Loved it, if only because it wasn’t the usual ‘blockbuster’ shite
Stylish (mostly) & great soundtrack

Have you tried going back to HPi?
Don’t they have a guarantee for this kind of thing?

Sounds like you’ve already ruled out the Spesh A1 FS, but FWIW my lad’s had one of these since he was 8 & has managed fine with it.

We were buying used so had to go with whatever was around at the time.
Don’t see an awful lot of decent 24″ bikes on the used market, other than loads of Hotrocks.

FD, you’re circumstances are remarkably similar to mine. My Mum has been looking into options for some time and after taking advice she’s concluded that putting the house into a trust, with me/my sister as the trustees is the best option.

Afraid I don’t know the finer details of all options she considered but the down side of this one is there’s a cost to set it up (around £1k I think), but it’s peanuts compared to what you might save in the long run.

As for comments above criticising you for looking into this – it’s simply naive not to plan for something that’s inevitable, albeit unpleasant to face, and just hope it all works out for the best. It won’t and you’ll finish up paying far more than you need to in tax & health care fees.

Why all the talk about D4’s? The OP is looking for a 5 yr old car.

If you go for a Disco 3 be prepared to get to know your local Land Rover dealer well. So well they’ll probably give you your own parking space. IME.

my local KF have twice repaired punctures for free – that’s secured them my loyal custom for many years.

sadly last time I went in there seemed to be a new guy in charge with crappy attitude, so I walked.

We went down the PCH route a couple of years ago, primarily because I need a reliable car for work and couldn’t be doing with the hassle that comes with running an older car: constant trips to garages, sorting lifts, courtesy cars etc, and thats before the cost of repairs (ever take a reasonably modern car into a garage for even something minor and come out with a bill for less than £200?)

Bottom line is I just want the car to be there when I need it, not constantly wondering when it’s going to break next, so for me a new car is the way to go and PCH is probably the lowest cost way of getting there.

He’s not even looking where he’s going.

he’s looking at the ground…. which is exactly where he’s going!

Another Jumpking Ovalpod here.
Go for a decent quality one if you can – cheap ones will look tatty after a year and they’re pretty conspicuous!

The way my kids throw themselves about on it, I wouldn’t even consider not having a net!

Sold a bike to a yoof recently (buy-it-now deal). He turns up & seems to think he has the option to decide whether or not to buy it. Eventually he decides to take it and offers me £5 less than the buy-it-now price!
NO, YOU TOOL – THAT’S NOT HOW IT WORKS!!!

future resale isn’t really a consideration as we’d always planned to run this car until it died. Just don’t want it to die right now!

Actually the fact it will be virtually worthless will mean we’ll only need to insure it 3rd party, so that will save some cash too!

The third partie’s insurance co. made an offer minus 10% and told me to keep my car as salvage

Mdavids – just out of interest, did you accept the first offer or were you able to negotiate it up?

Local repair shop told me not to accept their first offer, just not sure how realistic it is to negotiate with a big insurance company!

High consequence riding.
Respect due but I prefer slighlty better odds of coming home

XC90 here, but parents had a 60 for a while.
Great car by all acounts, no real problems and the residuals were fantastic.

Probably no use to you, but some Volvo dealers have 0% finance on Xc90’s at the mo, plus a healthy discount off list (basic model down to about £27k I think). I know it’s a bit outdated compared to other big 4x4s but you’re still getting a lot of car for the money.

Post-group B and probably not a classic rally car, but this must rank as one of the most amazing crashes ever.
Remember watching it at the time, seeing the car completely submerge & thinking this is not going to end well. Somehow they both got out thankfully

Not sure if this is bigger than you need but I can highly recommend the Quechua Trail 27L from Decathlon. Only £30 too!

what is this ‘cleaning’ of which you speak?

I’m sure you’ve all considered this, but isn’t it possible that taste buds get less sensitive with age?

It’s more likely because of the food police enforcing taste removal (via salt reduction usually) on anything which doesn’t confrom to their narrow minded view of a balanced diet.

I work in the food industry and it’s constant battle to meet the latest FSA/Dept of Health targets without totally compromising the taste of your product

White van driving like a complete bulb-end, when I refused to let him cut in front of me the driver wound down his window and threw the stubbie of beer he was drinking at me.

Also knew a guy who once removed his keys from the ignition in order to unlock his glove box, this resulted in the steering locking and…… well you can probably guess the rest!

Easy Life by The Bodysnatchers.
One my personal favourites

Co-op bank are currently offering £200 if you switch your main account to them

There’s a few T&C’s of course, but if you’re thinking of changing anyway……..

Nice one Slugwash, thanks.
You’re a lucky man having the FBI as your local – what a view!

and so it begins……

Nice one Stoner – looks like it’ll do a job for my commute so I’ve taken the plunge.

Any recomendations for a cheap bar mount? Loads on ebay for 4 or 5 quid.

17.5p a mile for 1st 10k, then 25p over 10k.
That’s on top of car allowance.

Plus the tax you can reclaim if your company pays below HMRC maximum rates

Ta

Away from tv – score update please ?

I hit a car recently & was pursued by the driver (cabbie) for damage and lost earnings. Luckily I had liability on my house insurance who took care of the whole thing.

At the time of the accident I was talking to one of the traffic cops who attended. His view was that as a cyclist I obviously wasn’t obliged to have insurance, liability wasn’t that clear but probably my fault, so to keep my money in my pocket as the only way I could be forced to pay would be via small claims court & even then only if liability could be proved.

Sounds like they’re trying it on after 3 years but think you’re wise to get someone to check over any response you send.

Saw something on the On-One site earlier. Didn’t look too closely so not sure what sizes etc

Depends – would you be happy putting the business miles on your own car?
How convenient is the train? I have the option of using trains but rarely do as it’s just not the easy option.

My opt out was based on a lifestyle need for a car I couldn’t get through my company car scheme, probaly couldn’t gave justified it on economics alone

No, I get 15p a mile from my company then claim back tax on the 25p difference between that and the 40p inland revenue maximum (think they’ve increased it recently actually)

Do you do much business mileage?
If you do you can claim the tax back on the difference between whatever your company pays you per mile and the maximum inland revenue limit

Made quite a difference to the equation when I opted out

Lenses are both Nikon AF Nikkor, one is 70-300mm other is 28-80mm

was going to eBay them but wasn’t sure if they were worth anything.

Can’t remember off the top of my head, will have a look when I get home

Potentially a half-witted question, but I’ve got a couple of lenses from a Nikon 35mm, are there any digital SLR bodies which would be compatible with them, or is all 35mm kit unusable with digital?

Cheers y’all. Quite a few here for me to check out.
Neil F – Salomon looks good, thought I carried a lot of stuff about!

Thanks all… very helpful.

Are hydration bladders universal or do you need to match the bladder manufacturer with the pack?

Cheers guys – the Osprey was on my list after seeing one in Cycle Surgery. Will take a look at the Dakine too.

X-ray, 5 stitches & a tetnus jab.
Not exactly my idea of a great Friday night but could have been worse.

Bike inspection in the morning could be grim….

Thanks!
I’ll be mentally wondering what state the bike’s in.
Didn’t look pretty!