Yup – looks like that – big, fat, oversize lump. I take it that’s pretty limiting if I want to replace it then? Nowt wrong with it really, just wanted to put something decent up front.

Watch out for the other traders when you’re first setting up – we had several with their thieving flay-hunters in our bags before we’d even started unpacking; “Where’s yer gold? Got any gold mate? Any jewellery?”

There were two of us, so one stayed with the stall whilst the other unloaded, but we still lost a few bits and bobs – digital watches and suchlike.

Fork deffo not running any kind of reducer or shim – the cups are just very big! But yes, the standard crown race fit perfectly.

jackthedog – Member
It might be an internal headset, not a 1.5?

Not sure I’d know one if I saw it TBH. So far as I can tell, it looks the same as those on my bikes. The cups are identical top and bottom – all sealed units.

If it’s any help, it’s this year’s Carrera Kraken (sorry for Halfrauds content and all that!).

I pay a lot less than that for a Photium[/url] website – developed by a very friendly chap specifically for photographers to showcase their work.

Despite being an ‘off the shelf’ template site, it’s fairly easy to customise it. Best of all, the developer is one of the most helpful folk you could ever hope to email – almost always gets back to you within an hour of an enquiry (even if the answer is in the FAQs :oops: ).

Mine’s HERE[/url] if you want a gander.

P.S. – no relationship with Photium, other than being a very happy customer.

Got almost all the way through the thread before a mention of The Thirty Nine Steps – poor show – should have been top of the list, taking ‘boys’ own’ in its old fashioned sense.

Not the original though – it was a bit toss – I far prefer the gaudy colours of the remake.

Got mine a month or so back after seeing a thread on here. Really enjoyed it – just a few more articles to go – I’m spinning it out.

Makes great toilet reading – one article, one visit :-)

Reminded me a little of the series of mags and journals which came out late 80s, early 90s, encycleopedia (see what they did there?). Anyone remember them? Loads of recumbent and other niche content. It was a fair way more anoraky than The Ride though.

Oh… Ahem. *blushes* Very…..comfy, thanks…

*Cautious – dangerous ground, and speaking as an occasional commercial photographer*

I would go with the clients’ request on the understanding that they go and ‘harvest’ the images themselves. The photographer who initially had the contract will almost certainly have done the job on a ‘royalty-free’ basis and will expect no more income from the images. Those who contracted the job, i.e., the manufacturers, will, as you surmise, only be too glad to see their products promoted in any way, shape or form.

Agree it would be totally impractical to speak to all the manufacturers individually. Failing that, hire me to take new product shots :-)

Glad it all turned out for the best – and another lesson (were it needed) on the virtues of remaining calm, on and offline. Hereendeththelesson.

That’s truly vile. At the end of a Welsh cycle touring holiday, whilst waiting for the train, I found a lump about the size of a small ball bearing on my scalp.

I dug around at it and eventually managed to pop it through the skin. I swear it was an angel’s / alien’s egg. I did disect mine with a swiss army knife, right there on the platform (much to disgust of wife / wife’s friend) but sadly, no baby angels popped out.

My postie is a goodun who will occasionally crack the door open and leave packages on the shelf. He also signs most things requiring a signature or does the rounds of neighbours until he finds someone to take it in.

Makes me feel a bit guilty about my lacksadaisicalness when I worked for ParcelFarce….

Also, I did a lot of holiday cover at PF and made my own round up – there’s no set route, so holiday relief will often deliver at unexpected times.

I got mine from a seller called copijohn, but there’s millions of sets exactly the same – just search for wireless radio flash trigger.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-Channel-Wireless-Radio-Flash-Trigger-V2s-YG-PT-04-TM_W0QQitemZ310087711784QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CamerasPhoto_CameraAccessories_CameraFlashUnits_JN?hash=item310087711784&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1683%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

Just treated mesel’ to a set of poverty wizards (about £30 for two receivers and one hotshoe ‘controller’) off ebay – CLS is fine in overcast light but fails dismally in very bright sunshine or in dim light.

Fancied a set of Pocket Wizards but am waiting for the new ones to be available for Nikon (currently Canon only :( ).

The only disadvantage is lack of TTL – everything has to be set manually, but works every time, and at a tenth of the PW price.

AlasdairMc – Member
I’ve had exactly the same with Halfords, I was looking at a Kona a few years ago, and was told I was permitted to sit on it in-store, but not pedal it at all!!!

I didn’t buy it.

Coupla year back I was in exactly the same situation, so p1ssed off to LBS and bought a GT Zaskar ZUM (now pinched :( ).

Having said that, I have a Boardman Pro (last year’s) and it’s impossible to fault – and I’m a critical kind of guy. Weighs nowt, climbs nicely and descends reliably. Only flaw I’ve found is it feels a bit ‘floaty’ in the air… But that’s in comparison with an i-Drive.

Just to update – back tonight after a cracking ride. The weather was perfect – blue skies and a light breeze, T-shirt warm. The long weekend turned out to be a bit booze fuelled so had to wait until today to get into the hills….

Took the track out of Rannoch Village which goes to Dalnaspidal, via Loch Garry. Total chance, on a whim (often the best way). A soggy, boggy, rocky path turned into a sheep track and I was on the very verge of turning back when a herd of deer shot out from under a tree and hightailed it up the mountainside.

Then I remembered what it’s all about, carried on and hit the landrover track which took me all the way out to the loch. The loop was also a revelation – I realise now that trail centres are there as practice for the real thing – North Shore is prep for the planks laid over burns, groomed tabletops for diagonal culverts with hoppable lips, trail maps for compass, OS maps and GPS.

One of the best rides in recent years (albeit, sadly alone) and saved the car/railway/bike for next time :D

Happy man, off to bed.

Pair of tweezers out of my Swissy (knife) worked a treat for me when I snapped off a key in a bike lock….

I used to use HP-5 and FP-4 almost exclusively, then tried a roll or two of Fuji Neopan 400 and have used it ever since – just got a delivery of 10 rolls this morning. Great grain pattern and very forgiving.

Woke up this very morning, had a scratch at something near my armpit and heard something fall on the floor. Looked down, and it was a smallish tick. Rolled it up in a bit of tissue and flushed it.

I assume I picked it up in Keilder on Sunday….

The dog frequently seems to pick up big brown fellas – they look like the louse you see in films about POW camps.

Agree with JojoA1 – sphagnum moss, from a boggy bit of ground is the business. Ferns?! Ferns are full of strichnine (which is how they manage to cover vast tracts of land – by poisoning the ground so nowt else can grow) so I damn sure won’t be wiping with ferns any time soon.

I could be mistaken, but isn’t there a notification of when the EXIF data was last modified? If it’s unmodified, that might help your case…

Also, this is bang out of order, and as illegal in Spain as it is in the UK. I’d send a strongly worded follow up (via your lawyer if finances permit) explaining that you’d like £20 per pic shown on the site – even include an invoice. It’s theft, pure and simple.

I see my pics all the time, being used as FB profile pics and so on. Like you, I have no problem with this, but 700 pics and a false claim to a relationship with you is almost unbelieveable.

However, if you put pics online, this is one of the inevitable consequences – watermarking any future uploads is the only way of ensuring that you get credited – or at least of putting people off downloading them.

Cheers TJ. Reckon I’ll stick with the latter option. The Ben Alder / Glen Lyon route looks amazing but would require a long drive followed by a long walk in / push. Ten years back, I’d have relished the challenge. Now, the thought just scares me! Especially as I’ll probably be going solo…

Excellent – cheers druidh.

Cheers for all the useful info. Thinking about a cycle back from Rannoch Station to Kinloch Rannoch – might be able to fit in a buzz about in Tay Forest on the way back too……. Should be able to get a lift across no bother – I’ll be staying with another dozen photographers – one or two will want to see the station no doubt.

Scheihallion sounds like a lot of pain for perhaps not great rewards, and even on a Monday, I’m not too keen on having to dodge ramblers every ten feet – might save it for walking.

Not sure about the path condition these days, but to truly appreciate the awsome desolation of Rannoch Moor, train from Rannoch Station to Courrour and cycle back. Not technical but stunning scenery.

That sounds very good but the path looks a bit sketchy on the map. I’ll give it a shot and report back (if I haven’t done so by next Tuesday, send out the search party).

:-)

That would be grand, cheers. Any other suggestions gratefully and graciously considered…

If you’ve got any recent version of Photoshop, you can view the EXIF data using Bridge. If not, go download something like THIS PROG which does the same thing.

EXIF data is the closect thing to a ‘fingerprint’ and will tell you the camera make and model, shutter speed and apperture, etc…

I want to know what’s going on with mastiles fanylion :o

The Jobo Giga One is cheap but basic. Better models have a screen to view the stored files. I used to use mine at weddings to back up files in quiet moments but now can’t be @rsed – in fact, it might be for sale! Give us a shout if you’re interested.

Most recently? The Southern eedjit who watched my mate faceplant at GT and started shouting at him to, “Get out of the way lads, come on, move”, as my mate was trying to get up. Wasn’t as if he was carrying any speed either – we’d just had to stop and push round some trailbuilders.

What a twunt.

Whoops – totally forgot I started this thread! Loads of grand ideas here and plenty to think on.

Pretty much every post makes me think, ‘Ah! That’s the one’, so it may take me a while to decide.

Europe might be best, as has been said, in terms of practicality and diversity of scenery. I’ve cycled fair swathes of Frnca and Spain, including the Pyrenees and loved every second of it.

Japan is certainly worth thinking about – my wife taught English there for two years (before I knew her) and reckons it’s a great place to be if you don’t have to work there :?

13thfloormonk – I’ve done a few long distance walks in Scotland and spent quite a lot of my time thinking, ‘This would be fantastic on a bike’, so may well be up for that – have you got a route sorted already?

Folk must be getting sick of me bigging up the Boardman bikes, but my MB Pro is just fantastic – light as you like and very comfy for all day riding once you get some fatter tyres on.

Willej, I have to ask…. What was the thinking behind the bike-in-a-tree, niche pics?

Perfectly adequate and agree with all the above, especially re confidence. But I far preferred this;

From later in your photostream :D

That’s the very same age as I was on my first cycling tour. Three of us went off for a jaunt in the Lake District, complete with cr@ppy old tent.

We had a few mechanical scrapes which we muddled / bodged through, ran out of cash and lived on biscuits, got pissed for the first time and played tin whistles for money in Keswick. I also managed to very, very nearly cycle underneath a moving caravan (lesson learnt – go slower) and my mate jumped a wall into a campsite and landed on an occupied tent – brilliant!

Life’s rich tapestry and all that.

Well I can do a pic of my ‘new’ old ride…

Almost the same as the Lavadome (first proper mountain bike).

Eeeerrr, three, now I look again. But that’s just the way my insurance company roll……. Besides, the Boardman fits the bill in an oustanding fashion – wouldn’t swap it for anything.

Crumbs – the bikes are floating in through the ether, emerging rose-tinted through the mists of time……

Lovely, bright yellow Muddy Fox Courier bought at Aberdeen’s police auctions (89/90?) – as above, forks bent within a few months.

Kona Lavadome (91?) took me all over Scotland and through the Pyrenees for a good few years…..

Brief ownership of super-niche Alpine Stars weird purple machine with very odd frame – my first ever suspension forks (RSTs!!)

….Swapped for a strangely un-stickered, non-branded, fully rigid, very shiny Carrera – purple and silver job, weighed almost nothing.

Chromoly Trek (can’t remember the model) bought second hand…

Sold it a few short years back to fund the purchase of a GT Zaskar ZUM (Zaskar Urban Machine) which lasted about two months before some twunt stole it (prompting expensive insurance).

Nearly there – almost forgot the Dawes Edge Pro hardtail which fell off my rack on the way back from Glentress (doh!).

Replaced with another GT – an i-Drive from Halfords this time – also stolen about two months back now.

And the current bike is a Boardman MB Pro (hardtail) which is just about the best thing in my life right now (excluding wife, dog, fully rigid Hahanna and favourite old metal Nikon bodies :D ).

Anyone else still got their Mint Sauce cycling jersey from back in the day? Day-glo orange and lime green, with lotsa pretty flowers :-)

Mine’s a wee bit small now, even for a lycra top….

Good to see there’s a few other Sparklehorse fans knocking about – my riding mate memorably called it, “F00kin smack ‘ed music” when I stuck it on in the car on the way to Inners :D

Drugstore are a blazingly good band and woefully under-appreciated. Felt produced (IMHO) one amazing album, Me and a Monkey on the Moon.

Loch Beag
Slipway at NG350380 limited parking.

Loch Bracadale
Slipway at NG342359, some parking.

If you need accomodation, get in touch as my Mum has three wee holiday cottages on the banks of Loch Beag – you can see the slipway from the cottages, just over the road…… There’s a cottage just along the road which is infrequently visited by its owners, who are all kayakers. They spend whole days on the water, launching from ‘fore-mentioned slipway.

No, I mean aa files, but cheers for trying :-)

It’s the format favoured by Audible (audio books – sad I know!!).