Graffiti on an old building near me; "Listed Building. Do not vandalise"

And by the same guy(s) on the nearby skate park; "Don't be gay – take drugs".

At the moment I seem to be getting in a muddle with ISO, shutter speed, aperture and flash settings.

Any tips or suggestions about how to do this?

You really need to understand the basics before worrying about off camera flash – you have everything you need to use Nikon's CLS (cordless off camera flash system) but there's not much point if you don't 'get' ISO, shutter speed or apperture.

I can't see / open the pic in your OP – is it anything like this?

Or this?

The 2nd is more of a head on shot I suppose…. Both are using off camera flash.

To darken down the background using flash, just up your shutter speed. I'd echo SFB – ISO of around 400 should be fine. I'd also recommend not pre-focussing if you can see the subject coming from a way off – just set your camera to 'C' – there's a switch on the front of your camera with S, C and M on it – Single Servo, Continuous (keeps focussing whilst you half depress the shutter) and Manual.

Don't want to sound patronising, but get a half decent book on understanding exposure and you'll be flying.

Slightly OT, but many years ago, I went for a sales job interview and the interviewer asked a load of 'normal' questions before springing, "Be a chicken" on me.

Bit taken aback, but I obliged…. Next up was, "Tell me a joke!".

My mind went utterly blank – apart from my old standby, "how do you crucify a spastic?" I explained to him that I could only think of one joke and that it wasn't appropriate – I was really squirming – sweat lashing down the face – the whole panicky works….

He pressed me, I asked the question and when he heard the punchline (On a swastika), he laughed for a good half a minute – a genuine belly laugh.

Got the job, but it was sh1te and I lasted about two months…..

A vase.

When I was 9, I got heavily into badmington. I bothered my folks to buy me a state-of-the-art alluminium raquet and eventually they gave in and bought me an ancient wooden, heavy racquet from a charity shop.

It was sh1te and I played with it for a whole year, during which time I saved up the paper round cash and BAM! Got mesel' a decent raquet. The difference was amazing – the year spent playing with the charity shop effort had built up all the necessary muscles and given me superhuman powers.

So yes, get an acoustic guitar with action 1" high, play it for a year, and when you get a Kramer Nightswan, you'll instantly be Mr Malmsteen.

Or just spend some money on a decent guitar and enjoy it…

First is from Friday – does that count? Second is the old bridge in Glen Shiel – taken on the way home from Skye. Determined to be living there within five years….

Mixed – bit of rain… Started cloudy and windy but soon the sun came out. Just sitting having a beer now and rubbing my sore bits. Only one real 'off', but that was right in front of a couple and their crazy dog. It looked like it was going to run into me so I was watching it and lost my line.

Not sure what happened, but I deffo went straight over the bars!!

Met four or five sets of walkers, all of whom were pleasant, but obviously thought I was insane :D

As a smoker, and ex van driver, there's no way I'd submit a 2nd to me smoking in the van – whenever I had a helper, I'd wait until I was out of the van to have a tab – unless they also smoked. As has already been said, it's now totally illegal anyway, in a company vehicle.

Cheers jim – I'll go give them a beasting – prepare for new thread – I think I've knackered my Juicy Sevens….

EDIT: Aaaaaah! Well, whaddya know! Gave them a good shove with a screwdriver and was rewarded with a nice, positive CLICK!! Cheers heaps for the tip!!

I'm thinking I'll take my old fully rigid Hahanna with me instead – canti brakes and all!

There just doesn't seem to be a positive *CLICK* or a point where they feel right. I'm pretty sure both sets are now in as far as they'll go. I'm assembling the spring round the pads fist, as it seems to be the only possible way to do it, and then slotting the whole lot in – is this the right way to go about it?

I googled juicy 7s, pads, install, and watched a questionable video which seemed to be saying to put the pads and spring in seperately?!

Yup! No idea where it went either.

Just to clarify, am I right in thinking that the only thing holding the pads in their housing is the pressure of the little spring pushing outwards onto the pads?

I really like the pacman one – wouldn't encourage the wife to get it done though…..

Well, just been for a swift few laps of the local park with the dogs. Partial success insomuchas the front wheel goes round – the rear still pretty stiff.

Looks as though my front brake wants bleeding now though – the handle comes about two fingers width from the bar before anything happens – I'm assuming that means it needs to be bled? Hope I can find an LBS to do the job Monday, as I'm off to Skye on Tuesday….

Aye – cheers for the super-swift responses!! I did push the pistons back in before fitting, but haven't tried forcing them apart with a screwdriver since then – I'll go and get the wheels off now and give it a go.
Cheers!

The slow motion swearing made me lol too!!

Two – Deuter Bike 1 and a Mule for shoreter, non-camera rides. Both share the Camelbak 3L bladder. Bought the Deuter when I realised there was now ay I was ever going to be able to take my DSLR with me using the Mule….

Agree – and it makes a stop feel like a proper break. It's a bit dismal stopping and forlornly sipping away at a camelbak valve!

Winter's the best time for cycling – no sweat! I do have and use, an Alladin food flask. Tried it with coffee and ended up with soggy sandwiches, camera and tools….

The only problem I have with screw tops is that I tend to overtighten them – eventually, they just spin. I tighten it to the point where it's going to keep the liquid in, and suddenly *POP* and the thread's loosened off.

Same thing eventually happened to my two little cup-flask-things – each of them were about £11 from Ellis Brigham!

Yup – my last one was / is a Gelert with a funky blue 70s circle pattern. I bought it for its screw top stopper – all the push button ones I've used leak horribly as soon as they are off vertical.

EDIT: @ CG – ah well, hopefully it'll be cash well (over)spent. It was the cheapest I could find it online. And there's always spraypaint :-)

Dagnabbit – every time I come on here, I find something else to spend money on – just bought a Zojirushi flask from thediningstore.co.uk

Just over £30 inc postage. I too, have run the gauntlet of sh1t flasks for way too long………

If it was wet, you may have ground your pads down to nothing if they haven't been bedded in. My mate went through a set in one run at Keilder last week – brand new bike too – the grit and qwater just acted like a grinding paste….

Nae bother – happy to help! Defrag will also save you a load of space – worth trying. And despite taking up a bit of space on your hard drive (not much!), CCleaner (spacemonkey's link )really is worth having – and it's free!

Even better, spend about £20 and get registry mechanic[/url]. It says it's free, but will make you pay to actually clear up all the problems it finds – brilliant prog – comes highly recommended. I have it on both my machines and it always finds loads of stuff that wants fixing.

Appetite well and truly whetted :-)

To defrag / cleanup 'C', go to Start > All programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disc Cleanup or Defragmenter – I'd do both if I were you.

I'm also running Vista and you'll need to be a bit patient when running either of these – it can take up to a couple of hours, especially if it's never been done before. I run them both every couple of months.

You don't need to back up but if you're worried you can go to System Restore (in the same place as the other two) and create a restore point, in case it all goes boobs-up. This will, however, take up a wee bit of memory…

Good luck!

Have you run disc cleanup and defragged? You can also download C Cleaner for free which will give you a bit back.

If you're feeling brave, Start > regedit and remove any stuff related to progs you no longer have or use. Disclaimer – this can knack yer machine if you delete the wrong stuff….

colnagokid – Member – I didnt go today as it was pi$$ing down

Aye, same here – was due to head there with a few stout fellows, but rain stopped play (we are mincers). Going tomorrow instead though :-)

Wow! Great response, cheers! I've just been having a gander at the links and that Quiraing route looks good – walked it many times as a kid, but never biked it. Great pics too!!

Might leave it for the next trip though as I definitely fancy a longer day out, and am only up there for a few days, sadly.

I reckon I may just do an out and back from Sligichan to Camasunary – both the Strath Beag and Strath Mor return routes look as if you end up having to do a fair bit of on road cycling at the end, and as has been mentioned, it has been very rainy…

Thanks for all the tips – I'll get the photos up in about a week and a half!

Cheers again – guess I'll suck-it-and-see.

Cheers for the advice / info. didmatt – what would that route be like in reverse – with the road bit to start with?

Bit of a bog is it? I'm assuming the track to follow is the one that heads up from the hotel, out towards the Horseshoe and then branches off to the right?

http://www.ephotozine.com/forums/recent-posts

It's almost certainly the biggest and most active UK forum – loads of meetings, helpful advice and a good mix of pros and amateurs.

Definitely recommended.

Can't fault my X reg 1.8 turbo-deisel estate either – well, not in any major way…. Now just shy of 90,000 and a few bits and bobs need mending occasionally.

Bodywork beginning to rust round the sills – I've just kurusted them and resprayed – looks as good as new. Brake pipes ara a wee bit corroded – some sections will want replaced before next year's MOT.

All in all though, a solid, very dependable performer with decent bike swallowing capacity (I've had four in the back with wheels off).

is this the new section with the teensy-weensy wall ride and the Utah canyon style stuff? Starts round the back of the 4X track? If so, I rode it about a month ago and it seemed to be officially open then.

Heading back up on Thursday so hope it's not barriered off – it was a blast.

EDIT: Oh, and this time, I'm gonna conquer my fear and ride that big bomb-hole!!

Interesting theory nickc – isn't a shorter, squatter tube (spacer) going to be stronger than a long one though? Or is it the case that there's just not enough mass to hold up under pressure?

tazzy – brakes are not necessary with my skillz.

Yup – just pinched up…

nickc – Member
Carbon spacers on the other hand, aren't great

why not ?

+1….. Surely they're just oversized washers?

So is my current setup OK? It creaked horribly when I tightened it all up…

EDIT – Cheers, looks like I should be OK then – I'm glad as I didn't want to replace my nice, shiny, carbon spacers :-)

Hire an accountant / auditer (?!) to go through the books with a very fine toothcomb.

What the hell is a toothcomb anyway – Ah!, sorry, a fine toothed comb.

Just to go slightly off-topic for a second, and to indulge in a minor troll…… I had an ancient Cosworth Scorpio a few years back and spent six happy months driving everywhere sideyways. I perfected my technique in a suitably large and obstacle-free car park in the dead of night, accompanied by a hysterically laughing mate.

Sadly, sold it to a guy who lifted out the engine and crammed it into a Capri, where it resides to this day.

Oh happy times!!

Yup – my Straights had stitching issues which, fortunately, I noticed as soon as I tried them on. Straight back for an exchange.

After following the link helpfully posted on here a few days back, I bought a pair of Endura shorts for £16 – would have been a bargain, but the liner had a hole in it, straight out of the bag. Can't be @rsed sending them back.

Fox Gloves (circa 2000) still going strong though, and they've just survived another wash too!