Having a 3 month old I totally agree that sometimes there is nothing that can be done to make them stop crying, and evenig if holding them does you still have to try putting them down to see if they will go to sleep, otherwise you’re stuck in a vicious circle!

However, we do always try to apologise to neighbours if it’s been a bad night, or day for that matter!

BUT, I would expect our neighbours to say something if we were disturbing them, otherwise it’s hard to know what level of sound will get through the walls, I guess I should be trawling internet forums trying to see if they’re whining online about us! Grow some and go speak to them, otherwise they may not know they’re affecting you as badly as you suggest. :roll:

that was phoning round local suppliers, cash price, I don’t have an account with anyone yet :D

Sounds like it might be worth topping up. Immersion heater is ok, but our tank is uninsulated as we need a decent airing cupboard as our house has no central heating, so pretty much the only way to dry clothes. We do have a rayburn though not a boiler, so on slumber all the time. :?

Thanks for the advice all, had been looking at boilerjuice and was hoping it would drop a bit more like it did last summer :?

Best quote I’ve had is 54.15+VAT, does that sounds reasonable to people, seems to stack up with the prices on BJ, but interested to know with all the bad press whether their prices are artificially inflated 8O

Hey MM, sorry to hear you’re not loving the flux, got to admit I didn’t get on my with 6 pack either and have bought a carbon 456 instead :D which seems to fit really well, and would be really light, if it weren’t for my fox 36s and my own not-inconsiderable bulk!

Can’t offer much advice on the frame fit, but if it ain’t right don’t just make do as it’ll just put you off riding. I spent my rides on the 6 pack wondering how to make it fit better an missed out on just enjoying riding.

Hope you guys are all well though, will have to catch up soon! :D

Sounds an option, will take a look, cheers! :D

Well thanks for the opinions everyone, surprisingly someone actually offered a real personal experience which is great! rather than the usual I’ve herd they’re rubbish!

I’ve had an Alfa GT, was lovely but the build quality makes Halfords apollo bikes look downright special!

306 cab is an option but have had a 306 before, was a cracking car but the wife and I do have a rule to only have a car once.

BMW just doesn’t appeal, at that age finding a clean unmolested one is tricky and the image just doesn’t appeal, sorry! (and sorry to anyone who has one)

Harry the spider: which engine did he go for?

Cheers

Hiya, thanks to Whisper and others who helped out, bike is now back with us!! Amazing after so long but great to have a happy ending!

Haha, I know what you mean Molgrips, our silvercross is pretty well built compared to some but still quite flimsy! As an engineer I look at some design and wonder if they are designed to fail as soon as they get pushed into a curb!

You’re right about ISOFIX though, any carseat with a base withh have the same issue, our silver cross one gets strapped in everytime, which is a pain and if I was loaded I’d get one which works with a base and get a base for both sides! sadly I’m not :(

Molgrips, et al., ISOFIX causes the issue as the base stays in the car so is on one side of the car or the other, and in my experience is pretty heavy and a pain to move regularly, partly due to them being so secure, which is a good thing! but unless you buy two bases you are stuck putting the carseat into that side of the car.

I guess you can put them in from the otehr side and lean across but that pretty much defeats the point of an easy to use ISOFIX system really?!?

Each to their own though, find what suits you/your missus/car/lifestyle is the idea really, go try lots, sales people are usually very helpful and keen to seel you extortionately prices plastic! I though MTB bits were expensive before I found the joys of baby stuff!

Second for getting a sling, our 3 week old loves it, I usually end up going for a walk in the evening with him if he’s upset and it’s not time for a feed. Around us it’s great to be able to walk in the countryside proper and be able to do stiles and gates etc. So far he’s fallen asleep in it every time but one, and that time he spend it murmuring to himself, so was quite a nice walk!

We bought a silver cross sleepover pram as it was what my wife had always wanted but now we’ve got it we probably won’t use it for long, mainly cos it’s a right pain to get in the car! We’ve got a laguna estate and it barely fits! One bit of advice, make sure you take the opportunity to try the carseat in teh car before you buy, some are easier than others, and ISOFIX is great but it does mean you are stuck putting the seat in that side of the car which isn’t great if you park on raods often as you will end up getting them in/out on the road side at some point which is pretty scary!

Above all, enjoy the experience of shopping without the baby, trust me!

Mrs tiboy just ordered one of these! Fantastic value and she’s really looking forward to no derailleur, and chain cross etc, or more accurately lectures from me on how to shift etc! :oops:

Bregante, that makes sense, sorry I was just a bit confused by your comment.

Hope the diagnosis, treatment and recovery go well for you.

One suggestion, make sure your shoes/cleats/pedals are set up right when you get back on the bike, I nearly re-ruined my knees with bad shoes!

Bregante are you paying for the service at the NHS? If not I’m confused by your comment?

In my experience the interpretation of X-rays is very difficult and can be contraversial between doctors, and they can be used for rough looks at tendons and ligaments, they just don’t show up very well.

My two penny worth is to say that doctors in the NHS are generally trying pretty ahrd to make the most of the resources they have available whislt dealing with a wide variety of ill informed public, who thanks to the internet think they know the answer before they even see a doctor. Not suggesting you fall into this catagory but I can definitely understand why they don’t send everyone off for all the tests straight away!

Have got some rigid steel forks and 29r disc wheels for sale if you’re interested? BUt really I think you’re current setup is pretty good, I used to do some training on a roadrat with 26inch wheels and 1.25 slicks and I wasn’t much quicker when I went to 29r wheels, though they do reduce rolling resistance and smooth out the bumps a bit… :D

Just in the middle of my first oil bath service on my alfine, so far so good! using atf fluid for it and seems to be removing the dirty grease nicely! not too hard to work on and only cone spanners required so far!

Must admit the engineering geek in me really likes the compact mechanics of an internal hub gear!

Not 100% on this but I have heard that even if you have a rental agreement because you are in a relationship she may be entitled to a share of the house should you split. Best bet would be to speak to citizen’s advice to make sure you know where you’ll stand. Chance favours the prepared and all that…

congratulations both! our first was born on the 11th! I really hope MrsQ recovers well from the C-section to enjoy the first few weeks with Lily, and hope you enjoy it too, it’s all been a blur to me!

Feel free to email if you want to chat to someone who’s been their recently! even if it’s just to get frustrations of screaming baby off your chest if MrsQ isn’t up to it. :D

Having just moved from Bristol, from a reasonably specialised engineering job, to Malvern to do a different specialised engineering job, I’d say location is paramount. Which company is the Bristol one if you don’t mind me asking?

Riding in Bristol was OK, with south wales close by, riding in and around the city is pretty good for a big city really, though not compared to the Malverns!

However, as most others have said you need to enjoy the job as realistically you’ll be working a lot of the time.

Flexitime is great, really missing that, but having an awesome commute with loads of off road routes is great instead!

only a week til back in stock at crc, or is it urgent?

What are the rotors like?

Well sunday night was eventful!! waters broke at 11.30pm, then contractions started 5 mins aparts! Was a pretty smooth labour, with my amazing wife giving birth to our 9lb3oz son with only gas and air! I can never complain about aching after my commute again!

All the best guys with whats to come! :D

That’s great news! congratulations guys! :D

not at all really, had it about 3 months but only ridden about 5 times. It’s an older horst link one not the newer DW link but rides really well, better than my ’05 enduro.

I am quite lucky with local riding, we just moved from Bristol to near the malverns, so a big change from having to get in the car everytime I wanted to ride. Still in that stage of finding lots of new singletrack, every ride is different!

Just had to go to town for flipflops, not essential I didn’t think when your 9 months pregnant but hey ho, not going to argue! Did find a good shop with local icecream though, very nice ginger and chocolate! :D

Sounds like you’re further along than us, no proper contractions here!

but it did mean I got to go for a ride round the woods, and found some ace singletrack…

My wife’s was due thrusday, but no sign of the new bean as yet, she’s also been having braxton’s on and off for a while! luckily she’s not too uncomfortable, just starting to get nervous about having to be induced!

She’s gone for a walk this morning though whilst I went for a quick ride round the woods, but that doesn’t seem to have helped!

All the best though, here’s hoping they all come soon!

I’m confused how money is ‘yours’ or hers’, perhaps we’re odd but we consider it to all be ours and we have grown up discussions on how it spent. I signed up to marriage being sharing things, including money.

Pistonheads, free so good place to start! Though I’ve had more luck on ebay, much cheaper than autotrader and reaches a good audience. Shame it’s not the diesel or 2.0 might have been interested. Good luck selling!

we had the same issue last month when we moved into rented house, decided discretion was the best course of action as I couldn’t get my preferred storage agreed by the landlord, one of these…

Which I reckon is pretty much professional proof.

So we went for a very simple wooden shed with little external security to draw attention, and then an anchor inside. As is said above it’s only to slow them down and make noise. :?

Mine’s not exactly blistering with 4GB, so as above I dread to think what it’d be like with 512MB, and don’t even think about running word!

Snakebite, where was the photo taken, looks absolutely fantastic but scary!

I’m in! Fantastic cause to support!

Aside from the hybrid debate, another vote for a 1.5DCi clio here, £30 a year to tax, over 60MPG and pretty nippy about town and country lanes. As said above this type of car isn’t going to be massively quick, but compared to the saab aero I used to have it’ll do about 5k miles and be taxed for just the price of the tax on the saab! :D

I only do 9 miles each way but do go over the Malverns so wouldn’t want to do much more… I don’t do it offroad though, or fixed :oops:

but might go for some offroad routes come the summer :D

Having recently moved back to herefordshire where my wife and I grew up after about 8 years away in cities I can sympathise with your points jj55. Especially when you say the ‘incomers’ are trying to preserve a ‘way of life’ that they dont understand or actually have any experience of, there seems to be a very quaint image portrayed of country life, missing entirely the fact that it’s generally damned hard to find work and make ends meet.

However on the flip side, we do need people to move to the country bringing with them entrepreneurial spirit and new business. biggest issue for us with this is the price of houses are higher than cities which makes it harder for young people to stay or return to the country.

We are trying to live in the same area that we work, and really be part of the community, and yes, this means buying local produce and paying a bit more, but in return we get to support local people and be able to say good morning to nearly everyone we see when we walk through the village.

boxster? two boots and can carry bikes… who needs to be able to take friends along for the ride?!

I miss mine… :(

Yep, had them before, totally legit, it’s cos the buyer funded through his bank account I think, just wait for it to clear…

Fair enough, I stand corrected! :D

Looks like old stock to me, the SLX ones have steel teeth on a composite body, like this…

Well after reading all of the usually useful respknees, mostly from people who’ve not owned one, I’ll add my two penny worth.

We had a 2001 3.2s last year for fun for the last year b4 kids, and it was fantastic. You will get those who can’t afford one telling you it’s the poor mans Porsche, and yes it is the cheapest drop top, bit it is a fantastic drive, and preferred by many for pure driving due to the mid engined chassis rather than rear engined 911s.

We tried the 2.5 before buying the 3.2 and it’s by no means slow, and when driven hard there’s not much between them, however the extra torque and 6 gears of the S makes it much nicer to drive everyday.

On terms of running costs all I’d say is find your local Indy, and join boxsternet.com for all the advice you’ll need, really helPful bunch. There are issues with RMS and IMS seals and bearing, so it is worth getting it inspected by an expert before vbuying one, and general consensus is don’t go for an ultra low mileage garage queen as it’s more likely to suffer from dried seal and dry bearings.

Overall though thy are fantastic fun and with two boots are reasonably Practical, never tried the bile rack though!

If you do get an early one try to get the PSM which is stability management, makes all the difference in the wet!

Cheers

You don’t need one, but a mate who changed to a double specific one says it works a lot better…