I had one – sold it a few months ago. A 3.0 Spec B manual. It was great. Fast but thirsty. Reliability was fine and cheap to keep on the road. It had very high road tax (nearly £600 per year). I loved it, but its headers were rusted out and that was going to be expensive.

The engine was what made it a great car though…

Another vote for mpb. I’ve used them for years and got a secondhand canon 5d mk 3 body recently when my 7d died. Great to deal with. You’ll find a range of super cheap to mega expensive kit-so easy to make a big dent in your wallet! Also, cex can have some good deals. I prefer Mpb though.

I have a new TRP HyRd caliper (in shiny silver) you can have – £65 posted – if you’re interested. I tried to fit it to my road bike in place of the Spyre, but it didn’t fit as it interfered with my frame. So its been ‘fitted’, then put approximately back in its box. PM me if you want a photo – it’s post mount and cost me £95.
STS.

Niner air 9 is what I have (alloy though). Picked my frame up cheap on here and it’s been superb. Light, fast, comfy (for a hardtail). Santa cruz highball alloy could also be a good bet? Sometimes the frames go cheap.

I had similar issue to you on my legacy. Ended up getting a cheap one off ebay. Made by gerlach I think. £110 for the whole exhaust. Been running it for a year and fine so far. At that price you can’t complain. You can also get individual bits of the exhaust.

I have a 2006 legacy. Its never had any big issue and it seems ro be holding out against rust. Exhausts are expensive from subaru but u can get them super cheap on ebay. Its a nice enough place to sit and it’s big enough too. 4wd is useful where I live too. Only expensive thing for mine is the fuel but that’s because its a 3 litre. I love mine overall.

Another vote for a legacy instead. I have the 3.0 spec B and I got it for just over 3.5k 3 years ago. Fast, spacious and interior is much better than wrx. No problems mechanically. Similar thirst for fuel tho.

Yet another subaru legacy estate owner here. I have a 2006 3.0 spec b. It is very good to drive, comfy and easily has space. However, it is thirsty (but fast) and its interior is not as premium as it could be (though not bad compared to my astra that I had previously). 4wd is very handy in winter. I bought my car 3 years ago for under your budget and it came with a spare set of wheels with winter tyres, and a roofrack. My guess, too, is that because my version is quite rare, it won’t depreciate much. Overall, its a great car for biking.

Cluster flies. We can’t leave our doors open at the moment otherwise they will come inside. They come out when it gets warm in the spring and then again at the end of the summer. There’s basically nothing you can do about them.

Tom200 – don’t know how I manage it – but that’s approximately what we get according to the trip computer (reality may differ?). The car is a little bit upgraded (better air filter, stainless exhaust, suspension upgrades) but basically a standard manual power train. We dont drive in town much though, or on motorways.
Lack of timing belt in the H6 and tractor-like robustness was an attraction. As well as the power and handling and space and cheapness of purchase.

I’ve got the 3.0 spec b and it gets around 27mpg most of the time so reckon the 2.0 should do somewhat better. As orangewhinger says, you can get the exhaust cheap off ebay (do not get from dealer). Mine seems built well, not had much of an issue so far. 4wd v.useful where we live in the winter. Somehow, insurance is ridiculously cheap, perhaps because theyre not desirable. My similar age golf costs more to insure.

Bencooper, can you pm me with what you have on offer? Theres a chance i will be passing through glasgow in a month.
Alternatively i will phone your shop at some point.

Smurf-thanks for info-will take a look.
Cheers,
Sts.

If ground clearance isnt an issue you could go for something like a subaru legacy. Can be cheap to buy and insure and I must say I like my one…

I live 5 mins from Hamsterley nowadays, but even in the past I used to drive for 1 hour to ride there. Its good and getting better all the time. I tend to do the black/red mixed route that legolam suggests as you hit all the best descents but the climbing isnt too arduous.

Can’t come out to play tomorrow afternoon unfortunately.

JoB-all is forgiven-I think we all realised you were under pressure. People were all tired so probably werent switched on to what was going on behind. Anyway-nice to see you front up on here and apologise-thanks. It’s the people that make Mountain Mayhem and mountain biking in general such an excellent sport. See you all next year. Perhaps.

I loved the course-first time back at mayhem since Eastnor. Course was short enough to never be alone-nice and sociable and yet also felt like you could chase people through the trees. Our team wasnt taking it seriously-just having fun. Spent the last lap cruising round in the sun along with Chipps, and who I can only assume must have been Clover due to the spangly riding dress, and with a few solos before crossing the line at just the right time. Only mild irritation was the total idiot who came barging through the top of the grassy climb swearing at people to get out of the F-ing way. Luckily the spectators gave him some well deserved abuse.

I have a defy advanced 1 and I think its great. Its sooo much comfier than my ancient OCR that I have before. And its way more sprightly. I have it set up quite upright at the moment, but may start removing spacers from the front end. Its a comfy, light and quite manouverable bike. The only think I might change eventually are the wheels, which I suspect are a little heavy. I like having the discs too. Overall, I thought the advanced 1 was a good price, looks great and rides great. I’m well happy with it.

If you dont get an mri we could try sticking you in the core scanner at work when it arrives! And if that fails we could lop the leg off with the core splitter… Anyway, the 3 of us hope you are back on the bike soon so we can do the sandstone way. Get well soon!

From S, E & C

We had a similar problem with ivy up the wall and across the roof of our barn, turned out that it just peeled off in one big ‘sheet’ without us actually having to go any further than going up a ladder at the gable end. We ended up with so much ivy it made a pile the size of a van. Bonfire was ‘fun’ :)

I send an email round a relevant email list. Easy way to get quick responses. Its worked for me, i got multiple applicants for my projects recently and have a student starting soon :)

Thats just up the road from me. Never ridden there though.
I just looked at some old maps in case they shed any light.
The 1955 os map suggests it is an unmetalled unfenced ‘road’. The bartholomew map from 1897-1907 says it a footpath or bridleway with the caviat that this does not necessarily mean there is right of way. The os map from this time thinks its a road of some sort.

Check out the old maps here:
http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=15&lat=54.8066&lon=-1.8948&layers=11

Only the one inch or half inch maps will be any good to see what you need. There is a tab at the bottom left of the map screen that shows the map legend.

Cheers,
STS.

You could do a masters degree. I did one at Edinburgh. It was great. I’d say you’ll find it hard to get a job in gis if you dont have some sort of training.

I just got my first proper road bike. After riding a 2013 giant defy for 4 days in the alps and up mont ventoux, i thought the defy was a great and comfy all rounder. It climbed great as far as i am concerned, and those were some proper hills i tested it on. So, i just splashed out on a 2015 defy advanced 1. Its great so far, although the saddle may get swapped. Id heartily recommend one.

Thanks Chief – the room is kind of odd. It has 2 sets of ‘patio’ doors (one to outside, one to conservatory, and then a set of french doors into the dining room. Thus, the room has lots of ways in which it loses heat!

Still reckon a 5 km nominal (7.5 max) would do the trick? I prefer the jotul F100, but the scan is slightly larger.

Hmmm – yep – might chase up the hearth cost. I think the stove is around £1200. After installation, that leaves £2000 in the flue and the hearth. So, maybe it’s actually a reasonable quote? The flue is absolutely massive!

Well – just got a quote. A LOT more expensive than first suspected!

Scan-Andersen 8-2 (up to 9 Kw) stove
10.5 m external twinwall flue
Slate hearth.
Fitting including scaffolding.

Price? Wait for it…
£4800!

Is that over the top? Any suggestions on how can I reduce the price on that? Cant have a shorter flue + need scaffold to get up a 30 foot gable end.

£1600 if that is fitting/scaffolding (HETAS certified).

Is the scan stuff good? I heard it was a subsidiary of jotul – not sure if thats true.

Our house is old and not well insulated if that makes much difference.

Try downloading QGIS. Its a free GIS package which may well allow you to do this (can’t guarantee that though). It has a lot of features though, so worth a try…

Erm – you’re a bit late – it was in cinemas last year. I think you can get it on itunes though, although I havent tried.

As a glaciologist, I would say its definitely good. A few things brushed over, but overall excellent science and really spectacular footage etc. The same guys run the extreme ice survey[/url] website which is also worth a look.

STS.

I love my niner air9 – long reach plus short stem, and surprisingly chuckable. Descends not too badly cos its long wheelbase means its pretty stable, but its light enough to fling around and remain nimble. Was chasing a mate on an alpine 160 the other night – safe to say I couldnt keep up when it got properly lumpy, but then again, I wasnt that far behind… especially since it was dark and I didnt have a helmet light for the twisty stuff.

My bike has all the welds filed smooth. But its a Niner Air 9 which is welded once, then has a second layer of weld put over that which is then filed smooth so that there is still enough material to hold everything together.

On an orange 5 I dont think you should be doing any filing – it would weaken the box section joins, particularly where the angle of the join between planes in the box section are not acute.

Are you already considering your next new bike purchase P20?!

Rebas. I bent my sids. Switched to rebas and haven’t looked back. I do a similar sort of riding to you by the sounds of it.

Always give examples to back up your answers.

Think about the question:
‘Why do you want this job?’ its often the first question.

Think about responses to any other questions you reckon you may be asked. Even write down bullet points to help you revise them. However, dont script them – just try and sound natural when giving responses.

Get a friend to ask you those questions and give the responses as you would in the interview. Take such a rehearsal seriously and stay ‘in the zone’ during it.

In the interview, take deep breaths before you go in. Relax and smile -this will help you come over better.

Good luck.

Hi,
I dont have kids myself, but one of the guys from my regular riding group takes his kids (I think even younger than yours) to Barnesbury CC. Check out this website and get in touch with them. They are a friendly bunch!

Barnesbury Cycling Club

I was at a race they ran the other week and before our race there were the juniors – with some kids around the age of yours – it was great to see loads of smiling faces and there was some pretty good riding!

Cheers,
STS.

I have a fairly new M985 on my bike. There is no initial movement/play – the clutch seems to be engaged without excess movement. I checked that at both ends of the gearing just in case this changed at different extremes of tension on the mech.

I wanted to like the show, but it was cringeworthy from the outset.I think mostly because of the poor host and uninspiring studio bits with an uninterested audience in the background. I’d rather ride my bike than watch that again.

Pump up your tyre a bit and see if the problem goes away? Then you would know if its the tyre or not. Having said that, SIDs are quite flexy – I had some and they weren’t too solid. Then I bent them.

If its any use, I have a spesh stout hub from 1998 (xtr grey colour, sealed bearing version) which I dont need. I can post it to you for the cost of the postage if you want it. Its got the 9mm QR axle and was designed for a radial wheel build. I suspect the bearings need replaced. I cant remember how many spokes it takes – 32 I think.

Message me if you want it.

STS.