There did seem to be a bit of an obsession about deformed ears in that link.

Off with the mrs for a long weekend's biking in the Q's. And she's not keen on rain. I had hoped winter would be over by Easter….oh well.

Rich Tea? So there is someone that likes this bland compressed cardboard tat?

Chocolate hob nobs or custard creams. Can't decide.

Thank everyone.

Got the top off and could find nothing wrong, poked around inconsequentially. Finally capitulated and called a repair guy at random – luck was in, he was just near the end of the road! 15 mins later, it's running again – toby1 was right, motor brushes worn right through and shorting. Quite why the dial stopped I don't know, but I'm happy now!

Thanks everyone. And CG – when the day does come, Miele will be top of the list if we can find the cash!

Cheers

Will get the top off first thing tomorrow. Cheers

Thanks for the board tip, spooky.

Spooky – nothing so fancy – just a single "on" light but thanks for the tip.

grantway – thanks. Easily obtained/replaced?

put back in shed.

and not buy fox.

+6

Evesie – no, you're in good hands here……!

Millau is amazing, I managed last year to go through the access way inside the thing (it's underneath the road and is suprisingly roomy). In fact it's incredible how big the whole thing is, as written above the engineers did an amazing job and they are rightly proud of it. When they pushed the two parts of the bridge together and met them up in the middle, they put a large bottle of champagne between them and broke it as they finally joined up.

Cheers

Moved into house in November, it's been rain / snow ever since until last week or so. Have now planted carrots, broad beans, onions (all seeds) and garlic in veg patch, really a trial of several things to see what will grow well. Existing rhubarb suddenly exploded from the ground a couple of weeks ago. I didn't know it was there!

Dug in a young apple tree last week (Wheelers Russett) where I had removed a silver birch tree that was attacking the telephone cables above and generally doing far too mcuh growing near the house. Soil seems good at the surface, but within a couple of inches it's thick claggy clay (the stuff that usually wraps around my bike at this time of year!).

Everything else has mainly been pruning and cutting back last year's bushes and plants etc, wondering what is actually in there.

Looking at the weather this morning, I can't believe yesterday I actually cut the lawn!

Really looking forward to "proper spring" and for things to realy start growing.

Fanny basher?

Why's he not started any other threads since this one? I suppose he's just waiting for the answer.

The only "difficult" moments are when your geared mates slow down at the bottom of a climb causing you to lose momentum, which is a pain. The answer to that therefore is to always be in front.

The best advice is to just try it and see if you like it.

Wikipedia doesn't mention a crown race, I note……

Top thread, but for how long has Flintshire been in Scotland?!

Happy Big-Ring user here (ooo-errrr, indeed)

Corsham is where the English government were supposed to go in the event of the big one – it's all inside the tunnels, I believe.

My ancestors worked on the Plymouth breakwater!

As C-G says, it would be good to do bike rides in different parts of the country and visit some of these!

I think I recollect you can see it from the train as well. Unless I was dreaming that (!), I think it was still there a few weeks ago.

Don't know about X0 but I've given up on Shimano – have one bike with it on and it's a nightmare, after each ride the indexing is all over the place. I've run X9 elsewhere and (as above) I like the positive engagement and it needs far less faffing with.

I do admit my gear-setting skills leave something to be desired. But I can get SRAM to work!

And a headset is an attitude, or mindset. The only way that you can win one of the Swinley crown races is to have a very positive headset indeed, so some people say that a headset must automatically come with a crown race. And others don't, which is what this thread is about, but then they don't usually win the right to wear the jerseys in the crackers. So who's right?

That reminded me. The "Fanny Bashers" thread really was the funniest one on here. I had to go and have another read of it.

Are we past tea time now? Can we have a beer instead?

Didn't get quite enough spacer height above the stem so that the top cap was just resting on the top of the steerer. Spent a year with the headset going ker-clunk horribly on every bump and me thinking "I must sort that out one day". When I finally did and worked out why the hedset had never tightened up, the headset bearings were so full of s**t they were finished.

I won't say how recently that was…..!

Only read a couple of bits so far but think what I've seen is great. Even liked Mike Ferrentino for once(have I got old enough now to "get" him?).

The Magna Via article is superb. But how the hell could you not know it was there – if it was down here you'd be queueing for days to ride it!

Keep it up chaps.

Either:

"This is probably a stupid headset question"

or

The combusting ostrich / penguin one

Are the highrollers much "heavier" (in the sense of rolling resistance) compared to the Nobby Nics?

Jump at the top looks terrifying enough to me!

+1 for poor / non-existent cornering and drop-off skills.

Looks like he really got some results for you.

Missed it again.

There must have been an instruction sent out on the Frognet yesterday – saw the first ones in the garden when I was going out for a quick spin last night.

I bet this isn't it…..

Good to hear a reasonable number doing well. It seems it's either really good or really bad.

Utter s***e here, no business at all, everyone I know still working is hanging on to their job from week to week. The idea of "recruitment" is a fantasy. (Central London, financial services).

Can I just say this is the second time I've been on page 17?

Best "out-there" STW question and responses, 2010! Excellent effort.

See how you get on, but I've ridden nothing else but SS this winter as it's addictive.

Damn – I knew I shouldn't have gone to bed….

It's never going to happen.

NOW? Surely.

If that's the size of it, I'll send the missus to clear it!

Yes – I've had them turned off now for a couple of weeks as they're just permanently on as soon as I turn them on again (have tried leaving them on for a while too).

Thanks again.

I hope Mackem knows that we care now.

Come on, 17 must be along soon!

I'd have bottled it. I'm rubbish at drops, but I think it's visual overlaod that does it. I'm OK if I look up…..!!