I’ve just changed the chain, sprocket and chainring on my hub geared bike after 4 years of all year round off road commuting. In that time I’ve never cleaned the chain beyond a quick wipe over with a rag and the application of whatever oil is lying around. The cost of the parts was £70 and in another 4 years the chainring will be reversed so it will be cheaper. No conditions I’ve encountered so far have stopped the drive train working.

The only advantage I can see with these alternatives is that for town bikes they are cleaner and belt drives are both cleaner and significantly lighter.

Rucksack for me now that I commute off road. However I have a rack fitted and a pannier at work and one at home so if I need or want to carry something heavier than lunch and spare clothes I can and just take the road home. On road panniers every time.

Clear the space and put the snow on a tarp which you can pull back over the space to hide it when you go out.

I went from 20 years on SPD’s to AM41’s and have been very pleased with them. It’s only xc stuff but I’ve had no problems with grip and they are doing a good job of coping with my off road commute through the winter. The sole is quite stiff which I like but I guess what you want depends on the type of riding you do.

I’ll happily take any vehicle out in the snow. The only caveat being that it is owned and insured by someone else. 🙂

If you have no kids why the hell would you want to block book the whole of their holidays off?

We get something similar as we are right on the divide between 2 areas but who cares, who in their right mind would ever want to watch local news on TV. 🙂

Or the Van Nic you posted up the other day MTG. Single speed would be no problem, and is the snubber mount actually just a mech hanger meaning you could also run conventional gearing?

TJ should have been banned just from the chat forum and left with the option of posting on the bike forum. Yes I know he could get pretty belligerent on spoons as components but his contributions were largely helpful.

I’ve only had a warning, that was for relaying the story of a friend who was touched inappropriately by someone in the television industry. Of course the mods realised that no such thing could possibly have happened. 🙂

My off road commute has both and my bike is rigid. Not really sure which is worse but either beat earlier experiences this winter of struggling to achieve 3 mph downhill with a tailwind on a bridleway the tractors have churned up.

And I should think a fair few oem tyres go pretty quickly as well.

Bring Up The Bodies, every bit as good as Wolf Hall which is some achievement.

I did a job recently with Professor Andre Geim one of it’s discoverers, very good and amusing speaker.

165 on one bike and 170 on the other. Not a lot of difference but would opt for 165 out of choice though it limits the cranks available.
I’ve had 175’s which were fine off road where you’re moving around a lot but my knees didn’t like them for road sections.

Wiggins is 6’3″ AND 77kg you just need to grow 3 inches. 🙂

I found bog standard shimano worked better than ceramic specific pads on my 717’s. My solution has been a Bb7 on the front.

I’ll take it with a rigid fork.

I hope you’ll join me in praying for a swift and full recovery Mr Woppit.

After 3 weeks off work I’m back commuting this week and I’ve opted for the road for the first 2 days back but 2 days is about my limit so it’ll be back to the usual mudfest off road route tomorrow.

The Asus has 2 USB ports I believe so you can still plug your printer into it if that gets around the AirPrint issue.

It might be worth looking at an ASUS RT-N66U as well. I need to do something to improve the wireless capabilities of my Virgin Superhub [sic}. Looking on various forums the Asus seems to give better performance than the Apple unit with more capabilities. I’ve set up the apple units and it is pretty straightforward and easy to use though if you do go that route.

Dopers have a track record in that regard: “Why would someone in my position, with my medical history, take something like that?” – Lance Armstrong on growth hormone, in 2001.

Can you point out the denial in that statement. All I can see is a question.

Effort and weight aside, no-one’s mentioned gearing?

I thought the op said he’d transferred the gears and wheels across.

it has an annoying exposed home button which forever gets depressed in your pocket; you’ll forever be hearing the voice control kick into action!

Well it’s nice to know I’m not the only one who is driven mad by this “feature” However it does a good job of protecting the phone and was only around £16 on Amazon.

I’m having to clean the road bike very evening after my commute!

It’s a pain isn’t it, I commute off road and have to clean it once a year when I need to change the oil in the hub.

I’m not as fit as I was a few months ago but can’t imagine that I’ve lost this much ability

So how long has the gap been between riding one up a hill then riding the other up the same hill?

Lusso thermal bib tights bought over 20 years ago.

I’m finding AM41’s and sealskinzs good. The shoes are not waterproof but they deal well with splashes and I like them as xc shoes as the soles are pretty stiff. I find them grippy enough even on the dirt cheap moulded metal pedals on my off road commuter.

FIP is great, we used to be able to pick it up on fm in Brighton as someone was rebroadcasting a feed illegally. It was good at work but I couldn’t pick it up at home. Best thing about it is that you have no idea what might be coming up next.

But that plane was moving forward relative to the cones!

That’s the point. The plane will not take off if it’s static and no air is passing over the wings but because the wheels of the plane are not driven and freewheel they don’t stop the plane from moving forward. The plane is pulled through the air by it’s propeller not driven by it’s wheels.

Beko replacement was under £200 & is now in fourth trouble-free year.

And should it develop a fault that will burn your house down you can be sure that Beko knew about it all along but decided not to mention it to anyone.

The Tifosi is available with a triple chainset, they do several models, Halfords do them as well.

I’m with mt. Interesting how many people don’t really care about tax evasion. I thought with all that fuss made over Starbucks etc everyone was dead against it.

Everything else will be delivered direct from warehouses.

Which is I guess why you’ve built one in your garden. 🙂

I’m considering SS or getting something hub geared. This winter will kill the current bike!

I’m just about to change the chainring, sprocket and chain on my hub geared bike. They’ve been on for 4 years of all year round off round commuting, have very rarely been cleaned and the chain just gets whatever oil is lying around put on it. That’s mostly been Toyota gear box oil.

I remember when they were Jessops of Leicester with pages of adverts in Amateur Photographer. I can only assume that they borrowed vast amounts of money to expand as fast as they did and forgot that the reason they were so successful originally was because they offered the best prices, undercutting the high street stores they then became. I guess whoever has been running them for the last decade doesn’t have as long a memory as me.

My commute is a minimum 6 miles with 5 off road. In the summer I often extend the off road bit. I recommend rigid forks, hub gears and a dynamo hub if you are going to do it every day through winter.

Ask yourself what a professional builder would do – chuck in whatever was lying around to save paying to get rid of it. 🙂