Godzilla, Hora’s not going to be on for the next couple of days, hes just got a ban for “making a sexual joke on another thread”.

Think is was something about breaking some doors or something…..

Cheers people

Astra van here. Little 1.3 diesel but with 6 speed box its nippy round town and happy on the motorway. Comfy and can take 3 bikes and all kit for a long weekend with ease.

Used to have a Connect and prefer the Astra. Nicer to drive and just like a car. No speed limit problems either.

+1 for milton, just the regular stuff used for babies bottles and stuff.

Cap full in sink and soak tops for a bit. Just dry and wear then wash as normal after use. Have done this a couple of times in the last 6 months. No problems.

Cool, thanks for that.

Done

Had a EX8 and now have a 314.

On technical climbs the zesty wins. You can almost stall whilst climbing, put more power down and it just grips. The Trek was good but the zesty is just better.

Long fire road climbs are a bit of a chore, the Trek was longer and i think was better suited to those climbs. On the zesty, you just have to slog them out.

Downhill and on singletrack, the Zesty is far better. Feels very stable and handles all sorts of stuff. Much faster down than the trek.

Overall very happy with my 314. Still think when i’m slogging uphill “god i wish i had my trek”, but then at the top, soooooooooooooo glad i’ve got my zesty. 4 months in and no problems either.

Fulcrum wheels are very quiet, well built too.

tis true bb, have to have 6 nuggets too just to fill my small belly!!! haha

Oh my god…i can’t believe some of you people even eat that bla bla bla!!!!

Not on the way round but yes sometimes on the way to a ride or on the way back i may stop for a quick feed. They are getting smaller tho.

Would of loved to of seen his face when he found it…..pity it was misty. Best thing was the old woman that walked past asking if we knew who’s car it was and when we said yes, she asked if he was getting married? Bless.

I was all for crawling under to give it a proper wrap…..next time!!

I have an Astra Van from work and the mrs has an Astra. They are basically the same (but mines a bit longer).

Comfy to drive and due to being the little 1.3 turbo diesel, gets high miles to the gallon on the motorway (and its not reving its nuts off either).

If there’s more than one bike going in, then you have to take the wheels off but one will lay in with wheels on. We had 3 bikes in with stuff for a long weekend.

Had a Transit Connect before and the Astra is a lot better IMO.

Yep, doing the 25(ish) mile one with our big’un and a couple of mates. The info pack came through about a week ago with number and stuff.

Will see you there

Or to help you even more, go to 1min 14 on this vid.

Fails by a few different riders all on the same bike…….

……bike or rider, you choose 😉

Had my 2011 314 for a couple of months now and really like it. I had a EX8 before and that was longer still even on a smaller frame. I’m just under 6’2″ and got a 50. While its quite long, its low due to the extra bit of seat tube that sticks up. I’ve put some wider bars on and a shorter stem.

I find it climbs very well on technical climbs, like any other bike on long slog climbs, but as soon as the path goes down, its great. Fast and easy to ride, i easy to get full travel without bottoming out.

Probably makes me look better than i really am so i like it!! 😀

Just to point out, i’m not justifying prices here… but, is it not a case of supply and demand?

Bloke wants £40 for an item he has ready to post out.
Shop has it for £20….but they have no stock.

Do you need the part? If yes, you pay for what you need. If not, wait til its in stock and get one then.

Big fat rib eye steak, curly fries, onion rings, mushrooms and garden peas washed down with a pint of Ratler cider. Nom nom hic!!

Crackin ride out and was great to see you all again…

Hora, you wouldn’t stand a chance against Smooth Sam Sutherland.
Was like a materclass in ‘foot in mouth’, i couldn’t ride for laughing.

Harry, even from a way off, and on the vid, that crash looks well worth £250!!

Is someone missing a Skiprat? I’m in, falls and all!!

Like my work skip find?

Had a normal Clockwork in 90/91 and got hold of this at work the other year. Had some new paint and stickers and now its sat in my cellar, waiting for another 20 years to go by…

Will dig a pic of that out, Flexstem AND AT4’s, now thats a quality handling bike!!

jon, think its all in the contract that you take out with the clinic. From what Mrs skip has told me, if your profile sound good, you may be popular and end up fathering more than one child. One may go to a rich couple and the other a poor couple.

As you have no choice in who has your swimmers, its also right that they have no background about you ie how much cash you’ve got. Poor couple want sperm from the richest man there so they can come begging later in life? Not going to happen.

Its not like you can say to the clinic “i want to donate some sperm but i only want it to go to rich people”, so you can go begging to your kid when times are hard.

The child can when they hit a certain age can find out who their dad is but they have no financial come back.

I also think the law changed in that you are not donating sperm for cash anymore either, more of an act of kindness to people who cannot have kids. Mrs skip is currently doing her dissertation on this topic so i get to hear all about this when i go home

You will be the father for legal purposes, you will have to support the child, its a moral nightmare

In the same way as any other sperm donor is not the legal father – they don’t have a right to anonymity any more, but there is no way you can claim child support etc. off sperm donors.

This is true, my wife used to work in a fertility clinic and while kids can if they want, find out who their “donation father” is, they cannot go round with the “your my dad and you owe me for 15 missed bithdays and christmas’s” line.

As for helping out a friend, you could be left to payout unless contract is in place. But friends of both of yours would know if the baby pops out and looks like you. Plus you’d just have to sit back and let her get on with how she wants to bring it up.

Or would you want to play friendly uncle Dr J who just happens to buy the kid the most expensive bithday gifts ever…….but no one can work out why….

We’re not looking to access the garage from the house, just have it as a stand alone garage – door on front and back. Floor in the garage would be below floor level in the house.

Was thinking about doing it this way round as the current garage needs replacing and moving a new one up to the side of the house would free up a good lump of garden. Also as and when kids come along, we may need the extra room so just wanted it there as an option. It may not be needed but if the difference isn’t massive, might be worth doing if we stay in the house or not.

2 side limit here. Doing a course at work and have to include current CV in with that. Was advised that 2 sides is a good limit. People don’t like to read much and have been know to just bin longer ones*.

*Only what i have been told.

Cheers Woody, i’ll drop him a line.

Thats what i was thinking Dave. The planning permission part isn’t bothering me.

I just know that it would need to be buit right ie strong enough, to potentially take another roon if the need arises in a few years time.

Work him mentally too. We have a pointer cross (he’s an old man now and was from the RSPCA) who could go for days and days running, and be ready for more given 15 mins sleep.
Give him both physical and mental stuff – flyball – and that would wear him out for days.
Classes are good to introduce him to other dogs.

A woman i used to know used to train dogs for the blind. She used to go to the sea side and walk up and down the beach all day long with the dog off the lead. She used to carry a bean bag and when the dog got distracted and was about to bolt, she would throw the bag next to the dog. This would distract the dog and it would forget what it was looking at in the first place. A day of this (don’t let the dog win) and they would be walking to heel without the lead and not bother about other stuff. Does work but you need to break the dog, not the dog break you.

Good luck and stick with it, they are worth all the hard work.

1123: BBC Monitoring A Libyan TV presenter who claims he can talk to spirits and mobilize them in support of Colonel Gaddafi, says Libya was “proud” of the rioters in England. Speaking in English on state-run Al-Jamahiriyah TV, Yusuf Shakir said people in Libya would hold a demonstration to show their solidarity. “We support you black power in Tottenham,” he said

Great stuff, even nutters from other countries are trying to turn this into a racial thing!!

worth a thought? could be the answer.

Things need to be nipped in the bud now, otherwise this could go on for days!! Yes we need to talk, re build the bridges and look at the problems that started this but it needs to end now.

Army in? Maybe. Look at changing sentences for crimes? Yes. Put some fear into ALL. If you do wrong, expect a bit of pain back.

You see it on “police camera action” type shows. Bloke drives a car through a shopping centre running over people and crashing into things, gets 6 points and is banned from driving for 12 months. Then they tell you he has no licence, no tax and no insurance. Will is stop him doing it again next week? Will it hell. Theres nothing there to put the fear of god in him.

Look at harsh punishments. Reward hard work.

And as for Poles being hard workers, they make you think it but they are as lazy as the rest. We had 3 at work. Used to say they were working all hours. Put up some cameras and you could catch them all doing nothing and calling it over time. They were out quick smart. People from every walk of life want an easy ride, its just that the current generation think its their right to have everything now, handed to them on a silver platter.

A father of 4 with limited prospects, undertaking an illegal activity in desperation simply to raise some cash for his family

Perhaps he should of sold some of his jewellery instead? See photo in Really ?? link above.

From what i’ve read on here and seen on the news, yes the police reacted wrong to the family and friends who went to the police station initially. They should of had a proper meeting with them – and them alone. Not the other 100+ people who had walked down with them. The police f**ked up here.

But as for that woman pushing her trolly full of swag down the road, don’t tell me she only stole that because she was upset with how the police had gone about things. There were a load of people there on the night who just wanted to go out on the rob and what better than a riot to cover their tracks. Why else go to a retail park (thats not even on the same road) and go on the snaffle there?

I feel sorry for alot of people there who had nothing to do with it, those that are trying to build bridges between the police and the community, and to the family of the man that was shot (not him if he was carrying an illegal gun or shooting at people).

I do not feel sorry for those who set about destroying peoples lives with their nights on the rampage. You didn’t make me feel bad for you or even make me want to help you. You just made me think your a waste of a life.

As above, bought a set of forks from him and have had my shock serviced there also. Great service and great help too.

Will be sending my other forks there when they need a service.

Looked at this the other year. Think it was £40 (couple of years ago) and it was BOTH lever and caliper. New pads included and even new hose (i think). I was replacing hose and they didn’t do the bigger old hose, only the new smaller diameter. I only needed one set of hose adaptors so wasn’t worth it for me but hope dealer said it would be in with a service.

Give them a bell, well worth it when you think about it.

Only need a few dabs of Jungle though…just put sun cream on first, then a couple of drops after.

As for anyone who says ‘don’t use it, it’s got DEET in it’, just make sure you wash it off each time you use it. And in this country, i don’t think we’d use it enough to have to worry.

Trust me Mark, this stuff works. Won’t help on these bites but will stop you getting more.

Mrs skips mum and dad used to live in inland Spain and the “big town” near them used to have their own bull run. It was an amazing atmosphere.

Me and her dad went into what we thought was a bar to get some drinks, only to find that it was someones house witha bar downstairs. We got our drinks (and they wouldn’t let us pay for anything) and then had to cross the road. They have staggered boards so you can slip between them. Lets just say hes on the plump side and couldn’t fit through the gap.

I was following and the bulls were coming so had to run on with all the blokes doing the run for some 50m. Beers still in hand. Funny now but mental when you’re there. Great day out as after the run, the bulls go back out to graze and didn’t get killed. Everyone was happy.

Haha!! Thanks for that, forgot my strip of Buff for my headband……but yes i do, just the way i am!!

Mark, yesterday i had the following: –

Porridge, cake early on in the ride, tuna mayo at Fairholmes washed down with a can of coke. Plenty of water to drink throughout the ride. Big Mr Whippy ice cream straight after the ride with a bottle of water on the drive home.
Went to “2 for 1” pub for team and had steak and salad and steak and chips (my 2 meals). Was tired last night but fine this morning.

Think you need to eat and drink earlier on in the ride.

Great ride out by the way.

Our Buck, an 11 year old god knows what!!

At the moment he is going to Aquavet due to knee ligament problems. Mans best friend.

Cheers all for a top day out yesterday.

Oh, and if the cake at stake is one of those Mars Bar cakes that we had after the ride, count me in. They were well nice!!