xh558 is 50 this year. 😯

The cold war jets open days at Bruntingthorpe are pretty good fun (but fifteen quid entry) with lots of old skool jets in various states or airworthiness or disrepair including 558, a Victor and 2 looovely RAE canberras. I remember having a poke around inside one of them a few years ago when my father in law (volunteers for the vulcan peeps) had me up there for some 'bonding'. 😀

This thread would be much more interesting with Glupton in it.

What is this word 'sprint' you speak of? I may have tried that once or twice in xc racing. I am more a sort of:

1) start
2) feel less silly 'cos i remembered to change down to a sensible 'setting off gear' before I stopped just then (optional)
3) speed up a bit
4) reach 30% off my 'dying on arse' effort
5) stay at that pace for a bit
6) stop at next traffic lights
7) Repeat

Drac – Member

Working.

Same here. I have worked every new year either late/early or nights since the millenium (was on my honeymoon) Get paid more, and karma from my younger colleauges who get to go out on the razz 'cos I am at work for them. Karma from boss and more likely to get Christmas day off (though I have worked it last 2 years 👿 .)

I think if I ever 'do' new year it would be somewhere quiet-ish with family and close friends. Wouldn't mind renting a place somewhere and having a little party of our own.

someone on here makes guitars. (for a living as opposed to for fun iirc)

Jahwomble is it?

Although undoubtedly great bikes, Lapierre is somehow becoming the new silver audi A4 of the mtb world.

*hides*

Quite possibly yes.

There was someone who used to post on classifieds here a lot under 2 old logins has re-registered under a third login, who not only sold stuff in the classidfieds from his own webshop as 'clearing a few bits and bobs out' 'need this stuff gone' etc, but also bidded on his own ebay items with a second ebay login. He won a few of his own auctions and left himself glowing feedback. 😆

Go on, post the item number and then the lynch mob can see if they know the seller! 😈

I really dislike the use of the word 'run' when you really mean 'have fitted on my bicycle'. You 'run' a business, a market stall, a youth five-a-side football team or half a dozen huskies. Not a piece of overpriced machined aluminum.

just had the reflector and bulb out of my solo logic mv for a look, and the pcb is secured with a 'stub' of plastic inside the body which seems to have been melted over a bit of the pcb in order to secure it. I suppose the trick would be undoing it (with a hot solder iron i'd have thought) without damaging the pcb or putting a hole in the lamp body with overenthusiastic application of heat. And then putting it all back again afterwards.
I can solder pretty well, (even managerd to fix my rather rubbish no-at-all-waterproof knog light 8) ) but I am not sure I would be able to do something that fiddly and difficult to access without reasonable risk of knackering it.

HTH

gaffa-taped business rivals for patio foundations?

The hands free soap dispenser is completely and utterly pointless. Whereas medical types have been using 'elbow' taps for years and years.

You can also now get infra red ones (like in shopping mall loos) for operating theatres too.

Re: rebadged DH frames, I'm fairly sure i didn't dream it but my favourite was 2000/01-ish Helen Gaskell and the Cheethams on M1's rebadged as Carrera for Halfords. 😀

Every day is a school day. 😀

Ralph, if you're going take the time to correct his English, at least take the time to punctuate yours correctly. 😉

is the Halifax one where the 2 people talk apparently on a radio station and she spills her tea? I really don't get it. I find it a bit iriitating and pointless. And, rather crucially I can't remember what bank or product it's actually for. Advertising fail!

At her height, I would go by top tube length over seat tube: laydeez often have shorter arms and I don't think the dirty jo frames were made with women's dimensions particularly in mind. Bear in mind they may also have been specced four or five years ago when 100-110mm stems were an accepted part of a bike's geometry (ie shorter top tube than you might expect). Aquick google suggests they are the same frame as some of the handsome dog ones via all terrain cycles.

fwiw they are really nice frames for the money. Dirty Jo bikes originate from/are specced and imported by 'Don't Push It' bikes in Bude, and as I recall Jodie and Wayne put a lot into the local cycling scene. Might be worth giving the shop a tinkle on 01288 359555.

Lady Grinning Soul is my favourite song by anyone!

Lordy, I love Bowie.

This month I also like 'Art Decade', 'The Bewlay Brothers' and 'Bring Me The Disco King'.

My 4 & 6 year old children like 'Magic Dance' of course…

In 'the escape artist' Matt Seaton talks about becoming much sweatier as he went from 'quite fit' to 'really fit'. That's my excuse and I am sticking to it!

iirc the cage on an 8 speed front derailleur is slightly narrower/wider (I forget which) than 7 or 9 speed. I wouldn't bother about it if it were me, (I used an 8 speed front mech on 9 speed drivetrain for ages) but if you find it hard getting it not to rub on the front mech when you are at either end of the rear cassette, it might be worth looking into.

The other thing will be your freehub (assuming you are taking a 7 speed cassette off) it need to be wider to accommodate an 8 speed cassette. And they don't make 8 speed freewheels if that's what your current back wheel is. Look it all up on the sheldon brown website for great explanation.

If he's got the money then what's wrong with a bank transfer your way again? When it's in your account, it's in for good then, non?

LOL @ "hon-he-hon" at the end

😀 😀 😀

I (janner-sounding but dual nationality) am frequently greeted like this by my (british) colleauges. They get a bit flustered if I answer back in french though. 'Franglais' is fine, mind…

Non-story IMO.

Never liked his politics one bit but he's not really the biggest sleazebag in westminster is he? Leave 'em alone!

My word, he really is quite appalling! 😆
Like a tough looking Francky Vincent. 😀

Juan,

do you mean this Pitbull??

Mon dieu.

I seem to recall Doc Gynéco having some rather risqué turns of phrase 😆 Not sure how 'down with the kids' he will be these days, like a sort of hip hop Jethro!

All above are good, I have a particular soft spot for the 3rd 4th and 5th solaar albums, saian supa crew and massilia sound system as a soundtrack to great times past. (sniffs)

This would seem like a good place to start though. Plenty of great stuff in there. Baffling lyrics for my 'not lived there for 12 years' ears though! 😳

Borrow a demo bike featuring the fory you're interested in, I'd have thought. Its a bit of a faff switching forks with a customer's just for a weekend.

But yes, when you consider that a set of upper-range 36's retails for as much as a lower-mid-spec hardtail bike, that is a good point about a huuuuge investment!

As above from Elfin, you can't choose the name your parents give you, and I wouldn't like to speculate on the possibilities of changing it by deed poll/equivalent in another country. Or whether you'd even feel strongly enough to bother to do so.

Does this mean all lads called Christian are, errr, Christian? And all Jésus's (popular boys name in Spain, fact fans) are Catholic? Does this also apply to Catholic saints names too?

Crap troll. Did you lose some money betting on the cricket then Eldridge?

but now I'd run odd ratios to even chain wear out maybe 32:17.

❓ have i missed something in singlespeed school?

philconsequence – Member

what about people who wear clothing from other areas of the sport??

for example downhill shorts are incredibly sturdy and i wear them for normal riding.. (i dont do downhill)

I often wear roadie team bibshorts under my downhill shorts (on a downhill bike).

home(plymouth)-burrator-sheepstor-home. Managed to string it together with only about 4 miles of road in all that: would be even fewer miles on road if it wasn't a sunny bank holiday full of walkers, degs and one angry jogger.

Some tubby mountain bikers a week yesterday:

Nom nom nom nom.

Dave was great!

Coffee was fine too, and i polished off my 'should have been first' in the malt loaf eating contest with a posh sandwich from him too. nom nom.

I chatted to him a bit: its a franchise who supply the van and stuff: up to him to get the money in the till though!

oh, i've got it:
Fish, chimps and mushy bees.

i remember when Bench was briefly quite cool. In about 1997. Ditto for numerous surf/skate brands.
Funny how some brands seem to 'break out' of cool and into chav. 😕

[edit] there are some pubs in town which won't let you in if you have henri lloyd or stone island on, apparently because you will be nothing but trouble! 😆

black with one sugar.

pretty much the same as trail_rat here: high-achieving and super-slim wife here now.

One nice thing is she seems oddly more understanding of riding time and how much it all costs.

But she is a whisker off being officially faster than me. 👿

small tip: if its on a steep downhil with no pushup/rideup nearby, cut small footholds/steps into the top of the berm and it will encourage the groms pushing their bikes up to put their feet in the steps and wheel their bike in the berm, rather than trashing the riding surface scrambling back up it.

Also consider drainage. A mint berm is no good when its full of water or porridge consistency mud. 🙁

Wassell of 'youtube honda rn02 prototype frame' fame did both above things with a couple in our local woods and they are ace.

fatmutha:

Don't do it. You will be wearing tapered weightlifting troosers before the year is out.

depends how well it's been looked after/driven. 147k is not that bad for a well cared for t5. Service history and some idea of how many sets of tyres/pads its been through in its 4 years and 147k miles would reassure/worry you.

If you didn't get sucked into the 'reposting every day for three weeks' and had one classifieds thread that went on and on instead, then you could also leave feedback for peple on theirs which could be easily searched for in posting history. Someone very kindly did that for me on southerndownhill once (I've been a member for 2 or 3 years but probably only put three or four posts a year on it outside the classifieds).

SDH classifieds work better than here because the classifieds bit is split, but especially because you can edit your posts and thread titles any time. If you reduce something you can change the heading to "Reduced to £40" and update the blurb in the actual post, etc etc rather than bumping your thread or starting a new one. Also the moderators prune them for 'bumps' and stuff that's been on more than a couple of months.

yep the workstand is one of the best fifty quid's i've spent on bike stuff. Got a great and 'excellent value' review in one of the mags under someone else's brand for £80 or so.