I bought my first mountain bike on the morning of September 3rd 1986. I bought my first helmet on the afternoon of September 3rd 1986 after my first ride off road on it. Coming down a rough flinty track I noticed that my hands were no longer on the bars having been bounced off and in that moment decided that a helmet might be a sound investment. and if you think WCA’s helmet is deeply unfashionable you should have seen that Vetta.

Well 23 years later I haven’t actually hit my head when falling off but I think I’ll stick with the helmet just in case.

Also very much on my wish list. I’ve seen a few set up as single speed but has anyone put a Rohloff on one.

Thanks guys I guess check with the manufacturer is the safe option. I too have a disappointing inside leg measurement.

Or did I just imagine that someone on here might know. :-)

How about here[/url]

Don’t worry Peter Kenyon still has a chance of an FA cup medal. :-)

Lyons I’ve never tried any methods but having used self amalgamating tape a lot in the past you really have to stretch it to get it to work and you might find it ends up a bit narrow. I don’t know if the self fusing silicone tape might be better it’s 25mm as opposed to 19mm.

Toss a coin.

Your reaction to the result is the important thing the result itself is irrelevant

Who dares wins.

sc-xc
brilliant

USB wireless adapter, usb extension cable and a wok. Do a search for that you’ll find some interesting stuff. If your a weight weenie you can replace the wok with a sieve.

So drac I take it salt has no benefit from your condescending reply. :-)

I find it very effective on mouth ulcers, hurts like hell for a few seconds and after that any further pain seems trivial. Probably of no medical benefit but that applies to a great many drugs and procedures.

Did no one read the carbon fibre thread. You must think your an engineer to post on here and you must think that everyone else is a crap engineer who posts on here. I don’t think however that it is necessary to actually be an engineer. :-)

I am not an engineer deluded or real,
and not much of a mountain biker considering I’ve been doing it for over 20 years.

I’ve never had the need when riding. Walk into a library though and it’s a whole different matter.

richc I think you’ll find that those of us who are vegetarian/ vegan don’t leave such toxic waste and don’t have the choice about holding it in either.

I just wish I could get a spring to move. At 60kg I can’t get more than 50mm out of My Magura Oder 85’s even with the softest spring and spacers removed. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised as I could never get my Hite Rite to move either.

Mine change gear and light up the road.

Thorn Catalyst around 32 pounds. Rohloff, Magura Oder forks and a Son Dynohub don’t make for a light bike when you start with a steel frame built for durability. I only weigh a hundred pounds more than it myself. I don’t find the weight an issue for most of my riding which is usually under two hours but by the end of a three hour ride on Friday the final hill, the steepest of the ride, was hard. Long term plan is to get a Van Nicholas Zion Rohloff frame and try to lose a bit of weight with that and a few component upgrades. In an ideal world I’d like a 25lb Rohloff equipped hardtail.

86 – Rockhopper
88 – Roberts white spider frame built up with components off the Rockhopper. Frame now rusty and hanging on a nail in the garage.
98 – Marin East Peak – still in the garage needing new cables.
3 Children came along including twins and it didn’t get that much use. In fact bar the headset and pedals it is totally original.
06- Thorn Catalyst. Bought as an on road commuter but decided to try it out off road last year and now commute off road and use it as my only bike.

So only 3 bikes and 1 frame in 23 years. 2011 will be 25 years since I bought my first mountain bike and I plan to buy something new to celebrate that. At the moment the favourite is a Van Nicholas Zion Rohloff frame and I’ll use most of the parts from the Catalyst for it to start. Of course I’m open to other suggestions as to what to get but somehow Ti seems the appropriate way to celebrate a silver jubilee.

Make sure they have chequered flags on them and straws. They were the must have bicycle accessory around 1975 as I recall, though age and time may have clouded my memory.

I rode rigid again for a couple of weeks last year after a 10 year gap and I really noticed the difference between the carbon forks and bars I used and the steel and ally of 10 years earlier. I then decided to try setting the bike up as a hardtail which is how I’ve kept it. However I’m tempted to try it rigid again if only to save some weight over the Magura Oders I’m currently using.

I have a Rohloff on my do everything bike and really like it. I commute year round on it and for the last year that has been off road. The only maintenance I have done over and above a single speed is the oil change which is quick and easy. It really earns it’s keep on a use every day bike.The only downside for me aside from cost is that it is heavy. However the bike is heavy all round so it’s not all down to the hub. It’s not really an issue on my commute but I did the Lazy Sunday South Downs route from the trail guide this morning and after 3 hours of 133 pounds of me pushing 32 pounds of steel up and down hill I was feeling it.

You may be able to put a bigger volume tyre on the front if you go rigid. If you combine that with tubeless you could get a bit more cushioning. Only really one way to find out.

What sort of biscuits?

“others who have rode with me.”

Take heart you still have the grammar of a child. :D

I don’t really use the classifieds but a division into for sale and wanted would seem logical. The rest seems just fine.

Nor do I having anything useful to add on the breadmaker front.
however I do think it’s time the mods looked at introducing a new what domestic appliance forum category.

Well that approach seems to have been more successful. I should point out that I don’t actually need an ironing board as I never use one so I’m afraid I can offer no useful advice to the “what ironing board debate” cove123.

mick do you always eat your tea favourite bit first. My dad still does and he’s been retired for 18 years. He still thinks he might get a shout though.

SDW has been done on one both ways in under 24 hours. Rigid 29er I believe.

I like Vienna. It has the advantage in that it was relatively lightly damaged during WWII. It also has one of my favourite restaurants, Livingstones, and one of the best Indians I’ve ever eaten in. I can’t recall it’s name but if anyone is interested then I’ll dig out my stack of restaurant cards from my suitcase and let you know.

I had a Roberts White Spider frame made over 20 years ago. Back then the choice of stock frames was very limited compared to today. The only real reason now for doing it is the sheer pleasure of owning a unique hand crafted piece of work. My frame is hanging in the garage and rather rusty but I still like looking at it and the fillet brazing is something to behold. There is no logical reason to go custom but if money were no object then I’m sure I’d want another one day.

If you can catch the wind right then Eastbourne to Winchester is probably easier in that you do the hardest riding first. The prevailing wind however is west to east so you have more chance of a tailwind starting in Winchester.

I just got my company to buy a bike. They own it and I ride it to work everyday. They can claim back the VAT and can write it off against tax quite quickly. It’s technically available for any of my colleagues to use but as it doesn’t fit any of them or would kill them at the first hill that is not a problem. Employer is responsible for bike safety so I gave that role to myself.

But you haven’t actually done anything wrong you just tried to and failed.
What worries me is that you actually thought you might get away with it. I think you’ll find HR are calling you in because they cannot actually believe they employed you in the first place and just want to find out who exactly did give you a job :-). Of course you should have charged your son’s bike to your second home allowance which would have been fine.

You picked a good day, this morning your bike could have still been hanging on that fence post and I’d of ridden right past it. Rain and mist and a strong wind. I guess that was the summer then, time to put back the mud tyres.

I’m not sure the Rohloff chain is the answer. As I understand it Rohloff were making these before the hub and they are designed to run on dérailleurs rather than hub or single speed set ups. While I’m sure the quality will be good I don’t think they’ll match a much cheaper 3 speed or a bmx chain for long life. I’ve got a cheap KMC 3 speed as recommended by charlie the bikemonger sitting in the garage for when mine finally dies. I think it might be worth trying the just keep running it method, you never going to find out if it works out cheaper and easier in the long run unless you try it. One other question is what front ring are you using. I use a thorn unramped one with full height teeth. It is worn now but still working as well as ever. It can also be reversed which makes it more economical.

I’ll have to try that loop. I’ve ridden all of it at sometime or another but not as a loop. In fact a bit of it from Balsdean to Woodingdean is on my commute to work every day. My favourite bit is coming home Woodingdean down to Balsdean via the track cut into the hillside. Just have to watch out for badger setts at the bottom though.

As others have said stop measuring the chain it doesn’t matter. Look on the thorn forums, the consensus there is that you run it till it breaks and then reverse the sprocket and chainring and do it all again. There is a point of view though that you should check the face of the sprocket before you reverse it as it will be running against an oil seal and if it’s rough or pitted then you may damage that seal by reversing it.

My SRAM 8 speed running with a Rohloff dates from July 06. I commute so it’s used all the time and that commute has been off road for the last year. I think being 60kg and a spinner not a grinder might explain a lot of that. Oh and not really cleaning it very often.

No takers then?
Really must be a recession.