The country is in a shit state. A significant few are spoiling it for the many in lots of areas.

As for litter – I pick it up. I clear our lane 4-5 times a year and always get at least 2 bin bags full. If everyone picked up a bit, then more people would be happy to confront selfish litter ****. Allowing people to get away with it disappoints me.

I think he means correctly centred before you do the nuts/bolts up.

So they’re a locating device rather than load bearing as stated above.  Get some spigots – will cost £5 on ebay

I bet Trump is frothing into his soup as he never got to shoot anything

I’ve just had a new heating oil tank installed – came to about £2000. It is a plastic bunded 1250 litre tank and they took the 30year old steel tank away and transferred the contents to the new tank.

Just background info to answer sharkbait.

Steel would be repairable but I wouldn’t fancy welding or plating it given that it would normally fail on a weld, and plastic isn’t repairable – at least not reliably

Ever Fallen in Love as covered by the fine young cannibals is about as bad a cover there is. Take a song that’s full of energy and youth and remove all the energy and try to croon it badly. No forgiveness for that.

I’m 55 and haven’t come in useful yet. But I’m holding out…..

If the policy is going to be in his name rather than adding him to your policy then try adding a grandparent as a named driver. Even though his gran lived at a different address and was never going to drive it the policy came down by £600 ( to only £1800 for a panda). That was 10 years ago so things may have changed…..

Nice one, thanks both – I’ll give them both a call

When you say “breaks” – do you mean the brain lockout or the whole thing? On mine (admittedly a 2018 epic), the lockout broke and it just worked like a non locked out shock – always active.

I think you would struggle to find a replacement, however recon shocks should start to become available soon.

Ask for £200/ month for them to rent the area of your garden to put scaffolding on. You can snag a shakedry jacket every time you walk past and still be quids in

It’s a tough route – 8000m of climbing and 600km. However, despite the hills (and gates), there are plenty of opportunities for resupply so carrying loads of food is unnecessary. But you have to time it as Sunday opening times are shorter and obviously places are closed at night.
The scenery and riding are (mostly) excellent. Some damp slow patches but overall an excellent route. There is a fairly flattish roady section on the way into Scarborough – this is a welcome respite from the hills, but after Scarborough it soon gets remote and hilly.
2.5 days is good going – the fastest time is around 48 hours (might have been faster last year?), and that involved only a 3 hour bivvy. If you plan on going for 2.5 days then definitely fast tyres and packing light is the way to go.
Good luck – and enjoy it!

We look at it a slightly different way with our dogs and their insurance. Our 2nd dog was diagnosed at 12 with cancer, which was operated on and treated with injections (£500 / injection and 4 required). That cost £5k total and he lasted another 2 years.

Having insurance takes money out of the decision as to whether to continue with the dog if/when it gets ill. Ask yourself whether a £5k bill would result in paying for treatment or euthanasia….. And then whether the euthanasia option would be what you would be prepared to go through with.

And can you afford the £100/month it costs now?

If you can afford it, and the dog is part of the family, then keep paying…
We did find that stopping & restarting insurance and/or trying to get a new policy with a different provider after the dog was aged 10 or so was incredibly difficult or expensive. They are high risk at this age.

For some reason CX does seem hard on rear mechs. I ripped one off about 300metres in to a very muddy course a few years back, and a friend ripped his off a couple of weeks back with no clear cause. Not sure why….

Tyres and wheels on the other hand – pinch punctures, tubeless woes, dinged rims, broken spokes. Disaster area for me! (hit a brick in a puddle at yesterdays race – approx 2 minutes in to a 45 minute race. Game over…..)

Let’s face it – no one in the video comes out well. Easy to understand but still not good. I am sure the motorist’s opinion of cyclists hasn’t gone up, so highly likely that he’ll still slag “bloody cyclists” off at any opportunity.

I am still amazed how some apparently intelligent people (maybe not this driver) considers cyclists as a separate group or type of person (actually not people at all – more objects of annoyance). And feel the need to make their views known at any opportunity (whether it be social media or shouting out of car windows), without realising that most cyclists are also motorists, pedestrians, parents, children etc etc etc. Constantly amuses and disappoints me……

Exercise can help – can you go for a run / ride before work?

I was really struggling to focus when working from home. Hated it. I now go into the office every day even though I really don’t need to. I cycle commute – it gets me the exercise that allows me to get to work feeling alive, and stay focused all day.

In the office it’s the same people most days – probably only 10% of the numbers pre-Covid, I think it is this 10% who are struggling to focus at home – the other 90% are either happy with home working or happy with home not working……

Just a word of caution if you do tell the C2W people: if you still have outstanding payments then you’ll lose the tax relief as you now don’t have a bike. So not only have you lost the bike, but you will have to pay extra for the privilege. It’s not their fault and it doesn’t seem fair, but it’s the rules from the Inland Revenue.

THis is a great thread – thanks to all for your views and information. I am meeting a financial adviser tomorrow to go through options for money management and how I get out of work in Jan 22 when I am 55 and 2 months.

A question to those who talk about managing their own SIPPs and investments: are you actually following the markets on a daily basis and moving your investments around? Or are you paying a stockbroker or other professional to do this for you?

The more I read the more I realise I have no idea how to manage money. So I think I must pay someone to manage it, but obviously I begrudge paying someone out of my hard earned savings/pension/pot. But that is something I guess I need to get my head around.

There is legislation in the pipeline to link the speed limiter to speed limits, the technology is there already (but not accurate enough, especially in roadworks and temporary speed limit areas). A combination of traffic sign recognition and GPS data will set the limit that the limiter will use.

It will become a requirement through the back door – the initial way is where manufacturers get NCAP points that will increase their NCAP rating, (this happens now for other features), then will be enforced by legislation.

Blimmin good idea, especially when you consider that many accidents involve excessive speed (for the conditions certainly, over the limit maybe)

Maybe the question to Bliss:

Why don’t you believe the science (regarding the vaccine and Covid)?

Please explain as from what I have read from the above posts, quite a few people have posted some links to evidence or actual evidence that science is good, whereas you have just said you don’t believe it (but not why).

For what it’s worth I am happy to follow the science. I get vaccinated when there is a disease that I would like protection against, I don’t eat McDonalds because there isn’t anything healthy in it. The same goes for KFC. Never taken drugs bought from a bloke on the street. I have a mobile phone despite some fears of brain frying, and I do know (not through experience) that if you put your fingers in a 240V socket it will hurt (a lot).

Bliss – I have had Covid. It developed into Pneumonia and then Sepsis. I was in ITU for 4 days (not ventilated but for Sepsis treatment). So I know someone who has had it.

My neighbour caught Covid and has died from it. He leaves a wife and 3 daughters.

Currently 2 members of my extended family have Covid (not too ill thankfully).

I really hope you are a weapons grade troll. If not then please stay off the internet. It won’t do you any good.

it’s an air temp/pressure/flow sensor – helps the air con development teams get data independent of the vehicle sensors.

Possibly not letting the paint harden between coats and rubbing down is why you are rubbing straight through it. Or using too rough a grade of paper.

To get really good paint you should bake it on (except 2K which does air harden) – but not in your oven (it will make it stink). Plus the paper to use should be 1200 grit or similar (and wet it).

It is often cheaper to get it done professionally if you talk to the right person…..

Ask him if he is the Landowner or the Agent of the Landowner. When he says “No?” you can quite rightly tell him that obstructing you is a criminal offence and you’ll be talking to the police. And tell him he has absolutely no jurisdiction here.

Or just ignore him

It’s an overuse thing. When Lee Craigie and Rickie Cotter did the Tour Divide Lee had to take a day out due to her legs swelling. Sausage legs is the medical term I think.

I’m not sure what causes it, but it does seem to affect people spending many hours back to back on the bike – might be more females than males suffer?

Horses are very much an oddity around most parts – they tend not to sit 2 abreast at 15-20mph preventing people overtaking, and also they are only on the roads in certain rural parts (not in towns etc or on A roads). Also they weigh 0.5 tonnes and will kill you if you crash into one.

I think the ignorance of motorists is a key problem – hence it is good to see the 1.5m guidance being dished out, but there are a small number of motorists who resent this as they are adamant we shouldn’t be on the roads.

The anti-cyclist venom on facebook whenever there is a discussion about road users is unbelievable. However I always think it says more about the level of ignorance and bigotry around us than cyclists.

It can be quite fun to reply to some of the anti people with “your comment says more about you than anyone/thing else – you really are not a nice person”. Don’t think it will ever change anything but it might get people to think about their own behaviour rather than blaming everyone else (cylists).

@susepic- I started setting it using the instructions on the shock body – pump to 350 psi and then set the sag with the silver release valve. Then after the 1st shock “failed” I read the manual (download from the Spesh website) and it said that the correct method was to pump up to (I think it said 275psi (for my weight of 72kg)) and then set the sag. Both have worked (and I did wonder whether the 350 psi pressure contributed to the shock failing – in the Spesh manual it says “do not exceed 350 psi”).

If the shock does start clonking I know it needs pumping up again

My 2018 Epic rear brain shock stopped locking out – I think that is maybe the “reliability issue”. However this does make it active all the time, so any clonks disappear.

I have found that if the shock is pumped up to the recommended pressure there isn’t a clonk, but if the pressure drops then the clonk starts reappearing. I don’t find it an issue though and the bike is rocket ship fast.

If you do wire in a switch then just make sure you don’t use the switch at high dynamo speeds (high road speed) – maybe above 15mph. The sudden switching of load will cause a voltage spike from the dynamo that can (and has) fried Revo lights.

So – is it better to push savings / spare income into a pension rather than a savings account?

I am 54, healthy Defined Benefit pension pot (now closed) and a “new” Defined Contribution scheme, and want to stop working at 55 (12 months time). Could save £1000/month but at 0.5% interest in a savings account the savings are not really doing any work.

Good result (even if very very slow and stressful).

Although I have never used their insurance, I am with British Cycling and am insured through them. From what I hear insurance companies will settle quicker if they are dealing with other insurers or legal bods, and make the process frustrating for Joe Public so they eventually lose interest.

I think it costs me £32 / year or something like that. Cycling UK would be similar

Ref the transferring out thing – I think it depends:
My pension scheme is pretty good, but it is important to me that my OH and my (grown) children benefit from my pension (I’ve paid into it for 36 years). If I die my OH gets half my pension, and if she dies my children get nothing (if I leave it in the scheme). However if I transfer out then the pot is still there no matter who dies, and the pot stays in the family (and doesn’t get absorbed back into the scheme).

So it does depend what your objectives are for your pension, who your beneficiaries might be and what your attitude to stuff is.

I would hate to die at 65 and my pension gets lost (likewise I would hate to still be around at 95 with no pension left). Swings and roundabouts…..

There should be a lot of damping in the Instrument cluster to prevent exactly this as fuel sloshes around the tank. Seeing as that is normally done via software it seems very strange that the needle now moves around where it didn’t before…. If the garage disconnected the battery maybe there is some software learning going on – in which case it will sort itself out.

Unless it is an old technology gauge – wired directly to the sender unit with any damping being mechanical (in which case I would suspect the gauge rather than the sender).

Try running with the tank permanently brimmed so there’s no room for the fuel to move around – that might be a sort of fix…..

I am gearing up for this next year also – was hoping for redundancy this year but it isn’t going to happen, so am thinking or saving like mad this year to fund 6 months off next year (whether that’s unpaid time off or leaving my current job I’m not sure yet). Then hoping to take early retirement in late 50’s and top it up with a part time job doing low stress stuff.

I am 95% sure it would be the right thing for me in the short – medium term, not sure about long term with pensions etc but I’m coming round to accepting that risk.

I’d say go for it (but with eyes open!)

Dyna-ti

I’ll just post this here

Do you see the similarity between what you are condoning and the potential consequences?

dyna-ti – it’s that “I’ll do what I want and screw you” attitude that gives the majority a bad name.

At least that comment says all we need to know about you

I’ve often wondered this.

Maybe in 100-200 years time there won’t be such a thing as black, white, yellow, brown etc – we will all be so intermingled that all our genes will be mixed and everyone will be a similar race.

In 50 years time I think it is certain that things will be different. However we seem to be heading into more extremism that will last another 10 years or so, then things will hopefully start to get better. Maybe we will be back where we are now. It will be our children/grandchildren who influence life in 50 years time so we better get them pointed in the right direction!!

and don’t forget some tasteful outside lighting that is always on – lighting up the front of your house, garden etc etc. It doesn’t make your house look nicer and it is a real waste of energy.

Good shorts and keep your undercarriage clean (and allow to breathe overnight). You’ll be fine as long as you don’t push too hard.

I have a Countax collector ride on mower – it does stripes which is great, but can be tricky to get a nice stripey lawn due to the turning circle at each end, so I do tend to use it a few times per year for the lawn and every few weeks on the paddock (just to keep it down – having let it go before and see it turn into an impenetrable mess).

Also have a smaller mower as sometimes it’s nice to spend a bit more time getting a better finish.

Ride on mowers don’t always give the best finish, especially if the ground is uneven, but they do take the effort out.

(FWIW I bought it 2nd hand – about 8-10 years old but everything works fine, just need to look after belts etc)