Got caught in a downpour towards the end of a ride on Tuesday, it certainly was refreshing, the only problem was that wearing glasses I could not see where I was going.

Any Android phone will do, the defy mini just happens to be small, cheap and quite robust.

You dont need a SIM as you can download oruxmaps and any offline maps you want using your home wifi, if you have it, the phone just uses GPS when your riding.

You will need an SD card as the offline map files can be quite large and oruxmaps writes to the card, the Defy mini comes with a 2GB card which I have found OK at the moment.

The Defy mini does have a removable battery so you could carry a spare, I have done a couple of 4 hour rides recently with oruxmaps tracking the route and the phones battery has had about 35% left at the end.

There are a few mounting options for the phone as mentioned earlier in the thread.

Hope the above helps.

If you have an android device, oruxmaps allows you to download OS maps and use them offline.

Cant get a link at the moment as I am at work, but the item number was 380651028725.

The cheap back case that I got off the Bay is a very tight fit around the phone, I think the case is more likely to come off the mount before the phone comes out of the case!

+1 for the Superstar grips, great value and quality.

Managed to pick up a Defy mini at Tescos for £39, have mounted it to the stem using a garmin etrex mount, slightly modified to get a flat platform and used heavy duty velcro to mount a plastic back case for the phone.

Tested it out this afternoon on a 25 mile ride taking in some pretty bumpy tracks and no movement at all.

The heavens opened half way round so also tested how waterproof the phone was, no problem apart from the amount of water on the screen causing it to open up various menus on oruxmaps.

Impressed with the phones GPS as it didnt lose the signal at all, even through some woods.

Result!

For the last few years as long as the exhaust hasnt got ‘not for road use’ stamped on it the noise is down to the testers descretion.

I tend to fit a db killer in mine, just so I am not taking the p**s.

Just make sure that everything on the bike works and you should be OK.

I bought a set of XT shifters from Merlin a couple of weeks ago and they came with the pre-cut outers plus caps and seals which was a bonus. I had just bought a complete XT cable kit, so could of saved myself £15 if I had known, at least I now have a spare set.

I used RCZ Bike Shop recently, great prices and free delivery on orders over £50.

RCZ Bike Shop[/url]

I used RCZ bike shop last week, found they were doing the latest SLX cranksets with BB for £80. Free delivery on orders over £50, order arrived by UPS in a couple of days. Top service.

I had the same problem with my Kenwood head unit, it is usually down to folder structure. The Kenwood can handle 255 folders containing 255 files, at the moment I have 1 album per folder, there are about 200 albums on the stick in the car and the head unit will play them all.

As the previous poster mentioned, the instructions will give you the file structure the unit can handle.

Have a look on Quidco or top cash back, the RAC & the AA usually have £50 or £60 cashback deals if you spend over £100.

I have been changing between the RAC an The AA for the last couple couple of years and end up paying about £50 a year for full breakdown cover.