Tomm

Boots are all about fit - If they don't fit right then it can really screw up your day. Personally I'd never even consider buying boots off eBay. Both those are decent brands but if they don't fit it makes no difference.

Love it, always fancied one of them. How are you finding it? What's it like to drive?

The weather for the next few weeks in the Alps is COLD - make sure you're prepared if you're going there. It's gonna be something like -26º C in Meribel (I just got back from there yesterday). Make sure you have plenty of base layers +/- thermal under trousers and you'll probably be OK whatever jacket / trousers you have. But don't skimp on gloves or goggles, that would be my tip. Cold hands or steamed / iced-up goggles can easily ruin a day. Expect to fall over a lot. I've just been with some beginner who made good use out of wearing knee pads on her first week on snow, might be worth taking some if you have them. Goggles don't have to be particularly expensive (http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?q=snowboard+goggles&sugexp=chrome,mod%3D0&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=9842732434751739062&sa=X&ei=xdHzUOvLB4-YhQeYz4DwBA&ved=0CFEQ8wIwAA) but I'd avoid the sub-£20 Cebé goggles you can sometimes find. If you're getting an all-round goggle then you want the orange tint one (it's the best compromise of bright sunlight vs flat light performance). Sunglasses are not the one for snowboarding, not only do they not stay on / make you get a cold face etc, they'll mark you out as a total noob. Snowboarding is pretty fashion-centric, for better or worse, and you can spot some people a mile off. Gloves, dunno really. I've got some Level gloves, they're really nice and warm / dry / tough, I'd definitely recommend them. Most people seem to buy mittens these days. TK Maxx usually have some good brands.

Nah, no way. It's not a huge amount of money - I'd probably buy a house and a nice car, but it's not enough to stop me working so it's not a life-changing amount in the grand scheme. As someone else said, time is precious and there's always money around. I've seen this question asked on other forums and I suspect the responses depend largely on the average age of the members. As people get older I reckon they get more aware of time, and I suspect a majority of people over the age of 30 would see that it's a bad deal. In response to what someone said earlier - The idea that you can have no quality of life past 70 years old is a load of rubbish - ask your 69 year old self whether you want to die on your next birthday, the answer I'm sure would be no.

The only difference between 32 / 34 / 36 is the size of the stantions. The other technology is basically all the same - a 2013 Fox 32 is a brand new fork with all of the features of the 34 available in the top-end model. The 34 is a new chassis (introduced specifically to counter the problems of flexiness of the 32 when combined with bigger wheels) but that doesn't mean the 32 is somehow outdated / old. I'm not saying tapered isn't going to be fairly standard in the future, but 1.1/8th forks are going to be around for several years at least. I never said that it won't be a feature of new frames, but ref my previous point - a tapered frame is backwards-compatible with all the old standards so there's no downside. To take the v-brake argument further, it's like talking about frames with disc brake mounts.

You're wrong - 1.1/8th forks are definitely not on the way out any time in the next few years. Most frames are tapered headtube, yes, but don't forget that standard is backwards compatible with older forks - there's no real downside to it. Not sure what you're on about with 29ers - they're all pretty new to market so it stands to reason that they'd have the newer standard. The new 32s and 36s are not old forks as you seem to be suggesting, and there's no doubt they will be making them in 1.1/8th for some time. Fox 34s are super niche at the moment, designed for 29er trail bikes (32s are too flexy, 36s too heavy), and are mainly OEM on new bikes - I.e. those with new headtube standards.

1.1/8th forks will be around for a little while longer at least, you're talking a lot of crap there to be honest. Including getting headset sizes mixed up (44mm is a cup outer diameter size, not a steerer size). Not that you'd ever want to upgrade the forks on that, anyway - the frame is far more limiting than the forks. It's not as bad a bike as you're making out, but yeah I agree it's not worth anything like £1250. Having said that, I could make it look 100x better in 15 minutes: Set the bars up properly Remove all the headset stackers Probably use a shorter stem Change the stupid fat seat and putting it at the right angle

I had exactly this crack on a Commencal Meta frame. What I did: Drill out the ends of the crack Cut my current seatpost down flush with the top of the frame, cut a slot in the back of it to allow the tube to be pinched with the QR Put a bolt through the bottom of the seat tube, through the seat post and out the other side to hold it in place. I used another seatpost whose outer diameter matches the inner diameter of the cut-down original seat post You could put some extra weld over the crack if you like, I didn't bother Frame is still intact having been ridden for 18 months after this fix. I don't know if you need to bother with changing your seat height on a DH bike though. If you're not bothered, I'd just fix the post in place with two big bolts through the seatpost / seat tube (between top tube and BB).

I strongly feel that cars that didn't originally have DRLs, shouldn't have them retrofitted. They just look as though you're trying to make your car appear new when it's not. In 5-7 years when, say, 80% of cars have DRLs, perhaps old cars without DRLs will stand out a bit more. Then maybe it might 'blend in' to retrofit them to older cars, that might be OK. Plus DRLs look shit on most cars anyway, especially when they've been added as an afterthought - even by the manufacturer IMO. The new DRLs on the Jaguar XF, for example, just look terrible and tacked-on. Not a good look.

Well, you might not want it, but I bet you'd pay £100 for it? If only to split it and sell it. Or use the bits on a different frame? Everything has a price.

Everyone says that if you own an S2000 for long enough it'll bite you. Unlucky mate, glad you're OK. Looks like a nasty one.

Why? The problem with tubeless isn't the spoke holes, that's the easy part. Making tyres & rims that don't burp air / roll off the rim at trials pressures is the hard bit.

Totally solves no problems at all! And creates a different problem! Awesome! Who takes their tyre off to change a spoke? Not me.

Eh? Simple free market economics at play here. If you/other people (the market) decide that it's not worth £500, then the price has to decrease until you (or someone) deems it to be worthwhile at that price. Everything is worth something to someone. Re: that bike. Those forks are posh, pretty new and look to be in decent nick so those alone would probably fetch £250+ on eBay. Everything else looks pretty old and the setup looks shit so as a whole bike I wouldn't pay more than about £500 as Mr Wood says. If I was the owner, I'd buy some cheaper forks for ~£100, then sell the full bike with cheaper forks (still for around £500), and then sell Fox forx separately.

I've decided I fancy a fast (ish) estate car, but there aren't too many options. Something no slower than my current car (fn2 civic type r, 6.6 seconds to 60, allegedly) would seem to be a good benchmark. Possibilities: 330i/335i 3-series tourer, probably an e46 Impreza wagon A4 Quattro / S4 avant Octavia vrs estate Mondeo ST (don't particularly want fwd though) Anything else?

Love the scooby! I can't get my head around the naming systems for imprezas. Which ones are the properly quick ones (wrx/sti etc) and can you get a fast one as a wagon?

It's not a classy car. It's just not. If you saw that in the street, you'd think it was alright, fairly clean and obviously owned by a (male) enthusiast. Nothing wrong with that. But if you were, say, a lawyer, you wouldn't turn up to a meeting in that, and you wouldn't imagine it ever being owned and driven by Kate Middleton. Ergo it's not classy / elegant - a boggo new Golf is classier.

Porsche 996? Brand new Dacia duster? E46 M3 (with change) TVR chimaera Audi S6 Megane Renaultsport Need to narrow it down a bit. What do you need / want from a car?

Amazing! It's like Homer's website.

As people have said, they command high prices second hand at the moment, especially VWs. Also ex-commercial vehicles will often need VAT paying if they're for private use, so bear in mind that might add a lot onto the price. I believe insurance is cheaper if you turn it into a camper. To some insurance companies that means a mattress in the back, but others require more evidence than that. The plus side is that you can always whore yourself out as 'man with van' for extra cash at the weekends.

Those tiny rubbery wrap around LED lights are so shit it's unbelievable. I've nearly hit people with them on a few occasions, they're just not bright enough to be seen (particularly under the glare of headlights which completely drown them out). If you really can't bear to spend more than a tenner, just get some from Decathlon, I'm sure they do must some basic LED ones for cheap. But don't whine when you get run over. If you actually want to be seen, get one of these for the rear http://www.chainreac...x?ModelID=56550 and then one of these for the front http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290778308356?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649 £25 for the pair. Those torches are insanely bright, probably good enough for off road (I've not tried though). Battery life is a couple of hours but they come with 2 batteries and a recharger so it's all good. As above, zip tie / gaffa tape to your helmet. I bought a helmet mount off ebay for a few quid but you don't really need it.

Nice. Best bodge I ever saw was a mate of mine who had a similar issue. Rigged some string up to the throttle body, and brought it out via a bonnet vent and through the driver's window. Pull on the string = go faster. Drove it like that for a hundred miles

If you're worried about it, go and see a doctor. Most of these suggestions are way off, you're never going to get a reliable opinion off the internet.

I'd expect to get a mint polo for that sort of money.

Unless the 1080p is at 50fps, in which case it's double the data / bandwidth of 1080i at 50 fields/s. I can't really remember the ins and outs, it's complicated.