Never met him. But I was always amazed and impressed by his achievements and his humility. He was an inspirational rider that for me at least raised the profile of this little known area of the sport. I will go for a ride this evening, and think about him and what he achieved

Ride free Mike

Royal William Yard for a sit down place to eat. Lots of places to choose from.
Dartmoor zoo is good, but steep!
Dartmoor generally lovely in the right weather. Try burrator reservoir as previously mentioned. Or a walk up around Princetown easy going for daughter.
Barbican can be good and there is a great ice cream parlour opposite rockets.
Walk round The Hoe is good.
Lots of great places mentioned already.
Also plymouth isn’t that bad at all. Grew up here. Then left for work lived/worked in Birmingham/manchester/Cheltenham and Bristol. Saw far worse up there than I ever have in plymouth!

Cheers jamcorse, I’ll be using it the same way. Good to know…

I was recently caught for my 1st offence doing 51 in a 40. Got the speed awareness course booked for March.
I am aware this doesn’t help you!

I’ve had a golf and octavia. And do similar miles. My golf was a mk6 and gave me awful back pain. The seats were very hard. The octavia is great. Loads of car for money can get either my full Susser or cx bike in with no wheels off. Massive boot great for kids etc. Would have another of them.

so at the weekend I committed!

got a 2016 Croix de Fer 20. £800 down from £1200 with pedals and shoes thrown in. very pleased, although curly bars have taken a bit more to get used to than I first thought! now gotta get it out and get it muddy!

yea the 2017 colour in the cdf range is good, but I can get a 2016 cdf 20 for £800 (originally £1200), no spec changes just colour, so its a lot to pay for a prettier colour perhaps…

that kona is a lovely looking thing, much nicer colour than the 2016 CdF 20, which is beige!

OK so I am about 5’8″. I think. Sat on a few of these types and a 54cm frame feels right.
I feel I have narrowed it to either sonder camino or I have been offered in a local shop a genesis CdF 20 in the size i need for £800. Which seems like an exceptional deal…
So persuade me. Sonder of CdF?!

He said I’d be spinning like crazy with gearing so easy. I did say it’d go off road too! So all about compromise. Never ridden drop bars so all very new…

that kona is lovely! is the gearing too low? a roadie in work reckons that is far too low for mixed riding?

yea Croix looks positive. budget about £1k – £1.5k so limited there really. can it take a front rack/bottle etc, it appears to have a single bolt on the forks…
I like the cotic, but the spec seems poor compared to rivals, such CdF

Oh and ours is freehold and our individual property is calculated and the cost apportion shown to us in a breakdown and paid 6 monthly

New build purchase here. It’s for maintenance of all non adopted private areas communal spaces playing fields play parks etc.
Ours also has a quarry face that may need maintenance. Ours is a capped scheme. We pay approx 300pa. Well worth it for where I get to live…

I haven’t lived in plymouth for long so no! It does look ideal though…

I don’t really do events. Will look at that 1. Never done a 24hr. Longest on a bike has been 6. Been liking look of mayhem and dirty reiver (also gives excuse for a new bike!)

Yea good point about non bikers. They may will not understand the difficulty or effort of mtbing

Cynic puffer sounds good. Bit far away though as I’m in Plymouth.

Yep done px. Got exactly what we wanted and needed both on selling and purchasing. Go in with the offer that suite you the best; basically the moon on a stick. Then be prepared to back away from that slightly.
Also explain why you need x for house to allow you to buy theirs and it often becomes clear.
Final bit of advice have a look when their year end or 6 month end is. You would be amazed what discounts you can get. We got 12% off the house we wanted…

Joint account for everything. It’s about trust and she is my wife. She has spent the last 3 1/2 years off work raising our children. How can she expect to live without my income? Should I give her an allowance? We have had a joint account since before we got married when we moved in together. It has created a little bit of tension at times but generally has brought us together through difficult financial times through unity and helping eachother out.

I wouldn’t want it any other way. I still buy what I want as does she; providing we can afford it!

I remember being on honeymoon with the Mrs rave in Samoa. We had been seriously on the pop the night before drinking against an Australian and US couple. Needless to say the next day on bumpy roads in the back of a large American style minibus. She puked all over herself. But I found myself catching it in my hands then wondering what to do with it!

yea I have been thinking about fit. The bike had some pikes fitted recently which had a short steerer; reducing the stem height by about 10mm. but I have ridden these places before on this bike in this set up with not as bad symptoms issues as this, its been getting worse. may need to invest in a new CSU for the pikes to make them longer…

could be work, but nothing here has really changed for the past 3 years. its mainly spent looking at a PC (wishing I was somewhere else!)

Haha! The Ved was just intended as an example of how model research can potentially save some money. But interesting to hear people’s good and bad stories, keep email coming

yea all good points on the running costs

if you buy the right model on the cheaper VED side an identical car can be c£200 a year less to tax.
running costs wouldn’t be too bad; have a family car and co. car for the daily/mundane.
problem is; I don’t need 1, just would like 1!

if you want to feel like you are getting something new, why not refresh the bike? send it off for a professional re-spray, get a few new bits to colour code etc. new bike feel, very little outlay.

and its still a fantastic bike!

The best bit about Gloucester is that Cheltenham is next door!

Mike

that is brilliant; I will look over their website and make sure they have everything I need!

cheers buddy

7 miles each way across Plymouth; hilly and treat it as a workout so smash the rides. I have an acceptable shower at work however which is essential in my (humble) opinion.

I never got round to recommending a t130 to you. They are ace hugely fun! Had a blast on mine at the weekend!

Matt outandabout, not a dig at all but could you (and all your mates) have solved all of your problems at 16 or 18? I know I certainly couldn’t! Most of my mates would have struggled as well. Some could barely make the exams!

I think it’s something that changes with a persons perception, as we get older, we get harder and assume that the ‘youth of today’ have it easier. I’m not saying that it is or isn’t the case; I’m not in 2 places at once! But the world has changed massively since I was at school; which I only left 13 years ago

ooh! now that is a tough choice. Camber will be more versatile on more trails.

have you TRULY exhausted all storage options though? some good vertical/on wall/roped into a garage loft innovative solutions out there…

Yep essentially vauxhall have me by the balls for servicing. Basically has to be serviced with them to maintain warranty. Service includes nothing and everything is extra. Charged £330 to change oil filter and brake fluid. I went ape when Mrs raving dave told me that. Car is bright red not hard to miss!

Handbrake failed on Friday rolled down Street into neighbours garden. Fortunately no one was hurt

And most people get paid on the last wprkong day of the month which will be 29th this month

I am listing loads of stuff this Sunday. To sell on 31st. My logic is its close enough for people who get paid on the 1st for them to bid on Sunday night knowing they can pay within 24hrs of winning the auction.

Mine would go and go and go. When the in laws baby’s at 1 night. My eldest woke up saw them and stayed up until 1am when we got back. She had got out of the minute we left at 7:30!

Quarrel, if yours is anything like mine. Enjoy the next day! Ours is always a pain when she has had too little sleep…

do feel very sorry for any grads coming through now; although they do know what they are getting into. We had a work experience lad come to us. I suggested not going to uni and getting on the job training/the employer to pay for education whilst living at home or renting a cheap place. I think 17-18year olds should think long and hard and also out of the box in order to get the training they NEED to do their preferred role.

graduated in 2007. c£14k of debt. Will be clear this time next year all things being equal. once gone it will be the equivalent of a gross £6,500 pay rise!

Only just come on. If it’s too late no bother if not. Then suggest reverb. Had several all have been ace. Work perfectly despite no servicing. No experience of turbine so cannot comment

down here in the muff (plymuff!) it will probably get you several hookers!

go fill your boots :lol:

@thisisnotaspoon: sorry to hear of your job loss. I fear my team and I may find ourselves in a similar position. not as a result of Brexit itself; but the likely upcoming recession created by all this uncertainty.

wish you all the best hope you find something soon