cliff

Soylent Green anyone? (Which, incidentally, I almost got introduced to my employer's canteen menu when designing a template for pre-ordering meals. I’d assumed someone would spot the reference before it was distributed throughout the organisation. I was wrong). Sorry for the note of levity in a very welcome serious discussion.

I support the proposition wholeheartedly. I wonder though how population could be controlled without a dictatorship other than by the imposition of taxes, and where would we get government brave enough to do that under a democratic system. It would be, in effect, a tax on sex! (what price a job as a tax inspector?) Nonetheless, the more this is discussed, the better, so thank you Flecc. As with driving a Hummer to Tesco, or smoking over children’s cribs, awareness of this being a selfish and harmful act may only arise by repeated and reasoned debate, until at some point it becomes politically possible to impose a tax without causing riots. There is no other long term solution.

I've long been a fan of trailers and have just treated myself to a Carry Freedom Large Y Frame trailer (£170 was the cheapest I could find from activesports). They say it will take a ridiculous 90k and it seems to have an excellent reputation, and it takes up very little space with the wheels removed, which is done at the touch of a button. Best of all, it's ideal for the the amateur bodger to use as a base for a custom superstructure without serious risk of wrecking the whole thing. Mine will have wooden sides which fold down to allow larger items to be strapped on top. It was tempting to try to build one myself, but I couldn't find the wheelchair type wheels at a sensible price. I tried mugging a small child in a wheelchair, but she beat me up:eek: Mind, I'll have panniers as well.

Aliens? CIA?

Took me a while to find these for my old Giant Expression N7, which came with an 18t sprocket and consequently couldn't a smallish molehill (at least not with my very unfit legs. Postage is steep at £3.99 but they probably combine postage if you buy more stuff. Good luck Cliff Bonthrone

And put your analyst on danger money! Cliff

Cycling and cogitating the other day I came to the conclusion that there are three types of people: those who drop litter, those who ignore it and those who pick it up - of which I suspect there's a higher percentage amongst cyclists. Recently acquired one of these type of things and have been practising swooping on unsuspecting carrier bags etc without slowing down. Provides no end of entertainment. Initially felt a bit daft collecting litter, but a surprising number of folk do it on the quiet.

Sorry to hear about your fire – sounds like no one was hurt thank heavens. Sure you don't need to be answering a lot of emails and phone calls at the moment so wondered if it would help to clarify about the delay in delivery on the Agattu: when you say “one model size delayed” which is the "53+57", do you mean two model sizes i.e. the 53 and the 57? Thanks - and it would be really nice in due course to say which panniers and/or speedo you’re offering and pop in a link perhaps. Cliff

And again, some assume that it must be a bargain because it's on eBay, so don't check the retail prices. Most odd.

Slightly worried You can look at the place marks on Google Earth - if you've downloaded it - by clicking the link at the top, which reveals that some members are living in fields and hedgerows!

Thanks for that Tony; it's good to know that the lights are up to scratch as I intend to commute on some unlit roads in winter. Your post led me to check the B&M website and a little more research located the even brighter B&M Lumotec LED lights in the UK and some positive reviews. Cliff

Well, I've got nothing to hide. Er, hang on, yes I have (quickly buries the evidence). I'm down near Wallingford in south Oxfordshire in an unsalubrious village blighted by mini housing estates of every age from the Normans to the Commuters - still, people got to live somewhere, me included. But the Thames path is a few minutes walk away, and the Ridgeway a couple of miles off so good walking and cycling around the place. Chilterns on one side and Berskhire Downs on t'other, with the towers of Didcot power station glimpsed lowering in the sunset.

Although I haven't much checked their website, I would say that 50cycles advised me when I placed the order back in mid December for the diamond aggatu, that delivery should be "before the clocks go forward" so I haven't suffered disappointment (yet!). I agree that if any customers were led to believe otherwise then that would definitely not qualify as good business practice in my book.

My apologies for having diverted the thread - I got carried away (or should have been). I'd also like to know forum members preference on saddles. Gel must have something going for it, but I do like to think that my saddle will outlast me, even if it's not kind of thing one puts in a will!

Am breaking in a Brooks B68 which I reckon fits nicely between the narrower B17 and those huge chunks of ironmongery that Brooks still make - and bless them for it. Have done about eighty miles on it so far and it's beginning to feel perfect. Well worth the initial discomfort. Which links nicely to the literary thread and the potholes/poor roads thread and Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman in which he postulate: "The gross and net result of it is that people who spend most of their natural lives riding iron bicycles over the rocky roadsteads of this parish get their personalities mixed up with the personalities of their bicycle as a result of the interchanging of the atoms of each of them and you would be surprised at the number of people in these parts who nearly are half people and half bicycles".And to wonder if any forum members have noticed such a phenomenon in themselves and what the symptoms are?

Er, yes. Had a look at the Agattu 24g on the Kalkhoff site, and on the strength of that and the Ato B and Flecc's reviews squeezed the credit card until some money fell out. Had been tempted (briefly) to put the wood lathe to use and turn a top tube for a step through, possibly with a nice barley twist.

Air car Thanks for excellent post. Gives me some hope that the planet may not end up ploughed over for bio-fuels. The air engine in the second part of the You Tube video looks small enough for a bike. http://http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QmqpGZv0YT4