Just back – thanks for the replies. Unfortunately, we'd already set of before the first reply!

We did find it though, no bother. Did The Powerline three times and had a good blast round the rest of the woods too. Saw lots of cheeky trails and will definitely be back to follow your directions gazc.

On the first run down The Powerline, I hit the North Shore stuff (the highest lot in the 'black' section) a bit quickly. Didn't walk it first as it looked pretty straightforward. It's absolutely lethal in the wet – and no chickenwire!! Slid straight off the highest point, over the bars and landed square on my head. The bike then fell on me. Everything went a bit fuzzy for a moment but OK now bar a stiff, sore neck….

Anyhoo, cheers for the responses – I'll be back on the first dry day :D

My dad's mate invited us over to his spread to help him get rid of his moles. He used smoke cannisters as above, but when they popped up we shot the blighters with air rifles. A bit kinder than leaving them to bleed to death slowly :roll:

Just back from the shops via the scenic route. Took my lovely, retro, rigid Kona, just for kicks. Sun shining here now and I really quite fancy going back out!!

Proper LOL at Bizkit the sleepwalking dog – that's the funniest thing I've seen all day, thanks!

EDIT: Pretty sure I've seen the first one before so didn't look, but if it's the same one, also hilarious…

almost posted this with poorly thought out joke, but then didn't.[/url]

user removed – I know quite a few black guys who would disagree with you.

OK I admit it. I'm a dangerous racist (despite being a quarter Singaporian).

That is correct.

I'd have very little problem with one of my mates using THAT WORD down the pub, in the context used by druidh – just a daft wee comment. But doing it on a public forum? Not surprised he's gone….

Kuco – really? You can't see a problem with it?

8O and again, 8O

Fair points above. I stick by what I said though. We did both loops and found we still had time for a quick blast round the blue. It started raining half way round, and the difference was immediately obvious.

Every corner had to be ridden with the assumption that you were going to go sideways, even at low speeds. Just wasn't that much fun really.

Yup – the blue route is like an ice rink after any rain. Not sure this can be countered with any tyre change – I'd just stick with what you have and avoid the blue route if it's wet.

Hi – I had exactly this problem with my 7s a month or so ago and solved the problem by asking the same question :-)

If the pads are already fitted, get in there with a bluntish screwdriver and force the pads apart. If not, use the same driver to force the pistons back into their housings before fitting the pads.

A top tip given to me by a member on here is that you really have to shove the pads in with a bit of force (I used a screwdriver again – handy tool!), at which point you'll get a nice, positive CLICK.

Also, it's worth noting that 7s run very, very close to the rotor – mine are permanently brushing the rotor – just the nature of the beast…

I went back to college at 28 to do A levels in photography. Went on to get a BA Hons as a mature student in photography. Now running a small, reasonably succesful photography business.

Being back in full time education takes a bit of getting used to – especially the cr@ppy jobs – getting told what to do by jumped up spotty 20 year olds for minimum wage is hard to take, but much easier when there's light at the end of the tunnel (and they're still there, HA!).

Photography wasn't my first choice. I think it's more about taking that leap of faith and jumping out of your comfort zone. It was a bit easier for me, as my life sucked big dogs' c0cks before I made the jump…

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!!1!

Hello – this is now a typical STW thread.

Back in my uni days I was cycling back from the pub on the pavement (BURN HIM!!!!11!) and noticed three neds in the bus shelter. As I went by, one of them stepped forward and poked me in the eye with a long twig.

I was properly blinded for a mo and could only see white flashing lights. Once I'd got my head out of my hands, I asked the guy what the hell he thought he was doing. He laughed and tried to whip my face with the twig, so I stepped forward and belted him (self defence, likesay).

He knelt down and watched lots of blood streaming from his nose (lucky punch?). His mates just stood there watching him and said nothing. I'm not a big guy, or even remotely hard, so I suspect they just thought their mate was a ****tt of the first order. Got back on my bike and went home….

So glad it's not 'clickable'. The left hand margin of the page is my last safe haven for my fat fingers on my laptop mouse pad.

I must be responsible for about 50% of the click throughs from this site…

That's a bit harsh V83 – a slightly blurry photo can bring back the memories whilst not being technically perfect….. Wouldn't offer them for sale myself, but I'm a perfectionist :D

Just out of interest, how much are you chaps paying for, say, an A4 print, and do you buy them on the day or afterwards?

Mini remote control chopper – or better still a pair of battling choppers from firebox.com

Lightweights. I spend £30 a week minimum. Mrs. Removed hardly drinks anything but if I buy wine, she'll have a glass.

Must go and check how much cash is in my Naked Wines account :D

i'm still deciding between a boardman pro and a voodoo wanga

Pick them both up (that's pretty much all that Halfords will let you do anyway!!) and you'll feel the difference in weight straight away – it's very pronounced. Can you tell I went for the Boardman?

Lots of good points.

The closest I've come to death on a bike was riding back to Inverness along the busy side of Loch Ness. A double-trailered logging lorry overtook me on a nice, clear, straight bit of road. When the first trailer had passed me, he started to pull back in – perhaps he wasn't used to having a double trailer? I could see what was about to happen and managed to hop sideways onto the pavement – the kerb was about six inches high and I was lucky to manage it, given the angle.

The trailer actually bounced off the kerb as I landed – the lady passenger in the car following had her hand over her mouth and looked (quite rightly!) horrified. I made frantic phoning gestures and she nodded and pulled out her mobile. No idea if she ever did phone, or what came of it – I was too shaken up to notice the plate…

Without boasting, I'm sure most roadies / commuters would struggle to pull off a 6" bunnyhop sideways onto a pavement and would have ended up squashed.

Noone done this walk then? Maybe I'd be better off asking on a red-socks forum, but don't much fancy joining one….

My mother in law regularly climbs Scottish mountains wearing M&S flatties (not just any flatties…). The first time I noticed this was during a quick jaunt up Clach-na-Ben. I felt a bit put out – my wife and I were decked out in full on Scottish winter attire, including hiking boots.

Nary a blister, nary a complaint and she's done several other long walks since, wearing the same shoes. She does have hiking boots, but saves them for wet weather…

Looks good – very jealous as I've been sitting in a car all day :-(

Oh Dear.

Slightly (massively) OT, but does anyone remember the furore a few Xmases ago when some joker at a cracker factoryreplaced the jokes with messages readind, "you are a fat c***"? And other suchlike sentiments.

I know it's childish but I fell about laughing….

So is that a foolproof way of protecting the original images?

Obviously not, but it's good enough for me. Why do you ask?

I do know photographers who keep two external hard drives at friends houses, backing them up once a month, in case of theft or fire…

Yup – another very happy Pro HT owner here. But what were they thinking of with that saddle?!! Weighs nothing but OUCH!

+1 on Richard Thomson – only know about him since he did the soundtrack to The Grizzly Man.

Also, if you like a bit of whoopass, down 'n' dirty bluegrass, try Old Crow Medicine Show.

Lots of wierd editing going on?!

I'm really not here to make a point, and as with all linear threads, any point becomes hopelessly muddied after about a dozen replies. Still fun though!!

mastiles, to sate your curiosity, I immediately download the raw files onto C drive. All files are then burnt onto a DVD.

Once I've edited them, and processed them, they're backed up onto two seperate external hard drives.

lodious – thanks for the comments, and yes, as I pointed out earlier, I do give my (wedding) clients their photos on disc. I know for a fact that hardly any of them ever print any out.

Finally (and I will stay out of this hereafter, unless I can't help myself), if you really, really badly want electronic files of your children to give to their children, and you're not prepared to pay good money for a pro to take the pics and hand over his files, then don't! Just snap them yourself!

That argument comes back to what I said earlier about my grandad not giving clients negatives….

Photos printed at a quality lab will last far longer than the jpeg format or the media they are stored on (my print lab suggests 100 years under glass) – this fascination for wanting the fragile, non-futureproof electronic files is beyond me.

Do you really believe your kid's kids will be able to get hold of a DVD drive? And DVDs have a limited shelf life – I've had a few top quality ones corrupt on me in less than a decade.

If I let my clients do all their own printing then it's very much about reducing revenue streams. Potential client X sees Past client Y's big print on the wall. PC Y got the print done on the high street. It's dark and has an interesting colour cast.

PC X is thinking about having a portrait done and makes a mental note not to use the same photography studio as PC Y. Photographer loses potential client.

Why would you want to wrest control from those that know what they're doing anyway?! As pointed out above, it won't save you any money, and you're almost certain to get worse prints..

EDIT: I'm also very good at spending obscene amounts of money on a high quality monitor, a monitor callibrater, setting up colour profiles and liasing with my lab to ensure I get exactly what's on my monitor.

I hate the admin, but can't afford a secretary. You want a badly paid job? :-)

I wonder if the distributor who had the break in might not be overly keen to get them back. He's prolly claimed on his insurance by now and might not want all the chipped, shockless bikes back?! Just opening my head and letting stuff dribble out…..

Incidentally, whilst people have mentioned processing time for images, no one has factored in the time it takes to sort an order for prints out

Strangely enough, I'm sat watching image processor converting loads of full size files to 7.5×5" print size, after ten mins in Bridge control+clicking a client's selection of 100 prints!

Then I'll spend another twenty mins swearing at the pro lab's ftp upload system :D

In a few days, I'll get the photos, spend twenty minutes wrapping them in tissue paper, putting them into a £20 print box and writing a hand written compliments slip…. It does all addd up doesn't it 8O

EDIT: forgot about the 15 min drive to the Post Office as they've shut down all the local ones :-(

Exactly!

Also feel it's necessary to point out the difference between 'Printing Rights' and 'Copyright'.

In almost every situation the tog retains copyright, aside from Mr Smith's commercial work on page one.

Many photographers have felt the need to give out edited and processed images on a disc, "to keep up with the times". This is printing rights and I do this myself for my wedding clients, (fairly safe) in the knowledge that hardly any of them ever print them. They don't need to – they have a beautiful album. I might see the odd one on Facebook, but that's about the extent of it.

The client just thinks it's the norm, and that they MUST HAVE the FILES!! And they DEMAND copyright of the images – they soon settle down when I tell them they'll have a disc of their images to keep in a drawer for all eternity.

I can see where you're all coming from, and agree it might be frustrating for the consumer to shell out loads of cash for a framed print that's blatantly not worth £300 (in itself, as a standalone object) .

It's just a different way of pricing – if I decided to give away all my digital files from each shoot, I would have to put my prices up by around £300 – £400 to cover the lack of sales.

You (the customer) would still be paying the same – why can't you see this? No photographer will go down this road because they'd be the only tog on the block advertising a shoot for £450 when all his competition are advertising a shoot for £40.

It would just be very bad business practice.

Because, it's the tog's rep on the line. I just wouldn't be happy knowing that my work has been printed in a shonky lab and is hanging on someone's wall at A1 size.

That's like having a really bad advert for your business in the public domain! Simples.