Another one for a roadie, i just don’t have the time to get to cannock or anywhere else at the moment. Family stuff just taking over, at least with my roadie i can just hop on do an hour then back to reality.

The roadie in question is a Giant Rapid 4, the gutting thing is i have a brand new speshi sat in the bike cupboard just need a free day to get out.

Chris had a spot on tdf and he said that they have 10 other dealers in the UK for there professional bikes, they would sell or be able to get the whole range, an alternative to Halfords.

Sorry there elite range, he is a list of LBS.

Elite Series:

The Elite Series* of Boardman Bikes are available in the UK through selected IBD’s…

Stockists A-Z:

(be)spoke Derby, DE1 2SU:

bike-science.com

Bike Science, Bristol, BS1 2NN

Bike-science.com

Bspoke Cycles, Peebles, Scottish Borders, EH45 8BA:

Chevin Cycles, Ottley, West Yorks, LS21 1BR:

chevincycles.co.uk

Corridori Cycle Sport, Epsom, Surrey, KT17 3LB:

Corridori.co.uk

Dave Kane Cycles, Belfast, NI, BT4 3JF:

davekanecycles.com

Echelon Cycles, Pershore, Worcestershire, WR10 1EA:

Echelon-cycles.co.uk/boardman.html

Fred Williams Cycles, Wolverhampton, WV2 4AG:

fwcycles.co.uk/

Langdale Lightweights, Nottingham, NG3 6DH:

langdalelightweights.co.uk

The Bike Factory, Chester, Cheshire, CH3 5BH:

thebikefactory.co.uk

Tribeca Sport, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN4 0QB:

tribecasport.com

Triology, Darlington, Co Durham, DL5 6ZF:

tri-ology.co.uk

TriZone, Truro, Cornwall, TR1 2SF:

trizonestore.co.uk

Velosport, Putney, London, SW15 6TQ:

velosport.co.uk

They have a set price, amazon won’t let them retain cheaper. Best bet is find a friend with discount somewhere. I got mine for £81 with staff discount, we have the old ones in stock still and they still haven’t been discounted. Amazon take them back off us at some point.

Im 5ft5 ish, just brought a Camber in M, i tried the small but the reach was too short, but the standover was spot on. I went for the M that has near to no standover but the everything else on the bike fits perfectly and feels sweet when riding, what im trying to say its not always about the standover, shorter frames have shorter top tubes.

Oh and the Camber Expert is a great off the shelf bike, best ive ever had!

Why not just get a Camber?? some stores are doing the expert for £1,800 ordered mine from Lesuirelakesbikes last week for that price, still waiting delivery, any day now.

Nope ive just ordered a new bike and its only got 26″ wheels, i wanted a speshi camber so thought would wait until 2013 but next years models are 29er only, so i ordered a Camber Expert in the early sales, £1800 for a well equiped 26″ wheeled bike, while the basic 29er comes in at £2k? i know i got a better deal than most, plus being 5ft5 ish doubt even the smallest frame will give me any standover.

I did try a Gary Fisher superfly i think it was, great bike but no clearance if i had a crash would have to tell the oh no kids!!

Well all the braking bumps will be filled with water, be warned some are deeper than you may think!!

The Monkey, last 2 downhill bits tend to weather well with less bumps than the rest of the trail. They also flow very well when a bit damp, best part of the trail.

Im set on getting a Speshi Camber Expert 120mm travel full bouncer, just waiting to get one in the sales, £2k is a bit steep, last year they went down to £1.5 for the expert will pick one up hopefully!!

I had a quick go on a Fuel Ex7 17.5 and a Giant Trance x2 (M) and the Camber (M) the camber felt just right, especially when compared to my Orange P7 that i normally ride.

I had a road bike and sold it, hated the dropped bars etc… with the cash i picked up a Giant Rapid, great bike, road gearing, slightly relaxed geometry and flat bars with short bar ends, comfy and fast as a road bike as well.

Much prefer the flat bars to dropped.

I used to fly round on a 100mm travel full sus but after a scotland adventure i changed to my current bike, 100mm wasn’t quite enough. For most trails would agree though 100mm is normally just about right!

Ordered mine yesterday, well not quite a road bike but a hybrid, went for the Giant Rapid 3, last years model bargain!! just waiting for the despatched email!

I got some c-wire black iridium ones about 6 years ago, great pair of glasses managed to get a deal on an import site. They are in need of replacement but they have survived quite a few crashes, the lenses are stratched a bit now.

Don’t want to hijack but any recommended sites?? ive tried the main oakley one but couldn’t find anywhere to put in my prescription.

I always thought the lickeys where off limits, many a time chased by a ranger off the hills and warned not to come back, it was a few years ago!!

Just remember to pick up a new chain/cassette afterwards cannock grit kills bikes!!

I forgot to add we don’t get paid for the first 3 days ethier, only get from the 4th day, which makes it worse, its better to tke a week or 2 just to get paid, we get 4 weeks sick pay at the moment and it goes up with every year of service, yet can still have a disciplinary if your off for 4 days or more, see its linked, if we pay you for not being here, your going to get hammered when you return.

But one thing to check is that proceedure has been followed all the way through, i had to do a disciplinary last week for one of the bakers at work, going through his file, one piece of paperwork from a previous investigation was missing so he got off, all i could do was give him next steps.

Ours is 3% of time off over 6 months that equates to 4 days if your full time, starts with a review, and often its just next steps, ie what can you do to improve your absence etc..

If you don’t complete the next steps, or absence gets worse then it can escalate and i did send one ga once to a sacking through sickness and it was the can’t be bothered on a monday morning routine.

In the same boat work for tesco, and yep to get my full benefit i have to work until im 67, but saying that they have all changed so im not overfussed, ican still retire earlier and just not claim until im 67. Im thankful ive got a pension, mine doesn’t pay out much and i missed the final salary one by 2 months (that im annoyed about!!) but the tesco pension is one of the best in the country in the top 4 the paperwork sayes at work so just keep paying it, ive still got 33 years to go!!

xbox live hackers seem to enjoy fifa 12, a loop hole in some programming means they can hack your xbox account.

120mm?? is that classed as short travel these days??

Ive still got a Giant XTC EX which runs at 80mm travel i thought that was short travel, my P7 runs at 125mm i thought that was mid travel?

Was going to say mini disc, i stil have one somewhere and a few discs.

For me the biggest thing forced to retire would be Concorde, amazing plane, but the internet is quicker. :-(

Picked up the Tivo box back in october, nice bit of kit, does everything it should. Pay about £38 for BB which is 20mb and going to be doubled next month and a 500mb Tivo box, very happy with it. No sky sports though will get that in august.

Scoots are great for all!! I got one for a niece a couple of christmas’s ago, came ready built no box from evans in brum. I had great fun racing down the ramps in bullring and moor street train station, didn’t want to wrap it for christmas!

Plus there is a youtube video somewhere featuring scoots and downhill grassy slopes!

MOT cost me £35 last july, got a discount due to being a repeat customer, i always go back to the same garage. The service ive been quoted £200 can be cheaper if they don’t use authorised parts, but best to stick to the same bits. Seems to be the going rate, won’t have a courtesy car as the garage is round the corner from home.

Have always been with D&A, although boots own them now most of the staff are the same and the 4 local to me have just had a rebranding everything else is the same. Im funny with glasses i hate wearing them so have to have a nice pair that look right, don’t mind paying extra for a designer pair and all the extra”s on the lenses, anti scratch, transistion lenses etc.. worth paying for. I need a new pair soon, and luckily they have sent me a free eye test voucher.

I took mine to an apple store it was 4 months past the warranty, must admit at the time i didn’t know. Just booked a session with an apple expert. Once there they did the checks, for water damage and hooked it up to a mac, confirmed it was broke. The guy then popped out the back tp check with his manager and did me a swap there and then, no charge completely free, only snag was it would only have 3 months warranty and they wouldn’t be able to help out again with this phone. Mine had the same issue, and it was back in the 3gs days.

Top Gear Usa – lol just kidding!

Sherlock and the Barrier Reef documentary both great tele.

Mine lasted 6 years, not bad for £10 from work! it was a faulty return, i paid the boss £10 to take it off his hands, home serviced it and job done. Died just before christmas, but tbh did its job.

Sherlock was true to form and great tele, the woman in it, damn fine!!

Even the mrs said she has a great grabbable bum!

Gave up drinking 4 years ago, so a dry one for me. Hoping to get some motivation to go biking tomorrow!

Forgot to add i gave up due to change in work, and decided i had had enough of bad heads on a sunday morning, and less cash in the bank account. I don’t miss it at all.

Mines a 17″, saving some funds for a smaller cotic soul, then possibly will sell the P7 frame. Or keep hold of it until the summer and get a new full bouncer to replace the trek i sold 12 months ago.

I found mine a little big tbh, started at 100mm travel the bike was fine, cranked the forks up to 125mm and the bike feels a little big, 140mm bike too big, wish i had gone for a smaller one.

Will disagree with one of the above statements that Tesco don’t allow butchers on there sites, big retail parks etc..

Inner city Birmingham stores, Hodge Hill, Aston Lane and Springhill, all built in the last 5 years have a separate company runnning the butchers counter, unfortantley they are ran by the National Halal guys, but they have a great reputation and are taking over meat counters across the country in both Tesco and Asda, not your local butchers and no pork, and there methods may disagree with our western ethics but they are successful for all types of customers.

I quite enjoyed the Indian special, yep the garden party was a bit daft and tbh didn’t fit in with the rest of the program, but the rest of it was inline with a BBC documentary 2 other reporters? actors? did back in september. They did a jouney across India one in an old clapped out car, and the other in a brand new car showing the commumities the land theft by the govt, the way the country was growing at the time i thought this would make a good topgear special look at there road behaviours. The one lorry going the wrong way up a dual carriage way, scary stuff when driving.

Yep i run both mine and my OH’s iphone off my laptop, only problem is she gets all my apps for free after ive paid for them. She never buys any apps!

Im sure many more in the same situation or worse, the hardest thing is actually having the balls to contact the banks and cccs or national debtline and admitting there is a problem before it gets totally out of control. There are plenty of forums for advice if you google for it.

Don’t forget Tesco own One-Stop as well, and Mills Newsagents most people have one of those if not 2 or 3 nearby.

TBH looking at news feeds the top 3 for the crunch next year if not sooner are:

HMV – Game – Comet

All 3 have heavy losses and have made poor business decisions and have not moved with the times, although HMV Online has made some profit, HMV or whatever the top company is called for them is considering selling off the Online business as its the most profitable of the company.

Game went under before between the after the original PS and N64 era died and we have a lull between consoles this killed Game off in the UK, current age of digital download will eventually see these 2 dinosaurs off the highstreet.

As for the british being lazy, i don’t think its that its more we want to spend time with family and friends, i work in retail and its not easy, we have to work to high targets and put in 12 hrs a day but only paid for 7.5, i know time management and all that, but its tough it really is, we have waste targets, availability, sales etc, try doing that in an ethnic built up area and we have a supermarket in the middle, i can’t remember the last time work was as tough as it is now.

I do think we are open too much, the store i work in only shuts for 18hrs a week the rest of the week its open, thats only due to sunday trading law. Its crap and thats the only word for it, someone should have the balls to go actually we are going to shut all shops over 3,000 sq ft on a sunday, give these sunday workers time at home.

£3k you say hhhmmm new bike, where did i put that number lol!

Joking, honestly but i can see why it would appeal to certain people in this world!

TBH all i want is my car fixed back on the road, and job done, no harm no foul as it where.

We had one at work where the woman had put on foot on the accelerator instead of the brakes, went straight through the parking bay, into the car opposite, into the car going past and wedged the car into the support beam of the store.

When she got out the car she had no idea what she had done wrong.

Well my car has gone, still no news on the courtesy car, might have to get the bus to work tomorrow and a mile walk.