I have a carbon Scoop shallow on the road bike and a scoop radius on the mtb. Both great, these replaced Fizik saddles that d had for years.

And yes it defaults to eco.

I had a 320 ed and loved it.
For acar that wassupposedly detuned it went very well. Suspension could get a little out of sorts if you hit a compression at speed, but generally it was well sorted with a distinctly unBMW ride quality. Still had that lovely rear wheel balance too and was fun on the back roads.

Maybe it didn’t look as good on its weedy 16″ wheels but that seemed insignificant when you were regularly getting high 50s mpg.

I had the business edition pack with full leather,sat nav,heated seats, etc which is worth getting.

I’d recommend Decathlon. I bought my son one in there on Sunday and he’s really happy with it. A trial run leads me to believe it would be good enough for running. Cost was £8 but they also had a brighter I e for around £13.

Voodoo Bizango is a good bike, best hardtail up to £750 in MBR.

Bolle are really good. I also recently bought some yellow lensed glad from decathlon for low light conditions.
Yet to try them but they were only £4.

What are good tyres for winter xc, on mixed terrain, bridleways,and single track,a lot of heavy clay here , so clogging can be an issue but I don’t want anything too draggy for the road sections. It’s for a 29er.

Having grown up in nearby Pinner ,and having a couple of good friends in Rickmansworth I know the area a bit.
Great for commuting, easy access for m25,m4 and m40,y you have the aquadrome , nearby for sailing, but prices are high.
Great if you can afford it. Croxley a little cheaper.

It’s up there with Malcolm or Trevor……. Don’t do it!

I’ve got two, a medium sized expandable Specialized one for the mtb and a small , cheap, simple BTwin one from Decathlon for the road bike which is big enough for a tube,multi tool and puncture repair kit. Both work just fine.

I used to have a BMW 320ed which averaged 57 mpg over the time I ran it. Motorway cruising would give over 60mpg. Theses are real figures calculated each fill rather than trip computer figures. The Merc A200cdi I have now returns an average of 51 mpg in similar driving but is nowhere as quick as the Merc was.
Hard to beat the 320ed for its blend of economy and speed.

I seem to recall my son riding a 24″ bike before he was tall enough but at that age they grow so quickly it probably only took a couple of months for him to grow into it.

The other alternative would be to buy another secondhand 20″ bike as a stop gap. In my experience ,of buying and selling kids bikes you lose very little if anything so needn’t cost anything.

I’d be weighing up what you could get for it on eBay or the classifieds v something like a Voodoo from Halfords or Calibre bikes from go outdoor as suggested. Are there any other components that need replacement?

Once met David Coulthard at Silverstone at a test day. Had a little chat whilst I got him to pose for a photo with one of my work customers who I’d taken along. Very gracious and decent guy.
We were staying nearby and on checking out of the hotel , Michael Schumacher stood next to me. I was far too star struck to talk but my colleague did jokingly ask him about taking about Jacques Villeneuve on that incident. He took it quite well.

Ronnie Barker:” This is Mr Barker of xxxxxx lane. I’d like to cancel my newspapers for 2 weeks whilst I’m on holiday please”.

Me : “certainly Mr Barker I can do that for you.”

You must have a very different arse from me.The Gobi and Fabric Scoop have been great for me, as was Fizik Arione. Less good were the,F Fizik Tundra, wtb speed v and prologo zero.

Have you looked at the real mpg figures on honest John. Normally pretty accurate.

I also have a Defy. Mines an 2010 Deft Advanced with 105 and Mavic Ksyriums. It’s becoming Triggers broom but it rides so well I see little point in replacing it for a while yet. I’d possibly be tempted by a Canondale Synapse carbon or Canyon Endurance if I was buying a replacement but sub £1k a Defy is hard to beat.

Takes a week or two for the card to arrive.

Last time I bought one I went to my local John Lewis. I ended up with their own brand orthopaedic mattress which has been great and cost around £300.

How usable is the rear seat Kryton? The one I sat in before was tight for knee room and a bit narrow.

What model and year is yours? I wonder if seats on the m sport are bulkier?

For those of you with a GTD do you know what your monthly lease is? I’m looking at 3 years, 30k per year.

As above most likely a nail.or screw which is still embedded in the tread. Always amazed that they hold air for as long as they do. Car tyres are pretty resilient these days.

Had this on a Fizik Gobi but my Arione has been fine. Having just got a good deal on a Fabric Scoop pro I now have an Arione that’s surplus to requirements if you are interested……..

Try advertising on piston heads. Or alfaowner.

Funky Dunc, no issue with the 320d it was the 120d that I was referring to as being small. Loved my 320d but sadly the budget would only get a 316d.

Some useful feedback there. Regarding the Golf GTE, it would seem to only really work if you have somewhere to charge it on your commute, or do lots of short commutes v a diesel? The BIK savings though are very compelling.If the stats stacked up on running costs,maybe the company could be persuaded…£5k susbsidy too which narrows the gap.One to ponder……

Having had a 320d before the 120d I can imagine will be a lot of fun, but having looked at a colleague’s, pretty sure it would be no better than my A class for rear seat space.

Having suggested the Clubman I saw one earlier, and it looks a bit gawky, think I have crossed the A3 off the list too.Love the interior but otherwise a Golf seems to do everything the A3 does but with better kit.

Looked at the Mazda 3 in my local dealer earlier, not as classy inside as the Golf but size wise about spot on ,nice looking car and test driving one tomorrow. It comes with a very comprehesnisive kit list too. About the only option is to have leather beacuse it has parking sensors,claimte control,Bose stereo, etc all as standard. Think its going to be between the Mazda and Golf but I`ll take another look at the Octavia and Leon too.

Any idea on the cost of the Golf GTE and how it compares with the diesel Johni?
I’ve looked at BIK over the next 3 years and it’s quite a sizable increase on what were low co 2 diesels.

It works so long as its an offer in store and not web only.

I tried to use my BC card having ordered a bike online with a website only discount. Thy didn’t accept it so had to settle for BC discount only. Typically 2 days after they did a store based deal…….

In my experience value can be very subjective and the value is very much down to how it’s marketed.Good photos and a good but honest description of condition can work wonders.

If you aren’t in a hurry splitting can realise a higher value.

I recently split a 2010 Anthem and got back nearly £850, selling some via the classifieds and the remainder on eBay.
I think the STW tight wads would have probably said that bike would be worth £600.

When I was looking for a 905 earlier this year on eBay it seemed that they hold their value very well, as it’s an in demand bike. I think you’d get at least £800.

I have 3 kids aged 13,11 and 9.
The oldest is very trustworthy and responsible and I will often leave them by themselves for 2-3 hours during the day.
I have also left my 11 year old home alone for an hour or two. Not happy to leave them in the evening or night though but may do when my oldest is 14.

The Jam, Town called Malice.

20 miles.

If you do have to use a claims firm I was pleased with the Fair trade practice. They found that I had ppi on a mortgage that I would not otherwise known to claim. Cleared 4k.
As said though template forms available on mse if you do it yourself.

Based on current experience don’t hold it too much hope if you want one in a hurry.
I’ve been trying to get a new seatpost for my Boardman and i seem to be stuck between Boardman,my local store and Halfords customer service trying to get a resolution. To their credit Halfords have been quite helpful but it seems if it’s anything Boardman specific,the only way your local Halfords can get it is to order a whole bike to which of course they don’t want to do. Boardman apparently don’t keep any spares that are bike specific.Fie example the stem,bars,seatpost and saddle are colour coded and unique to each model.
I hope this isn’t the case with something like a mech hanger.

I’d stick with rockshox too personally.

Im pretty certain the 2014 versions were only 100mm. I have the 2016 which is 120mm
Mine is very confident inspiring with 120mm Rebas. Personally i think anything more than 120 would spoil it. It is an xc bike after all.

What year and model Boardman is it?

I’ve been using Squirt for 4 or 5 years now on both road bike and mtb. Very rarely have to clean the chain just top up regularly. Chain stays I’m much better shape than it did when I used finish line wet.

Would ruin a good bike IMHO. Pretty easy DIY job to increase Reba’s to 120.
Or would you be better off with a Trance…?

As mentioned above, buy a secondhand Carrera/Trek and sell it for near enough what you paid a year later.