I don't think either scrums were particularly great. I wouldn't say the ref was any more lenient on either side, he was just rubbish. Saw several cases of poor binding and coming up early, not too mention the turning of the scrum later on. Overall an entertaining game and that AWJ sin bin was the turning point. Think Wales would probably have won otherwise.

I know the ref has good past experience (WC final) but so far I think he's on a shocker!

English are badly missing Flutey, bit of creativity and lack of link between forwards and backs, yet again.

Google shopping and ask at your local shop. Club discounts are always worth checking out of course. I can't get my head around why your so surprised that CRC isn't the cheapest for everything.

I think most of the mags agree on the Float 36s being the choice fork in this category.

Customs is always a big hold up. I bought my VPfree frame from Canada. I had full tracking on it, took about 24-36hrs to go from some little town in Canada to Toronto and on to Heathrow and then customs, where it spent an entire week!

Think you'll have far more success on the crackberry forums. Theres Blackberry employees on there.

1)Heinz 57/rescue dog. Shes a half boxer and we think other half parsons terrier. Very cute little face, daft as they get and only listens when it suits her.
2)Labradors, both me and the missus wanted one(or two!) originally, but we saw Maddy and had to get her. Would love to get one as a friend for Maddy.
3)Labrador.

Build light aircraft engines for a small company down here. http://www.wilksch.com
Great job and my colleague is a DH ace. From my club I suspect theres very few who get there hands dirty.

I still think you can work the brakes pretty effectively with out the servo, sure you got to press a LOT harder, but they still work. Hell of a lot of cars out there of a certain age with the servos on the way out, its only a rubber diaphragm in most of them to my knowledge and that disintegrates with time and exposure to heat and petrochemicals.

GJP – Member
A3 Sportback 2.0T FSI Quattro – understated, stunning engine and the real Audi 4WD experience.

Nothing wrong with what scottyjohn says either but I would avoid the 2.0TDi (tractors) other than the new common rail ones

Now I could well be wrong on everything I say, but as far as I'm aware….
A3 is a Golf and will have the VW 4Motion drivtrain (transverse mounted engine) not the longditudinal setup of a real Audi Quattro. I'm not sure what 'the real Audi 4WD experience' is, but if the quattros I've driven are anything to go by, conventional FWD Golf/Audi is a better drive, with better performance and economy. Audi Quattros have always been front wheel drive bias with nose heavy handling.
The 2.0TDi's are all common rail where as the 1.9 before it wasn't. Some of the 1.9s were a conventional diesel distributor pump and could be described as adequate, but later PD 1.9s were a different beast and generally a good engine. There was 130bhp versions of this engine and I'm pretty sure there was also a 150bhp version in a VW car too.

Who cares, personal choice. Gloveless is fashionable at the moment. I wear the gloves, probably might consider the brace, but its a lot of money and it takes a bit of a freak accident. I do find the whole neck brace, but a cotton short sleeve t-shirt, no gloves and maybe some knee pads look a bit amusing.
Can these braces be worn with body armour?

white101 – Member
This year will be my 21st as a registered voter, the first time I voted was in a local council election and I went to the ballot box as a young man full of hope and belief in the politcal system. It was also the last time I voted.

I really get this. Likewise, voted once, not bothered since. They're all a bunch of lying, cheating, swindling toe-rags who I wouldn't trust to look after a goldfish, let alone a country. I can't vote for any of them, if I don't believe any of them. I'm not just going to vote for the best of a bad bunch for voting sake.

Chains and cassettes, scrap metal/recycling. Mechs and the like I'll try nd strip for usable parts and bin the rest as appropriate.

Just seen this article on the News at 10 on ITV. Looks like a really serious problem over there. Cars being dumped either at dealers till there fixed and dumped on the side of the road, too scared to drive them. I didn't see which one, but there was a American Politician telling people to stop driving their car straight away. Cue panic! 🙄
Bit more info here
Should have stuck with right hand drive. 😛

pmsl, thats funny.

Disc brakes, no question.

7dayshop.com or play.com
Bought all my cards from either of them. 2x 2Gb microSD cards with SD adapters for £10 inc postage from Play recently. Always worth using google shopping too.

Forgot about Pharell, doesn't he own or at least a chunk of Brooklyn Machine Works?

Focus ST, should get a nice one for your budget and a bit newer than a golf for the same money. General consensus suggests the Focus a better handling machine too.

Excellent, was thinking about renting this out over the weekend. Seems like you guys would recommend it.

Was great still being out on the bike at 5pm this evening and only just starting to think I'll have pack it up now. Can't wait for spring to arrive.

Forgetting his extra curricular activities for one moment, the guy is a thug as a player. For that reason alone he shouldn't be captain. Leading by example? 🙄

I don't know how long you've been driving for, but the insurance will be horrific for pretty much everything. Suggest you get some quotes for a few things first just to give you an idea of what your up against.
My first car was a hand me down Austin Metro 1.0 and that cost me over £600 tpft to insure 12 years ago now!

That really is brilliant, obviously made a connection for a lot of people. Good on him. £45k!!!

I think its drop dead gorgeous. Theres some fantastic stuff going on under that bodywork too. I can only imagine how glorious that V12 is going to sound, current Aston V12s make the best noise in the business, but this should be epic.
Sadly I suspect for the 77 that they're making (and I think all already sold) will all end up in private collections, won't get driven and probably won't see the light of day anytime soon.

My other half is far too warm. Get all close to start, then when I'm too hot move over to the edge and get a good nights sleep. Unless the duvet battle commences of course……

Hilarious thread. Iphone is a fashion accessory as much as anything, They look nice and Apple have a top notch marketing plan with Apps and all the rest of it. It doesn't do anything special that the million and one other smartphones out there can't do.
Way I see it you've got a few choices, either succumb to the spiel and fashion and buy one, or don't and buy a nokia/htc/blackberry/other generic smartphone, or if your not bothered about emails/gps/mp3 player and all the other 'toys' on these phones then stick with a trusty old Nokia or the like and stick with ring or texting people.

I'll stick with my blackberry if its alright with you guys?

Oh and paid about £1800 for my VP, including a brand new frame, but everything was bought at a discount, lots of scanning the web (ebay particularly) for bargains. Frame was £720, inc shipping and taxes,etc, brand new from Canada, through ebay.

No point looking at top tube lengths on most long travel bikes, its the down tube length if anything. Suspension designs mean interrupted seatposts and artificially steep/slack seatpost angles. Go with what suits you best. I'm 6ft3 and used to ride a medium Cannondale Gemini DH. Brilliant bike and it flew down the tracks, having said that I borrowed a mates large frame bike and was immediately quicker and smoother. I now run a large SC VP-Free, that has a 24" top tube, I love it. Not going back to medium bikes now.
Just to add, recently swung a leg over a medium Demo7, felt very long, but don't know had that'd compare to a large one.

6ft3ins – 12 1/2 stone. 30. Slim. Until I was about 26ish, I was more like 10 1/2 stone. Running jokes were being a Airfix test pilot in my spare time and having to run around in the shower to get wet. Would mind rounding up to 13stone, but have to be in muscle, quite happy with my waistline at the moment.

Think you had the right idea. Sounds like a straight forward case of self preservation. What with all the media coverage of knife crime, you've no idea what might happened. Keep clear of the area if I was you.

Shimano deore. I've got a set of 2004 vintage ones. I've changed the fluid once and changed the hoses when I changed the frame. I've changed the discs for different sizes, but they've been faultless! I've been running them with 203mm discs for DH and 160mm for XC.

Chrome here, had been using FF, but find Chrome faster.

I'm guessing you've seen Intense's 2951 then? The theory is great, however I think for a lot of UK dh tracks it won't work, too tight switchbacks etc, and I'd be concerned about the rotating weight for those tracks where you need to be sprinting. 26" DH spec wheels and tyres are heavy enough as it is.

Don't think you should ever give up on this one. Sadly the cotic is 'just' a hardtail mountainbike to the untrained eye, give it a respray and its gone, but the Jones is a different kettle of fish. Hope you have some luck Chainline. I'd be gutted if any of my bikes went.

I'm currently reading Bill Bryson's Complete Notes (Notes from a Small Island and Notes from the Big Country). Laugh out loud funny and an entertaining look at life.

SaxonRider – Member

Technically illegal to carry in public though (as are almost all multi tools) if that bothers you.

Why's that, then?

That'll be the knife blade attached then. Thinking I need a chain tool on there if possible.

My LBS did it for me. I supplied a complete list of components and they done the valuation. My insurance company have said only with either reciepts or valuation by a shop will do. Plus photos showing the bike in that build.

Following on, is Aquilani still not fully fit? What a waste of time and money! *smacks forehead*