I'd favour replacing car tax with a HUGE increase in fuel tax. Fuel needs to be three or four times the current price it is in order for us to have any serious impact on oil consumption and to make an impact on the forthcomming mess.

If fuel price quadrupled and consumption were to be halved, even then we still would be re only a small part of the way we need to go. 90% reduction in fossil energy is a hell of a task.

I'd vote immediately for any party which was going to dramatically raise fuel duties and spend the money on green energy. Shame there isn't one.

Thanks Buzz, I'll try stitching them as well from now. Perhaps that's the key.

Ear plugs and feather pillows. zzz.

Use them and you'll soon realize it's more scary without.

Are they reliable? Read the stuff. Mine gets used evey single day and has now done 10000KM, all I've ever done is change the oil once and reverse the sprocket. I ride in gritty Surrey, seen or heard nothing except smoooooth running yet.

3. Is it compatible with a slot drop inbred? I guess so. Youll need a device to take the torque. I ride a Thorn frame so it's all taken care of within the drop out.

4. What crankset / chainring do you run on the front? Is this fixed or can you alter the range? I'm running 38T Alloy RaceFace ring. It seems very hardwearing and has stretched 8 chains into the recycling bin so far, and is still going. I expect to replace it within another 1000KM.

5. Are they pretty heavy? Do you feel this more with it being rotational weight?
This rotational weight thing is total nonsense, and is often flagged up by people who have never ridden a Rohloff or thought about what they are saying!. Remember that "moment of inertia" is proportional to mass and radius^2. The Rohloff weighs 1.7Kg but has it's mass centered probably 4cm from the axle. Say you have a average rim weighing 450g at 30cm. The rim alone has 15 times the moment of inertia than the Rohhloff hub!. In other words adding just 33 grammes to the weight of your rim adds the same rotational moment as a Rohloff hub. Your tyre selection could easily make this difference. The rotational moment is totally dominated by your choice of rim and tyre. So ignore the whole "rotational weight" thing, it's irrellevant.
The absolute mass is a small issue, and as I say I don't notice it on the bike.

I find water is quite OK.

I'd have cracked them three weeks ago and enjoyed them all the more, nice and fresh.

Organic jumbo oats, and make it with water. Throw in banana and raisins.

You can handbuild a pack with a big soldering iron. It's not recommended by manufacturers, but has been done a lot by modellers etc over the years and it works. You need a BIG HOT iron to make the joints very rapidly (wire between the cells), because too much heat will quickly damage the cell internally. Only apply the iron for one or two seconds, and instantly cool the joint with a cold wet cloth held on tightly for a little while.
Works OK for me and I've built pack for cordless tools and 2M radios etc.

"Zapping" cells to recover them often works for a bit, and is easy enough to do as mentioned. There is honestly no danger of the cell "exploding" if you pump some amps in for only a few seconds. – But once you have to do this to old cells, they tend to rapidly go short again.

AndyP says "healthy burger does not compute "

We sometimes make freaky completely raw burgers in the dehydrator. This is the antidode to normal food. They are amazingly tasy and very filling. There are plenty of recipes about on the web. You need to filter out the really good food from the pseudo science to find some very good stuff.

Look out for a Californian weirdo called Juliano. Highly Recommended.

From what you say then it was probably 60's and 70's. We weren't getting much then so it probably makes no differnce what you say for your medical. Just make it up. The only ones I know we got at school in 60's and 70's were:

Polio (Potentially did you more harm than good, and likely as not wouldn't work anyhow).
Tetanus (- Little point anyone having it unless you plan to put a dirty fork through your foot and leave it to fester. Also it only works for a short time, so you won't be current)

I camped in Ambleside park once!

If you really need to go electric, then there are electric boilers which would operate with a mass heat store. So a bit like storage heaters only wet plumbed, giving you much better control. ie you can't really switch a storage heater off (well you can sort of shut some vents, but most storage heaters are poorly insulated and once charged will heat the space whether you like it or not). With an electric boiler you can damp the heat output much better when the pump stops, same as gas. The heat store is central and can be much better insulated.

Still damn expensive mind.

BTW, – how noisy are these air source heat pumps? – Has anyone got one?

Of course it's natural. Everything is natural, how can it not be?

Unnatural things are green men from Mars, god, and the flying spaghetti monster.

This obviously nonsense, and you did the right thing ingnoring the daft ruling. I would have done just the same. (Fortunately our school has a very much more enlightened attitude). My daughter (age 6) has learnt LOADS about cycling on her ride to school. There are roads to cross and some very steep little hills to ride up.

Your school is doing the kids a real disservice, and you should (politely) tell the head, then just get on with it.

You might also put your carbon hat on, and point out to the head that driving 3 miles to school will emit nearly half a tonne of CO2 over a year. This is about half the total "allowance" your son is allowed under the requirement for 80..90% cuts in our emisssions. This takes no account also of his other emissions (largely food production and domestic/school heating). Your head is pushing un unsustainable future for the kids he/she is teaching, and is providing a very poor example.

Barefoot philosophy has much merit, but I feel not the MBT (unless you already have a problem to correct I guess). I wear a pair of Feelmax http://www.feelmax.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=45&Itemid=107&lang=en
shoes in the office. Lovely to wear, makes me smile every time I walk about, orgasmic, (OK..not quite), but well recommended and extremely light and comfy. They are intended for walking and running. I am a little afraid of wearing the (very thin) soles out so have not used them much outside yet.

Apart from the obvious synoptics, I have been using the mobile version of rainfall radar video.

http://www.meteox.nl/h.aspx?r=&jaar=-3&soort=loop1uur

http://www.meteox.nl/h.aspx?r=&jaar=-3&soort=loop1uur

Stick it on your phone and check it while you are out, It shows a 3 hour loop which is really useful. When a warm front etc is approaching close, you can pretty much predict what time rain will get you within about ten minutes.

My Focus estate TDCI 2002 is very good.

I bought it with 100K and now it's at 138K. I had a cam position sensor widget fail a few months back which stopped me dead. Easily fixed once the garage worked it out. Other than that no problems at all and it's been great. Changing the oil is a pain, which gets only slightly easier after a few goes.

It's very economical. That's the main reason I bought it. Mrs Mc boots it on short trips and gets about 50MPG. I always do much better than her, rarely less than 55. I can tickle it on long trips and average over 60 if I keep the speed down and never accelerate or touch the brakes. I once ran from Surrey to Suffolk and averaged 67, but I was focussed on the MPG and did a bit of slipstreaming also. Long trips to France/Spain with a big roof rack load 3 bikes behind, and pretty disregarding the economy (75..80MPH), I get about 43. (Bikes on the low towbar mount are worth about 6MPG). It also depends on the fuel. Last BH weekend we did 600 miles and I was disappointed to get only 53, but that was with a big roofrack load and unbranded diesel fuel which I suspected was rubbish.

Can you weight it and report back? (Me too after a 20"). Almost no manufacturers (Except Islabikes) provide weights. – I guess it's all too embarrassing for most of them.

Juice your own. It's also then very cheap, (especially from allotment beets :). I'd expect anything in a bottle to be horrible and would probably put you off for life. – I say this only if the equivalent of carrots is true, (ie bottled carrot juice is revolting, fresh is nectar)

Beetroot juice is good stuff. No idea about stamina, but you do definitely get a bit of a "veg high". Not everyone likes the effect. I'd guess that along with the good stuff, there are some toxins which you'd not normally be able to get at without eating half a dozen raw beetroots -which would be quite unusual.

It does make your poo a spectacular colour, and, as Miketually points out, gives you pale pink pee. Does that mean your blood runs extra red before your kidneys figure out WTF has just happened?

Maks sure it's more than (I think – do check) 2M from the house (see your <county>.gov.uk planning site and ask). If not the planners can get uppity. – May not be a problem short term, but when you want to sell your house it could become a thorn in your side.

I once "repaired" a 40 year old broken concrete garage (actually replaced it), which was ~ 1M from my house. They made me apply for planning permission so I could sell the house 3 years later.

If you are building a proper shed on that scale, then insulate it! (and the floor). You will really benefit from reduced condensation and comfort. Not to mention your bikes and stuff won't go rusty nearly as much.

You can investigate a good dose of flaxseeds with your breakfast. I think the evidence for Chloresterol may take some understanding, there are lots of research papers out there though.

Take your bikes and ride the Thames path. (just for eg. Hampton Court to Teddington? ducks, picnics..)

Hi Stevemorg2, – those Beinns are both 24" are they?

My Mountain Morph lasted me about 4 years. Then the non return valve failed. The valve is moulded permanently into the bottom plastic end of the pump and it totally not servicable. It got re-cycled into the metal bin a year ago. Other than that only other fault was I found the roll pin holding on the foot stand useed to work out.

Nice pump, very fast. I guess I got a reasonable life from it.

The effect won't be an overnight transformation. It's true that the majority of beneficiaries cycled to work previously, and would do anyway, but we have got some new long-termers now at our place. One of my colleagues now rides his bike in ~10Km each way (but only 1 day a week). However his ownership has encouraged his wife to get a bike, and now they ride together at weekends and even a canal/bike holiday recently. So there are knock-on effects.

For anyone who would ask, "Why do it, since determined cyclists would be doing so anyway?". There are still some arguments for it, if only to partially even out the status quo. It could be argued as encouragement for them to continue to do so, or to offset the gross unfairnes of a system which in effect taxes bike riders to subsidize the motorists: There is firstly the cost of annual carbon emmissions alone (some would say this should be £80 or £150 per tonne), yet is in effect completely free for the polluter. Then the cost of their massive road system (paid in part by cyclists taxes); The cost of daft government new-car handouts; The cost of "housing" millions of cars every day at employers car parks, (Thousands of pounds per car, and our employers pay so we don't see this money in out pay packets!); The cost to NHS of nursing thousands maimed by cars every year, or unhealthy through lax of excersise. All paid in part by cyclists taxes. The list goes on, and a Cyclescheme really is small beer in comparison to that.

Yoshimi.. "power shower and we both have 2 showers per day so reckon thats where a lot of it goes. "..

20 Litres a minute for a sillypower shower.. 15..20 minutes each = 600/800 litres/day just for your showers. Cost of your showers is about £35..£40 per month and that's just for the water alone. Usually the gas/electricity is a similar on top. You stay clean but it sure costs you!.

It's much greener to be more grubby and happy that way!

You about double the cost of the water supplied because they assume it's 100% waste, and sewage costs per M^3 are about the same. About £1 per M^3 for the water alone, £2 including sewage. So Yoshimi is using about 1 tonne of water every day 😮

Yoshimi: "2 of us it works out at £57 per month……….." !! You've got a leak then, or you are pouring it down the drain.

We are three in a detached house. I save about £300 a year. We are careful with use, and water+sewage bills are <£150 a year.

Water meters are great!

Soupe au pistou?

Or try any pasta with smoked tofu, garlic, really good oil, and and dark spring greens.

"1/3 bottle of sugar" ! Yuk, – I use none at all, (personal taste I guess).

Blackthorn = sloe.

Great year for the hedge fruit this season with the good weather we've had. The sloes will even get slightly sweet. Might still be a little early though, try some to see – wince:)

Yea, pretty much what I thought. Thanks for the tip avdave2, I'll ring Islabikes to see if they have any secondhand stock.

Best summer we've had for years down South.

That sounds about normal. Winter wear (main winter lube is mud), is much faster than summer wear. I do my best wiping gunk off every ride, but life is too short to remove chain every day and spend 15 minutes re-doing it properly. I'll usually wipe down and lube twice a week in summer, and every day in winter.
Overall I'd say my chains average the same life that you are getting.

Did you ever cross the channel on the old Hoverspeed? (Since deceased). Like a ride in a WW2 Bomber. Amazing

Maxxis Ranchero. Really fast on roads pretty good in majority of off-road conditions unless it's really gloopy. I've run them 2 years now. I only had to change them to get through the snowy week, they are now my all-year tyre.