I've worked in various environmentaly focussed jobs (both as a volunteer and as a paid member of staff) for about 14 years now. I can only say that I think that the majority of climate change arguments are absolute tosh, especially the whole CO2 thing. Water vapour and methane are far more damaging to the atmosphere but these are two things that aren't really tackled. Guardian readers will no doubt want to try to stop cows farting now that I've mentioned methane…
I also object to the way emotional rhetoric has been allowed to dominate green issues and the associated research. Where is the definitive empirical scientific data to back up the claims of Greenpeace, F0E etc? Oh, thats right, there isn't much if any that can actually be replicated and verified. Instead we have a political and environmental agenda that has been railroaded by a few over emotional 'green' groups which has only resulted in higher taxes for all (imposed on environmental grounds) and very little environmental improvement.
The Earth is a far more complex system than we could ever hope to understand or influence and whilst we have undoubtedly done some very stupid things to the environment we live in over the years there is very little we can do to stop any changes.
MTFU people. We live on a big, complex and varied planet and in truth we have no idea what will really happen next.

Petesgaff,

I've been following this thread for a while like many others.

What you have may have been diagnosed as incurable and the best that you can do is work to control it but you are still here, still fighting it and by the sound of it determined to better the current 12 year marker that has been set. Keep fighting the good fight fella.

Sounds like the ideal event for a portly boke in his thirties riding a niche bike. Count me in.

I live in North Devon, at the top of a hill, surrounded by hills. I'm sure riding a single speed is doing me some good but it doesn't always feel like it. I'm running a 38:20 on a 29er, seems acceptable if a bit slow on the steep bits.

I kind of did the opposite to this with my Surly Cross Check. I fitted a full MTB drive train complete with triple chainset. I even managed to get down tube shifters to work OK with a Deore rear mech and an LX front. As long as you are using Shimano kit you should find that you don't have any shifter compatibility problems (if it says it is 'Mega 9' compatible it should just be a case of mix and match).

The BB length could be another issue though. I found on the Cross Check that the chain line was all wrong and the only way around it was to miss off a spacer and the plastic sleeve that fits inside the BB shell as the Surly is too narrow compared to the sort of frame the chainset and BB was designed for. Not sure how this may affect you as you'll be using road kit on an MTB frame but it might require a bit of head scratching to sort out.

What a surprise; hitting bicycle components with a hammer ruins them :roll:

Just what is the point of any of these videos apart from showing everyone that there are some people out there with more money and time on their hands than is good for them?

I've been in there a few times and have always been really impressed with how helpful they are. They've got some lovely stuff in there as well. I always try to get a look at their shop front as the park and ride bus goes by.

In fact, that reminds me, I need to buy some touch up paint for my Bianchi road bike…

Lobby_Dosser is right about muddy water. My Brooks was fine with just a straighforward soaking but getting doused in muddy water on a 30 miler ruined it, despite all the care I had taken to profide it. Took a while to work it back into the right shape before it dried out.

Choose your seat post carefully as some clamp arrangements tend to foul the underside of the saddle in my experience and can restrict your fore and aft movement of the saddle.

I built a Cross Check up in the spring and love it. I'm running it with flat bars and road wheels at the moment and it handles really nicely. Its a pretty comfy frame and I'm hoping that putting drop bars and decent cross wheels on it over the winter will make it even more so.

The standard fork is fine and has such silly amounts of clearance it would be a shame to change it.

What a shame. He was always entertaining to watch. I seem to recall he let his pride get the better of him at the world championships a few years ago and tried to complete the course with a broken wrist.

I've got a GXP external bottom bracket fitted to mine as fitting it meant I could get the bike finished quickly. It fitted fine and because the Swift has a Phil Wood EBB you can be sure the outer surfaces are nice and parallel.

I am starting to doubt if external BBs are very good for single speeds however. Seems to need a lot of TLC with all the force being put through it. In fact I'm beginning to question if external BBs are any good for anything…

Many years ago I once accidentally took a wrong turn in the dark when approaching an underpass at the top of East Road in Cambridge and ended up riding down the steps instead of the ramp at the opposite entrance.

Had I not been on a Dawes racer, and had I been expecting the steps to be there, I may have made it more than half way down before landing on my face. I can remember getting some pretty serious air over the last three steps. I ended up covered in blood and had to carry the bike 2 1/2 miles home. Not a good day…

The blue looks OK, as does the revised Kona logo. I suspect if you had a womens name on the top tube you'll soon get fed up with people asking why you've borrowed your girl friends bike :D

Apparently Bob Chicken keeps foxes…go figure :wink:

I believe stun guns are illegal in this country so yes, pretty bad form. Especially as the stun gun may well kill a small dog.

Just squirt the dog with some water, or am I a bit old school for still using water bottles and bottle cages?

Hmm…decisions, decisions. I've kinda opened the flood gates for suggestions here. Thanks for the ideas, I'll give it some thought and then get the credit card out.

Ta,

I thought the Surly rings would be suggested but I was wondering if there were any other alternatives. Despite them looking good I always find Surly bits are a bit of a faff to get hold of. Guess I'll have to see if Charlie the bike monger has any. My LBS is sh%te at getting in one off orders.

It was a geat atmosphere at the finish in Bideford with a good turn out of spectators.

Seemed to be a lot of spotlessly clean bikes being wheeled around by people trying to pose.

It's only when I have to take it on a public highway that I'd have to get a tax disc.

True, but the principle of hypothecation does not apply to road fund licences (AKA car tax). In fact the cost of maintaining the roads comes from your community charge payments. None of the money you pay to use a car on the road makes its way back to the highways agency.

What other setup needs to be done?

If you happen to be a mechanical dimwit like me setting up Cantis usually involves long hours in the garage shouting at bits of wire that never seem to be at the right angle or length.

Ride every hill like its your last and get used to running out of steam just as an unforeseen ramp up in the gradient appears!

To be honest though after a while you will forget you're riding a SSer and just settle into a more natural pace on your rides.

What a stupid idea, especially as nobody actually pays a tax to use the roads. You pay a tax to own a vehicle, not to use the public highway so the idea that cyclists should pay tax to contribute to the upkeep of the roads is plain daft as even motorists don't.

I can't see how such a tax would ever be enforceable. The DVLA has a hard enough time keeping track of people who don't pay the road fund licence.

Will I have to get a SORN notice for my road bike which is currently in bits in the garage?

You could try Panracer Ribmos. Stupid name, not cheap and pig to fit but very fast and grippy despite their non-racy design. Extremely hard wearing too as I've taken them off road a few times and have had no problems at all (apart from a total lack of traction). I'm running a set of 2.6 X 1.75 on one of my bikes and they have been pretty much a fit and forget item.

Just to add my tuppence worth I've spent my lunch hour stripping the old canti's of my Thorn Sherpa and sticking on V's (working from home today). They look a hell of a lot nicer and weigh a lot less (this weight saving is wiped out only by the small fact that the rest of the bike weighs about the same as a small car!). No problems with mud guard clearence and I'll hopefully have more powerful judder free brakes.

Just got to persuade the old brake levers to release their grip on the bars…

been told many times that it's a shame that I can't afford a car I just smile and shrug

If only the majority of car drivers knew how much we spent on our rides…mind you if they did they would feel a bit inferior in their cheap little rot boxes which would bring its own problems

I think the problem with a lot of motorists is just pure ignorance. Once you've accepted that a lot of people probably aren't as skilled behind the wheel of the car as they should be its generally easier to get into the right mindset for taking appropriate avoiding action.

Some silly woman overtook me as I was overtaking a line of parked cars on a downhill bend yesterday. I think she got a bit of a shock as a fat bloke on a single speed 29er can travel really quite quickly downhill and the blind corner she was approaching on the wrong side of the road came up rather faster than she would have liked. I had to feather my brakes to let her get back on the right side of the road. Made me chuckle.

It all depends on which sort of brake you find easier to set up. I find V's easier to work with and that I can get them to work with a bit more bite than Canti's. If you do go for V's make sure you get decent quality ones as the cheaper ones don't offer the same ease of adjustment.

Ask him to prove that he doesn't sell stolen goods. You should also ask if he can quantify how much money he has lost by people taking heed of your flippant comments. Then sue the bar steward for the emotional trauma caused by his threats :D

Still waiting for Midge bars… :(

If you're on a bike and enjoying yourself then its all good in my opinion.

Can't comment on the On-One wheels but I run a pair of Halo Freedom Disc 29ers on my Swift and they run nicely and don't seem to be too heavy. The rear hub is a bit basic and only has 4 pawls in the freehub but seems pretty solid.

If you go for Halos its best to shop around. I ended up buying the front and rear wheels from different places in order to get the best price.

I'm 6'1" and pushing 17 stone. I reckon I've got the ideal build…for going down hill anyway :wink: No better way to build up speed in my opinion. I also believe in the principle that round shapes are more aerodynamic so in fact my stomach actually works like a sort of built in fairing and makes me go faster. Or am I just getting silly now?

Barca, somebody else has already mentioned getting the CTC involved. Their lawyers, if needed, will in all probability have the f**ker driving the car for breakfast. Its also worth mentioning to your neighbour that as the responsibly adult present when the police speak to the kids that he can challenge their line of quesioning.

The guy sounds like a bully and his behaviour towards the child immediately following the accident should be raised with the police. The validity of his quote for the repairs should also be questioned (if hitting a small child on a bike has caused £600 worth of damage I'm surprised the lad is still alive!). The fact that the guy drove away from the scene of what could have been a very serious accident also needs to be driven home to the plod. If they haven't picked up on the seriousness of him doing that then I'd take their badge numbers and report the procedural error they have made (or at least mention it; the threat of a complaint will hopefully knock some sense into them).

Other things for your neighbour to consider is whether or not the driver has a car that is roadworthy. Is it taxed, insured, are all of the tyres in good nick? Does the driver have previous for driving offences? Put doubt into the minds of the police of the guys claims at every stage as he is clearly a total arse and people like him are usually too stupid to have covered all of the bases.

I've always had a bell on my bike. The only one of my bikes that doesn't have a bell is my road bike and thats only because I find shouting at car drivers is more effective!

Like some other people here I find a bell gets a better response from walkers.

All of a sudden and there are quite a few choices.

I'll probably hold out for a pair from Brant. It would only feel weird grabbing hold of something called Gary when I ride off into the woods!

I do at least have some old bars on my bike that I rescued from the back of the garage.

Yeah, looks good.

Amazing how much interest you can generate with a bent metal tube…

As somebody who is now a committed 29er fan even I think this article is rubbish. St Colin is right in his comment (above) that this 29er vs 26er thing is becoming annoying. The different wheel sizes suit some people better than others and thats always going to be the case.

The article on Velonews also failed to take into account that 26er is the most common wheel format worldwide. 29ers are undoubtedly going to become more common but I can't see them getting to the same level of popularity as 26ers as the smaller wheel format is too well established.

4.bp.blogspot.com/_KQlh6G_ERA8/SWryZKOzO2I/AAAAAAAABvw/sJI3Q1593xs/s400/penny.farthing1.jpg109er?

Yeah, its seen as the big new trend in single speeding. Instead of growing a beard so people can spot you from a distance some single speed wannabe heroes have started strapping grizzly bears to their handle bars to demonstrate how tough they are and to maul passing full suss multi geared bike riding sissys :wink:

I really shouldn't try and touch type when I can't do it…

Single speed bikes make sense if they suit your riding style and the terrain you ride most often. Hills generally aren't too much of a problem if you've got the gearing right and because a single speed drive train is so simple you can mash the pedals round without worry that your gears are going to slip.

For sure there are some SSers who like to see themselves as wacky and think that growing bears somehow confirm this fact but most of us ride single speed because its nice and simple and the bikes are fun to ride which is surely what riding should be all about. For those of you who haven't tried it you should give it a go before declaring it as cr*p.

I had one as a student. I was able to fit a 'Men at Work' sign in the front basket and a crate of beer on the back. Happy days.