Thanks – that fall on the pipes looked a bit sore!

So what is coming out on the 20th? A full video?

1xn rocks. Been running my bog standard 3×9 in the middle ring only for the last few months in preparation for the change. Think I am now ready to jettison the big ring, granny, front derailleur, and all the rest of the useless annoying junk, and simplify!

I couldn’t care less where I got my stuff.

Price + service = win.

Part of the service is timeliness. IE if I need it NOW like today, LBS wins (any one of the 10 or so I am close to). If I need it this week, and it is a more specific part, then any online shop that has it in stock for a reasonable price wins.

Yeh, that is not a 2011 frame or fork either AFAIK.

Thieving chav scum.

Hanging’s too good for em etc etc…

Meat eaters having an aversion to specific meats outside their ‘usuals’ is just an indication of how removed we have become from any farming process. Only about 1.8% of the population knows what goes on. Ask to see round a ‘free range’ chicken farm.

I’m a veggie, but I’d kill and eat most anything if I was hungry… I’d give it about a day without food at the most! No problem… I have killed and gutted bunnies before so I know what it’s like.

I don’t think bread is a good idea.

Pasta the night before.

Porridge or other oaty thing for breakfast.

Take thick oatcakes with you for the ride, with whatever topping you like. I make an oatcake sandwich with and cheese. Two of them (four oatcakes) is usually enough, plus a mars bar and a bottle of lucozade.

I returned a Rapha cream baselayer and got a black one in exchange. I had complained to them that it looked like my grandfathers old vest after using it for a few days. It had got stained with mud.

Wool stains very easily, so I think having a white or cream wool garment for off-road use is never going to work. To be honest, even a wet / muddy road ride would probably mess up a cream baselayer.

Get a Toyota Surf instead. You can actually drive them on roads and they feel like a car, not a tractor.

Anyone run DT Swiss forks?

…

I think this should be put to bed.

The person who I presume runs the site has stated a) the problems with the server / software will be fixed, and b) that the forums will never be changed.

That’s fine, although IMHO very narrow minded. I have not been on here that long, but have run a successful and much larger site (by an order of magnitude) for 6 years, and know a thing or two about forum dynamics. But hey ho, accept the things you can’t change and all that, ain’t no biggie :-)

What about the DT Swiss stuff?

So, for instance, the great helmet debates would go where?
They are equipment, but it is about riding.

What helmet should I buy? -> Equipment
Should I wear a helmet whilst riding? -> Riding.

It is really not hard, although the number of wrong posts in the Bike section of the site suggests that some users have trouble with the concept.

What if a discussion about riding somewhere (in the Riding forum) results in someone asking an Equipment question like what tyres work well there? Should a mod then move the thread?

What tyres for mud – Equipment
What tyres for Scotland? – Riding.

That’s a borderline example, and the bottom line is it doesn’t matter really, what matters is the big fat obvious topics go in their big fat obvious sub-forums.

Petty rules and categories just cause annoyance all round.

Most of the internet seems to manage.

Or maybe STW should change over to a newsgroup? That’ll keep the ‘flat earthers’ happy :-)

Is it not conceivable that the flat format may be part of the reason that STW is such a popular forum?

In the beginning, it may have helped grow the forum.

Now, it is a hindrance, and makes the site feel amateurish and annoying to use (not helped by lack of Private Messaging, and constant downtime).

Older users are bound to think that everything is perfect, and resist change. That doesn’t make them right.

TandemJeremy – that’s it, I challenge you to a race! On coastkids hidden trail. You on your tandem :-)

Sequel like stuck pigs? SQL like a stuck pig! LOL.

That’s it, I’m buying out the mag and changing things to how I like, it’s what us idle billionaires do you know…

:-)

Been down three times today now (so far).

At least split the Bike forum into:

* Bikes and Equipment
* Riding

It is common knowledge that people (in general) don’t like change and sequel like stuck pigs about it, and then a week later can’t remember what all the fuss was about and are happy with the change. Don’t be conservative reactionaries! Be revolutionary!

Try adapting miketually’s example a bit – he has a question about his 29r SS, that he wants to use for racing – which of the 3 theoretical sub-forums does he put it in? Whichever one he puts it it, he’s potentially missing out on x% of forum users who won’t be browsing that sub-forum.

Sorry, you are wrong.

Post about racing? Racing forum.
Post about 29er wheels / frame? 29er forum.
Post about SS? SS forum.

It is called keeping things on topic.

So your suggesting taking out the 4 topic areas and giving them their own topic areas, creating 4 topics. A bit like what we have now, the overview is a quick reference area let’s call it an overview of the 2 main forums. If you want to see more post on the chat forum click chat forum. If you want to see more post on the bike forum, well I’m sure you an work it out.

Your sarcasm does not befit your status here.

I am obviously talking about the bike forum.

No reason it couldn’t be split into a few sections. The current setup is a joke that only the people used to this forum like. Look at any other forum for clues. I’m not suggesting going to the extremes of MTBR though, although that has IMHO many benefits.

Not having PM is a total PITA here.

Since this forum is the biggest user of the software it runs, I suspect the code needs much improvement and optimisation, and that STW is banning it’s head of off the limits of the software.

If I want to post a photo of my 29er SS on the MTBR forum, do I post it in the SS forum or the 29er forum? As it’s to be used for endurance racing, should it also go in the Endurance Racing forum?

sub-divided forums = shit

Seriously?

I don’t think posting pictures of a niche within a niche is the issue.

On the main bike forum here, there are all kinds of topics. At least taking out the top 4 topics and giving them their own forum would mean that posts don’t sink faster than the titanic.

This works for almost every other forum on the internet. I’m not sure why it couldn’t work here, apart from people not liking change…

Plus, broken aluminium / steel / titanium can mess you up just as bad, or maybe worse!

I don’t mind £££ if it is a quality product.

Fox seem to have a bad rep for needing serviced a lot and stuff needing replaced at great expense.

Everyone seems to run Rockshox!

So moderators can swear but the proletariat can’t?

The site seems to be down at least once a day at the moment. That would seem to be monotonously regular WRT server / site uptime. I don’t understand your analogy between that and ‘permanent diarrhoea’?

There are constantly posts going into the wrong section because of the ‘overview’ button and people being clueless.

Sorry for the moan. Site is generally good. Hugs and kisses.

PM system as well – yes please.

Can we drag this forum into the new millennium please?

Sorry about the swear.

This is an improvement for a start – http://wonder-tonic.com/geocitiesizer/content.php?theme=2&music=4&url=www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/the-community-here-is-great-but-the-forum-software-and-servers-suck

Because big tyres + hardtail = the best comfort, stability, grip.

Maybe not 2.5s, but certainly 2.4 Mountain Kings. I want room!

MTFU and go and see her.

At the first sign of any manipulation etc, leave.

Otherwise, no one is perfect, we all do things we regret. If her story is genuine, you’ll be doing an honourable thing forgiving her.

Luddites!

At least a few categories would be better than the current cluster****.

Don’t know what it is that is putting me off Marzocchi… they are more for rough-n-tumble stuff?

The tyre clearance thing is a pain in the bum though with Rockshox. Why do they make the crown so tight?

I am running Conti Mountain Kings, but I want reasonable clearance plus the ability to run whatever large tyre around and up to 2.5 I think.

Was considering a Lefty as well. Maybe I should look into that more?

I am so used to the stiff and light and massive clearance headshok, I don’t want to end up with a flimsy boat anchor with tyre rub! Especially if I am spending £600+

I run carbon bars and don’t think twice about it.

The idea of a carbon steerer gives me the willies though.

Weird!

Thanks Northwind – I am clueless, I thought 15mm was the standard for this type of fork. What is the weight on the Reba Team?

Happy to help…

That’s right, although the folding tyres may have options for stronger sidewalls and the like (aka ‘snakeskin’ etc).

At least it isn’t detailing vacuum cleaners:

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=434131

Kevlar bead = folding = lighter

Steel bead = non folding = heavier

Collecting things is different from using them.

IMHO that is way too much bike for the Pentlands, and a bit too much for most of GT.

Unless you are super gnarr, or need it to compete in races, you may find it doesn’t really enhance your riding that much.

I don’t know what bike you have at the moment, but you may consider that it would be better to keep that / service it / upgrade bits, rather than sink a pile of cash into a S/H carbon frame that may or may not last you, with a bunch of old swapped over components that again may or may not last.

And also IMHO £1000 isn’t enough to run a car. Figure £400 a year MOT / Service, £100 a month fuel, £whatever insurance, £180 a year tax, plus the initial cost of the car. At least £2000 a year plus the cost of the car…

If that’s your savings, I’d advise sitting on them right now, and possibly using it as a need rather than a want expenditure (rainy day).

Crispy looking!

That ice on the spokes looks wild.

Fell off car then run over by truck?

Just thank god you were not in a car.

If no one is hurt, then it is just a minor accident. Sounds like the ped was at fault, but whatever we all think of our own infallibility, we can all have a dozy moment and end up walking without looking. This especially happens in a crowd where you are ‘going with the flow’ – sounds like this guy did that.

They look a bit ruff to me…

Surgical spirit is an ethanol / methanol mix, like meths, but formulated for cleaning skin before incision etc.

You can get isopropyl alcohol from a chemist. Last time I got it, they ordered it in and it was there the next day, I got 500ml for about £6 I think.

Brake cleaner contains all kinds of things – http://www.commaoil.com/productsguide/file/d04eb65fead21580e50857c44069cbb9 – wouldn’t put that anywhere near a bike TBH.

My budget is ‘about’ £1000 frame only, I could push it if I thought a frame was worth it. I am mainly thinking about geometry right now, obviously for a bike like the 456, there is a choice of materials which is a secondary decision :-)

Orange P7 and Cove Stiffee are another two good ideas, I’ll check them out some more!

My Cannondale is currently in the shop for warranty. I have heard bad things about the turn around time on that type of thing, and don’t want to be without a bike for too long. Also, I want to get something a bit less XC and a bit more trail. Finally, It would be good to have more than one bike in case something like this happens again, I have another ride to fall back on… I hate not having a bike.

climbingcragrat -I’d love to have a shot on a Chameleon, don’t suppose he rides at GT at all?

Decisions decisions…