1 x 9

There didn’t seem to be any flowy man made trail pointing down the way you could do on a XC bike and enjoy it.

There are lots of trails that flow brilliantly and almost nothing any decent rider couldn’t enjoy riding on a 100mm 4X hardtail. just slam the seatpost on your XC bike and have some fun, just don’t expect to be riding Glentress style blue routes.

How about an average-to-not-great rider on a light 80mm XC bike?

It was good to be there, don’t get me wrong, and I think it brought on my riding loads, but I think the place could really do with some nice flowy bermy blue / red route stuff ala GT. It is fun not to have to be on the brakes the whole time, not to have to hang on for dear life over frankly horrendous breaking bumps. I think I saw one guy there who was riding the DH on a HT, and he had big forks and was a seriously good rider. A lot of others seemed to go for the 40lb full on DH bikes with full storm-trouper armour, again most of that seemed to be for dealing with the breaking bumps FWICS :-)

Not knocking it, it is great if that is what you want, the XC stuff is great, and the extensive lift system is great as well for holiday riding. I’m just an old fart who would rather chill out and flow down a well built trail than hang on for dear life on a 40 degree incline trying desperately not to go too fast!

I felt that some of the problem with the area is it is too polarised – either mental DH stuff that just points straight down the hill, or natural XC stuff. There didn’t seem to be any flowy man made trail pointing down the way you could do on a XC bike and enjoy it. The scope for that kind of thing is huge, but it just doesn’t seem the done thing.

2 weeks till the midge forecast is back

http://2010.midgeforecast.co.uk/index.php/home/

Let us know how you get on with Smidge TJ.

I don’t like how most videos have the original sound thrown out and some random rock / hip hop put over it all… it’s like cycling with headphones on! Sorry, I hate it. Leave the original sound on the video, or if you must mix in some music as well, but dip it in and out. Let us hear some of the riding. Otherwise, I may as well just turn off the sound and put on a record I like! Pointless.

cynic-al – trying to even defend that gluing on brake brackets is a good idea is just plain stupid mate. Don’t know why others are kidd gloving this, you are a bam for even trying it!

Have TJ and Cynic-al ever met?

You guys are both in or around E/burgh, right?

Going to GT – bottom carpark for 7pm if anyone fancies it.

I have used the GH1 for more than a year, including carrying all over the Alps cycling last summer. It is a great camera and IMHO the best of the smaller systems, including APS-C cameras.

Shallow depth of field is really something for full frame cameras IMHO – if you are really going for that, get one of them. The difference between APS-C and Micro Four Thirds isn’t enough to warrant lugging about an APS-C camera.

After saying that, you can get adapters for most all old school manual lenses for the GH1 /GH2 etc, and then use (for example) old Canon 50mm f1.4 lenses which you can pick up for under £100. This will give you the equivalent in 35mm terms of a 100mm focal length and in terms of DOF f2.8, which will give you plenty shallow depth of field for hardly any money.

8mm Fisheye

20mm f1.7

14-45mm

14-45mm

It broke very quickly, coming to a brief stop. As Bloblo guess the cf parted from the ti so it was the gluing that was the weak point. I’m gonna try it again with proper glue, just to see

It is not only the bonding that is the weak point, the design places all the stress onto the bonding in a way that will guarantee it will fail.

Listen to everyone, they are right.

You need a brace coming straight down 90 degrees from the top nut to stop it being pushed toward the seatstay. Ideally, this would be in the form of a triangular piece welded to the seatstay (look at any other brake mounts on seatstays for ideas).

Unless it is welded on, I wouldn’t trust it as far as I could throw it.

The thing is with this, if you manage to bodge it so it can resist a 5mph stop on a flat road, what is going to happen is it’ll break when you are doing 30mph down a hill, and a car / person / hedge appears in front of you.

A bike is a very minimalist structure that needs properly designed and built to resist the forces applied to it. If it is not properly designed and built, it will fail and you will crash and hurt yourself.

So have a flippin word wi yersel, and drop this stupid idea.

Sent u an email mboy

I tried a Pauls as well, but it didn’t fit due to my fat downtube. Anyone wants to buy it from me (35mm seat tube) gimme a shout.

Ended up with http://www.bbgbashguard.com/Mountainbike.html bash outer and http://www.gvtc.com/~ngear/

My Conti Mountain King 2.4 Black Chilli Protection are the best tyres I have used. Used them all over the place on my HT inc very rough Alpine tracks, and fast road descents, all at 30psi.

Hardly any punctures (none in the Alps), and the compound is hard wearing and feels planted to me.

I think the problem here is Conti make many versions of these tyres… I got the most expensive ones, about £35 per tyre IIRC… I know they make a cheapo version that is non-black-chilli and non-protection. I guess if you use those versions in a gnarr / burly manner, you get what you deserve.

If anyone wants to throw out the quality versions of these tyres, throw them to me please…

It’s all a bit Nathan Barley, in’t it!

* Standard times people do seems to be get there at 10 or 11am, then ride for about 3 hours, then go eat lots of cake, then leave by about 4pm.

* Trails don’t really ever feel crowded even at peek times, there is a lot of trails to soak up us punters.

* A section is rarely spoilt by other riders getting in your way. If you are hanging out at the top of, say, Spooky Wood, just give people a few minutes start if you think they will be slower than you. Personally, I’ll pull over and let faster riders through if I hear them catching me up on a section.

Silicone is not for metal to metal contact – it does not lubricate properly and will cause galling AFAIAA.

neninja – I can see that point, but if it isn’t reported / discussed, what then? Is it better we bury our heids in the sand?

What’s the use of posting about this tragic accident?

* Maybe I cycle that road, and there is a dangerous spot to watch out for?

* Maybe I cycle in Edinburgh, and this is a warning to be careful at corners / near trucks and the like?

* Maybe I cycle on the road anywhere, and this makes me think more carefully about my road sense?

* Maybe this opens discourse about cycling safety in general?

10 people a day are killed in RTAs in the UK. We hear about a pitiful few. If that number were killed because of almost anything else, it would be reported as an epidemic, a slaughter, a horror. Imagine if 10 people a day got killed in heavy industry? There’d be a public outcry! Yet we can accept 10 a day killed on the roads, “that’s life”.

That is terrible, wishes go out to the cyclists family and friends, and also the lorry driver.

This is the junction http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=Broughton+Road+edinburgh&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Broughton+Rd,+Edinburgh+EH7,+United+Kingdom&ll=55.965377,-3.189765&spn=0.000691,0.001522&t=h&z=20

Not wanting to assume too much but from the BBC pic, looks like they were both travelling south-west, looks like the cyclist was run over, probably from the cyclist being on the inside of the lorry and the lorry turning left, cyclist not.

We probably all do it as cyclists, but this is not the first time this has happened, and makes me think it is vital that cyclists take their own room on the road same as cars and motorbikes etc, and not be consigned to the edge of the road.

I also have to say I find nothing wrong with the pic, it is better that the public see the outcome of these things, than be sheltered from it. IMHO showing the full terrible effects occasionally would be useful for road safety.

Good ride! Always good to see new trails I hadn’t even considered…

Next Wednesday, I have plans to go down to Glentress with some pals, meeting at 7pm in the bottom carpark, if anyone fancies it.

Or do each climb twice!

robgarrioch – Ground was pretty dry around White Hill on Monday, I’m sure there’ll still be some muddy bits if y’all look hard enough though!

The trick is to let TandemJeremy ride in front – if you see his back wheel go over his head, you know there is a muddy bit there :-)

Can’t make the 19th June, but can do 21st August, have put it in my diary.

What tools do we need to bring? Do the rangers need help with trailers / 4X4? I have a reasonably capable 4×4 so can take people to the trail we are working on if access can be arranged for that.

If they want it pronounced Sram, they should spell it that way, not the all-caps SRAM.

It’s these Americans, honestly.

Scott, Ray, and Sam could have been:

SSAY
or
SRCOTT

Or

Sorasa
Saraso
Rasosa
Amcottay
Ayamcott
Scoraysam

I’d have gone with Sorasa (Sore Racer).

It’s a stupid name anyway…

Ess-Ram?
Schram?
Suram?
S.R.A.M.?

I wish they’d stop bending the top tubes all over the place…

I’m onto the Konig Ludwig Weissbier now Jeremy, do keep up :-)

Hey guys, good to ride with you / see you again / meet you. That was a good solid ride there, great to see the ground so dry.

Just had a shower and licked my wounds – think I’ll live to fight another day, but that OTHB moment on the rocky steep descent into the darkness was a bit annoying – my fault, think if I had remembered my bloomin light bracket and had the big light on, I may have taken a better line and avoided the rock that stalled me… ah well, shoulda woulda coulda… DIDN’T!

The route back up the Water Of Leith was quite quick in fact, I was surprised how close it brought me out – thanks for the route tip.

Anyway, knee got it’s medicine (Germolene fixes all), and brain getting it’s medicine (Kloster Andechs Weissbier), well deserved :-)

njee20 – I’ve gone 1×10 with a 36t ring and 11-36. Wouldn’t personally fancy a 32t, would be undergeared. As others have said though it depends how fit you are and what, how and where you ride.

I’m on a light XC race bike, and I’m reasonably fit.

I run 11-32 with a 32 chainring, and don’t feel undergeared. The only difference between the setups is you being able to run a 36-11 ratio (3.27) against my 32-11 (2.9).

32-32 is a one to one ratio, 32-36 is 0.88. If I was to go 1 x 10, I think I’d prefer the lower gear for keeping me going on longer days / climbs, than the taller gear for going marginally faster on flat smooth roads. However, being limited to the one to one ratio hasn’t really bothered me yet, so perhaps 36-36 would be better, guess I’ll have to try it and see!

I am also on a light XC bike, and am reasonably fit (on a good day with a following wind :-)

thered So why do Shimano make a triple chainring for the new stuff at all

Because 27 gears > 9 gears, 30 gears > 10 gears. In the punters mind, more is better, it is easy to sell more. Plus the 3 x n configuration is ‘just the way things are done’. It is easy, both for the manufacturer and the rider. Who is going to stick their neck out and make a production 1 x n bike, and loose a whole bunch (majority?) of sales to other bikes?

So, unless there is some kind of an epiphany in the general public on the advantages of dropping that nasty bit of bent sheet metal and wire string that is a front deralleur, 3 x n will be the standard for some time to come, I feel. 1 x n will remain with the other niche drivetrain layouts such as belt drive, hub gears, and singlespeed – something that a rider moves onto after becoming dissatisfied with the standard 3 x n in some way. Vive la difference!

People drop social norms when they feel out of reach of any consequences. Shouting stuff out of cars is a common one… getting into fights in internet forums is another one.

Throwing stuff is unacceptable though and should be reported to the Police.

Lies, damned lies, and statistics!

It was approximately 52% a guess.

Bimbler – I don’t get this 1×9, 1×10 stuff. You lose a shifter at the expense of lots of gears, doesn’t seem like a worthwhile exchange.

You loose about 450 grams of Heath Robinson noisy annoying front deralleur mech and associated bits:

2 chainrings
front deralleur
cable
shifter

You loose maybe 5 or 6 gears, 3 at the top, 3 at the bottom, which are all used less than 4% of the time, and which can be lived without with surprisingly little problem.

You gain much satisfaction of having a simpler drivechain, more ground clearance, less cables and bar accessories, less noise, less maintenance, cleaner looking bike, a reasonably large weight saving, simpler shifting…

What kind of bike is it?

Light XC goat or heavy 8″ travel monster?

How fit are you?

Try cycling it about just in the middle ring for a few weeks. 1 X n is the better option if you can do it, IMHO a 32 chainring and 11-36 cassette is the optimal 10 speed setup, spinning out isn’t a big deal and doesn’t happen that much off road, and 32/11 is fast enough for a MTB even onroad unless you are doing a multi-day tour. 32/36 will give you an ‘underdrive’ for that last long hill on a 7 hour ride, IMHO more likely to get used.

Make sure to ride a 140mm hardtail before you decide – it is my considered opinion that most of the time that is too much fork for a hardtail for XC / trail centres unless you are doing big tricks, and a lighter more XC oriented setup is in fact more fun and more ridable for most people.

Happened to me, finally found out it was the seals that had gone, and were spraying a fine mist of brake oil onto the discs! Put in new callipers, and now fixed.

The first day I got my oakley flak jackets, I was carrying my bike through a gate when my front wheel caught the fence and spun my handlebars round, hitting me square on the left eye. It was quite painful.

First, if I hadn’t been wearing the glasses, I think it would have been a lot worse, and second, I was sure I had broken / scratched my glasses, but there was not a mark on them. I also have to wonder if a cheap lens would have shattered? IMHO you get what you pay for, and I’m sticking with what I have proven to myself to be a quality product that does what I need it to do.

If worrying about what technology to use is the only problem we have, we are truly spoilt :-)

Vive la difference!

Well, I’m glad that people are still researching and questioning, this is how we improve things.

This stood out to me though:

Professor Woodward said he was in accord with the conclusion that modern, lightweight helmets with a soft shell protected the head less than older ones with a hard shell.

Now I have been wondering this, as I have been doing a bit of kayaking and noticed the helmets have a tough shell. Why are bicycle helmets so flimsy? It’s not as if they are cheep, and if they really are worse for the softer shell, why do they make them like that?

I’m not interested in riding fast enough to need a full suss. I also like peddling uphill, and need all the help I can get, so not loosing power to bobbing suspension is good.

I prefer hardtail with short travel fork. Feels more like a bike, efficient, light, east to maintain. I can feel the surface of the trail.

Have no interest in damaging the trail or myself. Gnar is for youngsters :-)

Oh, and 1/10 for the trolling. Very transparent.