Impressed with the food bank idea. Might have to put that into practice when miniAlpha is old enough to go trick or treatin’.

I don’t think a group of 16/17 year old “kids” shouting that they’re going to rape a woman who’s home alone with her baby are bothered by sweets. Whereas a paintball to the balls?! But before you get all hot under the collar, of course, the correct response is to call the police and try to ignore it.

And what, may I ask, is wrong with elasticated trousers?

Chris – let me check them at they fit as I’ve got a MK 3 whilst yours was a MK 2 I think. If they do fit, and I decide to go down the roof box route then I’ll take them off your hands for £70. I’m in Bristol I’m afraid so it’all have to be posted. I can’t hit the garages until the weekend but should have an answer for you then if that’s ok? Point notes about the Thules…I was looking at their range in the first place.

DT – all good points especially about storage of the box when not in use…I hadn’t even considered that! As for my family, well miniAlpha is only 5 weeks old so isn’t going anywhere anytime soon either by foot or bike. And my wife doesn’t run let alone ride a bike! We are a firmly 1 bike family for the time being. I’ll have a gander at that website.

STW comes up trumps again! Thanks all.

Ooh, tempting. I’ve got the rails as the car comes with them but I don’t have the bars. Where are you based & how much? Do they have some serial number or something just so that I can check they def fit the car? Thanks.

We had plenty of kids in fancy dress come round with their parents; houses that wanted to take part put up decorations or a pumpkin outside. But then a group a older kids turned up, nicked all the decorations and the sweets left out for the kids. Police got called when the were banging on someone’s door telling the mother inside they were going to rape her.

I think I might invest in a paint ball gun for next year, especially as my 3 story house gives a great vantage point. Or just straight out the letter box at point blank range!

I don’t get why you wouldn’t ride with a phone: it weighs barely anything and it’s there if you need it.

It’s not just a question of your own safety. I’ve not had to use my phone to get help for any self sustained injury, but I’ve had to call an ambulance on two separate occasions for riders who I’ve found semi conscious on the trail and another random RTA. With no phone, the alternative would have been to leave a semi conscious/bleeding casualty alone to get help.

Anyway, in answer to the OP: jersey pocket on the road; waistpack on the MTB.

See my response on the 5010 thread: 4x -> Blur Tr -> 5010 (kind of)

Is the 5010 the modern day Blur4x?

I think so. I’ve got a Blur TR and remember lots of reviews saying that it was the modern 4x – low, short travel, lots of fun etc. But then the Blur TR was discontinued with the Solo/5010 being the closest iteration but in 650b format. To suppress my desire to get a 5010 I keep telling myself I’m riding its 26 inch cousin!

Either way, if the 5010’s as fun as my Blur, you won’t be disappointed. I’ve used mine for all day epics all the way to blasting down the Pleney black in Morzine. My talent runs out long before I find the limits of the bike!!

Each to their own.

Sinn 856 UTC

End of discussion

Santacoops: mind if I drop you an email too? I live on the outskirts of Bristol but work in Horfield and Wednesday’s generally a good time for me to ride and meet new people.

aracer: you’ve obviously never been hit by an uninsured driver. Oh, and I presume you’re happy paying the inflated insurance premiums caused, in part, by uninsured drivers?

shark attack: absolutely report the car. The driver sounds like a selfish knob so you’ll be doing a public service.

Really consider the Sweeps with the HLR damper. I had a Revelation at 150 on my Blur Tr then went to X fusion Slant (same as Sweep but for 26 inch). Night and day, and realised that the frame had been outclassing the fork, it’s much much better now. And I’m by no means a great rider, I spend a lot of time mincing around the trails…more than I’d like to admit!

Ref leaving them at him, a lot of dog owners manage it by locking to dog up and giving it no choice! There are a number of dogs around where I live which are left alone 9-5 daily and they back and whine constantly. Their levels of anxiety must be off the scale. That said, I’m sure some dogs couldn’t give a rats arse but I certainly wouldn’t bank on the one you get being one of them. It was one of the stipulations I had when we got ours: luckily I can take mine into the office with me and on the odd days I can’t, my wife is at home with her.

Essentially, unless you can give the dog the attention it deserves then seriously reconsider if it’s a good idea.

First of all, don’t get one if you’re going to have to leave it home alone whilst you and your wife are at work and the kids are at school; anything more than 4 hours alone on a regular basis is cruel.

Secondly, be careful with smart dogs: as stated above they need a lot of stimulation and are generally pretty active. If you deny them the stimulation/activity they’re intelligent enough to be really disobedient/destructive.

Research your breeds and work out what best suits your family life. Then do some more research.

Identify a good trainer and attend classes as soon as you can; training requires dedication and consistency. And for God’s sake ignore Caesar Milan and any trainer which advocates pain as a medium for training.

Finally, please please please don’t automatically go to a breeder for a puppy; this country’s rescue centres are bursting at the seams with every dog imaginable of every age. Ours is a spaniel/terrier mongrel who we got as a pup from a centre who rescued her from being put down 24 hours later. She’s now about 4 years old and she has enriched every part of our lives.

Just bought a Raceface Rip Strip for £20 from CRC and must admit that I’m impressed. I can fit 1 x tube, 2 x levers, 2 x canisters, 1 x multitool, small bag of links, puncture patches, zip ties, iPhone 5 and some first aid stuff (enough to make a decent compressions dressing to stop a bleed, not just a couple of plasters). A water bottle on the bike and I’m sorted, plus it’s so flat against my back that it fits under my jacket/jersey. Highly recommended.

You’ve just made Rooster £25 – hot hands and feet bundle is now winging its way to me. Not only do they sound great on the bike, I am hopeful that I might be able to feel my hands and feet whilst skiing this season! Cheers.

Oh, and I second the cut down Army overshorts. They roll up tiny and sit in the bottom of my bag if/when needed on big days out.

Changing tack slightly, I’ve just seen this on the news:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/07/every-eu-migrant-can-stay-after-brexit-600000-will-be-given-amne/?WTmcid=tmgoff_soc_spf_fb&WT.mc_id=sf38225146

What a wonderful two fingers up to every knob who voted to leave the EU so the foreigners would go home!

There is no such thing as a Citizen of the World. There is no such passport. As such TM is completely correct.
DH Lwarence
“Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grandchildren are once more slaves.”

I think you’ll find that whether you like it or not, we are all citizens of this world. I am Welsh/British/European and finally and a citizen of the world, the same as every other human. Rhetoric like TM’s utterly shameful bollocks is divisive and just serves to create a them and us mentality that legitimises racism and intolerance. The sooner people understand that the sooner this world can progress forward instead of backwards into the 1930’s.

I have studied abroad, lived abroad and served around the world alongside soldiers of many different nationalities, if you like’fighting for liberty with hard knocks’. On every occasion I was treated with respect and welcomed for what I could contribute, my nationality was never an issue. However, if I was a foreigner looking to come to Britain I wouldn’t dare at the moment; TM just shows what a nasty little place this country risks becoming.

Arseholes who let fireworks off at 2315 on a Saturday night in a residential area when I have a dog who is terrified of them and a 9 day old baby who won’t settle for the next hour. I hope they blow up in your face you inconsiderate ****. Next time I’m going to track down your house and put a f*****g arsenal of the things through your letter box.

I find myself getting unbelievably angry with arseholes in Bristol who narrowly avoid crashing into me both when I’m in my car or my bike because they’re on their phone. One knob overtook me on my bike way too close in a merc the other day on his phone, cut me up and then reversed at speed into a parking space whilst there were kids everywhere walking to school. He was completely oblivious to me being there.

Not letting it bother me is tantamount to turning the other cheek and walking on by, so does anyone have any tips how to deal with these belters?

Funny how the ‘Bermuda triangles’ for satellite tagged birds only occur over grouse moors…

Literally just read your post and then saw this appear on Twitter: http://www.chrispackham.co.uk/news/rspb-news-release

Very sad that this is happening and that some people are pathetic enough to turn a blind eye just so they can shoot some birds.

Essentially the guy is a c*** who gets off on killing animals to show how ‘manly’ he is.

Personally, I reckon we should be allowed to even up the odds: you go hunt a bear big lad, and at the same time I’ll hunt you and see how you like being “drilled” by a spear to some random part of your body which will allow you to keep running…

Drunk?! I figured as much but deleted the comment in case you had some underlying problem about which I was unaware!

Ahhh….I see why some people (those who know Yunki not to be a rascist) understood the satire of the original comment, whilst others (those didn’t know him to be quite the opposite or me) took it at face value. Internet strikes again!

Yunki,

I apologise for going off on one, and maybe my first comment was clumsy (it made perfect sense in my head)

Ok, looks like we’ve concluded we’re fighting the same argument on the same side here! I took your original comment to mean that you were blaming Muslims despite having absolutely no basis for it, when in fact you were trying to satirise that very same knee jerk reaction which, I agree, seems to be all too common at the moment. The best satire is subtle, yours was just a bit too subtle for some (me) to get. Apologies if you took offence to me saying you were coming across as a bit of a prick; it wasn’t a handwringing rush to be the first to be offended but rather an attempt to confront (what I thought to be) blatant rascism.

Friends again?!

Whatever mate…

I’m going to presume that this is a continuance of some spat that you two have had elsewhere and that you’re not as rascist and aggressive as you’re currently coming across.

So your comment of “crazy **** Muslims” just makes you look like you’re jumping to conclusions and thinking that behind every murderous crime is a Muslim. Which is pretty offensive.

Or have I got completely the wrong end of the stick…?

You realise that Japan isn’t a Muslim country and that religion hasn’t even been mooted as a possible motive?

WTF are you on about Yunki? Unless I’ve completely misunderstood, you’ve just made a best effort to come across as a massive prick. Well done.

Oooh, I’m book marking this thread!

I bought some X Fusion Slants (essentially the sweep with a different offset) with the Roughcut damper and they are awesome. Damping is controlled with a massive amount of adjustment and they are v stiff. Pikes might be a bit better (if you’re good enough to notice the difference) but not several hundred pounds better. I’ve ridden both and would take the X Fusions and a less empty wallet! Just back from a week blatting around Morzine & Chatel and they barely flinched. Oh and the mud clearance around the brace is insane.

I got mine from Freeborn and they could not have been more helpful.

False economy to buy new as the second hand prices are ridiculously low. However, second hand definitely – just got a 1 year old Blur TR and it’s amazing. Don’t worry about parts – developments like tapered head tubes and through axles make frames obsolete more than wheels in my opinion.

@chestrockwell: Orange and others back into 26? Have I missed something?

A loony? You’re not the first person to say that!

Either way, the tyres need to be replaced so I’ll go to a decent garage (not Kwikfit this time just in case that had something to do with it) and ask their advice.

Thanks all for your help!

@skids: no one has told me they need replacing, just doing the normal checks on a vehicle and you can see they are down to the wear indicators.

Fair enough if 12k is reasonable for some Pilot 3’s. I certainly can’t fault the performance, they’ve never felt anything less than firmly stuck to the ground at all times! They’ve just worn a bit quicker than I was expecting!

Great, thanks for the comments guys. Plenty to think about there.

@TrekEX8: completely agree about sucking it up, scrimping on tyres is not what I’m looking to do, but if I could get some that perform as well but last a little longer that would be good!

Yep, I check pressure fairly regularly – twice a month, sometimes more, sometimes less. The wear seems fairly even across the width of the tyre which I presume means that the tracking is ok.

Anyone got any recommendations for decent hard wearing tyres that don’t cost a fortune?

About 6 miles at the moment. But I work about 500 metres away from the hospital where I was born in Bristol.

We did it on the Sunday – no rain but the mud was epic making for some super slippery slide fun! Great event, mainly because it officially combined the Alps, bikes and beer.

@scotroutes: thank you for posting that Downfall clip; that is the first thing to actually make me laugh (not just out of utter despair) since Friday morning!