I wanted mw80s as all reports seemed to rate them highly. Problem is they never get deeply discounted. Picked up NW celsius in summer for £60ish. Worn for a couple if rides and pleased with them

Same reason inkjet printer manufacturers sell you cheap printers and then skin you on cartridges?

Mate is very happy with his Cooper S. Give us a bit more to work with. BMW 123d would be a good choice – serious poke and good fuel econonmy.

VW today confirmed that ABS pump has died – apparently common on VAG group cars made in 2006. Would be a £1600 job – thankfully car is 2 days inside 3 year warranty so it's being done under warranty.

Wondering if there's a link to MOT or coincidence

thejesmonddingo – subtle comedy genius!

Offroading ESP for VW (and probably every other car) uses ABS pump and brakes to control individual wheel speeds and correct slides (as I understand it).

I do enjoy a 99 on a warm sunny afternoon…

Help us out with what you define as silly money?

I like Last Exit to Nowhere – Subtle film references[/url]

Ponti – nice to see someone taking one for the team though I do feel your pain.

(actually yesterday's rides around the summit and the red route in the pouring rain are candidates for my favourite rides of the year!)

Crazy- legs. Ta! Doh. Thought he was using his current frame

Bigbloke – you must have gone somewhere else! I was at n y a yesterday and that deserted flowing singletrack was dreadful ;)

"change my calipers for cantis" question no one has asked is how TF are you going to do that then? Or am I missing something?

Tape, stickers and old inner tube?

Though I'd imagine if you are trying to make it look sht then hammerite over lacquer would be a good place to start!

One just round the corner from work failed to sell me the right length spoke despite him measuring the wheel with a ruler.

Not overly enamoured with any of my local shops. Got bike back from one after they'd replaced BB bearings and given gears a twiddle with a bent mech hanger which implied they'd never even given it a run to check.

Customer service at another is a fine blend of ignorance and arrogance.

In fairness I'm not a frequent flyer with any of them as I do my own fettling and generally buy online though as DT78 said customer service can swing it. When I lived in Bath, I'd buy from John's Bikes and pony up the extra cash purely on the basis of great service

Postierich – you're around Lichfield somewhere aren't you? Just made the same trip a couple of weeks ago to pick up a Rothan for our little lad for Christmas. FWIW I thought the cafe was pretty good – nice big roast beef sarnie for similar price to a regular pub.

Guy I used to ride with had a lovely Robin Mather. Looked on his site a few weeks ago and seemed to be having a rest – Robin Mather[/url]

Not exactly answering the question but I went to an LBS, fella measured spokes with a ruler and still sold me two spokes the wrong length – chump – fitted them but not as much thread in the nipple as there should be.

Got some Milk levers (pedros?) years ago and they've given me years of faithful service

Another Road Rat here. Added full mudguards, clipless pedals and an Avid BB7 front disc brake. Running it single speed and do 12.5 miles each way in about 45 minutes with rucksack.

I've got to agree with West Kipper. I'm sure Yamaha pay Vale a vast amount of money to ride their bike but you do get the feeling that he'd ride for free, just for the sheer fun of it. He's fantastic to watch, and has such an incredible will to win. I'm not sure which race it was this year but there was a moment when he overtook Lorenzo hard on the brakes and just pulled his knee in at the key moment which was absolutely phenomenal.

Must be heart breaking for other riders when Valentino falls off, picks his bike up and gets back on it and still beats them. Not sure how you'd come to terms with that.

Did discover in my hunt for another bank account that it seems to be much more of a 'seller's market' – banks are not eager to sign you up any more (or weren't eager to sign me up anyway!)

I had the same letter and decided to 'simplify' things for the Halifax by moving all of my accounts to another bank. I was in a similar situation as cheers_drive – usually end up a pound or two overdrawn at the end of each month and pay 20p in interest. Wasn't willing to pay a pound a day in fees for the same thing.

That laveredo does look pretty nice – cheers thomthumb

No you're right – trying to cludge a mudguard onto the roadrat is a PITA. I ended up with a biro spacer which has since fallen off. My next idea is a small length of syphon tube as a space which I'm going to try when I get around to it. Having to drill my own hole through the wishbone was also a 'niggle' – fingers crossed you avoided that one.

Despite that it's a great bike for the commute

I've got a labgear one and an embers one – both ok and have lasted fairly well

One of my best and most memorable rides involved riding a chopper home in the dark whilst a bit squiffy

Sink U bends in 6th forms and undergrad chem labs arevalways a rich source too

What do you want it for? Barometers used to be the classic application think that mercury barometers are effectively 'banned'

Not sure it's quite that cut and dried. I was once sat at the start of a 10k timetrial and computer was showing about 5km/hr – reckon it was the guy behind me's HRM chest strap that I was picking up.

Renton – must be something here[/url] that will help

Renton – must be something here[/url] that will help

Is "un-catch-up-able" – the phrase they are using these day's for 'wins the driver's championship'?

LOL @ BigDummy

Seriously?? How far did you screw it in against the thread before you realised? I'm not sure people like you deserve nice things! There should be an aptitude test before you can buy a King BB :)

Greek honey with yoghurt ;)

Castelli? http://www.probikekit.com/display.php?code=c0220

Trout – So there is something subliminal aimed just at me in those pics! What's the current lead time on getting a light? (oh and you've spelt collaboration wrong on this page)

BM Goat – are you sure it was a thorn or is there a possibility you just melted a hole in your tyre with 1000 lumens?

Getting a Troutlight is on my to do list – might not be for a couple of months but at some point I'm going to weaken and it's going to have to happen. Don't know why I'm fighting it really.

Going to Cardiff tomorrow night – looking forward to it. Hope they play some of the early stuff?

I was a bit confused about the happy couple's honeymoon plans – Doris told me that they were going to the Maldives but I'm sure I heard my brother saying he was going to Bangor all weekend. Boom tish!