I would say if you are not looking to buy and will be working in Filton, rent for 6 months in the utterly dull, harmless and deeply popular Bradley Stoke as its packed to the gills with rental properties and you can walk to Filton from a lot of it, or bike.

Lots of people aspire to live in Bradley Stoke as its considered 'nice' and people aspire to it. I cant imagine any place more dull and it circulates entirely round a giant Tesco. But its a reasonably nice area for a short let and its a good place to get the hang of what commuter traffic is like, and good for travelling out to other areas so you can view where you might want to rent next. Rentals vary from studio flats to biggish houses. Most of the rooms and gardens are tiny but that makes them competitive in price. Think 6 months of good value usefulness then get out!

Tried a couple and they never picked up properly. Then bought a Kensington reduced to £12 in TK Max last month and its really good even though my ariel is at the rear of the car. It will run off the ipod or from the cigarette lighter. Like listening to a normal radio station.

I would suggest trying to borrow one or 2 from friends/work colleagues etc to see which works best with your car set up.

Has anyone checked the legal position for refusing the right to apply?

Suprised the human rights act does not cover 'entitled to freedom to work' as it seems to cover all other sorts of fairly obscure corners!

I dont think I would have chosen hers!

"It appeals to me that the belt would have a really long lifespan as well..AND IT CANT BREAK!!!"

It may be tough, and have a good life span but it seems unlikely it "can't" break. Belt drives in other environments including car engines wear and fail. They may have a long lifespan, but I know of someone who had a timing belt in their car snap less than a month after having it fitted. Wrecked the engine. I know its a different environment, but "can't" still seems improbable.

Several Cateye Micro wireless units – one on each bike. Fit and forget to some degree and no anxiety over crash damage, less space used up on the bars, not end of the world if I forget to take the main unit off and it gets nicked, no need to remember to swap between bikes. Been very happy with them, hence several. Also have a Garmin 305 GPS which I occasionally use for walking and biking info (wear on wrist) but really the micros are more convenient for casual stuff. I am not worried about route finding or getting lost.

I really like it.

Use the Apple software for free. Don't buy any of their products or music, block access to their shop (option in the software).

Your gain, no money to them. Simple.

They are on Chainreaction as well.

I wonder why she has 'gone off' …

– a bloke who thinks women he does not have sex with are valueless people?

– a bloke who sees no value at all in genuine friendship and fun

– a bloke who sulks and writes people off the moment he does not get what he wants from them?

Gee, a mystery isn't it?
I think you need to evaluate yourself, not her!

Marks and Spencer used to sell a fairly big range of '2 glass' mini bottles. Not been in that area of the shop lately so no idea if they still do.

If I am left alone with no disturbance it is 10 hours almost on the dot, has been for years and it puzzles me it is so precise. Make do with around 8 most of the time. I guess biology varies between people and also what we are trained to 'make do' with.

If it already hurts to walk and is holding you back what is there to loose long term as you are already having significant problems that are spoiling your life.

My flatmate had a cartilage trim around 3 weeks ago – the scars are 2 tiny paper cuts each less than a centimetre long. He had surgery at 2.00 and was walking out of the hospital as normal by 9.00 the same night.

He has spent several years putting up with it, which meant loads of normal walking about in countryside which he could not do. It spoiled several of his holidays. He has been told his cartilage will never be normal (as it does not regrow) but that in practical terms now it is trimmed it will no longer have any negative effects on day to day life long term, so things will be masses better for him.

How long are they saying it will take to get worse arthritis than the pain and disability than you are already suffering? Remember there are knee replacement ops which might help with any problems later on if there is no arthritis for a long time and these things get better and better. Try the various roadie forums for info on cycling with knee damage, knee replacements and hip replacements – they all seem to have no significant problems once its done.

Years ago I used to drive an expensive car (no, not my own) and if for any reason the engine stalled, you could only tell by the rev counter dropping to zero. The vibrations and engine noise were so low when the car was not moving that you could not tell the engine had stopped.

I would suggest, before you make any choices, that you find out what options and support are available to you.

Get legal advice on your standing.
Do not under any circumstances move out of your house until you have legal advice. You may also wish to look into applying for custody of your children.
Go to the citizens advice bureau and find out what financial help you can get
http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

Sadly, people who cheat sadly tend to cheat again. If you stay together you run the risk she will just cheat and leave you in a couple of years anyway. Also staying together 'for the kids' as my parents claimed they did, did nothing at all to benefit my sister or myself – you are left with an unstable unhappy home which is 'all your fault' or seems so as a child.

Best of luck to you and your kids whatever you decide. I am sorry you have been hurt and cheated on. No one deserves to be lied to in that way.

Ask her where she got the bike from as your workmate/sister is looking for somthing similar.. would she recommend the bike/shop she got it from etc thats a fairly harmless icebreaker and not too direct.

Or just pass her a nice note saying you would be available for coffee sometime if she is interested and this is your number or email.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Shyness can be very appealing to women – glossy and very confident implies you have made a similar approach to too many other women.

When I used to ride biopace I had no problems. I still have the bike but its not used much at the moment. Bradley Wiggins still rides some kind of related design style, rather than round rings.

Even the successful Paris scheme has had to ask their government/city for a huge amount of additional money due to the number of thefts (thousands of bikes apparently) and vandalism. The revenue from the bill boards cannot cope with the replacement costs of the bikes.

I hope the London scheme works out. It is certainly better set up than the failed and now non-existent Bristol one was.

I would go for the turbo trainer as then she can bike outside in the summer etc. Exercise bikes are sooo boring. You could get her some Spinervals DVDs or something similar as just sitting there peddling at the same rate is a bit dull and pointless.

'Boris bikes' Boris will be laughing all the way to the election with his name associated big time with a project initiated by someone else.

Its interesting to see how so many papers and web sites are speculating on the increase of bike hire schemes in the UK, citing loads of cities, yet they are all carefully ignoring how the Bristol [Cycling City remember !] Hourbike scheme flushed down the pan sometime round last May. Almost a conspiracy of silence on that one – even people who cycle and live in Bristol don't seem to realise it went bust.

I find it puzzling how it seems to have so successfully have been kept quiet.

So what did the BBC actually say when he 'disappeared'? Is it just a holiday?

I can't stand Chris Tarrant, never could. Same ego as Jonathan Ross. I quite like all the extra people that come on with Steve – its a lot less dull than one ego manic DJ droning on about himself which is what much of music radio is about. And thank god the ultimate boor Wogan has gone.

I hope he recovers ok, but to be honest I have little time for people who go off doing high risk or long term ventures (referring to his other stuff not just biking) when they have very young kids. Its selfish and self absorbed. They know they might be injured or not survive and don't care what happens to the children they have created. Do that stuff before kids or when they are older.

Kemp Brothers in Broadmead are a very long established (decades) and reputable firm doing classy jewelery etc. You could seek there advice as they have a good reputation and are a family firm.

I used to hate him when I was in my teens but I like him now. I too had been wondering where he had gone. Assumed he was on holiday but there is no mention of this on the BBC web site and I cannot find any general web references to hols or any other place he might be. Hope its a joke he is ill. They may have announced his whereabouts on the radio I guess, but I only listen intermittently, if I am in the car at the right time.

Interesting history of company:

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hadland/raleigh.htm

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/catfoodrob/choppers/history/history1.html

Maybe you are bored of the type of books you have normally read and need a change of reading material – from fact to fiction, from SF to mystery etc?

Are you distracted or stressed?

I am an addicted reader (yes, cereal packets!) but even I can go for a few weeks or months on odd occasions when I dont feel like reading.

Considered trying an audio book for a change – loads of CDs of all sorts at your local library – handy when fixing the bike.

If you have any doubts at all go back to the Docs – better to go back pointlessly than spend the rest of your life wishing you had, because some problem could have been stopped in time….

I know of 3 people who have had a general. 2 of them were really worried about feeling ill/sick after. Tell your doctor if you are prone to feeling sick after a general as there are things they can do to help stop that if you are prone to it. None of the above ended up feeling sick or having other significant problems when they came around.

The most recent event (2 weeks ago) said he really enjoyed the coming around as it was relaxing and dream like and he would be happy to experience it again. Op at 2.00pm and back home just after 9.000pm walking to the car in a perfectly normal way from the ward.

You might want to consider it could be put down if it gets to a rescue center but no one adopts it. There are way too many unwanted cats for them all to be homed.

A cat on our street was abandoned by its owner and attempted to move in with me and my flatmate. We did not want a cat. We did not want any pets. We however could not face the risk/guilt of causing it to be killed.

We love the thing to bits now and its been here about 5 years. Its moved a friend in as well in the last 6 months as you might see from a prev post. Its arrival has caused problems with a neighbor and we did not want another cat. Its charm itself and very amusing. It shows no sign of moving out, and strangely now we seem to be glad.

Give up, love the cat – less guilt and a lot of rewarding moments.

Oh joy, another chance to tell the younger generation they should admire someone thick enough and greedy enough to drug themselves to death. Just the hero to promote as worth worshipping to the public and younger cyclists.

More bike shops due to bigger market. More sales overall for the manufacturer, spread across more retailers competing with each other.
People grabbing money while they can milk the situation.

Plus cycling is becoming 'Fashionable' in the worst way – note the growing number of comments you come across from many sources extolling women to 'look pretty and fashionable' while on their bikes. I can hear the clothes industry rubbing its hands in glee in the steady drip of money.

Some of them do. Most of them dont. You just notice the ones that do.

A friend tells me all cyclists jump red lights. When walking through the city the other week, we do a count and more actually stop than jump.

You notice only the things that irritate you, everything else pretty much passes by.

Also there are a lot less really expensive cars than really poor cars, so that skews the results anyway.

No idea what they are like for tall people, but I am 5'4" and shortened the stem by an inch to reduce the reach. My flatmate who is about 5'9" was also happier with a shortened stem. Neither of us have normally ridden drops though.

I bought one of these bikes on impulse in a sale and within 3 or 4 months had bought a 2nd one. Mine are both the less expensive models of the available pair.

Plus points:
– Very fast light acceleration.
– Quick steering.
– Fun to ride.
– Easy to maintain as standard parts, nothing weird.
– All parts can be moved to a different frame because they are standard, if you decide its not the frame for you.
– Nice kit on it for the (sale) price.
– Frame nicely finished with welds smoothed off.
– Bike is light about 9kg so easy to lift into cars or up steps.
– Frame nice and stiff.
– Low step over height.
– Can carry a pannier rack with no problem (use front panniers due to height).
– Easy to store as you can turn the handlebars/front wheel to face the back of the bike, shortening it even more.
– Carrying spares is lighter as the inner tubes are small and so easy to pump up!
– Easy to get more than one of them in a car (hence 2nd purchase).
– My flatmate loves it, so I hardly got to use it until I bought a 2nd!
– I have heard someone did London to Brighton on one and also come across a forum comment about an older chap leading a club run on one very successfully.

Minus points:
– You might have to fiddle with the front dérailleur settings. The handlebar controls are for a triple up front, but its actually kitted with a double. Result is a poor set up sends the chain firing off the side of the front big ring. I have got both of mine to stop doing this, its a shame the bike shop did not put the same time and effort in before sending them out to people.
– Occasionally if the chain has not fully shifted you have to repeat your hand movement to get it fully settled on a ring. This is a minor inconvenience in practice, and far better than having the chain fly off as the alternative.
– Brake comes on if you turn the handlebar all the way to one side – they have cut the cables a bit short. I solved this by just relaxing the cable a bit so the brake came on further into the pull. I prefer 'softer' breaking anyway. I guess the stem shortening may also have helped. Again, this in not a big issue.
– I guess you loose a bit of top end speed as the wheel diameter is small. Depends how fast you pedal!

For reviews also look at:

http://road.cc/content/news/1443-first-look-giant-escape-mini-zero

http://road.cc/content/review/3119-giant-mini-0

If you have any more questions, post them here. I will try to check back and answer them if I know the answer, in the next couple of days.

Shop around well, they are half price in some places. They sell tons in Japan and are often listed as 'mini velos' on the internet if you want to see the huge range of brands and designs that are sold abroad.

I would recommend this bike as fun, handy and just the thing if you want to pack it, lift it, store it in a smaller space and just have a bit of fun while still having a light rigid frame.

SimonBarnes – exactly my point – they get used for everything, perhaps they are the most fundamental tool – so how can someone not have any and yet say they have a toolkit. 🙂

Desperate 'I cant get a man types'…. mmm so none of the men there are desperate 'I cant get a woman types' then? Seems improbable.

Why would anyone of either sex be there if they could pull just by stepping out of their front door?

I would be less interested in his position/downfall if he had not spent so much time slagging off other people and bigging up himself over the last 18 months plus. The ego has landed. If he had been a decent human being I would be rooting for him now.

Wiggins is not doing great but deserves admiration – he does not openly trash other people or treat his colleagues like scum (as Contador got to experience).

Just came across this

"Back in our heyday, we never gave anything away. I don't want them saying, 'Let the old man have one.' That's not what this event is about. It's a hard sporting event. The best guy is supposed to win on a daily basis, on a three-week basis."

So is he trying to tell everyone he is so loved by the other riders they would do this? I wonder how well liked he is by the peleton?

He seems a very ruthless man, but curiously I have found in daily life that a lot of people seem to like and admire selfish ruthless personalities, even if they are the ones getting crushed by them in the process. People puzzle me. People seem to follow strong leaders almost like sheep, even if the path is idiotic, they follow.

How can anyone not own a screwdriver??? Its pretty much the most basic tool there is. When they said they had all the tools they need, I wonder what was on that list 🙂

I respect Wiggins for being honest and for trying hard. I must admit I find it sad but satisfying to see Armstrong struggle as he has been so boastful about himself and so deeply nasty to other riders and people in the past. I too have wondered if he was getting less 'assistance' from things this year. It seems very improbable that someone could deteriorate so hugely in just a single year from ageing. If everyone deteriorated physically at that rate, we would all be dead by 45.

Oh well, I guess its just me and my friend it hates! Glad you are all doing better.

I tried the Play.com system the other day and at least that one works.