I'm putting ID in helmet and riding shoes now.
Reminder to us all.

I emailed Ribble just now and will phone them later (Can't re-post to confirm Ribble reply until tonight as work block my webaccess to STW)

Email for Cunmbria police anyone – I couldn't see a reliable one on their website?

Good luck to the bloke.

In terms of performance – Depends how good a rider you are. Most wont see a difference.

In terms of look – its up to you.

In terms of fit/comfort – its up to how well the bike is fitted to you.

Downhil – I ride a 6 year old Orange 5 and love it. I ride with a bloke who has a 5 Spot and he swears it descends better – he is a good rider and probably right. It is very sturdy and those extra linkages must count for something

Uphill/Flat – The 5 Spot will typically be a couple of pounds heavier. So the

Cost wise – I guess an extra grand at least.

I like the "englishness" of the Orange Five and like the thought of keepinig some honest english craftsman/engineering company in business.

I’d best dash out and buy the last of the fives then eh! Those multilink oranges look wrong.

I could only see a few promises and marketing speak on that link.

kid will have a great time. Its as safe as it gets. He could do with having a mate to play with too (someone he knows he can depend on). Just bear in mind you may get tired and short tempered by the end of it if you are competing.

There’s a good relaxed atmosphere.

Watch out for the STW boys and the fireworks later, that’s all you have to worry about.

remember the earplugs.

That’s half price of new. What do you think!

I’ve bought the opera browser, so that sounds encouraging.
andytherocketeer – for interest- which keyboard did you get?

The bike is black Not sure silver forks will look right. Sorry. £700! that’s scary. Isn’t the maintenance a bit extreme on Fox Forks? That’s what mainly put me off when I replaced them recently. Is the extra performance worth it. Maybe not for me. Then again, would I be able to tell the difference between these bikes!

I’m just getting used to how good the revelations are.

Nice to see a bit of support for Orange.

My mate’s Stumpy I testrode was very well behaved at the back end was under braking with all those linkages on it. Speaking with people in the know, that seems to be the advantage of the Stumpy/Lapi.

Maybe i better book a test ride? See if I can love a Stumpy or a Lapi?

That did it cheers.

You were right the pistons needed to go right back.

Its a tough decision.

Jam bo – 10mm bolt through. Does that fit the standard 9mm swingarm? Who sells the bolt trough shafts? Is this the maxle thing? Thought that needed new swingarm. The crossmax wheels will need the caps drilling out – not sure how possible that is. Interesting performance upgrade. The revelation forks are only a few months old. The shock seems fine and i can tune it for whatever i’m riding.

Do you think the rear maxel option would be good then?

That’s great real experience advice, thanks. Do they take the big hits on the downhill (compared to the others?)

The unknown reliabliity is the thing that puts me off the Lapis. Not the components of course, more the suspension bushes. The headsets are a negative – we all prefer a nice Hope/King headset don’t we?

Stumpys are the Ford Focus of the bike world (what persona the others?). Do the job perfectly well. I’ll would put my crossmax XL wheels & XT Chainnset and maybe Hope Brakes on, so it will individualise it a bit. Its annoying as they don’t offer the uprated suspension (brain) with the alloy frames. I’m still very sceptical about carbon in the Lakes. They don’t do just frames (I’m medium).

I’m getting used to the idea I may have to have a WHITE bike! Never thought I’d say it. My stable of bikes is all black. Sign of the times eh!

why choose? both different. I love both.
South more bermy and open, North tighter and more in the trees.

Its unlikely that you’ll have time to just do just one side. Do both, decide for yourselves.

Is lowey’s comment a good example of a “snark” – new book out this week. Why don’t you like it marra? hateful is a bit strong.

What a dilemna!

Thats a book btw.

Get the £5 lance armstrong performance program – its awesome

Stoner, you are a star!
Tomthumb, Thanks – I used your method and managed to bodge the result, but stoner’s is exactly what I wanted – granted I didn’t put the question quite right.

STW does it again…. you would NOT believe what I am trying to calculate (for the Mrs’ early morning meeting)

Thanks to all

tomthumb, looks like you’ve understood. I looked at the trend value and I got an odd result, that looked like it was trying to guess the next value.

I’ve just tried googling. I’m not quite there yet… I’ll keep trying unless you have some more pointers.

Thanks to all.

AB – If you recommend a friend you get a £10 voucher – maybe that was it.

I’m off to buy the DeWalt, battery not ideal, but it looks fine. I believe DeWalt aren’t the premium product that they used to be, biut it sounds like it will be adequate.

Thanks for all your help.

AB – that looks good on paper! Have you been ok with big screws? Look

TheFunkyMonkey – I like the way they quote the torque. Wouldn’t it be great if they all did that! 100Nm that’s good. I’m wondering if I can justify the price over ABs suggestion. £38 to £130 is a big gap. Any thoughts?

Spare battery & torque settings would be good too. For £100 this looks nice. NICd batteries – I remember them when they were all the rage with bike lights!

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/73596/Power-Tools/Cordless-Drills/Dewalt-DC100KA-GB-18V-Cordless-Combi-Drill?ts=03827

Get to A&E, go when its quiet. Worst can happen you’ll get a cast for your interview, which if v important you can remove. I had a broken tibia for 2 weeks. Suffered on, like you, until i went to hospital. You may not suffer long term if you leave it. Then again. . . . .

FunkyMonkey, thats a bit more than I need, for more money. Thanks for reply.

no probs with hijak scaredypants ,but you are better off starting a new thread to increase you chances of a reply. I do 75 texts + 150 mins per month, so that would be 10p per text & at least 10p/min on payg. I’d maybe not use the phone so much if I had payg (say half). That would still be £12.25 + cost of 1GB of broadband (say £10). I think I’ll not be able to reduce usage below that.

C905 is what it must have been (sorry). It sounds good. I’ll have a look at its spec. Thanks.

The lady at orange must have got it wrong then. Are there any wifi sonys?

DickBarton, I have a wifi hub at home. Its very handy for a quick check on anything onthe web. I nick the wife’s N95 frquently for this.

vodaphone slightly, but not significantly better round here.

Thanks for posts, its looking like the sim only option is unbeatable.

DOn’t know where that smiley came from? didn’t put that in intentionally (hope to see the old preview function on the forum soon).

I’m into tmesis at the moment, mainly as it is an abso-chuffin-lutely new word I learned.

just looked wiggle do a 185mm!

weird how they do 180 & 183mm eh? why change?

Thanks for all your comments. Its always a pleasure to see comments from you all. I was expecting a little more agreement, no really I was after years on this forum. Not to worry.

I did understand the snow and Ice would be present.

I am quite prepared to take my chances in the most remote of areas in any weather.

I have lulled myself into a false sense of security with trail centres. I go there to have a day of fun under known conditions, rather than the unknown conditions the other 99% of the time. Not better or worse, just different. The one thing I (wrongly it now seems) is known conditions.

Nobody would have ridden round the black and red trails last weekend. The surprise to me was the amount of ice under the snow. I expected (wrongly) that the drainage would have dealt with the melt water.

Local knowledge would have known this. I think the website and local information on the rangers boards should have said that the trails were only passable with much walking. Falling off will occur on most descents (randomly) and that the 3 hour black route will take you at least 6 hours. Not good wording, but it would have been more accuracy.

I wouldn’t expect to sue if I fell off or the trail conditions weren’t accurate. I’m not going down that road. A lot of people will have much less experience than me and will have travelled greater distances to be disappointed.

I love trail centres, but a little more accuracy with the riding conditions is what I would like.

“Trails: all open except for Wallrides section in Freeride Park “

Oddly the young lads were having a great time on the big wall ride on Sunday

I know they said slippery and Icy later in the report… Unrideable would have been better ……grrrrrrrrrrr!

ski,
I’ve tried to reason with the guy. I’ve offered him a number of options to the value of £1000ish (the price to get the party wall surveors in). He took the mickey and wanted more (approx £3000) and he got all shirty (as did his ex-scholl teacher wife (they are both 65ish)), so I retracted all my offers eventually. Party Wall Surveyors are currently appointed and we’ll wait and see what happens. I’m told I have a really strong case, but I am not getting too excited. This bloke will make it his life’s work to gain out of this. He’s lived round here for 20 years, I’ve only lived here 6 – probably the root cause of the problem. The other neighbours dislike him and I don’t need him. My 9 year old summed it up well “I don’t think he likes being with people daddy”.

I took loads of photo and video today. Noticed his trees have started pushing over the boundary wall!!! and they have damaged one corner of old stone shed – thats something to mention to my party wall surveyor. He would have to pay for the repairs if I wasn’t going to do the building work and pull the lot down. That must reduce his claim. The tree leaning on the boundary wall may have to be dug up anyway.

I looked up Holly trees today at the local nursery and portugal laurel.They are £30-£50 each for upto 5 foot high. Its a long way from £1000.

Building Control coming over next week. The trees may have to go to make way from the build anyway and replanting trees near the border may not be an option.

Thanks for help, your coments appreciated.

Thanks Swamp_boy. Thats sound advice.
BS5837:2005 relates to depth of foundations if you are building close to trees doesn’t it. I’ll check how my contract covers me for the fact teh builders estimate covers the fact he may not have priced for the extra foundations. It was discussed, but I didn’t check the ultrafine print. SHoudl be ok.

I’ll get the camera out.

Whats a good price for a 6m high Holly Tree then? including installation.

Same question for a portugal laurel, 6m high, that is less likely to be killed, but he wants the money putting into an account before my work starts that the legal people will dip into if his trees die!!!

builder are ready to start in next few weeks, time not on my hands, too late to kill. Maybe an anonymous bit of tree surgery??? best not, he probably has a camera trained on the tree.