RLJers who don't look around them you mean?

Why do bad things happen to good people?

mcboo I hope you also waved cheerily to passing pedestrians and performed an additional track stand to nose manual to let a small kitten cross the street?

Rockplough go easy on the fixies. When your bars are only 8 inches wide you need some momentum for added balance. In addition, stopping at lights can be difficult when you have no brakes and are riding clipped pedals in a pair of converse whilst attempting to keep your fringe out of your eyes. Its a tough gig.

Further legislation is always the answer.

Well not if it distracts you from your driving, that would be irresponsible.

BoardinBob if you jump a light in your car you will get penalty points if caught.

If you do it on a bike you won't.

That probably explains it.

Samuri pick a motorway late at night, you'll be fine.

Yep me too

Free the weed while you're at it.

The hysterical repressed finger pointer is the most dangerous of all road users. Who knows when they'll finally snap?

I jumped a set of lights on a dual carriageway a while back. After 100 yards I made it into a filter lane without the traffic catching up. Next thing I knew an old boy in a Rover pulled into the slip lane beeping his horn, with his wife hanging out the window giving me stick. In their haste to lecture me on road safety, they narrowly avoided being rear-ended by the car behind and almost ran me into the kerb. They then followed me past a school at 40mph, in a 30mph limit.

It could have been worse, he could have been driving a diesel sports car.

Great stage so far. I've driven the descent into Bourg many times and there are some tight turns further down and some very patchy sections of road, it could get interesting here!

Nobody who has the first clue about driving cars for pleasure listens to anything Clarkson says.

The VW Beetle has been the most popular car in the repressed-tight-fisted-pseudo-sporty sector for 4 years running, it'd be a great choice.

I love my Focus but for 3k I'd get fitted up for something fancy!

This thread is a stormer.

Molgrips how about an automatic VW Beetle soft top? It'll waft you down the shops with zero gearchanges, and it won't have enough grunt to spill your chai-latte-mocha-frappucino all over the beige leather seats. They do a special matching handbag for thrashing irresponsible drivers with, and if you sign up before the end of July you get a free course of HRT.

Mark 4 GTI was slow, it got owned by a Skoda diesel in a drag race on Top Gear as I recall.

I test drove the Mark 5 TDI and GTI. The TDI has decent straight line speed but I found the front end wandered a bit when pushed hard. I went for the GTI which is a great car, I still haven't found anything I'd change it for. It depends how much that extra 20% performance matters to you I suppose!

One thing to bear in mind is you won't get a roofrack on a Mark 5 GTI, you need a rear mounted bike rack.

Chapaking you are right, I speak from experience. I always build in a bit of spare time now so I'm back "early" a lot more than I'm "late".

I don't know why anyone thought Armstrong was going to rip the legs off Contador after the way he got dropped last week. It has been pretty obvious since then that Armstrong will only win if Contador has an accident or makes a major tactical error.

Telemarking is a real mans game! We're waiting until the kids are old enough to ski blues and reds and then giving it a crack so we have something different to try.

A mate of mine went from total beginner at the start of the winter, to doing the Haute Route in 3 days, and skiing Mont Blanc in April. The physical hammering he gave himself was incredible, it was one of the most impressive displays of determination I have seen.

Dunc you can just say you prefer RWD, you don't have to bring genitalia into it.

Having the same wheels steering, doing the majority of the braking, and putting the power down, brings its own challenge. The major factor in making a car rewarding on good roads is driver feedback, most of the cars mentioned don't need much more than 200bhp and would be less enjoyable with 4WD

Martin the most important difference between the R26 and the RS is rear seats. If you're restricting yourself to two seats a whole raft of other cars come into consideration. The Megane is just as desirable as a drivers car but if you have kids to consider or a wife to keep happy it isn't an option.

I was told there was zero chance of discount, then offered a pretty rubbish trade-in value on my Golf, I think the enthusiasts are out in force which is to be expected after the shambles that was the last RS.

I'm pretty sure I read that VW had ditched the 4WD on the top of the range Golf? They can obviously do it given that they have the S3, but they seem to have been scared off by the recession. If the Golf is FWD it should still handle very nicely, the GTI is a long way ahead of the current Focus ST.

Another for the SX Trail, mine is 34-35lbs without much effort.

You can be pretty sure the Froggy will have a maxle, LaPierre spec their bikes very well.

There is a trail Sion-Martigny which is fairly tame, my missus has done it.

You might be able to get a train to somewhere more interesting, Vallorcine is probably only one connection from Sion but it depends what age the kids are.

The most appropriate accompaniment for a TVR is a tow-truck.

Hot hatches can be driven hard on public roads with a lot more safety than a RWD sportscar with no ABS.

I'm in a similar situation to the OP, I want something that is more forgiving than a hardtail. I've already got a Meta 5 frame sitting around but I want something with less travel that'll still take a hammering.

Are there any 4x bikes out there with a halfway sensible seat angle for somebody who's 6'3" and 14 stone? Are there any short travel xc bikes that can be built to take a thrashing?

Cunning move by the LBS there. Its definitely on my list for the Autumn!

Base layer x 2
Thin Fleece
Thick Fleece
Softshell
Light Waterproof Windshell
Proper Waterproof Jacket
Fleece Skullcap

Gives you pretty much every option you need. You're better with cheaper stuff and more options, a good waterproof is the only place I spend money anymore. A lot of my stuff is DHB or Helly Hansen/Patogonia from TK Maxx. Rab do some great waterproofs.

You'd be unlucky to be washed out for one week never mind two. A lot of the summer rain out there comes from thunderstorms which blow themselves out quickly. IMO you go to the Alps for lift accessed trails, if you want a quick blast most days and a bit of variety Portes du Soleil is hard to beat.

As hicksville says, if you go away from the lifts there are loads of great options all the way across the Alps. The problem I would have with that would be ETA back with the wife. If you go off exploring, find a new route, or take on a big climb, it can very quickly turn into an epic. Getting back late is the absolute worst thing you can do, you'll pay for it for days.

The other place that has just popped into my head is Slovenia, we were there last year on honeymoon. Beautiful scenery, some lift access, not massive driving distances. Lake Bled, Kransje Gora, Llubljana are all within a couple of hours drive.

I would have to go white, I love shiny white things.

Its always going to get dismissed as a chav car. I think the Focus RS and the Megane are two of the best new cars in years. The Megane is the ultimate evolution of the fine-tuned hot hatch and the Focus is a big technological showpiece for Ford and a great revival for the RS badge.

The car market is awash with overweight, underpowered, too soft, crap.

There won't be a 4WD version. I have a 20 page PDF press release, they ruled out 4WD as being overly heavy and complicated at the price point.As for going round corners, if Evo and Drivers Republic rate it you can be sure it will be a great car to drive.

I did some wheel kicking a while back. They're 27k with a decent spec, not a cheap hot hatch. I just couldn't justify it but I will be keeping a very close eye on them second hand.

I grew up in FWD cars and I find them much more craic on country roads!

We're going in August, splitting time between in-laws in Chamonix and mates in Morzine. I am planning to go for a dawn road ride or the first lift, trying to be back by lunch.

Do your fair share the rest of the time and prepare your kit beforehand so you don't end up wasting half an hours riding time faffing about. I sneaked a couple of days riding on my own last year and I found that 3 or 4 hours with no breaks was plenty!

Annecy is beautiful if you have a car, its a nice town for a wander round, your missus could do some shopping, and the lake is lovely for messing about in a boat. Cham would be a lovely day trip too, beautiful place.

I'm not exactly light or nimble, I'm 14 stone and I have a tendency to force the bike through things without a great deal of finesse.

Thanks gents!

What rims for a hardtail/short travel full sus?

I had the Casco. It saved my stunning good looks in a number of low speed crashes, then bit the dust in a high speed crash which tacoed my front wheel and forced the chinguard into the main shell. When I tried to remove the chinguard it snapped off. They are basically disposable after a major fall.

I was learning at the time and having a lot of silly falls and it was good for that. Obviously you don't want to hit a tree in it but you are going to be a lot better off than an XC lid. Its still pretty claustrophobic when you're climbing, although it doesn't feel like you are actually boiling your head. I just have an XC lid and a full face now.

Second the Mountain Equipment one, great value.

I started out on a snowboard and after 3 seasons I reckon I am pretty competent. They are more accessible than skis and can be just as good for touring as long as you aren't traversing much. MSR snowshoes rule.

I went over to skis for a bit of something different and because I wanted the option to do longer tours. I was good enough to blast around the pistes after a couple of days and probably did my first tour after a week. It took me probably 25 days to get confident on steeps, ice, and deep snow. If you don't mind falling you can pick it up quite quickly. Skiing is more demanding in terms of fitness and technique on challenging terrain. I find skiing more rewarding now as I feel like I learn something every day wheras I have probably hit a plateau on the board.

If you want to ski-guide for a tour op you will be fine on a board. If you need to transfer to skis quickly I would get an intensive course at the start of the season and tie it in with some sort of guide qualification. And get fit, circuits, weights, plyometrics are all good.

Swoosh its http://www.pewter.co.uk, they were quick and good quality too.

Leatherman idea is a good’un!

In a 4×4 there is a lot more potential to use the power to get yourself out of trouble because its very easy to control the car in a drift.