http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15288975

I reckon the BED is useful for several
reasons. First, it reminds us that radiation is
commonplace. You can’t get much more
ordinary than a banana.

Second, we know eating one banana won’t kill
us. Not even nearly. Not without extreme
violence. This affirms an age-old point about
toxicity – that danger is in the dose. In other
words most things, radiation included, are only
dangerous in sufficient quantities. The distinction
between toxic and safe is not really a distinction
of kind, but of quantity. That goes for just about
everything from water and vitamins to arsenic.

There’s a lot of rubbish posted on this thread. A 1.9 or 2.5 engine is the PD engine, the newer 2.0 engines are common rail and supposedly more efficient. in both the 1.9 and 2.0 engines, the 84bhp versions are identical to the 102bhp, but with a different map. if you were to remap them, they’d be the same. ie, so why not save £2k by getting the 84bhp + remap than buying a 102bhp… I’ve a 2.0 and it averages 38mpg, it was cheaper insurance, cheaper tax and has better MPG than my previous Mazda 3. The driving position is significantly better than any car I’ve ever driven, its ace!

If you’re considering a vivaro or Renault/Citroen/Peugeot have a look at the common faults, gearboxes are a very common fault and very expensive to fix…

if you download the opera mini browser it cuts your data usage by about 90%. it compresses it and strips out the stuff your phone can’t display. it means its much faster too! its brilliant!

I use the web on my phone quite a bit, I’ve only used 111mb in the last month.

My RS pikes do exactly the same thing. I’ve read that its play in the thread of the u-turn adjuster. It only happens when the fork is not at the end of its u-turn range. When it is either fully extended or retracted the u-turn adjuster is locked in place against the end and can’t rattle.

Its bloody annoying tho!

We’re looking to do something similar this year. Hows about Verbier? From what I’ve heard, less DH orientated, but still lift assisted.

Interested to hear what other people think…

“Never seen it before”?! My A*se! :-)

Good skills tho!

I feel a bit sorry for the pit stop fella that used to put the fuel in… whats he going to do now!

I’ve an S8 and its grand. You need to be careful what bearings it comes with because as far as I’m aware its exactly the same as the S3 except it has stainless bearings.

The stainless bearings have a grey seal, the non stainless have a blue seal. I’ve seen loads of sellers on ebay selling ‘S-8s’ but with the blue seal pictured. I bought a spare stainless set of bearings from ebay and confirmed that they were stainless, the seller admitted they were ‘because he swaps them over’… sounded a bit dodgy to me! I bought mine from Merlin for £25, its been fine.

The braking material falls off my superstar pads when they get low. Its not that much of an issue because it only happens when they’ve nearly run out anyway, but it is something to watch out for….

I find them a b*gger to fit in juicy 5s if there is the slightest bit of piston sticking out (as there always is on my juicys). the ramp at the bottom of the pad isn’t sloping enough to fit in. a real pain when its cold on the trail and your fingers start to go numb.

I had my first trip out on flats at the weekend as well. I was very impressed! I just used my old running shoes, so it might even be a bit better with proper shoes.

I struggled with technical climbs though, trying to spin the pedal whilst going over bumpy stuff was quite difficult… has anyone got any advice?

I’ve had ghetto tubeless nevegals / blue groove, for the past year. It did take a bit of getting the hang of, but they both went up with a track pump in the end.

I’ve had no punctures, no pinch flats, no tyre burps, no re inflation of soft tyres, nothing. The tyre feels better, seems to give more grip, not much lighter though if I’m honest.

The only reservation I have, is that if I do ever get a puncture, it’ll be a nightmare to remove all the thorns in my tyres that didn’t previously result in a puncture before I put the new tube in….

Employing locals should be a consideration obviously, but that should come into the analysis of the tender. Which I’m sure total did.

Do you buy from your local bike shop? or do you use the internet to buy stuff? Its a similar argument. I’d never buy on the internet if I could get the same thing, in the same time for the same price at the lbs.

I don’t see how the Total/italian issue is any different.

fair point gus, but there must be some reason why the italians won the tender? I very much doubt they won it just because they are Italian…

Competition is only a bad thing if you get beat… if it stimulates other british companies to be more efficient, harder working and more viable then surely thats a good thing?

its a bit like the football debate, the influx of foreign players on the premier league…. It has its good points and its bad points but at the end of the day its law and there is **** all we can do about it.

I personally think the EU is a fantastic idea, but only if we embrace it. If we muddle on, bitching a moaning about EU this and EU that, we are doomed. If we withdraw from europe then we’ll have an even harder time as we’d have to put up with the americans which are even worse. (and we’ve got nowt to offer them, and we wouldn’t be able to buy electrickery off them either..!)

I very much doubt they’ve brought an italian company in to do work that will cost more…. unless the work is significantly better quality (but we’ve all driven italian cars..!)

They’ll do the same work for less money, or more probably less work for less money. Either way its irrelevant, the bid from the italian company was obviously more favourable. Thats all that matters really. Who are we to tell Total what to do? It is a free country after all….

Whats the difference between the ‘Total’ fiasco, and a london company deciding to contract a job out to a manchester based company? (who bring in their own employees) Its the same thing, but on a different scale.

Us brits need to get used to the idea of Europe. We are part of it, we’ve agreed to be bound by its laws, why the suprise??!

If british employees could do the job as well as the italian company, then they should have been used. I’m guessing they couldn’t so they lost out.

I’d have to agree with coolhandluke. normal rims (xm719s), 20″ innertube, wheelmilk + kenda nevegals. no problems what so ever. They never lose air and cost me about £3.99 for the innertube and £15 for the wheelmilk (enough to do 20 tires) all inflated with a track pump

only a slight amount of faff initially, but definately worth it.

I think a 5″ trail bike is perfect for the lakes. Much less and you’d either have to be a superb rider, or sacrifice something in your riding. But it all depends on what you are planning to ride. I think most people in the lakes would never look back after going to FS for the first time. Ideally two (or three!) bikes would be the way forward, light hardtail + bigger FS. pick and choose depending on the terrain.

Chakaping, – I just realised who you are! Are you coming out to the Alps with our Irish compadres in the summer? They’ve plans afoot for the Mega avalanche… I’m not sure I fancy that, but some lift assisted ‘scaring myself stupid’ would be fun!

Grumm, we were just out playing really, no real ‘route’, trying out some of the cracking descents outside of the NFT. I think we did the Parkamoor descent down to satterthwaite, excellent it was too!

It was a surprisingly nice day wasn’t it! (apart from the freezing cold feet that is!)

Grizedale, very wet on the ground, but a lovely sunny day! awesome riding!

TomB, I just went through the same thoughts that you are! I live not so far from you and recently upgraded to a Meta55 and never looked back!

The talk of FS being a skill compensator is true to an extent. It does allow you to climb up technical trails you wouldn’t be able to on a HT, or descend faster on trails you’d previously carried down. But that certainly isn’t a bad thing! Unless you are a world class rider, you need that help in the lakes!!

The weight issue is another point, a FS bike will be (unless you pay a fortune) heavier. But could you argue that a lighter bike is just a fitness compensator?

I personally have noticed that with FS, I’m out on the trails longer, I fall off less, I go faster, I still scary myself silly and I smile more….

In terms of your situation, you’ve two choices buying a full bike, or buying a frame. I went with the frame from KMB, which in hindsight I paid over the odds for and swapped my components over. I’d have been better selling my HT and buying a complete bike (probably from merlin cycles), but buying a frame would be the thing to do if the components on your HT are top notch and to replace them would cost a fortune.

As for testing a new bike, KMB are good, I took a bike out, did a north loop at whinlatter, popped back and swapped to a different bike and did the same whinlatter route again. all in a morning, so only £20. Biketreks in Ambleside are doing a demo day on the 7th feb I think, you need to book ahead but I think(?) its free. I’m pretty sure that Wheelbase are doing a demo day (also free?) either in feb or march, so I’d definitely have a go on some of their bikes aswell.

The whole FS thing took a bit of getting used to, but something like the Orange 5 with adjustable forks is perfect for the lakes. It sounds like you’ve already made a decision, you’re just looking for justification?! FS is the way to go!

I’ve a 19″ 2007 Orange Crush frame going if that would be of interest? Its not on the Classifieds yet as I’ve not got round to it…