I had a similar problem with the Van 36s on my old SubZero, but I was on the “cusp” of standard and firm springs – the firm was too stiff with no preload and the standard was too soft with max preload…

So I tried an old motorbike trick – I knocked up a small spacer 30mm diameter (so it would fit loosely inside the stanchion) by about 6mm wall thickness by 10mm deep.

Sit this on top of the spring and refit the preload adjuster cap. It takes a bit of doing, because essentially you’re “pre-preloading” the spring. That said it worked perfectly in that I could set a reasonable amount of sag.

The guy I sold the bike too is still running it like this AFAIK.

Just kick him in his remaining testicle and have done with it… :evil:

How do I get tickets for a Premiership footie game?

Rent yourself out as a high-class hooker to any Premiership footballer…

In neither of these cases will the contents of your average first aid kit make that much difference.

That’s like saying, “if you’re having a heart attack, it won’t make much difference if the ambulance is a couple of minutes late.”

Or knowing that someone’s going to die anyway even if you perform CPR, so not bothering.

You may not be able to CURE someone with a basic first aid kit and/or basic first aid knowledge, but you can improve survivability, even if only a tiny bit, which in some cases can make all the difference.

As anyone who has done a first aid course will tell you, the creed is the Three P’s – Preserve Life, Prevent Deterioration and Promote Recovery.

Personally, I’d rather carry the basics (after all, how much does it weigh??) and know that I might be able to help if it comes to it than just not bother.

In a real situation, all this “MTFU” bull$h!t doesn’t wash. I’ve seen people become hypothermic, or start slipping in and out of consciousness through blood loss and it’s isn’t easy to deal with, but if you have basics at least you’re part way there.

“At the end of the day…” – I mean, why?

“At this moment in time…” – what’s wrong with “now”?

“Blue-sky thinking” is also deserving of a sound beating. With a pointy stick. Wrapped in nettles. And smeared with dog excrement.

…and phrasing everything as a question???

I hate riding with other people. Well, maybe one other maximum, but solo is deffo the way to go as far as I’m concerned.

That said I always plan my route and leave a detailed description of it with someone, and I stick to that route come hell or high water. Plus I don’t rely on my phone to get me out of scrapes.

If you need them to watch tv – then surely you need them to drive, to read train description signs, to see what cereal you’re buying?

I thought that – either you sit a hell of a long way from your telly or you fixate on a point 12 feet infront of the steering wheel.

I’m woefully myopic (short-sighted) – I can’t see anything beyond about 3 feet away without glasses or my contacts, but I have 19/20 vision when waering them. I’ve worn contacts for nearly 20 years now and have never had any issues with them when riding. That said I always wear close-fitting sports/cycling gegs over the top.

I live in and went to primary school in a rural area, from 1976 to 1983. I can’t recall the school ever being closed because of bad weather. One of the teachers lived 20 miles away and always managed to get in. If we couldn’t be driven to school or the buses weren’t running we had to walk.

When I went to secondary school, which was 16 miles from home we had a bus laid on. I can only remember that school being shut once, for one day, in 1987.

It’s an absolute nonsense. Perhaps they could use “snow-days” learning how to drive in the stuff…

Not been up there today but given the forecast I’d be fairly circumspect. It’s bitterly cold with a very fierce Easterly wind, driving powder. I doubt it’s pleasant up on the tops!!

Trail surfaces were no worse than you’d expect for this time of year last week.

Why would we need rescuing?

Because if the road’s closed, it’s usually closed for a reason. i.e. to stop the aforementioned selfish dipsticks from requiring rescue.

All VAG diesels – i.e. those in Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Seat and some Volvos.

PAS (Peugeot-Citroen) used to be great before they started swapping technology with Ford.

Out of the Japs, Isuzu are probably your best bet (Fiat and Vauxhall use them).

rob jackson – Member

tough shit at a guess

This.

If you did a straight swap, privately, no money changed hands, it doesn’t matter a fig how the other party described them.

It’s just luck of the draw. Caveat emptor – buyer beware. Leg, to stand on, haven’t got.

Echinacea tablets. Obtain from pharmacist, start taking now.

+1 for Hope

Look up Clarkson’s roadtest on YouTube. Then think again.

Volvo V70. The engines are Audi-built and bullet proof. Nice low loading level, plus the tailgate is vertical which means more loadspace. Electricals can be suspect on earlier phase 2 cars, so go for a late model (2004 onwards) P2 or a P3. 2,4 D5s are best, the 2,0 and 1.6 DRIVe are gutless wonders by all accounts.

Plus, fold the back seat down and if you’re under 6 foot 2 you can sleep in it full length!!

These cars are good for 250K miles plus if properly looked after. Even if it’s got 100k on the clock it’s barely bedded in.

+1 for Fairy Liquid. It’s and age old motorcycle helmet anti-fogging trick and works a treat. Put a couple of drops an a clean cloth and polish the inside of the lenses with it.

Suck it up. Move along the bus. Learn.

Based on personal experience in similar circumstances, I would adopt the DIY approach

D – Don’t
I – Involve
Y – Yourself

It’s is immensely difficult to be in this position, but you’ve got to harden your heart and turn your back on it. What your two friends get up to is ABSOLUTELY NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. Unless it directly affects you, which of course it doesn’t.

Mouth shut, fingers in ears, blindfold on. Head down, arse up. Get on with YOUR life and leave them to it.

Or two months in the case of my new Superstar wheels. Now I have to spend money on new set (not cheap if I want decent bearings). If I still had cup and cone, I’d just put some grease in and tighten them up – takes what, 15 minutes? My Hopes go through at least a set a year too, probably more.

If you buy bearings from a bike shop or from Superstar you will pay over the odds. Go to a proper bearing supplier (take the old ones with you if don’t know what size they are) and you’ll pay under £20 for a full front and rear set. Insist on quality items such as SKF, Toyo or NSK, not cheap Chinese/Indian/Iraqi/Yorkshire copies.

The problem with cartridge bearings is that NOBODY uses the correct type in hubs – everyone uses deep groove radial bearings which are fine for rotating loads but not for side-loading. The correct type should be angular contact, or even taper roller, but the latter two types are expensive and require some form of preloading. Not easy in the restrictive space around a bike frame/fork.

…but replacing cartridge bearings is no cake walk – especially the rear which is a huge faff.

If you’re a ham-fisted bungling neanderthal, maybe. I can replace a full set of rear bearings on a Pro2 in 15 minutes, if I take my time. If I’m in a rush I can do it in 10.

And I don’t need cone spanners or any other special tools – a plastic hammer, a 6mm pin-punch and a selection of old sockets is all that’s needed.

but as the offence is to cross the white line when the red light is showing, and the white line does not continue onto the footway you are not controlled by it. if you are pushing the bike/pushchair in the carriageway then i would agree. please dont take this as me arguing, im really not, you make a genuinely interesting point and i am happy to be told i am wrong.

No it’s fine, I welcome and encourage informed and legitimate debate. I’ll try and find the reference but I’m sure that there is a case somewhere of a cyclist being prosecuted for pushing his machine through a red light on the footway.

I don’t know how true it is, but I believe that the only time that you aren’t legally obliged to stop at a red light is if it’s temporary traffic lights or signals at roadworks.

Wrong.
It’s a very common belief though – I believe that the rules changed sometime in the last 5-6 years but a quick google isn’t throwing up anything definitive.

Fine, I stand corrected, said the man in the orthpaedic shoes. I wasn’t sure if it was correct or not.

Hmm. Cup and cone bicycle wheel bearings, cup and cone bearings, they’ll be filed in the same drawer as –

Solid iron tyres
Penny-farthings
Waterwheels
Leather cannons (I kid you not)
Jousting armour
Bronze axes
Pointy sticks

As with all the above, there isn’t anything particularly wrong with them, they’re just old hat and there are better alternatives.

Eh, really? Interesting if the red light applies to the pavement alongside the road as well, never knew that.

Archaic, but true. Any form of transport with wheels is deemed in law to be a “carriage”, as are animals used for transport – i.e. horses, but I suppose you could lump elephants and camels into that if you were being really anal.

If the letter of the law is taken at it’s most pedantic, traffic signals (i.e. lights and/or authorised person giving hand signals) apply to carriages and animals in the roadway or on footways adjoining said roadway.

Strictly speaking, if you were driving a flock of sheep along a road and you come to a red traffic light or were told to stop by a copper, you have to!

I don’t know how true it is, but I believe that the only time that you aren’t legally obliged to stop at a red light is if it’s temporary traffic lights or signals at roadworks. And also houses of ill repute, where it is inadvisable to stop at all if there are law enforcement officials in the immediate vicinity.

pushing a bike or pushchair you are still classed as a pedestrian.

But a pedestrian in charge of a carriage or conveyance – it is the carriage which must stop, not the pedestrian.

If you pick the carriage or canveyance up and carry it, it becomes a package and you can then proceed.

I would have said Planet X Pro Carbon Rival (£999) but looking at their specs, I suspect that even their very smallest frame might be too big for you. Might be worth giving them a call though?

Never had any problems with Superstars, been using the sintered ones for about two years now. All my bikes have them in. I recommend them.

Konrad Bartelski (who skiied for Belgium for a couple of seasons, fact fams) is Brtains’s highest ever placed male skiier in the word cup, he finished second in the Val Gardena downhill. He collapsed as he skiied into the finish area as he was knackered, and migth well have won if fatigue hadn’t cuased him to make a mistake on the camel bumps

Emma Carrick-Anderson’s brother Crawford Carrick-Anderson is profoundly deaf yet still raced top class (world cup) downhill MTB for a few years and is invovled with the CRC team I think?

This. Although I will concede that it’s unlikely you’ve heard of the Bartelski if you are under 40 years of age.

Really? This doesn’t sound right.

Sorry to say but it’s completely correct. Red lights are sacrosanct. No one has the right to go through a red light. And if you are pushing a wheeled carriage (e.g. bicycle, baby buggy, wheelchair) on the pavement then you are also required to stop at a red light.

In fact, if the lights are changing from green to red, you aren’t allowed to go through with them on amber.

The only defence that you can possibly use in either case is that either a) you thought the lights were at green, or b) you did not feel that you could stop safely and/or under control.

However, the counter to the former is that you weren’t paying attention; and the latter that you were travelling too fast for the prevailing road and traffic conditions.

If you are had up in court for going through a red light, it is VERY unlikely that you’ll get away with it, no matter who you are or what the circumstances were.

Of course, like everything else though – it ain’t a crime if you don’t get caught.

Pork scratchings. But I am from Burnley.

What happened to latex and polyurethane tubes? PU tubes were great for preventing pinch flats.

No bead blasters in your area?

None of the above. Homemade lentil soup.

Those last two are just ridiculous – I mean, which idiot let the woman drive??

So can anyone name an olympic sport without a drugs problem?

Archery? Curling? Trap Shooting?

http://www.northumberlandgreyhoundrescue.org.uk/Awaiting.htm

i like the look of merlin

That’s a damned fine name for a greyhound. My last boy was Merlin…

Method for 800W microwave –

1/2 cup porridge oats (I use Sainsbury’s own brand without problems)
1 cup milk

Mix in a microwaveable bowl.

2 1/2 minutes on full power, stir half way through. Result.

I use this method for both mine and the dogs’ porridge.

For the record, most own-brand supermarket oats are made by the same company that makes Quaker. I know this because I am currently engaged in designing robot gripper heads for their production facility in Fife.

Quite obviously Yorkshire is on the right side of the border. Lancs is on the left, just look at a map.

To the OP, have you taken all the files out the drawers, this quietens them down.

(I own an Alpine 160 so I’m not a h8r…).

At which point did I mention the Lancashire/Yorkshire Border? No, I was referring to the boundary demarcation between the boroughs of Blackburn and Burnley.

Quite clearly, had I been refering to the afformentioned county line, I would have stated “the correct side of the border”… :P

…because of course nobody has heard of Jayne Torvill or Christopher Dean

Or Chemmy Alcott, Amy Williams, Martin and Graham Bell, Konrad Bartelski or Emma Carrick-Anderson for that matter…

Has anyone rehomed an ex-racing greyhound? What are your experiences?

Absolutely fantastic dogs, BUT…

Many have psychological issues. They may became agressive for no reason (mine bit me three times for no apparent reason, then was absolutely submissive for days afterwards); many DO NOT like to be left alone. Many cannot be homed with children, cats or other dogs, yet an equal number can. Some dogs “pair” with another long dog if they have been in a refuge and cannot be separated. They aren’t mated necessarily, just absolute best buddies – parting them will kill them. Or you.

They will steal and eat ANYTHING that they can get their jaws round. And once they have it they will not let go. Ours had (in no particular order) – a full christmas cake; a full chocolate cake (which nearly killed him); two loaves of bread; half a gammon roast; the cat (I kid you not, it was not a pretty sight).

As for exercise – they don’t need a lot. Two or three twenty minute walks a day is fine. The running thing varies – if the dog has just been retired it will chase small furry things, but not far, either until it is caught or the dog is knackered. If let off in an open space (e.g. a field, football pitch), the dog will run in an anti-clockwise circle once and come back to you. It will then be absolutely pooped for the rest of the day. The running thing tails off and stop when the dog hits about 8 years old.

Greyhounds fart. A lot. And it stinks. They also need their nails clipping regularly which they hate. The big downer with them is that they are genetically predisposed to contracting cancers of all sort. Our last grey died at the ripe old age of 14 with a tumour on his bladder. That was three years ago and I’m almost in tears typing this now.

That said, it can be most rewarding taking on a retired racer – they haven’t had chance to be a puppy and it is truly heartwarming to watch them “grow up” at a late stage; to learn to play and bark and be happy; and to be part of a family which they can trust.

Depending on where you are in the country, I can point you to about 80 – 90 long dogs in refuges which need a good home, or fostering.