I had an ST2 and now own an ST4. Totally superb bikes and very under-rated. Get one with the factory luggage and you are laughing. Servicing the ST2 is farly easy, belt changes can be done at home but valve clearance and setting up the FI are best left to a specialist.
I've been all over France on my ST4 with no issues and i had no problems with the ST2 although i didn't go abroad with it.
I personally think the extra power of the ST4 and 4S are worth going for although you do have to watch out for rocker problems (the ST2 doesn't suffer from this).
Watch out for warped front disks, iffy regulators and worn clutches.

Its a bit of an unfair comparison though really (as much as i don't like JE James!!), CRC are a purpose made mail order outfit while JE James are three shops that do a bit of mail order as well.

And there is you reason for the mayo!!

Get a sniff test done in the header tank – this will detect Carbon Monoxide from the combustion chambers and will tell you for certain if the gasket has failed or not.
Mayo on the oil filler cap is common at this time of year,especially if you only do short trips.

I think Blacks had their best Chrstmas ever this year so little chance of them going down at the moment.

Think you need to make sure that 100% of the water from your property goes into your soakaway and that nothing is running onto the road for example.

Reversing lights are not tested in the MOT.

I got three local companies to come and quote for my windows plus one slightly larger one (but also fairly local). My research told me that there are only two companies making the Upvc extrusion that they make the frames from so basically all the companies are supplying the same product.
Anyhow the quotes i had ranged from £1300 to £6500 (for 6 windows). In fairness to the ones that came round non of them did the ringing their boss to get better price trick, they all gave me a price and that was it.
The most expensive quote was for externally glazed frames so that was a non starter, the others all quoted for esentailly identical windows so i went with the cheapest. Four years later i'm still very happy with them.

The secret is to know what you want before they turn up and don't let them baffle you with bull. I did drawings of what i wanted including opening lights and measurements etc so all they had to do was add it up and give me a figure.

Personally i'd stay well away from national companies based on my experience.

I'm still running a £7.00 FSA headset on my S Works that i put on when i built it in 2001. The bike has been used, abused, jet washed, ridden in all weathers etc and the only time the headset has been touched is when i've changed the forks (so basically its been greased twice in that time).
Its still smooth as the day it was put on so no, paying £90 odd for a spangly headset is pointless.

Anything over three or four years on a car battery is borrowed time.

Can't get chains to fit my car.

Email on its way!

Chopper actually sounds like someone on here who knows what he is talking about :-)

Apart from the bit about 156's never coming in on trailers though – mine did after the crank sensor went one night. I was able to tell the dealer what the problem was though and he ordered a new one ready for me.

Under 20mpg unless you have a very light foot! Stupid road tax next year as well. V6's don't have the same cam belt issues as the TS engines, officially its 72k or five years but many owners change them at 60k. TS engines have been at 36k for the past few years now. I have a 1.8TS SportWagon by the way.

http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/ is the best forum around, http://www.alfaworkshop.co.uk/alfa_romeo_servicing.shtml is the cheapest place for servicing.

Use a Dremmel or get a bit of GENTLE heat on it.

Doesn't actually look like it will make a lot of difference to that bike!

http://britishgas.home-maintenance.info/heating/radiator-bleeding/

The instructions for my combi say you should bleed the rads with the boiler off.

The rubber bumber models were made for the American market to meet their construction and use regs. MG added them to the whole range, they look horrid and some owners convert the car back to the older chrome bumber spec.

Cyclesheme don't make the rules though guys, its very clear if you go onto the Inland Revenues web site that the second hand value means the true value of a one year old bike.
Also if you company is audited by the Revenue you could be picked up on this a few years down the line and be forced to pay the money back.

They pick up the signal generated by the local oscilator in the tuner, perfectly possible to receive it on a cheepo market wideband receiver. As to whether the detector vans actaully bother to do this is another matter!

Think they are lower profile as well so you can get thicker disks without risk of the bolts hitting the forks.

You were lucky to sell it at all – second hand furniture is almost impossible to sell. My mate put some nice stuff on there FOC and still couldn't shift it.

I'm 6'3" and my M4 S Works hardtail is a 19 inch, it doesn't feel cramped and there is still loads of seatpost left. Small frames give you more confidence (more top tube clearance) and in theory they are stronger as well.

I've never had a reply to several emails i sent to them….

Got my sister one for xmas last year – its been cancelled seven times now! They can only fly in winds of less than 4mph i think it is.

Most important thing with the lottery is to pick numbers that no one else will so that if you win you don't have to share your prize. Most people use numbers they can remember, such as birthdays which only go up to 31 therefore your numbers need to be over 31 to have the best chance of a big win!

Its odd how peoples perceptions of bike shops differs, i've always found Liesure lakes to have very knowledgable staff, good stock and a very good helpful worshop. Their prices are good as well if you haggle with them and they also do an MOD discount which helps me out a bit.

One other shop in the Amber Valley area which no one has mentioned yet is Stanley Fearns in Matlock. Its a true olde worlde style shop with probably the best workshop in the county plus Aiden there builds all my wheels for me and does a cracking job.

I have a bit of inside knowledge in this (can't go into details i'm afraid) – unless something changes dramatically then we are there for at least the next ten years in one form or another.

I've used him before and had no problems.

Less than i would have expected, they often charge a £25 handling fee.

You won't need planning permission but strictly speaking you do need Building Regs approval. It also must be a half hour fire door set. Not cheap!

Braided hoses will only make a difference if your existing hoses are knackered and as most mountain bike hoses are rigid plastic thats not going to happen! Most of the difference people claim to feel is simply down to the fresh fluid and being bled properly.

Are they second hand brakes?

No Building Regs requirement to have a loft hatch i'm afraid.

But he has a high rez digital picture now that he can spend the evening examining and then come up with identifying features!

How do you propose to possitivly identify it and prove that its yours if you don't have the frame number?

I photographed mu bikes from all different angles including pics of distinguishing marks as well as frame numbers etc then uploaded them to Photobucket so i have a permanemt record that i can access from anywhere with an internet connection.

What we have now (and have had for a few years) is known as intelligent mobilisation, you volunteer to go then they mobilise you (its a way of getting round pay problems amongst other things). Its been a few years since anyone got an unexpected brown envelope through the letter box.

If you deploy in a frontline role you'll get three months full time pre-deployment training with the regular Army and only if you are good enough will you go.
TA soldiers haven't been called up for years – mobilisation is voluntary and most regular units will only accept TA deplying with them if they come up to their standards.

Fees to the retailer are significantly higher with Amex than with other cards hence most won't accept it.