sorry but you don’t know what you’re talking about. Being unroadworthy is related solely to a dangerous condition, not having an adblue system connected or functioning isn’t dangerous so isn’t unroadworthy and an insurer couldn’t refuse to pay out unless a claim directly arose from the disconnection of the system – considering all it does is spray piss into the last part of the exhaust I can’t see what claim could arise from this not functioning.

There are very limited ways an insurer can refuse a third party claim, however there are many more ways they can get out an insured party claim, and undeclared mods is one of the easiest ways they can invalidate a policy. Any change from how the vehicle left the factory, is technically a modification.

However unless it’s a very obvious mod (something like your stereotypical boy racer with an undeclared body kit glued on), it’s very unlikely they’ll check for anything else, unless lots of money is it stake, or they’ve had a tip off.

I did a training course where the guy taking the course also did insurance remapping investigations, which typically involved high powered cars, and they could quite quickly establish if any ECU contained non-original software. In those kinds of cases, a thousand pound spent on an investigation could avoid the insurance company having to pay out mid 5 figures upwards.

But as with all insurance, to them, it’s a numbers game. If they spend 1k to avoid a 50k pay out, they only have to be right once every 50 claims to still be in profit. If they have to pay out 1k on vehicles valued at 10k, they need to find something every 10 claims, so the figures don’t work, unless they are confident they’ll find something.

 I am surprised the authorities are so lenient on both those consumers and that particular cottage industry.

DVSA do occasionally target tuning/modification companies, but they simply don’t have the resources to do more

https://www.facebook.com/dvsagovuk/posts/pfbid03SsfQc4V3GhPYt5Yb9D6ZW5xdETBTv6jpAdvsYBMRy5xjsMu8kwAp4hZivRWjBYQl

I don’t understand this. How can it still be broken if you replaced all the components? Surely that just means the mechanics didn’t understand what the real problem was. 🤷‍♂️ Or is the design just that shite that it failed again?

Trafics/Vivaros had an issue where in certain conditions the AdBlue ECU would go into a non-start countdown that couldn’t be reset, and the only option was to replace the ECU, ensuring you didn’t copy over any stored data.

Other manufacturers would likely have fixed such an issue by releasing an update for the ECU, but IIRC Renault opted to make that ECU non-updatable.

Diesel MOT only tests for smoke opacity, so on something with a DPF, as long as there is no visible smoke, then it should pass.

It is something I think that should be clamped down on, but the motor trade will fight any attempt at making MOT test centres purchase more equipment.

Get a better garage?

That was my thought as well.

Most expensive part of the system is the catalyst, followed by the tank assembly, the NOx sensor, then the injector.

I’ve never seen a catalyst fail, and if the tank is failing that often, then there is something really amiss. For 1k a year, you’d get a couple NOx sensors fully fitted at a dealer, let alone a local garage.

Does anyone know how the PMBA works, no practice on Saturday because of the women’s race? Practice and one race run on Sunday? Racing blind?

The Saturday races aren’t the same as the Sunday race. They’re introductory type races, with easier stages than the main Sunday race.

There may be some overlap between some stages being used for the Saturday races and the main Sunday race, but you will have a chance to practice the full course on the Saturday.

5G has a shorter range, so there is every possibility the phone is trying to use a fairly weak 5G signal instead of a stronger 4G signal.

I’d be trying for warranty first, but if that doesn’t work out, before I went to the hassle/risk of increasing the bore size, it would probably be worth trying a C3 spec bearing if they’re available in the correct size.

C3 have increased tolerance to allow for tight press fits

As has been alluded to, the pin has an o-ring on the head to stop it rattling.

If it’s not been out for a while, then a mix of age/dirt have probably got it fairly well jammed.

Try and get some lube (ideally something like silicon/teflon spray, but some soap like Fairy Liquid will do – WD40/GT85 don’t really help where rubber is involved) down around the head of the pin (probably best to tip the bike on it’s side so gravity helps the lube run in), then try tapping the pin out.

As a regular hardtail rider, the big things are hardtails will beat the s*** out of you, and provide very little margin for error, be that technique error or line choice error.

I’ve mostly been riding my hardtail for the past 18 months, but when switching between full sus and hardtails, the main thing that catches me out is hardtails don’t brake as well. I usually re-remember that after straight lining some rough rocky/rooty section then having the realisation I’m not slowing down as quick as I’d hope for the impending corner 🙈

It is however nice to get back on a full sus, as they do make riding easier.

If your ride isn’t on Strava, did your ride even happen?

My current BrandX does this if I leave it fully extended in hot weather.

Easy solution is to make sure you leave the dropper at least slightly down when not riding the bike, however if you forget, take the post out and use a lever of some form to actuate the release and it’ll work again.

not the case at all. If Nukeproof go (and they have gone, surely?) any warranties are worthless. Nothing to do with the retailer (beyond statutory rights).

As a consumer, your contract is with the retailer. You legally have no contract with the manufacturer. Yes, manufacturer’s will often deal with a customer directly, but they have no legal requirement to do so. If your retailer disappears, legally the manufacturer could simply tell you it’s not their problem, but doing so would be a PR disaster.

If you buy a product with a 5 year warranty, then a retailer can’t suddenly say only your statutory rights apply, just because the manufacturer no longer exists.

Some distributors were still supplying until fairly recently, so I’m guessing debts must have been cleared to a reasonable level.

The bigger fallout will be if Nukeproof disappears. All those bike shops who sold them, would then be liable for the warranty, and I’d guess very few of those shops would be able to absorb the cost of refunding/compensating customers for many failures.

Was this not a spin off from FLS (or FC) and it all went a bit ‘odd’ and the spin-off company has the forestry over a barrel and basically pays incredibly little but commands control of all aspects?

Forest Holidays is a commercial company owned by the government, so although the ‘rent’ they pay will likely be minimal, overall profits ends up back with the government, just like any that FC/FLS/NRW make, so the rent doesn’t really make any difference when you look at the big picture.

Out with the new trails, Glentress is quiet, which I’m guessing is mostly to do with the current diversions around the lodges work site, and the felling, which means people are just avoiding the whole area.

Unless you know the other ways around what is a key area for linking a lot of the older stuff up, you’re not likely to have a very good ride there. And it’s about to get worse next week, as another key fire road is going to be out of action for felling for a few weeks.

However I have noticed that even the Golfie has been fairly quiet the few times I’ve been there lately, which again I’m guessing is a combination of closures/diversions.

The suggestion of a “friends of the 7 stanes” club is great, but the Glentress trailfairies, who did a huge amount of volunteer work at Glentress are effectively closed due to FLS policy (no work unless supervised by FLS staff, who don’t have time)

It’s not policy as such, it’s just lack of staff resources, however now things are returning returning to normal after the past few years of upheaval, there are plans for Trailfairy sessions to resume soon. And there will be other volunteer opportunities before then, which won’t be supervised by FLS staff.

Brute force is the usual answer to lining things up, which can take many forms.

However if you’ve welded that suspension link, then that’s a major MOT fail. Welded repairs to steering/suspension components are not allowed.

If you’ve plugged in the towbar module, try unplugging it.

It could be that the extra unknown/unprogrammed module is disrupting things.

That’s a blender, not a mixer.

A mixer would aerate the mix in a similar way to hand mixing with a spoon, but a blender won’t, and it’ll also not mix the ingredients as thoroughly as a mixer/spoon.

I was just going to ask have you checked the clutch?

They normally just wear out and stop working, but they can seize causing seemingly random noises.

mc, why do you suggest to refine the rebound before pressure?

I did say to set the sag first, which will give you a baseline to work from. There’s a good chance the initial sag will be adjusted later, but you need to start somewhere.

My guide was more aimed at those who don’t really know what they’re doing, and how to go about getting a feel for what the settings do. Everything is interlinked, and I think it’s easier to start with a fairly basic setting that will remain constant through the initial tests while you experiment with the other settings.

If you know what you’re doing, and what you like, you should be able to get a reasonable setup before you even leave the car park, however if you don’t have that knowledge/experience, you have to start some where.

Using full travel is a reasonable starting point.

My preference is slightly softer and rely on the bottom out, which is generally good on Fox and DVO forks. However my old Pikes had a hard bottom out, so I ran them harder as the banging wasn’t good to listen to, with the trade off being they felt harsher on easier stuff.

However a lot depends on how much travel you have, and what/how you ride. There is no ‘ideal’ suspension setup for everything, and different riders will prefer different things.

For example, some riders will like a fair amount of compression damping to avoid brake dive and pedal bob, with the trade of being you lose sensitivity and the fork feeling slightly harsher, where as I’d rather have the brake dive and maintain as much sensitivity as possible, and I aim to spin smoother to avoid pedal bob.

Then things like tokens, some like that bit extra sag and using tokens so the fork ramps up more, whereas I prefer the tokenless as linear as possible feel, as I’d much rather have a coil fork! (I still miss my Van 36s!)

Which is why I suggest trying the extremes, and learn to feel the differences between too much and too little damping. Then experiment with the other options.

And if you’re somebody who just wants to ride their bike and not spend ages fiddling with settings, don’t buy something with lots of dials!

If you’re not familiar with how the fork settings work, I’d suggest finding a short bit trail you can session easily, ideally with just enough gradient that you don’t need to brake.

Then set the sag. 25-30% sag is a good starting point.

Now open the compression fully, and wind the rebound fully on.

Ride the trail. What should happen, is the fork will pack down on successive hits, and show you the extreme of too much rebound. The bike will gradually nose down, with successive hits feeling harsher as the fork packs down/sits lower in it’s travel.

Now fully open the rebound, and repeat the trail. The fork should now pinball of pretty every bump in the trail, and you’ll probably struggle to keep control of the front end.

Now gradually increase the rebound, and repeat the trail until you find a setting where the front end feels fairly neutral in it’s response to successive hits. Some people will like slightly slower rebound so the front end feels a bit more planted and packs down slightly on successive hits, whereas others will like the front end a bit more lively so it doesn’t pack down at all and might not feel quite as planted.

Compression damping is where you could do with some trail where you need to brake, but repeat the above to feel how it affects the suspension. Then find a setting that you’re happy with.

Once you’ve done all that, go back to the sag. A good setting is where you’re bottoming out the forks on your typical hardest hit during rides, so try experimenting with air pressures. If you’ve got reasonable sag set, but find you’re bottoming out too much, try adding a token. If you do adjust the pressure any noticeable amount, then you’ll need to adjust the rebound to compensate (more pressure = more forceful return, so needs more rebound to maintain similar control)

Then once you have the fork set up reasonably well, repeat with the rear shock, although perhaps not going to the extremes. Try experimenting with just a few clicks more/less, or if you do want to try running the shock fully open, do it on a tame bit trail, as a fully open rear shock can buck you of the bike quite easily!

You want the rebound on the fork and shock to be fairly balanced, otherwise it’ll make jumps quite interesting. Relatively fast shock/slow fork will tend to buck you over the bars, while a relatively fast fork/slow shock will tend to kick the front end up. If anything, you want the shock to be a bit slower, as it’s more controllable.

It’s also worth mentioning, most new forks require a good few rides to bed in and feel more supple.

And there is an amount of personal preference to how suspension is setup.

I personally hate compression damping, as it is reducing how effectively the fork/shock absorbs hits, so my default setting is fully open. And I like my rebound fast, with just enough to avoid the full pinball effect. Whereas others will prefer quite a bit of compression and rebound, so don’t be afraid to experiment.

I like mine, and are the only trousers I’ve actually made good use off. I’d always found trousers to be too heavy/warm, and/or too baggy, so had nearly always just worn shorts and knee pads regardless of the weather.

They’re certainly not a cold weather type trouser on their own, but stick some 3/4 bibs/shorts under them, and they’re fine. I think one of the reasons I like them so much, is that they’re so light weight. It means I don’t worry about getting too hot when it’s not cold, so I wear them more.

I have however put a few holes in mine due to getting caught on things while out trailbuilding,  and I did notice the seat area stitching is starting to fail, but given they’ve now seen lots of use over two winters, I’m quite happy with how they’re lasting. I’ll probably buy a new pair for next winter for riding, and keep the old ones for trailbuilding rides.

I’ve never been, but I’m aware they had done a lot of work in anticipation of the SES last year, and the key builders weren’t too happy that it got cancelled.

I happened to be chatting to somebody in the cycle business yesterday, and they were saying the big issue is some manufacturers dumped cancelled orders directly to major retailers, bypassing their own distributors. And some stock was even sold below what the distributors pay.

I think manufacturers are simply taking the approach of dumping excess/old stock at whatever price they can get, just to clear the warehouses, with the hope it’ll return things to more normal levels quicker.

That page is assuming the goods are being sent under IOSS, which they legally should be, but see my previous post.

Under IOSS, online retailers should be collecting any VAT due in the destination country at the point of sale for shipments up to £135 (they can also collect for higher amounts, but there is no legal requirement for them to do so), however most small retailers simply don’t do it, as it’s an admin nightmare (or added expense if they use a third party provider).
Instead they will simply slap on a customs sticker/invoice and let the receiving country/delivery company handle it, which will mean you will very likely get an additional handling charge.

Also the £135 figure is related to Import Duty.
Below that Import Duty doesn’t get applied, however VAT does, which is the main driver behind IOSS.

At least Scotland seem to have the selection process more streamlined (at least for the Sheriff courts)

Phone the provided number the evening before, which will tell you what you need to do the next day.
If no jury is needed, you’ll be told to phone again the next evening.
If a jury is needed, you’ll be told to expect a phone call the following day. First phone call will tell you if you’ve been entered into the selection lottery, and that if you’re name is drawn, that you’ll receive a second phone call. If you don’t receive the second call, then you’re back on the evening call cycle.
If you do get the second call, you have to be in court the following day, at which point you might end up on a jury.

I done it a couple years ago, and the court staff were pretty good at explaining the process, and the reasons behind things.
If they know that there’s no jury trial starting, they don’t call any potential jurors into court that day, however they don’t do the final selection until they know a case is definitely going to trial, which is on the morning you’ll be called to court. So you can end up sat in the juror selection room, until the court is sure there are going to be no last minute pleas.

Even if you’re selected, you’ll spend quite a bit of time out of the court room, so take something to keep yourself entertained. The case I done lasted 3 days, and we spent quite a bit of that in the Juror Room. You get kicked out while legal points are argued, and 15 minute breaks will often be far longer (turned out the Sheriff deals with other more minor business first thing and while those involved in the main case are out of the court for breaks, and there was also the morning that the court staff lost the defendant for an hour or so…)

Most likely based wherever Jungle are based.

I’m not certain of the all the technical details

MCAS worked by activating the trim for a period of time (IIRC 10 seconds).

Boeing’s argument was that should it malfunction, pilots would treat it as a Trim Runaway, disable the trim system, and then they would be able to manually adjust the trim (remember the 737 is that archaic the flight deck controls are still mechanically connected to the control surfaces).

However as the Trim only ran for a short period of time, it likely confused the pilots, as it wasn’t a conventional runaway, which would have ran continually. Instead it ran for a period of time, stopped, and if MCAS still thought the plane was approaching stalling, would run again, with no limits placed on the number of times it could intervene.

This is what caused the roller coaster on the fateful crashes, as MCAS would force the nose down, pilots would trim it back up, and the cycle repeated.

Then there was the issue with the manual system. By the time the pilots disabled the trim system, the aerodynamic forces were that great, that the worlds strongest man would struggle to wind the trim handles.

I seem to remember one of the crews did disable the system, but then couldn’t get the plane back into trim.

Certain factions wanted to blame it all on the pilots, but they were put in a situation by a system they didn’t know existed, let alone how it operated. Which was compounded by a ‘back-up’ system they couldn’t physically operate. Those same factions were also willing to say how US pilots would never let it happen, but I don’t remember any US operated planes being found to have suffered from a similar sensor failure.

Ultimately hiding MCAS was a profit driven decision to bury the handling issues and avoid re-training, which had been stipulated by one of Boeing’s biggest customers.

Bosch green is the amateur range.
Bosch blue is the pro range.
Green stuff is ok for intermittent use, but not as good as the Blue range.

As has been said, if you want to get through masonry, corded is the better option unless you want to spend more money.

If you do go cordless, the big decider is if you’re likely to buy any other tools, as the batteries are the significant part of the cost.
Oh, and look for Brushless. Usually more expensive, but better performance than brushed.

What are we thinking could happen if you leave a bit of rust on a chain?

Cause rapid wear, as obviously rust is far more abrasive than riding through some mud…🙄

My thoughts are clearing all those convicted with the proposed legislation isn’t the way to handle this.
Those who are guilty, won’t be able to re-charged (except for a fraud charge), and from my understanding will get compensation.

I think the better way to handle it, would be to give the PO the option to present evidence of those convictions that they think are ‘safe’ and give those convicted the option for some form of re-trial, then clear all those who the PO can’t provide evidence for.
The PO have obviously done some research as to what convictions they think are safe, so they should be able to provide that information fairly quickly.

It’s probably more to do with the state of the cycle industry.
Cycle retail is on it’s a**e.
Sales are down.
Lots of businesses have lots of stock that they can’t shift.
Most businesses are struggling to make any profit.

In short, who can afford and/or justify to buy a relatively huge company that itself hasn’t made any profit the past few years?
Even if you could buy the whole lot for a pound, making it profitable wouldn’t be a quick task, and would require substantial investment.

To answer your question about where the existing rain water goes, given the age, probably a very small and quite crude soakaway directly at the bottom of the down pipe.

And it will have most likely filled with soil by now, so probably won’t be doing that much.

Letters go to the lease Co as the legal owners

Letters should go to whoever the registered keeper is, which is not necessarily the legal owner. Who the keeper is will depend on the leasing agreement.

However any leasing company will deal with this on a regular basis, and if they do receive such letters, will forward them quite quickly.

Rust will be the biggest issue, given the age of most them now, closely followed by engine issues.

The cooling system has to be bled as per the official procedure, but if there are any leaks within the engine, you’ll get overheating issues due to the stupid radiator pipe routing.

If I had one, I’d extend the engine bleed hose to the header tank, so it becomes a continuous bleed system, which should eliminate most overheating issues.

Our run fence is about 8 foot tall. Not just to keep foxes out, but to keep the chickens in

Foxes will climb over 8ft fences if they’re determined. Biggest issue with foxes is they’ll kill for the sake of killing. When the parents had hens, if a fox got in, it wouldn’t be unusual for them to kill a dozen and leave a single eaten carcus.

Trimming the hens flight feathers on one side will stop them getting over any fence more than a few feet high.