His book is in my wheel build box under the tv – has given hours of stress relief/pleasure in building many pairs of wheels of all sizes, from skinny to fat, off road and on, to the point where my lbs asked me to build some for them.

Noticed it starting with a tickly chest around Good Friday, cough started in earnest a couple of days later. Glad we didn’t pop in to see various elderly family members around that time. First 2weeks were pretty horrible and thought I’d cracked a rib by the end of week 2 so went to doctors and was recommended a blood test for Whooping Cough and an X-ray. Our surgery only contact you if something shows up, so I rang back a week after the tests just to be sure and was told all was ok from tests, so I then assumed pulled muscles and nasty cold. Until I got the letter today.

Thanks for the replies, I didn’t search far enough back. Looks like I’ve been quite ‘lucky’ with it as it doesn’t sound as bad as for others. I was vaccinated, but it was clearly too long ago.

Cheers

David

Metal end cap on cable outer was a cause for me. Every time the suspension compressed the cable moved and it squeaked, did my head in. Took ages to find.

I like my local bike shop. If they can get hold of stuff they can usually get it in as quick as I can get it mail order, so no delay there. I usually email about stuff I need, and I’ve given them enough business that they are happy to order for me with no deposit (yes, even expensive stuff) and always let me know, by email, that it’s in. Is this more expensive? Possibly, but i also appreciate their advice and know they will go a little further if I have a problem. I tend to build from frame up, cut and fit everything myself etc as I enjoy it and it is relief from my stress at work, but do get them to do work for me when I don’t have tools/fresh fluids/time and am happy to pay. You get what you pay for. Get it on the cheap? Ask yourself who is going short as a result and what the consequences will be, for you and for them.

Singletracksurfer – you have mail

I have a large Gryphon with Midge bars. Not straightforward to set up with racks, even with rear braiseons, no provision for mudguards at all. Ok to tour on (Lourdes to Nantes, camping) but left me wanting more. Will sell soon (too small for you though) as I’ve replaced it with a Cross-Check which is much more straightforward. Riding across Spain this summer, but on a Surly 1×1 with Alfine 8 and loop bars. No problems on this with racks or mudguards and actually prefer the multiple hand positions of loop bars. I looked for a Fargo frame but not available in my size for sensible money, hence the new Surly.

I run exactly that combination and the change in chain length works fine for me. Find I mainly use the 34 x18. However, is does clog up with mud more readily front & rear (Wiltshire clay). On-one sprockets are what I use as you can adjust chain line a little with them.

Empty, but will be replenished with King’s Ginger very soon. Or maybe Glayva.

I’ve been using Halo Twin rails for years. On road, off road, touring, put them on my wife’s bike too and they have been great everywhere. Even did a black downhill run in the Alps….wouldn’t do that again though it’s the only thing they’ve struggled with. Wear is great, don’t recall ever having had a puncture, roll really well and are around £20 from ISON in 26 & 29 flavours…..

It sounds like your dynamo is charging the light just enough to get the stand light to work and once the capacitor discharges out go the lights. However, Might be worth double checking all electrical contacts first and also double checking you have your positive and earth connections the correct way around (at lamp and hub). What type of bracket do you use for the lamp? It don’t know whether the lamp might earth itself via a metal bracket to your frame. Finally, I’ve met people with problems who didn’t realise that there are 3 modes on some dynamo lamps (easy to see if you look closely on the switch).

Once sorted they are great, I run Alfine dynamo hubs on two bikes and will soon build one for a fat bike.

Good luck

Salsa moto ace flatbars, 25.4mm, 660mm, 5 or 11 degrees, in stock from ison for £35. Surly do 666mm but they appear out of stock.

Guitar Ted, lacemine29, and Gypsy by trade can all be interesting.

Not a Swift, but a Surly 1×1, I use Old Man Mountain front rack, Carradice carradura front panniers (made in England, by ‘Sue’ if memory serves), SQR saddle bag. Carries all you have described and used in France, England and Scotland. May add an Alpkit frame bag if I need to take more.

David

Nope, still no good – the earlier post that worked is now gone too
😐

Can’t find a way of doing that – am using a galaxy tablet though, could that be the problem?

I’m guessing its the gaps before and after the link? How did you adjust it?

And its a fail

Test message coming up, from Dropbox…..

Good question…. nuclear industry will always want well educated and qualified employees, whether to build new power stations or to decomission old ones (I don’t see the world ever not wanting electricity, so it will always have a future). Npower used to run a really good apprenticeship/sponsorship scheme for engineers to work in the general sector, especially ndt, but I’m sure there will be others too.
CERN have paid (yes, really) programmes for graduates from all the contributing countries and its really good pay. The UK does not provide enough applicants for them, they would like us to send more (this is current, I was there last month).
At the end of the day pick a course that you think you will enjoy that takes you in the direction you hope to go in, and then embrace what happens along the way.

Good luck, and enjoy the journey

(P.s I’m a teacher who has worked in industry in the UK and overseas)

(Pps I’ve been marking all evening and out on a second job all day, so apologies for any spelling etc in advance to any critics out there).

Have sent emails to mcmoonter & mathewshotbolt

Tried Winstanley – they sent the wrong ones with missing parts…….

For how much, and whereabouts are you?

Try 5 10 Guide Tennies. Work well with good pedals, good to walk in, light, not too clumpy, not too hot, dry quite quickly, but not waterproof. Soles on mine are lasting quite well. I always use approach shoes summer and winter, have for years as I do everything from solo European tours to solo Scottish epics, summer and winter. Boost warmth and waterproofness using sealskins and/October cheap overshoes.

David

I’ve had a KM (last version, in blue) and it was nice enough, but the top tube always felt a bit high. Never felt quite right going downhill either and being corrected for 80mm suspension was limiting. Great mud clearance. You should check whether it is now ok to run discs and rack together as they did say not to. Sold it after a couple of years and decided to stick with 26″ wheels ….. but kept one set of 29er wheels ‘just in case’.

Now have a slot Inbred 29er (the wheels were looking lonely and it seemed a shame not to). Frame plus 100mm Manitou towers set me back £350 (Towers were on offer for around £150 with CharlieTBM and CRC). Much prefer the ride to the KM. Top tube is better length for me, standover vastly better, but mud clearance (whilst ok) is slightly less. Lower rack mounts look fine, but no upper mounts. Very happy to have swapped to the Inbred.

Depends on the length of your stem as the mount is quite long and it sits low. No spacers above the stem would make it easier to fit.

You can change your destination on the go without having to use a computer.

Your best bet is to pop into a shop and have a play, have a look at the mount too. Most ‘Cotswold’ stores should have one they could show you: http://www.cotswoldoutdoor.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/main.shops

Give them a call to check, and they will probably have the bike mount for you to look at too.

David

I’ve got one. You can get it bundled with OS GB 50K mapping for the whole of Britain, which comes on a SIM card in the box. The screen is much better now than it was on earlier units in terms of brightness etc and I liked the fact that I can change batteries easily if they run out.

As with all Garmins, software takes a bit of playing with and is not always intuitive. You can set it up to navigate a route on foot, on road or off road. We wanted to find a gallery in Bath, entered the postcode and then followed the arrows so putting in a destination similar to how you would on a car unit is possible.

Bike mount is expensive, but works fine. Despite the labelling on the mount I’ve run it on oversize and also standard size bars with no problems, on and off road with no slipping. I tend to wrap a bit of inner tube on bars when I attach anything to them which may help the cable ties to grip.

cheers

David

MrTall – OMM racks will certainly fit a 2.5inch tyre (I have one fitted to a Pugsley 100mm spaced fork) and I’d expect even the superfat Surly snow tyres would fit – have a look at:

http://www.carradice.co.uk/index.php?page_id=category&category_id=35

Mine is a slightly older model with the ‘dot sole’ which has been fantastic. In fact the actual shoe I have is this http://www.joe-brown.com/outdoor-equipment/boots-and-shoes/approach-trail-/scarpa-quest.html It seems to have been replaced by the Zen.

David

Try this ….. http://www.scarpa.co.uk/Products/Product.asp?ProductId=15

I’ve been using a similar Scarpa approach shoe now for a couple of years. Sticky rubber sole, stiff enough for 50 miles offroad in Scotland on flats and even worked well touring in France this summer (using Powergrips) and have done some fair distances walking in them too. Have also spotted mine being used in Singletrack by one of the Americans when the did a bikepacking story a few issues back (so I’m not alone!)

cheers

David

Lots of drops? you may want something more burly from Surly – try these (I doubt you'll get stronger) – http://surlybikes.com/parts/instigator_fork/ and around £75.00 from Wiggle and others

cut a piece of old inner tube to the length of the exposed section of seatpost, fit over seatpost, works without causing any damage

dirtbiker – if its a 16″ geared I might well be interested, but I’d want to organise a respray myself as a present for my daughter (her choice of colour). Any more details?

Be very careful – if I remember correctly bump starting can damage a catalytic converter. Not a prob obviously if you haven’t got one though.

p.s. if you want camping related accessories you’ll struggle to fine them for a Toyota, but there are shedloads for T4s avialable anywhere in Europe. We looked at Toyota conversions but were not impressed and we are big fans of Toyota cars.

We’ve had ours from new and it’ll be 6 this year.

Service intervals – some have a variable interval, but I think this needs to be reset by the dealer and our dealer seemed to be reluctant to deviate from the annual regime. We get ours done around June irrespective of mileage although I think it should be 9 or 10 thousand miles.

Bad points – cam belt change – VW changed advice on this and reduced the interval to 40,000 or 4 years. Risk running longer if you dare! The garage we went to (in Chippenham) totally cocked this up and didn’t reset the timing properly. Honest John seems to be correct about how difficult this is for a garage to get right. We got the water pump changed at the same time as if this fails it is driven by the cambelt and will probably kill the engine. Struts on boot (which has bike rack fitted) can’t keep the boot open when its cold (even without bikes on) but I believe you can get upgraded ones. Boot also has some very spiky sections – I ended up in French A&E after hitting my head on one. Blood, lots of blood.

Good points – French A&E are fantastic!!! Tyres lasted well, well over 20,000 miles for the fronts and 40,000 for the rears (I changed at around 3mm tread depth) and seem no more expensive than many car tyres. We had the exhaust done last year and that was only the rearmost section. Some work done on the steering last year (dealer advice, I hadn’t noticed) and rear discs needed replacing at first 20,000 service but not touched since. Oh, and I’ve changed the wiper blades. Pretty pleased with that.

fuel economy – Ours is 88bhp 2.5 diesel. 32 mpg is our worst (I’m a sad bugger and have logs of fuel fills for every car we have owned) and that is using the diesel heater when camping. Usually get between 34 and 38mpg, occasionally into the 40s on French main roads. Usually drive just below 70 on the motorway but will cruise at 80 plus very comfortably fully loaded. Fantastically comfortable for covering huge distances in one sitting.

road tax cost – just checked my disc from October and it says £210, may be lower if the van is older (ours is late 2003).

typical insurance – in the £300 to £400 region with protected NCD etc. Direct line were fine as ours is an authorised VW conversion (Bilbos).
what have you got in yours – full conversion with side elevating roof and beds for 4. Interior was custom done by Bilbos.Fiamma bike rack on the back for 3 bikes, which works very well though you may have to offset the gutters for the wheels to get 3 in place.

MrsTricky will probably post some pics later…..

I’ve got Halo Freedom (I think) 29er disc rims, the ones on their pre-built wheels. They are nice and wide, feel pretty comfy, but are quite heavy. I like though.