Good lad, Yorkshire Pudding, good lad :-)

And yes, Orange make a lot (but not all) of their frames in Halifax. I think it's the hardtails they make in Taiwan; everything else is in-house. Happy to be corrected though.

*throws some Prog Rock at Ant* :-)

random and unnecessary second post

*doesn't care about Timberland direction any more*

*Throws rocks at Ant anyway*

:-)

If a pitch is too much for most of your riding, do you need FS at all?What about a hardtail 29er? A lot more bang for your buck, and more likely to fit. I'd recommend at least trying something like a Singular Swift XL. It should be just the right side of flickable for you – loong top tube (the most important thing) and I'm constantly amazed by how capable mine is at all sorts of riding :-)

Also, I've got no idea what they're like these days, but the old GT iDrives (1999 ones) used to be absolutely HUGE – the XL was way too big for me, and I'm 194cm.

Good luck!

Steve, I'm currently running the niner flat bars on my SS – 710mm of complete aceness. I think I got them from JE James, but I might be wrong there..
Hope you're well :-)

I've just been pointed in the direction of this thread by a friend who thought it was me – so hello fellow Calderdale Barney!

For what it's worth I don't have a problem with singlespeeding around Calderdale; I have a rigid 29er with a 32×19 on it, and it seems to work for me, even on the more gnarly stuff. I also have no beard :-)

:-)

Drop me a line if you fancy going for a spin some time (although my knowledge of trails around Halifax is a bit limited – I tend to stick to Norland moor, Copley, Elland Park etc etc. I know a few nuggets though you probably know a whole pile more than me)

barneymarsh at the usual UK yahoo address

You're normally Halifax way, aren't you DBW?

I can show you an awesome hilly 60 mile ride from there to Knutsford if you're interested some time (I'm in Holywell Green).

Compared to Calderdale it's terrible for mtb, although the Peaks aren't too far away, and there's some stuff around Macclesfield. As mentioned, the roadieing is good, but not quite as epic as round our way.

BTW – you commuting, or B&B while you're there?

Problem with Alderley Edge is that it gets very busy, even midweek – I suggest creeping back there when it's dark :-)

Oh, there are trails at Delamere, but you'll not be riding to them from S Knutsford in your lunch hour..

Radbroke Hall, perchance? :-)

There's nothing of note at all, I'm afraid. Most/all of it is plugging through fields; there's a very slim and short piece of singletrack on Booth Bed lane (I think) on the way to Goostrey, but it takes you nowhere. You're right about the farmers (or gamekeepers), at least in Toft.
On the up side, the roads are lovely and quiet (avoid the A50, natch), and a very pleasant pootle can be had, but there's really nowt of note off road, like. Use some of the back roads and explore Goostrey, and head over to Chelford before wending your way back past Jodrell Bank, Over Peover etc etc.. there are good back roads to Congleton if you want to go a little further.

I stand to be corrected on the off road stuff, as my info is a year or two out of date, but I grew up round there..

NZ is 13 hours ahead of the UK isn't it? Hmm.. wonder what that makes the date there right now?

Oh, look! It's written at the top. Well I never.

*rolls eyes*

True, however people who buy a generic new home especially with the houses in the area on offer must be narrow-minded ****

You, sir, are an almighty arse, and I claim my five pounds.

Orang Hutan – I think you may be surprised by the Swift..

A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!

I do. It isn't.

With exceptions, naturally.. :roll:

I lived and rode there for 17 years, and it was.

Oh, tech singletrack heaven Bristol isn't, but it is fun, and if you live in Bristol it's the stuff you'll ride most of the time :-)

Clubber

Have you tried a Singular? Having ridden a few, it's the one that feels to me most like a 26" bike (nimble, flicky and chuckable) – and for the record, it's 100% of ace hooning it around Bristol :-)
Next time I'm down we'll have to hook up for a ride and you can see what you think..
Barney

I'm gonna get the usual 'Why are you asking this on an internet forum?', of course , but the thing is I've already spent many 100's of $AU on going to the Doc's, having loads of tests and seeing various specialists, just to be told eventually "Take the tablets, you'll be fine".

So you've consulted the medics, and they've told you you're OK – which isn't what you want to hear, so you're coming on the forum in the hope we'll tell you something different??

A lot of people (me included) have occasional heart flutters.

You've had bloods, ECG, Echo etc – what else would you like them to do? Crack you open to take a look?

Forum diagnosis: You're going to DIE IMMINENTLY.

Print this out and take it to the hospital NOW, it should get you the REAL diagnosis, not the fake one they've been fobbing you off with all this time. :-)

Kingtut – Leeds, at a guess.

Oi! :-)

I've not had a problem running a 22x36t SLX chainset + bash..

Ah, the good old Specialized store on Park Street. I hope that's got you covered, Juan, and we can carry on hijacking?

Anyone remember when that store was Bike Tech? Happy days :-)

Alex, I'm not on here much either, but on hols at the mo. Now living in the Hallowed Lands of Calderdale..
Get well soon!

Where are you these days/what you up to Alex? Isn't it a bit late over there? :-)

Can't comment on the scandal, but I've got a Swift and used to have an On-one. On-one was pig iron in comparison to the Swift.

I've got no idea how much it weighs, but it's a completely lovely thing, and rides *much* lighter than this thread tells me it is.

I don't think there's anything 140mm travel sub 4lbs apart from the DUC, is there?

DT maybe? But they have their own problems.

I used to live 100 metres from it at one point in the mid nineties – the little old lady who ran the shop was lovely, but the chap in the back who once rebuilt my wheel was a grumpy arse and no mistake :-)

Yep – just get yourself to Hebden (ideally find a local) and start from there :-)

Also try Southville, Totterdown, St Agnes, Westbury Park, Hotwells, Bishopston and (at a push) Horfield.

Also try Southville, Totterdown, St Agnes, Westbury Park, Hotwells, Bishopston and (at a push) Horfield.

Didn't Sim have one going a while ago? Or Kelvin? (I forget)

It's a photo, people! It'll look different in real life.. and IIRC the geometry of Voodoo 29ers isn't that weird.

Looks like a lovely build, Mr Chimp. What size is it?

Personally I'd maybe plump for a shorter stem (although it's hard to tell what length that one is) and a layback post, but that's just me. If you go for a layback s/post, I recommend Control Tech – similar build quality as far as I can tell to Thomson, nicer design for a little layback, and much cheaper too.. although you've ridden it, and it's your bike, so far be it from me to preach. What do *you* think? :-)

Jujuuk68

What a truly extraordinary, nonsensical post.

So you're actually blaming him for making his flatmates homeless?? You actually missed out that crucial word, there, but I think we get the gist.

Bully for you, being happy to put up with crap housing and foetid conditions while your landlord laughed his way to the bank; some people actually exercise their rights occasionally..
I assume that '68 is the year of your birth? Grants in he mid eighties were a damn sight better than they were subsequently, and still people managed to live in reasonable conditions..

Gutted for the bloke.

You mind me asking where it was pinched from? Shed/garage etc? And whether it was secured? Do you think it was opportunists, or could he have been targetted?

I'm not a million miles away from there.. will keep my eyes peeled.

I'd have physically evicted you and your posessions there and then for your behaviour and stuff the law.

How nice. Perhaps he's already tried all the tactics you deducted, Holmes like, from the spaces between his words?

Perhaps he's completely entitled to do this in he spirit and the letter of the law, given that he was made promises that have not been fulfilled? Oh, sorry, stuff the law, yes. Oooh, very impressive.

Do you have issues with confrontation?

Clearly you do. I'm unbelieveably glad you're not my landlord..

The Orange one started to slip rather a lot, though, because (I assmue) of tooth wear in Northern grime.

There's still a question over bearing life based on the very high tensions you have to run them at, too.

I'm not sure it'd be worth the faff..

Yep – no bother.

People assume the gender of your partner on the basis that they assume you’re male (the majority of posters on here are) and that you are straight (the majority of posters on here are). It’s nothing to do with “assuming that all beginners are women” and everything to do with context.

It’s very awkward and hideously bad grammar to refer to “them” (witness your appalling sentence above about going to the tango), and it’s something you’d never do in any other situation, so no wonder it throws people and leads them to make (perfectly reasonable) assumptions.

And in answer you your original question, why not talk it through with him/her, explain your case and work it out that way? Or leave it as it is.

Nah, the photoshoot was originally for the cover of (I seem to recall) What MTB, but it was never used. Pics from that series (there are better ones, honest) have cropped up in a variety of places, from ads in mags, the front cover of the CTC mag and the OS map.

Less of your sniggering, Sharki – I’m no oil painting at the best of times, even less so in a 10 year old too big Goretex on a test bike that’s too small trying to pretend I’m warm…

Seb took the pics, by the way :-)