Had a couple of experiences of them.
I bought a 3yr old Discovery 3 from them. Bit nervous as I didn't even view it, but they were very honest in their description and it was delivered no problems. It was also the cheapest I could find – cheaper even than private sales through autotrader etc.

My Dad also bought a Vectra from them – had a bit of a rattle & turned out to need a complete new exhaust. He took it back within the return deadline (which is 7 days I think) and got his money back. No questions asked, but did take a couple of weeks or so to actually get the money.

Overall my experience is they're pretty good. If you're buying sometihng >3 years old, shop around for aftermarket warranties though – I bought mine from Quake but I think now I could have got it a lot cheaper.

anyone got a kids suspension fork that has the right spring? my eldest 20" hotrock fork is harder to compress than my medium Pike. Is this typical for a kids bike suspension? its not worth him having it.

We've got 2 20" Hotrocks in our house – my son's is the latest model and the forks are actually quite softly sprung (and adjustable I think). My daughter's is a couple of years older and a bit firmer, but you can still see the forks working when she rides it. I'd say you've got a duffer

It's not all moronic daytime DJs and "RnB pop"

No, that's exactly what it is.
XFM for me, any day

Look! A baby Robin

I switched to SPDs about 8 months ago and my biggest issue with them is clogging up with mud/snow and then not being able to get clipped in.

Unlikely to be a problem this week! But a big pain in the a*** in the winter

On reflection, don't think I've heard anyone else moan about this so maybe I'm doing something wrong!!

same here, quite significant movement even when fully locked.
I'd been wondering if this was 'normal'

Just got my daughter a Spesh Hot Rock – she's only 5 but can manage the 20" wheel version fine. Not got the hang of the gears yet, but my 7yr old son handles them, no bother.

Hi Ti29er, I'm is St Albans, so not a million miles away.
What sort of distances are you covering? I'm a bit slow/out of shape right now (but working on it!). Will drop you a PM.

Cheers.

I was looking at pretty much exactly the same decision 12 months ago (except 2009 models obviously)

Was swaying towards the Spesh, for no other reason than I'd had their bikes before and trusted the brand. However after reading a group test in MBR magazine I went for the Giant X5 as they rated it above the Spesh and several others (including a well-specced Boardman – can't remember the model).

12 months on, I'm more than happy with the Giant – done a lot of miles without any problems and I've never got around to making the upgrades I'd planned as I don't find it's particualrly limited in any respect (or maybe I just need to ride it a bit harder!)

Hi Omar,
if you're considering the FSR/Boardman I'd also recommend taking a look the Giant Trance X5.
MBR magazine did a group test of £1k full sussers last year sometime and the Giant was rated above both the FSR and Boardman (seem to remember frame geometry being a strong factor).

I saw 2 rats.

That's all.

+1 Gravy

You should checkout Autoquake (www.autoquake.com) – their website has loads of photos of each car plus a section showing any cosmetic faults.
I bought a car costing close to £20k without even viewing it – I was cr@pping myself before it arrived to be honest, but it was exactly as described.

They do offer a 7 day money back guarantee, which I know they will honour as my Dad bought a Vectra from them which turned out to have a problem. He took it back, money refunded, no issues.

I did a lot of research before I bought & the only cars I could find cheaper were private sales.

I was about to go with Talk Talk recently, until I discovered their router doesn't support VPN, not exactly sure what this is but I know it's needed for me to be able to work from home!

Don't know if that's important for you, but worth checking if you ever work at home.

b r: basically I own my current car but want to release the equity to fund an extension on my house. PCH seems a good way to run a new motor without a large up-front payment & sensible monthly cost.

Cheesybeenz: cheers, I'll check out Blackhorse

Cheers ADH – you got mail.

TooTall – cycle paths & pubs would probably fit the bill. Which pubs would you recommend?

Have look here:

http://www.sillygrin.co.uk/

Never ridden with these guys but they sound a friendly enough bunch from the website

Have to admit I've not checked prices recently, but I thought the Disco 3 'S' model (no SatNav or leather) was comparable to a D5 in SE trim.

Both good cars – reckon you'd be happy with either

Had a couple in the family over the past 5 years – avoid the petrol versions unless you like visiting petrol stations. A lot.

Best one to go for IMO is an auto D5 model with the 185bhp engine (up from 163bhp late 2005 onwards I think) – as well as a slightly more powerful engine it has a 6-speed auto box instead of 5sp.

I've now got a Discovery 3 – far superior to the Volvo in my view, especially the ride quality & similar money to the Volvo. It's bigger inside too = more room for bikes in the back!

Cheers.

Hi, I'm new here.

Just curious…. is this kind of thing normal around here???