+1 ridgeback scoot. Rear v brake is effective. MiniP has started doing big handbrake turn style skids with his. Funny once, but not when he is demanding a push every time he restarts…..

I had that exact bike. Boy it was heavy. Good for towing my brother and other older kids on roller blades. I also bent one of my cranks by bottoming a pedal during “slalom practice”

In other words, it’s all good!

I generally wind down my 130mm revs down to 115 for most stuff to keep the front well planted on steep climbs. Take it back up to 130 for big downs if I remember. Sometimes I gave accidentally left them down at 100mm and had a bit of extra, early 90s style fun!

If you have to ask…….

Incidentally, do said mates come on here? Do they know your username? Isn’t that going to be a bit awkward?

Yep, they do come apart. It always pleases me no end to see our most idle of fitters at work kneeling in a pool of god knows what, pulling the one under the canteen sink apart!

Saw Ka in Vegas. Excellent – especially when the entire stage flops up to vertical and performers drop the full height of it!

Not really sure where he was coming from. We’re you on private property or land managed by an angling club? Why would he come over and stop you because you were on a dead end path and he didn’t like your shoes?!

Prob not too much to worry about. Check it hasn’t got into any bearings.

Tangoman, I suspect one of those toys would be more fun than the other…..

Where was this, anyone?

Nowt sacred about Guinness in cans……..

Conversely, bought one with my own money and ran from 70k to 110k miles in 3 years. Would still have it now if not for 3rd child.

Cost me nothing apart from servicing, consumables and a battery.

Good looking to my eyes, excellent seats. Good quality, functional interior. Electric tailgate on mine was fine and really useful. I used to drop half of the split seat and fit a hard tail in standing up with front wheel out.

Clutch problems were a factory issue and should gave been sorted on a well used one.

Handles and goes well, but very undramatic. Don’t expect to throw it around like a Ford or Beemer and don’t expect the turbo to kick you in the kidneys like a VAG. It’s more grown up than that.

They just get the job done and are really satisfying to own and drive. Would have another tomorrow. In fact, might get a post facelift saloon as my commuter as will turn out cheaper to run than a little hatch.

Legolam – do you have any thoughts about plaque rupture and the likelihood of our sport to increase the chance of it? I ask because in my Dads case, he had a fairly fast crash onto snow covered grass and winded himself. He got back onto the bike and rode again but collapsed and died the next time he needed to climb. He had undiagnosed arthersclerosis and the consultant at the time mentioned plaque rupture probably played a part in his collapse. Is this something that us especially relevant to us MTBers (or anyone doing impact sports)?

+1. My 51 year old Dad kicked my arse up Mastyles Lane in Jan 2003. He died of a heart attack on the way down the other side. He was generally fitter than I was at the time, with ok cholesterol and only marginally high BP. Had been ignoring feeling “a bit chesty” for a couple weeks. Listen to your body.

Funny you mention this. It hit me like a sledgehammer this morning that if I match my Dads life expectancy I have 15 years remaining. I’m 36 this year FFS. Better keep getting those miles in and clean up my diet!

I once sold a set of roof bars for pennies, collection only. Then couldn’t be bothered arranging to wait in, so delivered them on my way home from work. Got a reasonable bottle of tinto for my troubles….

Interested in this as my employer has a facility in a Braunton that always seem to be recruiting! Mrs would move like a shot if it was a good career move for me!

Didn’t have Daddy’s permission…?!

There are also some things in life that really should get full attention……driving for one…..

Done this. Approached it from the point of view of “are there any obstacles at home to prevent you from showering daily and washing clothes regularly? Because there seems to be a problem….”

Might have been seen as patronising but let’s be honest, how many of us would need to be told?!

Smax with the back row taken out……

Moroccan Shepherds Pie

Lamb mince and or finely chopped lamb neck, fried up with onions, stock, cinnamon, cumin seeds, dried apricots or prunes, olives
Topped off with mashed sweet potato or (more authentically) cous cous if you can find a way of making it stick together.

Haven’t got round to making this yet but reckon it would be ace!

On the surface of it, I don’t have a problem with it. Firefighters are commonly paramedics in the US.

Modern fire stations, appliances and operations seem very much like overkill for what they are called to do most of the time. I’d like to see more innovation with respect to smaller, lighter, quick responder vehicles for bin fires and vehicle fires.

Obviously if the OPs initiative is purely a cost cutting measure to trim emergency provision back to the bare minimum (which I suspect it is) then it needs to be treated with caution. But in principle, it could offer an improvement.

Some nice machines on here! I DO like those Longbikes – never seen one before!

Just me, then?! I was thinking along these lines….

some people like sugar. Other people like to be sanctimonious knobs on tinternet. It’s a mystery to me….

Sorry all, just seen related post below!

Advice wanted primarily…. 🙂

Online supplier? Candyhero or something?

Was always scared of getting into trouble, but did some horrible verbal bullying as a young teenager. Picked on the easy targets, poor kid, churchy kid etc. also stood by when others were bullies verbally and physically. Have thought about catching up online to apologise…. Never got round to it and not sure how it would be received.

Honest John reckons the 2wd trekking model which comes with all season tyres is as much as most people would need year-round.

You still get the look and the ground clearance, but not the extra weight, economy penalty and reduced boot space of the 4wd system.

Ebay second hand? MacPac are as good as anything, but hold their value a bit too well. Like the islabikes of the baby carrier world. We got a little life for about 80 quid. Comfy enough for an hour.

Or one of those sling things?

Find my phone with a shared password here….

Just to add – my warranty replacement mk2 had a different size bb to my mk1, IIRC.

There probably won’t be any reliable news about prognosis for 48h, until swelling starts to subside.

I would LOVE to be that competent / confident on the mountains!

Didn’t misread after all…..

Smacking is surely ok as a disciplinary measure or not. People who do it at home – are you in favour of its use in schools?

No it’s not ok. But it’s still understandable for parents to resort to it with their own kids. I would expect better from childcare professionals….

I’ve smacked both my 5 and 3 year old boys from time to time. Most commonly because I’ve run out of patience but also in rare moments because they’ve done something so incredibly reckless that a short sharp shock was required. I’m not proud of it and normally ended up apologising to each child along the lines of “I’m sorry I smacked you but this is why I did”

MrsP is an infant school teacher and encourages me to find other ways – parenting is a continual learning curve!

That said, I don’t believe any lasting harm has been done. I’d rather have my my kids and their standard of behaviour than a lot of the ones I see out in public or at the Beaver group I help to run. And no, I don’t think it is ever OK to lay a punitive finger on other peoples kids and would go batshit crazy if anyone did to mine.