I’ve never been really ill, but living in the Philippines with my son when he was born with congenital heart disease, I’d have to say abroad.

We were given the paediatric heart doctors mobile number in case of emergencies, the heart surgeon’s number after the op and paediatricians give out their number as a matter of course in case you have any questions.

The hospital was spotless. Food was delicious and service was amazing.

Having said that, it cost $30,000 for his surgery.

The NHS is wonderful but not the best.

The one I’m looking at is an alloy one. It’s 18.5″ (17.5″ actual) and the guy’s wife was my size.

Thanks

Frosty – just checked. It’s a 65mm.

GHill – Eat how quickly? I know that’s a ‘how long is a piece of string’ question. I live in Thailand so guess bringing some spares could be a good idea. Are they expensive to buy? Are they readily available? Do you need specialist equipment / skills to fit them? This’ll be my first full sus in almost a decade.

Mine’ll be a slightly “tougher” build, I guess as that’s the parts I have. The drive train’s pretty light weight but the brakes and wheels aren’t going to be on an XC racer’s bike.

Thanks

Another vote for M088.

I’m a big fan of Shim SPD shoes. Comfy, reasonably stiff for riding and last a very long time.

I frequently wear mine at school all day having ridden to work.

Congratulations to both of you.

Enjoy every minute. It’ll be gone in the blink of an eye.

^^ Don’t feed the troll ^^

Oh, and their not there/.

Thanks all.

Congrats mojo. The worry doesn’t end when they’re born though. You suddenly see the world as the most dangerous place imaginable.

iolo – I know. A close friend’s Mum was a respite carer for children with downs (and she adopted two, too). In my original post, someone said, “the worries and stresses are in our minds, not theirs”. Very true, I think.

Great advice chewkw

Thanks for the link JoeG.

Great news!

Thanks everyone.

that’s what we’ve been told theotherjonv! Got our hands full with a 2 year old already. God knows how you manage 2!

^^What goeffj said^^

It’s a nightmare in an underground carpark. On twisty roads, the steering wheel to wheel moving ratio (I’ve no idea what the proper word is) means you do a lot of turning.

However, on A roads, motorways and dual carriageways, it’s the most relaxing car I’ve ever driven. Massive torque means it pulls solidly up hills and when accelerating. Big volume tires are great at swallowing up bumps and the seats are as comfy / adjustable as any other car I’ve owned.

Over Easter we did 2,000 miles in 10 days and didn’t have a complaint with the truck.

I have a twin cab ISUZU Hi-Lander.

I get 24mpg on shorter trips and 28mpg on the bigger roads.

These pick ups are designed to be used for all kinds of hard work for a long time. I wouldn’t be stuck up about higher milage trucks. Mine has done 100k (km) and handles like new. It’s the 3.0L TDI. The new ones come with a 125k mile warranty.

We have a Carryboy on ours. I can see the insecurity in having an open bed but there are electronic hard covers too. I don’t think they’re too expensive. Having said that, the carry boy bridges the gap and makes it into a great family ‘car’ as well as awesome bike transporter and load lugger / tower (max 3.5 tonnes!).

aren’t you worried that it’s plateaued jekkyl?

From the youtube comment.

Brumotti, a former bike trial World Champion and a 10-times Guinness World Record Holder, met with Martyn Ashton in the GCN offices recently and showed us a new film that he’d been working on in tribute to Martyn. We instantly agreed that we should make a special edit for GCN’s fans, so here is the latest 100% Brumotti video, Road Bike Trials.

A copycat, yes, but not in a bad way!

ChrisL

It was a spectacular bike, well ahead of its time though. My only ever full sus.

Thanks for the replies.

Do yellow and blue tints make a difference? Over here (Thailand), it’s either sunglasses or, as this evening, swimming goggles would have been appropriate.

For a fiver-ish, those Bolle look great.

Park Tools citrus degreaser. I know it works as the chain’ll get surface rust in an hour if it isn’t re-greased.

I have an old washing up bowl, a dish washing brush and those pliers for SRAM’s qiuck links. Makes it a 10 minute job.

IF then

(i) according to STW, Inbred

(ii) according to my wishlist Ibis Mojo

(iii) according to aesthetics, Cotic Soul

(iv) according to a sensible pro / con list, Santa Cruz Chameleon

A special mention to recent Gary Fisher who, besides Brant (IMO), seemed to influence bike design for the better. Slack geom for longer forks whilst keeping a reasonable ‘stretch’ with top tube length.

*edit – having seen zoo’s post below, a Zaskar is a bike I’d by tomorrow, if I had the cash. I haven’t ridden one, but it was my poster-bike growing up… does it come with Hans Rey and a Mint Sauce comic strip?

“Hello”

Simple. Effective. A bit like me!

No problem. Qatar are fine. No better or worse than Emirates etc.

I don’t pay for the flights (the company does). Actually, I presented them with the bill for the excess baggage too :)

On a computer forum I use, if you’re selling then most people have a piece of paper with their username and the date on it.

I guess PC components have fewer identifying features than a ‘custom’ bike so it’s more necessary. Still a good idea, I think.

why do I feel the need to reply to these posts?

Anyway,

out of 9 ish ‘proper’ MTBs I’ve owned, only one has been a FS. A Spesh Enduro. A very posh bike.

The reason I went back to hard tails is that speed / excitement are relative. Using a car analogy, go-karts at 30mph feel very fast. Short wheelbase, sharp handling, lack of fancy suspension and your arse 1″ off the ground. A Mini at 50 on B roads feels bloomin’ fast too, for similar reasons. A Ferrari, Lambo. et al at 90mph on the motorway would, I assume, get boring.

Battering (and that certainly describes my style of riding) my way through roots, mud, rocks etc on a hard tail is more challenging, more difficult and more fun. At a slower speed than I could on a full on DH bike, I’m riding on the edge (my edge, not the bike’s) and I love every minute of it.

It’s closer to what got me into riding in the first place decades ago with terrible geometry, awful suspension (once it arrived), bad brakes, shifting, tires… each ride was an adventure. My favourite ever ride was a night ride with lights that would barely be good enough for a commute by today’s standards. We had to drag our bikes for 1/3 of the ride as the gears were mudded-solid but it was fantastic! Even limping home where the v brakes had worn the braking surface so badly, the sidewall of the rim popped off was exciting.

Easier ? better

Quatar give you 30kg and then (IIRC) 20kg for a bike.

That was from London to Thaiand. We checked in with 145kg. 90kg allowance for three adult tickets, 20kg per bike (two of them) and paid the rest.

Thanks for the replies. They do help.

I keep thinking that, sbob. I know it’s true – everything else is insignificant.

I guess that by the time we get the call with the results, we’ll a) have had time to come to terms with it b) enjoy the massive relief.

pulled pork

lasagne

stew (as above but I coat the cubes of beef in cornflour)

My wife’s slowly, and deliciously, working her way through most of https://www.facebook.com/slowcookerrecipes

whatever you’re doing, 3rd party insurance is cheap and well worth it.

I raced dingy when I was younger and, back then, £2,500,000 was compulsory (mid 90s). I suspect it’s much higher now but still not much cash.

I’d highly recommend a RYA powerboating course. Even if it’s just a refresher.

Wonderful news.

Such a relief for you all.

Like you, I had a few years off proper mtb’ing (’08 – ’13) and couldn’t believe the differences.

(1) Some have crept in like wider bars and shorter stems. Gearing too; I remember duos (dual ring) cranks and 9 speed at the rear. 1×10 / 1×11 seems like a natural progression.

(2) Some solve legitimate problems such as clutch mechs for people running 1x gearing and dropper posts for not stopping at the tops of descents. Loosening cranks on square taper arms and the subsequent replacing the rounded cranks was the majority of my riding budget way back when.

(3) Some are incremental improvements on what we have. Comparing my elstomer sprung Judy XCs to modern forks makes you wonder why we bothered. Same goes for brakes, shifting, geometry. Well, most aspects of ‘modern’ kit.

(4) Some, like 650B wheels and tapered headsets seem, to my mind, like marketing hype.

However, if #4 gives companies the funds and interest in developing #1 – #3, I don’t care. I worry a little that higher end tires might be hard to come by in 26″ in a few years. Other than that, just get on with it!

;)

That’s lovely DONK.

Surely lovely enough to take to market.

I think I’ll go for the XCX. I’m looking to spend as little as possible. Going from 9 speed would need mech, shifter, cassette, NW ring and chain. Then, if I still dropped chains, I’d need a guide too.

A clutch mech, NW ring and guide are a bit much for me. I’m getting the Chameleon, not because of my gnar credentials, but because my old-man’s back can’t be doing with a stretched XC frame.

Thanks for the replies.

Thanks for the replies.

How about the blackspire stinger? Is it cheap for a reason too? It gets much better reviews online?

Do you mean the E-13 XCX weeksy?

I hope all of this sorts itself out funkmaster.

I’ll never forget when my son, at 10 days old, was diagnosed with CHD and severe reflux. He was due to have open heart surgery at approx. 1 year old but his heart began to fail when he was five month old. It was a long 5 months, dropper-feeding him, watching him throw up 75% of his already tiny milk intake and struggling to gain any weight and miss his milestones.

Both my wife and I would have good times and bad times. One feeling positive and supporting the other and then the roles reversing. Other things that helped were having time to ourselves. An occasional poker night for me, manicures etc for the wife.

Our son, now 2, is thriving and besides the big scar on his chest, has no long term issues.

We got through it together and as other people have suggested, now look back on it as a shitty time but one that makes us appreciate what we do have. I hope you can say the same, sooner rather than later.

It’s not really one for the masses to answer. Only you know what you want, and how your wife (and her mum) will act if you say you don’t want her mother there.

We live in S.E Asia and have had my parents and my wife’s mother come over. Usually for about 4 weeks at a time. Although they’re all easy and lovely, after 3 weeks, you do long for a little space – that’s what bike rides are for though!

1. All Muslims are murdering extremists?
2. Why all women are completely and utterly irrational?
3. Why are all gay men so promiscuous?
4. Why are all vegans so utterly as dull as the rich…

Not all gay men are promiscuous.

I’ll throw in a tenner.

My parents are 63 and doing LeJoG this year.

Until they retired 6 years ago, they commuted 10 miles a day.

They got bored last weekend so got the train from Exeter to Bristol and then cycled home.

I hope I’ll be as fit as them when I’m older.

I hit post too soon there (blimmin’ iPad).

Effects from head injuries can present days after the event. You probably don’t have anything to worry about but, on the other hand, do you want to risk it?

My brother had similar symptoms and a similar timeline after a bang playing rugby. He had a headache immediately afterwards. 36 hours later he said he felt ‘like he’d had a couple of pints’.

The Dr sent him for a scan immediately where he was given the all clear. The Dr did say though that it’s one of those situations where she’d rather see 1,000’s of people who are fine than miss the one guy who ‘toughs it out’.

Go today!

Go the the Dr. NOW!

Having googled what a live rear axle is, I’ll go out in the morning and check (it’s 1930 here now).

All 4 tyres looked good when we got the truck in August. The front don’t have any signs of wear. The truck spends 90% of its life in RWD.

The rear wear is even across the whole width of the tyre but, again, I’ll have to see if the raggedy edge issue is across the width when it’s light.

Thanks for the replies.

I’ll post back with photographs / more info.

p.s. the tyres / tires was auto correct on my phone ;)

Two things for me.

No. 1

MCPH Jr’s 2nd. Due October 10th.

No. 2

MCPH Jr birthday present. Made from old pallets in a Jeremy Clarkson ‘how hard can it be’ style.

Hmm, my airline doesn’t mention this and suspect they rarely deal with such cicumstances. Is there any actual reason to take air out of forks?

I flew with Emirates whose website says

Before bicycles can be accepted they must be packed as follows:

Tyres must be deflated
Pedals must be removed
Handle bars must be fixed parallel to the frame
If the bicycles length exceeds 140cm (55in), the front wheel should be removed and fixed beside the rear wheel, inside the bike box

and the check in person did ask.

2 adults were flying with 160kg of luggage so they did ask more questions than normal!