Can any daytimers help?

Hmm, that happened faster than I thought it would! Ebay and the classified it is then.

Hmm it seems pretty thin pickings!

Why would the staff care whether one random driver was too important to answer a few quick questions? Why would the police care? I’m sure that after the drivers ahead had completed the survey non co-operating drivers would be on their way without any interest from the police.

You are right the staff don’t care, nor the police. But the declining is often done in a bad temper or defensively.

+1 FSA Orbit MX. Buy two so you have spare bearings at little more cost than the bearings alone.

I suspect this is in relation to new Highways agency traffic modelling work that is in progress. As others have said the survey information is really important to working out how the road is used.

In these situations you have to stop but you can decline to answer the survey. In cases of long tailbacks the surveys often have to be pulled and the survey company resorts to handing out postcard surveys that no one ever returns.

As said above you will not get out of the stop if you decline to answer the questions and people who don’t answer them are normally those with inflated senses of self-importance. The police sometimes use the time they are not answering the survey but stationary to make a casual observation of the condition of the vehicle. Just in case like.

I have had this a number of times. I seem to remember it is due to the nitrogen leaking. Cannot be repaired by standard equipment but LoCo did mine.

Can anyone help please?

These are both clearly nice bikes but it always seems like any women looking to spend more money must be obsessed with racing!

Giant Liv: “if speed and Xcracing are your obsessions, this singletrack rocketship is your path to the podium.“

Avanti Competitor “The Competitor Womens is a lightweight performance machine, tuned with race performance womens-specific geometry. Perfect for riders who have an appetite for hills and speed.”

This may mean it is worth looking beyond women’s specific of course.

Hmm, interesting suggestion and likely to be available in Australia.

Hmm, I have had a Purgatory on the front but think the Ground Control is better. Looks like I am going to have to find something different!

Ah I ordered and then they cancelled my order. “not permitted to ship Specialized goods outside Germany”

So back to recommendations for something similar!

Hmm, that being the case can anyone recommend a tyre that is a bit like a 2.3″ Ground Control but available in 27.5″. It’s going on the front.

Thanks, you are right, they have it…

http://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=8;navigation=1;search=ground+control;menu=1000%2C2%2C103%2C317;product=98782

But only ship to Germany – Specialized clearly not keen on us having them!

Yes I think I could leave the granny ring on an use a manual shift for a big hill.

Just looked at pictures again and not all have the threaded spacer so maybe just 30T.

But where to buy a 650b Ground Control Grid in a decent width?

I asked this the other week. Apparently it is a matter of buying a new ‘air shaft’ at a cost of around £30. Changing it is not said to be difficult.

So are all the forks exactly the same apart from this single part? ie if you buy a 150mm you could alter it to a 160mm with a new air shaft and likewise a 160mm could be altered to 140mm?

Any idea how much a new air spring is?

Wow, only just checked back and loads of responses and suggestions :D will read through them now. Looking forward to it!

Thanks all, I will have another ring around.

Right I was just about to ask about the same question on a rear tyre for the Dyfi. Everyone loves a good tyre thread, for what you are looking for I would recommend a 2.25 Crossmark. I find them a pretty good tyre. But what is the next tyre up the grip ladder?

Here is a stab at a scale, so controversial :-)

Slick
Kenda Small Block 8
Geax Saguaro
Geax Goma
Maxxis Crossmark

Specialized Purgatory
Specialized Ground Control

Maxxis Highroller

Maxxis Minion

I don’t really know what I would make a note of about config files. Really I just want to install a new version – there is nothing on the computer currently that I am worried about losing.

It has Ubuntu (lucid lynx?) on it at the minute so I guess I would get a new 32bit version here:

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop

and follow the instructions.

My only slight issue on this is that previously I had to do some fiddling to get the wireless to work but hopefully the new versions will have resolved this, maybe :-s

andytherocketeer – Yes it is indeed an EEE PC 901 :-) The Linux version so so 4/16 drives.

Like you I just used Dropbox so there are no files on it. How would I go about clearing off the OS and starting again?

Ah, sorry I should have been clearer. I am pretty sure the netbook contains two different drives. One small SSD and a larger conventional spinny one. If so am I right in thinking the re-partitioning is not an option?

How could I check whether there are two disks or just one split into two?

Hmm, should have checked that before. Looks like they are based in Hong Kong.

So I bought a Z3 compact. Simple. Hmm, maybe not quite so simple. It has arrived but it has a flat bladed two pin plug as opposed to a three pin plug. The item description didn’t point this out at all.

So the model I have is a D5833. I think this means the frequency bands it offers differ. Is any one able to confirm that the normal UK model is a D5033? And does this mean this one is less suitable for the UK?

Have contacted the shop so will see what they say. I suspect they will say it was my choice to buy that one but I think it could have been a bit clearer.

Thanks all. Hopefully this will resolve the recent issues.

Oh no, I missed this deal :-(

£277 seems to be the best price I can spot elsewhere, has anyone seen better?

Thanks, which one specifically? Do these to Ethernet and wifi or just ethernet? Can you mix and match or should I buy all in one kit?

No, don’t use someone else’s route – read an OS map and bring along a sense of adventure.

Go exploring, then the great bits you ride will be all the better as you found them. Rather than had them prescribed to you, or downloaded into your GPS.

I often agree with this approach but it is normally when I have time to spare. When you are meeting some friends you don’t get to ride with often I am always looking to make sure there is as much chance as possible as a decent ride. It won’t often be the best ultimately possible but it does mean it will normally be pretty good, YMMV but we will be following a route.

Any pointers for good routes in the Chilterns then?

Google maps journey time says no for 2 hours to S. Wales. Plus I live there so looking for somewhere less good to ride ;-)

Yes FoD within range. Do you have to know your way round or are there now decent trail centre type trails? My main riding experience of there was 15 years ago. I spent a lot of time on Fireroads feeling frustrated that I was missing out on something.

I guess the advent of a gpx guided route probably revolutionizes things.

Thanks for those, I guess given our respective locations the NW quadrant of search from Bicester works best.

That said the Porsche would probably camouflage in nicely around Surrey :-) but less sure about the 26″ wheels.

Ah Cotswolds, there was a Singletrack routes section on that at some point… Yes this is in a couple of weeks so think ground conditions will make the Ridgeway less attractive.

Just remember that as a backup you are still going to lose everything in event of fire/theft/electrical blow up.

I am tackling this with the high tech solution of taking the disc around to my friends house and leaving it there once I have done the back up :D

Take a look at some of the cloud based options for a smaller amount of important stuff.

I have DropBox doing this.

To be honest not that much really changes on the computer on a regular basis so an infrequent backup will be fine.

Thanks for the added advice though.

Thanks, that was very useful.

Right, I have finally got round to this.

I have now partitioned my new disk into two successfully. 300Gb as NTFS, 700 Gb as Mac.

I am now trying to copy files from my old external drive to the NTFS partion of my new one via my Mac.

But when I try to copy it won’t let me. Equally if I try to save something like a .txt file on the NTFS partition it won’t let me and says that the disk is read only. Have I done something wrong? Any suggestions appreciated.

joshvegas – what are those pedal hooks?

Very fancy coving too!

Thanks, I think realistically the middle one is already pushing the budget so that is probably the limit.

A Mac Mini was considered but the whole package aspect appeals and the monitor he had is not that great. Also as soon as it involves things like..

You do have to run a script to get OSX not to treat the monitor as a TV

then it will be a no go for him!

With regards to Apple care the three year package is £97.20. Is that cheaper? It looks like a good idea in a way as it will be a change for him and I don’t live locally so might be a good way for him to get help rather than frustrated.