WorcsWuss

I last did cbt in 2005 so this time around I wasn't going to hang about and the intention was to go all the way straight off the bat, but I actually quite like the idea of working up the ladder. Pootling about on the little ktm for this summer is quite appealing! Hopefully it will get me out of some of my dirt bike bad habits as well......! No doubt it will soon get tiresome but until then I'm going to enjoy it. I look a bit like I'm about to head across Africa on a GS with my gear on rather than to the shops on a 125 but with a bit of luck it will last me well into my next bike!

Excited like a kid at Christmas! My first road bike is being delivered tomorrow! Did my cbt a couple if weeks ago and have been umming and aahing about going straight into my big test or getting a 125 to get some experience in. Looked at lots of 125's but they were all pretty nasty. A mate bought a 125 Varadero which is actually quite a nice bike. But then I saw the KTM Duke 125 and decided that would do me. Can't wait, found a 61 plate up north within budget. Went out and blew out on some gear today so I'm all set!

I haven't been to site for a while but I heard that the neighbours all ganged up against the estate and had a load of trees cut down which is what you can see to the right of site. The tent on the left is the house in front having another floor put on. The concrete in the middle is the bottom 4 feet of the upper level back wall with the boundary fence in front at the lower level. It's just a house Barrie!

Late reply but you're welcome to come and have a crack with mine before you go if you like.

It does all seem very strange! Who actually are the EU based manufacturers though? Stihl, Dolly.... Efco I guess..... can't really think of any others of consequence. But as the biggest it would make sense for Stihl to be ahead of any bonkers directive which will no doubt only be adhered to in the UK.... I sound like I'm Europe bashing here, I'm not, it just seems like such an obviously terrible commercial decision that it could only have come from the likes of them. Which granted, is a bit of Europe bashing, but indirectly!

What I find a bit odd about this whole thing is, well, everything. Stihl as a manufacturer exist solely to sell equipment. It's pretty obvious to anyone with a functioning brain of any capacity that restricting the purchasing options their customers have will hit their volume. They sell their goods (allegedly) to all their dealers at the same nett price, so why would they care how these dealers shift them? They don't mind whether 1 million dealers sell 1 saw each or 1 dealer sells a million saws. In restricting their most successful volume selling dealers they set themselves at an unfair disadvantage to other manufacturers who don't adopt this policy. This isn't about protecting dealers, I'd be surprised of this has even come from Stihl all by themselves, it smells like Europe to me...... Such a half baked business decision doesn't feel like the brainchild of the worlds largest selling saw manufacturer. They didn't get there by making it difficult to buy their products.

Great news Adam, glad all is well!

Couldn't say Jon! it's still the 660 & 880 alongside the new 461 at my local dealer.... Do we get German or USA built 660's in this country?

have I time warped.... Your source is spot on, the last 066's did indeed roll off the line a while ago..... 2000 ish.....? 661 already in the shops..... Edit.... Not the uk yet obviously but plenty working in the states already...

I'm with the huck on this one. Sounds like a very complex arrangement, cryptic even. Also sounds like huge potential for arguments into the future... Presumably the fact that you're still considering means you're not 100% sure about ANY 'deal' and long term involvement with your sister in law....? Would I be right if I said the only thing holding you back from paying out and making a clean break is financing it? A good point was made.... What would your brother have done in your situation? Would he commit to going into business with your partner? Would your sister in law, being an accountant, let him?

Come again....? I don't know what you're talking about.... I do love my odds and sods, but I don't like clutter, especially in front of me on a stem. Not doing it day in day out means I have to keep it simple to avoid confusion I've used the wrench on the stem like Rich uses and if I get to do a whole dismantle on it then I'll finish on it, but if I'm spiking up and dismantling back down (which is more likely) then I don't bother setting it up. My entire kit for the whole job comprises spikes, flip line, climbing line, figure 8 and 1 biner. Very minimalist and most unlike me!

The issue I see with this is it's a bit 'chicken and egg'. 1. So the 'business' freezes and goes on the market. It will therefore stop generating income and therefore will have no value, this will mean that it does not sell, so the only solution is to dispose of all the assets. This process could drag on. This will likely generate very little cash - certainly not enough for Jose to set up again on his own - but probably a good deal of resentment. Doesn't this need resolving quickly for all involved? 2. While the 'business' is frozen and on the market, Jose will stop earning an income from his established workbase - so how will he live? Obviously by subbing.... Of course, I'm guessing he can't afford to buy all new equipment so surely he will need to continue using his existing kit / assets [ie the ones which belong to the 'business', or in other words are half owned by his brother's estate] to earn a living. Should he pay a hire charge to the 'business' for the use of the equipment? What about any repairs as a result of his continued use of the tools, or further depreciation? 3. Presumably this subbing work will be done for existing clients, but by rights should these existing clients not be ringfenced and be separated as the 'business's goodwill' as part of the 'sale'.... ? To keep things above board then he will need to be working either as a sub contractor to his own 'business', which has been frozen and taken on an identity of its own, or completely new clients. Who would get the income from any work for the old organisation, both Jose and his sister in law? How do they set Jose's wage? And does any profit stay in the 'company' to be passed onto the purchaser as working capital? Or do the two of them keep taking it out as it is generated? The problem with this scenario as I see it - apart from the potential for it to turn into a drawn out mess - is that there is no 'business' to sell or freeze. Only cash and assets. These two things need to be divided straight down the middle as they would be if Jose and his brother had previously chosen to go their separate ways. This can be done either based on a valuation whereby Jose makes a lump sum payment to his brother's estate [and it's the estate, not his brother's wife who should be paid] for his share of said assets and profit - along with any unpaid wages and profits, OR, everything needs to be sold individually and the revenue divided equally. Strikes me though that Jose will end up a bit screwed if everything gets sold off, as he'll be given half the realised cash [eventually] but only to the value of the equipment he needs to work as it is now in its depreciated second hand condition, and not what he [presumably] paid for it in the first place, which he will then need to outlay again to replace it. I'll say again, I think that talk of a 'business' [and its sale] needs to stop. It's just the cash and assets. And in order to continue earning a living Jose needs to hold onto his assets by purchasing his brother's share from the estate. To do this, one option would be to sit down with his sister in law and search through completed listings on ebay for the items he has, arrive at an average fair market value, of which half can be paid to the estate by Jose. Any as yet unpaid wages are easy to calculate, and profit ytd [if any] can be read from the end of year accounts - which presumably are being done around now? That should then be the end of any financial involvement with the brother's estate. An oversimplified solution perhaps, but in my view the fairest to both parties. As tragic as it is for Jose's sister in law to be in this position, Jose has lost someone just as important in his life and how he is treated is equally important as how his sister in law is, perhaps even more so. After all, without wishing to sound harsh, she will now be entitled to some financial support presumably as a single parent, plus any insurances which may [or should] have been in place. As if losing his brother wasn't bad enough, Jose now gets nothing but stands to lose potentially even more. I really hope it all works out well for you all mate, and your neice and sister in law. You all have all our sympathy.

I favour choking the line onto the stem with a bowline leaving a long tail to tug it down with and a soft locked figure 8, minimal clutter and a fast descent if I need to bail out. On the odd occasion I dismantle proper multi stemmed stuff I might leave the pulley saver set on one and use the HC if I think I might be up and down a few times but generally it's just single line figure 8 with flipline & spikes by choice.

I didn't realise the close up was of it's own leaves, I thought it was stood in a maple hedge. Then I find that sycamore is an Acer! Which suddenly explained everything! I find tree id like kings and queens at school, I just can't get it....! How deeply tragic...

Thanks Dave. My tree id skill sucks :

If you're willing to travel there's the Brightwells auction every Tuesday.... Or you can find someone nearby to check some over and bid over the live internet stream.... Brightwells Vehicles | 4x4 | Catalogue Rogers of Bedford, Nene Overland etc buy a lot of their stock from here.....

But you know what he's like.... Anything to be contrary.... :lol:

Although perhaps not the thousands they hope it is.....!

I can't tell the flavour from the pics, but if it's not TPO'd, is easy enough to get to and there's no chipping, brash to clear or stump to grind, it must be worth a few quid to someone doing firewood....?

Doubt it, but you might find the short one annoyingly short...!

I sometimes found that when I took my weight off the line in that arrangement it could slip down the stem.....depending on how much rope was in the system to weight it down anyway.....

I'll caveat this by saying that I'm no expert, but if not a limited company, the only thing which will pass to your sister in law are your brother's assets or his share of any owned between you. This will be at book value and you should be able to get these valued. Any earned money can only be claimed by those who earned it. As far as I can make out you and your brother were two self employed people who shared a business account and invoicing. At best then this entitles your sister in law to your brother's last month's pay packet, half the book value of any shared assets and *probably* half the cash in your shared business bank account. Freeze the account now and start using one of your own. This precludes then any future claim for wages. That would be what your brother would have taken with him if he had left the business and all you could take if you had previously walked away, or even walked away now. By extension then it seems logical that this is not only the right thing for your sister in law to receive but it's also what she is entitled to, your brother's estate. Anything beyond this, end of year profits for instance, I can't see how that applies here. As has already been stated, the partnership has been dissolved. If you make a loss will your sister in law shoulder half of it? I'd guess not....? As the business was not a limited company it was not an entity in it's own right, therefore I think it's difficult to value it. The arrangement has no real value. The only value is in physical assets which your brother had legal title to, any monies owed at the time of his passing and half of any profit in the bank or owed at that time. The difficulty will be making sure that in doing right by both yourself and your sister in law, neither of you end up being seen as the bad guy within your families or causing a rift. As an accountant she will now what she is really entitled to better than anyone. I don't know her and I hope for the sake of everyone involved that she doesn't try to take advantage of you. Good luck with everything.

I wouldn't even bother... We stick portacabins on our sites, 25x8 plumbed into the mains, all the time without planning.

How 'porta'...? I'd go with no. Stick it in.

I tried that once or twice. Found it uses quite a lot of length, ie not often was the multisaver long enough to do it. I just found it a bit of a fiddle myself. I don't bother with anything like that on single stem dismantles now, just spikes & wire core or strop with single climbing line choked on and a fig 8 for descent.