nmt_oli

Curly freak - i love you greatly! that e whatever place quoted less than im currently paying, with the alloys listed! brilliant!

looks like i will need to ring round insurance companies tommorrow, whos evyone with? i know a lot of you mini guys are new drivers and have just slapped alloys and stage ones on everywhere! Have you not bothered to tell your insurance? or are they letting you? Direct line doesnt let you do any mods till your 25, which is gay. I wouldnt be bothered if you couldnt see them, ie suspension, carb ect but alloy wheels are kinda hard to miss (although BBS i may get away with, as there factory fit on GTIs and stuff - def not 5 spoke oz though!). i just dont want to end up uninsured.

I have to say, those wheels look 10x better with tyres on. i was worried theyd look chav, but shouldnt be too bad. just on hold at direct line, thought i better check its not going to invalidate my insurance! Fecking direct line! will void my insurance if i put those on! gay gay gay gay.

yeah, looks like i will be getting james' old alloys (15") with brand new a539s on them, for a pretty reasnoble price. wheels look crap, but worth it for the tyres! just had to get a new battery as well! grrrr, oh well upgraded from a 400CCA to a 620 CCA, hopefully no more problems!

aha! another maxbasher on here! I havent been for the past few seasons, but frequented the first and 2nd with my mega .21 HPI NMT. the maxbashing forum is great, very friendly and helpful. as far as i know theres a new HPI forum about- was created when the oficial ones were stopped, became very big and was still going a couple of months back. try www.hpiforums.co.uk will prob dig thedust of my trucks eventually, need some time and money though! not worth me selling them, as i wont get anywhere near what i paid, and i would like to keep them.

I know 539s are good, but im thinking these will be more suitable. cheaper, free puncture repair, longer life, low road noise, all what i want on a daily driver- and there still meant to be pretty grippy in wet and dry. Im very tempted to see what there like cause of the price. plus golf is daily driver- not plaything like my mini. Oli

clear side repeaters - £10 foliatech tint spray -£15 (minus staff discount of course) totally stealth front end- priceless. james, i was thinking of doing the head gasket as ive got to do the timing belt and tensioner, and the carb, oh and rocker cover gasket, so while all thats off, it cant be too much more to do the head gasket and studs! would rather know its done, and will be reliable, than have it fail at an inoportune time! plus it may have doen a few more k- its stopped clocking! lol. Peventative maintenace is always a good idea. Also now planning 4 new tyres this week- front 2 are mismatched pair, half worn and scary in the wet as this evening has reminded me! rears are good, but cheap and one has got a nick in the side wall. spare is legal but thats all! planning on putting rear left (the good one) as the spare, and 4 new tyres all round. will also repaint the wheels. i was going to go for yoko A539s, but now im not too sure. national tyres said while there better than other japanese tyres, there still a bit sketchy in the wet and wear is fast. they have some good looking brand tyre, a subdivision of conti. they say they have had good feedback, internet reviews look good- plus its cheap, and i get free puncture repairs! at £160 for all 4 fitted, balanced including tracking i think its pretty good!. James, also thinking about my exaust since it dying. i woudl love a full system- but that will be expensive! i was looking at the 8v gti exaust parts on GSF and it looked abotu 110 for everythign execpt manifold. is it worth going for that, or getting a manifold back system (as aftermarket manifolds are VERY expensive) from maniflow or similar, on a standard or gti manifold?

please DO NOT plug it into an output! this is BAD and is likely to fry your mp3 player. If the 3rd is an input (might be sub out) there will be an aux in feature somewhere, cycle through sources and it will be CD/Tuner/aux ect if its only got Cd/tuner, then i doubt its going to work.

who said i was asking you nick! anyone know any good VW forums, most seem to be wank compared to here and mini forums. need some step by step how toos for cambelt, head gasket and carb- haynes manual is fecking useless.

Back onto Vdubs, makign a few subtle mods to me golf as its going to be a long slog getting my mini finished. Styling: going a bit stealthy here, already smoked front indicators, and side repeaters- looks MUCH better now. Just need some smoked rear lights (any one got any?). also need to improve front lighting, headlights are shocking, and im still missing a spot. anyone recomend good front lights? (quad grille) Will eb touching up rust, repainting wheels ect soon as well. Performance: loads of body roll, lookign to drop it slightly- dont want to loose to much comfort. will 30mm springs improve handling without making it uncomfortable? cant aford full dampers ect too unfortunately. Got a webber carb, need to get it on and set up. need a baseplate, choke cable and some gaskets and stuff. while engine is in bits, since i need to do the timing belt still im tempted to whip the head off, clean up the valves and replace head gasket just incase its on its way out. dont know how long this will take me though! Last time i tried to replace timing belt i couldnt get the crank pulley off (not the timing pulley, the alternator belt pulley) any one know how? i got the 3 allen head botls out, but wouldnt budge, so tried to get the centre bolt out but it wasnt having any of it. this meant i couldnt get to the inner belt cover to replace it need some advise!

Sounds liek you;ve got a 3.5mm jack to 2 phono lead, and connected this between mp3 player and the back of the HU, correct? does the HU say anything about having an aux input anywhere? if not, its likely you have connected your mp3 player to your amplifier pre-outs and are going to damage something, HU or MP3 player, or both. Oli

nice nick! you must now justify your new purchase by adding a towbar to cart around your proper car Only joking, at least you got something nice for everyday- get that mini proper stripped this time, make it silly!

I personally always use the provided split link. the SRAM ones are possibly the weakest design, but there still pretty strong and ive never broken one. While it is possibly the weakest link in the chain, it is likely to be stronger than joining the chain yourself. If your doing this repeatedly, then its a justified opinion- but just one breakage could be unfortunate. could have been defective from the factory ect.

blimey, didnt expect to see my footage so quickly! I think a bigger size would make use of the widescreen better. quite nice for catching multiple people, and switching between riders. looks quite good for me just experimenting. Like the speeded up bits, works quite well. Oli

Remember its just a prototype, im sure it will change- lever details ect, and cosmetic stuff is likely to improve. Hope have always had the industrial look, so i dont mind the design, certainly different. They have almost always been at the forfront of cycle disk technology. The vented rotor is an amazing piece of engineering, and must be great for long downhills. Not much use for trials though. The Hayes/post mount is something hope was bound to do at some point. people with post mount frames/forks have been getting very pissed off abotu having to get new caliper halfs to mount there hope- most get put of hopes all together. Its just something to widen the market. I personally think its a good design, as its easy to adjust the 'float' you dont have to fiddle around with washers. Overall- looks very promising indeed.

Ive just sorted out my calendar, and i can still come for the day , but i might miss out on the evening activities . Got to get back home for a good friends engagement party, shame i can't do both.

I know he has already purchased it- but he hasnt specified weather he has installed it yet. if it is still boxed up, it can be sold! I was meaning dont bother fitting/painting it.

For body kit fitting, prep and a good spray your looking at £1500 i reckon. In my opinion, don't bother with the body kit- it will put your insurance up massively, look chav, and scrape on speed bumps. Spend the £1500 on somthing more worth while!

3 for 3 of bike hut stuff! makes me very tempted to by a set (and get a spare) set of the hydro disks and build up a nice set of wheels for my step dads bike. With staff discount thats £100 squid for 3 hydro disks, bargainous!

gases can dissolve quite easily in water (think fizzy drink). this happens with tap water. If you bleed your brake with water like this, even if there is no visible air in it (just dissolved air) over time, the water will come out of solution and return to its gaseous state, allowing the brake to compress more, giving the squidgey feeling. the only way of solving this is a new bleed. The advantage of oils is it is much harder for gases to dissolve in them, giving a lower compressability.

diesel is an interesting one, it is an oil distilate so will be better than water, but is very thin so while being nice and quick returning and all that, it wont lubricate the inside of your brake as much as proper fluid, or a shock oil like i use. doesnt make much difference as your likely to damage the brake enough to warrant a new one before you wear the piston significantly enough due to a less lubricating fluid. I would do a water bleed in an old brake, but mine is brand spanking new, and i want it to stay feeling like that, not go all horrible.

Grips and saddles are made by Velo, stems/bars/seatposts are by Tioga, brakes look to be either avid or hayes, they take hayes pads. It is decent stuff.

Bad for your hearing- only if you turn them up too loud! A fad- i think not, there just an evolution of a walkman, theyve been around since the 70s/80s Dangerous- again only if turned up too loud.

I dont think you can quite compare tatoos/peircings ect. with growing/cutting your hair. Yes its all to do with being an individual, but tatoos and peircings (especially flesh tunnels) are likely to be permanant, and need a lot of thinking about, you may regret them 5/10/20 years down the line, and have to live with them or the scars, unlike long hair which can just be cut if you dont like it /regret it!

That would be me! i have actually done far too much research into this matter! Std magura fluid (blood/royal blood) is a mineral oil and is quite thick, about 5wt. When magura bike products were first introduced into the USA, the USA tech/warranty department couldnt get hold of magura fluid, and they used finish line 5wt shock oil instead, providing the same feel, but improved realiability due to finish line actually being slightly better for seals and more "slipery" for want of a better word. i have managed to find some 2.5wt finish line shock oil, which work wonderfully as it is almost as thin as water, but will not harm the brake in any way at all. LHM works well, but is a bit thicker then magura blood. I personally dont like the sound of using baby oil /vegatable oil ect. Water is ok to use for short periods of time IMO, especially if its deionised or whatever, so theres nothing in solution (apart from gas). If you use tap water for long periods of time you risk: Freezing brakes, seal degradation, increased corrosion of internal parts, possibility of the inside of your brake looking like the inside of your kettle!