Back on topic – avoiding the politics.

My family have Insurance (as ex pats). Free for employees but we pay for our children to be covered. Approx $1,000pa, per child. If we came back to the UK, we would, without a doubt, go private.

When our eldest (now almost 3) was born, we found out he had a congenital heart disease. Unfortunately, neither maternity nor congenital ‘problems’ were covered by our insurance. After much deliberation, research and sleepless nights, we decided to stay abroad (in The Philippines) and pay for the surgery out of our own pockets rather than play the health lottery back in the UK. The statistics re. op complications, mortality rates, super-bug infections etc meant we’d have sold our kidneys rather than come home. Our research included first hand experiences of people in a support group whose children had the same issues as our boy. One of those in the group sold their house to pay for private health care in the UK.

The care we received privately couldn’t have been better. Even small things like the pediatric cardiologist gave us his mobile number and once answered his phone at 3am when we were worrying ourselves and wanted to talk to him.

Our son needed the op at pretty short notice (1 week) and we needed to get a 50% deposit ($15,000) within 36 hours. The surgeon, who we’d got to know well, offered to lend us the cash – a personal loan.

Having seen the hell my wife’s family went through when he father was diagnosed with late stage cancer (he died very shortly after the diagnosis from MRSI), I can’t help but think that the NHS is a gamble and my family’s health isn’t something I’d gamble with.

I have nothing to add but please video it!

ISUZU D-Max, Hi-Lander.

A massive 4 door pick up with a full canopy. Bikes slide in the back. I slide in the front and grin like a loon every time I put my foot down (3.0Tdi with a modified turbo).

I can’t think of a better mtb’ers ‘car’. I can literally hose the mud out of the boot, sit on the tail gate to change, spanner, rest. Never worried about getting stuck in muddy car parks and mpg doesn’t change if I’ve got a truck full of men and bikes or if it’s a single driver.

Someone should tell him to sign up to this forum, I feel he’d enjoy himself.

This ;)

I enjoyed the read, even if I didn’t completely grasp a lot of the more technical aspects.

As a young (23) bar manager I left. If I’d been older, I’d have had a constructive dismissal case (I suspect) against the area manager. The AM was a bully, made no secret of his personal dislike of me, passed the buck for his failings and took credit for my achievements.

As it was, I knew I was leaving and going back to Uni. I’d saved well whilst working so could afford a couple of months off over the summer.

One particularly busy night (about 1am on a bank holiday Saturday, just received my annual bonus) he was in the venue, making my life difficult.

When he told me he was off on two weeks holiday 6 hours later. I wrote my resignation ‘letter’ on a post-it, passed it to him, called him a **** (rhymes with cassive munt) got into a taxi and disappeared.

He called the following morning with apologies, explanations for his tw**ishness etc. It gave me enormous pleasure to see him working for the next few weeks.

Would I now with mortgages, school fees, children etc? No chance. I’d need a plan B, C and D before I considered it and even then, would suck it up and not burn bridges.

The Soul has Soul. The 909 felt harsh to me.

I’ve never owned either but ridden both for 2-3 hour ‘borrowed from a friend’ rides.

You can’t really go wrong with those 2.

I reckon you say, “1…2…3… X!” Whichever one you say after 3… is the one you go for.

I run an Inbred with For 130RL forks. Best of both worlds.

Hooli wins! Although I did get a Burger King on the way home so obviously not too mad!

Not broken. Torn ligaments. Bloody sore and swollen but glad it’s not fractured. The Dr said I should be on the bike in a month. Could be worse.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/broken-arm-1?replies=1#post-6419096

:(

I guess that was a FS in the Alps Northwind.

puzzles me how people tell the difference. I’ve had a number of alloy bars, chrome/steel even long ago, and run carbon Havocs now and had carbon Haven also. Never noticed any difference in flex or rigidity.

this for me too.

Is it a difference in backsweep, rise or width* that’s made a difference? Sweep in particular.

*pure, uneducated guessing!

Thanks all.

I’m an expat and am having family bring the bits over at Christmas. I can’t really ‘wait and see’ as I only get one chance to buy my components.

I’m trying to stick to a £100 budget. Money’s tight and I bought a new frame and forks over the summer.

I can make the budget with the clutchless mech.

chain £14
Blackspire NW ring £30 (there are cheaper but this one doesn’t need single ring chain bolts)
SLX M670 shifter £25

Already spent £30 on shadow XT mech and cassette.

It doesn’t seem to be a bad budget fork. Certainly an improvement over the XCM forks.

When you say ‘save for a better bike’, what do you mean? The Mantra is at the cheaper end of the market but is, in my opinion, a mountain bike, as opposed to a bike you’ll regret buying the second you try to go off road. I guess my question is, how much are you planning to spend in the future and how long will it take you to save? Spending the £130 will obviously eat into the future budget.

Thing like upgrading to 10 speed (better shifting from SLX groupset) a lighter wheelset / tires and better forks will all make a big difference.

I don’t know how long you’ve been mountain biking and how hard the bug’s bitten. Depending on this, maybe stick with what you have and get saving…

Be interested to see how it goes paladin.

cp. So is 10 speed shadow without a clutch?

tmb. I’m too tight to buy Saint! They have XTR too!

Cheers

You mean when stationary in a trails-esque way or still slowly rolling?

If stationary, with brakes on, push down > back > up on the pedals (a circular motion) whilst pushing your weight forwards. forwards. More than you think. Arms pretty straight to get your centre of gravity highish. More leverage for pulling the bike’s rear up. You can always just release the front brake if you feel you’re going over the bars.

For lifting the front, brakes on, weight back. BACK. More than you think (see the pattern here – exaggerated movements). Pull back on the bars. Depending on your strength and the bike, you may get the front up. You may need a squirt of power through the pedals i.e. a lot of pressure on the forward pedal > brake off > brake on.

I always find this stuff easier to do on a rigid bike. You can always use the rebound on a suspension to help in by compressing and then pulling up as the shock extends.

Can you bunny hop? Learn from the master. Adding rotation isn’t that hard. Coil your body the opposite way to the way you want to rotate and then, as the wheels un-weight, uncoil.

For less trailsy, practice rocking (stationary), rock more and more until either wheel lifts. Rock more and more until it lifts for a longer period. Then use the body coil effect to move the wheel. I always find the back will rotate more slowly doing this. The front is faster as it’s more of a brute-force type move.

For endos, rolling very slowly, steer slightly in the opposite direction to the way you want to turn and coil away from it too. As you hit the brake, turn sharply into the turn and uncoil.

All of this is very hard to explain. As always, the best way is to watch other people. Youtube is full of amazing trials riders.

Also, practice somewhere soft and use flat pedals.

FWIW, I’m not particularly good at trials riding. Entered a couple of comps when I was younger and sucked. I only do it now for car park kudos. In what world doesn’t a 180 endo look cool? The ladies love it ;)

edit: do I need bar mount shifters? Are there others I can use?

I have BR M785 (XT) brakes. Is this enough info for you gurus to tell me if I have I spec A, B, whateverthehelltheyrecalled*?

God all these specifications make my brain hurt.

Another bit of advice for playing around with the angle of the Ergon grips.

My wife loves hers now they’re set up properly. Before that though, they made the pins and needles worse.

It could have been 2nd. That would be 3 working days though.

I live in Thailand so can’t easily contact cust. services (it was posted to my English address though).

Sounds like time to ask the seller to contact them.

Thanks

Selle Italia Flite. Ti railed.

Sadly just started to tear at the back after 10 short years and god knows how many thousands of miles!

Waterproof socks / gloves

bling jockey wheels

Introvert(11%) Sensing(1%) Feeling(25%) Judging(1%)
You have slight preference of Introversion over Extraversion (11%)
You have marginal or no preference of Sensing over Intuition (1%)
You have moderate preference of Feeling over Thinking (25%)
You have marginal or no preference of Judging over Perceiving (1%)

Does that mean I’m boring or well balanced?

done

Thanks everyone.

Looks like superstar are the way to go.

I made something similar but with a lot of vinegar. It’s a tabasco-type sauce.

Surely, the bubbling means it’s ‘working’ (fermenting) and won’t do your stomach any good.

I keep mine in a water bottle in the fridge.

Things that can naturally stop food going off are;

acid / alkaline (pickling)

sugar (jams)

salt (cod, ham etc)

keeping the air out with oil or in a sealed tin (olives)

Maybe doing it after the pub, before bed!

“This survey is temporarily closed. Please try again later”

Are you editing it now?

Although I’m by no means experienced, I’d suggest a Canon 500D.

It’s more camera than most people need, by which I mean it has a large sensor for high quality photos. Good low-light capabilities and enough manual settings to keep most people fiddling / experimenting / improving for a long time.

I bought mine in a kit with 18-55mm and 75-300mm lenses. Honestly, I’ve barely used the 75-300mm. I added a fixed 50mm lens to my collection and can’t see myself needing or wanting more.

IMO, Sony cameras are over priced and too proprietary with their attachments.

The choice should be between Canon and Nikon. Similarly priced Nikons do feel less plasticy but, after 4 years, my well used Canon is still in excellent condition. The user-interface is the main difference and I prefer Canon’s. Ergonomics are important too. If variuos buttons arent in a natural place for your wife to press them, she won’t use them and will waste features of the camera. This is a present she should chose, not one you surprise her with.

Don’t forget to factor into the cost, UV filters (they make minimal difference to the image quality but protect the lens), an SD card (fast and largish capacity) and a bag/rucksack.

I got my camera for Christmas when MCPH Jr was on the way; it was a great investment.

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/ is a great forum very helpful and friendly advice.

I’m slowly getting a 1×10 set up (going from X0 3×9).

I don’t have everything yet but do have the XT mech. It feels nicely made. I think you can tell it’s not top of the range. The carbon cage on the X0 looks lovely. Overall though, as far as the look goes, I’m happy.

Yes, you’ll need a long cage. You’ll need it too if you go for a range expander (40t cog) at the rear.

I have old XTR rapid fire (8+ years) on my Inbred and the shifting’s as slick as the X0. I can;t imagine the newer stuff will be worse!

ThiS one?

In true STW STYLE, My 5′ 4″ wife Loves her small (14″?) Inbred.

Could spec one nicely for £1k. Light wheel set, Rebas or similar air forks.

My wife’s has HOPE / XC717s, carbon post and bars, 2×9, Floats. Perfect for her.

Honestly, I don’t mind it. I’m not sure I prefer it to dry trails, but it’s its own kind of fun!

Thanks everyone

So, which of you is correct ;)

In case anyone was wondering or in the same position.

I removed the tightening bolt from the cranks. Use a BB wrench to undo the BB, pushing the crank out a little. Retightend the BB and put some coins between the BB and crank arm for spacing. Undid the BB again and the crankset popped out. BB bearings are fine.

Easy peasy (but have the proper removal cap on order now).

I’m currently searching.

Trying to decide between a 1×10 with narrow wide and secret granny (a granny you shift to by hand for long ups) and a 2×10.

It’s a pity that CRC have stopped doing their 1×10 bundles. It seems others (Wiggle etc) are out of stock too.

From my reading and research:

XT and up for the cassette so you can remove a ring when / if adding a T Rex.

Zee and Saint mechs aren’t brilliant for a 40t ring at the back. Some say they work, some have problems. SLX, XT, XTR for the rear mech. I went for XT.

A chain – pay your money and make your choice. They all seem much of a muchness. Cassette and chain bundles can save you a few pounds.

I like the look of Saint shifters but money’s tight. Zee get mixed reviews. I’m keeping an eye out on the classifieds but if I buy new, SLX or XT.

If I go 1×10, I think a Raceface narrow wide. They seem to keep their anodising better than others.

I had a year working while away at uni and kept living with my uni friends.

It was a 6 bedroom Victorian terrace; a big house. It cost me a fortune paying the council tax as the only professional. My choice though.

And also, clicky freehubs are brilliant.

Thanks howsyourdad. Think I’ll go for a SLX med cage too. Just going to see what a wanted ad brings up before I decide on a t rex, a secret granny or a 2×10.