I managed a second hand/collectables store for two years and standard 'industry' protocol is to buy at a third of the value and sell at two thirds.

There were exceptions for items that retained their value through their being little to damage or go wrong and we did use Ebay as a median gathering tool in relation to what people were willing to pay.

I generally think two thirds of the RRP or bought price is a good starting point because then you can go back to a straight 50% reduction as a bargaining tool.

[/i] What's the difference between the Vetting and Barring procedure and a full CRB check? Surely they are going to be more or less the same and involve a simialr administrative cost and timescale?

CRB- checks your NAME against any previous offences or links to other offences
Vetting- Checks your NAME, ADDRESS and CUIRCUMSATNCES- so if you neighbour who you chat to over the fence is a known gangster, or your in debt and likely to respond to bribes, or your flat was raided by the drugs squad on acconnt of your housemate being a drug dealer then it is made known.

TK Max or sports warehouse/AKA field & trek. SWH have strange two teir pricing system either marked down to practically nothing or amazingly expensive for pretty much the same gear.

Whenevr I have booze apres ride or any kind of excercise I feel like I have molten lead in all my veins and muscles the next day.

I went from earning four figs' a week to minimum wage part time job in a shop after a dramatic fall from grace prompted a change in career
I can assure you any job is better than no job, and yes you may grow resentfull as you get your feet under the table and start to remember you were paid more elsewhere for the same job, but this is the point at which you count your blessings but also start looking for another job. Your commnet is spot on
if the boot was on the other foot, they'd drop you in a flash

I make filling for pies etc by just adding a tiny amount of water at the start to stop them burning and then they just mash themselves down and produce their own water/juice. Re' sugar I just add to taste.

I find bells are a little anti-social when a friendly hello and excuse me work much better on trails followed by a thank you and a comment about the weather.
My commuter bike has a bell which I use with liberal abandon when picking my way through crowds of pedestrians ignoring traffic lights etc in the city though.

[/quote]Seriously, how do we flag this to the police? I'm presuming they will have dedicated teams looking at internet theft and fraud yes?

I was the cycle theft lead for a midlands police force two years ago.

It was easy catching people in the act of stealing and prosecuting them using a honey trap of my Orange Five leaning on a lamp post with a cable lock and us hiding in a van, but to prove a bike is stolen in this situation you have to find the injured party or positive ID of the items. If the numbers seriel can be checked against the imobilise data base- you all register your bikes on that – right? http://www.immobilise.com/
and the bikes scanned for data tag and smartwater – you all mark you bikes -right?
and/ or check them against the manufacturer's data base for warranty- You all regsiter your bikes there too?
Otherwise it's a bit tricky, in a perfect world someone would buy them for pennies and hold on to thjem whilst seeking the owner.

It's worth finding out where the seller lives and contacting his local police. If he's a known scroat with little chance of having bought these bikes it may well be enough to go round there and pay him a visit. Then there are means to seize the goods if there's fair suspicion he did not get them through fair means. If he's a cleanster with a spotless record though, then nowt will happen without prior proof of the bikes being hot.

Now that I've opened a nice can of worms here, I'm ducking down and getting back to work. I hope I have given means to help not hinder. I'd look at them myself but Ebay is barred at my place so it's up to those that can do find out the location.

I like the pines as it's in my back yard and I can hack round at speed for an afternoon with my brain switched off, apart from a few trail obstacles it's the easiest red trail I've ridden. Good fun but not the most technical of trails out there.

I'm 5.10 and I ride an 18 5' with straight top tube. Fits me fine, a 16 would be way small, my prefered size is 17 but you takes what you can get (mine was an ex-demo cheap deal).

These maskerade as disposable handcuffs on security websites too.

If you're going for the right reasons, go for it mate.

I was just reitterating what my Canadian workmate thought you might not be aware of. Mavisto is right, re temperature the country is fine and just keeps going regardless, you just need to make sure that you are.

Likwise the booze factor, if you're happy to have a drink at home with friends it's fine, they just tend not to pile out of the house to a central point like we do with the pub.

You do need to be aware that outside of the large cities, there is a certain nieve provinciality and lack of cultural awareness which can manifest itself in homophobia, racism and stigmatising regarding things like drug use. If you've ever visited or lived in rural UK communities though you won't be too surprised.

My Colleague Iwona is from Oakdale in Canada and she says the following about actually living there:-

It does get VERY COLD (minus 40) and VERY HOT (in the plus 40s), the heat is easy to cope with, but the cold will take you by surprise when you can't go anywhere due to heavy snow when you're used to British "2 inches and the country is at a standstill" type snow.

There is no drinking culture, ski resorts are atypical of Canada, people do not go out to the pub after work or of an evening and it is not unusual for there to be no pub in a town, a local eatery may sell booze to go with your meal, but that's it. If you like going for a nice meal of an evening it's great, if you like going to a local every night and staggering home a bit merry- you will feel lost.

It is very quiet, people keep themselves to themselves and are very reserved and polite- v low crime, but outgoing behaviour is lost on strangers, so if you are an extrovert, you may find yourself feeling a little estranged. On the plus side there is no brash know it all attitude to rub your British sensibilites up the wrong way and people do genuinely care for their neighbours even if they don't live in their pockets.

Re' actually moving she did it the other way round so I can't help there. Good luck though.