Standard out of the box limit for a merchant accepting Apple Pay payments is £250k.

It needs to be set at a lower limit by the merchant if they don’t want random people walking in off the street paying for their new Bentley using their iPhone.

Most people don’t realise its relatively unlimited – including many chains, which results in arguments with till people or servers who insist that you can’t pay by contactless (as that’s set lower) – and you get to do the smug look as you zap your phone and walk away.

To answer the question about better than an Occam? I couldn’t say, but I have both a carbon Top Fuel 9.8 and a Remedy 8 and I love both. A Fuel 9.8 should be a great all round bike – not cheap, but it will work very well out of the box.

Yup, if you look closely on the chainstay of the image it says it is…

Sounds to me like it might be a Project One paintjob – essentially Project One paintjobs cost ~£500.

The XTs were a 63 day leadtime when I looked at the Top Fuel – not sure if they’re the same here.

ps ALAAAAAARMAAAA!

commentator starting the race: “Now, nobody has died at the Mega. Yet. Be nice to each other

The old Oz DH run is a real treat – steep as buggery, and lethal in the wet. some of the runs into the berms are FAST. Love that track.

Is it no longer a standalone DH race as part of the week now?

Agree with OldSkool – the agressiveness of the pack is surprising – I’ve been shoved off the trail and down a rocky slope where I wasn’t agressive enough to hold my line. Seems to me that a lot of the french riders have a bit of a chip on their shoulder from all the brits coming over.

Also, if you’ve never done anything like this, you will find yourself struggling for a day or two early in the week with sore arms and hands – the course is NOT forgiving! Esepcially so on a hardtail I’d say. I’ve never been as knackered as I have at the end of a sucessful race – I qualified into the main heat with the faster riders and the pace was insane – you will need to have a really good all round fitness to cope with the range of riding required, as well as the climbing you’ll be doing fully togged up.

One tip I’d give is to share that the snow is best dealt fast – you get up onto the ‘top’ of the snow and you get >some< semblence of steering (no braking tho) – what you don’t want to do is tripod/arse slide. Once that happens you’re in the lap of the gods – inevitably you’ll lose a mech, or a finger at worst as you end up being torpeoed by some other nutter out of control. Getting aahead and going fast on the snow is crucial to survival.

And it really is about survival…

That said, I think I have one more left in me…maybe…damn that mountain!

Alarma!

>shudderswithhotstickyexcitement/fear<

Personally speaking, I wouldn’t want to do the Mega on my own – half the fun is the social side of things. Furthermore, there is the risk of injury and/or broken bike etc. – having mates is incredibly useful at times like this – not being able to retrieve yourself from the hospital isn’t likely to be fun.

Simply don’t underestimate the Mega and how much potential there is for things to go wrong – its a great experience and I’ve been pretty lucky out of 4 times racing to only not finish twice due to bike mechanicals – every race I’ve gone to, we’ve had someone end up in hospital with some form of pretty painful injury.

However, there is nothing better than the top of Pic Blanc as the sun rises, or flowing through the meadows in the sun, or the crazy dust/mud of the woods heading into the valley.

ALLEZ ALLEZ ALLEZ!

They’re pretty fragile things at the best of times. On cars heading towards 5-6+ years, they tend to start to rattle as they detach frmo the mounts.

I tend to just remove them if it is an older car – I removed all of them on my 2010 5 series BMW as they were rattling a treat.

Doesn’t really impact the performance at all.

I’ve used trail wide pedals for years and recently stopped using my XC shoes on them because the XC shoe sole just doesn’t provide a stable platform.

I found that clipping in and out on techy sections and trying to find the spd gate was difficult as you slip off more often than now – and with the racy carbon soles I had it was becoming lethal.

I’ve moved to a set of FiveTen Ketral shoes and its loads better – I would massively recommend a set. I also found that hotspots disappeared as well due the spread of the load across the wider shoe sole.

I brought a copy of The Sled Driver nearly 15 years ago, and so glad I did (as they’re worth a fair bit now – around £300-500 each). One of my favourite things to leaf over and dream of being in one.

That video is nuts – would love to hear him talk; he does do speaking tours so worth checking his website out.

One of my favourite stories (can’t remember if its his of in Lt. Col. Grahams SR71 book) is the one of doing a flight tower flyby and dropping lower than expected and needing to use ALL the afterburners right in front a bunch of air cadets in order to avoid an unintended hard landing…

I understand the idea, and I’m not really keen to get into an argument as to whether its right or not.

However, these channels will need to be very careful. GDPR dictates that we have a right to be forgotton, and this applies to any media on the internet. Therefore, it would not be unreasonable for anyone identified in that video to request that their inclusion in the video that personally identifies them is removed. Indeed, in theory, if personally identifiable information is held by someone on a platform, the person affected has a right to ask it be removed, irrespective of whether its business or personal content.

Some might argue this is rediculous, but is it? Its using the law in the same manner – smoe people (not necessarily the subject of the video) might not want to be in a video on the internet.

There will start to be a bloodbath as the public wakes up to their right to do this, and suddenly all media channels (BBC, YT etc. ) and sources need to be prepared to redact or remove parts of their videos.

What am I getting at here? Well as we have the ‘power’ put in the hands of the people with technology, we need to understand what is a reasonable approach – else it’ll all get silly. Just because we >can< post videos, doesn’t mean you can just post random stuff as a renegade and not accept there may be consequences.

IainC I might be interested please – I’ll DM you.

This thread just reminded me to try out Dolby Atmos support on the Pro’s with my iPhone.

Fired up Star Wars IX and tried it out – its bonkers. Like black magic.

Moving your head around, the sound relocates based on where the ‘source’ is – so if you turn your head to the right and the TV is on your left, the sound moves to the left in your head.

And as for shit flying over your head. MIND BLOWN.

Seriously impressive.

ETA for nerdsplaining: https://www.whathifi.com/advice/what-is-apple-spatial-audio

Take a looksie at Cotopaxi. Not the cheapest, but def fun colours, great quality and sized well.

If you have a passing interest in Rugby, then The Good, The Bad and The Rugby is hilarious.

If you can get past the initial opinion of James Haskell, then his podcast with his wife Chloe Madley is absolutely hilairous – if a little low brow at times.

If you like politics:

– Pod Save America – for everything domestic in the US – Obamas old team present, and are hilarious and very insightful
– Pod Save the World – Ben Rhodes and Tommy Vietor discuss everything foreign affairs with often special guests we all know and love – again, funny, illuminating. Ben’s story about walking in on the Queen having a poo was hilarious.

– Reasons to be cheerful – with Ed Milliband. My opinion of Ed is very different now I’ve listened to these. A very very clever man.

Technology:

– Land of the Giants
— Series 1; all about Amazon as a business – the good, and more often than not, the bad.
— Series 2; Netflix. I literally had no idea how bad they were as a business to work for.

Might have more, but mainly these.

@lunge I might be interesed in your Seiko – I’ll DM.

Got myself a new G Shock the other day – my first. Nice Japanese 90s retro model :)

If you’re unhappy with the initial test and you want a fair MOT done, take it to a council MOT test centre.

Because there is no vested financial interest in the upsell from failure, you’ll know you’re getting a fairly spot on test, in addition to a consistent one given it is council run.

Take a look here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-mot/

@thegeneralist – it is yes – although I have the luxury of having ridden the demo 9.8 for 3 days over my regular trails in Bristol – some XC, some trail centre type trail and then all my favourite off-piste Leigh Woods stuff.

It was all handled with ease even though you could definitely feel it was far more XC focussed – my Remedy is the opposite; capable enough at XC, but far happier being playful down a fun steep.

I think my fingers need to go on a diet; the Top Fuel is £4800 RRP /facepalm

Thanks Akira – I’ve already checked into this and the LBS has worked something out for me. Mainly all to do with margins and so on.

Something else to consider with the Jabra’s is that they can be run in a stereo pair also. Not sure it that is the same for the mic, but certainly would improve the sound (for listening to music, for example).

Jabra 710 here, utterly fantastic device, I bought mine just before the lockdown when I realised I was going to be doing constant calls from home.

Its simply very, VERY good at what it does.

Simply plug and play, and as you can see in this pic, it knows when you’re on a call or not etc. – the 710 is bluetooth as well, which provides the best quality call – and you can leave it plugged into the USB for power.

Gahhhhh, bloody image linking.

I’ll try again with this:

“I’m someone who hasn’t got the money to burn on Rolex’s etc, so am a budget peruser.

So far my favourite is my custom 80’s SX007 7002 (and a couple of broken ones). Have a few Seiko 5’s, a couple of Vostoks, etc. I also have a couple of Grayton Harriers which were an interesting Amazon find.

Was a bit of a Master copy collector, but found that they generally couldn’t take daily use, often failing when knocked or dropped. I do fancy one of those Parnis’s tho…

However my pride and joy is my quartz Heuer Diver 980.006 – a rare and appreciating little curio – 40mm case, but super tough.”

Also, obligatory Garmin, but who cares about a FR235.

This was my experience with it too. That said, its perfect for freshening up an old frame, for next to nothing cost wise, so I can’t complain.

All the advice on this thread is spot on.

I’ve tried the Kieron lacquer, and its lovely.

This thread is relevant to my interests.

I’m someone who hasn’t got the money to burn on Rolex’s etc, so am a budget peruser.

So far my favourite is my custom 80’s SX007 7002 (and a couple of broken ones). Have a few Seiko 5’s, a couple of Vostoks, etc. I also have a couple of Grayton Harriers which were an interesting Amazon find.

Was a bit of a Master copy collector, but found that they generally couldn’t take daily use, often failing when knocked or dropped. I do fancy one of those Parnis’s tho…

However my pride and joy is my quartz Heuer Diver 980.006 – a rare and appreciating little curio – 40mm case, but super tough.

jesus wept :facepalm:

Try again.

I was there recently and headed down to Zion for a day. My partner went hiking, and I went off with a hire bike to Gooseberry Mesa and rode the slickrock.

Quite frankly, it was utterly epic, and once in a lifetime trails.

Also bumped into these guys, as I didn’t twig that I was there during the Red Bull Rampage week!

(this may not work)

Blackmountainsrider – just dropped you message re those forks!

Neil

For me, I’d be pointing her at an Anker A3143

I have several of these and they’re excellent, 2 x 10WRMS, and they’re as good as the Bose Mini thingies.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anker-Wireless-Bluetooth-Radiators-Subwoofers/dp/B0109TWZ54/ref=sr_1_18?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1476270256&sr=1-18&keywords=anker

Yep, whenever I go to the dentists for anything; scale & polish, filling etc, that requires a bit of discomfort, I always daydream about a good ride, and for some reason, jumping down steps.

Used to always be I used a ride as a place to think about things, but now I’m in a stressful job and have 2 young kids, its the opposite, it’s used to forget everything and just ‘be’ on the bike.

Cast and Crew funding option: £70

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mountain-biking-the-untold-british-story/contributions/new/#/contribute?perk_amt=70&perk_id=3196071

ps it’s never been about losing interest; more about not enough time :(

I’m going all in now for an Asgard Annexe and changing where the bikes are stored. Hopefully that and a 19mm chain will do the trick.

Denis – it was a delight to see you the other day; you are an inspiration of how a retirement should be spent, and I’d love to get out for a ride with you on your local trails to catch up properly – it’s a shame that I won’t be on the Trek!

The Pace looks like a wonderful alternative to my old Cotic Soul that I had – with an XT running gear and a set of nice forks, I reckon it’ll be perfect for the UK…

/tumbleweed

Hang on. I just saw, woah, PACE just released a new 853 frame?

This might just be what I need…

Deep tissue massage, full body checkout.

Found out mine was a result of a skeletal imbalance from having one leg shorted than the other, and my frame being all to cock trying to accommodate the shorter leg.

The only way I get rid of it is stretches to ‘floss’ the sciatic nerve.

Thanks all, that’s great feedback; I’ve dropped Darren a message, and will try NFU, but given Chakapig’s comment, I doubt that I’ll be successful.

Technically, I’ve not had a rise in renewal, but it’d be nice to get it down from £900 per year!

Thanks Jonathan, do you know what the max limit on undeclared bikes is with NFU?