Ours has ended up on a tandem:

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They’re ever so slightly crudely made but they work. May need higher bars and if you’re below average height you’ll end up with your chin on your nipper’s head. +1 for wrapping passenger up warm — gloves especially.

On a full suspension the rear shock would sink with the weight of the seat and the baby i think.

Just put more air in, it’s no different to just being a heavier rider.

The mention of Woburn Abbey was a bit of a giveaway 🙂

How far gone is it? If it’s a long way off running/MOT you’ll probably get the best return by stripping it and selling the bits, if you can be arsed/have the space. People are always on the lookout for complete interiors, even (sometimes especially) brown 70s ones. Similarly pop-tops, windows, all sorts. Recon engine will be worth a bit. And for the leftovers, scrap values are pretty high at the moment 😉

but £700 for something that’s almost 100% rust?

I think I’d be a bit nervous about winching it onto a trailer. Wouldn’t be surprised if only the bit with the cable attached made it on 😉

Is it worse than this one?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1971-bay-window-vw-camper-project-/230734128233?pt=UK_Campers_Caravans_Motorhomes&hash=item35b8d36469

🙂

At what point does she get the garage to stop fixing it and start trying to sell it?

I’m going to go with “right now” 🙂 That thing about it costing more than it’ll sell for applies as soon as you start spending.

I for one would like to see proper enforcement of Advanced Stop Lines. They are cheap & easy to implement and make life so much safer for the cyclist.

Except when they encourage people to ride down the inside of HGVs at junctions, of course.

http://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk
http://www.redspottedhanky.com

We asked them what they’d prefer to be called and went with that.

I don’t have an issue with it at all. I just thought it might be an interesting talking point.

What is this, the Jeremy Vine show?

/looks around

Ah. As you were.

Can I do it that way too Dad

“You can try, but you’ll have to wipe the floor afterwards.”

🙂

Sorry wasn’t really directing it at you, just using the quote.

Ah. As you were 🙂

“They’re having a wee.”

Not so hard 🙂

Why should it matter anyway?

Not sure why you’re addressing that to me — the OP seems to have an issue with it, though.

I sometimes see fathers taking young daughters into the gents to use the facilities.

Until they’re old enough to take themselves into the ladies, there’s not much option.

Nothing wrong with a Stanley knife for normal plastic hoses. The clean cut is the responsibility of the user 🙂 I’ve got a Magura hose cutter but the business end is still a Stanley blade.

Mine’s a 1992 Cannondale 3.0series with random stuff thrown at it. Some old — Control Tech seatpost, Race Face stem, Titec bars — some newish — 9spd Deore groupset. It’s mightily tatty but rides quite nicely 🙂

The harder one to grasp is that they plan to try using this vehicle to travel upwind at a faster speed than the opposite wind speed!!

Given that it can travel 3x faster than the wind downwind, this seems entirely plausible. What I can’t work out is how it’ll get started. Downwind the wind just pushes it a bit until it reaches windspeed, but that’s clearly not going to work upwind. Or does it not have to propel itself from a standstill for it to count?

I think I understand it, but it certainly doesn’t lend itself to a concise explanation.

Or, to put it another way, yes 🙂

Below windspeed the wind just pushes it along like a kite. Once it’s rolling, the wheels drive the prop which generates thrust and accelerates it through the windspeed threshold. I assume the limiting factor is aerodynamic drag eventually. Or something in the transmission breaking 🙂

Edit: let me just think about this a bit more 🙂

he will refuse to listen to anyone whos view does not agree with his then comes in with this unpleasant mocking tone

Sorry, who are we talking about now? No idea about previous history, but in this thread teamhurtmore appears to be conducting a more civilised debate than TJ. Right up to the point where he clearly got impatient with being endlessly patronised, anyway 😉

Ta for tips. Got a couple of those covered, will get hold of the others 🙂

I remember a SAMS race at Queen Elizabeth Country Park with a forced dismount where the course crossed a fire road (that was a bridleway). Not entirely sure that carrying bikes over it would have counted as “not racing” if it came to a court of law, but there you go.

It’s a bit of a tourist spot, plenty of folk come down from That North on holiday, so any legitimate claims to visit will count. Local best, local and under 25 even better. I wouldn’t have though 40 year olds in Aberdeen who’ve never ventured further south than Carlisle would count for much. Use your discretion 🙂

Aerial. We lost the BBC multiplex (but ITV etc was still there) — nudged the aerial up a bit and they came back. Neighbour lost ITV but had BBC because her aerial had come adrift and tipped sideways slightly. RF + digital = weirdness 🙂

It’s always worth experimenting. Go down the ladder — branded, premium own-brand, regular own-brand, basics/value — until you hit “unacceptable”, go back one, buy that one in future 🙂

We get a mixture of branded/own-brand/basics stuff. Sometimes it makes a difference, sometimes it doesn’t. Never found any pattern to it — own-brand washing up liquid always seems a bit rubbish, own-brand dishwasher tablets work fine.

I don’t think I’ll ever buy branded breakfast cereal again, though.

Can we have this again? 🙂

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/9372056.Bike_rage_threatens_to_take_hold_in_Forest/#commentsList

The New Forest Association, is a members based charity formed in 1867 to protect and conservemake sure that no nasty oiks have any fun in our the New Forest.

NFA = reactionary NIMBY asshats.

Emphasis on speed in event ads not cool, however. Fuel to the fire, and all that.

Worst… in Europe

Now compare Europe to most of the rest of the world and get back to us 🙂

getting a big tube with steel at a reasonable weight and price, you’re talking very thin tubing

You don’t necessarily need a big tube, though. Because the material’s stiffer.

Looked at these ages ago. Had we just been a couple we’d probably have gone for it. Kind of small inside if there’re kids to accommodate, though. We had a local garage that specialised in them at the time, and even they said it’d be a bit cramped. Still have a soft spot for them, though. A powered elevating roof will never get old 🙂

+1 for Sugarsync. I like that you can just sync any folder/file — last time I looked at Dropbox you had to put things you wanted to sync into a specific Dropbox folder.

You get used to it. I’d run your saddle a bit low so it’s easier to set off/stop. Big wheels won’t help, but it won’t be a massive difference. Lower bars/your seat further forward would improve overall weight distribution (but screw it up for riding without the seat). Or a bar bag. MrsD’s bike has a basket on the front which her bag and stuff goes in which evens it out a bit 🙂

The three patents listed on the Spesh FSR sticker were filed on 9 September 1994, 16 April 1996 and 23 June 1997. I think US utility patents last 20 years, so the oldest of those has a couple more years to run.

VAT’s a bit of a red herring — air travel isn’t subject to VAT, so you won’t be getting a VAT receipt from an airline.

(I know the OP didn’t mention VAT but a few people have 🙂 )

+1 for Autoaid, cheap as chips, had to use a couple of times and has been as agreeable as breaking down on a motorway in the pissing rain with kids in the back is ever likely to get. Just don’t forget to claim 😉

So a recent email from the Energy Saving Trust’s transport division was just the ticket: promote and prove the benefits of ’smart driving’ to local authorities in 100 words. We were proud to have the final email – which packs costs, savings, benefits, proof points, a headline, two subheads and a call to action into precisely 106 words

They were asked to deliver the message in 100 words and delivered precisely 106? FAIL.

Plumbed in, plus a ‘leccy element for the mornings in the en-suite — we only have the heating on in the evenings at the moment. Can’t remember how powerful the element is, it’s a couple of feet long though. It’s wired to an immersion heater timer on the other side of the wall, comes on for 45 minutes each morning which gets the room warm enough to prevent condensation and make the towels pleasant 😉

You may already be doing this, but I found that putting my own lid on first helped a lot 🙂

Hope mine’s got that kind of ability in four months!

Four months is a long time at that age 🙂