Ignore me, misread.

hmm I was –> this close <— to pulling the trigger on a Mojo, until the Blur LT Carbon was announced. I feel it is my duty to cause you to doubt your decision & spend another month at least in deliberation.

A mate of mine did this driving into the work multi-story, just outside the office, for all to see. Wrote off his brand new hardtail & £2k damage to his Audi. How we laughed :-)

Edit…sorry to hear about yours though!

Ah lovely. Our working cocker died a couple of years ago. Miss her loads. Enojy!

my bad, I thought the Tracer came with the new G3 dropouts, as per the new Uzzi & 951. Would be ideal on this frame imho.

I’ve ridden A Tracer VP with 140mm forks & they were a good match. It’s a pretty flexible frame that can be built up either way I reckon, and of course the adjustable dropouts help with angles if necessary.

yup, main road through Talybont tends to have loads of space.

babies/children under 10 should be banned from planes!

I couldn’t agree more. You should have seen the look on the faces of the other business class passengers when we sat down with our toddler for the flight to Singapore/Brisbane. Amazed the airline allowed it to be honest, but they do, so we did.

We travelled to St Lucia with a 6-month-old, and to Australia with a 2-yr-old. Total nightmare both times, but that’s to be expected really. No reason not too, I mean no biological reason or anything, it’s just not much fun trying to entertain young-uns for such a long period of time. Portugal, all 2 hours of it, should be a total breeze in comparison frankly, and a 3-month old won’t care where it is so long as there’s milk & cuddles available.

What really struck me was the mood of the audience afterwards. As soon as the credits started rolling I heard various groups of people discussing how crap it was, and on leaving the cinema everyone seemed really depressed, it was quite funny really. I guess Terminator is (was) one of the big film franchises that also had some credibility…not any more. God bless the new Star Trek though. Think I’ll go watch that again to cheer myself up.

Glad I put spoiler in the title! Actually the only vaguely interesting bit is when a YOUNG Arnie, looking like he did in the first film, appears to chew bubblegum & kick arse…cgi obviously, but done quite well.

Happened to my last car when it was only two weeks old. After crying a little bit, I sucked it up & accepted it was an accident and kids will be kids. I was parking on a public road at the time & you kind of expect that to happen at some point.

Natural selection I guess. In fact, I could think of some humans who should give birth at the top of a tall tree.

I think generally the mortality rate of ducklings is pretty high, but they’re fascinating creatures to watch imho. Lots of them nesting around a cabin we frequently visit on the Thames, and it’s all a bit of a duck soap opera. We also have a pair who basically live in our garden at home (we’re about quarter of a mile from a huge lake). In fact they’ll even waddle into the house if the garden doors are open. We frequently get other drakes fly in to try & shag the poor girly duck, much to the annoyance of her mate, who tries to peck the imposter (usually unsuccessfully) as he gets on with business. Best bit is watching them come into land in the garden, which is most entertaining. Ducks are definitely not designed to land on anything other than water.

Depends how much you like the forks I guess? Have to say though, £25 for removing some forks is pretty creative. That’s all of what, 2 minutes work?

you haven’t met my kids

..and on that subject…why are there always loads more disabled parking spaces than parent/toddler ones? I mean, surely there’s a higher proportion of people with kids than those with a disability? oh well.

Are these your first kids? Give it a few weeks and you’ll be so knackered you won’t give a flying **** about the car :-)

hey sc-xc, we’ve got a 10-week old. The smiles help don’t they? :-)

I gave up for about 18 months soon after the birth of our first kiddie as it was just too complicated to juggle riding trips with responsibilities, and there was crap all riding locally to keep me interested. I also kinda felt I should be around more so I spent any spare time I had converting a barn next to the house into an office/cinema. I just couldn’t keep the mtb bug down though, and I started getting fat, so bawlocks to that, and within 10 weeks of the birth of our second, I’m off riding at least one evening a week & even some weekends now as well. Loving it more now than ever I would say, even if I don’t quite have the same freedom I once did. Maybe you just need a break for a while?

Edit…just read about your trip to the doc…sounds like maybe there’s more to it then.

If an item…

a) hasn’t been used in over a year
b) isn’t nice to look at on the wall
c) doesn’t have great sentimental value

bin/sell/burn it!

Worked for me anyway, after moving 8 times in almost so many years, each of them a diy van rental job.

Coming up for 4 years here on original Turner bushings/zerks & there’s no play whatsoever. I do look after them with regular grease injections, but that takes all of about 30 seconds before a ride. The adjustable geometry on the Tracer VP looks interesting though, and I understand VPP2 is meant to pedal a lot better in the granny than the first gen. With SC now fitting zerks as well, it’s definitely worth a ride I reckon.

Was just thinking how super slack that looks. What’s the a/c on those forks?

Scary price, but do I quite like the look of the Jawbones.. linky. Don’t suppose anyone has any experience of them yet?

hell yeah :-)

Had an old shape S3 (2001). Boot floor is quite high due to 4wd gubbins, but still easy enough to get a couple of bike in with wheels off.

Nice one, enjoyed it. Feel a bit dizzy mind, maybe edit a few more stationary shots to break up the pans a bit? Definitely be interested to see the next installment.

As above, just make sure the wheel straps are done up. I didn’t close the main clamp fully one time & next thing I know I’m going round a roundabout & the bike has toppled to horizontal & I can see handlebars out the window to my right. Dented my car but fortunately the bike was ok. If the straps weren’t done up it would have gotten really messy as the road was busy at the time.

What’s the budget? I’m thinking a Blur XC Carbon would be sweet with those components.

Yeah I’ve used a gravity dropper and it was ace. Can’t speak from experience on the long term reliability, but they’ve been around for a long time now & have a decent reputation I think. Fugly as sin though, sadly.

I seem to recall not even having to declare the bikes. But, past experience suggests it’s wise to take lots of photos & keep all receipts in case you do need to claim. I do remember asking about their premium cover or whatever it is & they’ll cover the bikes away from home, even if stolen from your car. If you ride into a tree & break the bike, they’ll provide a new one. M&S record the telephone call when you’re taking out the insurance and keep it as part of your policy notes, which is why I asked those exact questions “for the record” so to speak. I was well chuffed with the cover, until the price went through the roof. We did have to claim for storm damage on the house as well & had no problems at all.

fantastic cheers. I was actually with them a few years ago, but left because the renewal quote was so nasty. Didn’t think to re-quote on the website. Will take a look now.

Do they still cover very expensive bikes at no extra cost?

Haven’t owned one, but have known of three Joplins and a Maverick Speedball, which is the same thing I think. Speedball belonged to a bike shop owner who said never again…slop slop slop. First two Joplins, admittedly being ridden by a Clydesdale, died within days…collapsed…leaking oil etc. The third and still “working” post (owned by someone else) has an enormous amount of play in it, which is apparently within tolerance for the product according to CB and isn’t covered by warranty. Sadly as has been my experience with other CB products (pedals anyone?), the Joplin looks pretty, but has shocking reliability.

“If looks could kill I’d need a license for my face”

yay. looks very cool.

Thanks guys, pretty much as I thought, I think they’re trying to do him over. Pretty rude as they also dangled a £10k pay rise in front of him a while ago & now that’s also evaporated. I think there may also be tax issues if he’s not an official home-worker & gets his commute paid for (benefit in kind I would guess). lol @ bruneep :-)

double post

Yeah I’ve used the stick for a few years & it’s nicely non-messy.

I think those two are similar, just a different method of application…?