Depends whether you look at things in terms of the thinking behind them or whether you just like the end result.

Myself, I'm fairly ignorant of art, so I go by the end result, and I'm partial to the odd bit of pop art & constructivism.

Some (most?) artists produce stuff that really does range from ace to gopping – take Hockney – a bigger splash is ace, but some of his other stuff is just bad drawings on the theme of being gay…

The other issue is that this stuff is pricey & sought after, so if you go to a public exhibition of a well known artist (particularly at a less well known/funded gallery), a lot of their better work is in private hands, which means that you'll perhaps get one of their better pictures surrounded by ten of their more poxy works.

What happens when someone becomes a famous artist is that the equivalent of what would be a writer's first drafts and jotted notes are suddenly seen as important, and become valuable. Some choose to destroy the stuff they're not happy with, some flog it regardless 😆

Ha! Smart move by Brant 😀

Is a brake that can never be serviced still good value for money?

I'd rather have one that didn't need servicing 😀

Magura. Whichever ones were cheap. Or SLX.

Depends what you want from it – cytech level 2 is an industry qualification,

Sure, and looking at it as a cyclist, you can see that it's designed to ensure someone is competent, regardless of background.

A lot of the stuff would be wasted on the average cyclist as most can manage to do basic maintenance tasks, even the stuff that's not directly related to work issues.

I've watched this lark evolve over 20 years and AFAICT the marketeers have got their grubby little mitts on cycling.

I think it's been longer than that. It's just that the marketing men have become more skilled.

I really don't see why people go for any of the basic bike maintenance classes – if you're not mechanically inept, you should pick it up pretty quickly from DIYing on your own bike and reading.

Wheelbuilding is probably the only thing I'd happily pay to be taught to do on a bike, and maybe full on fork servicing as opposed to a quick oil change. The rest is cheaper to do by trial and error…

What a mare indeed. My heart bleeds 😉

The lot of them give me the creeps. Reminds me of that Antiques child that was on Wogan back in the day.

Look, you do know this is the internet? If you wanted to know about music for spinning, you should have asked about where to keep a roadbike…

I'm not sure what sort of music you'd want – I'd personally go for TdF by Kraftwerk.

Just to counter what some people have said….. I have several friends who are in their 30s, single, lovely, and not bonkers – that pick 2 thing is nonsense.

On the other hand, some girls are single, lovely and likely to outshine 90% of blokes, which tends to put them off 😆

Dead boring. No overtaking at all.

No, but there's rather more slithering around at spectacular angles.

Roadbike!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18418807

I read that as saying you can produce more power but it's harder work.

Some unis give out careers help to anyone, so check the websites of any that are local to you.

It may just be that it's grim out there at the moment…

Sheldon Brown has some info – think it's on his chainline pages.

It's not a round number, I remember that much.

Dynorod have had a few goes at people about using the colour orange.

But I think you are either a bike person or car one. Telling someone the other sport is more interesting seems pointless.

Love cars, can't be doing with watching F1. On the other hand, rallying is ace.

I think the rules for F1 need a total overhaul. Firstly, the drivers should have to run to the cars again, and secondly, the cars should be forced to conform to Cannonball Run style stereotypes:

Manor / Virgin would build a car made of Sheffield steel.
Red Bull would build cars made out of Aluminium cans that run off bile.
Force India would have a car based on an Austin A40.
All the teams based around Cambridge would have to wear mortar boards, and could only employ drivers who have at least one degree.
Ferrari would have a Priest bless the car before each race.
BAR would race an AC / Shelby Cobra.
And so on.

The final rule change would be that all media training would be banned. Ideally, Marcus Gronholm would be recruited as an F1 driver, in the paddock he'd look a bit awkward and sign the odd autograph, and at the end of the race he'd spout off for about ten minutes about how shit the car is, how the track is shit, how the tyres are shit and how he's really not very happy at all.

I get a load of bike related stuff and holidays in France.

They're cretins. Why on earth even bother trying to explain it to them?

Most obvious way I can think of is that you're trying to undo a wheel nut with a big spider – you can either pull on one end only with your right hand, or use your left end to push on the other one too.

All this business about weights is neither here nor there.

I'd really not bother with an easy out, except as a last resort. If it stuffs up and breaks, you've got a nice lump of almost undrillable tool steel attached to the bolt you want to drill out.

The torx bit method has never let me down on seized up old brake caliper bolts on cars, for what it's worth.

Bang in a wrong size allen bolt / bit (imperials are generally available that are a bit off metric), or a Torx bit that's too large, as the bolt head has some room to deform.

You will want a 4lb hammer.

Try some freeze'n'release and a kettle full of hot water too.

Cheap frame and transfer all the parts across? There are some around at the £50-£60 mark.

They either grind them down or put a smidge of filler over the top (but that could be just as lengthy a process – fill, set, sand, stopper etc.). A lot of car bodywork repairs are welded then ground down, so it's not that unlikely when you're paying big money for a frame.

I can see where you're coming from, I really can, but I think you have to accept that roads are not for getting from one place to another as fast as legally possible, not everyoen is in a rush and anyone with any level of skill should be able to pass them soon enough to not build up a queue.

On the A roads in Lincolnshire and Norfolk, this kind of attitude causes big problems – there are no motorways, and they're mostly single carriageway. One articulated lorry doing the mandatory 40mph or slow driver has a large queue form behind it very quickly, making it very dangerous for people to overtake.

Time Exposed to Danger

Someone's been watching repeats of Driven…

Wikipedia suggests Turtle Exclusion Device for TED?

Regarding people not overtaking when they should- sadly I usually can't. I'm crap at it because my old car lacks the gumption to overtake without 5 miles of clear space.

With practice, you can back off (opens up your sightlines and gives you room), eyeball a spot for overtaking then put your foot down in anticipation of the overtake. If someone comes the other way, you can just brake or lift off the throttle. Hopefully I'm not teaching you how to suck eggs 😆

yeah but is it any good? i.e the quality of the tools, I keep spotting these generic tool kits that are all the same apart from the name on the handle, they are most likly all made in the same factory in china

I have one of the Aldi/Lidl kits. It works fine, but some tools are better from Park – their cassette remover is made so that you can attach it with a QR skewer to stop it slipping out and so on.

They're not made out of high grade tool steel (I suspect much of the Park stuff isn't either), but that's not really relevant on a bike where the majority of stuff is very easy to undo and lightly torqued, certainly compared with stuff attached to the underside of a 20 year old car.

I think the x-tools kit has most of that bar the chain wear tool.

FWIW speed bumps are the devils work – you either drive over them slowly and accelerate/brake between them or stick at a slow speed. I tend to stick at a slow speed assuming theres not a massive distance between, as I'm not wearing my brakes and wasting fuel for the sake of ~5mph average over a half mile section.

There are some near me (the cushion type) that get better the faster you go over them. 30mph and lined up right, you barely feel them. 5mph and your car rocks all over the place. Above 30mph, they might as well not be there.

They do force people into some very odd road positions though.

More car drivers driving slowly – good – that will reduce casualties. i just hope all teh fast dangerous impatient twonks are prosecuted.

I'd love to see a calculation of life expectancy increase due to lower speeds against time wasted over a lifetime. Not sure which way it'd go.

Oh, by the way, the word for wilfully driving below the speed limit for no apparent reason is slowing.

File it? If they're anything like the fabricators I know, they probably trim their nails with the angle grinder…

It can be done, but it's hard work – you're very clearly "on a diet", rather than just cutting down a bit.

Only dangerous if impatient f***wits take unecessary risks to get past them. The speed limit is the maximum speed, not a mandatory speed at which you must travel.

The people who set the driving test must think differently, as I failed one for not overtaking a tractor soon enough, and a lot of people fail by not managing to do 60 on NSL roads. One of the criteria for passing is roughly paraphrased as "making adequate progress".

The 40mph everywhere types seem most common around my way – NSL: 40mph, 30 limit: 40mph, Speed humps: 40mph with an emergency stop before every hump.

Whatever 700C Ridgeback hybrid is £300. Good commuting machines, often come with racks and mudguards. Will easily handle towpaths and the like, and a bit of light singletrack use, as they come with pretty wide touring style tyres. Much more practical as a commuting proposition than any mountain bike too.

They're also very widely available, so there's less faff finding somewhere with one on the C2W scheme.

Isn't the self-deprecating analyis of things you enjoy watching cathartic……. so much better than criticising the choices of others.

I think you misunderstand me. On occasion I like to be quite heavily bored. I'm not really enjoying the golf, but the boredom.

Sometimes I will watch Golf when I want to be really violently bored. It's about a once every 2 years sort of occasion though.

I don't think not having a telly would kill me, but I'd rather have one and a hard drive recorder. There is a bit of decent stuff on, just not neccesarily at times when you want to watch it, so a recorder makes a lot of sense.

Not that fussed about DVDs, as even though I like films, I rarely have the time to sit down and watch one.

To me, iPlayer is overrated – I want to watch telly on the telly with my girlfriend, not through a laptop or at my desk, or by faffing about with another computer attached to the TV. Maybe if I had a device that could put iPlayer on the telly I'd be interested.

15 minutes on the road bike. The joys of exams!