Not a squaddy but I do like things shiny. Second the little circles, damp cloth method. Don't believe in all the melting polish / hot spoon / fag lighter voodoo myself.

There are a few faults with the K – the major one is that they tend to have low capacity cooling systems, so a small quantity of lost coolant becomes a big problem. The gaskets might be pap, but the fact is that once the HG has gone, you've probably done the head, and they're in very short supply.

If you can't get a head at a reasonable price, then the rest of the engine (block etc) is scrap, no matter how good it is.

By the time you're forking out for a new head or skim, you'll want a new rad, stat, waterpump and coolant, adding an extra £100-£150 to the bill. Otherwise you'll never be sure that your just replaced HG isn't going to blow again.

There's a definate owner issue too – K-series are fitted to lots of very high performance cars, and a check up here and there goes a long way, to the point that they have a very good rep in the tuning world. That said, a lot of useless duffers also buy Hondas, never check a thing, and not a lot goes wrong…

It's a Rover 1.4 K series. Of course it's likely to do it again. Get it all repaired properly, skimmed etc. and it might be alright. On the other hand, these do tend to warp their heads to such an extent that they can't be skimmed back, and there's a shortage of good second hand heads.

I'd be inclined to scrap it and buy something that doesn't mind owners not checking the water on a regular basis. Like anything that doesn't have a K-series engine.

Their basic service takes less than half an hour. That's about enough time to do the oil and filter, check a few bulbs and plug the diagnostics machine in, possibly grease the door hinges as garages always seem to view that as essential.

They most likely won't have the time to do any of the other tasks that are generally on manufacturer schedules, like checking brake disk / pad thickness, leaks, suspension linkages, belts, bearing play etc.

In other words, they do the absolute bare minimum. But so do a lot of other places, including dealers, unless you specify that you want an Inspection 1/2 service or whatever the manufacturer calls it.

6000 miles!!! FFS what are you doing to it? Driving round with your left foot on the brake all the time? Are you one of these people that brakes for every single corner and can't back off and roll up to a junction instead of braking for every one? I'm truly dumbfounded by that…..

Ford Ka, brakes were fairly marginal for the car as standard – 3 passengers in and you really had to work to stop it. That said, I was 18 and going everywhere at warp speed 9 on B roads. Occasionally upset a local bloke with an Elise… I was also getting through tyres at the same rate. Made servicing nice and easy though – oil change, tyres, discs and pads. Everything at the same time :lol:

For what it's worth the MOT man will only tell you to change the discs once they're way past it – scored or breaking up. They can't take the wheels off, so they don't measure them or even get a chance to eyeball them for being thing.

An MOT isn't at all akin to a service in terms of the level of inspection done.

One of my mates had his neighbours call round once. A tradesman had been parking his van by the side of his house, pretty much out of sight to him due to the garden fence.

Neighbours wanted everyone on the street to club together and tell this bloke to shift his van somewhere else. After all, what if somebody thought it belonged to one of us! :lol:

There are loads of extra bright bulbs available – even the more basic ones are 50% brighter, and it's a big difference. I'm quite happy to pay a tenner for a couple of years of seeing further ahead…

Could well be an alarm, but they usually have maker's names on them. I've seen plenty "hidden" in stupid places.

Always aim to pick my mate up at 9. Always find something wrong with his bike that holds us up…

Decathlon sell em.

The fact is that if you pussyfoot around at all – dabbing the brakes here and there whilst trying to get the pedal back up, you will exhaust the vacuum and the servo assist will go. I've braked cars with no servo vacuum on odd occasions, and it's very difficult even at walking pace.
Doing it against the engine would made no difference at all.

Brakes will cook very quickly when working against full engine power. The best thing you can do in the situation (assuming you can't get it in neutral) is to slam the brakes on as hard as possible as soon as possible. Gradual braking is absolutely sure to cook the brakes – the fluid won't normally boil, even under very hard use, but the pads burn up and the escaping gases force them away from the surface of the disc, massively reducing their effectiveness.

There are a fair few cars that won't let you accelerate against the brakes – my old 406 HDI would allow you to left foot brake for about half a second, and then it would completely cut all power. Seems like a fairly basic safety interlock if you're going to have a fly by wire throttle (you could quite easily cut the injector cycle / spark rather than throttle angle for the event of stepper motor failure).

Good lord. I've been through sets of discs and pads in 6000 miles. 50000 is a *lot* of miles.

For what it's worth, the manufacturers publish minimum thicknesses for brake discs, and for the average vented disc they allow 1mm of wear per side – ie, a 20mm thick disc can wear to 18mm. On solid disks you sometimes get 4mm. So if you can operate a pair of calipers, you can check out what the garage is saying yourself. Same goes for pads.

Now, worn discs have two effects – less mass, so there's less to dump heat into, therefore your brakes get hotter, the pads wear faster, and they stop working sooner (ie after a few uses of the brakes on a series of bends, or during an emergency stop on the motorway – the pads start burning up, and they stop working. See the bloke who died in a Lexus). The second effect is that the increased heat cycling and force on less metal eventually leads to cracks. Cracks eventually lead to disintegration – one will inevitably go before the other, possibly resulting in a spin. Another place you do not want to go.

So the executive summary is: A 1.5mm lip suggests the disks are way past it. The results of not changing them can be catastrophic brake failure. Catastrophic brake failure can lead to death. Change the brake fluid whilst it's all being done too, as not changing that can also lead to brake failure.

Woop. Simple thing anyone considering teaching should do – ask a teacher what it's like. A great deal will tell you that it's a lot of aggro for not enough money…

Depends very much on the head. My mum was a headteacher and would be fairly happy for people to take their kids on holiday whenever – on the basis that for a lot of families, it's the only chance they get, and the knowledge that realistically, 2 weeks extra schooling isn't going to change a kid's educational attainment. There's also the benefit of seeing another culture. FWIW, when she was a head she turned around several schools that were doing extremely badly, so she knows her stuff.

On the other hand, the head may view time spent in school as super important and not allow you to take the holiday.

Jarvis Cocker. I expect he has something with a sturmey-archer.

Any other Golf based VAG car – Octavia, Golf, Leon etc. All based on the same bits as the A3.

Seems a bizarre shortlist though – Jazz and Yeti I would expect to be fairly cheap, but not an A3…

Any car body spares / paint place. Front bumpers, grilles etc. are available as pattern items.

Pinch zoom on what? Android already has pinch zoom for the browser & when viewing photos, documents etc.

I used to change V pads pretty much every ride when it was wet. I've had my Maguras for 4 or 5 years now, and in that time I've changed one disk after bending it in a crash, and took the bike to the shop to have them bled for the first time last week.

I wouldn't be surprised if the disks have paid for themselves in terms of saved money on pads, cables and outers.

Righto. I reckon it'd be a 12 month job. A mate from Uni races a bit and he was fast, even when he was riding on the road on a full downhill bike…

It would be Sherwood that I'd go for by the way.

It's a shortened Polo. I'd personally get a Polo. You can fit things in them without performing surgery on the interior, and they're hardly large.

In my view, there are a lot of idiots in teaching. I know, because I was taught by them. I suspect you can get teach at PGCE level simply by being a teacher for a long time, so it's hardly surprising.

I've had a few below par undergrad lecturers, generally Phd students being arm twisted into teaching a few research methods modules. Actual full time teaching staff have been very good in my opinion, almost all Phds.

The job centre is a shite place. My advice is to go Japanese Salaryman style, with your best kit on. Still, the people behind the counter were bizarre. Standards of personal appearance were horrendous for some (stains on clothes etc.) and others were astonishingly rude.

I'd quite happily buy a boutique brand at the right price – I picked up my Inbred at £399 when they were on offer, built, with a full deore group etc. from on-one. I'd never have paid full price (£700 I think) for it – my urge to have a different bike isn't that strong.

At the end of the day, a big brand bike is going to be better on paper for the same money, whereas a "boutique" one is going to be different. In objective terms a VW Golf is a reliable car that's quiet and comfy, and sometimes fast. But people still buy Morgans for more money…

I'd never expect a boutique bike to be more reliable – in my view that's down to component choice. Pick stuff that's known for reliablity and build a simple bike.

Where from?

A lot of degree choice depends on what sort of person you are. A mate did Comp Sci & Management, and went straight into highly paid work in IT consultancy. On the other hand, the majority of people don't work in the area they graduate in, so choosing a difficult subject may be better than an overly technical one, if you don't have seriously clear plans for your life.

I would certainly not recommend drifting into uni because everyone else is – defer the place for a year and get some work under your belt…

I like watches, but I also knacker them. So I'd say no, in the sure knowledge that eventually it will get scraped and look tatty.

You'll save big cash on commuting at least.

The environmental sector is a big and varied thing. At the one end of the spectrum you have the charities (Wildlife Trusts etc) running nature reserves, then there are the consultancies helping developers to work within the legislation, and within that there are consultancies that purely deal with plants, animals and habitats (ie, ecology), some that purely deal with chemicals / drainage (ie, environmental science etc.) and others that are part of massive engineering consultancies.

Beyond that, there's the technological end of things – sustainable technology, renewables, insulation etc. etc.

Very different skill-sets and prospects in each sub-sector. It's not like going to be an accountant, where everyone trains to 3 or 4 main and similar standards.

In my view, there is no point in anyone going into the ecological end of things with a view to improving employment prospects beyond the level of "having a degree". The sector is very competitive, and it's one a lot of people are happy to volunteer in. End result is that hours and pay get pushed, and a lot of of charity jobs go to people who volunteer a lot.

On the other hand, the environmental science / engineering stuff is seen as a little more difficult and I suspect is better paid as there's far more potential for specialisation, and obviously there's no prospects for volunteers etc.

The renewable / sustainable tech side of things is likely to become more important, but I don't know much about it. I suspect it would be fairly useful across a good range of industries, and I'd be particularly keen to take any optional business modules, as it could skill you up to be a good fit for a management role in any business that's trying to improve its environmental performance. Generally good environmental performance can go hand in hand with improved business performance (ie, reduced waste).

Another point is to make sure it's as good a uni as you can get into, and that you get decent A-level grades. A hell of a lot of employers still want to know A-level grades, and a lot more only recruit from 60 or so "top" universities. Don't just go somewhere because the other place is stuck up or a bit further away, or because they've given you an unconditional offer! There are generally good opportunities during clearing if you miss your grades – my girlfriend got into a uni that wouldn't have had her according to their published minimum grades.

All Japanese car parts are hideously expensive. Just a fact of life.

I quite liked the Tioga Factories as cheap tyres too.

In the internet tradition of answering a different question to the one asked, I took my bike into the shop to get the Maguras bled. £15 for both ends, including routing the rear hose properl, and zero hassle for me. Cheaper than a service kit!

I bought some clobber off a guy (brakes, bloke called Alex) years ago and they weren't even the model specified (older, naffer etc.). Eventually tracked down his phone number via ads on another site, and it was clear that he knew what he was up to, and I wouldn't get anywhere via small claims.

Eventually I found out that even though they were naff mountain bike brakes, the trials boys loved them, so I cleaned them up and stuck them on ebay – sold for more than I paid for them. Which was a bit of a result!

Lesson I learned was buyer beware – just because people are matey on here doesn't mean there aren't tossers knowingly selling rubbish.

How does the contact patch move in a turn on a two wheeled vehicle?

Caster increases camber with steering angle which should aid turn in, even if it isn't the mechanism that maintains the turn.

Weight over the front end also helps turn in.

When you think about it, the dynamics are entirely different to those of a 4 wheeled vehicle. A full on sports car will run a lot of Caster (say 7 degrees or more) to keep the contact patch relatively flat and maintain negative camber during a turn. It'll probably also run around 2 degrees static negative camber.

On the other hand, the twitchiest bikes are road bikes, which have far smaller caster angles than MTBs, a lot more weight over the front, and all bikes have zero static camber. So I would say get some weight forwards! I seem to remember this was part of Brant's design for the inbred.

Anyhow, I think it's very difficult to apply anything that's related to motorbikes to pushbikes. At speed on a motorbike will be talking > 30 mph. At speed on a bike is talking > 8mph? A motorbike also has far more opportunity to use the suspension for dynamic weight transfer into bends by loading the suspension up under braking, whereas a cyclist will generally be trying to brake as little as possible.

woody2000 – pay cuts impacting on the general economy

There is a multiplier effect associated with government spending – the nurses, doctors & building firms paid out of the NHS budget do not hoard all of their cash from wages. So the cash gets spent in shops etc. and an initial spend of £10k may end up having the effect of generating £20-30k in the economy.

The problem is that the the multiplier is linked to deficit, and there's something of a tipping point where the deficit becomes so large that people anticipate tough times (ie, high tax to pay off the deficit) in the future and increase their savings, removing the impact of the multiplier. I'd argue we are already there, and that's why we can't spend our way out of the problems we have.

More seriously, one of the ways that the NHS could save money long term isfor goverment to restrict or discourage car use.

Kind of agree. I don't think we need to restrict car use. Just encourage other ways of getting around. Cities tend to have some bike stands, but small towns don't. The other thing that's needed is to remove the fear / threat of crime. I can see a lot of people driving short distances due to that.

a dealer who may sell drugs using very dodgy tactics to very vulnerable people.

That's pretty much my perspective on Tobacco companies. [/quote]

I know of someone who's a drug dealer. Amongst other things, he convinces his female customers to become prostitutes, with him as their pimp. I really can't see the equivalence. When I say very dodgy tactics, I mean preying on the vulnerabilities of abused teenagers and the like. Not giving out free jackets that say "Drugs are ace" and sticking their names on Ferraris.

Be a good idea to make migrants Who have not paid into the system
to put at least £ 15,000 pounds before they get any treatment
and after 5 years they will recieve free treatment.

Several EU laws make that impossible for much of our immigrant population. For what it's worth, illegal immigrants often work under someone elses' NI number, so they do end up "paying into the system".