Have had very good service from Merlin (right back to 1997) and generally haven’t had an issue with Wiggle over the past few years.

However I ordered some go faster powders and gels and bits last week. Box arrived after 3 days all battered up with leaking gels and a broken seal on one of the tubs. – I’ve never encountered that before.

Had a very prompt reply to my initial email but things got a little tedious when it came to organise a pickup and replacement of the order. I needed to chase and badger and whilst I got the obligatory ‘sorry for the inconvenience’ replies they weren’t overly proactive plus I felt I’d been penalised for their initial crappy packing and Shitylink being their usual useless selves.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you find it’s probably 99% of people use less than 10% of the features.

Much like Photoshop. – A huge roaring beast of a program that I know I only use a fraction of.

Some cracking stuff here folks 8)

I’m just working on some 360’s from our recent Turkey holiday.

The links fire up Flash panos and I’ve tried to make the pics clickable. Apols if this doesn’t work; – different forums have different coding layouts.

Tloss Fortress

Saklikent river Gorge

Fethiye Paspatur market at night

In nearly 20 years of cycle commuting I’ve never had the luxury of a shower at work. – Strip washes have been sufficient in that time and no one has said otherwise. :wink:

I certainly wouldn’t want to walk 4 miles each way but on a bike that’s 20 mins at a gentle 12mph avg.

No brainer IMO

1st trip there in 09 was pretty darn dusty. Don’t fancy 12 hours of wet grinding paste so give me dry any day.

BTW I can’t remember if they post out race numbers and info? – If so I haven’t had anything yet

Chris had put a lot of effort in to his Scalextric track and whilst it’s not particularly realistic, it is fun to play with. I’ve always preferred railways but never had the money or space to do such things.

I chap I knew years ago had a complete garage of Fleischmann Z garage railway. It took up the whole garage and was multi level. I dread to think how much it cost him.

As above, I’d also hazard 8 X 4 isn’t going to give you a lot of working space.

On a connected note a chap asked me to do some snaps of the Scalextric circuit he’d put together for his boy. He didn’t use the conventional track but instead routed the grooves in the base board and custom wired them. Various static cars were also wired up with flashing lights and what have you.

Needless to say he put a lot of work in to this and my snaps are here.

How old is his boy? Two………….!

Bali Sep 2007

Lulworth Cove, Jul 08

Being a pair of luddites, we still take travellers cheques, mainly as a useful way to gauge how much we’re spending.

I gather these prepaid cards don’t have any protection (if you loose them) nor can they tell you how much you have left on them?

I’m also surprised Stumpy had to do Euro conversions in Turkey cos we were out there two weeks ago and we either did Sterling or Lira.

I get the impression that many Turks don’t want to join the single European currency.

Anyhoo, back to the OP. I’d get a load of lira cash beforehand plus take sterling (TC’s or cash). Travelex generally offer the best rates plus you can preorder and pick up when you actually travel. – Definitely DON’T change money at the airport on the day as you’ll get spanked

Have stayed over thanksgiving and usually pass through late Jan/Feb enroute for skiing.

So we know winter can be cold and/or snowy so dress appropriately. The Yanks don’t have boxing day but do like a celebration so there will be lots of things going on.

IIRC you need to get a bus from Logan to the airport T station (assuming that’s how you’re getting in to town) but they’re free.

Oh and try and get window seats on the flights as Logan is actually very close to downtown and you get a cracking view landing and taking off.

Finally, have you sorted your estas[/url] out?

Despite having flown into Boston twice this year we’ve not been in the city for a few years so I’m going to be a bit rusty. That said we have stayed there three times in the past.

Walk. There’s a Bostonian phrase, “shall we walk or have we got time to drive?”
DON’T do Cheers. – Tourist trap with grumpy staff.
If you like history and ships, visit the USS Constitution. If the weather’s good, you can then walk around Bunker Hill afterwards.
Not done them but baseball and hockey are very popular.
Take the T and mooch around Harvard.
The Hilltop Steakhouse[/url] is a famously massive eatery but Rte 1 is a horrible road and I’m not sure how much a cab would cost.
Salem has by American standards, a lot of history but it’s quite bleak in winter and very cheesy with the naff witch hunt stores etc.

for those old enough to remember the system

8O

One of my road bikes has a Dura Ace Octalink c set on it. The system isn’t that old though replacement BB’s aren’t cheap these days.

Oh and I concur with 109mm for a double C set.

My LOCAL LBS is Evans HQ :|. Know loads of people who work there so do use them for bits.

Unfortunately as far as spanner men/wheel builders are concerned, the only two I’ve regularly used are 45+ mins away in opposite directions. – Don’t use anyone closer

Arko is quality Turkish stuff. If you want a proper cut throat shave, get thee to Turkey.

Just got back from Fethiye where I was pleased to find that the old boy I’d not visited since 2005 hadn’t popped his clogs and was still doing the bestest ever shave.

£3.70 for a 50 minute shave? – fappin bargain 8)

I’ve flicked through this thread but cba to comment on the ‘discussion’ therein. :wink:

However as a Canon shooter, I’d defo recommend getting a Nikon D700 ASAP.

I nearly jumped ship a year back but the cost to change systems didn’t stack up for me. If you have Nik glass then that’s half the job done.

And as someone else said, life is too short to wait on ifs and maybes. If you’re not going to cripple yourself financially, get in there and enjoy taking (digital) pictures.

I held off going digi until 2005 but haven’t looked back since. In fact the sports stuff I shoot means film would be an impossible medium to work in.

A guy I knew years ago did the main L2B on a BMX. For an added twist, he made some extra long forks to turn the bike in to a long fork chopper.

And just to make things worse, he had to wrap a whole load of chain around the crown area to stop the thing wheelying. Think the bike came in at 40lbs or so.

ir_bandito
Pics from PMJ of our ill-fated Cairngorms ride a few years ago:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pimpmasterjazz/2410772343/

Hmm, I did a time trial in similar conditions on 6 Apr 08. Trouble was I was in full aero bling with disc wheel etc. The snow suddenly appeared out of nowhere and the triathlon going in the opposite direction had to be stopped.

Bah

I want to go skiing now.

Damn you all :lol:

3250 miles in 191 hours since 18 Feb, which is a massive improvement on last year when I did the princely sum of 1756 miles :oops:

Cheers for that.

We had -28′ C at Lake Louise one year and New England is known for being cold and icy.

Would like to go back to Mammoth sometime; – I imagine it might be like Whistler. Have also skied at Winter Park in Colorado. The base area is 9000ft up and that takes some getting use to!

I’ve just put some MudX’s on the ‘spare’ wheels. I doubt I’d bother changing tyres when packing the wheels is so much more convenient.

Graham

Sorry, I meant to say we’d been to Banff a few times so know the score re transport and the shopping. It was more after a comparison of the skiing at Whistler.

Kicking Horse used to be a Heli Skiing place and features a 10K ‘beginner’ run. We’ve not been for a few years and I see they have MTBing there now – http://www.kickinghorseresort.com/

We know New Hampshire well and go there on the basis of knowing where the deals are (tis much cheaper than Canada).

GrahamS

How does Whistler compare to Banff – Sunshine, Lake Louise, and if you’ve been there, Kicking Horse?

We’ve not been to Canada since 2007, mainly because it’s more expensive than doing the east coast of the USA.

Here are some of mine from Panoramio

Mt Washington in New Hampshire

And the same hill without ****tty filtering

Shawnee Peak over the border in Maine

(Another typically busy day on the slopes….)

Goat’s Eye Mtn at Sunshine, near Banff

And this 360 at Waterville Valley is a stitching trainwreck as I thought I’d be cocky/stupid and take my pano gear with me on the chair and try a moving one :roll:.

Great as Garmins are, their elevation and calorie calculations are generally bolx.

Dunno if the new 500 and 800 have improved things but I get 50+ ft variances in the elevation data on the same out and back route with my 705. Tis the lack of an accurate altimeter.

As for average speeds are we talking wheels turning times or elapsed time? – Big differences here.

When I’ve done point to point XC style rides on the South Downs I’ve generally averaged 10mph. Recent excursions round techie single track have been about 7mph. If I drop below 18mph on the road I get annoyed with myself….

BlobOnAStick
3) The interlocking on mechanical signal boxes leaves me gobsmacked

I shot a 360′ pano of the Horsted Keynes signal box on the Bluebell Railway in 07.

In the scheme of things it’s not a complicated track layout but I was like W(here)TF do you start?

It’s a lovely bit of engineering and here’s the pano

althepal

Easy, tis the Caspian Sea Monster.

Here’s a few of my pics of things mechanical;

Tiger 131

Lancia Stratos

Blackmoor Vale’s drive rod

And a bit of camera pron

Following the river Arun would be very flat but I can assure you that the Downs certainly aren’t. Amberley Mount is one of the steepest climbs on the South Downs Way.

I don’t know the area well enough to recommend specific routes but there is loads of riding round there. Possibly not if you want techie single track but there’s no shortage of XC paths.

I got a load of Makita stuff from Tool Chest direct[/url]. – Much better pricing than Screwfix, especially with the kits.

chiefgrooveguru

And still rode quicker than me up to the Upper Lodges on the way home on your first visit! Although when I led off down one long twisty run I did have time to do a bit of trail maintenance before everyone else caught up, so it all evens out in the end..

Good point Alex, and it also proves the B’tonMTB crew are happy to cater for all abilities 8) – Mind you, am I chancing my arm with the lycra….. :wink:

You might want to consider where you can safely leave a car unattended for the day (without paying parking).

I did a stint working in Guildford and hated the last 6 miles of the drive. Started parking at Smithbrook Kilns and riding the rest but quickly got shooed on from there and ended up parking in Alfold Crossways.

My point is you may have fun finding somewhere to leave the car.

Oh and I’d definitely avoid the drive across the A23 corridor to have a closer ride in. – That totally defeats the whole exercise.

Just as a slight aside, have a ponder on the comments about modern computing power versus the 60’s and 70’s.

Voyager 2, currently the fastest machine man has ever built, apparently has 68Kb of storage.

Key considerations are reliability, efficient code, power consumption and obviously strong enough kit to survive the rigours of space travel.

I cba to work out how much power a contemporary PC draws but it’s probably safe to say you wouldn’t want to design a battery/power system that would run one for 30 years! Plus how long do you think a modern PC would work if you strapped all the individual component parts to a car and drove it in all weathers? – 10 minutes?

Yes computing tech has come on hugely but a lot of (software) products are very bloated. – I’m fairly sure Microsoft don’t provide flight control software to the space agencies!!

5lab – Member

how long/fast are the thurs rides? I’m relatively slow at xc and my lights are pre-led so only run for a couple of hours :S

I’m a roadie who can’t do single track for toffee and have coped fine with hanging on to the guys these past two Thursdays. :D

I’m sure she’ll be happy with that choice of tripod :-).

What ball head did you go with?

Oh and ignore TuckerUK’s comment about Arca Swiss quick releases :wink:. – That’s a very slippery slope to go down, especially when you start accumulating L brackets and all the associated toyz. – Gawd knows I’ve spent quite enough on massively expensive bits of cast and machined aluminium :roll:

Morgs, did you go and price up the rest of the system, – levers, front mech, cabling, battery etc?

A complete groupset is north of £2300, which means this Felt B10 TT bike is a veritable bargain.

IMO Gorillapods are only good enough for small lightweight items like compact cameras and or (DSLR) flashes.

Tripods are an investment and if you scan round photo forums, you’ll find plenty of comments about buying once and buying right, i.e pay more money to start with to get something that will last, as opposed to go through 3 or 4 upgrades.

Depending upon her level of interest and commitment, I’d have a gander at something like the Manfrotto 055 legs and a (decent) ball head, which you should be able to get sorted for £150ish.

Warehouse Express are a good company to buy from.

I have an older set of 055 legs which I brought as my first ‘serious’ legs. My current ‘best’ tripod comprises these legs with one of these heads. – Neither of those are the most expensive items you can buy 8O

TJ

I may be mixing up phrases but I can tell you doing a back to back test of the HT with Hopes and the FS with XT’s, the HT basically doesn’t stop.

A quick spin along a flat road has the XT’s pretty much locking the wheels whereas the Hopes just gradually slow you down, and that’s with the lever pulled back under my armpit!

Cap’n M

I didn’t do the point lever down and repeat process so will give that a go. :-)

There’s defo no shortage of fluid in the system as I pretty much went through half a small bottle doing various refills.

They’re Tech X2s and I spent ages fettling with permutations of syringes, hose tapping, top ups etc. I’ll readily admit to having little knowledge on the subject but having done hose swaps etc with the 785s, I thought I’d get a noticeable result. I might try ruscle’s option and possibly some other pads.

I keep going back to the lure of shiny new Shim stuff though……..

Further to Slugwash’s beer pic, Middle Farm[/url], a couple of miles down the road on the A27, has a particularly fine selection of ciders 8).

There’s a PremierGrimm in Burgess Hill which is 4 miles north of Pycombe (which is approx 67 miles in).

Looking on the National Trail website here’s a list of accommodation that has cycle storage