I asked about using a GPS on the MTQ forum and nobody said No.
http://www.mtbmania.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=236

Anyway, I've done a couple of rides with the P350 running MM and it's OK, but not as good as it could be.

First time out, I had let my 305 go flat, so I just had the P350.
Sattelite reception seemed very poor, it had me jumping all over the place, sometimes several km from where I really was and then back again within a few seconds. I think the total distance recorded was 600km with a maximum speed of 400km/h. I did wonder if it was the snow, rather than the GPS itself causing the problem, but as I didn't have the 305 with me and had never used it in snow, I couldn't compare them.
I got the low battery warning after a couple of hours.

Second time out, 305 on the 'bars and P350 in a little top tube bag as I haven't made a mount for it yet.
Reception seemed better, so I guess it was the snow causing problems before.
Low battery warning after 2:30, so I switched it off after looking at it and switched it back on again next time I wanted to check where I was. It only took about 5 seconds at the most to work out where it was.

I still need both devices to do everything I want.
I can't rely on the P350 to record my route as it simply joins up the points where I switch it on and off with a straight line. It doesn't easily display current speed and distance either, so it's not just a matter of buying a bigger battery.

If I'm going to use two devices, I might as well have bougt a cheaper non GPS PDA to run MM and connect it via cable to the 305, assuming that is possible.

Another Land Rover here. :roll:
I used to have a Series 2 with a Perkins 4.203 as well.
Range Rover diffs, overdrive and 7.50R16 tyres meant it would do 55mph flat out.

If we include vintage trucks…

1943 AEC Matador. 33mph top speed.
1970 AEC Militant Medium Recovery Vehicle. 22 tons unladen. Towing a Samson CVRT on a trailer up Birdlip hill out of Gloucester, 36tons @ 204 bhp = 7mph.

I've also driven a friends Scammell Constructor. Originally fitted witha Meadows petrol engine, this one had a slower revving Gardner diesel. Top speed = 24mph.

I'm a slow typer. My previous reply was aimed at Snaps.

I have never preplanned a detailed route before a ride and don't think I ever will. I tend to set off with a rough route in mind and adapt it as I go.
I've got a Garmin 305 and I regularly overlay the route on to MM or Google Earth after a ride to see where I have been.
There have been many occasions on trailquests where I have been looking for a bridleway and been unsure if the track I am looking at is the right one or just a farm track. All I want is confirmation of my position on a screen in front of me.

No, but isn't that more or less what I'm doing anyway ?
I guess a more modern satnav would take a 16Gb SDHC card so I could load the whole of the UK, but it looks like 2Gb is enough for normal use so I'll stick with what I've got.

An update for the benefit of anyone else who may be thinking of getting something similar.

The Mio P350 is limited to a 2Gb SD card. It will not recognise SDHC cards.
I thought this might be a problem as the Central UK area at 1:25k is just over 2Gb.
However, it is possible to pan and zoom the map on the PC and just send the visible portion to the PDA. As an example, the 2Gb SD card actually holds about 1800Mb. The whole of the Wyre Forest plus a load of surrounding countryside and towns is 20Mb. I can easily get all the areas I am likely to ride over the next few years on there in one go.

I haven't made a handlebar mount and tried it out on the bike properly yet, but first impressions are that it is exactly what I hoped for.
The only critiscism so far is that as it is a PDA, the touchscreen is designed to be used with a stylus. It is just about impossible to operate with a gloved finger. I should be able to set it to scrolling map before the ride and not have to touch it again until I stop.
Having the map self align with the direction of travel upwards, like a car satnav, would be nice, but I can live without that.

…although the boot was big it didn't seem that wide and was pretty low so stooping to put bikes in and out I figured could give a few back problems.

If lifting a 15kg mountain bike in and out of the boot of a car is likely to give you back problems, are you sure mountain biking is the right sport for you ?

I can forgive the Highways Agency for "road service", when they obviously mean road surface, but "rainfall event" :roll:

Some trivia;
Normally, trucks have their tachographs calibrated every 6 years and checked every 2 years for older analogue tachos, or calibrated every 2 years for digital tachos.
The gritting gear is linked to the speedo so that the gritter spreads the right amount of grit per metre.
Gritting lorries have a full calibration every year to ensure they are always as accurate as possible.

A friend of mine drives a gritter. He told me about some new system that uses a liquid salt solution instead of rock salt. I think it's still being trialled, or maybe even still just a proposal. I don't think it's in use yet.

pikey's

can we stop using inflamatory language and names that confer a particular expectation in behavior and lifestyle

Can we also learn how to use apostrophes correctly ?

Another vote for Fitness Singles. It worked for me. :wink:
Try running. There's a far higher proportion of women in to running than mountain biking.

On my way to 151st male 50km…

…although, as always, I have my suspicions that not everyone who got back before me did the full 50km. :|

The more I read about modern technology, the more I realise just how out of my depth I am.

Right now, I have got a Mio P350 and 12.9Gb of Memory Map OS maps at 1:25k on my PC.
I thought all I would need to do is buy a 16Gb SD card and install MM on the PDA.
However, the P350 only supports SD, not SDHC (have I got that right) which limits me to 4Gb.
Do I now install MM on my PDA, buy a 4Gb SD card and just load the area I want on to the SD card ?
I can't get the GPS working on the PDA either. I thought it would just tell me my position as it is, the same way as it tells me what the time is. It now looks like I need some GPS software though. Once I've got MM on there, will I be able to use it as a GPS, or do I still need something extra ?

Thanks, Three_Fish. I'd looked on Hope's site and missed that.
It confirms that I've got a 6 and want a 3.

Onzadog, it's not the diameter that's a problem. If I was to mount the caliper on the forks, it would end up about 10mm too far to the right, closer to the spokes. Boxxer mounts must be about 10mm further to the left than standard.

khani, I'll have a look, but a friend of mine is in to bikes and runs his own engineering business, so getting mine machined may be the easiest option if nothing turns up soon.

Pace RC100

Go vegan.

I remember nitrogen being promoted for truck tyres a few years ago as it varies pressure less with heat. At up to 11.5t per axle, truck tyres can get very hot.
On board tyre inflation was another option. Automatically adjusting tyre pressure to suit the load and compensating for slow punctures.
Neither of them caught on.

Right, I'm learning stuff about Hope brakes I should have known before I bought them. :roll:
If the photo wasn't so fuzzy, you would see that it says M4 over 6 at the bottom.
The relevant page on Hope's site is blank, but looking at CRC, it looks like I have got a caliper to fit Boxxer forks.
Luckily, CRC have got Hope M4 caliper halves on sale, reduced from £35.00 to £34.99 :? although they haven't got the Number 3 that I want in stock.
It looks like taking the measurement off the rear caliper and getting the front one machined is going to be the best option.

Leaving aside the stuff I'm not going to post on the internet…

I used to work late shift as a truck mechanic.
Coming up to xmas one year, I told a friend's little boy that we had had a crashed lorry towed in last night.
It had gone through the M5 central reservation and hit a sled pulled by a load of reindeer going the other way.
There were dead reindeer and presents all over the road.
"What happened to the presents ?" he asked.
"They all got swepped up and put in a skip" I told him.

Thanks for the replies, looks like it's worth a try then as some expanders fit both carbon and ali, they must all be near enough the same size.

I've been starightedge for about 25 years. I don't use any recreational drugs, regardless of whether they are legal or not.
I normally try to avoid the subject in conversation. Most people seem disappointed that I don't fit their preconception of teetotallers as recovering alcoholics. :roll:

Bar ends, risers, a beard and lycra.
You can't get any cooler. 8)

You know those people who drive everywhere at 45mph ?
Straight country road with good visibility and no hazards = 45mph.
Urban area with zebra crossing and junctions = 45mph.

I used to go out with one. :?

You know how it is, you can't push your luck too far by asking an outright question or looking like you're criticising, but no amount of subtle "You're allowed to do 60 here" or "We've just gone past a 30 limit sign" comments made any difference.

I never got to drive on a motorway with her, but I'm fairly sure that if we had, we would have gone the whole distance in the middle lane.

I'm building a 29er at the moment.
However, as all sorts of rif-raf are now riding them and they are losing their elite niche charm, I am using a Rohloff hub to stay ahead of the pack.

Thanks Gary.
Foxy, did it then fit in an ali steerer ? Not that I don't beleive Gary, it's just that it's nice to have a second opinion. :-)

Someone must know. :?

To do it properly you need power rack, bench, barbell and dumbells (assuming of course that there's a chinnng bar on the power rack.

Well, yes, but only in the same way that to do mountain biking properly you need gears, suspension, special shoes for clipless pedals, etc.
Minimum requirement, I would say, is a 5' spinlock bar and two dumbbell bars, plus about 50kg of plates (discs), either cast iron or sand filled plastic.
The plastic ones do less damage when you drop them, but are bulkier, so you will run out of room on the bar as you increase the weight.

What they said ^.
Cheap dumbell and barbell free weights and basic bodyweight exercises beats an expensive multigym every time.

A cheap 1" spinlock bar is generally good enough for a beginner. If you stick at it you can move up to a more expensive Olympic 2" bar later.
Ideally you would need a bench and squat rack or power cage as well, but they are not essential.
exrx is the best weightlifting site. http://www.exrx.net/Lists/PowerExercises.html

I'm trying to do my own research on this, but I'm a bit out of my depth.
Reading one review, it says the older Mio P350 has better satellite reception than the P550 because it hasn't got WiFi or Bluetooth.
I don't even know what the difference is between WiFi and Bluetooth, so I'm sure I can manage without them if I buy the P350 for £98 .
If I've got the maps already, does that sound like a good idea ?

pdas or phones are much better for recording rides than navigating them IMO

Why's that ?
I tend to explore and make up the route as I go along. I'm not really interested in planning a route beforehand on the PC then following it exactly on the bike.
All I really want is a clear map with my location marked on it.
Which would be better, the bigger screen of a PDA or the robustness of a GPS ?

I'm in for 50km, and so is The Present Mrs Militant

That looks a good deal for £120 for a refurbished one if it does what I want.
4.5 hour battery life should be adequate for most rides. No mention of spare batteries though, so I guess it's built in and that is the limit without returning to a recharging point.
No mention of it being waterproof either. What do other people do ? Just wrap it in a poly bag ?
I'm sure I can come up with some way of securely mounting it on a bike as well without a specific bike mount.

I've got a bit left behind by technology and I don't know exactly what a PDA is and what it can do.
Just to be absolutely clear before I spend my money, if I buy this for £120, can I load areas of Memory Map at 1:25k on to it, then head off out on my bike and have my position displayed on an OS map on the screen ?
I'm not too bothered about waypoints and tracks and stuff. I mainly just want to know exactly where I am on the map.

Yes. Don't buy the special Stans rim strips though. Use 20" tubes split lengthways.

OK, so it looks like Memory Map's own device is the one to buy at around £250.
It comes with the UK at 1:50k and a voucher for a limited area of 1:25k I think, I'll have to go and check the full deal.
Can I then load any part of the UK at 1:25k straight off Memory Map on my PC ?
I'm not expecting to load the whole 12+Gb in one go, but supposing I was heading off to a new area outside what I had already chosen as the free bit that comes with the device. Can I just select an area on my PC and transfer it across ?

Who paid for the dishwasher ?

I can reverse a trailer, I understand mini roundabouts and I know that fog lights are only for use when it's foggy.
I think that makes me above average. 8)

On second thoughts, cycling on the pavement is illegal.
I don't want to buy a car from a manufacturer who promotes such irresponsible activities and contempt for the law.

I'm going out to buy a Volkswagen right now.
No, in fact, I'll buy two.

Simply counting the number of qualifications held by the staff doesn't seem like a good way of judging a shop.
Surely a shop with one mechanic with a degree in bike repair is better than a shop with five mechanics with a GCSE Grade D each.

Buy a Land Rover
Buy some snow chains.
Look smug. :wink:

I think fat people should be banned from Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. They spoil the view for everyone else.