Another +1 for Outbound Lighting. I’ve got the Trail Evo/Hangover package and it’s phenomenal. Had it over 2 1/2 years now, loads of use from night riding, commuting in shit weather etc, never missed a beat. Beam pattern is best I’ve experienced – including Exposure.

Had mine about 18 months – on a 180mm Marino single pivot (so significant chain growth/pedal kickback), running at 9°. Been really impressed, definitely makes a big difference in terms of grip/sensitivity on chunky tech where you’re braking.

I’ve also found I’m getting less foot pain/sole wear (I run flats) and I think less drivetrain wear too.

Running a 30t 104bcd ring no problem – you should find any will fit fine ?

Have you thought about a Manitou Mattoc? You could get an Expert for that money:

https://www.starbike.com/en/manitou-mattoc-expert-suspension-fork-15-110mm-44os/?country=GB&currency=GBP&keep_params&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwhIS0BhBqEiwADAUhcxto5v4lb2oamCHS96S2G1A5D8_bogPiG5gj4y5wXi5iBLarRUNHPhoC_ggQAvD_BwE#143498

@convert –  an excellent question.

But – and it’s a big but – there’s zero interest in the individual at granular level commercially. But group a bunch of individuals and you very quickly see patterns. We’re frighteningly predictable animals (see also profiling in crime).

That said – the length of the sales cycle varies wildly from category to category, territory to territory, so driving sales is one but not all of the success measures. Net promoter score, brand awareness, market share capture, customer profiling are all uses of “advertising”. But I reckon with the right timescale, the right data and the resultant plan, pretty much anyone at individual level could be influenced. Data privacy has made it a little harder but I think even I as an individual could do it. Looking at your earlier post, I picked up that you focus on “pain points” and emotions attached to boredom, frustration, stressful locations like airports, and negative feelings towards rival football teams. In your case, I’d target you with things that made you experience more of that. Then “pattern interrupt” with subtle mood lifts where my client brand subtly features, subconsciously positioning them into positive feelings. Repeat in more places, more different messages and before long, if you’re “focused grouped”,  you’ll report positive sentiment without even realising its happened.

You may think you’re immune…… trust me you’re not. Just about to career move out of the advertising/adtech/marketing industry after 15+ years and there’s never been more tools to segment, analyse, predict snd nudge consumer behaviour. The ability to to use propensity modelling (watch The Great Hack for an excellent layman friendly explanation how this works) to drive campaigns & change behaviour is equally amazing and terrifying.

The sheer number of eyeballs on a brand now thanks to internet and connected TV mean the first part of the AIDAA (awareness-interest-desire-action-advocate) funnel is easier than ever, adtech takes care of the rest. There’s already connected TV adtech that will serve relevant ads to you based on behaviour predictions from which buckets/segments you fall into.

TLDR: It’s almost impossible to be immune. You may *think* you’re immune, but even then, there’s a consumer profile modelled around that persona, and a map to nudge you!

Sadly in SEND cases, legal action (or the threat of it) is the only way to get results. Local authorities lose over 98% of SEND Tribunal cases brought against them. Many kids fall through the cracks because of an opaque system that exhausts parents, and the only way to force schools, SLTs and LAs to meet their legal obligations is to go legal. Asking nicely, trying to work together all fail. There’s a reason SEND parents are such fighters – we have to be.

@convert without wanting to get into an argument here, the incidents and outcomes directly correlate to specific points in law that we have used. They also directly correlate with specific case law in the Upper Tribunal too.

On a “good faith” basis that the OP’s account is truthful (and there’s no reason doubt it),  there’s a solid case to send a good shot across the bows at the school, quoting relevant points and putting the onus on them to fix this rather than face risk of a FTT case and the cost to defend.

It’s something I’m passionate about and happy to signpost anyone to relevant resources, social media groups etc for further advice, but even at that first post, its clear something is very, very wrong and from  my own learning of the law around it, the school are exposed here.

As per OP, the lad received a harsher punishment. That’s all that’s needed in law.

Hard disagree – and I make thus statement on the basis of 2 1/2 years of battling it, learning case law, the anticipatory requirements of EA2010 and more. Failing to proactively make adjustments and adaptations to policies, or applying behaviour/disciplinary policies that disadvantage a child whose condition makes it harder for them to adhere to those policies, is discrimination. It’s very, very clear in law, and sadly not enough parents have the means or the knowledge to force the system to meet its obligations.

I’d be more than happy to look at the specifics of this, overlay it with our own experience, the relevant case aspects and our barrister’s submissions if that helps OP 👍

@spin – I’ve got no problem making strong statements in this situation. We should be looking at this through the lens of the affected child, they’re the person that matters here.

Ultimately if a few scary letters and the fear of escalation force the hand if the school to support this lad, then all good.

Diagnosis or not, Equality Act 2010 protects him here.

This is very clear disability discrimination by the school – s15, s20, s21 breaches as a minimum, arguably harrasment too.

Feel free to PM me and I’ll gladly share a ton of resources and sample letters from our own legal battle with a school for our son.

Other option to think about is the Kenda Helldiver – they tend to weigh up pretty light as a brand so probably worth going to the AGC version (that’s the one I use). Been really impressed so far.

Let’s also not forget revenue is not the same as profit.

Does slopestyle generate much by way of profit uplift for bike brands? I’d argue not, or else the athletes would be getting far higher contract values.

Once the costs of course builds, event infrastructure, etc etc, does a slopestyle event make a lot of net profit?

I can’t help that outside of die hard supporters, this move by the riders won’t help win them much favour, and that in turn will actually harm their incomes longer term.

I’ve said this many, many times over the years – a professional athlete shouldn’t be reliant on prize money as income. That should be a bonus. The bulk of their income needs to come from sponsorship – ideally a blend of bike industry and outside. As for appearance fees – no. They’re either competing or they’re the equivalent of the Harlem Globetrotters – it’s one or the other.

If they want an appearance KPI built into sponsorship contracts, with a tiered bonus based on that, then all good, but an organiser shouldn’t be paying athletes to attend IMO.

If the athletes don’t feel capable/comfortable structuring deals, then they need to get an agent. Again, I’ve said for a long time, the sport needs more agents to professionalise it and get better quality and quantity of deals done.

Congratulations on baby #3 Neil!

And yeah, get all the systems in place, then push “launch” at a time that’s right for you and the business.

Hope it all works out nicely – I know Neil moved the business from Lincoln to Brackley to be better placed for motorsport subcontract work (makes sense) so hopefully that flow of money is safe, even if there’s been a change of fortunes in the bike industry.

As others have said, I too have had plenty of SS parts over the years and been impressed – the only issue I ever had was a rear hub dying after a very hard season of riding & racing, and SS built an upgraded hub into the wheel for me at no cost, so I was well pleased.

To build from a badge/brand/import business into UK manufacturing and subcontracting for others is quite the achievement.

Hopefully it all shakes out and a new website is up soon, I reckon maybe using Amazon FBA for logistics as that’d alleviate a lot of the pain many D2C companies currently face in many industries.

“Overbiked” for me = STFU. I dont want to hear such bullshit judgemental opinion on what someone should or shouldnt ride.

Ive got 2 bikes – a steel 650b gravel bike i use for commuting and a custom 180/180 steel enduro bike with dual plies, mullet and almost identical geometry to the Grim Donut. I bloody love riding it, even on the 530am “before the kids are up” 45 min spin from the door which is a loop of road, gravel, singletrack and a few steep steps. When the terrain is flatter, its draggy and harder than the gravel bike or an XC bike, but thats great as it means I get a better workout in the same timeframe.

As Lunge says, Benjamin Dennehy is great.

But it’s also really, really important to match trainer/materials to sector and also sales team level/makeup. Sales is such a broad church – anyone saying there’s a one size fits all training methodology is a charlatan.

What sector are you operating in OP?

I fully agree PCA! There would be better deals done, stronger partnerships and less noise if all parties were just honest about the fact its a transaction of money in return for eyeballs/positioning/storytelling to achieve a business goal.

I’ve almost finished reading Rich Paul’s book about he built Klutch Sports, and the secret to his success is his brutal honesty with athletes, teams, rights holders and sponsors. Cycling as a whole could learn a hell of a lot from him and the NBA ecosystem in general.

Looking at the numbers purely objectively. The HSBC deal that preceded Shell was worth c.£2.5M/yr.

Its likely BC will have had to take a hit as the deal ended early, so less time to find a replacement. Let’s call it £2M.

They had a published shortfall of revenue of over £2M due to HSBC pulling out, so that gap NEEDED to be filled commercially.

If they didnt take Shell and plug that gap, would each one of the 145k BC members be happy to sign up for a minimum term of 3 years, uplifted membership fee of £14/yr on topnof current fees, with nothing extra, to keep both Shell out and the lights on?

I cant see 145k people guaranteeing that.

There’s also the question whether the likes of Triodos, Ecotricity etc stand to gain commercially from putting in a share of Shell equivalent money. Will it move the needle for their business in a more positive way per £ invested than other marketing channels? What’s the upside? Do they have a “need” to spend with cycling to bolster their green image/credentials like Shell do? I’d argue not.

It’s an uncomfortable truth, but sports sponsorship is a commercial activity, driven by commercial goals, to meet commercial aims. Its just another means of advertising. And if an organisation/team needs £X to operate, they’re limited in choice of sponsors (before they even get to desire/objectives/goals) by who might have that sum of money.

It’s a tough one to balance and I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer TBH, unless every BC member us prepared to pay an uplifted membership fee on a locked in multi-year contract (with penalty clauses for early cancellation) to offset the revenue gap, and then have no title sponsor.

Loads of “trail” riding around Blausasc, then lots of techier descending around Peille (look on Strava for Vouilloz as a DH track, as well as Peille DH. Don’t try and beat the times set by user NV10. Won’t happen).

I came up as established middle class but I’m not sure. Definitely don’t speak RP (estuary or Luton english), child of a fruit delivery man later store finance salesman (granted my old man was bloody good at it and made good £££) and sandwich delivery van owner. Like cans of Stella over red wine at dinner, but top 10% earner. Homeowners and good savings. But having worked around lots of what I’d call “proper middle class” people in media (RP, private school etc) I just don’t identify there. Plus I’ve got mates who are plasterers, scaffolders and plumbers who earn double what I do.

TLDR: I hate the British class system. Seems like an anachronism.

Flipside to it is how much % of sales uplift (in terms of time, manpower, resource, pitch materials etc etc)  would it cost LBS’s to go round pitching large employers and getting them to see they can set up their own schemes, then administering it? What would the sales cycle look like, how long from initial contact to onboarding, then first order?

I don’t work for any cycle scheme but I do wonder if the bike shops have actually thought about the work front loaded in winning new customers for them – and then what are these shops doing to create lifetime customer value once they’re introduced by the scheme?

I know there’s a really good MTB shop in Rome called ProBike. That would be my first port of call to find out.

Yup – saw one tonight over East Bristol. Initially thought it was local scrotes with fireworks 🤣🤣🤣

Don’t forget 5DEV too if you want something bling. I’m running their 155mm R-Spec on the big bike. They go all the way down to 145 now:

“Somerset Gimp banned by court from wearing latex suits or writhing on the ground”

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/man-banned-wearing-gimp-suit-8881253

I used Muc Off HCB1 when I built up my Marino a year or so ago, seems to still be in place when I did a strip down last week 👍

Without a doubt, the entire menu at my Pakistani Kashmiri friend’s wedding back in Luton. Jesus that was something else. Think I gained about half a stone over the final day when the big feast comes out 🤣🤣🤣

There’s an easy fix. Owners register a company that owns the naming rights. Café company pays a licensing fee to rights owning company to use the name smd brand rights, equivalent to the profit. Job done.

Good enough for the multinationals, good enough for anyone else too 👍

Good video about the Mezzer here, showing how versatile it is, as well as a guide to how easy the travel adjust is:

If he gets a Razer Deathadder V2 mouse, he can create a macro in the Synapse software to assign a high CPS (clicks per second) to a button on the mouse. My lad has done this. I actually really like the Razer software as there’s loads of tutorials on YouTube to show how to build macros, program it etc, and that’s got to be a good skill for the future.

Had mine almost 3 years – easily the best fork I’ve owned, having had Lyriks, 36s, MRP Ribbon coil and a few others.

Performance is spot on, easy to work with and maintain, stays working great.

There’s also a really good tuning forum over on MTBR full of hints & tips. I’ve followed quite a few of the things on there and gained even more performance.

Do it!

@dirkpitt74 I live in South Bristol (not Hartcliffe though!) and can confirm, majority of the bally’d up SurRon owners are drug dealing roadmen, using things like cycle tracks & alleyways, underpasses etc to do drops. TBH must be a nightmare for the police as they’ve got practically no chance of catching them.

That Blake Builds one is good – there’s a follow on too.

You do know about the c45% rev share with YouTube content creators? Surely it’s reasonable to pay for content and you can either pay by being a customer, or by being the product, seeing ads and enjoying free content?

WTB Verdict light/high grip?

Brilliant tyre, insane traction on the front, and the lighter casing (about 1050g in 29 x 2.5) is really tough for the weight too.

That CEO/COO/CFO/CCO listing above looks like an excellent, well qualified, highly experienced leadership team with solid backgrounds in their respective fields. Exactly the kind of people you need to be running the commercial/operational side of a sports organisation. Making sure the organisation is operationally & financially sound is just as important as the sporting side of things, or else there’s no organisation, team or support.

I’m guessing red bull didn’t see ROI and sales uplift on drinks after all the marketing investment into MTB, so didn’t bid enough? Hence why they’re not media outlet now.