Normally a very cheap ferry is Norfolkline – Dover > Dunkirk.

I also looked at some options of ferrying via Hook of Holland / Zeebrugge to the North of the UK (Hull / Newcastle) and was shocked at the price though the convenience would be nice.

Jump on the boat in the evening – dinner & a drink, bit of a kip then wake up a few hundred miles further on.

Also consider if you are going to use the crossing as a break for the driver(s) or will be stopping at a hotel /B&B for the night. If you are not using it as a break the Tunnel though more expensive is untouchable for the speed. 1 hr arrival to being on the other side of the water.

I got some Lassa’s, sold as ‘mid range’ at £48 each for a Focus. They’re ‘performance’ but no idea how good they are. A Bridgestone owned company

`

Not strictly true – Lassa are built in factory shared with a Bridgestone / Turkish company joint venture. Lassa has no direct link to Bridgestone.

How much is a decent price to pay for a quality tyre is an awesomely vague question. :-) Like asking how much you should pay for a bike without even saying what type of bike….

As I expect you know your tyre size check online at something like blackcircles.com or mytyres.co.uk. As long as you choose a decent brand you shouldn’t go too far wrong. Mich, BS, Goodyear, Dunlop, Conti or as an alternative Vredestein are making some good tyres these days as are Hankook…

There is really only one way to cause such localized wear and that is a dragged tyre on a moving car.

Is the tyre on a rear axle? After the car was sitting for an extended period perhaps one of the rear brakes was seized on. (this type of wear is quite common in Nordic countries but due to brakes freezing on)

I asked the same question on another forum some tima ago and got a wide range of ‘a*sehole’ answers & none of any value. I have amongst other frames a pair of 19.5″ Trek ZR9000’s and these have a verrrry long headtube

The lowest I have found are Bontrager race lite & an old model FSA carbon (that is heavy as hell for carbon).
Both are approx 31mm.

Big thankyou for the pre-warning! :-)
As an expat I could easily miss this date…..

It’s quite ok to use car tyre sealant for cars but I’ve never tried a cycle tyre sealant.

Many cars now come with a sealant type repair kit (integrated into a compressor) instead of a spare wheel.

Conti actually sell tyres that come new with a sealant that ‘should’ seal any small punctures without the driver even realising. They are OE fitment on some cars inclduing new Passat CC…

check the wheels are bolted on correctly first. It may that they were fully tightened up on 1 bolt first or in a circular pattern.

Jack up – undo bolts (or nuts) and then retighten in opposing pairs.

To feel at low speed it has to be a significant non-uniformity…

Leamington has indeed some fine young ladies just so long as you can hold your alcohol…

Boffed – I haven’t heard that word for a long time.

cool picture
That’s the best view from Leamington! (looking away from it :))

(I’m allowed to abuse Leam as I was born there)

I’m allowed to cycle as much as I want so long as the kids are in bed :(

Hence I am very bored of my rollers by now & very much looking forward to the summer again….

I wasn’t cycling when we met or before we had kids but I was rallying cars. Now that takes up huge amounts of time & horrible amounts of cash but she still doesn’t see the comparative benefits…

Maybe they carried away bidding for a laptop in Ebay?

I read that one of the 2 gyrocopter occupants has been charged with murder…
The police / CPS must think they have some pretty compelling evidence or someone high-up is also a member of the same hunt…. (sorry for being cynical)

I have to commute through 30+ miles of traffic on the highway to & from work on my motorbike and whilst most drivers are quite considerate there are always some drivers who cause an unecessary hinderance (be it through ignorance or a deliberate manoeuvre)

After a few years of this it is clear there are vehicles that more typically involved:
1) 5 series BMW
2) Renault Espace
3) Any tradesman van (Transit / Sprinter)

But I can also accept the OP issue with the Mini driving ladies who lunch – we have plenty of them near where I live & indeed crap parking / u-turns / yapping on the GSM all seem far to frequent :(

It has been reported that the gyrocopter was returning to the airfield to refuel.
Is it perhaps possible that the gentlemen that tragically lost his life in in the incident was aiming to confront the gyrocopter occupants?

I can only imagine that he has been stuck by the driven propellor…

I have got some Michelin XC dry terrains for when it is really dry. Normal summer condtions I also use the racing ralphs.

In the centre the Michelins are pretty smooth with just some lateral ribbing and a bit more blocking on the shoulders.
They roll super fast in the summer. :D

I’ve yet to try Furious Freds but until now had no punctures on the Michelins and am very happy….

it’s another good reason to be at the front of the group, therefore always cycle with someone slower… :D

With regards bedding in of non MTB related pads I can say for sure that when I was rallying cars it was absolutely critical.
The effects of bedding and matching pad to disc was huge, plus the methodology was also key. They could not be ‘prepared’ driving to stage so we also had matched pad & disc sets as spares in the service van.

Basic bedding was similar to mentioned here though – repeated stops – hard but not very hard and then allow to cool right down before actual usage.

Failure to bed in meant that performance was shockingly poor and that pads would either crack (before crumbling) or glaze over.

I’ve only been in one once and was surprised how much body roll they had from the water carried on board. Probably no worse than any other tanker I expect but surprised me (it was on a call so they were driving faster than I would expect from a regular truck driver)

not a particularly common tyre size…
What year Outback is that?
What are the current tyres on it – been happy with them?

There seems to be some overlap here between the RS model from the previous Focus and the model about to be launched now. (press event is ongoing in the South of France currently)…

The sound of the 5 cylinder engine in the new model is great too. Not quite orginal Audi Quattro but in the ball-park.

Granted the aforementioned Golf has 4wd which can be handy at times but in pure speed versus cost the new Focus is going to be fantastic.

over 300hp and of course a lot less drivetrain losses than a 4wd car……
Full dealer support & warranty unlike some cheapo imported Impreza or Lancer Evo.
For the money this is going to be a rocket :D

I am one of those overseas bidders :)
Exchange rate makes it too tempting at the moment…

Don’t know what to suggest as a safeguard. There are a**eholes everywhere sadly. Shipping is not normally a problem to Belgium or Germany I thought? Parcelforce seem to do a pretty good job. Any related costs are the problem of the buyer of course. Prices are readable online too I seem to recall so no reason for quibbling from either side?

I am lucky enough to live in the home of cyclocross (as already mentioned Belgium or more precisely Flanders).
It is just fantastic. Who cares if the bikes are a bit different to XC MTB’s – it is off road, muddy, exciting to watch.

Between November & February we have at least 1 live televised race every weekend and huge spectator numbers. A true professional sport.

Who would not enjoy watching the best XC racers do battle over 1 hour every week with great TV coverage? The guys here are household names – how good it that for cycling?

I could go on & on……
It is just great.

I am a major sceptic & hate needles but gave it a go on a ankle that was giving my grief a couple of years after fracturing it. Up until that point I thought actupuncture meant sticking a needle in my ear if my hand hurt or something similar….
Had 6 or 8 needles in my ankle.

I remember feeling a horrible stabbing pain for a split second then after that it went away as did the existing pain in my ankle. I woúldn’t hesitate to use it again. Awesome results.

Haven’t tried biltong (but will search for it now)

beef jerky is just delicious (spicy hot please) though horribly expensive.
In my local supermarket it costs €6 for 200g. That’s just silly.

Translation from dutch: bil is ass – tong is tongue (but can also be like a strip of something). I guess rump-strip soudns better than ass tongue though….

Alongside my commuting bike I also have a late ZX9R and am damn happy with it. Certainly comfortable for a bigger rider with very little down-side on absolute performance.

Don’t think you will find any of the sportsbikes much faster than the ZX6 you have now to be honest unless you are a track day participant.

is it a new or 2nd hand model you’re considering?

New Focus RS is press launching next week & is damn impressive.

Get out there & try it.
Great opportunities like that don’t come along everyday.
Do you speak spanish?

I commute with an Arai RX7RR4 (catchy name :)) and generally don’t suffer with fogging.
I’ve seen those ‘double glazed’ visor inserts but never found fogging a consistent issue.
Where does your helmet live normally? Is it left in the cold overnight as this doesn’t help.
Also does your collar release warm air from your clothing straight into your helmet opening?

Did you have no similar probs with your previous lid?

Michelin ‘hard terrain’. Not so slick as a Furious Fred but similar concept.
Not to be combined with mud…..

One good reasons for designing & manufacturing asymmetric tyres is that in the case of OE supply to car makers, that you don’t have to differentiate between individual tyre & wheel assemblies for each side of the car.

Indeed asking on MTB forum is perhaps normally not the best source of data but tyre engineering is my (nerdy) profession so I have more knowledge than your average joe and at the very least you can put value the on tests (linked here) published by groups such as ADAC or magazines Auto Express…..

I too was hoping for stories of problems with honing piston bores :(

The use of the word build is a bit OTT….

if we want to get down to how they look then I think they deserve one another (perhaps it was a pre-agreed insurance scam?)
Match made in heaven.

Then they can go on ‘Wife Swap’ or that other shocking holiday exchanging programme that my lady likes so much…

For sure pattern has an effect but it certainly isn’t everything….

If you look at Conti, Mich, GY, BS, the latest asymmetric patterns are all really quite similar to one another.

The guys from Auto Express do a pretty good job with their tyre test.
Of course we all have differing usage (mileage / driving style / type of car / roads type) but testing is fair & their summary is clear & informative.

The only 1 in that test you wouldn’t expect to see is the Vredestein. The remaining 4 are the big players in the tyre industry and top quality product though normally with a matching price tag.

For the price you won’t beat the Vreds….

Left foot braking effects are horrific to be fair.
Have you ever been in an automatic car with someone trying to use their left foot to brake for the first time? They push it like it’s a clutch.
If you not ready for it or worse you are not facing straight ahead I can quite believe it could cause some neck injury.

Keeping in mind though that he is also pursuing similar cases my own feeling is he is either taking the p*ss or ‘physically unsuitable’ for the job.

Vredestein Sportrac 3

Falkens – sorry but don’t do it. (that is not cheap either!)

Was he in a car or on a bike?

You definitely did the right thing. Good on you.

I commute with a motorbike and have the same stop / no stop doubts if I see a stationary motorbike on the highway.
Then again I think – stopping on the hard shoulder = death in waiting & as a father of 2 should I expose myslef to that kind of risk…..

Vredestein Sportrac 3.
Best budget choice in this size.

If you don’t believe me & speak German try

ADAC Tyre Tests

In what context of meeting Brits abroard?
As a traveller / as an epxat?
Cycling specific or just general?

I’m based in belgium and have no idea to be honest where you’d start here (even though there are hell of a lot of Brits in Brussels)

Wiggle did the same service on my behalf recently when they sent me a mail about being a gold customer.
I cleared more than a grand in the last year (just on ‘little’ bits & pieces)