a carbon frame but went for the high end triple butted alu with a better spec.
Coming from a flat barred road bike the Cube flies along,and i haven’t weighed it but Cube claim 8.1 kg.Theres nothing really to spend money on immediately in the way of upgrades and overall i’m really happy with it.
Bought it over the internet because of the price but get a ride if you can.

The show won’t alter a thing when it comes to peoples attitudes to each other in Bradford.
Ask white people about the demise of Bradford and they’ll tell point the finger of blame.Asians.Ask them who controls the drugs,prostitution illegal immigration and you’ll get the same reply.
Theres a thing called “white flight”.One Asisan moves into the street and the the first thing on the neighbours mind is should we move.
If you talk about inequality you’ll find its now the white people who feel discriminated against and becoming ever increasingly in the minority.They feel the only solution is to leave the area.
I worked for many years with a mixture of white,asian and black people and the most tension and trouble was between Pakistanis and Indians.
The old woman,an ex magistrate i think,lives in Ilkley,so has no idea about the situation in Bradford.
I have returned to see family and friends over the past 12 years and their attitudes have hardened.One brother lives in an all white area and the other moved away to Skipton.My father lives on the edge of an Asian area close to a school of 95% Asian pupils.
If you thought the ex coppers language was colourful you should here my dad.

I agree that there are some areas around Bishop that are scruffy to say the least.
But,having lived in Bradford years ago,and still visiting there,Bishop is way above it on the ladder.
Since moving here i’ve found people to be really friendly and helpful,and the countrside is great.
Out of my door and onto open fields,or up the road to Hamsterley,its all easily accessable.
What really gets my goat though is the amount of rubbish at the roadside thrown out by vehicles.Is it just up here or all parts of the country.We take carrier bags with us when out with the dog and have filled over 50 so far just around our area.Most of its drive thru stuff
and it really is unsightly.
Can’t be too bad up here as i’ve heard Dame Judi Dench has bought a house nearby.

Increasing fuel prices have a knock on effect.

Transporting goods becomes more expensive,prices go up in the shops, so the consumer gets a double hit.

How people on low wages are expected to drive a new “eco” car,whether electric,hybrid or supremely fuel efficient is beyond my understanding.

My friends just bought a new Lexus Hybrid,probably over 30k.
Saving him money on fuel,yes,but depreciation is thousands more.
Saving the planet perhaps.No way.Unless its fashioned out of wood and has perpetual motion drive then the “eco”tag may apply.I think ego is more apt.