They’re quite old Stu, like 6 years at a guess! The last 3 years saw the bike get used less, had a baby to look after, then when he was in nursery enough to have free days the pandemic hit (was unlucky enough to catch covid at the start of the pandemic which mooshed my asthma for a good few months after) so only really been out the last 4 months with regularity.

Thing was they were doing well until about a month ago and it feels like chasing my tail trying to nail down what will sort it. Will give everything I’ve seen on here a go – fortunate enough to have moved next to a forest with trails a minute’s cycle away so easy to give it shakedown runs!

This was a weird thread to find as a couple of weeks ago my rear zee started howling. I tried cleaning the rotor and pad, then sanding the pad and cleaning more.
After sanding the face of the pad it worked a little better for a while but started honking soon after and felt spongier too.
Next resort is a full clean out, bleeding it and new brake pads. Front still works great though but it’s really off-putting on some trails knowing I can’t rely on the back brake’s inconsistent stopping power.

I get what you’re saying, but I’ve never had anywhere charge more to deliver further away. Almost 20% extra on delivery seems daft :(
I looked more into it after posting but only saw one response they had to a trust pilot review saying delivery was free with a small uplift charge for remote areas.
Changed my postcode a couple of times on the delivery page to test it, somewhere south of London was free (about a hundred miles less travel) and the bottom of Cornwall was just under 60 quid delivered (about 50 miles further away). Seems weird as it’s all motorway then dual carriageway up to here.
Emailed the to ask in the hope it’s a website glitch as my postcode is a new-ish one.

Mary’s Milk Bar on Grassmarket of you fancy nice ice cream.

I bought the vest version of the leatt 3df, albeit the 2015 model when it was pretty cheap on sale earlier this year.
It looks like it has thicker 3df padding than the one linked, so maybe the newer one has more airflow – my one can get pretty warm and sweaty, but that was only an issue pushing up and didn’t feel in the way at all when I was going downhill.
It worked well the one time I crashed in it – not a direct impact, rolled over after jumping off the bike and judging from the bruise/scrape right before the 3df padding likely saved me a bit of pain.

There was one micro machine style racing game with ps plus a few months ago but it didn’t have 2 player. The only PS4 local multiplayer that gets played in my house is Tricky Towers, which is pretty much like tetris but with physics and you’re trying to build a tower that has to stand up versus the other player (crap description but is really fun).
To be honest, the Wii U is miles better for multiplayer games when friends are round (mario 3d, mario kart 8, smash bros, game & wario and a few others) for fun multiplayer, apart from the tricky towers, most of the ps4 2 player/multiplayer games are a bit boring.

If you go up the TV tower, go on a Tuesday afternoon or something, don’t go at the weekend or it’ll be heaving. If you fancy a view, the other main one is the panoramapunkt which is just across from the Sony centre.
In some of the busier tourist spots, you might get some beggar types come up with a clipboard survey. Just ignore them or tell them to do one, assuming the idea is to get your hands occupied so someone else can try for your pockets?
It’s weird seeing the WW2 bullet holes around the walls and buildings in the museum island area.
Shiso burger on Auguststraße is really good for burgers, and the Barn down the street does very good coffee (but there’s ace food everywhere which is all priced nicely).

I’ve only played simple games (friend’s vive, not mine), like the bow and arrow one, the virtual job one and another one shooting robots. It’s totally mental how good it feels even on simple games, just totally different from how I’ve played any other computer game. My wife had a shot of it too and suddenly was happy with the idea of me getting a fancy new pc so we could get our own vive!

I changed a workmate’s Windows logoff sound to the Dogtanian and the Three Muskahounds theme tune once. I thought it would just play a bit of the song until the computer shut down but I didn’t realise it actually made it play the whole song before shutting down; he couldn’t do anything to stop it playing so got funny looks for 2 minutes instead :D

Prising the n and m keys out on a keyboard and swapping them around is a good one if the person looks at the keyboard to type.

Did this one ages ago to a flatmate, edited the shortcut to his favourite game to a command prompt to shutdown the pc. He thought he had some sort of bug or glitch on the game :)

Take the biggest tabletop I’ve ever cleared. Make it 2 or 3 times shorter, but now put a gap in there. Suddenly my brain tells my body it can’t be done and I end up stopping before attempting it :(

Sounds odd to me, I had a 2015 shapeshifter fail, they swapped it for the 2016 shapeshifter, both used the same original teardrop shaped nut for the shock link, it’s not just stuck in your old shapeshifter is it?

Haha, absolute lifesaver! Yes, much to my embarrassment, that as the case. It was totally wedged into the old shapeshifter, never occured to me to try and pry at it until I saw your post – thanks!

I’ll be honest: I wouldn’t care how quickly they responded to emails if I couldn’t ride the bike because of their failure to deliver an actual solution.

To be fair, they were clear and kept me up to date with what was happening – the shapeshifter arrived earlier than expected but was still a long time coming. Could have also fitted it 2 and a half weeks ago, but it arrived the day before I went offshore for 2 weeks. I probably wouldn’t have been as relaxed about it if I wasn’t lucky in having a dh bike and an old cotic bfe to ride in the meantime though!

Had a mixed bag with Canyon lately – shapeshifter blew it’s guts but got a new one sent out after a 2 month wait. Went to fit it today and everything went fine until I realised that on the new version of the shapeshifter, you need a nut for the shock bolt to thread into – on my old one the thread was built into the shapeshifter body. They didn’t include any bolts with the new part though :cry: Bike remains unridden for almost 3 months now!
That’s a pain, but they have always been good via email dealing with problems.

Don’t know if anyone on here has Vitality health insurance (have it via work), but they have a thing where they give cashback for 50% of the value of a bike. Keep tempting myself with a Wethepeople one, pretty certain that in all the years since my teens, all skills I may have once had are now evaporated.

Waves of enemies are so dull. Especially when they all seem to be magical bullet sponges who’ll take a bullet to the head and 5 more in the chest but still keep going. Uncharted series are bad for this to the point where I really like the games but can get fed up of the waves of enemies sections then not play it again for months.

Had that myself with Roam 30s. The first time I was unlucky as it happened outside my garage on the chuckies and both the pawls fell out (swept a strong magnet around for 5 minutes until they got picked up!) so keep an eye out for that :-)

It’s outside your house, just go out at 2am and paint 5 metres of the yellow line black, then paint a new yellow end line on and you have your parking space 8)

Generally never bothered by midges, but one notable time sticks in my mind. Had a stupid crash 5 years ago and was trying to bend my front wheel back into a rideable shape whilst every midge in the forest gnawed on me and my friend (who was unimpressed that I’d caused them to become midge-food). Was applying anti-itch cream for the next week :(
Apparently they don’t like garlic or chilli as it’s sweated out, and most of my food has either or both in liberal doses, so that may be what keeps them away from me most of the time. Or luck.

I put 2 MK2s on (black chilli, protection) and found the grip (or lack thereof) a bit unnerving. Like a washing out feeling going into corners fast. Grip issues and both tyres going flat after the 1 ride meant they came off the bike after a ciouple of days :(

Ro5ey – what year did you play for the GB Crusaders? I went off to the euro championships with them when I was 17. Fun times despite losing all of our games heavily. I’d only just started playing then so wasn’t that good, I did get way better in the next couple of years but gave it up after an injury.

I’m quite tempted by the 2016 Dominer DH bike when I get one early next year – the 2015 one went 25% discount fairly quickly so if the 2016 did that I would probably go for it. Assuming I don’t find out they’re bins on wheels before then that is :)

I’ve had one puncture in 5 years before this
that’s quite a run of luck, good going!

If they were inflated when you put them in the car and deflated when you got them out then that must have been a slow penetration puncture of some kind (rather than delayed-deflation snake bite) I would have though, did you actually find the cause of the puncture?[/quote]

Mostly luck I guess – pretty much no thorns to be found up here – lots of rocky trails but learned to be smooth even when flying on them. Mostly as I’m conscious that I’m a big guy and crashing into rocks would kill wheels (and my wallet)! The one I got was a belter as I misjudged a jump and landed on the flat edge of a huge rock and could immediately hear hissing as I tried to get to the end of the trail before it went flat :)

Guessing so. The front held air but the back whooshed air out. Been lazy and left the bike outside (it’s rainy now!) in the motor so not seen the exact cause but guessing snakebites.

The tyres had been on the bike for a day with no issues/deflation before I took them out first time. They went on fairly easily – guessing the nightmare getting them off was either down to it being a much colder day or the time pressure of needing it sorted pretty quickly.
Not a fan of low pressures, generally run at 30psi with no issues, tyres planted and just right. Back MK2 felt fine riding but the front kept giving me the feeling of skidding away (the feeling you get when you catch wet rock or root at speed, slip a little then the grip comes back a fraction after), but wasn’t confidence inspiring. Just weird to get 2 flats after no flats in about 2 years (never had issues fitting a tyre before either, so doubt it was that). May stick them on the wife’s bike as they’re at least gripper than the cheap tyres on that :D

Might have just been coincidence, but gone ahead and ordered another Highroller and a minion tyre as well as a tubeless kit. Was feeling squirmy on the tyres anyway so wasn’t sure about it up front. Think i had them at 32/35 front/rear so a little more pumped up than usual (of 28/32).

Got a Strive race 6.0 near the start of the year; had two minor problems, one of which was the front brake hose cabling was sloppy causing it to rub the fork arch badly on the first run out. Uk customer service guys were really helpful dealing with that (and the chain which was the other thing). Was a little wary of the shapeshifter when I bought it (with it being 1st gen, worried it might fail), but it’s still good 7 months later.

Was running them with tubes – so rare that I get a puncture that I never really bothered, but very tempted to go tubeless after this.

I’ve done this before (aluminium bolt and thinking “just one last tighten”). If you have a drill with a thin enough bit, what I did was drill into the sheared bolt, then reverse drill to unscrew the bolt.

I bought one on a whim earlier in the year – Eastern Ramrodder for about £30 on ebay (was a bit duffed). Sorted it out and had it down a few local skateparks and was surprised by how much work it is!
Possibly down to it being a heavy bike but also as you’re always standing and never pedalling from the saddle – upside is that it helps the legs get a bit stronger for those long mtb descents!

I always seem to spell “cylinder” wrongly, usually as cyclinder. :(

I once had a perfect bail where I started going otb, jumped and cleared the bars with both feet, landed perfectly on the only flat smooth dry rock in sight, turned round and caught my bike by the top tube.

I’ve also rolled off backwards; failed getting up a sharp short steep bit, stalled just shy of the top then slowly toppled backward (couldn’t panic unclip in time) into a pile of brambles and nettles. Gave up clipless pedals shortly after.

I’m 6’3″ and wavering between 16 and 17 stone. Mooshed my hand over a month ago and couldn’t do anything active, leading to boredom, leading to chocolates and put on a stone :(
All my fat accumulates solely on my belly, arms, back and legs are all muscley/toned but my belly is just jelly :oops:

Kerbdog were ace; I could probably still listen to both their albums in a row without skipping any songs.

My gran used to give me a couple of teaspoons of condensed milk when I was a kid – probably played a large part in developing the massive sweet tooth I had growing up! And now for that matter :(

I have a set of the Troy Lee 5400s, light enough to not feel invasive, but sturdy enough to take a decent fall. Don’t shift much when cycling, usually give them a quick wiggle into perfect position at the top of a hill but otherwise never have to adjust them.

Been pining for a downhill bike for a while, if I wasn’t getting married later this year I’d have gone for the YT Tues. I could still get one this year, but a new bike turning up would probably dent the honeymoon period!

I’m an only child, which I’m kind of glad about! Not only reading some of these stories, but also seeing what my partner goes through.
Her sister is seen as the golden child, presents galore, everything paid for, lifts everywhere at any time without question. My partner gets nothing, never has, was really poorly treated as a child (probably the stepchild effect).
Her room growing up was a sofa bed in the conservatory, which was also the main thouroughfare in/out of the house.

She left home at 16, no financial support and made a success of herself, went through uni etc, worked her way up to a really good job without a single penny from her parents. Her sister only left home last year aged 25 into a flat round the corner, still gets lifts everywhere and gets help with rent, has been ‘let go’ from about 30 or 50 jobs in the last 5 or 6 years but was praised for doing well recently for having worked as a waitress for 4 months at the same place. My partner was promoted last year to about the 4th highest job level dealing with jobs and accounts worth millions and nothing was said.

When she was 13 or 14, her step dad went mental at her for speaking out of turn as she left the house, threw an overhand right at her – she lifted her recorder case (solid music case) and blocked the punch, which mangled his hand, blood everywhere. She ran off to school, by the time she’d got there he had phoned up saying she had thrown the case (it was a school instrument) at a wall and she should be punished. He then told her (bio)mum his hand was mangled as she had thrown the case at him, and she went along with him.

Recently her parents went on a holiday along the west coast of Scotland, her sister got clothes, chocolates, makeup perfume etc. My partner got a bar of £1 chocolate from Asda which was hastily fetched from a cupboard to make it look like they’d actually gotten her something.
I have suggested (numerous times) she should just bin them forever but she worries it would upset her gran.
Amazingly, a few weeks ago, my parter’s mum said to her “I think your gran has always preferred my sister” before going starting to whinge.
Really infuriates me! Sadly I’m banned from interfering, struggle to stand being in her family’s company for more than a few minutes.

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Was less than a hundred yards from my old flat. Drunk businessman on a work night out took a prostitute down an alleyway, her partner was waiting to rob him, ended up killing him. Bit grim as he had a wife and kids, so doubly crap to find out he was dead and why/how.

There was a friend of a friend when I was around 20 who would regularly come out with howlers. One was the story of how he got a trial to play for AC Milan when he was 16 – the only evidence any of us had seen of his football skills was the time he went to kick a discarded can of Irn Bru on the pavement and managed to spray himself with juice as it was half full.

Had a lab manager years and years ago who had a reputation as a bit of a slimy guy. He was apparently walking through one of the labs on the phone up to his ear saying “Oh no, that’s no good – I wouldn’t get out of bed for anything less than 60 grand!”. Then his phone started ringing in his hand!

There’s a couple near me; the Aberdeen to Banchory line is tarmacced a lot of the way, well maintained and popular with walkers and cyclists – handy to go for a cycle with the gf as it’s flat and scenic. There’s also the Dyce to Ellon railway line which is meant to be similar. Seeing how well the Banchory one works makes it a pity there’s not more lines like that around.

Is going up by 2 teeth about normal for trying oval rings? Currently on 34t chainring (1×11, 27″ wheels), tempted to try it and also have a grind/mash rather than spinny style. Guessing just adding 2 links to the chain would be fine for going up 2 teeth on an oval ring would be fine?

I did one last week, not the finger but the metacarpal in my hand (middle finger) which popped out at the wrist end. Slightly freaked at seeing it sticking out so shoved it and it thwacked back in to place. Got it X-rayed just to check nothing was broken, still getting grip strength back and might even try going back on the bike in the next day or two. Wrist was sprained too – Not fun!