So how much is a ride? You should always provide a price!

Ta, I’ll read the setup instructions a bit more carefully and see if I can conquer the beast!

Hi Vincienup, not quite, Shimano front mech with Dynasys written on it and a Sram X7 shifter which has 3 speed written on it. That was my first thought too as the shifter seems to move the mech further than necessary….

If you have any other thoughts, I’d be grateful, thought all 10 speed front pull ratios were the same…

A friend of mine has been running carbon frame full sussers only on the road for years. I think he is mad but you can always lock the suspension and put on skinny tyres. Frankly, the roads around Brighton warrant at least front suspension, they are so bad!

Get the full susser and change the tyres over for xc/commuting. Use this for a while for commuting then buy an old bike and convert it for just commuting/pub/shopping use. Then it doesn’t matter where you leave it so much.

You always need a decent bike for off road to enjoy it properly.

Ring me and I’ll talk you through it. Simon 01273702049

It is a medium size frame. I’ll pass all your very helpful comments on to him and come back to you. Thanks very much

It is the carbon frame one btw

get a titanium frame next time!

It is what happens when you borrow nothing and pay off the mortgage. When you do want to borrow something they do not have any evidence to suggest you are a good credit risk as there is no history of borrowing (and paying it back). A sad reflection on modern society.

Why not buy an ex lease car where the depreciation has been lost but it will have been maintained. It will still be new enough to pass for business use. You could get something for half the sum and still have some for bikes too.

One difference worth pointing out is that freesat has better red button function for sport, etc. For example, Wimbledon on freeview is very limited, usually one alternative match (on 301) whereas there are 4 or 5 matches to view on freesat, like Virgin cable.

The Humax freesat box is great and I used it to set up the dish as it shows the signal strength, too. My mother-in law has the freesat pvr which gives her everything she wants including sub titles. Setting up a dish is not that difficult either.

Hope this helps.

hi Shinythings, still unable to contact you.

That would be great, your website doesn't give me any contact details but you can text me and we can take it from there. I think it is mainly a sticky caliper. Thanks, Simon

well I've got a broken titanium frame, an Airborne Lucky Strike. a 'friend' succeeded in splitting th top tube where it joins the seatpost.

the reason given by a frame builder was the force put on that area by the frame's extended seat post design. I was amazed at how thin the tube was at that point. Any frame is only as strong as the design coupled with the quality of manufacture. Ti is another material that can be used and is generally very durable. I shall have to see how long my other Ti frame, an older Airborne Lancaster which is a much more traditional design lasts.

Thanks Snaps and Trailmonkey.

Thanks for that Shackleton, although having just cleaned the carpets I think it might be an outdoor job!

I seem to have the opposite problem. My oro 24s needed new pads and when fitted provide excellent resistance training. I have done all the usual things, cleaned everything, pushed the pistons back as far as possible, centred the calipers, it seems the same for both front and rear brakes. I have only just bought these so have not had any use yet…

Any advice welcome, please?

Just as a warning to others, my Airborne Lucky Strike frame split along the top tube and through the seat tube weld on both sides.

Irreparable and no guarantee as Airborne are no more and Van Nics not interested. A frame builder told me it was due to excessive force from the seatpost acting on the seat tube as it is extended above the top tube quite a long way.

So I have built up an older Airborne Lancaster and it's great. Wonder how long that will last??

a couple of thoughts:

Cat 6 is a horrible bulky cable nasty to install with large bending radius and not nearly as robust as 5E. Also, hifi techies tell me that it is easier to stream via cat 5 due to imbalances in the cat 6 cable cores. I'd use cat 5, select a sensible point for the patch panel and do phones, pcs and sound/vision from there.

Underfloor heating. Not the screeded type but there are others with tiles laid on top of the pipes, flooring on top (can be wood, tiles etc). This dispenses with a wet trade and mess and the heating has a much quicker response, 4-5 times quicker than screed.

heat pumps go well with underfloor heating but don't use for hot water as efficiency drops. best to use ground source if you have the area outside to bury pipes or if you are rich, boreholes. should get 3-4kW heat output for each kW of input energy.

If you want to contact me, details in profile.

We have a freeview Humax which works very well but does not have HD. there may be HD available in the future when the changover has finished but it will need a different set. We also have a Virgin HD box which has BBC HD and Channel 4 HD. Frankly, not much added value, however the Virgin box does seem to be upscaled on some BBC/ITV channels and can give a very good picture, possibly slightly better than the Humax freeview box.

If you are not going to change your TV for HD, there probably isn't much point in going for the additional cost of the Humax freesat HD box. Also, there can be issues with the siting of the Dish which may be difficult to aim. I put in a freesat Humax and dish for the inlaws as they are so far into the wilds, they cannot get freesat. The setup works very well and is quite similar in use to ours. There are even more channels of rubbish to watch as well!

It is worth keeping an eye on the Humax site as they often sell graded units with guarantees quite cheaply.

One thing that I always do when getting a new (old) car is to use a good injector cleaner. This may clean out a lot of the old stuff that can accumulate. Having been a company car, it might well have been used on the cheapest fuel. Use Shell for a while, 2 or three tankfuls and see if there is an improvement. The smoke could be just carbon products from not being driven hard (eg. if I have been having an economical patch of driving) which all blows out the back on hard accelleration.

Before an MOT, give it a good hard drive to get all the rubbish out and clean the emissions.

If you are disappointed with the performance, get it remapped! I did this to my old C5 and first thing was that they found a faulty air sensor and after that was fixed, it transformed the car.

It is worth shopping around. Have a look at http://www.itcsales.co.uk/acatalog/DELL_E6500_Series.html they take in Dell and others cancelled orders and returns. I just bought one of these after a lot of careful research (I treated myself to the LED screen and solid state hard drive but you don’t have to go that far!) and am very pleased. Mine hadn’t even been opened and has the full 3 year guarantee from Dell. I had resolved to get a thinkpad as they were so well built but the build quality of the current Latitude is probably as good if not better, magnesium shell, brilliant display and great keyboard.

One thing that is in vogue at the moment is shiny screens. I would avoid them if possible unless you like seeing what shirt you are wearing. These have a matt screen and are very good in all lighting conditions. By the way I get 6 hours out of the 9 cell battery that came with it!

Hope this helps

Thanks guys, I’ll follow this up.

I use Avira on my laptop & it seems to work well, you will get a nag screen at startup which is one click to clear and that’s it.

Can anyone else offer some info, weights would be useful?

Thanks Stato, that’s helpful.

or alternatively, what is wrong with XT hubs?