Seems like a lot of these custom bikes are a triumph of form over function, in much the same way as a lot of the ‘chopper’ motorbikes are.

Interesting to look at, but for me, quality well executed functionality wins over clever-but-impractical anyday.

Going up “Dreghorn Drop” in the Pentlands is quite brutal. It is right on the edge of being ridable, but eroded gulleys in the middle of the road, plus steep incline and loose surface, conspire to break your will. Don’t think I’d have a chance now I have gone 1×9, but I did not too badly when I had my granny, still lost it at the bend / steepest bit.

the road that goes straight up from the hairpin bend on the way up to buzzards nest, up past the right hand side of the freeride area to the quarry then takes a left and a right and ends up at the top of spooky wood.

A mate cleared that on a single speed in 2:1… I was breathing out my ass in granny gear :-/

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5.

Cheaper and maybe smaller, maybe one of the waterproof cameras? Look em up.

Smaller than that, I’d start looking at getting a good cameraphone.

It’s aluminium?

Unless it is anodised, and you leave the anodizing on, it will corrode. Not like steel, but it will get dull very quickly, and if there are areas that can trap salts etc it may corrode more. I’d at least polish then clearcoat if you are going to do that, although whether all that is really worthwhile is questionable.

How compact are you looking for?

What is your current camera?

Uh. Huh. Uhu hu hu.

Hu?

Uuuuh…

You need something to keep the tension when changing gear. That’d be a rear mech then.

Front shifts are horrible under tension anyway (uphill).

Ditch the front dérailleur, go 1×9 (or 1×8, or 1×5, or 1×10 etc), better ground clearance, less weight, no evil personified in a front mech, better shifting.

Conti Mountain King 2.4 Black Chilli Protection. Seem good to me and help me keep it rubber side up, which my Little Alberts didn’t. Would be interested in comparing the Contis to Nobby Nicks but am not going to spend a bunch of cash to find out if I am happy with what I have got.

My seals had gone in my callipers – I though I was glazing pads or whatever, turns out my callipers were spraying the discs with a fine mist of brake oil.

Change callipers.

There is not enough big letters on the wheels and tyres, needs more.

etc…

Cracked seattubes suck, is it worth it?

Took a train from E’burgh to London last year, where we met friends and drove to Morzine.

Thought the train would be relaxing instead of the two of us driving down to London.

Getting selves + bikes + 30kg bags each to station was ok, a bit of a hassle.

Getting bikes on train was a PITA, not a lot of room, lots of other peoples bags jammed everywhere had to be moved.

Train was full up (crowded) and it was a hot day so it was a sweatbox for 5 hours.

Kings X was a nightmare to negotiate with bikes + bags, couldn’t make the transfer because the tube wouldn’t let us go down stairs with bikes. Missed connection and had to wait 1 hr and negotiate with staff to let us on rush hour train with bikes.

It was crap.

Coming back was worse, tubes were off altogether and had to get a taxi. Yes you can get 2 MTBikes and lads and bags in one taxi. Wheels off etc. Caught train just leaving, got shouted at by conductor for trying to secure bikes… did it anyway.

Conclusion – driving is better. Would never do daawwrn saaf again by train with baggage if I could help it – travelling light the train is acceptable, but forget bikes.

Not sure how that applies to French trains, nor to planes. Best bet is to drive IMHO.

pixelmix’s route is the most common route I think. I agree that clockwise is better – the singletrack down the tree lined road is short but very sweet. It is only a 1 1/2 or 2 hour route though.

Hey islander – it all depends on what the weekend is like, the Pentlands really need a few good dry / warm days to start to dry out. There are still routes that are not too bad when it is wet. How long a cycle do you want to do? Couple of hours? Half day? Longer?

I am not sure if the visitor centre will be that helpful.

Official map is at http://download.edinburgh.gov.uk/Pentlands/Pentland_Map5.5_RGB_Low_Res2.pdf

Google maps is at http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=http:%2F%2Feucc.eusu.ed.ac.uk%2Fpentlands.kmz&jsv=107&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=55.830034,-3.322733&spn=0.155503,0.228526&source=embed

I would not bother pulling anything at all that looked remotely like a gun these days, unless you like looking down the barrel of 6 MP5s wielded by the police armed response units 5 minutes later.

Black leather will undoubtedly rub dye of onto your shorts.

Leather would need shaped into the saddle shape (steam etc).

Not to be negative, but the whole thing would probably fall to bits first ride.

Try pushing the attachment further onto the valve.

Sounds like you asked vague questions, and got vague answers.

I guess you could commute on most any bike, it isn’t a particularly specialised things commuting.

You need to really decide for yourself whether you want a road or a CX bike to do your commute on. Going on some shop assistants opinion is not really valid, unless they know you.

Bare aluminium corrodes to leave a thin aluminium oxide coating that supposedly prevents further corrosion.

If you polish some bare aluminium, and then just leave it, you’ll see it goes duller in a few hours / a day. Fingerprints will leave a mark.

The ‘raw’ aluminium frames you see are all clear anodised AFAIAA. This increases the thickness of the natural oxide layer, making it quite tough are looking reasonably good.

“Are you sure that is the right way to stoke?”

That’s it, 20 laps of AS tonight!

20 to 30 laps!

Do you not get bored out your mind?

Do you not feel like a hamster on a wheel?

What exact model have you got?

I have considered this for my Panasonic GH1 camera, but I fear it is a bit too big. I’d need to construct some kind of frame that screws into the cameras tripod mount, that then affixes to me or my backpack.

Problems would be:

* Needs to be high for best view, but that is physically hard, more likely to have to be mid-chest.

* May present too much force on the tripod mount, breaking it.

* Camera exposed to dirt and stones rain etc (can be worked round with filters and rain bags etc)

* Rider exposed to injury if falling off the bike with a hard object strapped to chest.

Most bolts on a bike, and especially anything to do with handlebars, should only be tightened up enough to hold it – it doesn’t need ‘cranked down on’.

Try tightening any allen bolt using the short end of the allen key – IOW with the long end in the bolt and the short end at 90 degrees. This will limit the amount of torque you can put on the bolt, and should still be enough for most tasks.

I’d check you haven’t damaged the handlebars as well… not a good place for them to ‘fold’.

there are 5 videos

6 videos, and the 6th is a very interesting rant on the new regulations – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lULbzqs90c – Cy for president I would say!

All we need now, is for a few brave souls to regenerate the cycle building industry here, and open little factories, rather than having the stuff made in’t Far East.

That would be a dream, wouldn’t it. British designed and built. I take it the Taiwanese wages are the defining place the costs are lower?

Shimano spares:

http://www.petracycles.co.uk/advanced_search_result.php?search_in_description=1&inc_subcat=1&categories_id=&keywords=RD-m810

Both those bags are cheep bags with synthetic insulation. The Microlite 500 would IMHO only be suitable for indoor use, the Microlite 700 may be ok, but is heavy, and may be uncomfortable when warm.

Three Fish – It is actually faster and more effective to remove the chain and shake it vigorously for a minute or so in a contain of white spirits. Do the same again in a container of hot water and washing-up liquid, then rinse thoroughly under a hot tap (or container of boiling water).

Then comes the most important part, and one which chain “cleaners” simply omit, and that is to dry the chain as quickly as possible – blow water from the links and hang it on a hot radiator or on the washing line in the sun. The speed means that there’s no chance of spot corrosion

Washing up liquid contains salt, that is why you are getting rust spots. Use bike cleaner or another detergent that doesn’t contain salt.

Is there not a Cannondale 29er hardtail? You could find that frame, and get a reducer headset.

Best thing about bike mags is you can read em whilst on the pan.

Anyone want to buy some second hand bike mags BTW?

Good video.

Top tune made it easy to watch, too often I end up turning off videos or turning off the sound because I don’t like the music!

Surely a few, low pressure, wide, reasonably ridden MTB tyres rolling through a man made path (caused by walking, mostly), is not going to impact any of the off-path SSSI?

I assume that all methods of access (walking and cycling) cause erosion of the path of some type? So this becomes an issue of how much erosion of the path is caused, and how it can be sustainable?

Surely all types of access (walking, bikes, horses) cause erosion of all paths? Taken to the logical extreme, no one would be allowed anywhere of off paved roads because of this.

So then, ‘responsible access’ (by foot, tyre, or hoof) is making sure your access is low impact, not no impact?

For example, if there were steep parts of the path that would be damaged excessively by riding them, the responsible thing is to walk them. It is a balance, not an absolute, isn’t it?

… with everyone else’s credit cards!

Me and 10 mates are planning to go next weekend.

What times does the uplift run?

Is 8″ enough travel?

What’s the best way to cook Capercaillie eggs? Gas or solid fuel?

Thanks!

Why don’t mountain bikers have a body that represents us and looks after the trails and such? Or do we, and I just don’t know about it? Surely such a thing would be worth £10, £20, £40 of our money a year?

Eric from Revelate / Epic went out there.

Full story and pics at http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=422085

drldan AKA Daniel Loughlin from ChainReactionCycles.com : CRC know there is no hole in their security but am sure they look into all these things regardless. The biggest security hole is the PC used to order. Servers have dedicated firewalls, secured networks, teams of IT people looking after them knowing what they are going etc. PCs have people using computers with no knowledge of security, surfing round the net and downloading stuff. All speculation, but if its anything related to the net, its by far most likely an issue with peoples PC…… Too many people visiting dodgy sites…

I am shocked by this patronising and bare-faced careless reply from a CRC owner.

Personally, I have a hardware and software firewall, along with a full and up to date internet security package, and am experienced in computer administration, and happy my computer is secure.

The number of people affected, and the commonality of the problem, points to Chain Reaction Cycles being compromised one way or the other.

Daniels comment means to me that CRC have not taken any steps to protect customers credit card details, and the problem therefore is still happening. I find this unbelievably careless, and will not be shopping at CRC again.

Just got phoned by my card provider, card was tried to be registered at Tesco Online yesterday, not by me.

Card blocked, new one coming.

Bought a spanner from CRC on the 26/2/2011 with said card.

Stuff happens, but this seems a serious security breach, looks like they got everyones CC details that used the site in the last few weeks…

Further testament that humans are barely evolved monkeys.