I didn’t take many:

5 others here[/url], maybe half a dozen more to follow

Check you’re he’s not “sensitive” to Veet. Not pleasant to feel the burn then see the rash…

What mikewsmith said – get a photo of the buyer with the item in question. I’ve doen that before, and if they’re reasonable then they ought to agree.

Then you’ll only have to deal with them telling you it’s “not as described” via eBay at a later date.

Yes, huge error of judgement on my part, but in the past I’d held off on changing tyres then regretted it, so I changed earlier…

On the plus side though, that error means that I’ll not use them again because I hate them and would sacrifice the clearance for the better stability of a wider tyre . 🙂

I’m slow as hell anyway, so a bit of extra speed in the mud isn’t really an issue.

What mboy and Will said: full on mud tyres are a waste of time unless it really is sopping wet or you’re seriously racing.

I ran 1.5 Mud Sharks for a lap last year and the lack of grip anywhere other than deep mud cost me more time than they saved. Having to keep them at higher pressure didn’t help either.

1.8s or 2.0s I reckon for “average” conditions on 26″ rims. I’ll be seeing what it’s like before I take off the 2.25 ADvantages and sticking some Medusas on.

Course looks the same as last year, so that’ll be fun for me considering I’m even less fit than I was 12 months ago.

Useful tip? It’s not lightweight camping, so bring as much stuff as will make it a comfortable and fun weekend for you.

I was going to start a thread, but thought I’d add to this instead.

Has anyone tried Green Valley bars? Their aero style ones are something like £80, which seems pretty reasonable.

Someone mentioned the Clik Elite chest packs on here a while back.

They look good if you can find them.

I’ve only been to Vancouver out of all of those, but it’s a fantastic place to visit. I’d imagine the hockey would be decent enough as they’re all of a standard in the NHL anyway.

Myself Me next to the NHL Orange County Chopper in the New York NHL Shop.

FTFY

Jeep Cherokee (from 198-something to 2001). Petrol version is peanuts and bombproof (although you may need to tow a tanker as it does about 18mpg). Diesel engine is very sensitive to coolant problems but runs very well if you look after it (it’s a bit rough and ready as far as diesels go, but easy to work on).

You won’t pay more than £2500 for one, at an estimate.

You probably have cataracts too FunkyDunc

My eyes are fine thanks.

A car driving straight towards me with its headlights on and adjusted too high, effectively shining them straight into my eyes does dazzle and annoy though.

In dull weather I’d rather people used their sidelights than use their poorly adjusted dipped headlights which blind me as I ride/ walk/ drive around.

I don’t understand what all the fuss is about with people “only” using sidelights when it’s not dark or terrible visibility.

Dazzling headlights and always-on fog lights are what really boils my p1ss.

If it comes down to it I can just stick a few litres of veg oil in my old smoker*. 8)

*To clarify, that’s my car. Sounded a bit wrong when I read it back.

This has been my favourite thread from the last 6 months. Truly hilarious. Thank you all.

For the record, I am a keen ‘pudding consumer, however I have never been overly concerned about its provenance. This may change.

What Theflatboy said about Nike SPDs. 2 pairs in the 90s here and both split across the sole. They were nice up to that point though…

I still have XC Pro thumbies going strong on my Clockwork, and a DCD, and a clear crudguard. Blue ano over purple though.

Most of the stuff that people mention would be good if it was reissued and brought up to date in the spirit of the original, rather than a straight copy, as some of it was pure garbage in use.

I thought Barbara Cartland was dead

Hard and unforgiving at the front, squishy at the back was how I read it. It’s perfectly possible for that to be the case but as many others have pointed out it could be down to a lot of other components or set up problems than just the frame.

Why not ride one and make your own mind up?

Um, heater matrix?

Who pays for all the new Scottish/ currently UK civil servants’ pensions? And all the other state pensions for that matter?

Selling – guitar effects pedals. I had one guy say he didn’t like the sound of a compressor and proceeded to tell me he was a pro; needed it for a series of gigs; and that he ran a studio so knew what it should sound like. I would question why he was buying something crucial to his livelihood days in advance of the gigs, and from Ebay. I suggested he get it checked by an electrical engineer for damage (and that I’d pay for the inspection if it was faulty, as well as refund him). He didn’t reply.

I had another complain that a vintage 80s pedal was scuffed and didn’t work properly, despite having mentioned in the ad that it was in well-used condition and I didn’t like the sound (I had no basis for comparison with other similar pedals but everything worked on it). I offered him a partial refund which was disputed but we came to an agreement on it. I’ll never sell something that can be so subjective on eBay again.

Buying – aquarium. I won the auction and was contacted 3 times by the seller in a 3 hour period to collect the item that night because she was moving house. In that time she’d lodged a dispute that I was unresponsive and had sold it to someone else! I countered the dispute and left her negative feedback. Currently into my second seek of waiting for a car stereo I bought from a chap in Somerset who’s not responded to me for over a week.

It’s not too bad for over 10 years’ activity on there though.

Nope, just from a late 90s VM engine.

Thanks for asking though.

br – Yay, SAP! We’re just getting it now. I quite like it actually.

Steerer needs to be below the top of the stem so that when you tighten the bolt into the top cap, it presses on the stem, not the steerer.

You can put your spacers wherever you like as long as the total height of them and the stem is a few mm less than the length of steerer sticking out of the top of the headtube.

Thunk! Bottom of the league…

Nice that Green Bay’s defense cost me 8 points. And pretty much all my offense are out, so no accumulator for me in round 3. 🙂

I’ll have a look at Veetle. I checked out Gamepass but it may be a little controversially pricey for our house.

We had this on a Saab 9-5 last winter. One of the pistons on one rear caliper stuck on in cold weather after the handbrake was released. They will release themselves after a few metres with a usually-quite-worrying-but-it-isn’t-really bang as the force of the movement frees up all the stuck/ frozen bits.

Better than my car not starting this morning (I think that was not pre-heating it enough as it’s a diesel, but difficult to say that to my wife via email during the event).

I did very well, as my aim is to be dead last of the STW league…

Incidentally, how do people watch NFL & college football in the UK without Sky?

Me me me!

Although my current knowledge of American football is based on playing Madden on the Xbox and reading a Channel 4 book from the mid-80s…

Wed & Thu for me.

Same as Oldnpastit regarding deadline.

But it’s all OT so not too bad. 🙂

I love my X-5, and loved my El Salt.

Very jealous of the 2012 pics though…

I’ve just finished with Lidl Movies, which was just as good but cheaper than Lovefilm by a bit. Shame that the company running it has gone t1ts up… Glad I didn’t pay for 12 months in advance like they asked.

Lovefilm’s probably got the best selection and quickest postal service of the ones I’ve tried (Blockbuster, Lidl, Paradiso) though.

Netflix is supposed to be launching in the UK next year and gets lots of good write ups, so it might be worth waiting for that as a streaming service.

You need to have half a brain and an attention span to find Stewart Lee funny Flow.

I think White Bros used to do some.

Have a search for recumbent forks as a lot of recumbents have 20″ front wheels. Kinetics in Scotland supply a lot of brands.

I’m also in South Cumbria and I’d be up for a night ride (work and family permitting, and +1 for Grum’s fitness comment). Where’s everyone based?

I’ll start – Barrow.

Couldn’t be bothered to read all the thread because I assume it’s mostly the same as the first 20 or so posts, so in case it’s not been mentioned here’s a question:

To the OP – Is it okay for a motorcyclist to wear a helmet that impairs their hearing (and possible at the same time wearing a headset)?

I agree with Peterpoddy’s comment about cars, but in response to the “riding a bike is a very different thing” comment, refer to the question above. You have to balance on a motorcycle etc etc

FWIW, I ride my commute with earbuds and the radio playing through them. I don’t have it loud, so I can hear cars, but I don’t necessarily always hear cyclists approaching from behind. I do however have eyes and common (and road) sense.

Running red lights, weaving, riding on the pavement and general lack of roadcraft are all, IMO, much more dangerous than wearing headphones.

I’d tend to agree with the positive comments on Tyrwhitt shirts, plus their customer service (IME) is very good especially after they replaced a shirt after a few weeks when it broke(?). I would also unfortunately have to agree with their enthusiastic correspondence too though. Having said that, I’ve just got a £10 voucher from them.

Lewin shirts are decent but their delivery time and service is awful.

If you can afford them, Emmett shirts are fantastic but at £90 a pop they’re pricey. They do have very good sales in their shops, but unless you’re in London that’s not very helpful.

M&S are always good though, especially if you need to pick something up in a hurry.

I’d be interested in it if I had any money.

But pics are always nice to see anyway. 🙂

What’s the coolant leak from?

Not really relevant to this thread, but you should consider making your original thread into a book. I’ll bet there are plenty of people in the non-MTB community who would welcome such a positive message and extraordinary story.

I’ll have a shirt too when they go on general release. 🙂

+1 for Cookieaa’s comments.

If you want to service your own kit and it’s within your capabilities, why should you feel penalised to do it? A standard service of a good performing fork shouldn’t be outside the realms of the home mechanic due to proprietry tools or hard-to-find consumable items. Buuuut, if you’re not comfortable doing that, I think you’ve never been in a better position to choose a suitably qualified person to perform a service.

Give me a simple, reliable, home-servicable fork over a costly and over-complicated item any day. I’ve owned Maverick, Magura, RS, Manitou, Pace, Marzocchi and Fox and of those the Mavericks (I’m excluding the silly elastomer forks…) win hands down on servicability and were a good fork IMO, despite what some people may say. However, I’ve not spent a great deal of time on anything newer than 2010 models so can’t comment on any huge performance changes since then.

Glad I got involved in this.

🙄

Jeez, some people are dense!

Weight is what costs you more in fuel. Volume is what costs you more in the number of delivery vehicles. That’s fairly easy to understand. The caveat on courier order forms is to cover minimum costs, surely. Again, that’s just common sense.

I have no idea what the supply chain in the PO is like, but if they’re charging more for larger volume items then that would suggest a limit in the number of vehicles they have (which someone has already said), or a constraint in their sorting equipment (which someone else said). A postman can fit fewer packets in his bag than letters now, can’t he (I understand there are female postpeople too)?

It’s not simply about how they handle it when you take it to the PO, or how they deliver it to your house now, is it?