I’m sure I heard over the weekend on the radio that Toploader were the headline act at a beer festival in a pub. I remember thinking I wonder how much money they get for that? Maybe you heard it as well?

Does your amplifier have gain settings (normally in dB) for each channel?
If so you can boost the volume of the centre speaker that way.

My amp came with a microphone that you place where you normally sit. It then runs a series of sounds through each speaker in turn. At the end if has a different gain setting for all the speakers.

Speaker position is important as well. If you can point the centre speaker slightly upwards so it is aiming more at your ears rather than knees. Front of mine rests on two halves of squash ball.

I had an FL Octavia estate for 3.5 years and recently changed it for a new Focus ecoboost.

Focus is actually the same size as the old Octavia but the Focus is a bit smaller on the inside.

But, the wheel arches on the Octavia intrude into the boot area so the Focus has a much wider and more 29er friendly boot.

Getting the Focus really showed how boring the Octavia was to drive. However, it wasn’t a VRS.

They rolled out the cliche in the first episode

“There are two powerful families who don’t like each other. Doesn’t stop one son quite fancying the daughter from the other, and vice versa. Trouble ahead…”

Everyone was too clean as well.

Gave up.

I sold my 3.5 year old car to a local car dealer. I got £400 more than the main dealer offered. About £500 more than we buy any car. He bought it on the spot. He said that there was a real shortage of good cars to sell as main dealers seem to get them all.

Have a look around at dealers that sell similar cars to yours.

I always notice “Free Enterprise Works” stickers on normally 15 year old Cavaliers/Vectras. Never seen one on a Roller or a Bentley…

All looks good so I put the lowers back on with new oil. I was a bit worried as I have had to replace the headset and BB bearings and thought that the forks would need some TLC as well.

Cheers

“Do you ride London to Brighton?” – “No”

“Do you ride the Tour de France?” – “No”

I take it this is LVRC?
I personally don’t like the first come first served approach to race entries but it’s the organisations choice.

People should tell the LVRC if they don’t like the system, not you.

You’re doing the lead car for the early races. Lots of riders like to moan but go very quiet when it’s time to help out.

Everyone will forget about it, come race day.
Have a good one!

I would imagine that somewhere in the waterproofing process there would be a step for removing “Not Weatherproof” sticker.

Cheers for all the replies. Lots of good history.

Seems it is not uncommon to not have full extension after. As above I have hyperextension in my left arm.

I did not mention that I fractured the lateral epicondyle in the same arm in June last year, 4 months before the latest injury. That was fixed together with plate and screws. I had physio for that and worked hard to get it straight and it was all going really well.

I felt very sheepish going back to the fracture clinic with the new injury. This one is taking longer to heal but is gradually giving less pain. I did not have physio as I already had a set of exercises from the time before.

Stretching my arm out as much as possible and supporting it with my other arm does resemble a kid’s impression of an elephant. This amuses the people at work!

I have several sets of the time atac xs and they all started to rattle. I then discovered that there is a small screw that operates a cam that I think is used to preload the spring. Turned it and no more rattles.

Check to see if your ones have the same screw.

Broke mine in two in 97, day before I started a new job. Moved house a week later as well. Told to wear a sling for 6 weeks. Went on holiday after 5 weeks and tripped over and fell on it. That really hurt.

Back to hospital and they decided to plate it after 6 weeks. All good, bit of nerve damage, couldn’t carry a bag on that side. Started riding 3 weeks later on turbo. Up to 3 hours in the shed, only holding on with good arm. After 7 weeks, rode my first race and came 2nd 🙂

2 years later, same hospital took plate out. 2 years after that I went back to help them with their research and they tested it and said it was probably stronger than the other side.

I got the 661 Rythms for £8 as well. Great for the money. I fractured my elbow twice last year so will try and look after it this year.

I had a flex stem on my rock hopper. Used to get sore finger joints after a ride and it helped a lot.

20 years later I have a Swift with rigid forks and don’t have any finger problems. Probably due to not running my tyres at 50 psi!

Progress- my car has a heated windscreen
Antiprogress- it has rain sensing wipers which turn on as soon as I hit the ignition, when the windscreen’s still covered in ice

The blue oval giveth, and it taketh away.

After being attacked by my automatic wipers while scraping the windscreen I now turn them off before turning the ignition on.

Thanks for the replies. Think it is definitely worth a quick chat with them to see what they want. Cheers

When Autoglass fitted a new screen to my Skoda Octavia they asked if it had the rain sensor. I said it did and they turned up with the proper screen and it has worked fine for last 18 months.

I too have nearly been taken out by the old extending dog lead trick. However, if the worst was to happen, the dog walker the innocent dog (unfortunately) would not escape unscathed. I’m not sure if this would make me feel better but at least they would share my pain!

I was browsing some car forums the other day. Obviously, UK forums are a lot more relevant to me so I have a look around a new forum to see where most of the posts come from.

Latest post on one mainstream ford forum was

“Where do I stash my gun in my ford focus?”

Think it was an american site.

I had them on my stumpjumper. Always bleeding and seemed to spend my life trying to get the spacing right without rubbing.

Eventually bit the bullet and took the pistons out. There was a tiny bit of swarf from the piston inside the chamber. Cleaned it out and made a big improvement. Then sold the bike and got a new one with Shimano brakes which have been brilliant.

Look at internet new car brokers.
You can get a great deal on new cars.

http://www.autoebid.com/buy-new-cars/FORD/FOCUS/1.0-EcoBoost-Edge-5d/54697.asp

or drivethedeal.com

I am thinking about getting a focus estate at the moment and there are some great deals around. Ford will give you £1500 towards your deposit if you take out their finance which is actually more than the interest you will pay.

I have been looking on/off for a certain model. There has been a car at a main dealer in Lincoln that has had an advert on autotrader for 6 months. There is no picture. They can’t be bothered to take a picture. What else cab’t they be bothered to do? Every few weeks it goes down £100 on a 20K car. Wow!

I have fitted a SKS shock blade to my rigid Singular Swift. But, a Swift fork gets a bit wider as it goes down to the fork blades. So, the biggest wedge size does not fit. In the end I got a barrel of aluminium made up at work and used the hole at front and back to bolt it on. Then I filed a slot for the mounting bracket and it works really well.

I actually got an SKS shock blade and an SKS rear mudguard which is made for 29″ or trekking bikes. Not that much bigger than 26″ but really does keep me much cleaner than my mates.

I have a skoda octavia 1.4 tsi which is a really nice, quiet engine. Does go quite well and the fuel economy is pretty good. I can get 50 mpg on my 21 mile trip to work which is half on the M25. Long term average is 44 mpg. These are trip computer figures which are known to be a bit optomistic! But even at 10% out that is 40 mpg easy.

I think it was the honest john website that has a database of owners real fuel use and they were averaging about 40 mpg.

Can do 500 miles on a tank.

I was looking at buying a brand new car recently and discovered a finance quirk while browsing a couple of car forums.

Many car companies offer a big deposit contribution if you sign up for their finance. Problem is car finance always ends up loaded towards the final payment so you will always pay more than an equivalent bank loan of similar APR.

As I understand it, finance companies don’t charge early repayment fees any more. So you can pay off the finance with a bank loan or cash really early such as the first month.

But you get to keep the deposit contribution as it is really a come on to get you to sign up to the finance.

Quite a few people on a particular forums did this.

Obviously, try and get it in writing in advance if there will be any early repayment fees.

Isn’t there a high end German frame builder that has a spare hanger that screws in a space under the bottom bracket?

1) I’ve entered but broken elbow has scuppered that.
2) First time last year
3) Was looking forward to starting in the top 100

Went to local dreams store to buy a single mattress. Saw one we liked for £100 so tried to buy it.

“There is a £25 delivery charge”
“I have an estate car. Can I take it home myself?”
“No, all deliveries are to your home”
“So, it is impossible to buy it for £100, the price should say £125”
“I suppose so”

Went home. Bought better one on line from another shop for £80.

One advantage of a standard cassette hub and a spacer kit is that I can use the wheel in my geared bike if I need to. Taking the wheels off my singlespeed as spares for mountain mayhem this weekend.

Nice surly sprocket and spacer kit works well for me.

check that there are no slits in the side of the tyre near the bead. My brake blocks were set too high so were catching the tyre just above the rim. Lots of blow outs till I realised the problem.

100 psi is fine for 23c.

Skoda main dealer broke a piece of internal trim on tailgate. They were useless at their attempts to fix it.

Wrote a letter of complaint to Skoda and it got sorted very quickly after that.

Once they fixed the trim properly, it was a great feeling that I would never have to go back! Now use a different dealer for servicing even though the useless one is only a mile from my house.

I have 2 pairs of wheels using stan’s crest rims.

Hope Hoops with evo straight pull hubs

Stan’s wheels with 3.30 hubs.

As above, sealing of stan’s hubs is not very good and have had to replace bearings once and second time top up the grease. Hopes have been fine.
Also, found that the 15mm end caps for the 3.30 hubs did not fit very well and are always falling out when the wheel is off the bike.

Had to get a refund from my credit card.
That was at Christmas. Surprised they are still in business.

Skyline cafe at Afan has the biggest flapjacks in the world. Thought it was two stuck together! Great hot food as well.

I saw Boardmans for sale in Corridori in Epsom. Apparently they are selling the higher level ones that aren’t available in Halfords

http://www.corridori.co.uk/

I am very pleased with my Whyte 29er CS. Love the way it rides and looks. Super at Afan at weekend. Only issue was the front mech but solved now.

My bike is a Whyte 29er CS, bought as a complete bike and I’m disappointed that there was no room for adjustment. Considering that the front mech and chainset was chosen by Whyte. You are probably right in that it was never going to work properly.

I did a search and there are quite a few people complaining about the chain jumping off the outside ring with 2×10 setups.

http://forums.mtbr.com/drivetrain-shifters-derailleurs-cranks/issues-2×10-chain-drop-669708-2.html

This is my first 2×10 setup and I suppose the difference is that I was riding hard on the big ring whereas I would have probably been in the middle ring on my old bike.

Planet Terror is a good watch if you liked Machete.

Really enjoyed “Tucker and Dale vs Evil”

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1465522/

Is that a Singular Swift, they’re good aren’t they?

I have one and use a surly sprocket and spacer kit which works really well.