I wouldn’t have a kid kept down a year unless he was majorly behind or a bit lacking.

I think there’s the potential that the boredom of repeating what will seem like very easy work will bring on bad behaviour.

TBH I fail to see the point of caravans for holidays. They aren’t cheap to buy new and there’s a tendency to run a much bigger car than you would to make towing easier, costing you more cash all year round.

I used Silkolene in a set of bombers, and it did cause stiction.

Stripped everything and went over to Rock oil, and it was fine.

The issue is also mentioned in Peter Verdone’s articles on suspension oil – specifically with Marzocchis.

On the other hand I’ve read that Fox oil is rebranded Silkolene.

I’d be tempted to try it if you already have the oil – I didn’t have to swap seals to sort the forks, just the oil.

Lifer, not going to get into a long argument about this, but that seems to be what the booklet the Electoral Commission sent out says.

If there’s no majority, you go to the least popular parties first. Their second choices are the first to be taken into account. To my mind that’s rather worse than the third place party forming a coalition – at least a decent number of people voted for them!

Page 6 here if you’re at all bothered:
http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/PDF/England-accessible.pdf

Lifer, should have said “In the cases where there is no clear majority”.

According to the leaflet I’ve had through the door the first votes to be examined for second options are the least popular parties. Round here that will be the above list…

FPTP.

I don’t like the idea that when there isn’t a majority, the first people to get a say in who should be elected will be those who voted for the BNP, Socialist Worker Party, UKIP etc. [Edited – omission]

Not a great fan of FPTP (see the figures for %age votes against seats – often you’ll see very similar %ages of votes with wildly differing numbers of seats) but the options that we’ve been given are pretty ropey. PR seems more sensible but it’s obviously been vetoed by the Conservatives.

About 150 yards I reckon. We went cycling in some NT parkland the other day – and the vast majority of people had parked up in the same area, got out and had a picnic, and were queueing to get back out. Didn’t look like much fun to me – people were getting frustrated and driving like tossers.

On the other hand, from a management point of view, it’s great. All your litter and disturbance is in one place, and you can collect a parking fee. Containment is a very common strategy – country parks and visitor centres, along with places like Castleton keep the unwashed masses from roaming across SSSIs.

Worst market research ever?

I’m amazed few on here seem to be particularly bothered by such a massive invasion of privacy. There are umpteen horrible applications of this kind of data – stalking, your boss working out if you’re skiving off at work, blackmail, any variety of attack against your person, your partner checking up on you, being nicked retrospectively for speeding, if you’ve been to any particularly fruity nightclubs…

Even in the “I never do anything wrong” camp, there’s plenty that can be done to turn innocent location data into dirt. Bump into a mate when you’re out and about, but happen to be outside a school – that’ll be “loitered outside schools” if someone wants to word it that way. And they’ll have proof.

Done the survey.

TBH the lad’s got plenty of time to sit down and do a second survey if he feels it would help.

I assume the questions are chosen to provide data which is comparable to existing stuff, but IMO they won’t – use the same entire set of questions, except ones that really aren’t applicable, survey only “elite” mountain bikers (people who actually race, or that bloke with the new Ragley who never stops), or include a question on whether the respondent races, and you’ll be closer. My motivations to nip out on the bike and Steve Peat or Lance Armstrong’s will be totally different most of the time.

Or take an entirely different tack and ask a set of questions that are more suited to mountain biking, include more possiblities (ie, nature / outdoors, etc), and recognise that you’re not going to produce comparable data. Ask different questions of a different group and try to compare it with the research that’s gone before and you’ll struggle.

I’m sure his tutor will be putting the fear of god into him at present, but to be honest, an undergrad dissertation is 10000 words. The guy’s got 5 weeks to write it up, with some spare time to proof and print it. By dissertation time you should know what’s a realistic per day word count, and know if you can realistically take more time to research. Online surveys have a huge advantage over traditional data collection in terms of speed of data collection and collation for one. They’re also the hallmark of someone writing in a hurry for that reason – maybe go to a race or trail centre for an afternoon and question a few people…

I’d personally stop now and do more research – starting with a decent Research Methods text like Bryman.

Having done a couple of dissertations myself, I know this is hardly music to anyone’s ears, but I reckon you’ve got the time to make some big improvements to the research, even a quick face to face survey would make a fair impact.

Edit: I’ve made the assumption that this is the main piece of primary research. If it’s an aside to something else / a dataset someone else has given you, then fair enough.

[In reference to the inflation rate in Argentina, which is around 25% according to Bloomberg]

Are you going to trot out the Thatcherite bollox which says that inflation is the root of all evil ?

Ernie, you’ve just proven that you know stuff all on the subject.

No, I mean a new drivetrain.

The chain had worn to the point that the chainrings and cassette were heavily worn too. Fitting a new chain just wears out the new one in short order, as it doesn’t mesh properly with the worn kit still on the bike.

My experience is that chains break if you’ve put them back together poorly, or if they’re badly worn. That said, I’ve only ever known three chains break – one on my bike, two on friend’s.

Helium would get out of the inner tube at a fair rate. Small molecules isnit.

If it was the correct length before, and you removed a link, then it’ll be too short now. A big / big gearing combination will lock everything up and break things – generally rear derailleurs.

TBH the last time I had a chain break on me, it was totally mullered and I had to fit an entire new drivetrain.

I absolutely love using “what” instead of “that” to wind people up.

My biggest day to day bugbear is the number of people who’ve been through education, even to degree level, and can’t express themselves in a concise and clear manner.

The second one is the misuse of “percent” when the speaker actually means “percentage points”. If you can’t get that one right, don’t even bother trying to produce or interpret statistics.

Jockey wheels are right as far as I can see from comparing with web photos – possibly not Campag originals, but certainly the right size & shape.

What’s happening is that the top jockey wheel’s getting too close to the block. On the NR, the pivot at the mount is completely free to move (assuming mine’s not been messed with), whereas a modern Shimano mech is sprung, with a B-pivot screw). When you talk about adjusting the hanger screw, there isn’t one in the B-pivot sense you get with a modern mech – unless you mean actually doing something with the mounting bolt?

Shortening the chain (too much) adds enough tension for 39/24 to work happily, but jams things as you get half way up the block in the big ring. A length that allows you to run 52/24 without destroying things leads to lots of chatter as the top jockey wheel is too close. As I understand it, spacing out the freewheel can help, as the jockey wheel moves up as it moves closer to the centreline of the bike, but I’ve very little idea of how all these old freewheels work.

In theory the NR should be happy with a 26, and plenty seem to have them running on 28s, but not on my bike. I suspect a contributing factor is that my frame needs an adaptor claw, which moves the wheel forward in the drop out, and therefore down a little closer to the rear mech.

I’ve got a 39/52 up front. The mech’s a 1973 model.

Alivio / non series Shimano chainsets cost less than a couple of rings. Just get the cheapest chainset around (and potentially a square taper BB to go with), and you’ll have 22/34/42 (or 44) on the front.

34 tooth rear cassettes are common enough and ought to be within the capacity of the Alivio mech – if not, a 32 tooth gives you a bit more than you currently have.

TBH it sounds like her bike could be a trekking / city bike setup with gearing that high.

A load of X-factor bods covered Heroes by David Bowie.

By an absolute country mile, the worst cover version ever.

How cheap is cheap? The cheapest possible brakes that are OK. I reckon 595s fit the bill – they come it at £91 for a pair with a 160 to 180 adaptor so I can run my current disks…

Having been to Sharm el Sheikh, I’d not go again unless the holiday were free. £400 for all inc. doesn’t even sound very far away from the going rate.

There was a thread on here about Sharm a while ago by the way. It was fairly unanimous.

Got two of them.

That’s an 8V with the PB engine, so Digifant rather than K-Jet injection.

It’ll be good for 40-50mpg on a steady run, and so long as it’s set up properly. 35mpg would be a general razzing about figure I suppose. The timing often gets set incorrectly, and there are a fair few vacuum hoses which need to be in good nick for the car to run right, and that’s where I’d start if it seems down on power / using too much fuel.

My experience is that you’d need to really try to get a MK2 sideways. They’re more neutral to understeery.

Not worth bothering IMO.

I had a 406 HDi estate (the phase 2 / facelift one) and whilst it was never particularly involving to drive, you couldn’t fault the speed at which it went round bends for such a big and heavy car.

IIRC Peugeot make their own dampers and are generally regarded as one of the best teams around for suspension tuning. If you look at when Ford started making cars that handled well – the Ka and the Focus – it closely co-incides with the poaching of a load of Peugeot chassis engineers.

Russia Today? It’s up there with CCTV in the comedy propaganda stakes.

Vented. Dry quicker, use less electricity, don’t make your house humid.

Only go for condenser if there’s no possibility of fitting a vent – ie, renting or in a flat.

Done Valentine’s day. Had a weekend away, couple of good dinners, a laugh and so on.

I see it more as a good excuse to have a laugh than some horrendous commercial thing that’s been foisted on me.

Stoner, you seem almost perversely pleased by the banning of incandescents. 😆

Tell her to take smoothies in her own bottles. It’s only a matter of time before every bike bottle you own will be rendered unusable by dried on horror.

The camelbak bottles are taste free by the way, but the valves would get gummed up…

Can you be working class and an army officer at the same time?

Difficult to say TJ. You can see naff all on those calipers, and I suspect the seals are getting a little old so the pistons aren’t retracting as much as they could be.

What’s an XTR shim like? I’m actually using the caliper direct to post mount, with the IS adaptor removed. If it’s just a shim, I can’t see how it’d help. Or is there something special about the XTR? I’ve never been beyond the lowly levels of SLX 😉

I wonder how much of the tax “dodged” by Tesco is just them paying their taxes where they made their profits. They certainly didn’t take £3B+ in profits just from the UK market.

Wasn’t binning Assisted Places (ie, getting the “poor” into the best schools) somewhere near the top of Labour’s to do list in 1997?

I doubt that Unions are going to cease to exist entirely, but I suspect that unions will become far less powerful within the public sector.

The simple fact is that public sector workers are generally reasonably paid, enjoy decent T&Cs and decent pensions. Some parts of the public sector are either overstaffed or straight out slack. Near enough everyone in the private sector knows someone working in the public sector, and they know all of the above. And most people can see that whilst the private sector has had a massive correction, the public sector correction has been delayed until after the general election.

Add all that together, and the result is that a sizeable proportion of voters will be about as supportive of union action as they would be of free botulism in school dinners.

When I have kids, I’d like them to go to Uni, and do post-grad too if they’re capable. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t let them go at 18 – I’d make them spend a year working somewhere between GCSEs & Uni. A bit of time spent doing a real job makes a massive difference to your motivation when you get to Uni. Samuri’s kid sounds a bit like I was at school – I did nothing through my GCSEs and managed good grades, but eventually the missed work outweighed natural aptitude!

In my view, good Education is a hugely empowering and transformative experience in itself. So long as you’re taught how to think properly and express yourself clearly, the subject doesn’t matter a great deal. I’d still be choosy about what subjects and unis I’d fund them going to – I work with a load of grads at the moment, and some of them have been very badly served by the system.

I’m not sure if I’d bother with one personally. Too prone to the occasional massive bill (IIRC bits of the engine which shouldn’t move often do – think it’s either the liners or a two piece block design). And the regular massive bills – silly prices for brakes etc.

I’m amazed by all these people getting a week+ out of Mach 3 and DE blades. I lob Mach 3 blades after 3 or 4 shaves, and DE blades I change every other shave. I can get a week and a bit out of the Hydro blades but that’s pushing it.

P&G (Gilette) and Wilkinson bring their new products in to my work (in exchange for donations to charity if you want a razor) when they launch them, so I’ve tried most razors going excepting KoS.

I’ve used double edge razors in the past, and thought it was the only way I could get a really good shave. Ended up using Mach 3 on a day to day basis as the shave was OK, and I could shave without paying too much attention and no risk of cutting myself, and the blades weren’t too dear.

Recently we’ve had both Wilkinson’s and Gilette’s latest, and the Wilkinson hydro is spot on in my view. I was surprised, as I’ve always seen the Wilkinson razors as lagging behind Gilette. The new Fusion is pretty similar to the old Fusion, but blades are silly money. The Hydro gives me a shave very nearly as good as I could get with an old school razor, with no aggro and blades that are a) cheap (think similar prices to Mach 3 blades) and b) last well. Use KoS oil and some shaving gel from a can, and you’re sorted.

Your mileage, may of course vary. All faces are different 😆

Never had a Primark or Tesco shirt, but I can tell you that Tyrwhitt collars tend to be pretty bang on – they have a bit of room but aren’t massive.

As for the rest of the fit, once you’re up to 17″ and 18″ collars, the only sane option is to go for a slim fit shirt, unless you have some kind of incredible beer belly. If you’re reasonably fit and have any abdominal muscle, you don’t want the standard one.

My advice is to take a shirt you already have and fits well, then measure it up to find out what you want – that gave me a sleeve length about 2″ longer than what the bloke in Lewin’s reckoned, and meant my cuffs weren’t always around my elbows.

Tyrwhitt is streets ahead of Lewin IMO. The Lewin shirts I had were absolutely unironable, worse than some cheap’n’nasty Next shirts I had. Took them back under Lewin’s no quibble guarantee and bought Tyrwhitt’s non-iron ones. You still have to iron them if you want to look right, but it’s a pretty trivial job.

Neither make is really what I’d call super high quality – you’re certainly not getting an £80 shirt for £20 like they make out. The more expensive Osbourne shirts in Debenhams are made of good quality fabric, particularly the Pima ones, and are often knocked down to £20 or so.

A third option is M&S made to measure. IIRC they’re about £30, the collar came up a bit small, but the fit is very good. The standard fabric is relatively run of the mill.

C. Not interested in A&A, but equally don’t find the concept offensive.

There are some odd bods on here though who seem to be happy to publish utterings which would be raise eyebrows in all but the most laddish environs. Happy for the mods to kibosh that sort of thing.

What mrmo said. The myth of putting a silver spoon the neck of a bottle of champagne to keep the fizz still persists, simply because barely anyone ever has two bottles of champers open at the same time.

And people at school kept telling me their Sega Saturn was great.

This kind of owner review is generally very unreliable, so my view is that it’s best to do a bit of poking about. I was once in the market for an old Merc. A poke about some Merc forums told me how bombproof they were, along with “Watch out for XY&Z”. A bit of questioning revealed running costs due to common faults that would shame far less prestigious marques.

Or to translate that into bike brakes – everyone says their brakes are great, but if you look for the folks who say they never have to do anything to them, the answer is generally Shimano or Magura.