Clubber: unless you get scale its cottage industry territory.

However if you can put a financial £notes figure on what you need to live and ideally be happy then its worth a shot but there are very few rich people in the bike trade. But happiness doesn't have a value.

The reason Madison bought Saracen is purely because the cost of launching a new bike brand from scratch is prohibitive, especially if you want that brand to go beyond the niche enthusiast. Madison is one of the biggest players in the UK bike trade so I think that says alot.

The Pastey example is a brilliant one. They got all that press a few years back and where are they now? If I were you I'd ask them.

Get yourself a internship / apprenticeship with a framebuilder and learn everything you can.

I like the fact the ref who made the wrong call about the beach ball has been forced to look after this weekend's glamour tie: Peterborough – Scunthorpe. That'll teach him!

PDI is NOT a lawful requirement.

You may be interested in: Bicycle Shaped Object[/url]

"There is hardly anything in this world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and those who consider price only are this man's lawful prey"

John Ruskin

I'll take a beanie if there's one going spare! My 4 year old boy would love it.

Email address in my profile.

Mark

Joolze, your website appears to be up and running again so I look forward to seeing your snaps.

I think it should be renamed "Dust til Dawn".

My fourth year doing D2D and my favourite so far.

Apart from the trauma of trying to get our tent up in the high winds during the afternoon the course and conditions were perfect, and the organisation was excellent as always.

I think the best D2D course I have personally ridden.

My favourite parts of the course were Helter Skelter, The Pumps, Pork Pie trail and Double Shocker. The first half of the course definitely being the better in my view.

The exits on some of the bomb holes were a bit of a joke. I think buckets and spades should of been on hand from the cadets and prizes for best sand sculptures.

Riding my final lap at 7am and seeing the sun coming thru the trees was a real highlight.

Funniest moment was watching the guy in front on The Pumps sitting down the whole way and bottoming out his rear suspension until eventually the rear suss fought back and shot him over the bars. He was ok.

Bringing the event forward a week was also a good move as weather has turned and probably raining this weekend.

Stumpy, I take it you didn't do it last year?

Doh! Well spotted, changed it now. I was happy when I rode it that's for sure

Here's my video of the same trail taken last week

Here's some guidance on opening a bike shop[/url]

Interbike TV has some good stuff although is a bit cheesy in places

http://www.interbike.tv[/url%5D

That's a tough one.

My instinct would be to be open with your current boss, basically tell him what you've just told us. Either he'll understand and deal with the practice manager – hopefully in a positive way which won't make things worse – or he'll call your bluff and tell you to get lost.

Sounds like current job is a good earner so in the current economy probably worth keeping. Use some of that extra cash to put more into your pension.

If your bluff is called take the new job and address the issues of lower money by making cut-backs etc. The plus side is more time with kids and bike which I'm sure your wife can appreciate.

I am going thru something similar at the moment and I am considering taking a pay cut to get out of current situation and start again.

Good luck!

GoPro cams are the best.

I started using a Flip Mino as its cheap and quality is ok. I got a strap for helmet / bars. I soon found i wanted to do more and also wanted better footage in both video and still.

I actually quite like the trade show stuff. But…

I wish the gang would learn how to use video properly!

Like garlic bread video is the future, but the ST posse need to learn the basics.

A better camera for starters. Plan the review / interview. Possibly better sound, especially when its noisy. Learn how to interview someone. Try to have 2 people doing it, one to hold the camera and the other to talk etc. Some of the stuff from Eurobike was really poor.

The other thing I would like to see more of from the shows is some interviews with people. There's always loads of "faces" at these things and I'm always interested to see them for real as it were. However, as with the above, do it properly not like a sixth form media class.

I've just ridden Welsh trails (Whites, Brechfa etc) with 1 x 9 and had no probs.

I am probably returning to SS now but it was worth adding the rear gears for a weekend like Wales where I knew I wanted some extra help going up and down.

No, this one!

Hey if that means I can get 30% off a bike I'm happy for our Transport Minister to suck anyone's cock!

BMX Bandits!

Gotta be "Tread" with Hans Rey and Greg Herbold.

The scene where they have been riding all day and are deciding what to eat is a classic which my mates and I repeated for years.

Has to be done in a Hans voice: "Good food or healthy food? Good food!" (cue enormous burgers!)

Others: The Collective, Brighton Aint Ready, Sunday In Hell, The Road to Paris

Another vote for the dhb's

Halfords won't want you to get a brand that is not theirs as it costs them more money. Halfords own brands, ie, Carrera, are much more profitable for them than say letting you have a Giant because either they will have to get it at full retail or with only a small discount. Obviously you could take another of their premium brands like Kona or GT but you are limited.

Take into account price rises and lack of supply and Halfords will do what they can to ensure you take one of their bikes.

It's posts like this which underline why the scheme is threatened with being culled.

Inland Revenue and Dept for Transport are already looking into the scheme because of the level of "abuse".

It's not our / your fault of cause, its a loophole in a scheme which was launched as over 10 years ago with not much thought and is now a multi million pound business.

About 60 – 70,000 bikes a year sold.

Politically it would be silly to kill the scheme but in the current climate who knows. The man from the revenue who cut the computer scheme says he is "agnostic" about this scheme and if he does not believe it is in the interests of the tax payer it will be cancelled.

The problem is that there are no controls in place to make sure the bikes purchased are actually used for the purpose of cycling to work.

Some recent research has shown 50 – 60% of bikes sold thru the scheme are to people who already own a bike. Many responses to that I know but the idea of the scheme is to get more people cycling to work, not to get those who already do it another bike on the cheap.

My preferred option would be to cut VAT on bikes and also offer incentives to employers so they get bought into the scheme to actually make it work. For many employers its another box-ticking exercise with no real commitment to make it happen.

Thinking more broadly cutting VAT also allows the wider population to benefit, whereas at present only those in employment can. If you are currently retired, unemployed, self-employed you cannot take advantage of getting a low cost bike.

Its not particularly secret and us locals are a friendly bunch.

Sort out of relevant to this thread is the following from a bike shop owner:

One of my regular customers recounted this, the other day; he’s in his 80’s silver grey hair, cycles all over the world.

Anyway the other week he was cycling up by Achnasheen,(single track roads with passing places), when a car passes him, and the driver offers words of encouragement: "Going well young man" etc

Some time later, he can hear another car behind him, this time the horn is sounded. Then, It’s sounded again, a little louder. So he twists round, and gives them two fingers. The horn goes again, So, he sticks two fingers up again.

By now he’s now shouting. "I can’t make myself F*&!#ng Invisible !"

So he pulls over and the driver gets out the car.

It was the same guy, who had given him the encouragement. He had returned with a lunch pack he’d just made up, including cold drink wrapped in an ice pack, freshly made sandwiches etc.

MR Agreeable – you have mis-quoted me. I actually said "the death knell for most (if not all) publications who do not offer something of value."

My point being good printed publications can thrive if they are doing something which their readers want / like, ie, great content.

You can increasingly get the internet on the train, and that will only improve as coverage does. You don't have to take your laptop into the toilet. You could take your phone or other mobile device. Or a mag.

Of course the web is chock full of dross but its easy to find that out and you don't have to blow £3 or £4 to do so. Personally I can't understand people saying they think MBR (or any other mag) is cack but keep on buying it. Vote with your wallet and the publishers will either listen or die.

Your example of WideOpen is exactly what I was referring to.

End of the day its horses for courses, personally I rarely buy any mags or newspapers anymore. However I now read more (printed) books than ever before.

Don't worry guys it will all be over soon.

The internet is the death knell for most (if not all) print publications who cannot offer something valuable to their readers. As bike mags go that might be content such as great photography or good writing. But how valuable is the question. Personally I don't value it enough to buy any bike mag.

The dross will struggle to maintain subscriptions so will either have to improve, disappear or go online only. Or possibly become free but the overheads would have to be stripped out to the point where free would probably not be viable because ad revenue would not be enough.

I'm no expert – as you may have guessed! – but I would suggest that bike publishing must be at a bit of watershed. We're in a recession. More mags and sites than ever. Future publishing are a real giant online and print. The web is developing at a pace and users have higher expectations for quality, variety, interaction etc.

Lets face it bike mags – even the good ones – can only write about so much before it gets dull and repetitive. The web offers lots more in terms of social networking, video, audio, instant access to loads of different content and opinions. And its all free!

I no longer subscribe to any bike mags, just found them all too samey. If I want to know about product I will use Google, friends, forums like STW and bike shops.

I bought the May issue (i think)of ST whilst at a lose end waiting for a train. First time I had bought it in about a year. It kept my attention for an hour or so and my kids liked the pictures.

I think you can see how things are developing as people like Future and also ST get into events, holidays, shop etc. Incrementally different ways to support and develop different subscription models not based simply on buying a mag.

I understand that ST has a growing readership. But in the context of a declining market. So in the short – med term probably ok but longer term who knows.

Going for a lie down now.

We are there racing AND filming: Mark & Paul = The Bongo Pedallers.

Hope to produce a short film of the experience of racing and capture some of the fun and people.

This is our pilot episode (if its good enough) and will be online sometime next week, so register on our website or follow us on Twitter if you're interested in seeing what happened: http://www.thecycleshow.tv[/url%5D

Twitter: @TheCycleShow

We are there racing AND filming: Mark & Paul = The Bongo Pedallers.

Hope to produce a short film of the experience of racing and capture some of the fun and people.

This is our pilot episode (if its good enough) and will be online sometime next week, so register on our website or follow us on Twitter if you're interested in seeing what happened: http://www.thecycleshow.tv[/url%5D

Twitter: @TheCycleShow

Mark

I would buy a new saddle. I would imagine only a few people would bother to get an old one re-covered, and I think that worn saddles – the classics like Brooks – look better that way and I presume feel more comfortable because the leather is worn.

Tis sounds like a lifestyle business with a limited market which means it will only ever be a nice hobby which might make you some extra pocket money.

Drop the date underneath the headline and on same line or below "mountain bike festival" bit.

Use the extra space to make the headline bigger.

Take the headline out of the awful yellow box and lose the three "B's" logo which looks like Mr Blobby and his two mates doing strange things to each other.

Drop the road signs for something a bit more natural / cycling friendly like wooden trail signs or similar.

If its a MTB festival need more imagery to reflect this as all I can really see is a soundsystem. Maybe lose the speaks and replace with a single bike image or a few different shots.

Keep everything else.

Where do I send my invoice?

How about something along the lines of the cycle to work tax scheme is a complete joke and has more holes than a fishing net. I'm chuffed that me and my mates have all been able to get really good MTB's that will rarely see the commute to work, but will give us loads of fun at the weekends.

Plus I think its excellent the scheme has contributed to reducing the profitability of local bike shops by as much as 30%, whilst also creating a highly competitive market between C2W scheme providers only because the Govt did such a bad job of creating the scheme in the first place that it needed middle men.

The impact on local bike shops is particularly evident at a time when overall bike unit sales are flat and in some cases declining during a time of significant shortages. This has the impact of reducing their profitability which in turn means they'll struggle to invest in new stock and people to support all the new cyclists which apparently are flooding our streets.

Or something like that.

How about something along the lines of the cycle to work tax scheme is a complete joke and has more holes than a fishing net. I'm chuffed that me and my mates have all been able to get really good MTB's that will rarely see the commute to work, but will give us loads of fun at the weekends.

Plus I think its excellent the scheme has contributed to reducing the profitability of local bike shops by as much as 30%, whilst also creating a highly competitive market between C2W scheme providers only because the Govt did such a bad job of creating the scheme in the first place that it needed middle men.

The impact on local bike shops is particularly evident at a time when overall bike unit sales are flat and in some cases declining during a time of significant shortages. This has the impact of reducing their profitability which in turn means they'll struggle to invest in new stock and people to support all the new cyclists which apparently are flooding our streets.

Or something like that.

Immobilise is a great system which works.

I was involved in some of the development of it into the bike sector a few years back – it was kick-started by mobile phone companies – and its biggest strength is that it is probably the only system used by nearly (might be all now) police forces in the country.

One police officer said to me recently that bike theft in the UK is staggering and there is no sign of it reducing. Amazingly most thefts happen from the home, ie, garage / shed etc. Systems like Immobilise are really useful in getting bikes back to their rightful owners.

However the main downside is that if the frame number is removed it makes identification even harder. This is why some companies are now trialling RFID systems to either replace or compliment frame numbers.

According to the news last night they Govt are working on a “worse case scenario” that forecasts 100,000 people EVERY DAY contracting swine flu by August!

Which means every one in the UK will have it – or had it – within 2 years.

Something to look forward to then.

I always go for the “Ted Rogers”, sometimes known as “The Dusty Bin”.

3 on top. 2 on the back and sides. 1 on the sideburns.

thanks team

I’ve just got a Gary Fisher Ferrous 29er and I love it. Its my first 29er and honestly not sure I will return to 26. Feels very quick, great traction, gives you the impression of being solid on the ground if that makes sense. I was concerned it might feel a bit cumbersome on tight singletrack but not a problem.

Piccie of new bike here: http://twitpic.com/7gd61

I had posted the pic on this site but seems to have disappeared.

Great, thanks for that. I had actually been looking at a different instruction manual on the RS site.