Luke Rainbird

Yeah, even at relatively slow speeds that sort of mass is a HUGE amount of momentum. Bear in mind that structures like bridges are, to a point, built to be as light as possible for a given purpose. Yeah ok, there are safety factors involved that increase the bulk somewhat, but generally speaking they're not going to be using more material than legislation requires them to. As such, you have a structure built to do the job for normal use, but external factors like A MASSIVE LADEN SHIP DRIVING STRAIGHT INTO IT tend to be outside of the design parameters. It's hard to imagine quite how much force there was from what is a seemingly slow crash, but that mass is the critical part. I've seen a figure of approx 8kts impact speed, which is around 15kph. Using the 120,000,000kg you mention, Mike, that's like a fully laden artic lorry crashing into the support at something like 38,000kph. That's faster than the escape velocity of the Space Shuttle, and about twice the orbit velocity of the ISS for some context.

Because it's a f**king huge ship at pace and that support structure, oddly enough, supports the structure so when it's compromised the bridge fails.

From a pretty outside view these days (I haven't ridden in years, but TF is still usually the first tab I open on Chrome out of habit/spite!) it's not dead, it's just really fragmented. Social media has moved folk away from a forum like this and into smaller groups on FB/similar. Big group rides seem fewer and further between, but are still out there (recent Barcelona trip is a prime example). That all makes it harder for people to discover than before, which won't help. But then you get the top end (Danny, Ali, Carthy etc) out there for the world to find online which has to be inspiring someone, surely. People's attention spans certainly seem to have dropped, and perhaps new riders are losing interest sooner than we used to. Could be completely wrong in that, and the fragmentation means I just don't see newer riders so much as when it was all on TF/OTN etc. In a world where it's SO easy to upload footage/clips, perhaps it's now so easy that people are making less effort to deliberately share beginner riding for fear of being shot down now the top end is such a high level and is so accessible to everybody.

Oh FFS, what absolute c**ts. Sorry you're having such a shit time of it man.

Whaaaaaaaaa?!

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For whatever reason I've only ever gone direct to Hope with issues I've had (they've been few and far between!) and they've always been great, even when something has been my own doing rather than manufacturing issues. Be decent with Hope and they'll look after you - doesn't sound like your retailer is.

Useful to know, thanks. Without being a bit more clued up it's hard to know how much value to put on internet comments around wifi networks getting cluttered, Zwave being more reliable than Zigbee etc. I suspect there's an element of theoretical in there and if you're pushing a heavy system hard it might be a factor, but for a few bulbs and sensors to try and automate a couple of bits I don't suspect I need to go that deep into it all really. Will probably dig out one of my old RPis though 😂

Ordered a pair of these. Despite the ad being very clear, they sent me an old model which doesn't have SpaceSense or Matter compatibility. FFS

Nice, thanks gents. I'm still very much in the research phase trying to get my head around it all. I was considering starting with a handful of bulbs for convenience of stuff like having hallway lights on a motion sensor after dark etc. Wiz SpaceSense stuff looks handy and it reasonably priced, and although I've seen mixed reviews they mostly seem to be where wifi signal is poor - mine will be within 2m of the router so should be ok! Local control is pretty key IMO - as much as I see the appeal of being able to view/control from elsewhere, I want automation over remote control and being able to do things if the internet goes down (shiny new near-Gigabit line installation imminent though, yum yum) is pretty key IMO. Home Assistant seems to get talked about a lot and from a glance seems pretty powerful if you want to go down the rabbithole. Are you running a dedicated smart hub, Rowan?

Well, checking in here after a bit of a hiatus and it's quite interesting skimming back through some older posts in here. How's everyone doing now? How's this holding up now, Ads? Another mad 12 months since but a mix of opportunities along the way, and given last October's dip hopefully moving in the right direction for you? Still enjoying being where you are, and has the slowing down actually happened or just a myth you've told yourself?! Did you ever get round to watching the Coronation Street VHS special? A few months down the line, and we're getting pretty close now. May even be in this side of Christmas. Been a mental year with sale of the business, succession planning and integration, new baby etc so I'm looking forward to not pulling triple duty every day. At the minute it's a case of wake up, sort kids, work all day, house all evening, home and kids again, eat about 8/9, try to claim an hour or two to myself to wind down, go to bed too late, wake up tired and start again I'll stick some pics up at some point, hose has changed a reasonable amount since we got the keys (thanks feck...) Still seems to be in the black on this one, but f**k me this renovation has made a dent. Our place in Ivybridge is now on the market. Just sayin... Anybody gone full smart home recently? I don't want to go balls deep, but some lighting/routines/general integration appeals so in research mode at the moment.

Yaaaaaaaaay, plumbing (and a bit of fixing previous plumber's destruction for good measure)

Despite the best efforts of myself and the pub, Rich finished his degree years ago. Begone, spambot!

In other Rampage news, not like Gee to f**k himself up in Utah 🙄

Looks to be pretty tidy, too. Nice work! I'd love an Elise to drop a 20vt into. Nearly bought a chassis last year but it wasn't fit for road use which stopped play, sadly. The seller of the chassis also produced wide clamshells for them, which would have been rather convenient.

Cheers for the heads up, Ben. Pinned the post to try and keep it clear for people. Of course it's bloody Birmingham...

Nice one Alex. From what I see on your socials you're smashing it out the park, really cool to see

Ah man, that's shit. If you move you might lose your internet connection and we won't be able to send each other stupid videos. House is a lovely place, I don't expect you'll struggle to sell it though with the current market might be a little more interesting than 12 months back. Welcome down this way any time mate, or we can get out on the bikes at some point for a distraction 😘

Your 20" was a lovely bit of kit 👌 (*InB4ThatsWhatSheSaid)

We're currently fixed at 1.35% until mid 2025 so we've dodged the pain of it, at least for now. I'm going to be shuffling a few things about when we move into the new place (currently a building site, though starting to put it back together!) so some extra borrowing likely unavoidable for us however the figure will be (relatively) small and by my numbers, even if rates remain high for a considerable period we should come out ok. Can't help but feel for people who are tied in at nasty rates, or having to try and toss up refixing at current levels vs the added volatility of SVRs etc.

I enjoyed my Boxx. Picked it up for almost nothing as it had a hairline crack in the BB yoke. @Alex Dark very kindly welded it over for me (I think his invoice was a 4 pack of Rekorderlig cider, from memory, what a hero) and it lasted a while with me riding it before I went back to 24" stuff. The bike felt great, but the front end always seemed a touch long for me, hence my "bike you wish you owned but never did" being a Hydroxx. The option of dual disc goodness and broadly similar geo to the Boxx but around 20mm shorter up front, from memory. I wanted one before I had the Boxx, but when the latter popped up so cheap I couldn't turn it down! I forget what changes were made between the first and second version, but the hydroformed DT etc made it a great looking bike for the time.

I'd echo the comments above - bigger wheels will likely feel less alien (I never got on with 20" even when I was riding regularly) but if you can get yourself to a local group ride I'm sure a few people would let you have a little roll about to get an initial feel for things. I just looked up "understatement" in the dictionary to check, and Adam's photo was looking back at me...

Nice one Dave, big effort that!