forteh

Been running with the HMRC help to save scheme for the last two years, essentially you can pay in up to 50 quid a month for two years, then they will give you a cash bonus of 50% of what you've paid in. The scheme then runs for another two years at which point you get the whole pot back plus your 50% cash bonus. After the maximum term you get the saved amount back of 2400 + the second cash bonus which equates to quite a nice tidy sum. Both me and the wife have been running it as our household income is below the threshold (I'm sole earner and underpaid). I had my first bonus paid back the other month so I upgraded my VR headset to an HP reverb G2, it's a lovely bit of kit, much clearer than my old Lenovo (which was pretty good to be fair) and it's cost me absolutely nothing

Wutchatryintosay? (Strokes luscious beard) Nope, you're just a heartless b*****d! We're doing ok, just a bit flu like really. Kids have bounced back without any major issue Silly phone double quoted!

Yup, tested positve this morning.

In the normal world, we've been struck down as a household 3 out of 6 positives so far, we're not testing Aneurin as he's 2 years old and obviously ill. I expect I'll get my positive result tomorrow

Thought you had to take the 20mm off the lowers and tape them back together? FWIW I've overforked my intense by 20mm, 160 vs 140 recommended and not experienced anything bad from it, the BB is higher than the current trend of long low slack frames but it works fine for me

My xfusion vengeance are astonishing, 36mm stanchions, coil sprung, damper adjustments that work (rebound, low and high speed compression) and super sensitive; I'm fairly certain that they sag a little under the bikes self weight. 100% self serviceable with no special tools. Not too shabby for a ten year old fork

Looks awesome, almost as quick as our van build

Don't forget that you have the battery bank to maintain charge on as well as to utilise for the charging itself. Ideally you would charge around lunchtime when sun is best and providing most overspill energy but in reality you could charge at any time as long as your battery bank is big enough; go for a decent size lifepo setup, charge the bike overnight and let the bank refill in the morning

I dunno, our 265W panel can pull 30v out of it when it's raining, open circuit voltage is only 37 so it's still capable of supplying power when overcast. Currently we rarely see more than an amp or two being pushed into the leisure battery because it's constantly kept charged by the PV charge controller; any spare voltage harvested is essentially just wasted power and could be syphoned off for an ebike charger. I have no idea how much current an ebike charger would need at 12v but it shouldn't be too hard to calculate it through

This is why you build a campervan with a dirty great big solar panel on the roof

Didn't Nathan (friend of @Tom Booth - https://www.trials-forum.co.uk/topic/197406-selfless-act-of-kindness/ ) start kicking his initial cancer into touch by massively changing diet and lifestyle?

Fusion rather than fission is where it's at

I have a BB7 on a 183 mono mini (I think) rotor, no idea what caliper bracket it is* but I think I've got it upside down and it all fits and works fine *might be an avid 203?

First camp out in the van went just about perfectly Went down to the gone wild festival near Exmouth (a bit of a shambles organisation wise and some major failings on other fronts - it was the first one though) but weather has been scorching and we had a great time. Walked about 13km a day with the kids just trolling around the site, exhausted, aching* and sunburnt. Van was spot on, slight hammock issue dumping children out on the first night because it was hung a bit twisted but sorted for following nights. Other than that it was a brilliant home base and provided everything we needed for 5 of us (me, wife and kids 11, 6 and 2). *trying max number of pull-ups at the royal marine commando display yielded in 11 at self weight of 75kg and 4 with Aneurin strapped to my back to give 90kg total. Also doing a 2.5km running obstacle race carrying a 25kg child that doesn't want to do the running

The van is getting close to the end! Away in it next weekend at a festival from Thursday onwards and we've met the targets of where we wanted to be with the build Still got a list of stuff to complete though, design the polypropylene dog crate and have it fabricated/finish laying out storage shelves and cubbies (the first trip out will help us determine what we need where)/design and build a composting toilet to fit into the van somewhere/build storage cubbies above the passenger side worktop/add bookshelves to the rear doors/design a cantilevered hammock bracket to fit onto the roofrack (that doubles as kayak lifting rails) etc etc etc. It's been a long time coming but very pleased with the results so far

Can't help at all but can only offer this tidbit

You're a jinx, there's three of the fecking things now, picked up a jackson fun1.5 the other week for Persephone because she's decided that she wants to have a go as well

Just out of curiosity... The vaccines don't prevent you catching covid (whichever strain is currently most virulent) but does appear to blunt the impact of the virus so to say. So we are opening up to quarantine free travel for most places next week as long as you are double jabbed. So you can still carry and transmit the virus just fine, it's not going to kill you personally so efficiently but you can still give it to all and sundry that you travel with? So the infection rate will once again rocket us into lockdown 247™. Seems a bit daft if you ask me? Double AZ jabbed here by the way, not had covid.

Nope, they're perfect size for me! Mike, unfortunately with a whole 95bhp when it left the factory, almost quarter of a million miles ago it's never going to be very fast lugging a 3.5 tonne van about I do know the clutch is good for at least 140bhp though as it's the same part number as in the more powerful van so will likely get it remapped at some point

The table is amazing! Solid hardwood, thought to be Indian of origin, carved and inlaid with stupendously fine bone detailing. Paid 50 quid for it from local farcebook marketplace. The legs are threaded onto angled pucks that are screwed up onto the table top so you can whip the legs off for storage/transport. By blind luck, the height of the wooden boxout I made for the seats (dictated by the height of the transit minibus seats we used) plus the height of the original table legs was mm perfect match to the sequoia caravan table leg we bought ages ago Figured that a tripod table would be far more stable than balancing ontop of a single leg, just needed to reposition and orient the threaded pucks underneath and it's worked out nicely. We can carry all four legs and use it as an outdoors table as well edit: if you want to see all 500+ van conversion photos, add me on facebook (Ed Emuss) and you'll be abel to see them all.

Really starting to get the van close to completion. August bank holiday is crunch time as we're off to Exmouth in it

I dunno, she's pretty lengthy, got a three seater sofa in the back with the tailgate fully closed, did have to scoot my seat forwards a bit mind Althought it's only a couple of inches shorter than the galaxy, the much lower roofline makes it appear a lot smaller from the outside, essentially it's an mpv for people who don't want to grow up and admit they have a large multi seat family car!

I know it's not the direction you've been looking in but our smax has ticked all of those boxes apart from petrol and being old 56 plate bought 6 years ago for 3.5k, 147k on the clocks, 2litre tdci. Major cost repairs so far have been new front dampers at 250 quid, rear suspension bushes/linkages at 100ish and the cambelt which is a service item anyways. The original owner had replaced the high pressure fuel pump but that was the only major cost - still on the original clutch! She's now done 184k, still pulls 50+ mpg on the motorway. Tonnes of room, 2m long load bed with the middle seats down, takes length of just over 3m with the front seat flat if you're happy with it resting on the dash or in the footwell.

Iroko is nasty stuff to cut with a jigsaw! First worktop worked out ok though

Had both AZ here, after the first I just felt as bit tired with an aching back, fine after a couple of paracetamol. Second jab didn't affect me at all Mrs wife has had the first Pfizer only so far but that made her feel weird for a couple of days.