Just wondering on this? Obviously a lot of US brands etc, but in terms of the UK ones who are the 5 biggest?
I get stuck after On One and Boardman?!

If you mean Top 5 as in the volume of sales and turnover, then On One wouldn’t appear in the Top 5.

When you consider that Halfords sell 1 in 3 bikes, you will probably find that most of their brands are in the Top 5 (Trax, Apollo, Carrera and Boardman)

Brompton will probably be in there with 27,000 sales and £13,000,000 in turnover in their last financial year.

Some of the Tandem Group brands (£35m turnover per year) may also sit in the Top 5, especially when you consider that they make so many supermarket specials and Toys R Us BSO’s (Barrosa, Boss, British Eagle, CBR, Claud Butler, Dawes Dirty Elswick, Falcon, Holdsworth, Optima, Scorpion and Townsend). That’s before you start counting their kids brands (Fireman Sam, Ben and Holly, Ben 10 etc etc)

I would think that the brands STW lifers consider (On One, Planet X, Ribble, Orange, Islabikes, Genesis, Cotic etc etc) wouldn’t get anywhere near the Top 5. I think I read somewhere (A few years ago) that Orange’s turnover was around £2m per year. Although I don’t know if that is correct!

Wonder what will happen with trail maintenance ? Gorrick/BOB currently do that from a slice of the permit income. If no more permit income then where does the £££ come from…

The other thing to consider is, if you are only allowed to ride the official trails, will Gorrick only be allowed to use these same trails for their races?

If Swinley get this wrong, I could see Tunnel Hill etc getting more popular?

This is a fish

<*(((((><

It really is that simple MoreCashThanDash.

In fact so simple, I’ve put a 40 second video together to show you how (It took me longer to upload than film). If it hadn’t taken me 10 seconds to unplug the Garmin after the transfer it would have been even shorter. 😉

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhwXH620IKk&feature=plcp

1) Drag the GPX file from your PC into the New Files folder on the Garmin
2) Unplug the Garmin
3) Power up the Garmin
4) Select Courses
5) And voila the route is there

Save the GPX file to your computer. Then copy it over to a folder on the Garmin. From memory I think you need to drop it into “new files” folder. Once that is done power up the Garmin and the new file route will now be in courses.

It really is very simple.

And-
http://www.minigadget.co.uk/minigadget-envy-ultra-slim-capacitive-android-tablet-p-64.html

All seem reasonably similar, not that well known but maybes worth a punt for the price?

Although the Minigadget Envy is cheap at £79, I would give it a wide berth. A friend on my wife bought 3 of them only 4 weeks ago for her 3 children. All 3 have already broken and have been sent back. Minigadget offer a 30 day refund and a repair after that. The Wifi stopped working on one, the other eventually refused to power up and the 3rd just continually crashes and powers off.

You really do get what you pay for and it appears that you pay little for the Envy but you also get very little. I would avoid at all costs!

Yep that’s a good plan – provided that there is a safe pedestrian walkway from the P&C spaces to the store.

The walkway was a major factor in the initial consultations and luckily it runs in front of the length of the store and has bollards to protect the mums and kids (Although the bollards are probably there to protect the big glass windows rather than the pedestrians). 😉

Awesome colour Stoner.

They only come in blue or red for boys now

Islabikes only received their limited edition mango colour Cnoc’s and 20″ Benin’s in early October (from memory they didn’t advertise this colour on their website – it was mentioned on their Facebook page)

If you want the mango colour you should give them a ring, as they may still have some in stock.

They are also planning on releasing other limited edition colours in the future.

My local Sainsbury’s was redeveloped a few years ago. They decided to move the P&C spaces from outside the store to the other end of the car park. This was done after various consultations with parents who had young children.

After this was done the feedback was really positive from the parents. They didn’t mind walking or pushing the kids for an extra couple of hundred metres, as their main requirement was extra space to open the doors and get the kids and or baby seats in.

Needless to say there are always P&C spaces available now, as the mums with the 15 year olds now park nowhere nears these spaces, as they are too far from the store (Although they probably park in the disabled spaces now, which are still outside the store).

The other thing to consider is that HMRC only allow 45p per mile for the 1st 10,000 miles. HMRC allow 25p per mile thereafter, so If you still get 45p a mile you will have a tax liability on the extra 20p per mile.

I bet *DSG have already been on the phone to the administrators!

They will cherry pick the best locations and the profitable stores. They will pay a ridiculously low price and the creditors will be left high and dry. DSG will then run those stores as Comet, just so that the general public think there is competition in the sector.

*Although from memory when Best Buy went bang late last year, I don’t remember anybody stepping in to cherry pick their stores!

From a selfish point of view, I’ll be getting myself down their in the next day or so, to see if I can pick up a bargain from the dishwasher department.

Has she asked for your email and Facebook logins yet?

It took til about a week ago before she started coming out with some pretty worrying stuff, alarm bells have started ringing.

Please do elaborate . Please

Andyrm – A well written and honest post . Have you considered applying?

No forget that, you appear too honest 😉

Wing Mirrors
Rear Window Louver Sun Shade (Normally found on Ford Cortina’s)

Smurfs from the National garage.

Ah…..I fondly remember the trips to National with my Dad in the late 70’s/early 80’s just to get my next Smurf. Oh Happy Days………

Whilst on holiday in France in 2010, Kinder were giving away Smuffs with Kinder eggs (Which were very similar to the old National Smurfs). I explained to my kids about the National Smurfs but they just didn’t get it.

You’ll be dissapointed to hear that the wife was very understanding.

This has unnerved me somewhat though as she’s normally the sort to go absolutely balistic.

In other words Mrs Elzorillo’s friend was on the phone to her only a few minutes after the incident and told her about your mystery blonde. Mrs Elzorillo’s wanted to see if you came clean! You did and as the say “Revenge is a dish best served cold”

If you we’re asking a T800 for advice – It’s reply would be “She’ll be back”

My wife and I just use the same email account for everything.

I do find shared accounts weird! I know 3 couples who have shared accounts but no individual accounts (to my knowledge). One of the couples even have a shared Facebook account. The account is in his name but you can tell who posts (His spelling and grammar is awful). I just don’t get it!

The same with shared email accounts. How do you order Christmas/birthday presents etc? Do you delete the confirmation email before your other half sees it?

I have to do one every two years as a condition of my employment. I went through the session run by AA Drivetech only two weeks ago, so everything is fresh again! My employer insists the reason we do it is to make us safer drivers but apparently the compulsory course makes a massive difference to our insurance premiums 😉

FWIW – AA Drivetech run the Thames Valley Police sessions and they always make you think about your driving style.

The main things I learn’t from the other attendees were:

Most people don’t know what a dual-carriageway is.

For nearly 20 years, I thought 2 lanes in each direction was a dual carriageway but i didn’t realise that for the road to be a dual carriageway it had to have a central reservation :$

“give it some welly”

I get what it means, just, why welly?

My understanding is that it refers to Tractor drivers, who inevitably trundle along country lanes. The frustrated driver behind is thinking “I wish this tractor driver would push the accelerator as far as he can with his Wellington boot”

It’s not one I use but I don’t really understand it?

“Kick or Kicked the bucket”

So what has dying got to do with a bucket?

With nearly everything I sell I set an auction price and a BIN price. I used to respond to the “will you end early requests” with “That’s what BIN is for!”. However I’ve given up responding now as I must get at least one request anytime I list something.

If you want to buy it early, click on Buy It Now!!!! Rant over…….

Today all information is available instantly all over the Internet. In the 1970’s and 80’s you bought the newspaper the day after or you waited for the Ceefax pages to load. I remember coming home from school on Friday’s and going straight to the TV to see who had provisional pole for that weekends Grand Prix (This was when they had qualifying on a Friday and Saturday). I also remember when we got a new TV with Fasttext.

From memory wasn’t the ITV version called “Oracle”?

The VWG UP and sister vehicles are all built in the same factory in Bratislava. The UP has been very well received within the UK and that unfortunately pushes back delivery times. Volkswagen have just managed to secure another 1,000 UP’s which will all be deliverable within quarter 4. I don’t know the situation with regard the Citigo but I’m guessing that is as popular?

The vehicles come from Bratislava and end up at Emden in Germany, where they are loaded onto the boat. Once they get to Emden the cars are probably still 2 weeks away from the UK dealer. Unfortunately the dealer will have approximate dates when you place the order but until the factory confirm the order and issue an SLI number there is no real way of telling, when the vehicle will arrive.

You need to speak to the dealer and get them to confirm the vehicle status and the build date. With regard to getting something from them, I would think you will struggle. I believe the margin in these vehicles is around 5%, so the maximum the will make on an £8000 car is £400.

The only way in which you may get anything is by telling the dealer that you will mark them down on their Customer Experience Measurement (CEM). A bad CEM will really effect what bonus they earn at the end of the quarter. Unfortunately Sales Executives within the dealers are their own worst enemies and often over promise and under deliver.

Once you have the SLI number, speak to Skoda customer care and explain the situation and explain that you were quoted 12 weeks and that was the reason you ordered the car. They are more likely to do something for you, as they will want the start of your Skoda journey to be a good one.

Selling the rear mech with the mech hanger still attached! A scrote that knows nothing about bikes.

Is there anyway you can contact the Met Police. Surely they could then follow the auctions through. The wheels are the first to end, so ideally if they win them, the other bits will still be at the property?

Why don’t you bid? Offer a silly amount to ensure you win. Tell the seller you are not in the UK and that you will pay cash on collection when you return. Inform the police and get them to come with you when you collect?

Is Matt Allwright hiding in your garden somewhere?

Surely if you are involved in an accident whilst drink driving, that would invalidate your insurance?

Could that be the reason why the insurers are refusing to play ball?

Strange that he sold another Cube Ltd only 6 weeks ago? Nothing suspicious there then!

Although the forks on that one were the right way round!

And strangley she is siding with the Police Officer.

“And why is the cyclist wearing a camera?”

This is now being discussed by Julia Hartley-Brewer on LBC 97.3. No doubt she will slag off cyclists.

http://www.lbc.co.uk/listen-live-3578

If the anti cyclist Daily Mail readers think that cyclists are now colluding with Caravanners, then all hell will break loose! 😉

So McLaren have confirmed the Perez signing

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/102891

I’d like to think that Hamilton leaving shows his lack of ambition and proves that money is his motivator.

However it’s probably more like this

“Dear Ron and Martin

I’ve been with Macca a long time and I think of you as my family. However as you are aware, I signed up with my new management company (XIX) a couple of years ago and Simon Fuller sees me as a bit of a cash cow! I’d love to stay at Macca but unfortunately my annual management fees are so high, that I need to earn £20m a year minimum just to pay them and live a basic existence.

As I said, I love to stay and I know I won’t win anything with Merc but the have thrown in a SLS. Although Simon tells me he is having the SLS.

Kind regards

Lewie

PS – I wish my Dad was still my manager, as he never raped me!”

Takes me back to Police canteen days when we used to a lovely large Nigerian lady working behind the counter.

She’d answer the only phone and bellow out which officer to come to the phone.

Most of the above got an outing, and as we were known by shoulder numbers, one day she repeatedly shouted out 4Q, 4Q

Was she related to Moe Szyslak?

You need to play on your potential customers emotive feelings

“Love It Lock It”

All domains are available

The lights don’t need to be on!

In built-up areas and where the street lights are not spaced more than 200 yards (183 metres) apart, the limit is 30 unless otherwise indicated. So no need for a speed limit sign.

1 in 23 years. There is a dual carriageway near me that had the limit reduced from 50 to 30. I was caught doing 47 only 2 weeks after it had been reduced. In fact I wasn’t even aware it had been reduced, as it had been 50 for as long as I can remember. Strangely within 2 years the limit on the road was increased back to 50!

I also had a lucky escape only 6 weeks after I passed my test. I was caught doing 100 on the motorway at 2 in the morning. The very nice policeman let me off, telling me that if I drove at 70 for the rest of my journey, that I would get home alive. If I continued at 100 I might not! He then followed me down the motorway for the next 7 miles (the next junction) and I made sure I didn’t go over 70.

From next Monday (the 25th), More4 will repeat season one of Homeland. Highly recommended.

Oops…….typo error…I’ll try again

From TUESDAY (the 25th), More4 will repeat season one of Homeland. Highly recommended.

From next Monday (the 25th), More4 will repeat season one of Homeland. Highly recommended.

Nice try, Internet Stalker!

I wasn’t asking what your user names are, just whether people use different user names for different forums?

Bizarrely I’ve never really understood how it sell so many copies, especially when so many people seem to dislike it! After the NOTW scandal and when the Sunday Sun was launched, I thought that would consign the Sun to the record books. Although strangely the 1st edition of the Sunday Sun sold is massive numbers.

I tend to park at the Roundabout near Crowthorne Woods. I can see that small car park getting even busier in future. I might spend more time down the road at Tunnel Hill!