Sorry but you give the impression you didn’t see the car before paying a deposit and agreeing to buy it?

With regard service/RAC check/MOT/warranty, what was in writing and what was verbal?

Just bought a new used car ourselves; its a bloody minefield/lottery!

I liked it..made me want to go out and ride. Liked the use of Windsor as a backdrop as well.

Yes but not as bigger rush necessarily as same of the activities you describe or say relative to what Jedi gets up to but biking is more accessible so I can get my rush easily where getting to rapids/going skydiving/etc are not practical on a Wednesday afternoon after work…for example

This was slightly funny, last week. Has the story got funnier since then?

🙄

although the nipper will definitely fall off it.

Yeah I thought that.

Liked the junk and resin floor. Arch looked great

Harsh…until I read he was married

?

What about against a grave stone? It is a the top of a steep hill but you’ll have to take my word for that…

As snotrag, I have to say I’ve been looking at this thread with interest. The issue is I really do want a UK all rounder but with a biase towards short/mid travel for all day epics around Surrey Hills or SDW whilst having the potential to switch to longer travel as and when required. Whilst the Hemlock seems perfect I wonder if it is more geared/suited to longer travel than this and the ride with short/mid is going to be compromised?

Best get down to Brighton for a test ride

How do you/wife/partner feel about having another one? Do you think its selfish at all? Does it bother you? What does your son think? It doesn’t matter what others think but if you have your doubts its better to resolve them now as fertility doesn’t last forever and the age gap between your current and potential is increasing all the time.

I’ve just gone through the same with my VW as per http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/lost-vw-key-help

Had the coding done this week; it was a while-you-wait job so that was slightly less inconvient than it could have been. Around £150 all in.

Well if thats the case, what travel-range of fork would you best recommended for the Hemlock for the most versatility for UK trails i.e. a UK all rounder? I’m kind of thinking Pike or Fox TALAS in the 110 to 140 range.

I’ve got some 100 to 130 Revs but I’m thinking they would be too short to do the bike justice…then again, with the short rocker, they seem a likely pairing.

Read the instructions!

…and then bin them!

‘Make a brake pad sandwich, blah, blah, blah’ Yeah right.

Change at least the Classfieds back to being sorted by last thread rather than last post. Traffic may be up on the Classifieds but I think its the fact that every post causes a bump that is the real reason that new threads only stay on the first page for an hour

Terrible tragedy.

With regard the detail, had the family’s car hit the Volvo in front before the lorry driver hit the family’s car as the defence claimed? Also, couldn’t they have been able to tell from the laptop if it had been switched on?

Fruit?

Isn’t he another who has migrated to mleh full time? 😉

Glupton = Smee ???

RE: Diz. A quick look at google and looks like Diz’s company is still there…http://www.overtheedgebiking.com/index.htm

dizinaustria

Yeah, there’s someone I haven’t seen post for ages even before the old forum went down.

Subtle difference in approach.

????

My 3 year old would happily have signed up to Dora the Explorer school* if it was an option!

(* However I am not suggesting that Dora the Explorer school would not be equal to other schools and will not be judging Tico, Boots or any of her other classmates on their gender, nationality or species)

Our primary and over riding criteria was where our kids felt that they would be happiest.

So was ours. With so many variables and no crystal ball, deciding where my children would be happiest was our toughest decision

FWIW I think that for many parents selecting a school is one of the toughest decisions they face as the result will shape their childrens whole lives for better or worse; thats a lot of guilt/pressure to put on a parent and therefore picking a school means coming out of their comfort zone, bringing out any underlining prejudices a person may have and make spot judgements on people based on very little information. The OP may be accused of being a snob but its just saying what thousands of parents from all backgrounds are saying behind closed doors as they try to come to a decision on their childrens education.

Try not to be so snobbish about other people, might be a good start…

Right, okay. Is there more or is that it?

Comment on one site:

“Is it true that the French surrendered immediately following this incident?”

😆

Seriously lost how this thread is going as it appears to be just Fred’s and others opinion on how society should be which, whilst wishful, is not the case. So what is it you’re actually suggesting the OP should do? In that sense, what would you do if you were a parent? How would you decide on a suitable school for your children or is it just a case of give their name to the LEA and let them place them?

Hmm, streaming would seem like a good idea, for those that are high achievers, but what about the thicko* kids? What about their confidence and self-esteem?

Thing is, even if you stream, everything always finds a level and you’ll end up with the same ones at the top of the class every term and the same at the bottom….so what about the confidence and self-esteem of the ones at the bottom every term?

My mum was so chuffed when I got into the A stream but I hated it as I was always in the bottom few every term; I’d have felt a lot better being higher up but in the middle class

Best of both…what about this http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/series/alpitude ?

Genesis bikes have a good rep, nice 853 frame, u-turn Revs so you can dial in or out depending on terrain and same price as other bikes mentioned…Hell, I want one after writing that! 😉

Trek looks nice but I’d want the longer travel design of the P7 as it suit my riding more but thats the thing as your comparing a fairly racy bike to a long travel hardtail…what sort of riding do you do?

LOL. I’ve done that…was waiting at the top of the hill for my wife and decide it was a good time to show-off my wheely skills. Went right over in front of her still attached to spds and thought I’d broken my coxix 😳

As per what SDB said, wide chainstays will amke a difference: use a 118mm tp axle on my Inbred as else the rings would almost hit the frame

broccoli – good for the prostate…so I’ve heard

I feel that the existence of fee-paying schools perpetuates the class divide, and prevents the social mobility of those who have less economic resources at their disposal. That is wrong. Let’s have an even playing field.

Actually quite agree with this but it is fairly redundant as when most people become parents, even if they may have had some social conscience, this reverts to a selfish and more primitive drive to get what they would consider the very best start in life for their children regardless of others.

…this might be harsh but life, for the main, is also harsh so most parents will want to do the very best they can for their kids with the money and resources available.

At the end of the day its got a big ape, dinosaurs and massive insects so it was always going to be fairly popular in our house but best to ignore the story bit.

Watched Wall-e again yesterday, and agree with Rudeboy although it does slip sightly when he gets to the starship.

bar ends on a flat bar are fine, hence the suggestion to use them with a higher stem/more spacers instead of a riser

A good option

but whats wrong with putting bar ends on a riser?

Nothing

flat bars are USUALLY not as wide as risers

Yep, Salsa are an exception

In summary, nothing wrong with putting barends on riser 5its your ride, its up to you), there are alternatives like a higher flat bar, but at the end of the day barends on risers look SHIT. Fact.

What TJ said. TBH its mostly the suspension aspect were I think the most confusing/bollox/techincal stuff is spouted.

If you got 3 genuine pairs, can’t you compare them and detemine if they are fake or not? Fakes can be very good but they’ll still be differences.

Square taper here with a UN54 and has been going strong for over a year now with no wobble (tempting fate by saying that but as they’re oonly a tenner to replace, ain’t that bothered). However, I do get paranoid when doing up the plastic cup on the non-drive side that I am going to break it.

How much extra mortgage interest + associated costs will you have to pay over the lifetime of the mortgage vs the cost of private schooling?

I see your point but the house will either be rented out or sold so it is a short to medium term cost…the costs are still less than the £2k per month for our 2 kids to be in private and the duration will be far less than the 11 years they’d be in private.

nukeproof – that’s an option we could be looking into for a couple of years time (middle schools).

Took as about 2 years to figure out what to do for the best: many late nights and bottles of wine plus endless time on the internet. Good luck!

I’m probably going to open a can of worms but middle-class family church attendance is pretty good in our area due to a very good performing church sec’y school. Admission based on church attendance and commitment [:D]

When we first moved to our previous area the secondary school we had planned was exceptionally good but the catchment changed and we were right on the edge. We *may* have got in if we had attended church, volunteered for other church duties, helped out at the Sunday school etc etc but, although parents blatantly do do it, we felt uncomfortable with doing it as we are both not that religious. I suspect we would have ended up resenting volunteering and attending every week when really we didn’t want to be there.

I went to a private school, my wife went to a state school; I want my kids to go to a state school, she wants them to go private.

We looked at private school costs and calculated it would cost £25Ok to put our 2 children through from 7 to 18 years based on todays prices. That would stretch us and compromise what we could financial do in our family/leisure time and therefore utimately the costs outweighed the benefits. We were very disappointed with the schools in our area and this is why we looked at the private school costs.

Instead we moved areas to where we are happy with the schools and the area in general. It is costing us as we haven’t sold our house in our previous area and are renting in the new area but we are much happier in the new area and the costs are still far less than private school costs.

Having said that at the end of the day there is only so much that parents can do to find a school, private or state, their children will be happy and successful at as there are so many variables to consider…the child, the teachers, the other children etc etc

Old but apt…