Good independent garage every time for me, be aware of 'specialists' who try and make out they specialise in one make, some are great, others use it as an excuse to charge you the earth and be rather overvigilant in their reporting of wear- esp when it comes to consumables such as brakes/pads.
I am lucky enough to have a Jag XKR and use a local garage who charge me £30 plus VAT rather than the 135 quid an hour the main dealers charge, the car is far better maintained and I use the money savings to replace everything twice as often as per schedule. Not everyone is luckly enough to have such a place locally, but I would choose that option over in-out servicing if a good independent exhists.

Thanks Mike- good point- yes it would have to fit the fork, it does have a mount for a reflector.

Do these work well?
I dont have any v brakes so would need to buy anyway.
Would these improve mini v brakes aswell, to remove any spongy feel?

There are several good campsites who have little chalets that are very good and not too dear, they are mainly situated on the road that leads to the alpe (where the 2004 time trial started, before the sharpe left turn), best advice is to book early as they get booked quickly. I cant recall any names but all have bourg d'oisans as their address.

How about this from Hope.
In July 2006 i went over my handlebars in the Peaks and snapped the hose from the reservoir, leaving the metal thread of the hose end in the reservoir body and ruining it.
I was really short of dosh at the time so wanted to repair rather than rebuild the brake.
Sent then to Hope, explaining the damage I had caused. Included all contact details and payment details.
Sent them back to me quickly with no charge for repair or postage. Absolutely brilliant. Still running strong several years later.

Iain, ebay is always a bit quiet with road bikes at this time of year, as its a month when few people have money, and the market is more limited, esp with the weather we have had.
Best bet wait until feb/march and a few more will appear.

Also forgot to mention, as cross racing will not be its main use, it could have disc brakes aswell, like their 2004 street x model.

You looking at the perfect machine

Dez, Headshok also has very limited travel in the fatty-x guise (15-25mm), and is very stiff, tracking like a normal road fork when locked out- the lockout is the best in the business (it genuinely feel like a rogid fork), even in the fork internals are a bit dated, and for all the road sections I would lock it.
The spares are still available to service the short travel ones so condition would not be vital.

Hi Bez, dont forget the tobe tubes are really long compared to the seat tube length which is the measured size, the geometry is all available in the cannondale archive on their site.

They have got rid of them sadly- thanks Nonk anyway.

Nonk if this leads to success you will get a gift, thanks so much!

Thanks to both of you. There are no cuts off as far as i know, its not a timed event after all, but after two full distance runs on a roadbike I just want something more comfortable for the pave. I actually found my back/backside was fine- but its the shaking of the front bars that hurt so much, I have two layers of tape and gel but that only really works for micro vibration, its the shaking of the whole bike you cant stop.

Hi Pete
We are obviously thinking on the same lines as in my desperation I thought about buying one today. However, due to the limited use I expect i will get didn't really want to fork out that much. I mainly want the bike for the paris roubaix sportive in June 2010 and every two years, plus an occasional hack. Thanks for keeping an eye out.
Andy

I'm interested in the frame if its for sale- my email is in profile and Ive been posting wanted adverts for some time- please drop me a line of for sale. Thanks Andy

Yep, it was the 2004 street x. That would be fine also. I'd rather not go down the silk road route though as its less versatile.

Its a lot easier to change gear standing out of the saddle with shimano, having used both I would say this is the main consideration.

I would avoid Doctor's Gate, down towards Glossop. Featured in a lot of route guides but in reality not rideable in lots of areas for mortals.

I used to subscribe to mbr but cancelled it as the magazine went downwards from about 2004, so I cancelled it last year.
You can put this down to loads of things, but in my opinion things started to go wrong was when firstly, the industry stopped making such huge gains in suspension/bike performance which made the bike reviews interesting, and secondly the magazines as a whole tried telling you you needed six inches of travel to ride around Cannock. I cant believe anyone who actually rides at these places would come up with such a suggestion.

Oval are far better in my opinion, muck easier to fit joints on the bone in, and to get other items on the same shelf in the oven.
Some of the round ones are absolutely huge. The oval is a much more practical shape all round.

the stone ones must not be exposed to direct heat, be it electic or gas hobs, they will crack as soon as it gets hot.
The cast iron ones are for that purpose.
Amazon often sell the iron ones below the RRP- baby blue was discontinued last year as a colour and these can be found cheap on amazon etc, hence we bought that range!

Another consideration is that their geometry is quite unusual- make sure you sit on one first to get the correct size. Some of the models also have toe overlap because of the geometry, which can cause problems cornering at lower speeds.
I wouldn’t worry about robustness as they won paris-roubaix in 2006-2007 with frames with their pencil thin stays at the back, that were not special builds.

Mine was b&q about 5 quid

If it goes on the shifting will be just awful compared to a 9 speed chain.

If you ever get the chance ride the randonnee held every 2 years, in June 2010 next time. The way they ride the pave you just wouldn’t believe how rough it is. the first 100m og the Arrenberg forest is made of stones shaped like baby’s heads, and they sail over it at 25mph like its not there.

Coffeeking- if the engine is mega hot, and the sump capacity is big, you can get an extra litre out believe me.In am a keen car enthusiast and all the info in the magazines suggests so as well. In a smaller engine I agree is a few hundred ml. Modern oils are designed to stick to the engine components, and when cold they stick to everything, including the sump- so by having it hot you drain all that.

Ive used one on a boat with great success, make sure the oil is hot like you would on a car (typically drains one litre more when hot), and you have a suitable vessel to drain it into, esp when its hot.
I seem to remember it wasn’t a particularly expensive model and worked well.

Distance selling law- if you are not happy there is a period of usually at least 14 days in which you can return everything unused if you are not happy, if it gets that far. Agree it’s bizarre upgraded axles are a self fit.

you would get a very low mileage leon or focus for 4 grand in a credit crunch.
A late original shape focus/first major facelift with 20-30k on the clock should fall into that price range easily and you will have money to spare in most cases. I would go for a focus, very reliable and fantastic handling- we have one and it actually handles better chassis wise than my jaguar xkr although obviously lacks the power and performance otherwise! Ford clutches tend to go at 50k (all 3 of my fords have although I didn’t own any from new, not sure how they were driven beforehand) but are not expensive to replace- 300-350 from a good independent garage. This is the most expensive maintainence by far on the Fords I have had and all garages know them well/lot of aftermarket parts available so you wont be ripped off.
Hope that helps

I know a lot of people who have bought an Orange for that type of bike and been happy, but with 7 inch forks you are always going to struggle compared to a shorter travel AM bike. I would ask yourself if you would be better with a 6 inch travel rig like a new nomad would be better, it can be built to under 30lbs apparently, with xt kit.
People also forget that what they weigh is important in how a bike climbs, if you are carrying 10kg of blubber like I was a few years back you will fly up climbs in comparison.

Thats brilliant, Thanks

I tend to go on the largest cassette sprocket- over 27 teeth and its a medium cage, over 32 I go for a long, whilst also agreeing with the above post.

ran nothing but tubeless for 6 years, with stans sealant recently, in UST tyres on UST rims. Only 3 punctures in 6 years. Advantages are huge in feel and puncture resistance.
Weldtite make an excellent repair kit for 5 quid (CRC stock them)- you put sticky string in the hole in the tyre with a slotted needle- never needed anything else to fix them and tyre usually inflated in under 5 mins- also never needed to take tyre off the rim with this kit,good as mounting them properly needs a track pump, not available in the middle of nowhere!
Always carry a tube in case, its still in its box after all these years.
Also have some pliers to unscrew the UST valves as they are screwed in tight, in case you need a tube.

Digimap, what grease do you use with it- can you put the M prep cartridges on it?

161 miles of paris-roubaix- believe me this is off road!

Given the state of the pound it will soon be a new Shimano chain!

Strangely my new floating 200 mm rotor has arrived and doesn’t rub like the 180mm that was 2005 vintage- must be very slightly thinner!

Thinking of filing as well. It only just rubs, on one of the mounts only (shows there are not in line!).

As a doctor thought i would add to this- you should change GP. That standard of care isn’t good enough, sounds like a badly run surgery.
Most chest infections are viral, not bacterial but in this case, you wife will be less able to fight viral infection, and this often leads to secondary chest infections with bacteria- this is what we normally call a pneumonia but rarely use this word as it scares people. Very common in the elderly as their immune systems are not as strong, like your wife, and they are less active and don’t ventilate their lungs as well, predisposing to infection.
If your wife typically grows a particular type of bacteria in the sputum, sensitive to the same antibiotics each time, it would not be unreasonable to ask for a script from the hospital for the said antibiotic should she develop infection. However, given they ask for sputum samples every time this may well not be the case, and I think that samples each time would be helpful either way in an immune deficient patient in case she doesn’t improve.
PCT would be the best bet to find a new surgery. Training practices (who have trainee GPs) as a general rule provide a higher standard of care but this isn’t always the case.
If I could help in any other way my email is in profile
Andy

Last years addicts are still available from hargroves cycles, and you would have thousands to spare, to upgrade as necessary. Buying top end kit on a whole bike never works out good value- better to get a mid range model and upgrade.