Its a horrible thing but it is too easy to blow this stuff out of proportion and start pointing fingers. Far more likely to be killed or severely injured in an RTA.

Shitting your pants about refugees carrying out attacks is a waste of time.
Deaths in Europe from extremism

ETA, IRA, RAF, Neo-Nazi’s. Lone wolf attacks e.g Anders Breivik (killed 77 – 2011). Don’t forget that Europe is perfectly capable of creating its own extremist psychos. (or wars for that matter)

We should still help refugees.

Jambalaya – Telegraph has picked up on the obvious wheeze from the EU that all EU citizens in the UK should be under the jurisdiction is EU law. It was a legitimate or humanitarian offer, it’s a p.ss taking attempted power grab

Is it? I don’t see how anyone capable of critical thought would expect them to take any other position. Their citizens will expect their rights to be protected – not handed over to the UK government. If they can’t reach an agreement then they would be left with the choice of lose their EU citizenship (which they are unlikely to accept) or leave the UK – if that happened en masse it would be an absolute disaster for our businesses, public services and tax revenue for obvious reasons.

The telegraph is slipping over towards the hysterical mail / express / sun type of content. Can anyone recommend another source that will give me a view of the more informed and considered Conservative (and also Leave) arguments and opinions?

I wonder if Perez might get asked. I would view him as a really great but often under-rated driver. Never really been in a fast car but still always managed to bother the top positions regularly.

I reckon he would give LH a proper run for his money. Might be a little bit too feisty though, he doesn’t really back down easily.

You should speak to your doctor before doing it but the below has had the best effect for my back which had been troubling me for over a year (bulging disc, sciatica, muscle spasms etc.). I’ve seen significant improvement using this alongside massage therapy. Far better than any pilates / yoga / physio stretches and excercises I’ve tried.

https://www.foundationtraining.com/

Loads of stuff you can see online for free before spending any money with them. TED talks etc.

I dunno – I thought that was quite an exciting finish actually. 0.5 second lead at the end and Rosberg’s medium’s were way older. I think one more lap and Ric could have got him or at least in a position to try and pass.

I’m bored of seeing LH win – I think I’d like to see Nico to take the title this year! I definitely think its been a better season than last year where LH had it all sewn up way before the end. The rise of Max V has certainly been good to watch.

Don’t care that the UK doesn’t have a top rider at the mo. I’m grateful to have a discipline in cycling to follow that’s about enjoying the racing rather than have a bunch of flag waving knuckleheads continuously banging on about how great their country is because its dominating the sport and gunning for their 1 or 2 guys.

XC racing in the UK is fine. There are plenty of events and series comparable to the number of riders who want to do it. Its rare to not be able to enter an xc race on the day. I just think it has limited appeal to many UK MTB riders – they think they’re much cooler if wearing baggy shorts and getting their 3 feet of air, also you have to get yourself in reasonable shape for it to be fun….

Would be nice to see some of the younger riders bridge the gap to Nino and Kulhavy though.

I’m not making any argument to the contrary. Simply pointing out that he is also engaging in the same method to try and manipulate his audience into line with his opinion.

Sam Harris constantly has people try to discredit him by quoting him out of context.

Having just listened to his podcast I find this comment rather ironic!

‘Islam apologists’ blah blah etc etc. Its a opinionated and persuasive argument rather than the informative dissection he advertised.

I do pretty much the same as Urban Hiker – my desk has 2 Ikea TV tables on top of it. Monitor is upstairs. Laptop connected to the monitor is downstairs. Set up so I can see both screens. I spend most of my time standing. Sit down once in a while to use the laptop instead.

Cost circa £20 instead of £100’s. And less of a faff to stand / sit

+1 for talc. without it you are likely to develop jock itch which is horrible!

you can get big packs of anti bacterial wipes for pretty cheap nowdays I reckon 5 per day max even if you are the sweatiest man alive.

The bike park is ok but I’d only say its really worth one day of riding. We rode most of the DH / FR stuff which wasn’t that great but some of the more xc / enduro bike stuff of the top is a good combination of fun and whizzy with tight steep stuff lower down.

Vallnord is just down the road and definitely worth visiting at the same time if you can. Spent two days riding there. I would say its significantly better than Soldeu. A lot of very good trails whatever you prefer.

Didn’t bother with trail riding or guides as some of my mates were on full DH rigs. We did hit some “off piste” stuff (footpaths etc) when the trails were quieter.(I was on a 160mm travel bike which was fine for everything – just a bit slower through some of the real bumps). That stuff was OK but you just have to take care you aren’t about to ride off a massive cliff – and there are some unride-able ones.

You can probably quite easily rent a Commencal – I used my own bike but saw plenty of shops hiring out fairly decent looking bikes

I just shout “morning!” as soon as in ear shot. If they acknowledge they’ve heard me – I slow down a little. If they don’t acknowledge I slow down a lot – normally its cos they’ve got headphones on.

No-one is likely to hear you from 30 yards away unless you are shouting mega loud though. best to shout at more like 10 yards.

What I would like is a nice airhorn on the bars for the situation where you are approaching them head on and they’re on the side of the white line that is reserved for bikes – can clearly see you coming and don’t shift across…..PAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRPPPPPPP! :)

Can anyone rec brake pads for guides? So far have used the ones that came with them and superstar sintered. Both shit in the wet….and have lasted 5 mins in peak grit

Was looking at goodridge. Anyone tried them?

Previous bike on shimano brakes with the top end xtr pads….looking for that kind of quality of pad and don’t mind paying bit more for it.

I assume the peeps on here who are giving good ratings on the guides have managed to get them working in the wet? Mine were decent enough until the wet weather. Using centre line rotors if that makes any difference

my new bike came with SRAM GX 11speed – the lower priced one. It’s ok but I don’t think the shifting is as good as on my previous 10 spd shimano XT mech – xtr shifter set up. Keep having to adjust cable tension at the shifter whilst riding around which is annoying….

Also I prefer on-off shimano clutch as the Sram version doesn’t actually seem to do anything. my mech still clangs around at the back, thought I was rid of that annoying noise for good!

I’m thinking that at some point I’ll buy an XTR shifter – xt mech combo (all 11 speed) and run it on the SRAM GX cassette for bigger range.

wow they took it down – not just the calendar but the whole babes marketing thing!
http://www.maxxis.co.uk/babes%5B/url%5D

Thats a great acheivment and makes me feel less cynical about the world. Props also to Maxxis for listening. I wonder if they’ll still have “babes” at MX events and trade shows….

(I expect this may well have already been posted up and I’ve not seen it cos the thread has a gazillion posts)

the last few pages of this thread are hilarious! thanks for the laughs – particularly the insane argument about censorship and straw men…lol

I personally would rather maxxis hadn’t made the calendar, for similar reasons as Adele….but think they should definitely be allowed to do it if they choose.

Cheng Shin (maxxis)- they are a public company so I expect they will probably end up doing what makes the most short term financial sense to cater to shareholder interets. in the motocross world generally its my understanding that advertising with ‘babes’ is still massively successful – that’s kinda the culture there – check out what other companies in that market do for promo etc. So if that’s their biggest market (I’m not 100% sure it is though – they started in bike tires and now listed as an automotive company) then they’ll go for marketing campaigns that work there. The babes thing looks like its much more than just a calendar shoot – it looks to be an ongoing feature in their branding. I expect that the market for feminist (male or female) mountain bikers is a fairly small one comparitively so its unlikely they would cater to that with their markerting at the moment by cutting out stuff that works in other markets.

So anyway I only say that to try and explain why I will still be buying maxxis tires and why I would encourage others to do the same ….despite disliking their marketing:

I don’t expect a boycott will stop them marketing to mx with ‘babes’. I think that a boycott from the people who care about this will only effect their high end MTB tires. I would prefer them to keep making those (and developing new ones).
I would also prefer them to keep marketing to MTB events at grass roots level by providing sponsorship / race prizes etc…cos I like going to races and think there are a lot of positives for MTB created by that kind of support.

So er basically keep complaining but also carry on buying the tires?

To the OP and anyone else considering beaver / shorty combo. the 2.2 beaver is higher volume casing than the 2.3 shorty. Best go for the 2.0 one if you want it as a winter rear that’s good in mud.

I made this mistake- so now have a back tyre that’s like a frickin balloon!! THe shorty up front is great though.

I think they are measuring tyre volume to the outside of the tread – so the larger spikes on the shorty make for a lower volume casing and the oppostite being true of the beaver

results are up now in basic form.

I emailed the results inbox at BC this morning saying they were incomplete. They got back to me and said they were pulling all the results down until they’d resolved it.

I rate gisburn, good place to ride, thanks to the trail builders who work there – you are AWESOME!

– but trail of the year, sorry its just not. Are we talking trail center only?

You guys should check out Hopton in shropshire – its rad!!! Think that would get my vote.

i just jet wash my bike – I don’t reckon it causes any problems to a static bearing that is covered by a bolt anyway

I’ve jet washed and not jet washed and still typically get a year out of a set of decent bearings – riding 1 to 3 times a week and going to the alps for a couple of weeks each year.

Obviously don’t point it down your fork / shock seals and hold the trigger down for ages!

So to answer OP’s question – cost of FS in the winter – probly about £20 extra – I guess the bearings would possibly last a few months more if only ridden in the dry.

+ 1 for stainburn over either of those. short trail but ace. Takes about three attempts to be able to ride the black there clean. some good loamy trails in the woods above and the red is ok as a warm up.

Gisburn is better than Lee

If you are at lee, you might as well drive down the road a little to hebden or todmorden. Loads better riding there

I have a KTM myroon. It’s very very nice to ride.

http://www.ktm-bikes.at/bikes/hardtail.html?action=bike_details&bike_id=114&cHash=30232a4c6615179b95d729b751304867

Lots of challenging, high speed turns on wet slippy grass with plenty of off camber sections and space to get past if you have the skill / balls please :)

To answer the original post. Yes I’ve got one. Works really well except when riding in super deep mud. The chain then seems unable to fit on the teeth and comes off. Don’t think this is exclusive to Blackspire as my mate has had same problems with a hope one.

Anyone else had this with narrow wides?

I wouldn’t run a short cage mech if you’re running two rings at the front. It won’t be able to take up the slack in the chain, your chain will probly come off all the time or if you run the chain too short to prevent this it’ll strain the spring in the mech and send it all the way round eventually (mech is then ruined). Although maybe the new clutch mech thing might be better for this?

I run a tapered steerer cos it looks better. :lol: 1 1/8 steerers look a bit odd when fitted on a taper head tube bike, my bike was expensive and i like it to look pimp!

I don’t think gwin looked that much faster on the footage really? I think just a teensie bit quicker in many places and no mistakes on quite a long track just adds up. Gee had a shady moment and still got a 3rd spot so obviously going pretty quick elswhere.

Flippin heck. Some massively up tight people on this thread. How are you meant to overtake anyone on single track without cutting corners? I guess your average trail centre rider likes to have all their decisions made for them and isn’t into pinning it or racing their mates. Boring!

As for that video – its a DH track those guys are hitting the inside lines cos thats the racing line, where would you practice that if not on a DH track? Whats wrong with them cutting those turns to overtake slower riders without running them off the track? I’ve ridden that trail its awesome fun trying to get past your mates on the way down by cutting the corners.

If you suffer from a bad back on hard tails i’d go full sus. i’m doing this race in sport cat. will be using a squidger cos I get a bad back. If you aren’t in pain you’ll be able to ride faster I reckon.

is it a trek fuel ex9? Just put some ultra whizzy tyres on and pump up your forks and shock a bit harder. It’ll be fast as ****!

Hey up, Thinking of joining you guys for a night ride tomorrow if there’s one on. my email is strawdogg@hotmail.co.uk can you drop me a line with details of where to meet?

looks similar to the set up on my pitch. the same thing happened with mine, i used 3 in 1 penetrating oil left over night then applied more. I still had to support the frame on some wooden blocks and smash the thing out with a hammer. i had to hit it really hard and it made a horrible sound.

for the bearings i had to use a massive vice to press them out.

hey. i’m thinking of heading over to ride cadair idris next weekend and was wondering if anyone could recomend a good, tough loop to link up with the cadair idris out and back ride? i.e go to the top, ride back down and then do a loop after that.

i rate shimano SLX brakes highly. i've got two sets (one for DH, one for XC)and they both work ace. in about 2 1/12 years i've had to bleed one of them once and thats it.

having said that, i'd warranty the elixirs sounds like a manufacturing defect to me. SRAM were well good at all the races i went to this year for servicing stuff and replacing faulty products.

alp d'huez is well close to 2 alpes and much better for xc type trails, it's where the mega goes down, there's loads of singletrack routes, a massive pine forest lower down with loads of trails and i'm guessing if you went during a week that didn't have the mega it'd be pretty nice and quiet.

bell off doing xc adventures and do some DH racing and alpine trips instead. this way pedalling won't be such an issue.

so basically instead of 'niche bike' read: 'shit bike that someone has put together to make the dull trails in their area more exciting or so they have an excuse for goin dead slow and avoiding really technical riding.' HTH

hope pro 2 hubs, mavic rims (rim type dependant on intended use), double butted spokes. build em yourself using the sheldon brown guide. (its easy and this way you'll know a lot of care and attention went into it).

my pitch is quite rad(tm) it's got domains. the cranks brakes and drivetrain(incl mech) are all slx. hope pro 2's on 719 wheels.

i didn't bother servicing my pikes for like 6 months and the same thing happened with the stantions. oops.

st. i rode mine DH for a bit and it was sweet for all the uk stuff, but i got a bit concerned about riding such a light frame so hard all the time and bought a DH bike instead. i'll probs change the domains to revelations or something a bit lighter when i get the chance.

oh yeah and my pitch has a few titanium bolts on it, so obviously as a result of this its about twice as fast as any non-titanium blinged out pitch.

i always feel like shit on the first climb of the ride then enjoy them afer that, specially the more tech ones.

this means i usually end up planning routes that start off with a road or fireroad climb so as not to waste any of the good stuff. descending is better than climbing though.