Try Jimdo – German company but offer domain registration, webhosting etc. Plus it’s incredibly simple to use – you can have your first site built and running within an hour or two – http://www.jimdo.com

You have to pay ebay fees on the amount you sold it for regardless of what he actually paid you. It may save you some PP fees.

There is a way round this actually if you are being paid in cash and/or the buyer is collecting.

When the transaction has been completed, make the buyer aware that you are going to cancel the transaction through eBay (this is totally legit, you can do it). Provided that the buyer agrees to this and replies to the message which eBay sends them to this effect, then eBay cancel the transaction and refund all your listing and final valuation fees.

I’ve done this several times with cars, bikes and motorbikes which I’ve sold privately on eBay and never had a problem.

I have a funny knocking noise coming from the headset on my Trance 1, does this mean the headset is dead? It seems tight enough.

Not necessarily – as above, try the rocking test with the bars turned at right-angles to the frame. Does the headset turn smoothly or is it stiff (stop sniggering at the back)?? It’s amazing how bad a headset can feel if it’s even a microscopically amount loose – even 1/8 of a turn on the top cap can make the difference.

If it isn’t the headset, also consider worn/loose wheel bearings; loose front wheel q/r; or worn fork bushes.

Also on my Trance 1 I have a horrible creaking noise coming from the linkages for the rear suss, It really just appears when I stand up and pedal hard. I dont think its the bottom bracket as its pretty new. I have taken the pedals off and greased the threads, and greased the seatpost as a mate suggested that you can get a whole world of creaking through an aluminium frame from both those.

When the BB was fitted, was the shell faced to match? Were the BB threads greased when it was fitted? I’m more inclined to thing that it’s the BB rather than the suspension linkages.

Not really, just heroically lazy when it comes to bike maintenance(he’s a postie after all )

He’ll be heroically soprano if he goes over the bars…I’ve seen somebody split their nut-sack on the filler cap of a motocross bike. Not pretty…

Originally, tubular tyres (or “tubs”) were constructed from a silk carcass with a tread “painted” onto the circumference with liquid rubber. In order to maintain the airtightness, this carcass was stitched around a very lightweight inner tube, so in effect it became a one-piece “tyre”.

Tubs were then glued onto a rim with a concave surface using shellac.

Don’t confuse “tubular” with “tubeless” – different concept. Tubeless tyres are generally a clincher tyre fitted to an air-tight rim – this technology only really cam about with the the advent of pressed steel and later cast alloy car wheels.

Tubeless tyres fitted to spoked wheels on bicycles and motorcycles still need a sealing medium such as a latex solution or mousse.

The longbow is indeed the MTB of archery ……. but beware – before you know it you’ll get all historical and look like me !

No, the longbow is the single-speed fixed gear Hercules of archery! And surely if you’re going all historical you should be using a one-piece, 120lb yew war-bow rather than a laminated Victorian/Edwardian style sport bow?

There are other ways of getting at the riding in the Tod/Hebden/Halifax area without actually using the main roads in the valley bottoms from the South East and West…try heading for Worsthorne, Hurstwood or Mereclough to the East of Burnley and plan a loop Eastwards from there.

If you speak nicely, people don’t hear you. If you shout, people get upset.

Shout nicely then?

Alternatively, **** ’em.

Whats wrong with your lungs/mouth/vocal chords? Works every time for me.

Why teach yourself bad habits?

SPDs have no place offroad.

Which would suggest that Shimano and millions of riders world wide have been getting it disasterously wrong for the last 25 years or more…

I agree that there’s no subsitute for good technique, but I’d much rather use SPDS than flats for everyday riding. That said, if I visit a trail centre, or go for a full-on mountain route, on go the flats.

Horses for courses and all that.

Definitely not the greatest, but it has it’s uses.

I get the impression that when it was built it kind of missed the point – why put a mediocre man-made trail in an area where there’s so much outstanding natural riding? It’s like the Chewbacca Defense – it just doesn’t make sense.

That said, I find the first climb useful as a bit of a warm-up and to gain some height quickly if I’m going to do the Parkamoor routes, plus you can use bits of it to link other stuff together and I suppose it gives noobs/less confident riders the chance to get out and about.

If it’s causing bother, surely your local authority will remove it FOC? I know ours do/did.

Once you get used to riding without gloves, it’s way way more comfortable.

Apart from the abrasion blisters on your palms…

You get more feel of the bike, and it’s easier to handle and brake and change gear.

Cobblers.

No stupid wrist tan lines either.

Do you ride without shorts and jersey too?

Easier to get stuff out your pockets, play with your garmin, etc. etc. too.

Mmm. COs it takes all of 5 seconds to whip a glove off…

One less thing to buy, one less thing to get worn out, one less thing to lose, one less thing to wash (technically two).

Oh, boo hoo…

I sometimes wonder if these stupidly padded gloves are one of the reasons why some people don’t hold on properly to the bars, cause it lets them get away with it.

Eh? How hard do you need to grip the bars? Light but firm grip at all times.

Also I used to get really really cold hands during cold rides. Stopped wearing gloves at the start of summer, kept it going through the year as it got colder, and my hands just grew used to it. Never had cold hands since. And when you go out riding with others and you’ve got people wearing two pairs of massive gloves and they’re complaining about cold hands, and you’re gloveless, well that’s quite nice.

Horses for courses, innit? Just because you don’t feel the cold, doesn’t mean everybody else doesn’t feel it. And some people feel the cold no matter what they do.

I smell troll.

In the last 8 years alone I’ve spent nearly £9K just on (complete) bikes. I’ll bet in total over the last 25 years I’ve probably spent 5 or six times that.

Generally if you suspect ANY head/neck/spinal injury, the casualty MUST NOT be moved ESPECIALLY if they are unconscious but then it’s very difficult to tell if there is a head/neck/spinal injury if the casualty can’t talk to you unless there are any unnatural angles, lumps or swellings.

Concussion isn’t always immediately apparent either – it can set in a lot later. Even if the casualty is upright and talking, you should insist on a visit to A&E for a “check-up from the neck up”. Obviously you cannot force them to go if they don’t want to but if they collapse 24 hours later with a brain bleed, at least you can say “well I did tell you…”

The biggest thing to be aware of is the onset of shock – this is the biggest killer of the lot, especially in the outdoors, and it needs treating IMMEDIATELY. Symptoms include raised pulse, very dialted pupils, cold and clammy skin even on hot days, talking rapidly and not making much sense, shallow breathing, confusion, dry mouth, nausea, lapsing into unconsciousness and eventually death.

I could go on about this for pages and pages – get yourself booked on ANY first aid course (your local St John Ambulance and British Red Cross offer them regularly) and get a bisic first aid kit and some wound dressings in your pack and you’re good to go.

BTW if you do have need of rescue in a remote area (e.g. Mountain Rescue, helicopter extraction, etc.) you should alert the police first – they will arrange for the required services to attend. No good calling an ordianry ambulance if they can’t get to you!

Volvo V40 mark 1. Basically it’s a Mitsubishi Lancer underneath. Pity, my neighbour’s just sold his 53 plate 1.6 for next to nothing, it was a nice car too. Just don’t get the 1.8 GDi engine, it’ll be dead within a year.

The last “Code Brown” incident I had was while lifting a bag of cement in B&Q.
It started as a high pitched 300 PSI fart and ended in a gravy gargle with my pants acting as a sieve.

And this year’s Nobel prize for literature goes to…

Aerosol brake cleaner?

Bontrager frames. The original ones built by the man himself, not the Trek sell-out models. Or Salsa A La Cartes. Or Fat Chance Yo Eddys. Or Mountain Goat Whiskeytowns…

Some of Superstar’s stuff is OK, other bits I wouldn’t touch with a double-bagged barge pole.

Things that can’t really go wrong (brake adaptors, skewers, etc.) all fine; brake pads I’ve found generally OK although I have had one pair separate from the back plate. That siad I’ve had the same with EBC pads.

The bearings that they use though are completely atrocious – I have one of their headsets on my Alpine 160 which has been fitted for 12 months and is on its third set of bearings. When they go, it’s being replaced with a Hope.

A quick scan of the product reviews on their site (especially things like BBs and headsets) is a real eye-opener…

You cannot insure a vehicle that you do not own.

Yes you can. Or how would you be able to get insurance on a car that you haven’t actually bought yet?

No. Weirdo… 8O

On the other hand, I’d blab to anyone who will listen. You may well gain even more friends than you’ll lose if the details are sordid enough…come on, do tell…

but it’s none of my business really

^ This.

What your mate and your boss’s husband get up to is their affair (no pun intended) – keep your conk out, well and truly. What you don’t know can’t hurt you.

I’ve been in this situation knowing that a good friend’s partner was playing away.

When it all blew up and he found out, he asked me if I knew – I had to say yes at which point he went beswick and asked my why I hadn’t said anything to him.

I replied that it was none of my business – if I had said anything at the time it would probably have caused more grief and ruined more than one friendship. But by keeping schtum (and I know it’s difficult) you may salvage something out of it at a later date rather than ruining everything.

Your work mate may well end up hating you, but your boss (possibly, after the initial wailing and gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair) MAY trust you more because you’ve shown that you can keep silent about confidential matters, and look to you for support. Your bosses estimation of you may go up in that case which can only be a good thing, yes?

Don’t forget VAT too – add another 20% for that.

Anyway I’ve not seen anything that merits wearing one.

But you probably will that split second before your bonce impacts something and you wish that you had worn one.

Anyway, I’m amazed at the tripe that’s being spouted here both for and against. A helmet probably won’t safe your life or prevent a serious brain injury, despite what both the informed and uninformed claim. What it will do is increase your chances of surviving an accident to a greater or lesser degree. And that’s all it will do.

Personally, I never sling a leg over a bike without strapping a brain bucket on first. I have a very broad sense of self preservation and TBH I’d rather look like a sweaty, uncool, bad-haired bell-end (pipe down at the back) than have to rely on someone else to wipe my arse for me or spoon feed me, or worse be dead (if that isn’t a spurious argument in itself because I probably wouldn’t care about much if I was dead…)

I often have arguments with friends who ride motorcycles in hot weather wearing shorts and t-shirts (and ironically full race gloves…) when I’m sweating like a sex-pest in my full leathers. If I have a bad enough accident I’ll probably end up with broken limbs and internal injuries, but at least whoever has to pick me up won’t have to be scraping me off the tarmac in bloody chunks, and I stand a better chance of surviving if my mangled carcass is relatively in one piece.

But then what do I know – experience, intuition and common sense count for very little these days…

Bear Grylls

…is a complete helmet and should be hit repeatedly in the face.

Superstar Components also make a serviceable BB much cheaper than Hope if their price is too rich

Yeah, and their bearings are made of Dairylea. Hope all the way for me, admittedly the bearings are an odd size and you can only get them from Hope but, well…meh.

Setting off before the light has changed to green

There’s a GREEN light? I’ve normally dumped the clutch and gone by the time the amber’s on!!

@5thElefant –

Nikon 1 then?

Not much use if depth of field control is on your list of priorities.

How do you work that out? It’s a system camera much like a PEN. Loads of different lenses with different/variable apertures available, hence ability to control DoF.

LINKY

Haven’t Nikon just launched a compact with a DX sized sensor?

<quickly visits Nikon website>

Yes they have, it’s the Coolpix A. But it’s neary £1K !! Nikon 1 then?

Any plans for your D200 BTW, I could do with a spare body…??

Have a look at Maxxis High Roller Semi Slicks if you can find them – I have a pair that I’ve had for years, never used them last year because the trails never dried out, but in the recent conditions they’ve been fantastic.

i don’t get why people hate on the poor five so much

Two reasons – firstly, because they can’t get their heads round the fact that something so simple and functional can possibly be any good; secondly, plain old green-eyed jealousy.

Yes, Oranges are overpriced for what they are, they always have been – but there’s a good reason for this – they’re well engineered and they aren’t produced in their thousands in a factory in Taiwan (well, the tubular frames are but that’s a different story).

I own four Oranges (an Alpine 160, a Sub Zero, a G4 and a Carb-O road bike) and I can’t fault any of them.

I’ve wondered this too. There are lots of bridleways around here that are old (mud) road and have banks either side. The trees have grown so much that it’s almost impossible to ride. A horse/car have no chance.

Does the farmer/landowner have to cut it back? It dosen’t bother me, just curious.

In England and Wales, the landowner is responsible for ensuring that any rights of way which pass over their land are passable at all times, or, as has already been stated, to ensure that rights of way are restored after crops have been grown.

If they do not, the correct course of action is to contact your county (or metropolitan borough) council and speak to their Rights of Way officer who will then advise the landowner to take action, followed by legal enforcement thereafter if necessary.

Lancashire County Council are pretty shit-hot at this but I couldn’t speak for anywhere else.

That said, you are legally entitled to remove any obstruction from a right of way yourself if you are able to do so at the time that you discover it – for example, if a branch has fallen across a PRoW and you can move it there and then, you can do so. What you can’t do is come back later with a chainsaw and chop it up into stove-sized pieces.

The myth that the tea or coffee causes more harm due to diuretic’s or caffine, is just that a myth.

Cobblers. I have personal experience of dehydration and cramping caused by drinking very strong coffee to excess. Not pleasant.

No.

I have a 30-year-old British Eagle road frame in my shed which was shot blasted about 15 years ago and nothing done to it since. It only has surface rust.

Unless the frame in question has been regularly dunked in sea-water then rust isn’t an issue.

Drivig without duecare and attention – maximum penalty is £2500 fine, 9 points and disqualification at the magistrates descretion.

Failing to report or leaving the scene of an accident is a maximu 6 months in jug.

Has it dawned on anyone that contacting EasyJet and getting their official line on it might be the best option???

Post the details of the driver/vehicle on here. We won’t tell anybody.