My excuse for the odd ‘fek, fek, fek’ is that I’m signalling to the chap behind that I might be in a spot of bother in a moment so please try not to ride into me.

Cheshire – where new money and old money collide.

I moved out of West London to near Leatherhead. For 50% more than my old 3 bed terrace I have a largish 4 bed detached house with over 1/3 acre (not that big really but nice). When I have seen one of those TV buy house programmes I see how much more I could get in some very attractive places away from the commuter area of London but I have all I need here whilst still being closish to places I might have to go for work. One day a few acres would be nice though!

As is said it’s very much London by the sea. Riding to it a month or so ago, coming in over the very attractice Devil’s Dyke route and into a very busy, dense sort of a place was really depressing for me!

It was then discovered that a crucial washer had been omitted on medium frames during factory assembly. Cotic addressed the problem immediately and the chainstays on all faulty bikes have been recalled and replaced.

Yeah but can’t use waste oil as a strategy – only works for a few.

If less people want to buy cars and more want to buy 2nd hand cars then the prices will get closer together so that there is always a market for new cars.

We need people to buy new cars….

For some reason I like Pumas but dislike TTs! Though the recent one looks better. IMO the Puma was the best option for the cash – needed something smallish for living in London but fun for the countryside and spacious enough for bikes and gear – which it is with the rear seats down….

There’ll always be people buying new cars so that scheme will increase the volume; £2k off a small car is a nice dent. I bought my current car, a Puma, new but from a car supermarket for seemingly a good price – actually that’s 8 years old now so would soon be old enough for the scheme but it’s only done 52k and given me no problems whatsoever so would be wrong to scrap it – whatever you may think about Pumas!

Only in the short-term, in the long-term we’re all gonna pay big!

Withnail must be the film I’ve watched more than any other; trouble is it’s about the scripts and characters more than the story which puts some off as they want a good story!

Many think the energy rating thing a waste of time in that they wouldn’t buy or not buy based on what it says – old houses generally have more character but are less efficient, new ones generally have less character but are more efficient…. Well, that’s why I left the aging sash windows in my old Victorian house anyway!

Yeah The Matrix didn’t really do it for me.

I was sure I would like the Kill Bill films but think they’re great!

Withnail is great, so’s Crash (the good one?!).

Well IMO there’s always something that can catch you by surprise; for instance sometimes cars pull out of side roads or onto roundabouts with little time to react – maybe 2 brakes won’t save you either though.

Well I liked Pulp Fiction, Shawshank a lot! And Sixth Sense too – well only worth watching once really.

Titanic – has to be over-rated right?

ET is good for kids I suppose.

The Gladiator is OK but over-rated too IMO.

I met a chap who’d removed all the paint from his alu frame – emery paper I guess. Maybe it would make a battered frame look better but I couldn’t be bothered with that.

I think it’s ashame that the car scrappage scheme doesn’t take mileage into account as well as age.

Get a good rating on everyone’s favourite mtb rating site:

mtbr

nickegg – he probably doesn’t realise so you need to tell him. Every ride. Also give him a suitable knickname to help get the message across. And steal his food.

I’ve ridden that McMoab with Jim; I did it OK but a crash would hurt so I was wary!

This has been making me smile recently:

Sparks

The lightest pedals I’d go for are SS egg beaters though I think Ritchey do some light ones that might be good. I’ve used egg beaters but prefer Shimano for reliability/cleat wear and use 540s though prefered egg beaters in use probably.

I like them – and don’t think the weight saving for folding ones is much – 50g each maybe? I have both in 2.25 and I like to use them when it’s mostly dry and think they’re great then, use them in Spain and anywhere technical really on my 2004 S-works Enduro. The extra weight/rolling resitance is just extra toughness and nice big, grippy knobs.

How much weight was saved by making that slot?

Hmmm…I heard a similar story but no money involved and the guy doing the work eventually admitted that he’d had a vasectomy…. Probably best to get some sort of medical examination done first.

They’re both on Ebay – is that the best place to get them? As long as the bearings are OK the outer part should wear far slower than plastic surely? Are they a bit noisier than plastic?

offthebrakes – I didn’t receive an email from you; can you mail me without an attachment please?

aP – Probably out both days; fancy a road ride on Saturday?

Could you send me the gpx too please? Address in profile.

According to the description this is a medium route – so is there a loner one? It’s not too long though; that route goes past the end of my road in Great Bookham and regularly do that kind of thing but never up Boxhill though plan to add that on sometime – however we sometimes climb Holmbury twice and go over more to the west of Pitch Hill so probably similar distance overall. I think it will be hard to follow without following a gps so take a lot of time – not that it’ll be easy with one as there are so many tracks about.

Let me know if you want a guide.

Look straight to me and they measure 90 degrees at the bottom. Mind you I suppose they could be swaying a bit when measured?

Apparently the towers on the Humber bridge are 1 or 2 inches further apart at the top than at the bottom which proves the earth is curved or bent or something other than flat. Assuming they are vertical….

Well for any mate! Mentioning that you are recently single will get an assortment of pulses going, bringing up the idea of experimenting with a lady and they’ll be doing wheelies outside your window….

Is this thread just a way of drumming up a bit of interest?

To be honest I was thinking of when I went to Highgate School and was told to stay away from a certain area of Hampstead Heath where men meet each other for games….

I have a related question – would it be inappropriate to suggest that a gay man would find it easier to find casual sex than a straight one? I’m led to believe that this is the case but is it frowned upon to say it…and is it true?

I would have assumed that the guy asking the question was intending to be funny as otherwise its a fekkin stupid question. IMO….

Campag are sponsoring their next tour….

It would be more useful for people interested in the course to know the average salary received after course completion, how many succesfully complete the course and how long it takes, on average, to get a job on completion. I suspect if this information was available less people would take the course so probably best they don’t mention it!