Whatever he gets, advise him to put a good amount of cash into some decent shoes, helmet, shorts, jerseys and gloves, along with buying himself a repair kit for when out and about, a computer perhaps etc, it all adds up….

Hat on here every time I’m out, same as aphex, crispy sunburnt ears many years ago means I don’t mind looking like a pillock.

I think we’re just entering the stage where Pepe white/stonewash drainpipe jeans are in (I knew I should have kept hold of mine..)

I’m fully expecting kajagoogoo to top the charts next week, although I’d never know as the radio DJ’s tend not to play music and just talk tripe for hours from what I’ve heard :?

I think the time lag is part of its appeal, but it only extends to the way society acts, rather than any big technoligical black hole. The construction industry is as sharp as anywhere in the world, albeit the projects being discussed here are pretty damned big/expensive compared to a lot of places.

It’s a great place to be with kids, there a tons of things to do at the weekends and the money invested in playgrounds would probably exclipse the gdp of a few smaller nations! Kids also seem happy to be kids and there doesn’t appear to be a pressure to grow up too soon.

Schooling is excellent at primary level, can’t comment on above that yet but the 457 visa holders are going to be hit with fees from Jan 2015. The 457 visa thing has been used as a bit of a political football over the last few years and it can feel like that your not wanted at times, odd given that employers have spent a lot of money getting us over here.

The drawbacks I’m finding here are that it’s expensive, sure the salaries are higher, but the knock on effect is that the property prices are disproportionatley high. Even on my salary I’m not sure if we could afford to buy here unless I go back to living an hour away from work, which is the kind of thing I came here to avoid. Holidays also become expensive if you want to go anywhere (either in the state or overseas..)

Also, friends are a long way away, it’s sometimes very difficult to break into new circles as there are a lot of people who are here for a few years and then go somewhere else, so as one parent at school put it to me “why bother getting to know someone when that happens” – not everyone has this view and you’ll find that nearly everyone will talk to you if you’re out and about.

Do we regret coming out here? NO, it’s a great lifestyle, we’re not sure where we’ll settle long term – I suspect it’s wherever the housing is cheaper, as that opens up a lot more lifestyle options IMO.

What, so we can expect a surprise 4th place for Binners at le tour next year?.. :D

My 6 year old is on a 24″ bike (an apollo, but not the halfords one but the aussie brand) and it came with some RST capo forks, not the best but they do move and stop him from getting to beat up when we’re out for a few hours. I wouldn’t overlook suspension, just because it’s not sophisticated, it does help save some energy and delays the “I’m too tired to carry on” moment, which inevitably occurs as far away from anywhere as your ever going to be on the ride :?

Not used both but got hold of an X2 v2 a few weeks back and have used it once so far. I’m questioning the wisdon of putting my dinotte helemt light on again if I’m honest. The X2 was very bright, had good throw, no dark spots and left the helmet light unoticeable.

I can’t imagine what the v3 is like but I had to keep turning mine down when behind someone else, it was almost antisocial!

You’ll have a looong wait pnik, I sold my 2.0d to my brother when we emigrated 2 years ago, I’d only put 1 wheel bearing on it over and above regular service items and my brother had a new water pump put on it when he had the timing belt changed at 144k miles. It’s now 8 years old and still going really well.

They’re not the bigegst car but it’s probably had the comfiest seats of any car I’ve owned. 6 hour drives are no problem.

I’ll give them a tow for a minute then slow down, if no one is coming through then I sit up and tail them for a minute then go ahead, hopefully this initiates a bit of teamwork, if not I just sit up again and let them go.

There’s an incredible amount of freeloaders up and down the shared cycle way here who look as though they’re spent when you drift on by but suddenly wake up when there’s a wheel available.

It’s a difficult one to call as I’ve nearly been hit by some people who think they only have to have eyes on the back of my wheel, not realising that there is sometimes no time to signal something ahead.

It does seem to be a long time. If they shift thousands of bikes a year then their customer service set up should be a bit slicker, taking 4 weeks to look at bike strikes me as meaning that they have a high workload in that department and are behind all the time!

I’d be miffed as they’ve also got all your components for that long – if they were still in your possession then a new cheap frame could perhaps have been bought to cover the cycling holiday at least.

Wow, pretty mind blowing. It’s amazing that that kind of work can get overlooked by people – the impact it’s had on that child and her family is fantastic.

Marmoset

If you want a look round email me.

Ian

Thanks, I’d love to Ian but I currently live 10,000 miles away! Perhaps when I’m next in the country 8) I’ll remember this thread and get back to you…

Loving my Disco 3 but not sure I’d go for an RRS as it’s pretty small inside.

As above, they ain’t sports cars butI don’t get the whole X5/Cayenne/Sport thing in that if you want a sports car, buy a sports car – physics is a very hard thing to defy and a tall heavy car is always going to feel wallowy compared to a normal saloon. Having said the D3 does go better than the D2 around the twisty stuff and is an amazing car for a long journey.

Mid eighties to late nineties, although I’d also say the last few years has been great, there’s certainly a greater number of driovers out there who are able to give each other a hard time, even in mismatched machinery.

I’m hoping that the regulation changes next year will level the technical field a little and stop the fingermeister from escaping up the road by lap 3.

I’ve been impressed by Vettel this season, he’s shown a lot of adaptability and won races that he really shouldn’t have been in the running for.

Wowsers.. STW reaches v. far…

I think it was mostly dragged over here by expats…

Not sure I’d want to go down that myself.

Some toilet facilities at the top and a laundry at the bottom might make a bit of additional money for the operators…

I can recommend the KMBC ride, went out last night, covered about 19Km in two groups (slow and fast split), back to the car park for 8.30ish for the fast group with teh slow one in about 15 minutes later, and the BBQ was then fired up.

Either Shimano A520’s or a normal mtb spd pedal with a cage like an M424 so there’s a bit of support for the shoe over and above just the cleat.

Nice :)

Where does your commute take you ? I’m up and down the Kwinana PSP to West Perth , I’ll keep an eye out for you and say hi,that’s a pretty distinctive bike around here, given that it’s not a Pinarello :lol:

Rich

I was just mounting up to ride home not far from there when you posted this! Have one for me :-)

The forum name alone says it all.

It looks rather like someone has picked up what was left of a cyclepath accident and just ridden as-is.

I wonder if you could get power understeer on that thing if you gave it the beans on a wet corner.

That’s a good point o_h_h.

Although I’d like to point out that I can fall off my bike without any of these performance enhancing drinks :D

Thanks farm-boy I’ll check both of those out, they look ideal.

So ticked a few laps of the river, most of the climbing was on the bridge but the headwind made me work.

I think the 360 degree head wind is a curious local phenomenon, I’ve not ridden anywhere where I can feel so deflated on doing a 180 at the top end of a ride!!

it would have alerted me to his presence and not made me, the dog and the baby shit ourselves.

To be fair, the dog and baby probably didn’t do that due to the bike :lol:

It happens when you’re on a bike on the shared paths over here, it riles me that blokes spend $5000 on a nice bike and can’t be bothered to put a bell on it, or worse, ride sensibly around kids on bikes – I’ve been startled and fuming at how much trust they put in a 6 year old, who doesn’t necessarily have the awareness of an adult as to what’s around them, when they blast past at 40Km/h.

What’s that one called Grimy? Might have to go see my doctors about a different combo as the blue/brown doesn’t work too efectively when I’ve got it.

Strangely I seemed to outgrow it several years ago – no inhalers needed at all for about 4 years. Then it came back for some unknown reason. Living in warmer climes certainly helps minimise its effects but it’s a pretty extreme move to make just for that!

Very happy with all of mine. A steel hardtail (Hammer), a carbon hardtail (Vertex) and an Element 970 29er Alu full susser. Very addictive bikes, that’s the only trouble with ’em. The 29er handles the tight stuff very well.
I’ve not ridden the Element long enough to have caused any problems but the general feeling over on MTBR is keep an eye on the bushings and clean regularly if you’re riding in the slop a lot, no problems with frames cracking though.

No cures as such, I even find that I get it in Oz here when the temp is below 5 degrees in the mornings. The only advice I can offer is keep it nice and slow for the first mile or so and don’t overload the lungs too quickly. Breathing through the mose warms the air up a bit before it hits the lungs as well.

I don’t miss the gnar as I never had it in the first place! I guess being a wheels on the ground guy has left me less conflicted :lol:

Spot on with the lights thing Zokes – that pesky green always manages to sneak up once the red’s gone out and catch everyone out! Combined with the shortest cycle times in the world and you’re doing well if one car makes it through before it’s red again!

Thta’s a very interesting piece by Gary Anderson.

I thought that Vettel’s celebrations at the end were great, we need to see more emotion like that in the races. I think the drivers make it look easy nowadays as they generally do a lot more training and don’t tend to make alot of fatigue related mistakes/misjudgements. It still takes a lot of chutzpah to drive the things and the speed of directions changes is phenomenal.

As above, the race represents a very small anmount of what F1 is about, I find reading about the politics and technical stuff just as fascinating as the racing and lends the race some context when you see a few drivers constantly ghetting into each other.

Even working in the office I get that – I’d say just charge for hours worked but make it clear that delayed responses due usually mean a bit of double up when you have to re-read what it is you’ve been waiting for a response on. I’ve gone weeks, and sometimes months, between answers and have had to spend conisderable hours getting back up to speed.

I’d just go out on your bike ride if you’re waiting – people can’t expect a rapid turnaround there and then if the responses are late and you’re out. If they do, then I’d stay in all day and charge away!

Been using 9 speed for years and just got 10 speeds on the new bike (far better than the triggers and I can concentrate on riding my bike again rather than wondering what lever to press – I’d got so used to twisting)

The 10 speeds have a lighter action but they stil work very well.

I think the Giant guy was trying to say “by putting all our bike on the same wheel size we can achieve a greater economy of scale, screw our suppliers a bit more with the prospect of suppying our whole demand, and make another 50 bucks per bike as a result….”

Perhaps the 27.5 should be marketed as an “average” bike with the 26″ and 29″ at either end of the scale….

Bring the road bike if your staying in the city, plenty of rides around on the shared paths and you get some good views by the river (scenery or otherwise!) It’ll take an age to get out to the trails without a car (or even with one, driving after work!) so that kinda precludes the mtb.

Shout up when you’re over if you fancy a beer/ride. Northbridge can be “entertaining” A trip to Freo is worth it as it’s a good contrast to the city.

Rich

If it’s the buttons on the fob itself then check ebay for a replacement case. Split the key and see if the microswitches still do their thing, if not it could be the battery as well. I’ve just done 2 keys on my disco for about a tenth of the price the dealer would charge.

I can still vividly recall the shock I had when cornering in a car park test on one of those. A mate’s raleigh banana replica had significantly less flex.

It’s akin to the sensation of sliding on gravel yet not falling off…

See if you can get a motion sensing camera on hire and take them down!

I’d say his fault. As the driver of a vehicle you are obliged to check that everything is clear and it’s safe to proceed. He must have been aware that there was activity around the back of your van and would have certainly felt that he ran over something, so to just drive away makes it even worse IMHO.

I know where you’re on about Samuri, I worked there for years before coming out here. It is all clever stuff, the only depressing thing about working on most of it is that when it’s finished and the gates are shut, no one can tell anything new happened.
I’m not sure I’d want the responsibility of making sure it works though – it’s hard enough arguing about the money side of things when it doesn’t, let alone answering the “well what now?” question!