Somehow, I’m not surprised by the fact that the most expensive vehicle by far is the motorbike.

Presumably only because he didn’t use it much, or wrote it off on the third ride or something. Try working out the cost per mile of a new MTB after the first weekend 🙂

^ Wot he said. I’d check the trap first before risking life and limb defrosting outside pipes 🙂

It’s Smiths, yes 🙂

inclemental weather

Weather that’s slightly worse than the day before?

try scrubbing a 29er?

You’re right, they do take a bit longer to clean.

🙂

Has that thing actually got Unified Rear Triangle suspension?

What, the Porsche? No.

If it’s gen 1, pull all that over engineered c**p out and convert it into an eccentric BB and run it single speed!!

I suspect you’ll find that the iDrive gubbinses is still present in that bike, otherwise you couldn’t run it as a singlespeed unless you locked the suspension out.

Older cars = cheap and easy. New cars = expensive and faffy, especially if there are deep body-coloured bumpers that need holes cutting in them.

I’m not sure that you can have done the sums right. Is a five year old car really depreciating at 15%pa? Not sure I’ve quite grasped the repayment bit either – have you allowed for the residual value after two years? If you’re expecting the mileage rate to pay off the car loan in two years then I think that’s a trifle unrealistic, but you’ll be quids in in year three 🙂

I sailed a Laser about 5 times 20 years ago and that is my total sailing experience!

I’d suggest crewing a two-man skiff before heading out in a singlehander. Musto skiffs/RS700s have a bit of a learning curve on them. Compared to a Laser, you’ll have a trapeze and a spinnaker to deal with, neither of which are optional. And it’s all apparent wind sailing going downwind, which is a totally different game to a Laser. There’s always demand for regular crews at sailing clubs, head to your nearest and have a look at the noticeboard 🙂

Greatly missed:

Not so greatly missed, but good racing:

Current family-friendly craft:

If you’ve got a sink, a cooker and a bed and windows in the back, you can change the vehicle type on the V5 to “motorcaravan”, which will mean easier/cheaper insurance and a higher speed limit 🙂 I don’t know exactly what the procedure is, though. The Self Build Motor Caravan Club (sbmcc.org.uk probably) will know all 🙂

+1 for the gastric reflux suggestion. Worth investigating at least. Both ours had it, omeprazol and gaviscon kept it in check (although you get recurrences when they outgrow the omeprazol dose…) and both grew out of it.

Ours has got factory windows, so opening both sides, and we use both. Although that’s possibly because the layout’s conventional with stove on the driver’s side, so we open that window (and the rooflight) when cooking (stove lid/heatshield stops the flame blowing out). And the passenger side at night for ventilation (although usually the sliding door’s not quite shut, partially for ventilation but mostly because closing it properly tends to wake our youngest up 🙂 ). We’ll also drive with them both open slightly if it’s hot – gets really warm in the back otherwise.

Um. Not sure that answers the question 🙂 I think ideally both, if you want to save the money have an opener on the passenger side to open into the awning. Maybe. Problem is that until you’ve used the van you won’t really know, although given how much you must already have spent on the van and the kit, the extra for two openers is relatively small beer 🙂

Re the Langster – it bills it as a track or road bike, but it comes with brakes. Can I not save money and order it without brakes? Can I hell.

Don’t get a post-2006 Langster for the track, they’re the wrong shape – they’re road geometry, all a bit slack and low. I followed a chap on a recentish one a while back, his outside pedal was clearing the boards by a gnat’s pube.

Track riding must be a wee bit dull?!

Why so? Because the bikes are simple? Holy logical leap, Batman!

didn’t find that on evans but will re-check

Google for “felt track bike”, second shopping link 🙂 Only appear to have 56cm left, though: http://www.evanscycles.com/products/felt/tk3-2010-track-bike-ec021711?utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=froogle&utm_campaign=froogle

black one like this:

Gunmetal FTW 🙂

£599

You’re in danger of getting very close to the price of a complete bike – I’ve seen Dolan Pre-Cursas at around £500. Saves a lot of thinking 🙂

I had a first-gen Langster kicking around in the shed, which is track geometry (unlike the current road-shaped ones) – debraked, rewheeled and shorter cranks, does nicely. Manchester would probably insist that I ground the cable stops off, though 😉