Only coming from the Big Smoke™ but have misplaced the original thread – anyone know when & where is the rendezvous…? :-)

Glad to hear you're fine but, erm… got any pics of the smash…? >:-)

Where's your spunk lad?

It's in your mum.

Please, please stop now everyone.

Please.

But should I wear a helmet?

Careful if you get a timber one cos there's some krazy kids going around on blue pigs setting fire to sheds.

Do you really want to see another picture of your mum…?

Genesis Alpitude – beautiful thing.

Actually, sorry, scratch that. It's still a beautiful thing but it's over-budget.

Although, you can top-up your Ride2Work voucher with cash if you want to…

Get down the shop & test-ride, test-ride, test-ride: anything you don't like will become apparent and if it's a big ol' chain-store they're staffed by pussies helpful people who will cave in to your demands certainly listen to your queries and help you right out.

If you like the ride then you can always upgrade bits as things wear out.

Definitely just get a new spoke: they ain't expensive and then your worry is over.

If it was done in a shop then they're shite: I pride myself on building & truing wheels with perfect tension and absolutely NO 'wound-up' spokes. Your case is a bit of an extreme urine-extraction.

If you did it yourself: ho hum, we all gotta start somewhere :-)

Lubing the nipples helps (bring it on you lot!!!)

Cheers boys 'n' girls, definitely looking forward to it more and more – now I just have to pass on your suggestions to the powers that be.

Thanks, Northwind, that's bucked my courage up no end – let's show these kids with all deir springs wot's wot :-D

more like cross country than DH

Hallelujah, then I'll do fine, thanks!

I think you havent yet "got" the 7 Stanes yet.

Damn right you are, sir, but that's cos I've never been…

I've got a £10 Wiggle voucher, yours for a tenner.

rs – Me no troll, honest, just haven't got a clue about what to expect there…!

Thanks guys! (Well, no thanks to you, Ayatollah, you meany)

Will I need pads? I've worn 'armour' (that's what the cool kids call it, like, yeah?) in the past but that was actual downhill; 7 Stanes is more trails and uphills, right…?

Scott's right, it's gotta be a complete bike, not a frame/custom build and even then it has to be something they can get through one of their regular suppliers.

waggishly"…??

I've replaced the Reba Races on the 2008 one I've got with Surly Karate Monkey forks but haven't quite finished building it up yet…

Looks nice in almost-On-One-"That Blue"…

Anyone interested: there's 29er Reba Race and Bonty 29er wheels for sale in the classifieds :-D

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-29er-bonanza-new-bits-rs-reba-race-bonty-race-lite-wheels-and"

A Very Long Time™ in miles? Erm, probably about twice around the Earth, riding through oceans included.

THe bearings can be replaced and the hub can be overhauled: the chap in that thread I linked to who gave the bearing info has had his down to its component parts and back again – therefore the hub can last forever, hurrah!

A SA and front mech setup would indeed be LOTS cheaper but wouldn't have even half the gear range of a Rohloff. I've tried an Alfine with a front mech but unless you have massively different chainrings the range is still limited.

PLUS I hate front mechs so are one of my favourite reasons for having hub gears instead.

Mine probably cost about five hundreds of your English pounds but the trade and retail prices have both rocketed recently (Euro-Pound exchange whatever?).

Some say it's supposed to last for 100,000km but that's just speculation. I think it will last for A Very Long Time™.

Here's a thread in which I questioned the Rohloff bearings: http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=930.0. Be warned: during the thread there's a shedload of misinformation from deluded old skool tourers but it all comes together in the end.

Just as long as the min. insert is in the frame and, preferably, the seatpost extends below the toptube/seattube junction you're all set.

Remember longer posts can be cut, but shorter ones can't be lengthened.

Get a shorter post if you have suspension/interrupted seattube issues or if you feel you need to save a few grams…

Like many on here I've had my fair share of Inbreds in various forms but have ended up with none. They are super-cheap, aren't the lightest, damn ubiquitous and ride really nice, but for the same money or not-a-lot-more you can get a sexy old steel Kona/GT on eBay or through a WTD ad on here and SS it up.

Take a peek at the supplier's website: http://www.ison-distribution.com/ison/english/product.php?part=HUROSHDK

… and prepare to splutter on your cornflakes.

Being a spanner-wielding greasy baboon in a bike shop meant I got mine at trade but it still hurt the pocket book somewhat. More than three years of fantastic service has more than convinced me it was money not pissed-up-teh-wall.

Had heard its a good idea but not great

It's the best thing in the whole world ever. Yeah, it's stupid money to get one (I had to sell two bikes to buy one…) but I've never looked back and love it dearly.

dont know anyone that has one!

I'm guessing bandito has one as well…?

bandito – Hmm, haven't heard of Nordlock washers, but the frame was sold many moons ago…

Sorry to hear about your EBB slipping. Not trying to sound like a b@astard but I've not had a problem with the EBB on my Thorn. It actually inspired me to seek out more eccentricity and I've now got three bikes with them – it is definitely the most hassle-free method of tensioning a chain and the drive-side dropout with nothing on or around it looks minimistically magic.

Is it a Raven Enduro you've got? Their rack mounts were indeed, um, interesting…

Lazgoat – the sliding dropouts rely on mere friction to stop the driveside dropout sliding forward. (So do tracknuts but a fatty tracknut has big warehouseloads of force to stop the wheel sliding.)

I could never get the dropout on me P7 to stay where I put it. Same problem with the older Kona Unit/Explosif sliding dropouts (managed to remove the thread out of those ones…), though Kona have redesigned it to have an extra screw (a la chain tug) to stop slipping.

But you can't do all the cool stuff on a manky racer that you can do on a ATB… It's not about speed, it's about fun!

And MTFU FFS.

RD – was this a genuine thread to have people show off embarrassing photos or a badly-disguised attempt to get some kiddie porn…?

The shifter isn't the problem but the orientation (yaw) of the front mech might well be: check the outer plate is dead parallel with the rings.

If it is, and shifting is still slow then remember: "Oh FFS, a front mech is only two wonky plates of metal that smack the chain from side to side" and it's time to get creative.

Try rotating the mech ever-so-slightly anti-clockwise (viewed from top).

Particularly annoying front mechs sometimes get a bit of cold-working. I wrote this a while back: http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=2165.msg10366#msg10366

Good luck! :-)

Thorn Stirling looks ace + uber-Rohloff compatible + rack mounts. I have a Raven Nomad and it rocks on and off road.

What chainset/rings are on there? Sizes?

IMH experience some big rings just have shite pick-up ramps…

Favourite/funniest/filthiest ever thread

Has that got a SPuD cleat on the bottom, WCA?

Area: knee
Injury: graze
Caused by: falling off
Treatment: kissed better by your mum

Help out the n00bs: why the propping-up of the bar and the bandying-about of troll accusations?

'Actually' the time taken for aluminium to oxidise is considerably less than "ages" – it's pretty much instantaneous. Aluminium is very reactive but luckily forms it's own coat of aluminium oxide sharpish to prevent further corrosion.

You don't really NEED Cytech in order to teach bike maintenance. Having done the Cytechs and done a few Dr Bike-type sessions I'm not sure what gets taught on the Cytech courses is that relevant outside of a bike shop workshop: there's a lot of emphasis in Cytech on Britich Standards and doing the kind of jobs that only bike shop mechanics would have to face.

Inn-sewer-ants is defo a good plan though.