Who amongst us doesn’t ever ride on footpaths?

Certainly in the West Lancs and Greater Manchester areas there are so few bridleways that cyclists do, and always have done, ride on footpaths.

I can’t remember the last time somebody objected, it was possibly sometime in 1991.

I prefer the 1970s version:

3 or 4 clicks from slow for my RP2. Any more and i get bounced on slow drops ie steps or bigger faster stuff ie drops. Sometimes i’ll add in more for a plush ride if i know the trail does not have any techy stuff.

With my RP2 (and DHX5.0), I add 3 or 4 clicks from ‘fast’ to give a controlled ride, and it depends upon the trail. I ride fairly enthusiastically and do experiment.

I’ve always looked upon it as adding just enough rebound to suit rather than reducing it from the maximum (like seasoning with salt and pepper). Similarly with forks, I bounce the forks in the garage and add enough to feel the rebound damping working. I then adjust on the trail to give a controlled rebound. For big downhills and bumps I’ve found that more rebound can help.

Similarly, use as little compression as possible to give the required ride and handling.

Didn’t someone once say that it’s not about the bike?

The Halfords tool chests are very flexible, thin gauge steel.

I first played rugby in my first week of my rugby-orientated High School (at U12s it was standard Union rules, but matches were shorter, a smaller ball(?) and we played on a smaller pitch. Our 1st XV pitch was one of the biggest/widest around, I believe) and played/trained a lot, for school (playing against the private schools of the North and some in the South) and county, until going to university where I played a few times and then gave it up.

I really enjoyed playing the game, but couldn’t be bothered with the rugby ‘culture’ and the injuries were frequent.

He is in Reigate, surrey.

I remember playing at Old Reigatians as a 12 year old in about 1989. The sloping ceiling in the bar had interesting wallpaper.

I don’t think their generosity should be criticised really.

But why bother to donate a book that every school that either wants, or doesn’t want, one probably has anyway? I can’t imagine that there is a particularly long waiting list to borrow this most desirable (….yes, yes, one of the most printed book ever…)of tomes from most school libraries.

Why the King James version, other than it being some sort of arbitrary anniversary year? Why not a version written in ancient Greek or Hebrew? Why don’t they send a Kindle version?

Father forgive them, for they know not what they do…

The standard of driving in Belgium is almost comically terrible -especially in the North/East, in my experience- It’s as if Belgium has drifted northwards from somewhere on the (Southern)Mediterranean.

Extreme tail-gating at high speed and suddenly changing lanes with no indication is the norm.

The standard of driving on motorways in Germany, France and the UK are far better, in that order. I don’t recall the Netherlands being particularly bad, but it was a long time ago.

Brugge is great.

I recently fitted a set of Dual air Rebas to my hardtail.

Having experimented a bit, I’ve settled on equal pressure in both chambers.

They are far, far better than I’d expected.

They’ve been used on some rocky terrain around Rivington/Winter Hill and Cragg Quarry/Rooley Moor and coped well.

They’re more sensitive and about half the weight of the coil Pikes on my other bike and much better than the old Marzocchi air, and coil, forks I’ve owned in the past.

I was being facetious about Brits feeling smug…

That’s why I said net benefit.

It appears to have been a positive blip for some followed a very deep dip…

We smug Brits can look down on mainland Europe as we rely on our faith in “The High Street” selling us Chinese goods and German cars, credit card debt and a quite a bit of financial manipulation in the city.

You can’t really eat debt, bonds or hedge funds though, especially when they all move closer to the source of the money.

‘Europe’, including the UK, has basically been blagging it for years and pretending that everything is going to be okay. Who knows what the answer is, but the current economic models appear somewhat unsustainable…..

One thing I will say is that I prefer the German approach to personal debt over the British one.

I’m no economist, but the Greece situation does sound fairly desperate.

I remember reading an article not long before the introduction of the Euro that suggested something along the lines of,
“unifying the currencies of very different countries such as Germany and Greece and thus preventing the setting of different levels of interest rates could cause difficulties”

Hmmmmm.

I was always opposed for such reasons, nothing jingoistic.

Has the Euro been of any net benefit to anybody yet? In 50 years time will it be considered to have been a success?

I’ve tried various stems.

For my type of riding -anywhere, everywhere, all kinds of terrain and trail, enjoying both slow and fast technical riding. I’m not an XC racer.

I’ve settled on 60mm for both my hardtail and my full susser. I have the (28″ wide) bars slightly higher than the saddle.
(I also have my seats quite a long way forward on in-line posts to get my knees over the pedals, so I wouldn’t want the bars any nearer to me. A bespoke frame for me might have a steeper seat tube and a longer top tube)

This puts me in a fairly neutral position that keeps the weight off my wrists. I find this position good for allowing me to keep my weight on the pedals, making gentle bar inputs and for shifting my weight around on technical/downhill sections.

This arrangement is fine on climbs if you pedal fairly smoothly.

-Importantly, I also find this very comfortable.

Choose a stem to suit you and your riding, don’t worry about fashion. I used to use much longer stems, but far prefer the 60mm.

1989 Raleigh Mustang. Not just any Mustang, though, it was the Mustang SIS like this:

I rode it all over the place, I broke two frames (15 year frame guarantee!) and just about every other part.

I enjoyed riding it but, as a mountain bike, it was rubbish.

I thinned the part of the plate that goes between the bb cup and the frame on my Stingers down with a grinder as I’m using them with old-fashioned square-tapered BBs -which allegedly shouldn’t work 😉

I also fitted a shorter bb axle to one of the bikes.

As usual, in debates like this race gets mixed with ‘class’/education/culture. On a personal level, I generally get along with and associate with people similar to myself:(fortunate)educated, inquisitive, interested, active people, many of whom have had a wide range of experiences and travelled to interesting places. Nationality, Ethnic background and religious background are irrelevant.

If I was an ignorant person who had never spoken to people of other ethnic backgrounds, was afraid of things that were different and of an unquestioning outlook that meant that I absorbed everything that the tabloid media and loud, bigoted people told me I may have a different viewpoint.

No race is immune form sex offences though the modus operandi may differ but that is all there is to it.

Indeed. And was the point of what I posted earlier.

This sort of stuff just fuels EDL and other reactionaries to make us think the whites are not safe from the Asians which is misleading and unhelpful

Exactly. It plays on the fears and (barely-hidden)prejudices of people

It’s far too easy to generalise about large groups in society.

The situation in some towns (for various historical reasons) can lead to a divided society, which is not a good thing.

‘Cultural differences’ may provide opportunities for people of certain groups to exploit those in other groups

Although extremely unpleasant, this particular issue is a very small, specific sub-set of ‘sex crime’ that appeals to the fears of Middle-England …and people of more overtly racist views, hence the enormous media coverage.

I suspect that a lot more abuse is perpetrated within families(of all races).

I’d also suggest that the sexual exploitation of girls, assisted by drugs and alcohol, is not limited to some men of Asian descent cruising about Lancashire towns in cars on the prowl. It certainly wasn’t in my (almost exclusively ‘white’) Lancashire town 15-20 years ago…

Cheap Wall Hanger alternative

I have a proper workstand (-why didn’t I buy one years ago?!), but I use one of these to store 2 bikes high up on the wall (use big bolts and wall-plugs).
It can also work well as a workstand.

-Is very light works very well in my Magura brakes. It makes your hands nice and soft too.

The Halfords Citroen stuff is very ‘thick’/viscous.

Just get the Wellgo “V8” for about 10-12 quid.

They do the job.

I found the dutch to be quite cliquey, stingy, conservative and slightly racist.

There is some truth in that -just as there is in the UK….

There seemed to be a slightly unusual (& mis-placed to my UK ears) ‘sarcasm’ thing even towards acquaintances from some of the Dutch people I’ve met. They were also very ‘direct’ (blunt?). In Britain we have been conditioned in recent times not to ‘offend’.

Like everywhere, there is/are good and bad, but the liberal stereotype doesn’t quite match the reality.

Many of the the Dutch strongly dislike the Germans and make frequent references to it.

ps. ‘The Dutch’ were , on the whole, very similar to Brits, although they did seem to think that we were a bunch of beer-swilling oafs who don’t play attractive football, like fighting and have no culture -I’m not sure that they were far wrong.

I have 25.4mm bars on my bikes. I’ve not found it a limiting factor so far.

It was the walk from our overcrowded hovels to the pit, when we couldn’t afford shoes, that left the indelible stain on our memories

Aye, but that was normal around our way, so I didn’t think it warranted a mention.

Maybe the underlying bog/moors have been very dry and have absorbed the water very quickly due to grass/moss growth at this time of year.

The ground was certainly very wet and boggy in the same area a few weeks ago, though.

Like Binners, I too was pleasantly surprised by how dry the trails were(a great ride). I’d put it down to the wind though.

It’s not been that dry in Lancashire (in the hills) in recent years, although I seem to remember it being more wet/drizzly when I was a child, but maybe that was just because we were forced to play outside at school and had to walk everywhere.

nb. The Michel Thomas audio stuff is far better than the more ‘traditional’ language audio courses for getting a practical understanding of the language.

Ideal for listening to on a daily car/train commute.

obtain the Michel Thomas CDs/MP3s (the emphasis is on the speaking and understanding rather than grammar/vocab) and either a second home in France (expensive) or a girlfriend who lives in France (almost as expensive)

You’ll soon be talking like the Policeman in ‘Allo ‘Allo.

Sorted.

The Snowdon Ranger was good when I did it a few years ago. It was long and rocky, but didn’t stand out as particularly dodgy/dangerous or exposed, but I do often ride rocky trails. As above, it must depend upon what you are used to.

The tricky bit I do remember was getting my front wheel stuck in a narrow rock gully/channel on a ‘zig-zag’.

I’d like to try the other descents too.

Not my photo, but this also shows the lip seal:

If you send the hub to Hope for a new ratchet ring they will also give it a full service, including seal.

I had mine done a fortnight ago. Turn around is very quick.

They are a good company to deal with.

ps. The ‘lip’ faces outwards.

As I’m unoriginal, a High Roller and Minion F are on my other bike.

Yes, the Vert might get a bit ‘drifty’ at times, but I’ve seen people riding hard on them and it won’t spoil your day.

Fit the Nobby Nics if you have them.

I’d still suggest that a decent rider on most ‘adequate’ tyres would be able to ride better than a typical rider on the world’s greatest tyres on tricky terrain, though.

Eh up.

I have a DHX 5.0 coil on my Dawg. Plenty of adjustment and it’s done me fine so far. It’s far better than the RP2 it shock it had originally.

It’s not about the tyres…. Just use whatever you’ve got on at the moment.

Having used Verts in the past on almost all kinds of terrain (around the UK and in the Alps), I’ve no issues with them. they used to be the default suggestion on here. I’m not sure how people can think they are that bad. I do tend to use bigger tyres now though.

I’ve a Nobby Nic on the back (so far so good) and a Vert on the front of my bitsa ‘spare’ bike at the moment.

Nobby Nics are bigger volume, so I’d go with them.

Personally, if any device of mine (household, vehicle, comms, IT, entertainment, etc.) breaks I’ll have a good look at it and have a good go at repairing it if it seems worthwhile, even if it might take time and money.

If I can’t work out what is up with it I’ll consult the www or ask one of my like-minded mates(-which one depending upon what the device is) about it.

For me, there is a lot of satisfaction in understanding things and resurrecting something that many people would discard. A lot of my things are previously-owned and repaired.

I like to set things up to work properly and even if something isn’t broken I might enjoy trying to improve it.

There have been times when I’ve spent time and cash on something that has not been successful, but I’ve almost always learned something in the process.

“Pride in ignorance” I have never understood.

ps. Those that say,
“modern cars/bikes can’t be repaired at home” are mostly wrong. Take off the plastic covers and underneath you’ll find an engine that isn’t vastly different to the one in a Mk1 Escort or Morris Oxford, albeit with fuel injection, a few plug-in sensors ….and on-board diagnostics.

34 chainring & 34-11 cassette here on my light-ish short-forked hardtail.

Fine for most things.

I used to singlespeed (2:1) the same bike back up some long, steep hills when I was fitter, so a mere 1:1 feels fine in most situations.

I do have the same plus a granny ring fitted my heavy full-susser.

McHamish – Member
As far as I undersstadn it, Catholics don’t actually believe that it’s the actual flesh and blood of jebus, they believe it ‘represents’ his flesh and blood.

Heresy!!!! Holy moly, are you some sort of protestant?

Transubstantiation

McHamish – Member

I haven’t witnessed any witchcraft, but perhaps they save that for when I’m not there.

You are either a “9)” or you must have nodded-off for the bit when the priest turned the bread and wine into the actual flesh and blood of Jesus 😉

mrdestructo – Member

@Aristotle I know Methodists round here who like to put their “hands on” for prayer sessions to heal people. My family are Roman Catholic and frankly I think they’d class that as witchcraft.
I agree that it seems nonsensical, although I’m not convinced that something that doesn’t work is witchcraft -That was the sort of thing that the ‘oddball’ types were into. The Catholic Church has some unusual ideas too, though(Transubstantiation, anyone?), but witchcraft/acts of god are obviously not entirely ecumenical.

The vast majority of the Methodist people were quiet, respectable, charitable Middle-England folk not into that kind of thing, but it does strikes me that people can do whatever they like “in the name of <their> god”.

I was just pointing out the differences I’d noticed. I’m not intending to provoke sectarianism.

I don’t believe in any of it….

Ro5ey – Member
Would you like to go to church.. ?

As a clear thinking, intellegent, open minded adult… who seems genuinely interested… why not give it a go? For a decent length of time though, say 6 months?

What have you got to lose?
Having been taken along to church as a child and being involved in an associated organisation up to around the age of 18 (having long-since realised that I didn’t believe in the whole god/religion thing), I’d recommend that people really didn’t bother.

The Methodist church, with which my family are involved, with was very well-meaning, egalitarian, charitable and mainly very pleasant (albeit with an oddball obsessive sub-cult of the congregation who, I think, eventually all left for a Pentecostal group). The problem for me is that it is all based on nothing more substantial than ‘faith’.

In comparison,(in my limited experience) the RC church seems very peculiar to me with its patriarchal, hierarchical system.

Having only occasionally been to Church in the past few years(family occasions), the whole ‘worship’ thing now seems very alien to me.