Pretty sticky mud this morning on the downs but the mud x’s I fitted a couple of weeks ago are doing a brilliant job on the daily commute. Riding straight through stuff that brought the bike to a complete standstill with the xc pros

The difference with the thudbuster is that the distance between the saddle and the pedals remains constant. That won’t be the case with any telescopic design. I’ve never used either design but the thudbuster gets a very high proportion of favourable reviews from users whenever you do a search. The short travel version may be all you need and it is a little less ugly.

It’s going to have to be Special Brew if your going to get me bringing my own marigolds. Anyone know what the minimum wage is in lager.

I’m only qualified for one of those. Do I have to supply my own tea towel or are you supplying all equipment? If so I’m a medium in marigolds and I insist on yellow. and what lager is on offer?

Well if it makes you feel better it’s news to me.

JoB it’s close to me too so if you buy it let me know and I’ll run you to casualty.

1985 – Specialized Rockhopper

started riding off road in a year earlier on a 10 speed Coventry Eagle.

So if the consensus is that you cannot allow a man’s belief in ghosts to affect his work can we also rule out any special considerations for religious beliefs as there is no more evidence for the existence of any god than ghosts.

The wife of one of my colleagues did it last year. She only stepped in with about a month to go as a replacement for someone who injured themselves in training. She made it but I don’t think she plans to do it again. The most important thing is your feet, the SDW which the route mostly follows will be as hard as concrete in July. Her husband went as support and kept the blisters at bay at each of the checkpoints. He reckons it’s stopping at these points and looking after the feet that is the way to get through it. He saw many of the younger or less experienced walkers set out too fast and fail to deal with problems early leaving them crippled with blisters and having to abandon. On the contrary many quite elderly experienced walkers completed it without any problems. The Ghurkas man the checkpoints and they enter several teams who don’t mess about with walking and run the whole way.

Check out screwfix etc for safety glasses. I,m using a pair of clear bolle glasses that cost £7 and don’t steam up and are grade 1 optically rated.

Did the pleasure beach last October and being fired up into the air gives you a great appreciation of just how flat it is around Blackpool. Despite having been born there and going back during my childhood for holidays and to see family I’d never realised just how flat it was. And don’t dismiss Blackpool entirely for a visit, it is scruffy and tacky with a population who seem to be determined to smoke and eat themselves to death but I really enjoyed going back after a gap of many years. as for the bike then I guess the road bike will be a lot more at home.

Just spent the last few days in Berlin using widescreen quadruple hd projectors at around £125,000 a go. What have I got at home? a 15 year old plus second hand crt monitor come tv.

It’s a free country but only if you don’t want to leave.

about 1 in 1000 apparently.

Looking on the bright side, don’t you have a nice new suit for job interviews?

Thorn still have some 853 Enduro frames left at £299. Option of fitting a Rohloff later if your knees give up but you still want low maintenance

I think if you’ve been on honeymoon “the bird” is now the wife.
And yes you will need lots of money because your going to need to go out and buy a coulple of ti singlespeeds as well.

rust rust rust and more rust
We have one at work and we keep trying to kill it it but it won’t die. Gearbox can get a bit difficult but our 2000 model is still on it’s original clutch which isn’t bad for a van which carries a lot of heavy av equipment around. I don’t know the mileage as that has reset itself on a couple of occasions but it does do a lot of short journeys which is pretty hard on any vehicle. If it wasn’t for the rust I’d say it was a great van, drives well can be parked in most car parks and has a 1000kg payload. Ours is a real shabby mess these days, all it needs is a pile of yellowing copies of the Sun on the dashboard and it could pass as a cowboy builders van. Still keeps going though with only the very minimum of looking after.

Stop complaining, if they’re going to put a bloody great horse there then they are going to have to put in a bloody great bridleway to get it there. We’ll be able to ride 20 abreast up that and call it an installation.

PJ266 smoking is fine when using petrol, it isn’t possible to light it with a cigarette.

If you really want an exprience try the 200 degree challenge at the Amundsen Scott Polar Base. This involves starting in the sauna, running naked out of the building and circling the Pole before dashing back to the sauna. The name deriving from the fact that there is a temperature difference of over 200 Deg F. This apparently passes as entertainment in the long dark winter months. And as for the lack of attractive women there is a saying at the base that there is no such thing as an ugly woman at the pole.

20 years ago I had a custom made Roberts White Spider frame made. It was a huge improvement over the Rockhopper frame it replaced, and the bike always seemed to be mind controlled, it just went where you wanted to go without ever feeling you had to do anything. However 20 years on and I think mass produced frames have improved greatly. If I put My Pace rigid forks on my 853 Thorn then it rides just as well. The best thing about a custom frame is that it is unique. You can spec every detail and know that you have something that no one else has. I think the performance improvements are negligible but the feeling of having something that is bespoke is great. If I had the money then it’s something I’d want to do again.

I didn’t know the Zenit was modern enough to take colour film, did you have it chipped?

Because no one can ever agree what tyres are best so there is no point in fitting good tyres because the minute you have your new bike you are going to come on here and ask what tyres for blah blah blah blah……

Can it be long before we see top end bikes without tyres just as we see them without pedals/

zen is in my list of books that changed my life. However I’m sure that’s because I read it at the right time in my life and I’m sure that today if I were to read it for the first time I may well have the same opinion as you. Sometimes it’s when you read it rather than what you read.

Richard’s Bicycle Book
Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Slaughterhouse 5
What’s Bred In The Bone
I Claudius
The Catcher In The Rye
The grapes of Wrath.

Some great books mentioned by others that I haven’t listed here but these are the ones that I guess I read at just the right time. I read The Grapes of Wrath over 20 years ago but I still remember getting to the last page on the number 73 bus and managing to control an almost irresistible urge to read it aloud to the rest of the bus. It was an extraordinary experience that I’ve never had before or since. I’ve always said to myself that if it happens again I won’t resist. Is it just me or is the connection you feel with another person over the shared appreciation of a book of a different magnitude to any other art form or shared interest.

So the real answer to your question is move the fridge.

Don’t KMC chains have their own type of removable link?

yes

My cables are the originals fitted by Thorn and are now 2 1/2 years old and still work perfectly. The bike is an all year round commuter which has mostly been off road for the last 6 months. I’ve done no maintenance or lubrication. My Rohloff is the internal changer version which may explain why I’ve had no problems but as others have said look at the SJS site and the Thorn forums, it’s probably the best source of information.

Mboy please show me in the question where it specifically asks us to determine the chances of the woman having had the children in a specific order.

Wurth LU cleaner is specifically made for cleaning car disk brakes, although I don’t know whether that means you can use it on a bike. Might be worth considering.

I used old scaffold boards, from a wood recycling centre, and used 3″ fence posts cut down to strengthen the corners. Ours are 1200mm wide with a 600mm path in between. 1200mm means you can easily reach to the middle without having to walk on the beds and a 600mm gap gives you enough room to kneel down to work.

Now snowing in Brighton

Thanks Charlie, so do I need 3/32 or 1/8. Am I right in thinking that I could run either but that the 3/32 will be quieter?

Thanks guys, I guess I’ll just look at another Sram 8 speed.

never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never accept an insurance renewal quote.

Well it seems to me it all hinges on whether boy/girl is the same as girl/boy. Under current discrimination laws we must not discriminate on sex or age and therefore we must assume boy/girl is the same as girl boy. Thus 50% seems to be the politically correct answer.

He may well have been a Nazi RB and yet despite that he tried to do something far better and lets be honest braver than any of us will ever attempt. I wouldn’t want to see him as a role model or anything it’s just that I find the contrast between who he was and what he tried to do very interesting. I think it shows the weakness of labels.

So if there is nothing good about a man who tries to kill Adolf the rest of us can’t have very much going for us. Don’t tell me your great and noble thoughts and intentions, tell me what you have done that is better than trying to assassinate the fuhrer. I think it’s more than the language they are failing to grasp.