Greetings

Love Tom's idea. You can do a lot with the skills you have if you think laterally and combine them into a completely new thing. My first thought after reading your post was motorsport accessories. Not the type where you have massive competition but things that drivers need but can't buy. Supposedly low volume but if you branch out internationally - quite the contrary. For example, 5 years ago the chap who built my rally car would frequently make a small mod to the bimmer shifter extending it around 15-20cm and reducing throw. The ergonomics of this were great but eventually the shifter would break or develop massive play. Fast forward 5 years and a small Lithuanian company called IRP has a long, short throw shifter for various cars. It's a whole assembly with cartridge bearings, reverse lock and it feels amazing. I think that was one of their first products - well priced and so successful, they've now branched out and are a well known brand. That's just an example but I wouldn't be surprised if there were voids in the market waiting to be filled in. You'll probably find answers by reading through forums.

Cooked some General Tso's chicken today. It completely blew me and my friend away. I still can't get over how good it was, the craving for more set in as soon as all the dishes were licked clean and it won't go away. http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/04/the-food-lab-bringing-home-general-tsos-chick.html Don't get put off by how complicated this recipe is, it's really worth it.

Nobody is trying to discourage you, with 60% off that's an absolute bargain. Good choice!

^ Just do that and you'll be fine. Ideally you don't want the rotors do completely dry out or the brake will clog up. Keep rinsing them as they'll drip a lot of black residue which consists of filings from the rotor being cut down by the pads. When the rotor is almost mirror like and the brake no longer makes a metallic rubbing sound when braking, you're good to go. It's also a great trick if your discs aren't working as well as they used to plus it also works on rim brakes. You want to keep flushing the rotor / rim clean with water until there is no residue coming off.

The pricing of the MT7 is a bit on the strange side. It's pretty much double the MT5 but as pointed out, the caliper is the same. If you break down what these brakes comprise of, an MT7 lever + 4pot caliper are therefore priced similarly to two MT5 levers and two 4pot calipers. A bit of maths and you'll get the value of the MT7 lever which is equivalent to an whole MT5 brake AND an MT5 lever. That's a bit steep for an extra adjustment and improved mechanical advantage in a very similar package Although the "plastic" Magura use in the levers has some pretty impressive mechanical properties I can't see why you'd chose them over Hopes, which are a beautiful piece of engineering

Who's the rider at the beginning in the yellow helmet? He was a god to me when I started riding.

Snow expected in the next few days so rather than put winter tyres on the 7 I decided to get the winter car going. Turns out that it got rather erm... moldy over the past 1.5 years of being locked away Literally eveything is covered in mold. Happy that the drivers seat and seatbelts were in the M3. The car started instantly but the exhaust promptly decided to depart, leaving only the exhaust manifold and rear silencer in place Very loud now. Took it for a spin and absolutely loved it. 700 kilos, 90bhp and a locking centre diff. It's a superb car this, every single time I drive it which is not often I end up enjoying myself. Cant wait to give it a proper thrashing

This is remarkable.

Cheers, going to try that next time. It's funny how during practice I get absolutely nowhere but then one in 10 failed attempts is a success and sends you flying up as if you weren't even trying. Try 130cm. Although you're riding an Inspired which is short, so maybe less?

So this brakeless technique would require you to hit the front wheel slightly below the edge? Otherwise won't you just slide into the obstacle with the cranks?

Yep. I know this isn't what you meant but I went for a walk recently and decided to buy my first bike next year. It'll be like walking without having to walk. Really looking forward to spring now. I know girls will find a guy with a 125cc bike really attractive, life on the edge and whatnot

It's a work in progress but it's very weird, there seems to be absolutely no direction on her behalf. Probably going to fizzle out. She's in a relationship with work at the moment, not the girl I fell in love with years ago.

I can relate to the "could do X in the past, can't do it now". That's been going on since 2008. It's bloody annoying but if you focus on other aspects of trials, you'll soon forget about it. This could be anything from a manifesto riding style to riding with great people. For me it's the latter. Trials has become much more of a social event for me and the enjoyment of being around good friends is much more important than going bigger. Although obviously it's best if you can do both The other thing to keep in mind is that if you want to go big, you need to start out small. Lets say you could frenchie 8 pallets. You're going to get absolutely nowhere unless you start with 5 and progress. You'll just get frustrated or learn some bad habits. This sounds obvious but you might find you're forgetting about it when riding, I know I do. If the obstacle is too big, even if it's just a few inches too much get practicing on something smaller you can cope with. That'll also boost your confidence because you'll actually be succeeding in what you're trying to do. You'll be amazed how much you can progress in one day if you start out small and add an inch every time you feel confident. Also recording yourself and having an analytical attitude can make you progress faster if you feel a bit lost. I've recently found my phlegmatic riding style has been pushed to the limit and to progress further I need to start moving quickly. Easier said than done because you need to coordinate all the muscles at a faster pace but it's an observation that wasn't obvious until recently when I really focused on body movement of other riders and my own.

If you're getting angry it sounds like your expectations are way too high. Just ride more, you'll soon get the hang of it again.

A few guys came over to strip the car using dry ice. The result isn't perfect, the chap who's idea it was is now stuck with finishing the job using an angle grinder Carbon-kevlar roof should be arriving very soon, can't wait I'll post some pictures when it arrives, some of you guys might be interested in their products. They make CF or kevlar reinforced carbon parts for a variety of cars, they're cheap and so far the quality has been amazing.

You've got a good memory The answer is YES!

Consider an osteopath. I've been going to one since I started riding frequently and would highly recommend it. I have ankle problems as well, they don't fold but sometimes after a tiny drop even from 2 pallets I get a shooting pain in the ankle (from the front of the joint) which goes away completely after a minute or two. She recommended I buy one of these and practice 20 minutes a day. What you do is balance on one foot while keeping the ankle in line with the knee. During diagnosis, she asked me to do a squat and noticed how my legs don't run paralell when bent, instead they cave in and the knees touch. She thinks I tore a ligament years ago when a BB snapped on a large drop. It didn't get diagnosed at that time and since then I've been having various pains when riding, now they're getting worse possibly due to my age. Just some insight in case you can relate

Some pics of the M3 from last week. The chassis appears to be in better condition than we all expected. Still going to be a shitload of work...

How can you say that? He's a legend

But slightly unlike the new format At least with Harris, Reid and LeBlanc on the show. Loved his review of the 911R, the guy might just be a TV personality but he knows what cars are about. IMO he actually hit the sweet spot with that review. Couldn't get through the whole episode of the Grand Tour. It's more of a comedy show with cars in the background. There is absolutely no insight into the cars which are instead treated like props or setups for poor jokes. The LaFerrari for instance - it's an engineering masterpiece but instead they were more concerned with the name and politics surrounding the vehicle. And timing cars on the same tyres is apparently "anoraky". That's something my mum would say if she could care about how fast cars went around a circuit. I'll just leave this here for contrast:

Just discovered this genre of music

Haha Not many details on the car, he keeps them to himself. It's in the same class as CRX's so I'm guessing 1.6 and it has a Jenvey intake. That's all I know

Some Clio people on here so here's one pushed to the limit. Amazed at how that thing handles. For those interested it's 880kg and has 180bhp, carried the driver right up to 3rd place overall in a major event considering the level of drivers attending it. The same driver did a 7.34 BTG on his first ever visit to the Nordschleife in an M3...

Care to elaborate?

Saw this gem at a youngtimer motor show today. For sale for a measly 300g.