I have a 1930 Supercharged 4.5L Bentley 1:12 scale Airfix kit in an unopened box upstairs (still has the cellophane around it). Mrs T bought it for me many years ago (don’t know why – I love all things mechanical but not into model making). Airfix don’t make it any more, apparently. Never had the time or inclination to build it and can’t bring myself to open the box because I know that I’d do a cack-handed job of it.

couple of years ago wiped out twice in the space of 100 metres

A couple of years ago?? Who are you? Danny McCasgill? I would say any time it rains I’d wipe out at least twice in a 100 yards.

I seldom pass one without coming off. Mud X tyres make it more of a “slow motion” fall rather than an instant “thwack” sideways.

(i.e. for a different car where the starting price of the tyre was higher than that for a Galaxy tyre)

Performance tyres not on a Galaxy…..

Many years ago, we had a Galaxy and if I remember correctly, the tyres were more expensive than I was expecting. The reason, I was told, was that they had to have reinforced sidewalls. TBH, I’ve never skimped on tyres and tend to stick with OEM brand etc. Somebody once told me that some manufacturers take the actual tyre compliance etc into consideration when setting up the suspension and chassis etc and tends to perform better. Bullsh1t? I don’t know, but I’ve stuck with OEM and focussed my attention on getting them at a better price rather than switching to a cheaper brand. I’ve had wildly differing quotes in the past with some outlets charging up to £50 more per tyre for a performance tyre (not for a Galaxy though). Worth shopping around for the best price, I reckon, but I wouldn’t personally trade down to cheapos or remoulds – especially when you consider the “cargo” carried by most people carriers.

Listen, boys – as a selfless act to add some scientific evidence to these arguments and settle things once and for all, Mrs T and I have been conducting an experiment this afternoon. We randomised a number of objects to be struck against my head, both with and without a helmet. In order to avoid bias, both Mrs T (the “striker”) and I (the “strikee”) were both blindfolded. The objects were as follows: A scone dropped from approximately 6 inches above head, a snooker ball dropped approx 6 inches above head, a head strike with a piece of 3×4 baton, a head strike with an iron hammer, a strike with a spade. It should be noted that I have a number 1 shaved head so there should be little error introduced due to damping effect of hair. The results were as follows.
Scone with helmet – audible but not felt
Scone without helmet – noticeable but not painful
Snooker ball with helmet – audble but not felt
Snooker ball without helmet – smarted a little, but not too bad
3×4 baton with helmet – audible and you know you’ve been hit, because it makes the head wobble a bit, but not painful
3×4 baton without helmet – very painful. Impossible not to blurt out an obscenity upon being struck.
Iron hammer with helmet – Much the same as a strike with 3×4. I could take quite a few of these before I’d plead for the nonsense to stop.
Iron hammer without helmet – Hurt like ****. Called Mrs T a **** ******er and a comedy bump grew from my head within seconds of being struck.
Spade with helmet – The actual blow itself doesn’t smart, but it did jar the neck enough to consider osteopathic intervention. I could bear a few more blows if I had to, though.
Spade without helmet – First swing missed and for a second, I thought that we may have an unexpected win for the “no helmet” argument. The second swing made contact but I have absolutely no recollection of what happened other than I was out for the count for at least half an hour, by which time Mrs T had mopped up all the blood and made me look vaguely normal again.
So there you have it.
Tomorrow, I might lie down in front of the car and get a blindfolded Mrs T to reverse back and fore over my head, both with and without helmet, to see if we can refine this study further. She’s working out the p values and chi squared analysis (whatever that means) as we speak, but early indications are that the helmet brigade may have a point and maybe we can now end this thread for good.

Surely, the singlespeed experience goes as follows:
Climb on bike at bottom of hill and pedal like mad until reach terminal speed (about 7mph, give or take 0.1mph). Slower, slower, slower, beads of sweat and burting blood vessels on temples, lots of grunting, slower, trackstand, wobble, keel over and unclip. Get up and brush yourself down. Gaze proudly at the 12 metres of uphill section completed so far and push the rest. At summit, mount the bike and clip in. Faster, faster, faster until reach terminal speed (about 7mph, give or take 0.1mph), faster, faster, faster, “f**ketyf**k!”, legs flailing out of control as the force of gravity ups your speed to 20mph (about 6000rpm at the crank, give or take 500rpm). Wobble, keel over and slide.Unclip and spend the next 30 minutes brushing gravel out of butt cheeks, elbows and face. Push the rest of the downhill section until reach the flat. Proceed at 7mph until meet another incline. Repeat.
I say this not having tried it (if you disregard my experiences on a Raleigh Chipper aged 7yrs)

Never mind the Muddy Fox, he’d give me a thrashing even if he was on one of these
How far would he get on the Muddy Fox? Maybe not TDF, but would surely show anyone on here a clean pair of heels?

OK, if he could do it – how low could he go? Minimum spec. Would there be one critical component to tip the balance as the price drops, or would it simply be due to an accumulation of weight?

Needs more information, really. Is it just the one, or is there another one on the other side? Does it have its own little sack? Have you tried squeezing it and, if so, does the pitch of your voice change? Does it oscillate gently when you see the Friday Kylie thread, or shrivel and disappear when Ann Widdecombe comes on the telly?

….I also go over the bars on a fairly regular basis and if you pack the contents in the right way, it makes for a much softer landing.

I also need a big backpack. You may jest, but I like to pack a copy of the daily paper, a small radio and a hot flask of English tea. There’s no greater pleasure than sitting on top of a mountain, great views all around with a hot cup of tea, a copy of The Times, with The Archers playing on the radio. Sure, you get a few raised eyebrows from the occasional hiker (especially if it’s snowing), but who cares? Each to their own. I’m not joking.

Slightly off topic, but does anyone else find that 501s are tight around the thighs for cyclists? I can barely get 501s over my thighs and the seams are at bursting point when I squat, even though the waist fits. I don’t have that problem with any other trousers.

I’m not sure about CCTV (great way to start giving advice, I know!). From your post, I take it that you’re talking about domestic use. I own 2 largish businesses operating out of 2 different premises (each building has around 22 rooms) so the security issues are a bit different. I decided to have CCTV professionally fitted after a single incident of minor vandalism one clear Summer’s evening. I had cameras fitted all around the premises (so that if it moved, it was filmed). All cameras were linked to a hard drive recording system. The problem we had was that we had so few incidents (one attempted break in in 15yrs) that when an attempt was made, the camera that would have had the best view wasn’t working and the image on a different camera wasn’t clear enough to be worthwhile. It was satisfying to be able to show to the police, but wasn’t a factor in catching the culprit. I can’t remember costs, and it would be impossible to translate to your situation, but it wasn’t cheap though. Not something I’d consider for domestic use, but better quality pictures (at the time). I would say if you’re having regular problems, then CCTV might be useful, but if you’re relying on it once in a blue moon, you’ll either have forgotten how to retrieve the pictures or find that it hasn’t recorded as well as you thought when you look to play back the pictures.
For domestic use, I’d go for a noisy dog first, backed up with good external lighting, strong locks (none are totally invincible if determined) and an alarm. Try to make it as noisy and awkward as possible for them to get to your stuff. If all else fails, back it up with good insurance. Easy in theory, but not cheap, I know. Not sure if the police still give security advice, but Mrs T had them round when we moved to our current house and the advice they gave was excellent and some of the suggestions they gave were relatively cheap and simple.

Fair play to you, too, for acknowledging that Matt. No hard feelings.

…..You however have the lamest iteration of the 3.2 VAG engine

I know, I know and don’t think that there isn’t a second of every minute of every hour of every day that those words won’t resonate in my mind. In my defence, it was bought in error. We meant to look at a few Foci, but took a wrong turning at Morrisons and ended up in the Audi garage. As Mrs T and the little Ts sat in the R8 demonstrator to finish off their ice creams, the nervous salesman showed me around the forecourt. When I said that I’d take one of the little 3 door ones, he asked me if I wanted 1.9 diesel, 2.0 diesel, 2.0T, quattro, non quattro, DSG or manual. Decision, decisions. In the end, I plumped for one of the little red shiny ones. Imagine my embarrassment when we got home and I discovered that he’d offloaded one of the 3.2s on me. Still, I managed to avoid ridicule by prising off the tailgate badges and replacing them with an M Power one I’d bought off Ebay.
You also have me soundly beaten on the issue of crashes. If you disregard minor crashes at less than 20mph, crashes on private property and crashes whilst engaged in reverse gear, I’ve only had about 10 crashes in as many years. The most recent was when I swerved to avoid a man jumping out of a manhole (would you believe it if I told you that a water board employee could outsprint a well driven Audi?) and the most notorious was when I made it onto the local radio travel news. It was on the M5 near Stroud. As I entered the sliproad, I spotted a young whippersnapper driving a lesser marque in my rear view mirror. Naturally, I floored the throttle to teach him a lesson and, before you could say “ARDS”, I was approaching the national speed limit in the fast lane. I decided to powershift into overdrive and moved my left foot onto the clutch. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that I was in Mrs T’s automatic and, instead of pressing the clutch, I slammed on the anchors instead. The first 10 cars to slew past me must have possessed a modicum of your rare driving skills, Matt. It’s no mean feat to deploy the horn and opposite lock, whilst simultaneously discharging enough faecal material to fill a small bucket. When I had stopped I got out to inspect the car for any scuff marks and noticed an ever increasing wedge of twisted metal, wreckage, honking horns and shaking fists behind me, stretching back as far as the eye could see. As the nice policeman checked my vehicle thoroughly for missing offspring (damn those forgotten “Baby on Board” stickers in the window), I explained what had happened. When he’d finished, he patted my head and said “Let that be a lesson to you” before proceeding to reprimand the angry mob who were surrounding my car for not leaving a safe stopping distance in front of them
So, crushed in defeat and consigned to a lifetime of mockery and impotence, I must depart this thread for good now to catch the early train to London. Mrs T says that I need a big “L” for “Loser” henna’d on to my forehead and I’m inclined to agree.

If it’s any consolation, Mrs T says that he does have a point about me being retarded. She’s said not for me to worry and that she’s retarded too and that we’ve inherited it from our mother.
I’d also like to point out that my friend who drives “professionally” is a taxi driver. If you’re ever in Cardiff, you’ll spot his well driven black and white Vauxhall Carlton a mile off because of all of the black smoke it belches out the back and the fact that he flicks on the hazards when he slows down (brake lights a little dodgy). However, he can accelerate all the way up to 17mph as smooth as you like on the motorway and were it not for all the honking of the horns behind, you’d struggle to find a more relaxing way of getting from A to B (special rates for STW members – just say you’re one of Tinners’ online buddies)

LOL :-)
Has anyone got a picture of that troll spray stuff they could post up around now? :wink:

plus1 Gachet and Molgrips
LOL @SmugMatt, soft lad.
A few pages back, I dared so suggest that our little egotist might be a bit foolish to be tussling with RS6s on a public road. I’m not against spirited driving, but the fact is that you can’t race against such high powered cars on the public road without reaching frankly ludicrous speeds. I know – I’ve done it on the track and I’d never drive like that on the road. Any way, Cornwall’s answer to Senna came with an euphemisticaly comical description of “out cornering” his RS6 (which was, presumably, driving Miss Daisy at the time to be doing anything other than mental speeds). Anyway, getting to the point, I was recounting his exploits to a few friends at the weekend, one of whom is a professional driver (shall we say) and we came across this little nugget:

The only time you “win” is when some gimp usually in a 2.0TDI Audi or Golf decides to try and prove himself (or more increasingly herself) by driving up your backside when you can’t move out of the way on a dual carriageway or motorway. So as the traffic clears, it can be fun to leave them for dust. Safely.

(Don’t you just love the single word “Safely” at the end? LOL). Now besides being a toe curlingly embarrassing statement, it gives another insight into the mentality. We also wondered what chapter of “Roadcraft” he was referring to with that manouvre.
So don’t get wound up lads. File under “Internet braggart” and ignore.
In answer to the original poster, I’m sure you’ll love an R32. I’d be very wary of buying anything without a service history, but at the least I’d get somebody in the know to give it a thorough looking over. Repairs can also be very costly when cars like this reach a certain age – cambelt changes, exhausts etc. But as long as you factor this in to your running cost, then fine. Great cars. If you go for it, I hope you get a good one.
Now back to a bit of humour…..

+1 Surrounded by Zulus
“Daddy, can I have some sweets?”
“What’s the magic word?”
“Abracadabra?”
You couldn’t make it up.

I know a few people who’ve been broken onto and they’ve been upset for months afterwards. Horrible experience.
Get yourself a big dog. I’m not talking about one of these fighting/status dogs, or what ever they’re called. Just something big and noisy. Ours makes a right racket if there’s anyone near the house. He sleeps near to my bike, too, which is handy. If you’re not into dogs, get a good alarm and plenty of light outside to pick out nocturnal visitors. A sad reflection (excuse the pun), but it seems you have to do it these days.
I had an incident back in the Summer where I thought I heard someone downstairs while we were staying in a holiday home. I actually picked up a baseball bat that was genuinely lying around (holiday games stuff) and would have used it too if I was threatened (but I don’t think that I’d have been the first to strike a blow). Spooked me out for a few nights.

Apologies if I offended with a sanctimonious rant. I’m not generally into sanctimonious rants. It’s just that the original description made it sound like you were driving like a complete tw*t. Now I know that you weren’t and that you were merely “out cornering” an RS6. You had me worried there for a minute.

an RS6 struggled to keep up with me and my R32 on a very twisty B road

Apologies for the slight deviation from the main topic here but I drive a 3.2 A3, not a million miles away from the performance of an R32. I’ve also driven a number of 500 plus bhp cars at the limit (around a track, I hasten to add). I know how fast you’d have to be travelling to outgun an RS6 “in the bends”. When you say “B road”, I take it that you don’t mean a public road? I agree with your comment about agility versus outright power, but please tell me you’re not driving like that on the same roads that I could be cycling with my kids (or even that you would have the desire to drive like that on a public road, let alone brag about it on a forum). There’s “spirited driving” and there’s madness. If you’re outsprinting an RS6 on a public road you’d have to be driving at a completely mental speed. Apologies for the rant. This is a great forum with lots of interesting and funny people who offer very useful advice, but this sort of talk lowers the tone to a level that makes me very sad.
Please continue……
Back on topic, I’d stay away from any performance car without a service history.

Hubby…..wear moisturiser

Honestly, what’s he done do deserve all that needless abuse. That’s a bit like a bloke posting “How can I get my b**ch to drink beer and fart the theme tune to the Archers”
Mr Divagirl excepted, I can’t see any bloke rushing to apply moisturiser any time soon. Next you’ll be telling him to wear aftershave or carry one of those manbag thingies or something by Paul Smith or Kelvin Cline. You might as well take him down the vets and get him neutered (provided the vet can find them).

I ordered an expensive item (last year’s model at discounted price) from them early this week and, after reading this thread decided to give them a ring because my orders still showing as outstanding, despite being “accepted” online. They promised to check stock and have phoned me back within 10 minutes to tell me that the item is out of stock, but they’ll honour the order with next years (higher priced, higher spec) model but at the original price agreed – a considerable saving for me. Needless to say, I’m extremely pleased. I’ve only ordered tyres from them before and they’ve been v prompt. I’m a happy customer and would use them again. I’ll let you know if the order doesn’t arrive, though…….

Shame on Fitness First. Cutting out all of the jobsworth nonesense, it’s a small child who needs to use the toilet. It doesn’t matter where it is, any decent individual would let the child through.
It reminds me of an incident I witnessed in a shop last year. An elderly gent in front of me at customer services asked if they had a toilet because he was desperate to go (and he looked highly embarrassed at having to ask). He was told that the toilets were for staff use only. He said that he’d recently started to take water tablets and couldn’t control it for much longer. The response he got was “get a letter for your GP to confirm that and you may be allowed to use the toilets in future”. He walked away looking very distressed. Actually, he waddled away in a knock kneed fashion, gripping his crotch, with his eyes watering, but you get the idea. Jobsworth, penpushing, red tape bull***t. The world’s going mad.

I know how you feel. Like a total numpty, I reversed into a large industrial wheelie bin a few years ago. I saw it, but was so used to the rear reversing “beepers” on my main car that I just kept reversing until I hit it (I was in a car without parking sensors). Dentmaster and Chipsaway sorted it.

Thanks, Imabigkidnow. Loooking at the specs, I would be a little short of burntime with a Diablo, as you say. I’ve just had a look at the piggyback batteries at one of the online retailers. They say that it comes with a velcro attachment. Has anyone attached both of these to a helmet? Does it work well or will I need the neck muscles of a Charolais bull to keep my head up? Is the lead long enough to stretch to the backpack?

That’s brilliant, thanks chaps. I really don’t know how the lumens equate to what I need, so the replies help to give me some idea of benchmark. I do all of my riding solo and it’s a rural area (i.e. pitch black at night). I’m a bit reticent to buy from abroad via deal extreme (warranty, what to do if it packs in etc) – are the exposure lights worth the premium, quality wise (and made in uk etc)? I guess I’m looking for something that will make a ride viable if I can manage to get out just before dusk (was hacked off last winter of missing rides because the 2nd half of my ride would be in darkness). Not a fast rider and fall off a lot.

I’ve got an E72.
I got mine because I really don’t like touchscreens and the phone has to pass the “jeans test” (i.e. small enough to fit into a front jeans pocket without looking like Dirk Diggler on Viagra). I need to get e-mail from several accounts and need a decent camera and good battery life.
When I first got it, it seemed to fit the bill. I loved it. Loved it so much, I got one for my wife too. However, there then followed a few software updates and it’s gone completely loopy. It no longer receives or sends my e-mail over the mobile network, despite putting back in the correct settings. It no longer allows me to select “speakerphone” for incoming calls and the GPS software (which used to work well) now takes ages. A quick look at Nokia’s own discussion boards seems to reveal hoards of dissatisfied customers who are getting similar problems and Nokia seem to be doing little to sort it out. When I first had it, it was superb and would have recommended it. It’s very well built and the keys are easy to use. Now I’m not so sure.

A set of Felco secateurs[/url]. The best that money can buy and bang on budget. Will last a lifetime and fully repairable etc.

Just don't do what I did when I was 17. I was a bit peeved with what I thought were rip off prices of electrolyte drinks, so I thought I'd have a go making my own. I started with a blank sheet and did no research beforehand. I thought I'd start with a tumbler of water, add a level teaspoon full of table salt and a dash of orange juice to sweeten it – I could always fine tune the recipe by adding or taking away ingredients. On reflection, that was a bad decision, but not as bad as downing it in one (in case I didn't like the taste). For the first few seconds nothing happened, then all of a sudden – and without warning – my stomach seemed to engage in reverse gear. There followed at least 10 minutes of reverse rippling and regurgitation of my stomach, wave after wave, whilst I battled against it, eyes watering, struggling to swallow what was on the way up. Highly unpleasant and I wouldn't recommend it. It's one thing to have a good honk when you're unwell, but I've never experienced such repeated heaving over such a long period of time.

I've had two Vaio laptops (only bought the second one because I could re-use the docking station and battery from the first). Both suffered with problems with the power supply. The first computer had it at 13 months and they refused to repair it because it was outside the 12 month warranty. Sadly, I was younger and more naiive then and didn't get into their obligations under the sale of goods act (in that laptop should last longer than 13 months irrespective of warranty). The second developed the same fault (overheating) at 2 years and cost a couple of hundred to sort. That was just over a year ago and it's happened again. The newer ones will probably have been redesigned and I've had loads of (non computer) Sony stuff before and found them a generally reliable brand.
Pros – Good screen. Good quality keys and seems generally well built.
Cons – Unreliable, overheating. Annoyingly partitions disk into two, so your C drive is half the size that you're expecting when you look at the spec sheet. Annoying Sony software loaded. Tend to cost more than other brands for the same specification.
Current laptop is not a Sony.

Apparently this was filmed 10 minutes after he tried to re-fit a set of Avid juicy pads. Before that, he was ok. His wife and parishioners were said to be startled on seeing this video.

maybe with a fecal fat to liven things up

Were you paraphrasing Chaucer with that quote?

If, when you cough, you suddenly develop a scr0tum like a spacehopper, with your b****cks rattling round like lottery balls inside, then I'd say it's a hernia. I'm sure that your doctor wouldn't mind if you went along for an opinion, even if it's to reassure you that all is well. Nobody on here would be able to give you a confident answer, even if they were medical, without seeing it I'm sure.

I rode into a cow on the Garth mountain yesterday – does that count? (It was misty, I was going head down, hell for leather into a headwind….). Luckily, the cow was extremely placid and laid back about it and just carried on chewing (or at least it was when I looked back to see if it was chasing me).

I had a low speed bump once upon a time, wearing new leather soled shoes. I jumped straight into the car having put on a brand new pair of shoes that were straight out of the box. Slipped off the pedals and I reversed into a wheelie bin ("Chips Away" dealt with the fallout), so I know what you mean. I usually rough them up a bit now by doing a sort of rotating movement on a concrete floor. I've even resorted to a bit of sandpaper. As soon as the soles have roughed up, you'll be fine (don't know why they don't do this at the factory). A short walk would probably have the same effect.