gents- thanks for all the help. Finally got the full amount in my bank after following some great advice from above. For the record I contacted both insurance company and the driver and advised them I would be pursuing them via the small claims court. Insurance then responded by saying I couldn’t instigate proceeding without a solicitor. At this point I told them they were bullying me and giving me false information, then the driver told me he didn’t need the hassle of a court appearance ( and my mention of a witness probably helped).
Finally after insisting on reciepts for original purchase , which I couldn’t provide but gave them the shop details they paid up.
Lessons learnt though hopefully never happen again – get insurance, take no nonsense , claim for every little thing. The disappointing thing is that now its easier to feign an injury to get ‘free’ legal representation than to be honest .

Thanks chaps. I’ve emailed the insurance company with the pointers above , fingers crossed.

I have home insurance but drive a company car so no vehicle cover

thanks chaps. for the record I wasnt injured . I’m claiming for a new frame and bits and bobs, plus a new lid. Some great advice though , keep it coming.

aracer- I was just going off at the lights so low speed , plus I’m not your average racing snake figure. I have no sympathy for the insurance company just not in my nature .

Steveh- thanks, hope you are right

Captain- no I’m not claiming injury , bad karma .

Balls- thanks, the driver has given a ridiculous statement about me effetively riding into him !! Witness statement and photos disprove this though.

jimdubleyou- thanks

yes they are aware i was on a bike. It seems the fact that i’m not claiming for personal injury means I’ll have to either pay for legal representation which I can ill afford or go through the small claims court. I have an impartial witness who is writing a statement – thankfully he saw the whole thing . Should I share this with the insurance company (who represents the driver not me)??

as above for me as well,I wear the full face but its whatever you feel comfortable in.

Go once, do it you will get the buzz, but then start planning a road trip for the following year once you get the buzz!

so true. A one-off turns into an annual pilgrimage. Its fair to say for me anyway that my first alpine trip was a true gamechanger. Not just for the riding, the whole experience.

I’m going to Les Arc and will be wearing my Poc spine tee . Its super comfortable so no issues on that score. Its easy to make a mistake when you are doing a years worth of UK descending in a week so I’m in the better safe than sorry camp. Wherever I ride abroad i always wear it and for certain it saved me some damage when I binned it and landed on a pointy uppy rock in whistler.

Poc body suit, knees, elbows, heavy duty shorts, Troy Lee fullface, googles, fox blitz gloves, any old top. Also never worn the pyjamas.

POC for me. Wear mine everywhere, including Coed y Brenin, Cwmcarn XC etc.

Selvedge denim. What a complete and utter waste of money. Stiff, heavy and uncomfortable. And a bugger to wash. A totally inferior product to modern fabrics. Yet somehow, because the Japanese have started resurrecting it’s manufacture (ever wondered why it stopped being made in the first place?), and slapping ridiculous price tags on it, deluded fools the the west think it’s the coolest thing ever.

I have a pair of selvedge jeans. I tried washing them after a reasonable period, and they look shit. And they’ve never really been comfortable. I’m an idiot for buying them

Seriously? It stopped getting made because it was cheaper to do it on mechanical looms- nothing to do with product development. Heavy yes, depending on weight of denim used but I’ve never ever put on a pair and thought ‘ these are too heavy to wear’ . Stiff yes, until worn in. Comfortable ? Come on really, my Levis are like silk . They don’t have an expanding waistband though if thats what you mean. Expensive? Its all relative, I’m happy to spend £200 on jeans, whereas some folk are happy to spend £200 on a day at football. Nothing to do with cool, all about quality for me.

What brand did you buy? How did you wash them? And if they are Levis with the number 555 stamped on the top button I’ll give you £20 for them , paypal gift.

She should be chuffed you care about such things and take the dirty bath as a small price to pay. I just hope they weren’t those bloody awful Nudies (though guessing APC from the woolite ?)

Morzine/les gets is very Dh orientated IMHO. I thoroughly enjoy it there but there’s no denying the main runs get mangled and are hard going on the hands and arms. I thought Morgins was immense , and the more techy slower (for me anyway) stuff I enjoyed more than the bike park runs, but I’m shite at gap jumps so probably explains it. Hasn’t stopped me going back though, I’d happily spend a week doing that super black under the Super morzine cable car and never go near the main runs (pleney is a blast as well to be fair). But when the weather turns it is miserable, the majority of the runs are lethal and its not nice getting stuck between valleys when the storms roll in.
Les Arcs is different, only the 1 true DH race run (Cachette) but more techy epic singletrack than you can shake a stick at. Quieter as well, less of a ‘boys on tour ‘ vibe to the nightlife which may or may not suit you. You will benefit from a guide as well.
But compared to UK riding either destination will be epic experiences , the combination of lift assist , big mountains and super long descents is hard to beat.

I loved Crank it Up and Black Velvet.Fair play doing that container- looked terrifying.

failed engineer- as far as I’m aware nothing was specifically cut as ‘Northern Soul’ , it became Northern as MSP says once it was picked up in the clubs. So you can have (as an example) an Edwin Starr track thats classed as northern then another by the same artist classed as soul.

A lot of the compilations are more filler than killer, a real nice one is After Hours from 2002 on Warner Bros.

@ Failed engineer . Yes and no. There are crossovers but the northern sound is more ‘footstompy’ for want of a better phrase. The casino classics compilations are also a good starting point. But to echo big dawg if you get involved in the vinyl collecting game then it’ll make biking look like a cheap pastime.

Just done similar- sold my DH and Xc bike and bought a Nicolai Helius AM though it was a close call over a Last Herb 160 . Also looked at the YT , spec is outstanding for the money.

Thali every time.

Some of the runs in chatel are similar (ish) though with a much higher danger level (no markings for gap jumps etc) but IMHO there is nothing that I’ve ridden in Morzine that comes close to Whistler track build standard though Morgins tracks are different in style but very well built and maintained. A friend runs the Jarvso Bike Park in Sweden however and they have had Gravity Logic build there, I haven’t been (yet) but it looks mint. Heres a little video http://www.zapiks.fr/north-trip-ep-iv-jarvso.html

love this

I’m in the same boat , Kona Kula was another but think it would be too heavy. Can’t seem to see any sort of deal on the Core24, anyone have any experience of them or other options?

Poc every time. Worth the extra imho.

Rob at Badassbikes.

Whistler bike park is awesome,lots of big DH rigs as expected but lots of single crown 6″ travel bikes as well. Its super smooth compared to the runs in Les Gets/morzine so no real need for monster travel unless you ar hucking some of the really big stuff which is easily avoidable and the few gap jumps are clearly marked (unlike France). I would never ever get bored of riding Crank it Up alone, the runs are really special and pretty much everything is rollable and/or has chicken runs. T2R are IMHO pretty crap unless you are young and used to living in a student house. The place is in dire need of work,has a mouse problem and feels like a 6th form common room. I was recommended Bear Back for my next trip though ideally i’d stay in the village centre so no scary walk home after a few pints . The bike shops in the village all rent bikes but the insurance is pretty hefty. I’d get a 3 day pass and renew if you felt the need. It is awesome.

Radcliffe and Keveney are frustrated (poor) comedians. They should just stfu and play music. 1extra has gone the same way , ‘personality’ presenters and a 2 hour playlist that gets rotated 80% of the day. passionradio bristol for me.

since no-one else has so far

and the deejay for the tuff crew took some beating

I’ve had the fish now.

It’s my favourite dish, you know

on my money its just a wish

for me Hijack and Blade were the best UK artists so far. Someone mentioned Percy P, recommend googling the battle track he did with Lord Finesse for a film my mate Paul Nice did. Can’t help with radio shows but the pipomix website has plenty to keep you occupied.

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever trust HR. Ever

amen to that- recent graduates reading pre-prepared scripts. IMHO.

great Belgian producer now signed to Hospital.
http://dnbshare.com/download/NETSKY-STUDIOMIXAUG09.mp3.html

if you live in NJ then surely you must get yourself a Brooklyn or a Superco??

pintxos and estrella at el cable in Sitges on Friday and Saturday.

White Riot -The Clash
I’m an Upstart- Angelic Upstarts
Babylons Burning – The Ruts
Smash it up- The Damned
F*ck tha Police – NWA
Police and Thieves – Junior Murvin

and maybe Breaking the Law by Judas Priest.

not yappy! Boston Terrier- the american gentleman

theres a good article in Dirt this month on Timo Pretzel (i think) who had this issue and resolved it with yoga.

If you plan on riding the DH trails I’d recommend 2.5 dual ply minions or similar. I know it all depends on riding style but the last think you want to be doing is buying tyres out there. Get some part worns off this forum or SDH.

On Peace FM here in Manchester today (I normally love that station)

My first ever boss after leaving Uni…came from Sierra Leone …he taught me punctuality

Wow, down with the ‘black’ music, educated and shown how to tell the time by a real life black person. You must know all about life on the Broadwater Farm estate, or at the very least own a Tiny Tempa album and have seen Kidulthood twice.

blues parties- do they still exist?