Fitting cranks 5mm shorter is not the magic solution to you being a clumsy oaf who can’t negotiate a few rocks or roots without plowing your massive flat pedals into them.

Rim brakes are shite and old fashioned. Disc brakes are just better at stopping you, slowing you down and allowing you to control your speed.

Weight of your bike doesn’t really matter unless you’re a professional.

Some of the best bikes I’ve owned have been heavy bastards.

Weight of your bike doesn’t really matter unless you’re a professional.

without plowing your massive flat pedals into them.

**** me. Someone’s cranked the fuckwitometer up to 11:-)

Steve_b gets overtaken by everybody and uses is brakes more than his pedals.

Valve stems and tyre logos don’t have to be aligned.

Not all lawns need to be perfect.

If a gravel bike is the best bike for the trails you ride, then you are riding the wrong trails.

SPD lifts achieve the same (or often better) results than a ‘proper’ bunny hop.

jimmy748

Member
If a gravel bike is the best bike for the trails you ride, then you are riding the wrong trails

That’s never been in doubt, as the trails in question tend to be the only ones folk can ride to from their front door

The Sick! Bikes dudes are just misunderstood.

Sorry, I mistook this for ‘Defend the Indefensible’ on Fighting Talk.

I believe the tyre logo alignment and SPD lift ones, though.

Most roadies look miserable because they are miserable because road riding is miserable.

Aluminium is the best frame material if you are after a balance of strength, light weight and affordability.

Torx head bolts have no place on a bike and are just the industry making things more difficult for the casual home mechanic.

Most SRAM components have at least two sub-components too many.

Expensive saddles are ridiculous.

Tread pattern, compound and carcass weight are all secondary to how easy the tyre is to get on and off the rim with cold hands.

Expensive waterproof jackets are pointless. They stay waterproof for about five minutes longer than cheaper thinner outer shells and the abrasion from pack straps and general gritty cack ruins them just the same. Under layers plus a cheap outer is best.

You don’t need ten thousand lumens of trail-melting light to have a perfectly good light set up for night riding.

Strava will soon start causing no end of bother with cheeky riding and access issues.

You don’t need Evil Knevil amounts of ‘air’ to be a good rider or enjoy a ride. In some bike magazines, there are more images with bikes with both wheels off the ground than those where they are on.

SPD lifts achieve the same (or often better) results than a ‘proper’ bunny hop.

SPD lifts are proper bunny hops.

Today’s CX World Cup race at Namur was better than any XC mountain bike race ever.

Just watched it, bloody hell, I’ve raced significantly easier mountain bike courses!

If you use the phrase “send it” without being ironic, then you need to have a serious word with yourself.

That and ‘drop in’ unless its something along the lines of Redbull Hard-line or visiting your mum for tea.

If a gravel bike is the best bike for the trails you ride, then you are riding the wrong trails.

If a gravel bike is the best bike for the rides you can do from your door, then keep on enjoying it! (Not controversial, I know, but a point that needed to be made!)

My experience: Disc brakes need to get hot, so gentle rolling winter road rides in rain and puddles = cold wet rotors = squeeeeeall

Stock tektro callipers + Swisstop BXP pads = adequate but silent braking. Bliss.

If someone develops a guaranteed silent disc brake, I’ll be all over that bandwagon like a shot!

Ah, I see.. it’s the noise! I can help! For silent disc brakes that work as well as your rim brakes – just spray WD40 on your discs before setting out. Bingo!

Any bike-specific cleaning product is at least 500% the price of an easily available identical substitute.

Ah, I see.. it’s the noise! I can help! For silent disc brakes that work as well as your rim brakes – just spray WD40 on your discs before setting out. Bingo!

Funny, I remember doing the Ft Bill DH course in the pissing rain with V Brakes, but that doesn’t help the industry add £500 and 1/2 a kilo to every new road bike sold, sooo yeah, rim brakes don’t work in the wet 😉

£500 for a set of brakes? You’re doing it wrong.

Meh, hazily recalled difference between Genesis Equilibrium rim and disc models.

Now it seems £200 more gets you mechanical discs but Tiagra instead of 105, so lets say £300 like-for-like but 1 kilo in extra weight 😉

Plus tyres all come into 3 categories:
1) Up to 2.7, ie, just a normal tyre with a silly new name or
2) 2.8 or more, ie, shit.
3) Actually just a 2.5 with a lie painted on the side

Less controversial- boost is 100% horseshit. The supposed benefits are trivial and not all hubs even deliver it, many of the same benefits could have been realised with hub changes, and it wasn’t even really needed for plus- my 142mm rear 29er Trek will take a 3.0. Which was shit, but still, it could do it.

No UK hill is big enough to warrant an uplift. Peddle you sissy!

A cold or hangover is not a valid excuse for not riding.

Anyone who buys a brand new bike is mental.

Wheel size should be a function of frame size. If you ride a small 29er thats mental.

Steel isn’t real…titanium is

Peddling a bike that doesnt go anywhere is mental.

Riding on footpaths is not a crime it is a peaceful protest.

Santa Cruz is no longer a niche brand – they’re the Raleigh Activator of modern times. To be fair their marketing team must be amazing.

Cyclists that don’t say hello or nod back are tossers.

cyclists that feel they need to say hello to me are tossers. I don’t know them or need to acknowledge them just because they are also riding a bike.

People who don’t know the difference between peddling and pedalling should not be cyclists.

Takes minimum effort to say hello – especially if they’re looking right at you.

Racing bikes is one zillion times better than just riding them. If I didn’t race I don’t think I’d ride at all

Peddle you sissy!

Fail.

You do not work as hard on an eBike as you do on a normal bike. You might kid yourself that you do, but you don’t. But, that’s OK as everyone likes to be lazy sometimes.

The single biggest difference you can make to your enjoyment of riding is to lose some weight. You’ll be quicker and you’ll enjoy more elements of the ride.

Whatever you have in your backpack, half the contents. Unless you’re out in the wilds you don’t need more than a very basic tool kit and some water. The size of some of the packs I see when out riding is astonishing. This also plays into point number 2.

A bell is the best thing you will ever buy for your bike and will reduce the possibility of confrontation with other people considerably.

all MTB tyres are pretty much the same.

I don’t find Rob Warner funny.

Horses were lead into battle since year dot but now they’re scared of pushbikes?
Snowflakes.

People who don’t know the difference between peddling and pedalling should not be cyclists.

See also breaks and brakes.

SPDs are more efficient than flats.

2.5mm makes a difference on pedalling performance on crank length.

Riding a bike means you welcome comments from other people on your choice of attire.

Ha ha ha. The Ciaran Path and the Burma Road are indeed pish.

Bikes don’t have a cockpit.

The maximum size of road group that should be allowed is 6 and if you fall off the back you should just go home

Jibbing should be done on a BMX not an MTB.

Red bikes are not the fastest (that will be orange).

Cartoons involving mtbs and sheep were rarely funny.

Cannock is an absolutely awful place to ride.

Putting your name on your frame means you are delusional and very selfish in bed.

It’s not that these people are being selfish in bed, it is just that they have very small willies.

This is easily disproved, but perhaps not on this forum 😉