I was just about to suggest the Seafood Temple in Oban too – make sure to book, it’s small & pretty popular (rightly so)

Budget option for lunch, the the wee seafood hut right on the harbourside at the ferry port – looks like a green garden shed with a couple of picnic tables outside, had a tremendous crab sandwich last time I was there – was about 3 inches thick, mmmmmmmmm

wait til you steam strip the old lining paper to find it’s been applied with something akin to nicotine coloured tar… in the end we smoothed that as best we could, lining papered and papered on that..

Seen that last year when we renovated my other half’s place – it was horrendous, there was about 3 or 4 layers of mental 80’s / 70’s / 60’s paper – at least 2 of which were embossed & I swear between one of the layers was a neigh on impermeable 30 year old thick gloss paint… then the weird brown glue to finish it off… we initially were going to go the lining paper route but after literally weeks of scraping, the walls /ceilings were such a state that we opted for having pretty much everything plastered which, in hindsight was the right idea. We did have the walls & ceiling in one bedroom lined which looks perfect until you walk into the hall which was plastered, my mate’s a decorator & always uses the thickest lining paper possible leaving a 1/2mm gap between sheets hung horizontally & then fills the gap with a bit of polyfilla – can do it with your finger – can’t tell where the joins are if I tried.

Choc milk and flapjack is junkfood. Nothing more.

Tasty though – :wink:

300ml ss milk – ~5g + chocolate Nesquik – ~8g = 13g

Banana – 1-1.5g

cheap lidl 75g flapjack – ~3.5g

Just look at all those proteins in that lot, plus you get the wholesome goodness of additional sugar for an instant pick me up + some carbs – everyone loves carbs! Plus the flapjacks are full of butter – everyone who’s ever excelled at any sporting endeavor has probably consumed some butter at some point.

denatured protein is more difficult to digest because the enzymes used to degrade protein can’t access the cleavage sites. However, denatured proteins tend to precipitate so won’t actually dissolve.

Was my understanding too – I don’t trust the end product to be produced carefully enough, certainly not in every instance anyway, to ensure the protein is pure enough & intact enough to be of a great enough benefit to warrant it’s use over traditional healthy foods. I replaced the protein shake thing I used with a half pint or so of chocolate milk & a banana / flapjack whenever I felt a bit hungry before or after a ride & feel better for it – i’m commuting ~20 miles each way most days & go to the gym a couple of times per week during lunch on top for some strength work & don’t feel I need any more really.

OP – why not try the protein shake route & see how you get on for a week, maybe borrow some from a mate to try it, then the next week stock up on flapjacks / bananas / chocolate milk etc & see how you feel – tip for the protein stuff; go for the original flavour & add your own flavouring as necessary otherwise half of your protein powder is actually the sugary flavouring additive.

J

what a massive pile of tosh

Oooooh, my apologies for offending the resident STW whey protein powder defence officer – put that handbag away & have a lie down, i’ll retract that sketchily remembered account of an article I once read in a dentist’s waiting room or suchlike lest I attract another stern rebuttal, haha! :roll:

But seriously – anything left over at the bottom of a vat of cheese, which is then recovered, isolated, purified(?), dehydrated (is it lyophilized, pray tell or just left out in the sun?), filtered, stuck in a poly bag, then hastily re-constituted as a tasty, yeasty drink with some water/milk doesn’t really appeal to me. I tried it for a while & found it made me feel sluggish, as well as bunging me up for days, feeling bloated and thirsty and plenty of others I know have had similar experiences… some folk love it, fair enough & it apparently gets good results in muscle building / repair… horses for courses – i’d rather have chocolate milk / banana / flapjack / guinness / steak / pork pie, or even the cheese that removed itself from the stuff in the first place.

+1 for a big glass of chocolate milk & a banana for me, I tried protein powder last year & while it did make me feel full, it also gave me a serious case of “the dog’s arse” & reduced my poopage to 1 house brick every 2-3 days, which, whilst certainly impressive – wasn’t the most pleasant experience – like giving birth I imagine, painful but fulfilling.

I remember reading an article somewhere about the whole protein powder industry & it claimed that much of the “whey protein” in these formulas is a by-product of other food manufacturing processes – the sludge at the bottom of the tank was how some were described – i’m sure it also said that much of the actual protein was denatured from heat during the manufacturing & that was why it was quite difficult to digest – apparently many bodybuilders suffer from distended stomachs from taking so much of the stuff that their bodies can’t digest it quickly enough & the un-digestible element builds up in the gut causing severe bloating & the kind of farts that killed the dinosaurs.

j

br – only thing I can see is this sentence from the planning guidelines

In some circumstances, the conversion of existing, redundant buildings, which make a positive visual contribution to the landscape and are structurally sound and capable of conversion without substantial rebuilding works, can also be accepted.

we’d certainly be making a positive contribution to the landscape as currently it looks a bit forlorn in the middle of some pretty well groomed farmland but wether or not that’s a case on its own remains to be seen

cb – to be honest we’d rather either build a single dwelling for ourselves on it or tidy it up, fence it & rent it out to local farming / agriculture – few folk have been in touch asking about purchasing it but my other half wants to hang onto it for sentimental reasons.

J

Richmars, there’s a small random row (4 I think) of council built terraced cottages from the 50/60’s across the road – about 30m away – so fairly sure there’s facilities in the area to connect to ( they do sit slightly higher as the landscape there slopes gently so wouldn’t obviously find out the exact details until we had a full site survey done which would be a bit further down the line)

Footstomper – my other half’s dad used to keep a couple of savage Shetland ponies & a one-eyed Clydesdale horse, Toby, up there so stables would be fitting! Problem is both of us work so suddenly deciding to throw up stables / kennels as a new bona fide business venture to get planning for a house on the land would be a bit of a stretch.

Ajc – that’s my worry, we’re hoping to do something sympathetic to the site/area which would be highly efficient, low impact (read “cheap to run”) & using modern construction methods, but it might not be grand designs enough, if that’s what they’re looking for.

Rene59, I like your style 8) but I fear my other half would rip my clockweights off if I suggested it…

Thanks fionap that’s interesting – the last 2 bullet points on “paragraph 55” give faint hope, as long as there’s a relevant section in the Scottish version that is… getting married in 3 months so we’ll be having a more in-depth look at options after that, don’t want to resort to the 40 foot haystack route!

Cheers all!
J

slowpuncheur – cheers for the comment, sound like you know a bit more about this than I do – I wasn’t aware there was a difference between “greenbelt” & “open countryside” designations but previous email correspondence with the local council planning department suggested it was greenbelt classification & referred me to the guidelines;

In terms of new housing, this can only be accepted where it can be demonstrated that there is a locational need for a new dwelling, to maintain and support a suitable and established use within the greenbelt, (such as agriculture or forestry). It would also require to be demonstrated, that there is a need for the residential use to be out with an existing settlement. If a case was to be made in support of a new dwelling, in connection to a proposed new, suitable greenbelt use, the applicant would be expected to live on site in temporary accommodation for a 2 year period, to demonstrate the need for a permanent presence on site, tied to the operation of the then ongoing and established use. Thereafter, a statement providing justification of this, would require to be put forward in support of any application for a new dwelling. In some circumstances, the conversion of existing, redundant buildings, which make a positive visual contribution to the landscape and are structurally sound and capable of conversion without substantial rebuilding works, can also be accepted.

The Beard – referring to the current greenbelt boundary map for the area it’s just outside the lines, that is a good point though – i’m not sure if that actual patch of land should have a different designation or if it falls under the same category as the surroundings? The land has been sitting vacant for 20+ years, the advent of central heating pretty much decimated the requirement for hardwood logs for heating purposes… maybe i could cash in on the current popularity & get permission for a nice energy efficient open plan sawmill & hand chop artisan timber in the living room work area for storage in the 3 bedrooms designated wood storage areas…

nickjb – a good point also, someone mentioned energy efficiency as another way of getting planing through against the odds, many councils are way behind of efficiency targets & new super efficient houses offset the rest of the stock…

Haha – looking at some of those other suggestions it’s worrying to think that folk have done exactly that!

How’s that bloke down south with the mansion disguised as haybales getting on come to think of it?

J

Cheers Morpho – some of that sound familiar from talking to folk at the homebuilding show, there was/is a couple of big old sheds on the land which are listed on the deeds & shown on plans & the concrete foundations are still visible. They’re old steel structures & largely collapsed – had problems with b*****S visiting in the night with cutting gear & nicking sections of I-beams etc. for scrap but that’s another story! (caught red handed – went right through to court then case mysteriously binned on the day :x )

2006 SC Chameleon I bought in 2008, ran that for a few years then I picked up a cheap 2006 Heckler frame & swapped all the bits over… then I slowly & stealthily re-built the Chameleon… then I decided that most of those new bits actually suited the Heckler better so swapped all the original bits back onto the Chameleon – everything’s interchangeable which is handy – rotors are the same size too so easy to swap wheels depending on tyre preference.

Also have an old 1998 Klein Mantra which I stripped & rebuilt a few years ago & has been lucky to see 20 miles of use since then, and that was on the road…

That made the Baby Jesus cry & wiped out the dinosaurs. I wonder it the front tyre has rubbed through the lefty yet or it they’ve corrected that by a simple 4″ dish on the front wheel?

Liking that saddle though – how much travel does it have – more than most 90’s dh bikes i imagine?

This site is interesting – you’ve all probably seen it before but it highlights the physical changes to a few popular breeds over 100 years or so that have proved desirable in KC etc. standards but to the detriment of the animal’s health dogs[/url]

Looks like I’m going to be buying myself a new jig soon and getting back into the world of wheel building…….

I did exactly that once & never looked back – ok so it wasn’t actually a “jig” as such, it was an old frame & forks upside down but the wheels have been pretty much faultless (I used the Roger Musson ebook as a guide)

This thread also reminds me my “jig” has been at the powder coaters since November… :?

Hmmm, not bad – but an old Italian manufacturer by the name of Stelbel are bringing out a new range of bikes which really do it for me… the dropouts on the new track frame are a work of art! (the old frames are stunning too)

I’ve got an old road frame with pretty much identical dropouts (running a 16t DX cog with a KMC 710 chain with a standard 9 speed Ultegra crank / 48t ring – all 3/32) – didn’t need a tensioner or even a half link in there – there should be enough movement in the dropouts to take up the slack unless you’re cutting it close with tyre clearance etc, I had a wee bit too much slack at the rear of the dropouts but eventually bit the bullet & whipped off another link – sits nearer the front of the dropouts now but even with a qr it hasn’t moved in the 20 miles or so i’ve ridden it since building it up a few years ago…

J

Not amateur admittedly, but GWAR’s cover of West End Girls is worth a bash…

My other half leaves the ipad on with an audio recording app running sometimes during the day – purely to make sure the dog wasn’t barking all day & driving the neighbours mental – transpires our dog walker puts on a funny voice & has full on converstaions with him – it’s brilliant, i.e. Dog: “bark bark bark” Dog walker: “now I don’t think that’s any way to talk to me mister” dog: “bark bark bark bark” dogwalker: “well how am I supposed to get your arms in your jacket when you won’t sit still?” etc. etc… Better than eastenders anyway.

But yeah, if you remove the camera – sneak another one in to monitor your toothbrush*

*this might be a terrible idea if she needs a Forrest Gump and uses your bathroom & may result in a visit from the local constabulary for unwittingly filming your dogwalker depositing her afternoon “u-bend-straightener”.

One of my mates swears by this (a large measure, straight) to cure any hangover:

To me it tastes like a mixture of bile, earwax & used engine oil, but hey – it did make me forget I was hungover, as I was too busy trying to wash the taste out of my mouth with rank swimming pool water… :|

The lightest v brake wheels I had (still do on an old Klein) were the last pre-disc Crossmax at ~1600g the pair, not sure what the rims alone weigh but the lightest 26″ disc Crossmax now are about 1450g for comparison.

I still think the main benefits are more reliable braking, maybe nicer rim profiles & obviously your rims will last longer so you can justify nice spangly ones – or even Open Pro CDs / those nice Grey TB14 which won’t look scruffy after a few months of use but that’s purely from an aesthetic point of view… still important to some though 8)

Yeah, I checked the weight after posting it & was quite surprised how beefy it was – looked at the Alfine 8 one a few years ago before they introduced a 50cm frame, the 52cm one had a 540-odd top tube & was too big, ended up with a Charge Filter Apex from wiggle with 50% off it instead. Don’t know how much weight is in the Alfine hub & the fork as i’d imagine the frame itself to be reasonable?
J

Personally I have never ever worn out the braking surface on any road rim. I rode the entire winter last year with only a front brake. plan your route, look ahead and read the road properly and you rarely have to brake at all.

Fixed?

I wouldn’t be put off buying a nice road bike with rim brakes if I was only going to use it in good weather, for longevity I wouldn’t stick factory wheels with proprietary rims on it though.

What would you do then? You can’t use (rear) disc hubs in a rim brake frame, so you’ll need new wheels anyway, what difference is it if they’re factory wheels versus custom builds?

For the avoidance of confusion – I would quite happily buy a road bike which only ran rim brakes, however having gone through 2 sets of shimano factory wheels (rims only – hubs were fine with regular maintenance) in 2 years on my old roadie commuter (which got used pretty much every day in Glasgow through everything except sheet ice), i’d go with handbuilts instead so that after a while I didn’t have to retire a whole wheelset due to non-replaceable (well, not economically) worn rims. Plus I like sitting surrounded by hundreds of small pieces of metal with nothing other than steely determination + several bottles of harmfully strong lager to turn them into a functioning bike wheel I can be almost proud of :?

Also – I have a couple of pairs of disc wheels for my old Charge Filter which use 130mm rear disc hubs (Novatec D352SB http://www.bdopcycling.com/Hubs-D352SB-10.asp) – one pair are built with Alex xd-lite rims which are disc only but the other pair I built with Halo Aerotrack rims for use with 25/28mm tyres so can use those on a road bike at a push (then permanent marker over the wear on the black surface :wink: ) Think White Industries also make one but that’s on the spendy side for me!

J

Far more common to get a slight rub on a disc brake, where tolerances are far tighter.

With the advent of road hydraulics this will become far less of an issue with self centering pads – even the bb5s on my commuter (which aren’t the greatest tbh & require a bit of fiddling to keep working optimally) have needed less maintenance than the rim brakes on my old commuter through thousands of miles of crap weather every year.

Also – with the disc caliper being near the centre of the wheel any flex / wobbles at the rim are pretty much negligible but with rim brakes can be felt much more so as a few mm of movement at the rim can be easily enough to rub brake pads (or fork legs in the case of my old commuter with rims of cheese)

Having said that – I wouldn’t be put off buying a nice road bike with rim brakes if I was only going to use it in good weather, for longevity I wouldn’t stick factory wheels with proprietary rims on it though.

I’d echo what others are saying about going into the local Police station & making a complaint face to face, ultimately, even though you might not be badly injured, you’ve been hit by a car driven through a red light & they’re duty bound to investigate it if you complain.

If you have her number / address, request her insurance details – legally she has to comply if there has been an incident which has resulted in damage to property unless she and you are happy to settle it between yourselves (and that’s ignoring the potential damage to you personally). Take the bike into your lbs & tell them what’s happened – ask for a written quote for replacing all damaged parts, including checking frame alignment / checking any dents or deep scratches for structural integrity – get photos of all the damage too.

Don’t know if you got any witness contacts – these might be useful in case she suddenly decides she can’t afford to fix your bike or collect any points on her license &and it was YOU who jumped the light & went into the side of her car…

Sadly in these type of cases if you’re not “the f*cker” you’re the one getting…

In short, be “the f*cker” but be polite about it.

Hope this helps!
J

I picked up a green one for £20 in the Braehead store – was still showing as £40 on the shelf ticket + a Craft l/s baselayer for £10, well spotted op!

They also had a few Gore Contest jackets for £50 – managed to resist…

One of my mates had a Bedford Rascal van for a while – he’s 6’5″ & it was hysterical seeing him driving it, even more so with another of my mates (6’4″) in the passenger seat! It had twin sliding doors & he could take a running dive into a forward roll through it… just because.

Back on track, i’m getting shot of my trusty Honda Prelude soon as it’s rather impractical & was looking at an old Mazda 2 as a cheap runabout which could fit a couple of bikes in – anyone any opinions on these?

Usually i’d just use the availability of a spare set of wheels to build a whole new bike around as everyone knows a whole bike takes up less space than 2 loose wheels… ahem… but alas the frame & wheels are 130mm disc flavour so aren’t readily swappable with much at the moment.

I know the idea of sticking a SS wheelset on a bike with front & rear mechs is slightly contrary but I have spare wheels & an inquisitive mind so might as well give it a bash until I replace the cassette on the other wheels & generate some more spares to find uses for!

j

Cheers guys, yeah i’ll be using the standard 2 x 10 setup already on the bike & basically swapping the geared wheelset for one wearing a ss converter with a Shimano DX 3/32 16t cog (left over from a ss MTB experiment which lasted about 2 hours, haha) – as long as I line up the cog in between the front rings & shift the rear mech into line with that (then try not to touch it again) I should be golden right? What could possibly go wrong?

On the Sthil chainsaw oil – is it just a cheaper “normal” oil, i.e. – attracts crap over time like Finish Line Wet etc.?
J

I quite like the Finish Line Ceramic Wax lube – one of those lubes where it makes a very noticeable improvement instantly to the smoothness & noise of the chain, once the solvent evaporates off it dries in then migrates off the chain leaving it fairly clean, quick wipe every couple of rides & another light application & you’re good to go. I used to use the Finish Line Green stuff which is pretty good but does attract road/trail grime like the aforementioned crap magnet… been thinking about the UBS for commuting as I only do it when the weather’s half decent & the drivetrain seems to stay reasonably clean unless it’s left to fester for weeks at a time.

I do like the idea of stuff like the UBS & Progold Extreme that apparently leave the drivetrain clean-ish – probably give the UBS a try next time.

J

I’ve built a couple of sets using the Roger Musson ebook thing – first set I built have done around 3-4000 miles & never been touched since, used the upturned frame / forks as a jig & patience, lots of patience – be methodical is the best advice. I find finger tightening the nipples (fnarr) until they start to grip then working round every spoke & giving them a full turn or two each for starters, after that a full turn / half a turn each until the tension starts to build – address any issues as they appear & check for true each time you get back to the starting point. I try to get the dish close as I go – if it looks off centre as you build the tension up, give one side a half turn instead of a full turn, if your tension is too high once you start to dish, every slight adjustment makes a massive difference to the shape.

You’ll also need beer & some high grade swear words.

I’ve got an older Charge Filter (Tange Infinity) which the Plug has taken over from – been commuting ~40 miles per day 3/4 days per week for the last year & I love it, comfortable & handles reasonably well – I tried the CDF before purchasing it but the geometry felt wrong for me – had a really long top tube, 540+ on the 52cm which was the smallest they did at the time. I eventually built new wheels for it round Halo Aerotrack rims with 25c Duranos for road use which livened it up a bit & stuck a Thomson seatpost & stem on it along with a couple of other nice bits to slim it down a bit, it’s still no lightweight but it now feels lighter that it actually is (around 24lbs or so) – can’t really fault it or justify replacing it with anything else tbh.
J

Chakaping – if you haven’t sent the medium cross jersey back yet I might well be interested, is it the ls one?

Cheers,
John

Arghh – was looking at the ls cross jersey a couple of days ago & now no mediums left – one of the nicest jerseys i’ve seen in a while imo :x

donks – Member
Get your self a Santa Cruz chameleon, it’s almost impossible to be bad at manuals with these.

I’ll see your challenge & raise you 1 complete inability to manual! :D I blame my short arms.

Another vote for an older heckler from me – year and a half ago I bought a mint 2006 model, anodised black flavour with a DHX coil shock for 200 bangers – built up slx/xt 2×9 with Pikes, Hope wheels & brakes it comes out around 32lbs & feels like it will take far more than I could ever throw at it, but not too beefy to pedal all day either, probably could knock a few pounds off it fairly easily