Wife was hit by a motorbike that drove off. Police weren’t bothered as no injury. F’ing annoying as therefore insurance weren’t bothered either. They wrote to him and called him but he just said it wasn’t me and that was that!

Inspired us to get a dash cam…

cheers bongo; that’s exactly how I remember them from BC!

saxon rider

was very fortunate to see wild bears, caribou, coyote, bald eagles moose and wolves whilst I was in Canada. didn’t get to see a mountain lion though, shame.
grizzly and bald eagle for me. (cant do photos i’m IT illiterate!)

yep my LBS do most things on my bike. I barely have time to ride it with 2 small kids let alone spend ages faffing with it. LBS can do a better job, it keeps my face in with them and helps us both out.

if you have the time, space, inclination and tools then crack on if it’s what you want to do…

I work in construction as a consultant to clients. 1 major and 2 minor developers have pulled the plug on ALL their developments until such time as the markets look more stable and a clear route ahead is known. The major developer was spending hundreds and hundreds of millions

My commute involve short sharp climbs followed by long flats. The worst combo I guess! Currently run 2x but am fed up of constantly repairing/indexing/fixing the gears. I go through deep mud and some days it is so bad it won’t change gear at all! Everything is knackered and needs replacing so figured ss might be a good option… thanks 32/18 sounds like a goer…

perfect.

thanks Clink, Woody and all! maybe my requirements aren’t so specific after all! I couldn’t find one anywhere…

cheers guys; I measured it without sitting on the bike last version Voodoo Bizango; so best to measure with sag included. thanks for the responses so far. meant to say it is replacing a knackered suntour fork on a commuter; so looking to save weight as well, ideally carbon?

oh and it’ll be converted to ss to get even more weight off.

Came soooo close to moving to Canada a few years ago. Only bereavements in my wife’s family stopped us. So wish we had gone now. This place is going to the dogs.

After Brexit Mrs raving dave said maybe it’s time to plan our own Brexit! Looks like Canada may be back on.

I want my kiddies to grow up in a pleasant tolerant inclusive society. Not this dump

whisky711; does that stuff work? always wary of these things?
not expecting massive gains; will look at Copenhagen diet.

i’ll update on how much weight I lose over the period. Cycling more (no hardship) and gonna be running as well – I cant run so figure that will trigger my body to go a bit mental!

I echo what stumpy01 says. Small cars have very limited rear space for baby seats. Most boots won’t fit a pram. Get a tiny car for your commute to work. Let her have the big 1 during the week the amount of baby paraphernalia will overwhelm all of the cars being proposed above. When we became a family we wanted ‘metal’ and space around our most precious cargo.

after owning ‘bigger’ bikes for a long time; and having recently moved to a new location with 2 small kiddies ( 2.5yrs and 6 months) I knew I needed to make the right purchase for a change and keep to it. after a lot of research and chatting to LBS etc. I settled on a 2016 Whyte T130s with pike fork upgrade. This is perfect for the moors and 3 monthly trip to BPW/Wales. Fast and fun when needed, with enough burliness for the reds and blacks in wales when required. not exactly an ‘XC’ bike though, more trail all rounder

one of the of the reasons for looking at a T5 is the ability to chuck everyone along with loads of stuff and disappear off. The majority of estate cars, wont take 3 children and stuff; its either or.

cheers guys, all useful stuff, we would be getting one 2nd hand due to cost; they are expensive and hold their value really well saw one with 200k miles for £8k! I imagine we would just buy a boggo 5/6 seater and convert later on as funds permitted. My misses wants one of these large tepee style tents which we could just bung in the back…

any dealers to approach or avoid?

I’ve got one and wouldn’t recommend them. I still use it as a commuter but:
the fork is truly awful on a long ride it stiffens up massively now it’s almost completely rigid all the time. Given the standard it follows I can’t find a replacement fork for it.
the headset is not at all sealed and fails frequently
The gears were really poor.i switched them out for a set of slx stuff I had lying around
If it were my money I would buy the more expensive boardman knowing stuff can be easily replaced or repaired.

But bear in mind. My bizango has done hundreds of miles so maybe heavier use than expected at the price point?

that looks a whole load of wrong! I usually like Cotic’s but the proportions look completely off. and I like the whole long, low slack thing!

whats the phrase?: if it looks right, it is right?

mogrim – that is bad. hope you get it sorted

go back through the last month via online banking schedule out into categories where you money is going; then work out where you want/need to reduce. we were like you. I always said their was a hole in our account. once we had done this I saw I was spending around £150-170 a month on lunches! so started making my own. There will be loads of ways to save

yea been looking at rental prices on longtermlettings.com and they are comparable to UK (except a much bigger place with nicer views!) Airbnb was going to be the next port of call.

car hire looks to be as expensive as house hire! 8O
so thinking of taking some cash out and buying a car over there, running it then selling at the end, cant be more surely!

part of me hopes that we will fall in love with the place all over again and then the misses will be wanting to move out there. Nearly did the last time we went all set then her family started dropping like flies so she didn’t want to go. which was fair enough and life has moved on somewhat since then!

yea 2 kids, mortgage and would want a fixed base. so big costs! when we went to Canada last time we did a 3 week tour of Alberta and BC. this time we would probably try and stay somewhere in the Rockies or Okanagan region. the short overnight stops to other places like Whistler, Jasper, Banff etc

most breaks seem to be couples, fewer people have done them with kids. I guess because life is more ‘settled’ costs are the key issue I working through now to know how much I need to save; but want some encouragement from success stories!

anyone lived in Canada and can advise on true living costs, food being the main one. When I went just ate out ALL the time. by the time I got on the plane home I must have put on about 3 stone!

Oh yeah how were your little ones with the upheaval of moving?

Mine are going abroad and staying away from home for the 1st time this summer. Will be interesting…

Cheers warns,

Take the bike! My thought process hadn’t got that far yet! Now its definitely on. Did you get somewhere on a short term tenancy agreement rather than a holiday let?

What did you do for transport? Car hire or buy a cheap thing then sell it afterwards?

OP,

I would get an Agreement in principle before I moved any further. I recently went through the new mortgage process. It terrified me.

your salary has very little to do with it compared to loans credit cards, childcare costs, car purchases, mobile phone contracts, sky/virgin contracts, student loan payments etc etc etc. which all have an impact on your ability to pay.

they then stress test it by taking the interest rates up quite a few notches. all in all I found the whole experience unpleasant! and am already nervous about re-mortgaging despite it being 18 months away.

in the end we got our mortgage and everything is fine; don’t plan to move until kids have grown up and left home (eldest is 2 1/2 so ages away) not bothered if it doesn’t go up as its my home not an investment; why do we (as a society) feel we have to or should make money on our homes?

Yep. Got loads from there. The wife loves it. Bedroom stuff dining table TV unit etc. It is really well made. I had a break a large wardrobe apa
rt after we moved as we couldn’t get it in. Loads of fixings holding this thing together. We would have sold it however 2 months in a new build garage meant it had got damp enough to cause it to swell so panels had warped and doors wouldn’t close. We got a furniture specialist out to see if anything he could be done. He said no and that our garage was about as damp as a victoriana house which I would agree with. Therefore if you live in an older the property the tolerances ofl make their stuff to could cause it to warp…

I did exactly as you are planning. I went from a santander Cruz heckler with 250mm travel to a t130s but with a pike rather than revelation (I had an early t130) bike feels amazing don’t miss the 2pmm. Does bottom out a bit more but will be trying some bottomless tokens to sort that soon. Get 1 if you can find it. Try rockin bikes in Yelverton I know they had one with a yari whether they still do is another matter…

what would I need to drink to make my wee flammable?

tried talking in a nice half jokey way; don’t be such a tight git etc and did your ride or run in today?! , but he is on of those people who will not change their views or have their view changed.

we also work in close proximity professionally and I have seen him be a bit of a d**k.

Guess I will need to MTFU!

like it PJ very good idea; I could even put the landlords logo on it to look professional!

wife kicked him out? in his dreams! he lives on his own and is single. (you pay less council tax you see!)

HR would be a good shout; the only issue being we don’t really have an HR person. so the director would be it. he would probably just laugh and shrug his shoulders!

I like the idea of a karcher; I could use it on me!

he ALWAYS eats everything! but especially mini eggs, that I left on my desk! :lol:

seems like a fair solution. the light switch is on the outside of the shower room. tomorrow I will just switch it off in error gotta save the planet and all that

Definitely no pnd. She is happy as can be.

She has always been obstructive to cycling. Just one of those things. Says it Takes time away from us/family. Which is why I try to go early.

When I say her hobby is our kids i really am not kidding. I have tried to get into other things but she just isn’t interested. Nothing makes her happier than our kiddies. Which is great unless she doesn’t hear them at 6:20am

Tried all the arrangements thing. Got up early all last weekend and yestersy

Tried to get a cyclocross as ideal for local ‘trails’ and commute but wife has completely blown her lid about it. But I do want one for a quick blast with no requirement to drive. Wife just came downstairs and said you’re running too late to ride now. I asked how she didn’t hear our daughter in the next room when I was downstairs?!?!?!

Yea next time I will just leave. Everything was ready to go apart from loading bike into car. Now dealing with a tired, hungry grumpy toddler. Instead of enjoy a sunrise on my own across the moors. This is the 5th time this year my ride has been cancelled for one reason or anothee

Eating breakfast. Next thing was outside. So close!

lovely looking bike Mosey,

the decals really clean up the look. where did you get them from? I could do with a colour matched set for mine…

cheers

Cheers guys lots of great suggestions here. The boardman look great value as does the orange. Very tempted by that one. We may well have a winner!

Yea got feliway. The rehoming centre keep them till they find somewhere suitable they do checks on the address owner etc. They are a responsible place and won’t put them down. Considered advertising and doing our own checks but then found out that some people in the regiom were taking cats for dog bait!!! So didn’t want to go anywhere near that.

Based in Plymouth. They are booked into a local cat rescue place. We will be making a donation and providing the place with lots of food bedding etc.

It’s really hard. Tonight my 2 yr old was playing nicely with one of them but the cat looked scared stiff. Probably coz yesterday she ran up and screamed his name right in his face. Didn’t see the cat again for the rest of the day! My daughter wasn’t being nasty she was just super excited to see the cat. Most of the time though she isn’t bothered by cats and is more interested in baby brother or similar.

they are plain moggies (ginger and white toms (Brothers) problem is they are pretty stressed here. the design of the house doesn’t really allow for them to hide away; they wont go outside despite our nice and subtle attempts, but I get that as we live on a new build site.
they have had stress induced cystitis several times and keep running away from us; even when we have found the time to play/be nice. im not sure the best thing, but would hope that a house more suited to their needs (older children/couple) would make them happier

for clarity the cats will be given up permanently. just wondered if anyone else has done this and how they felt about it…

permanently. cats aren’t the most expressive facially, but act unhappy (tail down sulking around, hiding from us etc. its been getting worse sinec our daughter was born. she is now 2 1/4 and we have a son now 4 months. they seem pissed that they don’t get any attention as we are busy looking after kiddies so they play up!