+1 Molgrips
Although I don’t agree with your desire that u would love to tax them!

Demand for good banking executives is very high. (This might be confer intuative but although there are only a few posts available the worth to the business of a good exec is massive)
Supply of people with the experience and knowledge to do the job is very low.
The labour market is rightly mildly regulated

Basic economics therefore determines wages will be very high. With international mobility you will loose the top execs to your competitors if u don’t pay those rates. Also if someone running my pension fund/isa etc does well (better than the market for eg) and makes me money I think they are entitled to a bonus.

Do you lot never drive anywhere! I would die of bordom going everywhere at 20.

i think that terms like trail bike are so wide ranging (eg rigid to 7 inch sus travel) that people want to qualify it a bit more. Its a bit more usable to use sus travel than give a full geometry spec sheet (which might be more acurate in determining where in the spectum of trail bikes it really sits)

🙂

thx – my wallet hurts and its not even anything very exciting

Ive got an order well over £200 running atm anyone willing to help me out too!
mail in profile

anyone doing dura ace down to that money atm?

Anyone on here ridden the steps off the front of Box Hill (surrey) down to the stepping stones?

now thats fun 🙂

Snap thats exactly what we got my girlfriend just before christmas.

shes just done a saddle and a ‘novice size’ cassette in terms of upgrades. really happy with it though

In terms of pannier racks weve just put one on and we had to do a bit of hacking around, just a warning that the rack fouls on the brake as standard due to the placeing of the top mounting bolts. We got a longer bolt and a little section of pipe to space it out. mail me it u want a pic at some point!

oh and check the front brake cable outer, ours was cracked when we picked it up where it goes into the front brake, too much of a bend in it

Looking again at my cannondale i really need to get rid of that horrible FSA chanset, it looks chinsy and naff (and weighs a ton)

Cycling plus bike of the year

I wish i could just do it on my Cannondale six road bike and have somewhere safe to leave it at the other end

sometimes retrobikes do it for me, that on the other hand looks like a cheap student hack destined to be left outside in the rain.

(feels a bit bad about slagging off your pride and joy…)

done go ape, and one of the guys was too big for the harnesses 🙁
not much of a team exercize either

for mm i took a massive amount of cooked pasta to eat after every lap.
also dont get tempted to do two laps in a row for more sleep overnight, it slows the pace massivly.

Dont forget its fun, whiping and tweaking of the jumps and general fun and showing off activly encouraged 😛 and it annoys the carbon hardtail, matching lycra brigade!

surrendermonkey – by far the nicest looking nomad ive seen too 🙂

You wouldnt run out of time, you would run out of legs!

My childhood dream…

second taunton leisure

dont do it, hot, heavy, retricted breathing and you look like a douche unless ur going downhill

Out there i know but has he tried talking to her?

trailaddiction holiday plus alps proofing the genius :)?

If your not sure about what you want then save it until something really catches your eye. When i got a second bike i went for an SS to make it as different as poss from my full sus.
What do your mates ride? eg any of them ride more hardcore stuff or are some of them into getting some serious miles done?

Singlespeed?

La Varda and Calvin’s trouser snake* in Les Arcs with trail addiction

*May not be still refered to as this!

Pictured with me on it 🙂

Oh and for trail centre UK stuff i did really enjoy cannok chase

Pastcaring, that looks like an awesome bike, id love to point that at a rock garden 🙂

Hairline weld fracture on my Titus Racer X at the seattube top tube junction. I blame the fact i was running a seatpost shim so it was pretty much running at minimum insertion at all times.
I miss it 🙁

Im in IT in a specific growing sector
Business intelligence, Database based corperate reporting.
We are a microsoft specialist and doing well and looking for people

I couldnt see myself ever driving an auto.
I really like the experiance of driving, i love the change down for corners then throw it in in third or fourth.
Also use engine breaking alot, i think id miss the involving feeling of it.
Does get annoying in traffic jams though !

Can you control your destiny?

ie. if your not happy and your job is not secure why not start applying for other jobs now before the worst happens?

I go for the smart phone option these days, my GPS hasnt been used in years. The main annoyance was only 100 waypoints and the GPS receiver is terrible with any tree cover. a ride around the devils punchbowl was unfollowable.

I went for the Mojo (SL) because I loved the suspension action but didnt like the weight and didnt need all that strength (im only 10.5 stone)
never looked back 🙂

I demoed one because i wanted an Ibis and couldnt get a test ride on one. The Turner has good quality sus action which feels like it has more travel like most DW link bikes.
I would say the Turner felt VERY solid, it was stiff, obviously strong and you could really hurl it into the rough stuff. I just couldnt deal with the weight on the flat and up hill.
To sum up I would say that its a cross crountry bike for people who are big guys and ride their downhills hard without worrying about being the fasted uphill

I tend to reduce the side to side motion as much as possible so im out the saddle but fairly stationary

slight side note, anyone else get slipping against the metal roller as they increase resistance too much or try and put down alot of power?

I got drawn in by Nightwish 🙂
no time to go find the youtube but if someone puts up over the hills and far away ill be happy 🙂

avoncliff (i think its cross and guns but its a rather tiny place with one pub!)

Drove down to the alps biking in mine 147 and not only did i do the whole thing in one day without feeling terrible i also decided that the mt blanc tunnel was too easy and the st bernards pass might be more fun 🙂
it was bloody fantastic even in a baby 1.6 🙂

p.s. too add to the general lovage of old alfas i am v keen to own something with a 3L arese V6 one day. how is the Gt Turner? it could be a 3L one of those can u get a bike in them?

Had a 1.6 petrol as my first car. Really nice to drive, cheap to buy. just got rid of my 2001 as it was just starting to get a bit ropey, only got £1000 part ex for it though. Watch that its had the servicing shedule sticked to ridgidly, alfas are best like that and also check the oil level, they need to be checked every so often and you dont want one thats been run low. Also check the exhaust box for solidity they can rust (and they look a bit shit like that)

Great handling and great for sticking bikes in though, nice engine note like all alfas too 🙂

+ 1 for find your local alfa independant

ps i traded in for a Mito 🙂

Drop a post with what you end up with, im after a similar system at some point but just not at the point where I want it now

I have had limited succes in flushing a shimano one out with Degreaser and then adding grease again. the seals are so crap you can pretty much do both without taking it appart

depends on your focus of riding imho
If you are a DH focused rider then flats are fine,
Flats are also great for improving your riding skills and making sure your not lazy

However…. There is a ‘massive’ (IMHO) difference in the effeciency of climbing and flat work meaning if you are doing distance get some SPD’s on. You will find you can get up climbs you previously couldnt and you can use them to feel a bit more ‘connected’ to the bike in a good way eg not bouncing off over rough stuff and using them to cheat at bunny hops

ps falling off is never a problem, you might get SPDed a couple of times in the first couple of weeks but the whole falling off and getting stuck on the bike never happens