agree completely with Martin….

came down the outside of me into a 100+ corner.

On a public road…FFS!!!
Sorry if I sound a bit Victor Meldrew here but I reckon that goes beyond what could be described as "cheeky".
Plain stupid more like.

yes agreed – young & stupid. I was trying to describe the philosphy of how we agreed to settle the claim as mates rather than anything else. Perhaps I should try & claim I was talking in kph…. :oops:

If you're mates talk about it!! How much financial value do you think it it is finally worth in comparison to your mates premiums? (you mentioned there was only minimal bike damage)

Minor damage to my bike, bit of the exhaust shroud snapped off, it was my missus thigh and knee that took the majority of the impact

You have a top lady there – willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of a motorbike..
Humour aside – sorry to hear this. I was riding with some mates at rather cheeky speeds and one of them came down the outside of me into a 100+ corner. I couldn't see him and he had to brake hard sitting the bike up and went off the road destroying his Kawasaki. I felt like sh*t about it as I had caused him to go off even though we were all riding in a manner that could be described as 'excessive'. Finally we let the steam cool down & we discussed the issue as mates to find the best solution. ie insurance claims versus premiums & no claims bonus and to be fair to him he took the hit.
You're mates after all – you both know how quick you were riding and if the results would have been any different if you were riding in the opposite order (him first) – talk to each other…

Thanks for the tip – seems quite clear on the pdf.
The price is indeed quite good from them too.

Was going to get from Germany (as I don't live in the UK)

Thanks Geoff. I hope they come with U bolts….
(going to buy online as the prices are hugely cheaper so no way to check in advance)

That sounds not sooooo odd apart from the mayonnaise….

I'm thinking of doing the race on August 2nd(?).
Never raced (or ridden really) in the UK let alone at Cannock Chase before so not really sure what to expect.
What sort of speed is appropriate per class?

I'm 36 so looking between open / sport / masters. I guess the masters are pretty serious? I ride quite a bit & I'm certainly not slow but how the hell to know what is appropriate :?

and how did the kebab flavour pot noodle taste?
As an expat I can say that I only export 2 'foodstuffs' from the UK:
1) Pot Noodle. (Chicken & Mushroom)
2) Super Noodles. (Chicken)

I know it's wrong but I just find them both tasty as hell… :oops:

be careful with these types of hotels.
They are recognised as being the thieves favourite. :(
My lady & her mates were victims of this….
Of course these hotels are frequently used by tourists for overnight stops where they are likely unable to remove all valuables from the car.
Some of them have secure parking but might be hard to spot which when booking online.

p6000s are terrible tyres specced as oem by a collection of manufactuers who should know better

Tyre manufacturers OE supply is only inline with what the OE has specified. Do not confuse the tyre that comes on the car with all tyres of the same size / brand / pattern!!

If you want a sport to ruin your knees, it's motocross!

Enduro is possibly even worse because you can't possibly remember the entire course detail and get 'surprised' every so often :-)

Why a 250 thumper the way? The 400 / 450's are not much heavier and will hopefully been thrashed a little less. There is only 1 way to ride a 250 thumper fast and that is without mechanical sympathy.
Yamaha WR426/450 is a great bike & pretty common.

in terms of MTB without pedalling, don't think it's an easy option. Be prepared to need help putting your socks on for a couple of days after your first proper moto session!

Very very true. MTB is comparatively painless. OK – MTB is physically exhausting whereas if your tired you can go slow on a Enduro bike & 'pooter' along.
I was always walking into work on Monday mornings after a race like I had spent the weekend in prison. One of the most painful things I had was after dropping it in a wet ditch at the start of a 3 hour Hare & Hounds – after the following 2,5hours I had no skin left on the inside of my thighs & cheeks where the wet clothes had chafed.
Shockingly sore for some time.

Differences are a lot less extreme these days. When I lived in the UK I raced both MX & Enduro, initially before the days of 'modern' 4 strokes.

With the 2 strokes there were certainly far more differences primariy because of engine characteristics & longevity. A peaky engine with a 6 hour lifespan between piston ring changes is not so great when a 2 day enduro is maybe 10 hours riding.
Amongst others I rode a Yam WR250 2 stroke that was miles away from a YZ250. Beautifully soft power curve combined with the wide ratio gearbox.

I moved over to 4 stroke with both a YZ400 & WR400 and to be honest the main effective difference between these was gearing. The WR had a small generator for lights etc, quiet exhaust & slightly softer suspension too.
The gearing no the WR was not ideal for MX but it really didn't that much difference.

A bit like moutainbiking – rider ability will far outweigh any machine differences….

Van Website

Is this any use?

Damn can't see the film :-(

"not available in your territory"
He doesn't look so baggy skinned on the still picture at the beginning of the film (which I can see)

Has he been rejected for cosmetic surgery on the NHS?

I had a load of 1.6LX models (new one every 8 weeks)during 2001/2 due to the mileage (1500 per week) I was putting on them (company car).

They were thrashed everywhere and never ever let me down. Great handling & lovely gearbox though even the 1.6 had no torque. If you jump in one after a time in a diesel the first thing you'll do is stall it :)

The driving experience was quite excellent though but this may be somewhat irrelevant considering how it will be used.

You have to give right of way to any incoming vehicle (that does include push bikes as well) that is on your right unless:
They come from a dirt road a private road or a stated otherwise (they have a Stop or a give a way).

Same goes for Belgium which I always forget but most people don't rely on it fortunately.
Roundabouts are the most mental piece of traffic management in Belgium by the way – they have no idea what the inside lane of a roundabout is for. If they want to turn left on a 2 lane roundabout 75% of people stay in the outside lane and drive all the way around the outside. This destroys the traffic flow on roundabouts & never fails to surprise me even though it is 'normal'.

Re the tyre question. It's my job – only trying to help. There are some very strange exceptions but wouldn't try to list them all. Example: France – tyres on the same axle must have less tan 5.00mm difference in remaining tread depth :-)

German tyre tread laws are far more stringent than our 1.6mm over 75% of the width – think its 5mm but not sure. If yer stopped they will check & make you rectify at the local garage.

Where the heck does that idea come from? All EU countries (it is an EU directive) have the same base regulation regards tire tread depth… 1.6mm over 75% of central tread width.

Certainly watch out for cyclists in all 3 countries if you venture from the highway.
Speeding should be particularly be avoided in Germany – there are of course plenty of limit-less sections of autobahn but if you get caught speeding in roadworks or sections with limits you will find it is expensive!

slightly OT: Jet petrol stations don't exist any more (at least not in continental Europe I believe) – they are now LUKOIL (Russian)

I think I know which one too as it coincided with 3 days after making a puchase from one of them…

but if you mix an old chain on a new cassette you risk jump – equally if you mix a new chain with a new cassette you risk jump.

An old chain with an old cassette is ok, as is new with new….

I can measure a chain (with a chain gauge) to confirm if it’s worn out but would like something ‘quantifiable’ before I sling out not so old XTR & 990 cassettes. Whilst they seem to jump with a new chain I expect (from visual inspection) they would be useable if I had a chain with the ‘correct’ level of wear.

Does that make sense? :D

I am sad to say I was compared to looking like Charley Boorman on more than one occasion. (I guess riding a GS Adventure didn’t help)
On the plus side it convinced me to lose weight, though I am still a scruffy looking bugger that fails to go to the barber regularly.

I saw Long Way Down first & found it a bit pretentious sadly.
They’re probably both sound guys in real life but it was all a bit too Bear Grylls for my liking…
It’s hard to appreciate how much they actually did from such an edited programme.

I think the bike was a good choice though. I don’t have any issues with my BMW truck that I use for commuting 150km+ a day…

I use them a lot (as do my mountain bike clubmates)…

Never had any issues whatsoever. Friendly & helpful – speak good english (better than my German anyway).

I travel frequently close by Aachen so easy for me to collect, though I also have stuff posted too without issue…

I have a couple of ‘old’ Trek ZR9000 frames in 19.5″. Cheap as hell 2nd hand & never had any issues with the things even when I weighed the wrong side of 90kg.
I paid 100euro for 1520g.

It’s the old – where do you stop with the spending question. I’m not really any faster on my carbon frames that cost 10 times more…..

So paypal outside of Ebay is no safer than just transferring money to a seller bank account – unless a credit card company is willing to back you up?

I think someone mentioned in the famous ‘Plymouth thief’ thread that their credit card company had supported them in the case of non-postage of goods. In that scenario I think they would likely want some strong evidence but with all the reported bullsh*t emails received from the vendor in that case I guess it was sufficient. In the case of no post sale communication (email or written) from the vendor I expect you would be on your own?

does this ‘gift’ method remove all possibility of claim if the sale item never arrives or is broken etc??

She has become the most interesting person in Belgium as a result of it though

Interesting? Temporarily famous perhaps.
Apparently she spoke Flemish & the tattoo artist spoke French which probably doesn’t help things but I think I still would have managed to shout “Monsieur Arrêt”

Did I miss an obvious one?
‘Scott’?

plus how about ‘Dale’ or maybe ‘Turner’

Deore is winning for me so far.

Pronounced Dee-Ore-Aay obviously.

Avoid if planning on relocating / visiting Holland.
Your proposed pronunciation is something damp, brown & unwelcome in Dutch(and no it’s not Ainsley Harriet)….

But harder to stick your tongue in and (ahem) lick out

Not if you have a huge tongue :wink:

I have to find one of these things….

wow – Chorlton & the Wheelies. How cool was that….
I would love to see that again.

my 4yr old son likes Scooby Doo – very retro.
Even stranger in that he doesn’t speak English (yet)…

The 2 yr old likes Jim Henson type Muppet stuff.

Neither seem to like watching sport or music tv :(

Looks superficial but I’ve heard about similar paint cracking from some guys in my club. They mentioned some issues with paint cracking on the new Taurine…

Surely Cannondale will fix with their excellent customer service?

I had a 2.0D until 3 months ago.
160k km without problem much of which was at autobahn speeds (as I work in Germany a lot).

Very solid & neutral handling – all the buttons & switches in normal locations. Not enough gadgets on the lower spec models for my liking though.
Very BMW like robustness & capability but a little less dynamic in handling.

I am contemplating buying another (though 2nd hand as our family car) so I guess that says a lot.

Fuel economy? 2.4l petrol?

I left a full metal screwdriver in the bottom of my laptop bag for about 20 flights before I relaised… (though has my deodorant confiscated in the meantime!) :)

I thought it was normal this kind of thing (though perhaps disappointing). My Reba WC 80’s only give 65mm….

It was stated on the Giro TV coverage that Lance will step out after (I think) the 12th stage.

So far he is doing pretty damn well considering the recent break. He does look like he is carrying more weight than previously though.

I find them pretty good too particularly when pumped up hard. (though the newer version is slightly better)
I’ve got some specific Mich XC ‘hard terrain’ tyres with almost no tread pattern and I find the difference between them & the RR’s negligible.

OT: I want to try some Furious Freds now…

slightly off topic but I had 2 deliveries in the last 24 hours both from courier firms. One was dumped at the back of my house in the pouring rain – wrecked the cardboard box holding the bits but fortunately nothing was water sensitive (though the courier didn’t know that).
Miraculously the other parcel delivery arrived just before I left the house. The big bonus is my mrs didn’t see either parcel so I won’t get any enquiries over how much I have spent on bits :)

Redditch aka The Ditch :)

Oriental Star? Where’s that?
I did the ‘Bombay’ on Saturday night – just awesome.

The most positive thing about riding in Leam is that everywhere else is reasonably accessible. Wales / Derbyshire / Cotswolds. Plenty of good options but only after a car journey first…