I’ve waited until mine is 12 months. Just bought a big comfy 29er second hand and will be fitting a seat like this (from my LBS):

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-accessories/child-bike-seats/bellelli-child-bike-seat?cm_mmc=Google+PLA-_-Bike+Accessories-_-Child+Bike+Seats-_-940791&_$ja=tsid:60494%7Ccgn:GoogleShopping%7Ckw:940791&istCompanyId=b8708c57-7a02-4cf6-b2c0-dc36b54a327e&istItemId=lipxxm&istBid=tztx&_$ja=tsid:35522%7Ccid:344520484%7Cagid:24344824324%7Ctid:pla-231154325524%7Ccrid:83794506724%7Cnw:g%7Crnd:7283622859822105255%7Cdvc:m%7Cadp:1o1&gclid=CPrjo9PGgs0CFQo6GwodQrMH9A

Based on a previous chat with the shop, I decided the combination of 29er and the ‘suspension’ offered by the mounting bracket would give the comfiest ride for the little man.

I tried him in a trailer at Centre Parcs, he didn’t complain but he was definitely getting jolted around despite the relatively smooth surfaces we rode on.

I’d find an LBS that sells Dawes or a similar brand – They sell proper bikes starting at ~£200. It’s worth paying a few £££ more and going LBS at this price-point as they’ll offer a free service after 8 weeks and generally look after you in future. This looks solid:

http://dawescycles.com/product/discovery-trail-gents/

If your colleague doesn’t want to spend what it costs to buy a bike that is worth maintaining, let him learn his own mistakes.

It sounds like you need to speak to a sports psychologist.

What are you leasing out of interest?

I keep looking into it but seems expensive whenever i do.

A Golf.

Leases can be hugely expensive. It depends on the marque and mileage. If you are happy to drive whatever is the best deal that fits your needs, then there are some extremely cheap deals out there.

andysredmini – Member
I would get rid. Its ok saying the engine is only just breaking in but that’s no good if the rest of the car is falling apart around it. I tried to run a bmw e90 3 series into the ground but failed miserably when the bills started racking up. In my case we had an £800 bill for the steering wheel input sensor then a £1400 bill for a turbo and an 11 hour tow back from holiday with 2 restless kids in the back. The final straw was the clutch starting to slip and various bearings needing changing which was going to cost nearly £3000.

60000 miles is pretty low mileage though.

^^^This!

I had the exact same problem with an E92 BMW. I thought it would be fine to run in to the ground but in reality maintenance was astronomically expensive.

Hence, I now lease brand new cars. PCM, I find it only slightly more expensive than running a car 5-10 years old but I have zero concerns. I just insure and fuel it and the Finance company cover everything else.

I used to happily run old cars and maintain them myself. However, as time has become more precious and cars more complex I just can’t be arsed and happily pay the surprisingly small premium for complete peace of mind.

Dumb question time! With the Lifeproof Fre, does the touchscreen still work under water?

If you maintain a normal (for you) diet but taper in the build up to an event, you’re effectively carb loading. I don’t see additional calorific intake to be neccassery. Hydration is more critical, but don’t over hydrate especially immediately before the race. For endurance events it’s then about ensuring you don’t lose too many electrolytes. Saying all that, eating and drinking stuff you don’t normally take during training is equally as bad if not worse!

+1 for a Tom Tom Runner – I’ve got the cardio version and they’re <£100 used on eBay.

No issues with bluetooth syncing to the iPhone app in ages. It used to be glitchy but firmware/app updates appear to have made it far more robust.

I did have to return the first one I had as the HRM was dodgy. Apparently this was a common fault with the earliest production batches but was sorted and the replacement has been fine – However, this could be a concern if buying used.

Another gripe is that it will only log a GPS activity as a run. Therefore, cycling data isn’t 100% accurate i.e. the HRM and GPS is fine, but the calories are wrong and the Tom Tom app won’t let you change the activity type. You can fix this in Strava, but the calories will still be wrong. They do a multisport version for more money which I wish I’d stumped up for from the outset.

Finally, it’s a very compact/low profile watch.

They’re to replace the OEM wheels on a Rockhopper. They don’t have to be factory built, but I assume that handbuilt are out of budget (unless second hand).

These look pretty good with the X392 rims and are £150 with the discount code (cheers for that!), I assume I need to spec ‘QR adaptor’ for both hubs?

http://www.superstarcomponents.com/en/dt-swiss-switch-ultra-wheelset.htm

We started ours in a Moses basket and he wouldn’t settle. We tried swaddling and he would just wriggle out of it and not settle. We tried the cot and he just kicked the sides and wouldn’t settle. We bought a thing called a SleepyHead and he slept!

A **** lactation consultant. What the hell is one of those?

For a new mother who is unable to breastfeed and is exhausted/wracked with emotional guilt from trying, they’re a godsend.

I like the ‘free’ t-shirts and wear them for running/the gym.

However, I am fed up of paying £25-35 (or more) for events.

There’s a sprint distance triathlon that I have entered for a few years, and year on year the price has increased by £5. I noted that last year entries were significantly down, which the cost must a least partly contribute to. I’ve not entered this year but have signed up to more local events costing in the £10-15 range. I won’t get a t-shirt but will enjoy them just as much without the slightly sour taste of feeling fleeced.

There doesn’t appear to be a login as such and Mrs TP doesn’t recall registering anything. The iCloud backup shows 11.5 mb of data stored for it.

For my first Duathlon, I followed a BHF plan:

https://www.bhf.org.uk/get-involved/events/training-zone/triathlon-and-duathlon-training-page/triathlon-and-duathlon-training-schedules

I modified it somewhat to fit my availability/encompass things I already did but it was a useful reference to ensure I was building up my activity and tapered to the race. For a single event, this kind of plan is great.

The first couple of brick sessions felt completely alien but I quickly got used to them.

Practice your transitions! I’ve done a few duathlons and sprint distance triathlons and it never ceases to amaze me upon review of the race results how very competitive run/swim/bike times are thrown away by farcical transition times.

A friend who suffered a milder form of Emetophobia recommends a course run by this organisation:

Home

There’s an on-demand catch-up feature, so episodes can be watched again after broadcast. Not sure it’s universal to all shows, but GoT was certainly one last series.

I think they probably both do (BMW, certainly). However, it may be on a timer so dabs of the brake won’t cut power but longer braking will.

How many current DBW throttle cars don’t cut the power when the brake pedal is pressed?

Query about the cheapest way to get this on Now Tv…

For season 5, we bought a Now TV box for £20 which came with 3 month entertainment package, which nicely covered the whole series.

It appears that as an existing customer, I can only buy the entertainment channels at £6.99 per month. However, there are lots of better deals for new customers.

I really don’t want to buy a new box just to save a few £’s. Are there any ways to save? i.e. deals for existing customers or register a new account in my Wife’s name and get a new customer deal but still use my current box?

Cheers,

Paul

I was all set on a Fiesta, but was hugely disappointed with the interior. It’s beyond awful.

By contrast the Polo GTI interior is superb. Really up to Golf standard except for a couple of the lower dash surfaces.

The Golf R deals are no longer available.

VW are offering the Polo GTI at about that price for a personal lease over 24 months – the catch is mileage. It’s only 5k pa. But you should be able to get the extra mileage a 6 ppm inc. VAT.

I’d also check the sump for swarf, just in case…

eBay, but they’re unlikely to be worth much. They have no practical use as they are so inferior to modern equipment and there really isn’t much nostalgia e.g. like you see for old bicycles.

However, someone may want them if they are in really good condition and are a particularly notable brand/model of club.

I had a Catholic education, partly taught by Nuns and Priests. I don’t recall any particular religious bias in my education. I have a GCSE in RE, but I distinctly recall learning far more about Islam and Judaism than Catholicism. Although, we did have to sing hymns in assembly, but I don’t think this would upset even the most cynical of atheists.

Despite being a Catholic school, it excelled in teaching Science and Technology and I’m very grateful for the quality of education I got in these subjects as it set up my career.

I reckon that running costs for a car of that age (exc. insurance and fuel) are ballpark £120-150 per month.

Depending on the type of car, mileage and the value you assign to ‘peace of mind’, leasing or PCP may be a more attractive option.

I’ve essentially concluded it’s better to either lease a car or subscribe to true bangernomics. The middle ground is equally expensive long-term but a far greater headache with potential for expensive repairs that you are required to fund due to the cost of the vehicle.

Put a wanted ad on Retrobike for some BL-M739 XT v-Brake levers. A few years ago, most online bike shops still had these NOS, so there are tons floating about. I imagine you could get a set for a few bob.

You mean these, right (minus the pods)?

According to the diagram (#9, below), possibly you can drive out the shaft which holds the lever to the body, but I’d imagine it may be tricky to do without deforming the body and preventing reassembly. It’s ages since I had one in front of me. I used to be able to strip down and repair the shifter pods, but I never pulled a brake lever from the body.

So it’s a flat surface you somehow attach to the forks that you then ensure two points of the stem face are in contact with?

Neat. I like it.

I think 420 mm a2c is right for an 80 mm geometry frame. So by adding 2 cm to the length of the fork, you will slacken the head angle by about 1°.

So that’s 90m2 of surface, which will be a PITA to do?

I’ll take a wild punt at £750+VAT (including paint). Would be fascinated to know what the actual cost is :)

Clean it, take good photos, get a full MOT on it and write a no nonsense advert. Critically though, price it sensibly. Look at what online valuations say, eBay sold prices and current advertised prices then list yours on Gumtree at the mid-price of the similar examples. If the phone hasn’t rung after the first weekend, drop the price.

My John Lewis cabin sized wheelie case has been faultless over the last decade. It gets used about 6-8 times per year for anything up to 4 nights away and still looks brand new.

In the top right corner of the offending item on your news feed, there should be a drop down menu that lets you choose to hide/block etc. This will tell you the name of the app to look for in your daughters account.

Nothing much to add to the above. I’d buy based on FSH and general condition. Theere shouldn’t be any major hidden gremlins. Main points:

– Check everywhere for rust, especially the wheel arches.
– Full service history with regular oil changes (personally I’d avoid a long life service interval car in preference to one serviced on time and distance, if possible).
– If it’s got the dual zone automatic climate control, check it works fully. Flaps can stick and cause it to blow hot one side/cold the other etc.

This is blatantly spam. Not even thinly veiled.

My brother purchased a brand new Vauxhall Calibra and rolled it about two hours after collecting it, completely writing it off :D

At 7-8 months, when ours got his first pair of top and bottom teeth, he did this. Didn’t bother me but it drove Mrs TP nuts :D

He’s stopped doing it (for now).

You can buy a new fob, transponder and blank key blade from eBay. The key can then be cut to match but you need the ‘Secret Key Code’ (SKC) and the Audi diagnostic software (VCDS) to get it all working.

Head over to audi-sport.net, there’s a wealth of info. TBH though, to save faff and for peace of mind, I’d just pay the £200. That’s not the most horrendous price i’ve heard for an OEM car key.

Current recommendation is rear-facing until 15 months. We’ve just bought a Britax Dualfix with a view to keeping the boy rear facing until he’s too tall to comfortably sit that way, then the chair can just be rotated to front facing. Pricey seat, but should be ok until he’s 4ish (i.e. outgrows it).