Not really my cup my of tea either (I loved early Maiden with Paul Di’Annio, but never that fussed with Bruce Dickinson) but not much else metal related on by the looks of it.

The Louisiana – yes, it’s a pub near the harbourside about10 mins walk from the city centre. Not a bad venue.

Hi On Maiden, an Iron Maiden tribute band (who’d have guessed?) are playing at The Fleece in town on the Friday night.

What thestabiliser said. Butter ftw. Always.

Hyundai i10. Good little cars, ideal as a cheap second vehicle.

Re: the people who have a problem with this pic: it says an awful lot more about them than the pic. IMO.

Winter road ride last year:

Playing on the motorbike over in Wales:

tenfoot – Member
The idiot over the road who lets his motorbike idle for 10 minutes before zooming off up the road.

(is there a technical reason for this?)

POSTED 4 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Yes there is. Bike engines need to be up to temperature (usually c.40degC minimum) before use. I always let mine tick over until it’s warm enough to use. My bikes are toys though so only used at weekends – I can see if you’re commuting and starting your bike at 6.00am every morning it could grate with the neighbours.

My missus leaves her mobile phone on the meter cupboard, next to the landline (which is unplugged).

This means whenever she gets a call, text etc she has to get up and walk out to the hallway to answer it.

The clue is in the word ‘mobile’ FFS!!

I’ve raised it numerous times and suggested she keeps her phone on her, but she just looks at me like I’m a bit odd.

<sighs>

I loved my last hardtail (Blue Pig) but realised last Summer that my back ( broken in a motorcycle accident 30 years ago) just couldn’t cope with it any more.

Went back to full sus (Commencal Meta Trail) and whereas a 3 hour ride used to leave me feeling beaten up and with a sore lower back for the next couple of days, now I can ride pretty much all day on very rocky terrain and feel fine the next day.

For me, my hardtail days are over.

Ever since I saw this done in one of the Beatles’ films I’ve wanted to do this.

Not sure it stacks up financially though.

I’d start at the suspension bridge (bus up from Temple Meads station or the centre), mooch round Clifton village, down to Brandon Hill and up Cabot tower (amazing views from the top), wander down Park St, then stroll round the harbourside and get drinks / food from one of the many bars and restaurants.

Bristol is a lovely place! (Other than the traffic and standard of driving..).

Second the Quantocks as a brilliant place to ride – love it!

Station car park and The Barley Mow in The Dings, 5 minutes walk behind the station past KPMG and the Ibis. Nice little boozer tucked away behind a load of new build flats. I believe the food is good too.

MPV for me (Ford Galaxy currently) over an SUV any time, screw fashion, for family stuff and lugging bikes / kit around you can’t beat them.

To answer the OP I can’t see any answer other than fashion, or is there anything that an SUV does better than other types of car?

Agree on not ignoring the Blues. Not technical (obviously) but very fast and a lot of fun. Great for a warm-up before hitting the rocky stuff.

Some of the best yoghurt experiences in my life have been when they’re 2 months out of date and have separated.

Pour the rancid liquid away and eat the rather bitter yoghurt that’s left.

Gurt lush.

Broke my back in a motorbike accident when I was 19. Now 50 and when I get out of bed in the mornings I’m bent over like an old man for 10 minutes til it loosens up.

Still it’s never actually stopped me doing anything and frankly is insignificant compared to some of the stories above.

Cracking ride at the recently re-opened Twrch trail at Cwmcarn today.

09 plate (current shape) here. Two 27.5 bikes with 780mm bars fit in the back easily with all rear seats down, wheels on

Brilliant biking car, not far off the practicality of a van.

I’m as xc and wheels on the ground as they come, and I love the pedal hounds descent.

Make of that what you will.

I’ve always been a confirmed Campag man on my road bikes, but bought a cx bike with SRAM double tap a few years back and love it. If I was building up a new road or cross frame I’d probably go SRAM.

When I was late teens all I wanted to do was ride bikes and get p*ssed.

Now 50, and have picked up a decent job, mortgage, wife, and kids along the way, but really all I want to do is ride bikes and get p*ssed. (Albeit these days that means a good bottle of wine or 4 or 5 pints of decent beer).

Can’t see that ever changing until I’m physically no longer able to do either.

I walk to work, wife walks to work, kids walk to school. Our cars sit on the drive and get used only when the journey is too far to walk.

Not that unusual in Bristol. At the pedestrian crossing I have to use there will be about 25 people in each tranche waiting to cross on the green light on a weekday morning. At my kids’ large secondary school I’d say at least a third walk in , and quite a few cycle.

Some of the finest natural trails you’ll find in the south.

zanelad – Member
He did. Killed her in the bath, if I remember correctly. I think The Lakes is one of the best things I’ve seen on TV

Agreed. Watched it at the time, bought it on DVD a few years back and it was just as good as I remembered.

Sad to hear. Good LBS’ are a real asset to the local riding community.

That said, I virtually never use real bike shops. My last 3 bikes were bought direct / online, I have a decent well equipped home workshop, do all my own servicing and fitting of new parts. I buy 95% of my parts and kit online because it’s cheap(er) and easy.

I suspect many on here are the same.

How do LBS’s get money out of the likes of me?

Recent convert to droppers here (150mm stealth reverb, had it for 6 months). I was alway a bit of a mincer on steep gnarly stuff, but now I can drop the seat out of the way easily I’m happily riding stuff that used to scare me.

Makes a hell of a difference, I can’t see myself ever going back to a fixed post.

When I replace internally routed cables I just tape the new outer to the old one and pull / push the new cable through the frame then untape once the new cable is in place.

Congratulations to your wife!

Generally I’m against dogs at trail centres, however today on the first climb on Cafel at Cwmcarn there were 3 people and two dogs walking down. As soon as they saw me they grabbed their dogs and dived off the trail into the undergrowth. I thanked them and advised there were two riders behind me, they thanked me back. All friendly and smiley.

Which just goes to show most things aren’t a problem if people use common sense and show respect for others. Sadly this is often lacking.

Sounds: Led Zeppelin 3 always takes me back to my bedroom in the basement of my parents’ house when I was 13.

Smell: creosote. The fence in my parents’s garden in the ’70s.

Touch: kissing my dead mother on the forehead shortly after she passed away.

The Stranglers, Black and White tour (’78 I think), Bristol Colston Hall.

One of the many reasons I love living where I do is that there are 8 decent boozers within a 10-15 minute walk. A fine mix of old school locals with ropey live acts at weekends, trendy hipster bars, locals-only where the whole bar stares at you from within their grime-encrusted Fluro work jackets, hippy / arty full of odd characters….. All good depending on what mood you’re in.

If I go further afield (but walking distance) there’s stacks of pubs (though a fraction of what there were 30 years ago 🙁 ).

I love Brizzle 🙂

Ball of the foot over the pedal spindle on all my bikes, MTB, road, and cx.

Counter steering. It works.

It amazes me how many people have absolutely no moral compass. I know it’s a minority, but a depressingly large one.

Hope these bikes get recovered and the scrotes suffer in some way.

Cheers nre – just ordered some of those RSP bars, look like a real bargain at that price & weight 🙂

When I was in my teens / early 20s and had long hair I would constantly twiddle a strand between my fingers. Loved it. When my daughters were little I used to twiddle theirs to make up for my loss of hair. Until they got older and told me to bugger off.

Nowadays I’m always running my fingernails through my eyebrow. Right hand / right eyebrow only. Never the left.

Nice one. Four of us rode Glyncorrwg in similar (though not quite as bad) conditions on a weekday a few weeks back. Only saw one other rider all day, half the trails were underwater, boardwalk sections were slippery. It was ace 8)

I get the impression the Trail isn’t a big seller, in this country at least. Now 120mm is considered “short travel” (I remember when the Judy DH was a long travel fork at 80mm!) I guess a lot of people overlook it in favour of longer travel bikes. There doesn’t seem to be many bikes in between 100mm travel XC bikes and 140mm+ travel bikes.

For me, quite light at 11 stone and a not very aggressive rider 120mm is about spot on.