I don’t rate Dulux particularly – their oil based paints take forever to dry and the opacity is poor even though the paint is thick and sticky. I have done a lot of decorating over the years. I used some Dulux highly durable washable matt paint recently. This was good stuff however.

The paint that I find is very good is Johnstones. It’s more of a trade paint, cheap but has excellent opacity. Also quick drying. Oil based Eggshell is touch dry in 3-4 hours at room temperature! Covers brilliantly and isn’t all thick and sticky. Conversely, Dulux and some other brands take 24hrs or more – useless if you need to get a job finished quickly.

On technique, use a narrower roller if your walls aren’t perfect. This saves uneveness of finish.

Washables are quite new. The first time I used them was 3 years ago and cost a fortune – £45 for 2,5l! Thankfully they are much cheaper now. The first coat is always patchy no matter how careful you are. You use a great deal more paint on the first coat going on to existing emulsion. The second coat goes for miles, but you get great opacity coverage. Magic stuff! Traditional emulsion is finished except for ceilings perhaps.

44 to 34 rear would require a long cage rear mech wouldn’t it?

I would expect a 32 rear would use a medium cage rear mech.

What does the Shimano website say about the matter? I’m sure they have comptibility charts in their documentation (they certainly do for road bike components)

So is this service over the mobile network or a hardwire connected?

I should imagine broadband over the cellular network as being pretty damn slow compared to landlines or cable, even if you are on 3.5G. Of course, you won’t always get even 3g. The slowest; 2g will have data speeds that are hideously slow. The type of service will depend on which cell you are attached to. The ISP can also determine the quality of service you get, i.e. put you at different levels in the food chain so to speak. If someone with a higher priority service taps in to the network, your service is reduced or “throttled” until they are finished.

With ADSL over a telephone line, speeds tail off dramatically as you get further from an exchange. Your ISP can tinker around with the gains and speed capping profiles, but I believe each speed profile is dynamic within a certain range. So it takes a few days for the system to work out the optimum speed for your connection then settles at this rate. Capping the line speed can actually do you a favour by allowing the line to run error free, which is better than loosing service isn’t it?

No ISP will guarantee a maximum speed, they always state “up to” and state that this depends on certain circumstances.

If there is a lot of additional traffic from the exchange, this will slow things up quite a bit at certain times of day.

You said you can’t get a cable connection. Do you mean ADSL, or Cable, or both? Need more information.

How about having a a very very large bonfire right next to it?

So are you saying we should only buy a helmet after we get a hole in the head?

Thatcher spent all our reserves? WTF!

How about:

“Our customer’s need is our first priority. We want to know what you require so that we are able to offer solutions. We take the time needed to find out what it is you need so that we can offer you the best solution, either in-house/at our laboratories, or onsite at your premises.”

The ads are flashing merrily on my browser.

I love the ads!

Last night the said animal woke at least five people at 02:54 (even with their closed double glazed windows). The annoying little squeaking continued until 03:30am! All the creature wanted was to be let in so it go back to sleep. Stupid selfish owners! (again)

Given there are dozens of houses within earshot of this creature, i’m sure more than the 5 people I know of were affected.

It’s gotta be a formal complaint to our local EHO when there are a few more entries in the diary!

Why not get a boat?

Sorry to hear your unfortunate loss!

Welcome to the “Lifesgoneofftrackworld” 😐

Pat Condell – Catholic morality

This guys sums it up! (with edgy humour)

He grew up with Catholicism and it was this that enabled him to see the light – there is no light, no God!

Aetheism – the only rational way chaps, but do and believe as you wish.

I like the quote on Pat Condell’s website[/url] “Hi. I’m Pat Condell. I don’t respect your beliefs or care if you’re offended. Cheers!” – classic!

Peace! 😀

Try Viewranger’s free demo app. Download it now.

The only negative with Viewranger is that route planning has to be done on the phone and I couldn’t get on with this function very well.

Viewranger is compatible with GPX files though, so you could prepare routes on Google Earth, bikely.com etc, or use earlier saved routes produced by Nokia Sports Tracker. This is an application that can be installed onto your 5800. NST is free from Nokia.com.

they could force the owner to keep it below 2m high, but they also have to take into account what effect cutting it back would have on the health of the hedge etc, so unless it’s going to survive a severe chop, they won’t enforce.

Getting the High Hedges bill passed was a long and arduous process, but councils have made a farce of this law. The comment above would be one example why. For a hedge issue to be investigated, I believe there is a charge of a few hundred pounds – deterring many complaints. I don’t think councils like to get involved in any form of neigbour dispute – they don’t really give a damn! So the High Hedges Bill may as well never been passed!

TBH, if the tree is just blocking your view/sunlight etc, rather than physically impeding you, you should probably just learn to live with it. After all, it’s just a tree, and probably not worth falling out with your neighbour over (assuming you haven’t already burnt that bridge…). Things could be worse, you could have a complete c*ck-jockey living next door to you going out of his way to make life difficult for you. That’s what we’ve got…

Erm no, i just don’t agree! If your home and garden are deprived of light, you end up living in a gloomy space. Light deprivation is a serious issue! What right has an individual got to destroy a neighbour’s enjoyment of his/her costly home, or even his/her well being? What right does a council have to put the health of a poxy hedge before the health and happiness of a human being? Quite bonkers IMO! What about the health and safety of the neigbours that balance precariously on ladders on a steep uneven borders to cut the overhang into their property because numpty doesn’t look after his/her own hedge/trees?

We have a neighbour close to us who goes out of their way to pxss everyone off – i’ll spare you the full details. His trees and a hedge are two out of several issues we routinely experience from him. The guy next door is currently employing an arboriculturist to produce a report on the effects of a neglected Willow that is towering above our gardens. The offending tree is huge, but the ground rises steeply from the rear of our homes, exasurbating the issue. The same tree resulted in us being refused a mortgage 17 years ago due to the potential threat of subsidence. But as the owner at the time performed annual prunning, it was not a problem. Then he moved out and numptyy moved in. They kicked off with a party and staged their live band in the garden which went on until 3am! FFS!

Don’t let people bully you! If people are blatantly and consitently disregarding their neighbours after numerous polite approaches, then falling out with them is par for the course! Letters detailing your issues and what you want done about them first and then if this fails, the council need to be involved. This neighbour of ours has had numerous people complaining to the council about them, but they take very little notice. The anxiety that my retired neighbour is experiencing isn’t funny!

So what’s next? Hope numpty gets a fatal bout of Swine flu? I’d rather he moved out, but this seems very unlikely. We only have one life, one expensive home, spoilt by bullies. That is unacceptable! They should use ASBO laws on people like this.

Les Arc/La Plagne – stay in Bourg St, Maurice. You can ride to the valley floor and back to Bourg from anywhere on the mountain. Long long verticals! 1.5hrs in one case.

or

St Gervais/Megeve/chamonix/Valorcine – a huge choice of riding, enough for a couple of weeks. Megeve down to St Gervais produced one of the best descents I have ever experienced in the 10 years I have been going to the Alps. It takes in a big variety of terrains which gives you a chance to deploy different skills and a sense that you are covering a lot of ground – definitely very interesting! It’s a top to the bottom route, again, over and hour and a half in duration. We were virtually the only ones on the mountain that day in July which made it feel like more of an adventure – awesome!

There must be dozens of routes like this. We never use a guide, but go exploring with the use of a 1:25k French OS style mini folding map.

Portes du Soleil when we went there was so busy we had to wait 50 mins to just get on the first chair lift! I would never go back there because it is just way too crowded and frankly, there are many other great places which are much much quieter. We strongly prefer independant trips for this reason.

Wow! Big response over a family tent!

Argos mate! Cheap tents a go go!

You know it makes sense!

Everyone’s a winner!

Just don’t worry!

They’re not fast!

pcb – Member

Hey,

After a 31 hour labour and the greatest effort of endurance I have ever seen, my wife gave birth to little boy.

I’m tired and emotional and at home on my own!

Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!

Now just wait for the tarmac nappy!

Congratulations!!

Easy life!

You can operate as a sole trader, but a lot of companies prefer a Ltd company.

Get some business first!

Whilst the US is a bigger country, and has a larger population. The consumption of natural resources per individual is far greater than any other developed country.

More boring facts and figures.[/url]

Like speed cameras were justified on the argument they would save lives, green taxes are justified they will save the planet. Neither of these things make any significant difference and are simply untrue.

If we really want to do something about emissions, we will have to abandon life as we know it. Not just here i the UK, but all over the developed world!

Vibrant economies use energy. No government will truly comit to green issues because it kills economies and hits them in the pocket. Did you hear politicians telling us how wonderful last years high fuel prices were benefitting the environment when consumption fell? Are they announcing success in reducing emissions because sales of cars are down 60%? Producing a motor vehicle and shipping it to the customer uses large amounts of energy. Some say as much energy as they will consume in the vehicle’s lifetime.

And China’s CO2 output is more than 6 times that of ours despite nobody living there – most in poverty. Much of the pollution comes from manufacturing goods to ship elsewhere in the world. Who is China’s biggest customer by far? The US?

I am not advocating being wasteful, quite the opposite. I am merely pointing out that the biggest offender is USA which uses vastly more energy per head of population than any other developed country in the World.

CO2 Output table for each country

The world is such an unfair place! I recommend 1 fridge for every Chinese houshold! 😆

Vote with your feet!

OMG! I had a numpty moment with the us to uk conversion. 😳

Makes note to wake up properly first thing in the morning before doing anything that involves maths! 😆

So the figures are a lot more ambitious, but they still won’t beat our average MPGs. They still have ten times as many vehicles etc etc…

Correction: Bear in mind the UK gallon is 20% greater in volume than THEIR gallon. tsk tsk.

The average US driver drives 68% further than the British driver. Average US mileage is 13,476. Average UK mileage is around 8000. Both UK and US miles are the same at 5,280 international feet.

I wonder why that is?” What difference does it make? So your point is?

In the US they have 10 times as many private vehicles as we do here; The US who have a population of around 303,825,000 and nearly one car per head versus the UK’s 60,944,000 with one car for every two people.

So you saying that everyone on the US can drive a car and only half can drive a car in the UK? NO! What I am saying is that there are half as many cars to people in the UK, but in the US there is almost one car per head of population! The safe conclusion is that more people have a car. We know this because public transport in the US is pretty non-existent.

1 Imperial gallon = 1.20095042 US gallons!

Injection moulding what exactly?

Judging by the radio silence from pcb, I think we can safely assume the babby has now arrived.

I bet his house is chaos and stinks of baby sxxt! 😆

Feel free to drive it into the ground. It won’t make the slightest difference in the grand scheme of things.

Mr Martin is guilty of trying to sweep the matter under the carpet and wishes to stifle free speech on the subject. That is why he’s the wrong man for the job!

All the MP’s who have had their hands in the till should face the music, be it disciplinary action or criminal prosecution. MP’s should not be above the law!

I heard on the news yesterday that some Labour MP’s have said that the pressure on the Speaker to resign was due to his class (him being working class and his critics being rich tories). If the left wingers bandying this twaddle by playing the class card are taken seriously, we’ll be left with a system that excuses working class people from any public responsibility, purely because of their background. Utter discrimantatory nonsense! Further example of Labour’s jaundiced view of the world and evidence of their politics of jealousy. Bad for parliament, bad for Britain!

Rebuild the Patriot! I rebuilt a bike twice that age a while ago.

LBS will not be likely to stock many of the parts you will need (you can be sure that some of the parts that you need will be quite specific). The LBS will be able to order stuff in but will struggle to be competitive on price. By all means check them out. My LBS reluctantly supplied a pair of forks at a competitive price. They grumbled that they didn’t make any money. I later suggested we got an online service running and the owner was totally against the idea, despite struggling in the current economic climate. He’s a friendly guy with good people skills, but is refusing to move with the times. I wish things were different.

Look for parts on sites like Wiggle, Chainreaction, woolly hat shop, merlin cycles etc.

Strip the frame yourself if it’s scratched too badly and then get it powder coated. I got mine done for £25.

I spent a few hundred quid on new forks, rear shock, drive train etc etc. The bike is to all intents and purposes a new bike now. I have leading edge bits that have transformed the ride. To have got this standard of componentry on a new bike, i would have to spend the best part of £2k or more.

If the bike isn’t totally unrideable at the moment, just get out there and do some short rides on a regular basis. The excess weight will start falling off if you keep a check on your calorie intake. Doing this will allow you time to research the rebuild and work out a budget. When you have the parts to hand, then you can strip the bike and thus minimise the time it will be out of action.

I sold a few of the old components on eBay (they weren’t all beyond any useful life). I was surprised how much I got for some of the old bits. As manufacturers tend to change their standards, some bits can be hard to get.

Taking this route shouLd win the approval of the missus given the savings. It’s also good for the environment because you are reducing your consumption. Mend and make do can be just as good, or better than replacing goods.

Don’t worry, that will NEVER happen! The vast majority of British people aren’t that stupid to take the BNP’s idiocy seriously!

Sure, the BNP may win the odd few parliamentary seats, but they will always be a galaxy away from power!

They are XT!

I have these 9 speed ones and they are ace!

pcb – Member

Hey all, still at home 13 hours in.

Your first one then! 😉

A multi-cultural society benefits our nation in many ways. I supposrt it fully. What is not good is letting anyone come and live here without knowing if they can contribute, whether they qualify to live here. Britain should not be a free for all! The BNP is morally broke and harbour too many knuckle heads who display the ugliest tendencies. They are just wrong! Parties like these make it impossible to rationally debate immigration without being immediately branded as a bigot and a racist. So we end up in a right old mess and still nobody can open their mouths to suggest a solution without being shot down for being,,, racist.

I suspect that is why the main parties avoid the subject like the plague.

Eww! That is NOT appetising!

Steel is the better coice IMO. Much more springy and therefore more comfortable. Aluminium has to be oversized due to the more brittle nature of this alloy. Good steel frames are a rung up the ladder IMO.

Flats in the Alps on long steep downhill stuff. SPD’s pretty much everywhere else bar mountains.

Maybe flats to ride to the pub! 😉