I wish it was just as simple as clicking on the profile and sending an email. I have been trying for weeks to buy via this method but get very few replys. It seems that the members here prefer to use pm's which as a newby we are unable to do. I have now purchased a rear Magura from this site from someone who did respond to an email, so it is not a hopeless task, however I could have been riding much earlier had I been able to contact members via a reply to the thread. I, like probably everyone else on this forum am a member of many other forums and find them an invaluble source of information, and have already gained a lot of knowledge and information from reading old posts and asking a few questions. I have not come accross the validation procedure that you have here on any other forum and as a guest do not wish to question the reasons behind it, as these are the rules and it seems to work for the members of this forum. However would it be possible to put forward as a suggestion, that new members could be allowed access to the PM messaging or for sale side of the forum, as genrally people who are hoping to take up the sport are looking to buy equipment to get started. Please don't take this as a gripe, I accept the rules as they are and am just happy to take part, but I do understand the frustrations of a new member.