Sounds good. Using roval traverse atm, are the old arch rims more narrow?

Thanks again.

Simone

Steady hand?

So are you running roval traverse wheels now? We have a few of the “old” e5 traverse sets and found them excellent! they do come with a 25mm convertor.

Simone

No?! Hereford….

We are in norwich.

Just spoken to my husband and we may stick to just structural changes. Opening up the kitchen and dining room by removing a wall, and adding an extra bathroom by removing the wall (above the other one) and taking a bit of space from two bedrooms. I know that removing walls is expensive, especially if the are structural.

We have had a loft conversion (bedroom up there only) about 10 years ago and the guy who did the drawings was quite good, we may get him again. I can’t really remember how much he charged, but don’t think it was over £500. He was the only one that managed to get it done as others said it could not be done due to lack of space on the landing and low roof.

Perhaps the first step would be contacting a structural engineer or builder and get some idea of cost and what bits will need supporting.

I was afraid of that, people not interested in small jobs! I am just thinking that with space and money being tight a great design is very important. We had one lady architectural designer around and she would charge £1350 all in for plans and getting it through planning and building regs. Not too sure if she is the one for us though.

Is that price about right?

I think Madison does a kids junior saddle, bout £17 I seem to remember.

Hth

Simone

Congrats! Well done to the ladies involved.

I like Isaac, naming your child is really hard!

My boys are ‘Rik’ and ‘stefan’, we needed names that sound good in English and in Dutch as I am Dutch.

Rik was the first one in nursery able to spell his name, well before Alexander. I love his short name, he has no other names (apart from his surname of of course). Not come across another ‘rik’ or ‘stefan’ in any of schools I work in yet.

I think people do make judgements based on names, really important to get it right.

Simone

dogtag – again, not cheap!

I used to run one of these on the front:

And one of these on the back:

When my kids were little (2.5 years between them, front seat from 9 months). Also had panniers and one of these:

All on one of these:

Bobike mini and maxi are great seats and easy to switch between bikes, hard work on hills though, especially when the kids get bigger!

My husband used both seats on an old marin, so no need for a dutch bike.

…being Dutch this was obviously ridden in the rain using an umbrella!

Simone

Some Rock shox dukes? I have some on my sons bike, they are air so work for his weight, are light and cheap.

Simone

Get her some lessons? I am never to sure on teaching anyone you are close to….

My son is 11 and plays drums. He is now going for his grade 5 and loves it (he wanted to do the grades, we did not force him). We did change teachers and now have a great one. Music lessons are never cheap, but with the right teacher are worth it. We pay £25 per hour and he has a lesson every other week (mostly).

Also try and find a place where they do “band stuff” with kids. My son did some workshops in Norwich where we live and it was not expensive and very good.

Simone

I do think the buyer gets charged for sending money as a “gift” if there is no money in the paypal!? So when you use your card.

I was told by tf tuned a manitou spring would not fit my 2007 ish vanilla shock (without the piggy back) thats on my sons norco b line 24. Something to do with the spring diameter…

I work for the local county council as a road safety assistant, mainly delivering road safety education in schools. Flexible, school hours and term time…I love it! I am based at home and have a range of local schools ‘on my books’.

Allows me to look after the kids.

However, pay is just as ‘flexible’ as the hours, so wouldn’t suit everyone.

Forgot to say, I know you are after just a frame, I may consider splitting…

Hi, I am currently selling my orange 5 in a 16″ 2011 (new headtube/seattube and dropper mounts), as it is a tiny bit too long in the top tube for me (5’5″, but a girl so long legs and very short body). It is the pro version with all hope coloured bits, coloured rims etc and is running 1×10. I also added a new bar/stem and seatpost.

Just taken some pictures of it here:

Was smothered in helitape from new (3!? layers in places) and has only been on about a dozen rides, so as new really.

Looking for £1875 for it.

Any good? If not I will list it for sale in the classifieds.

Simone

I am selling my 2011 orange 5 pro, just cleaned ready to go. Size 16″, looks new as it has only been ridden about a dozen times and was covered in serveral layers of helitape. Upgraded coloured hope bits, bars and stem and now running 1×10.

It is sadly too long in the top tube for me (5’5″ girl).

Stunning looking bike, looking for a little more than £1500, but not far out!

email in profile if interested. She is all ready to go and ride…

Simone

I agree with poly, brakes, your driveway sounds lethal! We have a drive on the main road and I am sure my husband said he would only get planning if there was space in the drive to turn the car around. This was about 20 years ago. So no need to reverse in or out. This is different if you ad more cars of cours and if we do we reverse in (sometimes after a long wait) or wait untill the 1 st car has left and turn the second one around. We also have to cross the footpath, and it tends to be the cyclist on the path that catch you out! They go much faster then your average pedestrian.

And to answer the question, no I would not walk behind a reversing car, and my kids would not either. But then I do teach road safety in schools for a living. This is the kind of stuff we teach 6 year olds!

Just checked the geo (yep nerdy I know) and the mega has the same top tube as my old hustler :-). Angles and other number looking similar too, all is good.

ART – you are right, I am thinking in favour of the mega!

Elsa – thanks for that, I was hoping the mega would build about the same as my old hustler, 30 ish lbs. I will probably go for a 150 rev or something for the front to keep the weight down. I know what you mean about the top tube, the orange is even longer on the 16″ I have.

fivespot – cheers for that, i do miss my hustler a little, so great to hear from you. I was thinking 150 for the trail centres and 170 or 180 for my alps trip with a coil shock.

And yes, small size cheap atm

ART – not nerdy at all, but very usefull! I think that on paper the mega looks better, and I think it will perform as well as the syren in the alps (with a coil shock perhaps). Still, no nice colour options 😉 Also the syren is a little more unusual.

Mugboo – thanks very much for the offer, we are in Norwich with no riding trips planned at the moment so bradford is a little far.

Yep, that’s the one! Don’t like the colour mind you, but the weight does worry me, although frame only it is not much different from the mega. May have to be a mega then….

Still giving girl geo a try may be good.

Mmm, they have had less then 10 rides, so don’t really want to send them for a service!

They are not f140’s, it just says fox float 32 series rl, they are from a 2011 orange 5. Just thought if fox 32 floats from 2011 are 150, perhaps mine have a spacer?

ART, many thanks, really

Still a little tempted by the transition syren though, but this is 160mm at least.

Anyone else ridden both?

Don’t think it felt too short on the 14″, the whole bike just seemed tiny, and just felt ‘wrong’. Perhaps the relatively long top tube on the 5 is not for me.

I had a go on the 14″ diva long, same as the men’s 14″. The saddle had to go so far up it just looked stupid! Also just felt a little small. 15″ would probably work….

I think the short 14″ diva is for women under 5′ (ie. children where I come from… I am Dutch!)

I am considering selling my 16″ 2011 orange 5 pro (current geo, 30.9 seat tube and tapered head tube) with full hope shiny bits. Only been on about a dozen rides, running 1×10. Starting to think it may be a little large for me.

Email in profile if interested

Severe mastitis was what got me admitted to hospital by my gp. Required antibiotic drip (they did not get the vain right and this drip was more painfull than childbirth!), and i was visited by surgeons on the pre op assessment ward. Got some decent advice from a pregnant auxiliary nurse in the end and ended up feeding till my son was 21 months.

And yes, it was me who wanted to do the right thing, by then no one was pushing me (quite the opposite really)…

I personally put anything that fits trough the door in the washing machine. This includes pads and body armour amongst other things.

One tip, anything muddy, give them a cold rinse before washing (or just a could rinse if you only want to get the mud out).

I often pop all gear (pads, camelback backpacks etc) on a cold rinse after a muddy ride to get the mud out.

Not sure if it does the machine a lot of good, but ours has so far done 9 years so can’t be too bad (although it is a Miele).

Go on, pop it in the machine! Just don’t wash too hot or on a high spin speed.

First of all, I am not sure about nct is the only way to meet new mums. I used NHS antenatal classes, but did not stay in touch with anyone. Did find them useful though, but not as usefull as friends/family/mums.

I did try nct coffee mornings, but found them a little too middle class, if that’s the right word (I am not sure, being Dutch). I did get much more out of local mother and baby groups personally. Try a few, some are better than others.

And be honest! There are times you won’t feel on top of the world as a new parent, be honest with others so they can support you.

And on the other subject……..of breast feeding…

[TRUMP CARD] my wife was hospitalised and put on a drip because of complications caused by persevering with breast feeding. at no point did anyone tell her to stop, in fact quite the opposite, until she saw a specialist clinician who was not linked to maternity care. some might call this clinical negligence.

I ended up being admitted to hospital and on a drip when my 2 nd son was 1 month old due to breast feeding. He was also referred to a pedeatrician at about 4 months because of very slow weight gain. I am very determined (or stubborn) so my 2 nd son ended up being breasted till he was 21 months, never came near a bottle. I think if I can do it, MOST people could, some people don’t try at all, or don’t try very hard.

On the flip side, a happy mum is a happy baby, becoming a parent is really difficult and life changing, and I can imagine the whole breast feeding thing causing lots of grief could be the final straw for some mums.

Cheers for that, great tips so far!

Hi mike,

14th or 16th would be great. Both me and my hubby have a 160 bike, so nothing too extreme, more am using lifts as we don’t like too many ups. Probably would be one of us,as the other will look after the kids.

david DOT simone AT ntlworld DOT com

Looking forward to hearing from you.

As perhaps you know your way around, any tips on where to take the kids? They have kiddy dh/freeride bikes, but especially my little one has not got the skills. Pre la joux? We can drive from morzine if needed.

Cheers Simone

That does not look good, better go and check mine! Glad you are recovering.

What has been said about road salt in winter makes sense to me though… and it does not need much. I was shocked at the state of our kids spesh hotrocks a few years ago when they insisted we took them to holland with us in december. Just the bikes being on the roof of the car when travelling in winter on some salted roads caused bits to seemingly corrode overnight! I was quite shocked…

We have extreme, just making sure…. We are not extreme trough, but you know what insurance companies are like…

Looks like a traditional ladies frame is your only option. The only way you can step through….

In holland they do a lot of frames with extra low in step, but these are all commuter bikes and heavy.

Look for a cheap mtb, where they do ladies frames with instep, or perhaps an old Specialized womens mtb frame. Long ago these were step through frames too I think….

Cheers, just ordered one of those 2.5 minion dhf exo 42a thinys, hopefully will be ok.