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Tinas - I am in charge of the tandem. SWMBO can only punch me in the kidneys not crash the bike
My daughter bought me a Beard Care Kit for my birthday
Curved TVs and / or 3D TVs
Both utter crap.
I am in charge of the tandem. SWMBO can only punch me in the kidneys not crash the bike
I was thinking more from her POV!
I quite enjoy it, makes a long 5+ hour ride fly by as you can alternate between socializing alongside the main 'line', take a turn at the front if you fancy a bit of a stretch, hide in the middle if you want a break, and all of a sudden you're reached a cafe 40 miles away without much perceived effort. And you don't get bad days, just sit at the back and get towed along. Riding in a less disciplined group you're all stuck riding at the pace of the slowest at different perceived efforts so the fit guy is bored and the slowest guy is busting a gut.
I have to say I've generally enjoyed owning and riding my fixed gear bike both with Drops and now with some risers, they're not universally capable and yes steep and/or long descents are their biggest challenge. But then it's not like you'd have one as your only bike is it?...
If you want "over-hyped", surely it's got to be Fat bikes?
They were The greatest bicycling invention ever for six months, all but vanished from most companies product line now...
You still occasionally see one trundling at half speed round some blue TC lines with superfluous dry bags strapped to the bars/forks.
I see the appeal Tinas - but what horrifys me is riding that close to other cyclists. I have on occasion let someone I trust sliptream me / us ( on the tandem you make a big hole in the air) but I will never slipstream someone else. to me its just not safe to follow somone that close.
It’s mostly all relative and personal
Gosh, where to start.
How about single chainrings.
I love both MTB and walking, for instance. Some hate walking.
single-speed for me = riding + walking. Depending on who I’m reading - some love it and many don’t love it. Some love it sometimes. But how about single chainrings? Without a single chainring I wouldn’t be able to single-speed. So they can’t be overrated IMO.
"Natural trails"
Rooty, badly built jumps, no flow, too steep/dangerous for mortals/people with jobs.
Films
My problem with walking is that it’s frowned upon to bring a bike for the fun bits.
Guy Martin.
You can not fart!
You bloody can.
I like it.
Britain
STRAVA
Cycling for fitness I don't get it, worse still is the hamster wheel in the garage linked up to loads more online for 'racing'. I prefer mtb to be all about the Adrenalin and getting outdoors, a by product is fitness but it's never the reason I ride....hence I now use an ebike 99.9% of the time 🙂
I can’t believe the number of people who will drive (quite some distance) to Cannings and spend a morning lapping the place, when there’s SOOOO much good natural riding around it.
Just because they are doing it that day doesn't mean they always do it. Cwmcarn is surrounded by great trails, but it is also great trails itself that are a bit different. TCs make sense if you smash it all the way round. If you bimble round say Swinley then yes it's dull. At warm speed it's exhilarating in a way that no natural trail is. And you can't ride natural trails the way you do TCs because there might be people, dogs etc.
Running
An absolutely abysmal way to spend your spare time
Primeval forest drums.
Drum n' Bassalt?
I can't understand fixie singlespeeds either, not for town at least. How in the hell do you set up a bunnyhop onto or off kerbs?? How is rear wheel braking safer in the wet compared to normal brakes?
Also, the lack of farting thing would be a breaker.
And you can’t ride natural trails the way you do TCs because there might be people, dogs etc.
To be fair at Swinley you still get all that crap, and people having picnics on the trail.
“Natural trails”
Rooty, badly built jumps, no flow, too steep/dangerous for mortals/people with jobs.
Not sure I agree, by the same token a trail center is just a load of jumps and smooth trails that encourage high speeds through smoother surfaces and lower risks but with higher consequences. Take the Army ranges and Gorrick courses around Swinley. Similar topography, but rootier and generally steeper as you say. But despite crashing a lot more I don't think I've ever come away with worse than cuts and bruises.
I can’t understand fixie singlespeeds either, not for town at least. How in the hell do you set up a bunnyhop onto or off kerbs??
That bit's easy, you just wheelie off.
Getting up kerbs is a bit harder, it's a bit like riding a step in a climb. Lift the front wheel over it then a little flick with the ankles to lift the back without stopping pedaling. I'm sure bunnyhopping is possible, it's just timing.
I learnt to ride a two wheeler when a sprog on an eccentric relative’s drop bar fixie. It was also far too big. It is a wonder I ever got on a bike again. It has left me with a fixie aversion but I am indifferent to TCs despite ( or because of )living on the next hill but one to Lady Cannings.
Heart rate monitors
I mean what is the point - If its working then great..if it isn't what are you going to do about it?
Heart rate monitors
I mean what is the point – If its working then great..if it isn’t what are you going to do about it?
A friend had one with two alarms, one was a warning to take it easy, the other paged the Dr! (he had a pacemaker).
SPDs on a mountain bike.
They just encourage poor technique and I'm not convinced they are actually more efficient
I like SPDs on my bike. Makes me feel more connected to it. Makes the trails come alive
Says TANDEM Jeremy
You're thinking of someone else, that argumentative tosspot was banned years ago 😉
I’m not convinced they are actually more efficient
Just being clipped to the bike, no, but having your foot in the optimum position every time, and generally having stiffer soled shoes (than flats) definitely help efficiency.
🙂
but having your foot in the optimum position every time
But is the optimum position the same position all of the time?
But is the optimum position the same position all of the time?
Probably (bearing in mind ~80% or more of any ride is probably spent going uphill where the optimum for anything is efficiency and power rather than any other consideration) but the quoted figure is a 15% loss in power through a squidgy rubber sole compared to a solid SPD shoe/cleat. When people talk about having to adjust their foot position it generally refers to flat pedals and the difficult in adjusting it when you get it wrong, spd's on the other hand give you almost zero friction float.
I know some people have played around with mid position cleats, but even with flat pedals I only move slightly back. Standing further forward just feels unstable because you ankles higher relative to the pedal (and effectively reducing the frames reach as well I suppose).
Oooh, where to start:
1x anything.
"Gravel" groupsets
1x gravel groupsets - in what world is this actually a useful combination of gears?
29" wheels
27.5" wheels
tapered headsets
And fwiw fixed gear isn't all that bad for bimbling around town. It's definitely an adjustment, but it's a fun way to ride, once you adjust your head in terms of how fast you'll go, your cadence etc
but it’s a fun way to ride, once you adjust your head in terms of how fast you’ll go, your cadence etc
So, the same as 1x then really?. The extra gears that 2x or 3x give is about as relevant to your average biker as the supposed 15% efficiency reduction the flat pedals suffer.
Coffee.
I went cold turkey nearly 3 years ago, having realised that I was basing a fair part of my day around its availability. I still drink the occasional cup, but being a non-addict gives you a surprising insight into the habit. 😉
Can’t believe that period are still moaning about dropper posts and 1x drive trains! Two of the best things ever as far as I’m concerned.
Turbo trainers are utter bobbins thought. Nothing worse than sitting and spinning and sweating your balls off and going nowhere.
At this moment I would say tubeless but maybe now was not a good time to ask 😉
Can’t believe that period are still moaning about dropper posts and 1x drive trains! Two of the best things ever as far as I’m concerned.
Like Ben_H and his coffee I can take it or leave it.
1x12 I have because my new bike has it, but it's worse in almost every way compared to 2x10. the chainline in lowest gear is just bonkers, 2x gave a narrower cassette and a variable chainline up front! Even 1x10 worked well enough.
I have a dropper post because it was a £50 bargain. There is no way my reverb was worth £200. I've survived the intervening 3 years without one. I just don't seem to ride in a way that needs it, either I'm off the back of the saddle, or I'm off the front of it, or with the cranks level there's a good 7" clearance anyway.
Endura, I really want to like them but pretty much everything I've had from them has been unfit for purpose. I'd disagree about droppers, I didn't get them before I had one but now I'd be a bit lost without one. Not necessarily for really steep stuff where you drop the saddle at the start and keep it there til the end, like at the Golfie, bit for trails like Drumlanrig at the weekend it was great to start with saddle up and just drop it when needed.
Alexa and other similar devices and all the internet of things. I do not want my fridge to tell alexa that I am out of butter and to order some more for me!
Innerleithen red. For ages it was cool to knock Glentress and hype up inners, but it's short, dull, lacking in variety... We should dig up the handful of good bits and move them down the road. It is a very convenient set of climbs though.
whitestone
Member
For me, and I realise this is going to wind some folk up, it’s trail centres. I. Just. Don’t. Like. Them.
OK, it's your opinion but there's so much variety between centres, how do you end up disliking them all? I mean, you can go for a lap of the red at glentress or you can go for a circuit of the official offpiste as possible and the only things really similar are where you park, you could even avoid sharing the climbs. Or you can go bouldering at Laggan, or climbing at Golspie... BMCC has a load of the finest of squiggly singletrack anywhere AND tractors. Even inners has 4 distinctive, characterful and good bits.
It's like when people say "I don't drink alcohol, I just don't like the taste", as if creme de menthe tastes like tennants. I don't get what one thing can apply to them all?
Margaret Thatcher.
Christmas(bloody awful
Charity.
Hardtails.
NHS.
The English.
Universities.
The good old days.
British Policing.
Heavy Metal music
Foreign foods.
Most pubs and their clientel.
Guinness.
New years eve celebrations.
Capitalism.
etc etc etc.
@northwind - surprisingly you are the first to bite!
I certainly haven't been to all trail centres nor ridden every trail at those I have been to - I think the first one I went to was the original Coed y Brenin nearly 25 years ago. I have no desire to visit any trail centre, Gisburn is the closest to me (about 30mins away) and it's probably three years since I've been, I'd sooner continue the extra hour to get to the Lakes.
@monkeycmonkeydo - crikey, you're a bundle of fun aren't you?
Fixies are great for a commuter bike. Wouldn't bother otherwise. Rode one for 7 years until my back got busted by a driver - bike was fine. Fixie with two brakes. Wasn't a cheap bike as it cost north of a grand specced up - probably more like £1,500 with panniers.
Great intellectual challenge of my ideas there whitestone.Oh and Geoffrey Archer and Margaret Atwood could and should have been shot at birth.Vodka-Russian bilge water.
To be fair if I lived an hour away from the lakes I wouldn't ride many trail centres but when you're away somewhere and there's a trail centre nearby then it would be rude not too.