Tomm

Whoa those are well old-school. I remember seeing them, in around 1998. The were kind of like a posh man's DCD. I imagine they're pretty wank, but I'd like to know, because I've always thought mounting something there would be ideal for a tensioner.

I did for a bit but I wasn't that impressed with that either. Mostly I just like the plugins for Firefox, and there aren't any for Camino. Now I have just settled with Safari and we get on fine. Since I don't use a mouse with my laptop very often at all, I'm not fussed about the lack of mouse gestures (and in fact you can get mouse gestures with safari). But mostly Safari is the fastest browser so I'm happy. Firefox is really slow on my Mac.

Yes but I wasn't complaining about the inaccuracy, I was complaining about the accuracy. And I'm pretty sure there are some very strict laws about how accurate your speedo has to be (it has to be within 7% of your actual speed, but it's not allowed to be LESS than your actual speed - I know mine reads approx 7% too fast), and how accurate the cameras have to be. If the camera says you're doing 40, even if it's way off (+/- 20% or something) it still knows you're doing more than 30 and they could prosecute. I'd be interested to see some PROOF that someon has been knobbled for doing 31 or 32 in a 30 zone. It never happens, people just exaggerate because they feel like it's unfair.

If you buy them from a builder's merchant or proper hardware shop you can get them for less than 50p each for the little (4") ones. Or they do them in B&Q and they're £1.20 each. Hardly breaks the bank either way P.S. How many grinds do they actually last? I've never worn one out but then I probably don't grind as often as some people.

It does seem a bit weird having 2 bikes that are virtually identical. I have 3 bikes (road, XC, trials) and I could do with some more (full susser, dirt jump), I wouldn't buy another bike the same as one I already have. Oh well.

My problem with the 'average speed' cameras is that they will get more and more accurate the further you go. So perhaps over a mile stretch of road they are only accurate to +/- 10mph (for example), you can happily do 80 on the motorway without fear. Whereas if you're doing much longer distances (say 40 miles on one stretch of motorway without stopping) they can probably be accurate to within 0.1 mph or something daft. Thus you wouldn't be able to cruise at 80mph. But I don't think there are any plans to put them on motorways, only where there are roadworks. Which makes sense and I support them.

Mmmmm lovely

Am I being stupid? What frame is that?

No it's not that at all. The advert specifically says "if you hit me at 40mph, there's an 80% chance I'll die". It's not that hard to imagine that the the government probably have information on people that got hit at 40 mph. Take someone driving along at 40mph in a 40mph zone, and a child runs out in front of them. They can't stop, not their fault at all. This probably happens, maybe, 20 times a year in this country. OK, that's not very often (usually there will be some braking time which can complicate things) but when you multiply that by ten years, and take data from other countries etc, It's easily enough to work out the statistics.

Thanks for all the replies. Now I've had it a while, I though I'd share my thoughts about it, since no-one has really done a proper review of the Zoot. I think some people think it's kind of a beginner bike in that it's only available as a full bike for ~£500. So I'm not sure how many people have ridden a Zoot done properly with Chris King, Middleburns, Avid Juicy up front etc. Before the Zoot I had an Ashton ET (Snapped ) and before that a Leeson Fluid609 1040 (Stolen :( ). I'm gonna compare the Zoot to the Ashton just because it seems sensible since the Ashton is the archetypal 24. I like the Zoot. It rides really well. I've been out a few times and I swear it's better than the Ashton ET in every way - apart from the obvious lack of a seat which is either an advantage or a disadvantage depending on how you look at it. I quite liked having a seat and I'm still not used to how low the Zoot is. Length-wise, it feels very similar to the Ashton, despite the fact that it's technically a bit longer. The biggest difference is not having a seat in between your legs to stabilise yourself. Yet I swear it's easier to spin too, which it shouldn't be - but the first few times I went for a 180 hop, I completely overdid it and spun too much. Bunny hops seem to be dead easy - it doesn't need any convincing at all - it just goes. Sidehops are probably a bit easier due to the lower top-tube height but I've not noticed a massive difference. So basically: I like it a lot - I think it bunny hops, spins, sidehops and taps better than the Ashton. Comparing this to the Leeson is difficult since it's been such a while since I rode one. I remember it being springy and pretty unique to ride, but in terms of the size of things I was riding, I don't think the Leeson had an advantage. Leesons are pretty heavy, too. Also, bear in mind that a Leeson is £400+ (with options) and I bought the Zoot for £100 (second hand of course - they're not available frame-only which is a shame). The only other problem is the rather cartoony blue + yellow graphics of the zoot - I solved that quite easily but it might be enough to put some people off. Bottom line: This isn't a kids' bike, it's as good as anything else on the 24" market and it's certainly worth considering -Particularly if you want the geometry of a 24" bike with great standover.

I've been using Safari for the past 10 minutes or so (on my PC) and it looks quite nice. But unfortunately it won't let you post replies on TF, so what's the point? Maybe just for pron, eh? (private browsing = best invention ever)

There are ways around it, but they're expensive and presumably your doctor didn't think it necessary. You can wear 24 hour (Holter) ECG machines and even get a machine implanted which can last for a couple of years. I had a friend, and his heart rate used to randomly 'jump' to around 200+ bpm, and he'd go dizzy and pass out. Not good. He had that investigated (with a 24 hour ECG I think) and he had what's called Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (look it up if you're interested). He's since had a procedure on his heart (thermal ablation) and he's all fine. I'm not saying you've got anything like that though, I'm sure you don't. People just get palpitations from time to time. P.S. Google 'Carotid Sinus massage'.

No, Safari is actually quite good. I use Safari on my Mac and Firefox on my PC, mainly because firefox for Mac is rubbish. Safari renders pages better than IE most of the time. I'm not sure why you would use it instead of Firefox on Windows though. I wonder what Apple is planning. Anyway, I'm gonna have a look now.

I hate speed bumps. If they're the alternative to cameras then I'm a fan of the cameras. It's all about playing the percentages though. There's that advert on TV at the moment with the little girl dead against a tree - saying if you hit someone at 40mph, there's an 80% chance they'll die. At 30mph, it's an 80% chance they'll live. That's a pretty big difference, no? Obviously you COULD kill someone at 5mph, but it's very very unlikely. Whereas if you speed lots, it becomes very likely. No one is saying that a crash at 40mph won't kill you but at 41 you'll die.

Each ISP has a share ratio, where you particular line is shared with x other customers. Usually this is around 20:1 (I.e. 20 people to one connection), but some have more, some less. Depending on what you have with Pipex, you may be able to get faster speeds by changing to someone with a better ratio.

It'll totally depend on how often the beats are, when they come on etc. Lots of people have 'ectopic' beats which are just random extra beats every now and again which might be what you mean, and are nothing to worry about. If you're worried about it, go see a doctor.

Never, ever, gonna happen.

What about Peer Guardian? Anyone recommend that?

It's just the mounts, the front ones have a bigger mount (+20mm) so to run a front 185 on the back you'd need a disc that was 205mm. I think I've got that the right way around. Either way, you can buy the mount adapters separately. EDIT: Yeah I've got that the wrong way round I think.

I have some Judys which are a couple of years old and they seem to be OK, but all the people in the mountain biking club I'm in moan about Rockshox in general. If nothing else, 'Rock Shox' is a well gay name when you think about it, but maybe that's not a good reason to avoid buying good forks...

Surely you can do better than that!

Derrrrrrrrrrrr. We all know Tarty Bikes are ace but they don't just give away bikes

Are these grips actually any good? Or is this just an excuse to get rid of a boat load of rubbish grips

What lenses and flash and stuff are you using then?

Nah the 30D has dual scroll wheels and it's much bigger than the 350/400D. So ner. You better get a Hasselblad then Dave... Canon make more 'Pro' stuff than Nikon though. It's just the way things are. The most expensive Nikon is the D2x which is still half the price of the dearest Canon. Canon L lenses (the white ones and a few others) have a very good reputation for being very good, but they're expensive. Nikon don't make full frame, Nikon don't do a camera capable of 10fps (like the 1d MkIII). All of which makes no difference if you're an amateur and you're spending under 2 grand.