I’m getting a lousy – less than 1mb – download from BT and being charged the same as others getting 15x that. This BT monopoly of the copper cable into most homes can’t be right, shirley!

I’ve had a well presented and located house in West Yorkshire on the market since last August, in the £350K bracket (you can buy a large house for that around here :-) ), with absolutely zero interest. I think the property market in the south might as well be in another country!

and why would manufacturers ignore a massive worldwide market for components anyway?

This is where people underestimate the value of capitalism – the profit motive – where there’s cash to be made from meeting needs, someone, somewhere will deliver…

So if enough people like Cy at Cotic call bullshine on the way the industry has forced 650B on consumers, and supply us with the kit we need to keep our installed base of 26 alive, then we’ll happily keep what we have and won’t buy new bikes… and 650B will fade away…

It wouldn’t be the first time that nimble small players have blown apart the apparent market power of the incumbents.

Thanks for expanding on my comment, brooess. I didn’t know that about Cotic, BTW. All power to them!

I’m dreading the day when 26″ brakes and drivetrains are phased out.

I hope not, loddrik, but I take your point. I only built my latest 26″ Ti hardtail last year and expect to enjoy it for many years to come. I think modern manufacturing systems are flexible enough to cater for lots of size variations, and why would manufacturers ignore a massive worldwide market for components anyway?

The NHS is f**ked no matter how much money you pump into it.

Top man, I love his stuff! Sure, he made some poor recordings along the way, but Bob Dylan once made a pilgrimage to Neil Young’s birthplace, apparently! In my book that counts as the best endorsement any singer/writer can hope to get. If you were born in the last couple of years please ignore this post
:-)

So, who voted him in?

Not me, and I certainly wouldn’t have voted for his (then) mate, Gordon!

When I was a young, up and coming fell runner with Clayton le Moors Harriers I was advised ” never wear gloves, it will make you soft. :-)

When I was a young lad I was advised to “get all your sha*ging done before you get married, son”

.if you buy a decent engined mower – 2 stroke and itll not need much of nothing.

I think the EC noise police have banned two stroke mowers. I bought a little used two stroke Flymo last year, it’s great (lightweight and works on steep banking), which four stroke don’t, or so I believe.

Sorry, double post!

I would happily good money to send my GF’s boy to boarding school :-)

Move out, first chance you get! Don’t wind yourself up over this, it just isn’t worth it. Just be thankful you are only renting. I went through all this in an earlier life and I really understand the what you are going through now.

Don’t even think about parking on the grass verges anywhere near the Holme Moss climb like they do in France. Kirklees Council is forbidding all parking on the road, or grass verges, anywhere on the 15 miles through their part of the course.

Nukeproof Neutrons here.

Scam!

First of all, commiserations to the families concerned in this tragedy. However, Lucien has a good point:

As long as the driver used the SMIDSY defence, together with low sun routine then should get off.

It’s plain wrong, wrong, wrong and any decent human being should feel that! Thoughts to family who are without loved ones

Given that juries are supposedly made up of a random cross section of our society (as opposed to cyclists, who aren’t) I have a feeling that most jurors would be unwilling to convict a fellow motorist if there was any doubt – “there but for the grace of God go I” would weigh heavily on their minds, I think.

I really would like to think I was wrong on this though!

Try ITS, they have some great deals at the moment on Makita drills.

.
Do share, please, I’m all ears to hear your understanding as you mutter on about ‘health and safety police’ like a tramp shouting at pigeons.

If you know nothing about the way Brunnel overcame every obstacle thrown at him as he drove his railway westward then I can’t help you.

I wonder what Brunnel would have thought about our health & safety police.

Probably that stopping people from dying is generally thought of as a good thing?

Sorry, but not in my understanding of one of Britain’s greatest engineers.

The Clifton Suspension bridge was reported as closed because of winds, for the first time ever

I wonder what Brunnel would have thought about our health & safety police.

. Yes, but after that and after that?
Does anyone honestly care about life on earth after they and the people they know and care about are dead?

It seems to go against the current secular, nihilistic way most of us see our place in the universe.

Good post, I don’t give a f*** about the planet when I’m dead. Future generations will adapt to their environment, as they have always done. Sorry, Guardian readers if you have difficulty understanding this concept! :-)

Usual STW lefty liberal/green vs common sense thread.
Keeps it going guys. :-)

I love these threads :-)

GF found a pair of unworn shoes in my wardrobe this week and forbade me ever to wear them in her company. I like them! Should I bin the shoes or get a new GF?

Wear them in bed when she is sleeping.

Thanks, yossarian, I have just suggested that, and I have to say that it didn’t go down well! It may surprise you to know that if I make the slightest critical remark about her own attire, shoes or otherwise, we don’t speak for a few hours :-)

GF found a pair of unworn shoes in my wardrobe this week and forbade me ever to wear them in her company. I like them! Should I bin the shoes or get a new GF?

+1 for Das Boot, and thanks for reminding me, Stu E, I must watch it as again.

.The French wouldn’t understand this thread, methinks!

Agreed, theirs would be getting built in Romania and Morocco

OK, ninfan, but I guess the French wouldn’t have hobbled a company like BAe by subjecting them to the anti-corruptian laws we have recently introduced, thus making them uncompetitive in many of their previous markets.

The French wouldn’t understand this thread, methinks!

Just bought Breaking Bad on Blu-ray – can’t wait!

OP, presume you have seen The Wire, The Sopranos and The Killing; if not you definately should.

Great news, but which other EU countries with an established railway manufacturing industry would regard this as anything other than business as usual, I wonder.

If the cup is stuck knock it out and start again. I have never failed with the big washer/threaded bar method. Try warming the headtube with a hot air gun and lightly grease the cups.

I always wash fruit/salad, not because of insecticides – although that is a serious consideration – but because of what those picking the fruit might have on their hands! :-)

If the moped rider had made a racist remark as he kicked the bike maybe the police would have been on the case straight away? :-)

I think most of those on this thread advocating protein supplements are probably fat boys pretending to be athletes.

I read Brendan Foster’s biography years ago, and he was the best distance runner Britain had at the time (yes, I know he’s not much good as a commentator!). Anyway, when questioned about his diet he replied that he ate what his wife ate, only more or it, and he was regularly running 120 miles a week during the winter.

As a nutritionist I can confirm that people using supplements may as well pour their money down the toilet.
Even with heavy training you can and are better off getting all your protein from real food. Your body will only accept and process so much anyway….
Supplements are all about making money unfortunately. If you prepare some food and eat properly at the correct time then that is more than sufficient. I have in te past used a shake but only as a last resort, when there was no other option!
Ask yourself when did you ever really notice a difference that a protein shake made.
Also be aware if the sugar content in milk shakes…. Up to 50g in most!
Go and weigh 50g of sugar out and ask yourself if you really need that every day?

Well said, jonny m! Never read such nonsense as appears above. I ran 50-70 miles a week for over 20 years (and competed at a good club standard) and a balanced diet was all my body required.

OP, I really feel for you, mate! Having had a similar experience a few years ago I now park in the distant parts of supermarket carparks, even if it means a long walk with the trolley.

Go for it! I’m on my fourth Ti frame and I wouldn’t trade this material for any other. I love Ti, or maybe you’d already guessed. :-)

you won’t feel like it’s been done properly unless you’ve used hand bent copper pipe and soldered all the joint

After a DIY life of working with copper pipes my new house is push fit plastic. Hate it!

Been a strict vegetarian for 30 years and definitely don’t need a “meat substitute” of any description. I never got on with tofu either, but as a recent convert to Quorn, I think it’s quite good (not in the meat flavoured variations, obviously!)