Camping in central London?

Smart phone and Waze, anything else is a waste of money.

Wifey had a 1.9 TDI Sport. Great is you don’t go too far, the most uncomfortable thing ever for anything over an hour. Change the seats if you’re going to use it for long trips.

Volkswagen UP/Seat Mii/Skoda Citygo (same car different badge). 50plus to the gallon round town, 60 on a run. Not fast but the 3 cylinder engine has makes a nice noise. Nice cars for round town driving, get the 75HP version if it’s going to get used out of town.

Start with the EBB at the back, set the chain loose, rotate the EBB forward (either up or down) to take up the slack.

As above. Check your pans with a magnet, if they’re magnetic they’ll work with an induction hob. If not, budget for new saucepans as well.

It was in Fresh Goods Friday months ago, I thought they might have released it by now. I’ll email Wera to see what’s happening, I want one.

My Dad is 80 and uses a Samsung of some sort with Android. He’s OK with the phone side (making calls) but it took him a bit of time to get used to texting. The only accessory he’s got for it is a stylus to stab the screen with.

He’s also got an Android tablet which he’s fine with and a Windows laptop. He tried some Apple stuff (my sisters iPhone and iPad) and the learning curve was the same as Android. I did go through the phone and tablet with him and cleared all the stuff he wasn’t going to use off the main screens. I also put shortcuts to people he phones regularly on the home screen, can you do this with an iPhone yet?

Scarpa Margarita

I’m surprised nobody has mentioned the iDave diet.

I noticed injuries were taking longer to heal in my mid to late 20’s, at 52 things take ages to get better. It’s just part of the ageing process.

As above, I’ve been clamping carbon road and mountain bikes for years. I use a neoprene beer cosy I cut in half between the clamp and the frame.

If you want to earn proper money then learn Oracle. We’re currently employing Oracle DBA contractors on £650 a day, the usual contract period is 6 months. SQL pays a lot less (still quite a bit though). If you don’t fancy databases but like the techie work then the money is in Linux admin.

rkk01 – Member
How about retiring where YOU GREW UP (or lived your adult life)

Instead of royally screwing the life chances of folks who come from certain parts of the UK

A good point, but I grew up in a not very nice part of North London and have no intention of going back. The house I currently live in was bought with the intention of selling when retirement happens and buying in a much cheaper part of the country.

If the windows have got those black dots all round the edges it’s very difficult to get the tint to stick, and nothing make a vehicle look better than a badly done window tint.

I’ve just bought a Caddy, so not quite the load capacity of a T5 but big enough for my needs. Mine has the VW lowering kit with bigger, slightly wider wheels and it’s still very easy to push the front end. Handling wise it’s on par with the soon to go Laguna estate wifey is driving at the moment. In the near future I’ll swap out the front/rear shocks and change the wheels for bigger, wider items to try and get it handling slightly better. I’ve got a 2 litre Highline, so all the toys including cruise control and satnav. I’m using it every day as a commuter and getting 50ish to the gallon with mixed London,country and motorway.

Van vs Estate. As there is only wifey and I, we don’t need the people carrying capacity of the estate, this is all about luggage. The Laguna estate isn’t a small car, with the seats folded down the load space is longer than the Caddy. It’ll take one 29er with the front wheel off and the bike lying down, plus enough room for some luggage. Take a second bike and it has to go on the back of the car. Load up for a camping trip and it’s both bikes on the back.

The Caddy will take both 29er’s with wheels on and plenty of space for luggage. For fully loaded camping I’ve fitted a couple of Seasucker mounts to load bikes with the wheels off. There is more than enough room for any amount of luggage we want to take. If all it was doind was carrying bikes, using the Seasucker mounts I reckon I could get 5 in the back with enough space to store the wheels plus take kit for a day or so.

The van is smaller all round that the estate, more secure and carries more. The only reason for not having one is if you need space for more than 2 people.

Homeys

There’s a Weatherspoons in Stansted Airport if that’s your thing. In fact that would probably be my choice.

There are a couple of decent cafes in Stortford, the one in the market square is OK, or the one opposite Halfords at the other end of the high street is better.

I’d suggest parking in Waitrose, it’s free. Everything else you have to pay for.

I owned a 1050 Speed Triple for a while, great bike (although mine had a few issues). To be honest I thought the Street Triple was a nicer bike to ride, I preferred the bigger physical dimensions of the 1050 so bought that instead. I’ve ridden plenty of Harleys, can’t say I liked them enough to part with the cash though. I’ve not ridden a Ducati since I crashed a 996 on a demo ride, so can’t really comment on the modern stuff 😀

If you crashed in November I take it you’re a year round rider. If that is the case I’d get plenty of opinion as to how well they clean up after use on salty winter roads. If you’re not fastidious with cleaning then buy a Honda.

The bloke I sit next to refuses to do anything unless it’s on his “critical path”.

adam_h – Member
I suspect it’ll be too big for Hermes. Parcel force? Had a couple of frames collected recently and it only cost about £20 for next day

I posted a large Cotic Solaris to someone on here using MyHermes.

I run VMware fusion with a Windows 7 VM on a Macbook Air with 8gb of memory. No problems to report.

I glanced at the thread title and thought it said masturbating dream.

Drive a bit further and go to Bayeux?

The Cotic Solaris I’ve recently sold was OK but nothing special, the carbon frame that replaced it is noticeably nicer to ride. Faster, lighter and more compliant.

I’ve had plently of steel road bikes made from all sorts of tubing. The best by far is Columbus SLX, it has a feel quite distinct from any other tubeset, almost “floaty” on the road. The only steel road frame I’ve got now is Columbus EL OS, I really should get it out of the loft, build it and ride it.

I didn’t know I needed a 8500 lumin torch until now.

How about a bit of left hand drive American pimpness.

http://www.americancarsuk.com/GMC_Dayvan_Starcraft_GX_M102BCW/page01.htm

It’s a lot of driving for a short ride up a mountain. Good luck towing your mate up 😀

I was looking for an old thread on the Vosges and came across this.

Stoner – Member
bagnere de luchon

Point 1 from the OP:

1. Flowy natural singletrack (whiteroom style?) rather than DH gnarr.

From my limited knowledge of the area this sort of rules out Bagnere de Luchon. The trails you see marked on the maps are predominantly walking routes, with lots of gnarr if you try to ride them. Find a local guiding company before you go, without local knowledge you’ll be doing more walking than riding.

Lotus Elise or Exige. Go for post 2006 with the Toyota engine and bills will be small.

I’ve just sold my Elise 111R, it cost bugger all to run. Service costs are pretty much the same a Toyota, 4 tyres cost £320, insurance was £200 a year.

Whatever you buy do your homework. I looked at Porsche before buying the Lotus and backed away, my pockets weren’t deep enough to run one.

Bloke at work with a brand new Omega Speedmaster watch. Sitting as his desk reading a watch forum he says “apparently if you set the time to this, and then move the date forward, ****”!

Just sold my sports car, the thought of going through summer without a soft top is depressing. Get the MX5, you won’t regret it.

I picked up my Caddy yesterday. I’d borrowed one from the dealer to make sure everything for a 2 week camping holiday and a pair of 29ers would fit. With the front wheels out it’s no problem. Bolted in a pair of Seasucker fork mounts yesterday evening and it’s good to go. Both bikes fit with the wheels in but they’re on a diagonal, fine for a day trip and still plenty of room for kit.

Alway makes me chuckle the amount of people who don’t drive who reply to these sort of things.

I’ve been reading about very high oil consumption on the 1.4 TSI engine, 1 litre every 500 miles isn’t uncommon. My reading was aimed at the sportier stuff Fabia VRS, Ibiza Cupra so may not be relevant, but plenty of stories from people with multiple engine swaps.

Give this lot a call http://www.brentacre.co.uk/

Ireland doesn’t have much in the way of public land access, there are very few footpaths and even fewer places to ride a mountain bike. For me, the best bike to take is a CX. Good on the road, great on the rough bog roads where my parents live.

Thanks for the replies, I pick up my 2.0 on Monday. 😀

I have to ask myself if it’s really worth bothering to vote, I’ getting a Tory MP and there isn’t much I can do about it.

http://www.voterpower.org.uk/hertfordshire-north-east

It really doesn’t matter who I vote for, the winner will be a Tory.

http://www.voterpower.org.uk/hertfordshire-north-east