nickc – what happened when they broke? Did anyone die?

Ditto.

It's NOT a Clubman, it's a Countryman. If it had the proper square front I would probably want one. It doesn't (EU rules probably) and BMW couldn't even be bothered to put the door on the right side for us, so they can piss right off.

Why would you buy ANYTHING that you have to fiddle with every 15 hours to maintain the warranty??

For £30 they have the 3l version of that bag as well, I've just ordered one….

Nissan. My parents had two Primeras, an L reg that did 180k no issues, then a Y reg that has 130k on the Clock, no issues. I've just bought one, a bit scruffy, but £1500 for a 40k mileage W reg. They're really comfortable, plenty of space, drive well. Very reliable. My parents also had two of the original Almeras and now have one of the later shape ones. They had two of the original ones as I bounced one off a barrier near Fort William. None had/have any issues, other than my driving, completely reliable, cheap, functional. Can't recommend them highly enough at the price.

Don't worry about it. All those numbers you've compared yourself with are just averages and typical values. Everyone is different HR-wise, mostly for genetic reasons, though plenty of environmental factors, such as caffeine intake etc. Anyway, if you want to use HR for something constructive, learn what your heart does, then compare with that. However, unless you've got very specific training goals I would suggest that you should just use it as a recording tool rather than as a coach.

I use mine to record all my training, so I can compare weeks and different periods and try to quantify why I recovered from an injury two years ago faster than this year, that sort of thing. I look at my HR during training a bit, but I just carry on regardless of what it tells me.

Ebay I would expect.

My girlfriend lives in Newcastle, I live in Manchester, my Parents live in the Lakes, so those are the two journeys I do a lot by train. It used to be about £30 to the lakes and about £35 to Newcastle a few years ago. Then they re-jigged the cheap fares using some calculator that basically removed the cheapest fares from my Journeys. Then a month or two later fares went up by an average of 5% nationally. 11% to Newcastle and 15% to Penrith though. Fares have increased twice since then and they've introduced Peak and off Peak tickets, but they won't tell you when Peak and Off Peak tickets are valid. So now you have the risk of an argument with the ticket inspector if he's in a bad mood, because you're expected to be able to guess whether the train is Peak or not, different stations have different Peak times. Plus with all the ticket checks and automated barriers before they even let you on the platforms these days it feels to me like the people I am paying think I'm a criminal, which I find pretty disrespectful.

Anyway, so I used to get to Newcastle and back for £35-40 only two years ago, travelling anytime of the day, if I want to do that today it is £78.50.

Then you add in the additional journeys. I'm quite fortunate in that I live close to the Metro link, so it's £2.20 into Manchester (Though it rankles that I can't get a return for this journey as they're only valid on the same day), but it's a 10 minute walk, + up to 10 mins waiting as the Metro doesn't run to timetable then it's hit and miss whether you have to change or whether it's quicker to get off and walk at Market Street, so you leave the house over an hour before your train, trek across Manchester, then it's a 25 minute walk at the other end. I'm lucky in that I can leave work early on a Friday, but if I don't I can't get to Newcastle before 10pm as if I book tickets I have to leave plenty of lee-way to make sure I don't miss it.

The cheapest train fare is about £40, booked well in advance and buying 4 singles Manchester – York, York – Newcastle and back. Buying so far ahead isn't convenient and usually extends the journey by an hour to two hours.

Then there are the 'special' journeys. It's the weekend, so they're using the buses instead. For some reason. but the driver doesn't know where the station car park is. Well he does, but he's gone to the wrong one and some nut won't let him stop there for 30s to let people off, so you've missed the connection. Or the driver thinks the quickest way from Piccadilly to Huddersfield is via the Woodhead Pass. Naturally you've missed the last train out of Huddersfield now and no one will take any responsibility for it.

Or it's £37 return in the car, leave when you want, take as much stuff – even your bike – with you. No one treats you like a criminal or makes, the RAC will take responsibility if anything goes wrong.

It's not a difficult decision is it.

I read that article on the £1000 in amazement last night. The chap they asked about it said, no one had actually bought one. Of course they bloody hadn't, it was £1000! For a train journey. Look where you can get to for that on a plane. Train journeys should be capped somewhere in the £30 to £40 region, regardless of distance.

Can anyone explain the train vs plane economics in any sensible way? Flying just seems to work so much better, yet should be an order of magnitude more expensive. But is actually cheaper.

I was going to say exactly that. If you want so much at the front, surely you want some at the back as well!

That's an ex DTM M3 that goes like stink, starting from the back due to a **** up in qualifying.

People make knives?

I've just spent £30 on a set of 8 professional screwdrivers and a mini socket set, both for the bike tool kit. Awesome.

" I would note we have a minimum number of fruit and veg to eat per day and not one for meat….suggesting one is more necessary than the other."

Or perhaps one is less popular than the other so there's a need to attempt to modify diets accordingly?

SOmeone has started making an inner and outer bashguard thing, that's what I would go for. Haven't got any more details though I'm afraid…

Word up kids. Yes, these tyres are the nuts. I would rather swap my forks so I could run these tyres than get something else.

Measure them, the 2.2s are 2.2" and the 2.4s are 2.4". It's not Continental's fault others lie about the size of their tyres.

Memory Map on computer, draw route.
Export route as a.gpx file
use GPX2CRS to convert to a .crs file.
Open .crs file in Garmin Training Centre and add to Edge 705.
Ride. Don't stop. Perfect.

Also http://openmtbmap.org/ lets you make your own maps for the Edge 705, which are fairly decent.

Yeah **** him. Or sell to me.

njee20 – Internal BBs need no maintenance.

I hate HT2. I'm sick of people saying their BB bearings lasted 6 months as if that's a good thing. Maybe people don't remember, but BBs used to last years without any maintenance or faffing, now the bearings seize in no time at all.

We always referred to walkers as 'Lemmings', maybe you could apply that to anyone not on a bike.

There's a lot of evidence that brain expansion occurred first on the plains of Africa when we learned how to use tools to get the bone marrow out of whatever the Lions left behind.

I did a course at university run by these two:

http://www.deathfromadistance.com/summary.php

That basically explained everything much better than horizon. It's the most interesting thing I've ever read, you will think so too. Definitely.

Best place for any cables is ebay.

You need to check whether your 'aux' is a 3.5mm jack or whether it's some sort of proprietary iPod connector before you spunk any wedge though.

We had a big loop from Fairholmes including Rushup Edge, we decided not to bother across to Mam Tor as we could see it was too snowy. Good call really as everywhere was covered in very sticky mud, felt like I rode with my brakes dragging a lot the whole way round!

Whinstone Lee Tor was a waste of time really, the descent was harder than the climb for pedalling! Everywhere else was muddy and I'm still picking bits of grit out of my eyes!

So you don't need specific shifters for RR rear mechs?

Any updates from today?

What's the verdict on these descents for Sunday do we think:

Whinstone Lee Tor
Rushup Edge
Chapel Gate
The Beast
Potatoe Alley
Hagg Farm
The Screaming Mile

Cheers??

You know in the days when people put a bike bottle or two on the frame? Could you tell the difference between full and empty bottles on the climbs?

I've always found it's the trend for heavier bikes to have worse climbing geometry and bigger tyres that slows me more than the actual mass of the bike.

I love that they have to put the APR figure on the screen, they must hate having to do that!

But overall I think it's a useful service, so long as you're not stupid enough not to pay it all back as soon as you get paid.

If you're watching several of the same item and the one ending last has a small advantage over the other, but has a reserve and the seller won't say what it is, then what do you do? Gamble that the reserve is realistic or risk missing out on the earlier auctions.

Usually if someone has a reserve it means the price is unrealistic and they're relying on people bidding to find the reserve to get the price up. Sensible bidders will avoid any seller that won't reveal the reserve.

A 2009 one sold on ebay last week for £127, it was the 426 U-Turn one. HTH.

If something has a reserve I'll usually just ignore it, there's normally plenty of alternatives where the seller is prepared to advertise it at a price he's prepared to sell at. On the rare occasion it's something unusual, I'll ask what the reserve is; most people give it. I was buying a car recently, asked a chap about the reserve and he wouldn't give it, said I'd have to bid to find out. I bought the same car from a dealer for a fair price, his car didn't get any bids.

That's got more than one pivot, as have several on here???

Principles are worth a lot more than £50!

That's exactly what I was going to say!

Nothing that costs £400 is 'worth a go'! You shouldn't be gambling that kind of money on a fork! Find out if it's worth it first.

Shards of glass are what not to like.

I'm sure those guidelines don't apply to a one-off journey or two, just don't do it every other day of the week.

It's the drive-side rear seat stay (equivalent) that has twisted, mainly. I think the best approach is to twist it back rather than machining it, it would loose a lot of thickness in the mounting to straighten as 3mm out of whack means 6mm of metal removed when both sides are done. I'm in South Manchester.

I don't think sperical bearings would help, the problem is the interaction between the seat stay and chain stay themselves, the bearings aren't having any impact on the problem.

I said in the first post I didn't need replies pointing out my mistakes, thanks. I was told the frame was fine, just a few scratches, but missing some bolts.