This is the best photo thread ever.

Riding bikes is ace.

House prices won’t be affected long term, they never are. There still isn’t enough houses being built which has only one result.
I’ve just got a 5 year fixed mortgage I’m happy with.

The main thing would be to not stretch yourself financially as there may be increases in costs of living ahead. But we’re all sensible aren’t we? ;)

My Genesis TourDeFer came with a 9sp Alivio chainset/cassette/mechs. Shifts better and nicer than my 10sp XT setup on my MTB. It really is amazing stuff for very little money.

+1 Madison clothing. Great fit, nice colours, works very well, isn’t expensive.

If it makes any difference I have bought a couple of generic ones and they work absolutely fine, no problems.

Glasgowdan – almost the same as us except we have been living bill and rent free with friends for 9 months. Finally got a house which needs work but I am really hoping it goes through ok. I don’t think it’s been as mental round here as you have described it where you are but it’s certainly brisk trade at the moment and the sellers hold all the cards.

You’re asking on the wrong forum anyway, most people on here just drive their dull company A4 Avant/Octavia to the dealers twice a year and then come on here complaining about the cost of it. If they knew anything about fun cars to drive they wouldn’t buy either of the above in the first place.

Pop over to the Yaris forum and enjoy driving it when you get it! I test drove a T-Sport once and it was brilliant, still think about getting one.

“So what’s the difference between cutting a spring and the last coil(20/30mm) snapping off….. because I know how that ends.”

One is modifying a component to get a result you want, the other is a catastrophic failure of a component. There’s a lot of force going on when a car is resting on its springs and way more when it’s moving. When one breaks when it’s moving bits are going to fly all over the show.

“what happens when you go over a hump back bridge(lots of in the highlands) and your shocks unweight your springs – which now unseat…… and the end of which is now through your tire….
either that or your making it wallow even more because the springs softer to allow it to sit further into the travel so it can extend and take up the full stroke of the shock on unloading.
a good quality shock absorber of OEM spec will help matters more than any modifications for the intended use.”

Total rubbish. A shorter spring won’t pop out when you go over a bridge, unless you are stupid and put one on that’s far too short. 20-30mm drop won’t be a problem. Even cutting springs is ok if they are linear rate ones (like in my Volvo) as long as you don’t cut them too short.

Some nice Bilstein gas shocks with tighten up the handling a decent amount without sacrificing comfort.

I’ve just installed 40mm drop springs and Bilstein B4 dampers on my Volvo 940. Result? Car suspension now feels much better, no more wallowing around and leaning over when cornering. Corners flatter, yes it’s a bit firmer ride but not uncomfortably so. Kinda more like my modem Focus now, which is only a good thing.

I won a Kona retro frame for 99p and went to collect it, was surprised that the bloke sold it to me for that little but he was chuffed it would be reused (it was a state but a repaint sorted it) – looked in his garage where it was stored and you couldn’t have fitted another molecule in it – he was just listing everything for 99p and he didn’t care how much it went for.

Sold a nice scanner for 99p as my new OS didn’t support it. Bloke who came to collect it was really nervous as he didn’t think I’d sell it for so little but I was just glad someone could make use of it.

I put a pretty ratty pine table up for sale for 99p. I could have sanded it back and painted it and got £150 for it but I was hoping someone might think the same and I didn’t have time to do it. Bloke messages me and said what did I want for it, I said £30 and he sent someone round to pick it up that day so I canceled the auction. The bloke picking it up said he did this all the time for the buyer and he would strip it and sand it and sell it on for a profit. Again, I got a decent amount of money, it was going to be reused and someone was making a living out of what I was selling so I was very happy! Can’t stand to see things going to waste.

I went with HouseNetwork online to sell my house. £700 all in including the EPC and plans and virtual video – all looked very professional. Service was excellent. I won’t ever use a high street EA again, they did it so much better!

We looked at over 40 houses before going with ours – not exchanged contracts yet but hopefully no issues!

There’s a real lack of mid size houses at the moment – 3 bed semis. We really struggled to buy one.

If someone has done a journey of X miles and you want to know where they came from it could be impossible to find out as you don’t know the route. If they took the quickest route you might be able to find out but if they made any detour or went a weird way (e.g we go down south via M1 to SW rather than round Manchester as we prefer it but a route planner wouldn’t take you that way) then you don’t have a chance.

I have a mitre box and hand saw. Utter bobbins, impossibly hard to get an accurate cut, I only put 3 lengths of skirting in with a couple of outside corners and a couple of inners and by the time I’d finished I was ready tothrow the whole lot in the bin.
When I buy my new house I’ll be buying a proper electric mitre saw!

Question – if I’m putting in a kitchen would a normal mitre saw be ok (ie non sliding)? I assume for the same price a non slider would be better quality. What sort of thing would I best with if I went for a non slider?

12 feet away with a 26″ TV you aren’t going to notice much difference to be honest, I could say that without looking at a graph! That’s quite a distance for a relatively small TV. Yes I know we all used to watch 14″ TV’s accross huge rooms back in the day but that’s all we had.

In our last lounge we were about 8 feet from the TV and watched a variety of HD and SD pictures, so when I bought a new TV I went for a better quality 37″ rather than a cheap 42″ as a SD pic on a big TV which is close to you is going to be awful. I now watch mostly HD and am moving to a bigger house so I could ideally buy a much bigger TV. But I won’t for a long time yet.

There’s nothing wrong at all with How It’s Made. It’s brilliant! It’s fascinating finding out how things are made, most of the time it’s the mundane stuff like tights or buttons or pencils where you learn something new about how they make them.

I had Triple S do a fork and stem for me and it was about £50. Not very pleasant to deal with in person and the job wasn’t nearly as good as LSN.

I couldn’t care less about bigger voids round the back. Working around slight issues like lack of space to put pipes just takes a little more thinking about it that’s all – small voids are only a problem for lazy fitters. Id rather have bigger cupboards which will be an advantage for many years after a slight fitting conundrum has long since been forgotten.

I can design the kitchen layout no problem. DIY kitchens have some great write ups – not too far from me either so I’ll pay them a visit. Looks like th actually make their own kitchens too which might be why they are doing well.

I wouldn’t touch a B&Q kitchen, every one I have seen looks well worn after a couple of years. They don’t seal the edges of the base units very well so they soon look grubby.

I’ve just checked Homebase kitchens and it seems they don’t supply from the same company as when I worked for them, shame really as they were very good at sorting things out. Hmmmm

The survey is being done by an independent surveyor but paid through the bank (I think). This is because the bank is paying a part of the survey for me. I am happy with that part of it.

I won’t mention it to the EA again, I’ll just liase with the surveyor themselves to see if I can be present. To be honest with my work commitments it might be difficult but if I can be present I will be.

I’ll make sure I am not a hindrance to them during the visit, but will try and ask questions about a few bits for reassurance more than anything else.

You could put lacquer over the top but I didn’t bother, they are very tough decals I got. The Project2 decals got damaged a little once so I peeled them off again but they are spidery thin so I wasn’t surprised.

The only thing the EA has to do is grant access to the house as they have the keys. I haven’t spoken to the surveyor yet but will ask them when they are doing it so I can be there.

I’ll say it again, the EA aren’t doing anything for us!

Also it’s very shiny for powder coat…

And no I don’t work for them, I just like to promote a good company if they’ve consistently done great work.

LSN paint jobs of mine.

I’ve had Retrobike experts look at this Kona of mine and they don’t beleive me that it’s powder coat. Much better job than Triple S.

This DMR has a very shallow stamp on the dropout. Their powder isn’t applied thick and gloopy so you don’t get the orange peel effect and all the details remain.

My 20yo Volvo cost £400. Leather, electric memory seats, electric sunroof/mirrors, AC climate control, ABS. Shifts like a good un (the new Golf TDI’s don’t stand a chance and they have tried!). Brakes are just as good as my new Focus too. And I could probably park a Focus in its boot.

And because it’s RWD the turning circle is 3 METRES smaller than a new Passat so it’s crazy easy to park.

I love my new Focus but blimey my Volvo is good too!

LSN in Castleford. Much better job than Triple S when I used them (used both) and LSN are crazy cheap too. Well worth the drive over.

I live in Huddersfield and it’s a pian to travel to Castleford to LSN but I won’t go anywhere else, had 5 frames done with them now.

I am not having the survey from the EA, it’s through my bank (HSBC) but it’s a proper surveyor, not a valuer.
Mortgage is already sorted out via HSBC. Not getting anything from EA.

A friend of mine used to have a job organising special train trips for one of the big train companies all over Britain. He was a MASSIVE Deltic fan. He said the best time was organising a special train which went into Liverpool Line Street and he got the driver to give the engines as much as they had while sitting in the station. Apparantely all the train fans who had been there to see the train (or be on it) were cheering like crazy but all the other normal people nearby who were just there to catch other trains were in pain with their hands over their ears!!!

Great words from Nick Robinson on bbc website:

Cox – a popular and respected Labour member of parliament, a young mother and a campaigner for the rights of refugees – was shot and stabbed by a man outside her constituency surgery. She was vulnerable to attack because she was, like so many MPs, available to anyone who wanted to see her with any grievance.

Her death is a reminder that our elected representatives, who are so often demonised for living separate lives from the rest of us, actually all too often live in our communities, in our streets worrying about the same things that we do. Unlike us, though, they open themselves up not to just to criticism and abuse but to assault by those who disagree with them.

We do not know the exact circumstances of this attack. The police insist that it was “localised” ie not linked to any global terror threat. There are, though, suggestions that it was political. If that turns out to be true it is a reminder of one other thing too. The need at all times to respect those who disagree with us and to understand that anger, fury and rage are not the same as passion or belief.

The vast majority of MP’s do an amazing job and just want to improve the country for everyone. They work so many hours and are really dedicated. It sounds like she was one of those great MPs and a credit to the profession. It is such a shame she was targeted in this awful way when she had many years ahead of her working to improve the works for all of us.

A friend of mine had a S5. The gearbox started to have issues after about 3/4 years, out of warranty period. Cost for a new one £8k. He got a good used one fitted for a couple of £k and got rid sharpish. He then bought an RS5. Bonkers.

Nigel Mansell.
Will Gollop
I’d love to say the legend that is Jason McCroy but while he’s up there I would have to say it was most likely I’d have the amazing Greg Herbold instead. I still want one of his Koga Miyata bikes.

5 deaths? Blimey.

I am on the fence on this one. I do like the unique challenge that the TT represents and the riders are without doubt something very special. But the continued bleating of the TT fans saying that the risk is something that should stay there and that it would just be sanitised if anything was changed reminds me of the attitude in Motorsports in the 50/60’s. Safety was increased massively in Motorsport over the next few decades, and to a great extent it is still just as exciting to compete and watch – people put F1 up as an example of safety gone too far but people have still died in recent years so the risk is still there, not in small part to the crazy performance a lot of cars have.

I really do think there are measures that could be taken in the TT which might save lives but not take away from the mentalness that it has. If those measures cut deaths by even a small amount it would be worth it.

That’s the post of the year for me, thanks JimJam.

Well we have bought the house, SSTC anyway. Yay!

Budget is £5k for the kitchen, but it isn’t big and I’m installing it myself. I used to work in DIY trade so I know I can do it for that, no granite or solid oak but it’ll look nice!

We did get a bit of money off the house, not as much as I wanted but I had to give it a go!

Most TVS have all the enhancement turned on so they look great in the weird light of a shop.

Go into every menu and sub menu and advanced menu you can find and turn everything off or to standard/normal etc and start from there. There might be some guidance online on a forum but turning everything off is a good place to start. You can normally set it up to your taste quite quickly from there as you can adjust the basics from a good baseline and see if the special features do anything you like by turning them on one by one.

I set my Panasonic up this way and it worked great. Online guides worked a little but I found I adjusted things slightly differently.

I have one of those PDW bells spare that I might part with. Brand new.

2nd lunch – that’s what touring is all about!

A friend mentioned to me that CE doesn’t work as well when isomething he is doing is scripted. He works really well as a live presenter. His radio show has a plan I suppose but isn’t scripted, and it works really well. We all know TG is pretty much 100% scripted and I think he wants to inject energy into the script he has but it’s coming accross a bit false. Give it time and I think they’ll get it right, matching the material to the presenter well.

I’ve seen those but they are a bit spendy and look massive like hiking boots. Thinking more along the shoe style really.