Picked up a 1989 Kona Fire Mountain from my local “recycling centre” for a fiver. Was well chuffed with that.

Snapped a Whyte PRST-1 when the bridging plate connecting the brake caliper to the fork failed and put the caliper into the wheel, snapping the fork clean off just above the brake mount on the left side and up by the linkage on the right hand side. Was “just riding along”, down a single track road when a wee tipper lorry was coming the other way, i braked, the bike broke and i faceplanted in spectacular fashion right in front of him. Fair play, we put the bike on the back and he took me home. It was only 18 months old at the time and ATB Sales were only going to replace the fork but the lads at J E James in Sheffield basically said “you wanna see the state of this guys face, i think maybe some kind of goodwill gesture would be appropriate”. Few weeks later i recieved a PRST-4 frame which 8 nearly years on is still going. Definitely would have liked to have seen an action replay of it all going tits, would have been quite entertaining.

I’m thinking of getting a crosser through the company’s bike to work scheme for commuting and some maybe even a bit of actual cyclocross… Limited to Halfords and their sizing seems vague, to say the least. As it’s more of a niche product can’t see many stores stocking to let me try for size. I ride 58cm road and 18 inch mountain. How does the Boardman size up? The voodoo with 200 nicker off looks good though (£799) but as i said, the vagueness of the sizing on the website’s doing me no favours, and i don’t hold much hope of helpful advice from my local branch… (apologies for hijacking this thread by the way.. :oops:)

Had an R plate v40 for 6 years and 110k miles, traded “big vern” in with 150k on him for an Aygo, bit of a difference but with how much it costs to run cars these days it’s been a good move. The Volvo was cracking though, best seats anywhere, your body will thank you on a journey of any distance. Reliability was superb save for a few suspension niggles (overly complex design on 96-2000 models) but beware dealer prices, although if you’re going for a cheap motor i’d just stick to an independant. Post 2000 cars had a raft of improvements, better ride, quieter suspension, less road noise, tidier interior, better gearbox. They don’t have the quite the rep that other Volvo’s have but the post 2000 models were as well screwed together as anything out there, as in an ’53 plate taxi the other day and it still felt tighter and more solid than a lot of newer cars. Pro’s; great seats, great sound system, built like a tank, (mine was) reliable (as was my dad’s, still in the family) can handle big mileages, fantastic for long journeys. Con’s; not the cheapest to run or maintain but probably comparable with equivalent size cars, not as big as mondeo/vectra/passat etc (still plenty big enough for 3 bikes inside with a bit of witchcraft though), aim for post 2000 models if possible.

Best thread. EVER. Thank you.

Right, ok, cheers! I will check it out, thanks :-)

For those that think you could train a monkey to drive a train, you’d be surprised how many people struggle with the job. Early mornings, late nights, weekends, takes it’s toll on the family life. And yes, it carries it’s own stress. Long periods in the cab on your own, not “doing a lot” but if you don’t do what you are supposed to do precisely when you are supposed to do it then there may be trouble ahead, literally. When you’re clocking up anything up to 15,000 stops a year, with irregular stopping patterns and potential railhead adhesion problems to contend with (explained above but yeah, bloody scary), aggressive passengers, trespassers, stuff lobbed at your window (i’ve been bricked and had my 2nd man’s window put through with an air gun), the constant back of the mind fear of a fatality, not to mention the all too regular killing of wildlife and pets, dogs, foxes, birds of prey etc, it is pretty bloody horrible hitting something as beautiful as say,a buzzard, an owl or some poor family’s pet.
The rules, working instructions, local instuctions, route and traction knowledge all add up to a fair weight of knowledge and also a fair weight in books! Yeah, it’s good money but we “work” for it, even if it’s not the conventional idea of work. Besides, as any railwayman or woman knows, the money means nowt compared to the cameraderie, the stunning sunrises, sunsets and natural spectacles you get to see whilst bombing along, plus working shifts and weekends means we get to hit the trails when it’s all nice and quiet, and you can’t put a price on that. :-)

I’ll nominate Tarja Turunen ex of Nightwish, Simone Simons of Epica and Angela Gossow of Arch Enemy.Oh, and Isobel Campbell. My word…

Moss Side and Miles Platting hold regular air shows. Not much in the way of “fast jets” or dislpay teams, normally just a chopper but it is free. Chelmsley Wood in Birmingham holds an identical one most evenings as well.

@Dibbs, in my defence I’d been on the M6 for rather too long and that road does funny things to a man, i’m not proud of it but i was in need of caffeine. Still was after that lame excuse for a cuppa… :-)
And as for us all being “guilty of funding the swines” i was only referring to those of us (me) mug enough to buy their stuff in the first place… :oops:

Coffee shops are one of the biggest rip offs going, but we’re all guilty of funding the swines. After being stuck in traffic for aeons on the M6 my willpower dissolved and i dived into Knutsford or sandbach, i forget which hell-hole for a quick takeaway brew. £2.69 for a medium black coffee to which i was asked “would you like an extra shot in it for 50p?” I declined and back on the road i realised that £2.69 might get you something black and hot (by the way, what do Costa put in their “coffee” that makes it stay so hot for so long?) but if you actually want to taste it, well, come on now, cough up. It’s a p**s take but by going there i’m as guilty as anyone else.

Oh yeah, and get some talisker for your hipflask…

Hamo, there is a world of whisky out there, i can concur with so many of the names put forward. If you like the big, peaty Islay whiskies then i’m going for Lagavulin 16yo. For a mellower dram (and when you’re used to Islay whiskies then pretty much anything from the mainland is a mellower dram) then i’ll throw Benromach, Cardhu and The Glenrothes into the ring as well. The Balvenie 10yo is an abvsolute cracker if you can get hold of it, the 12yo Doublewood seems to be the standard now but to be honest, a whisky that ‘light’ doesn’t last five minutes with me, which is why i stick to the Islay whiskies… :D

A “beginners whisky” Muffin Man? Any of the mellower ones i mentioned above or perhaps the Dalwhinnie 15yo. Stick to Speyside or Highland whiskies and you won’t go far wrong.

For anyone with half an interest in decent whisky then Wooobob is right, Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible is a must have.

A bit of a curve ball if you can find it, Yamazaki 10yo. Sweet, very quaffable, although i’m not so sure you should really quaff whisky but hey ho.