I find you have to hoik your weight back a lot more.
When I was intro BMX I could manual for ages, hop up things, jump things etc. all off the back wheel. Go up to a 24 and it is harder: XC26er and, for me, almost impossible.
I have a Karate Monkey now, with a 29+ tyre on the front and I can at least get the front up to get over stuff, but wheelying or manualing for any decent amount of time is just beyond me. I think the more weight you have in front of the rear axle, added to the larger circumference of the wheels, makes it a lot harder to get that front up.
Maybe try a few sessions practicing wheelies and manuals, just to see where the balance point is and how much you need to muscle the front wheel up.

I tend to have an aversion to fruit for some reason. It’s not the flavours, more the cold, wet sweet texture.
Gypsy tart is fantastic stuff! There seems to be one supplier in Kent, as far as I can see in shops. Bing is another Kent delight; I haven’t seen it anywhere else. Also, I’d lived in Ashord for 30 years but only when I moved to Dover did I come across the Sheppie, which is basically a Shepherds Pie fritter (so deep fired Shepherds pie).

I’d been wondering if anyone else had read it a d I have to say I completely agree with #beej on this. It came across as a missed opportunity and I think I learnt more a out Hannah than Grayson. However…….I completely accept the possibility that there wasn’t much to go on for an MTB mag.
There was a Geoff Apps interview in an old issue of Privateer that was interesting; I wonder if he’s been up to much?

Mad Max-Fury Road: This way. That way.

Catastrophe is very good. It’s focused on 1914 and you really get the reality of how WW1 was largely a German/French war at first. Savage Continent is worth reading, though very depressing.

So……….What we are seeing now is……how old? Is it still there? What happens to black holes? Surely they can only suck in so much matter? And then what?

I’ve only just seen that Bootzipper. I had been considering a Mk4 Stooge, but I’m having trouble getting the cash together. I know it’s nothing like the Stooge, but that does look nice. Any ideas on pricing?

+1 for Collect+ here too. I used to use Herpes, but just got fed up with them damaging or losing things.
I did have an issue with Collect+ unable to deliver, but at least they had a UK number to call, which was answered almost immediately and they were very helpful and it all got sorted.
I do use RM for some items, but over a certain size, they’re pretty expensive.

For me, I’d splash on a Stooge Mk4 with a reasonable build, Jones bars, but nothing dentist-y.
For Road, I’m quite happy with my Nordavinden, but could spend a decent amount upgrading wheels, drivetrain, brakes etc.
All in, I think I’d struggle to spend 5k, probably due to a lack of imagination on my part though.

I think it’s a good idea: I had a mid 70’s Galaxy for a while, built up as something similar. The only trouble was the tyre clearance, where 32’s were a bit of a squeeze even with the wheel slammed all the way back. How wide could you get on these ones?
You could look at Rivendell Clem L’s and Cheviots for a bit of inspiration.

I’ve serviced a few of these (AW’s and an AM) and they’re pretty bulletproof, though apparently the older ones are better as they used proper harmful hardening processes, like Cyanide and all that jolly stuff.
The steel shells are ok, I don’t think you get anything better weight-wise with the Aluminium shells.
Make sure you get the oil filler bung and use a proper oil, needs to be quite light.
I’d also recommend using brass washers for the spoke heads when building as the flanges are quite narrow.
I’m sure Epicyclo will be along soon!

I’d quite like a 3 please.

That is indeed Leigh Ramsdell, I think he’s a product manager or team manager for Mongoose now.

I’ve been using the old Pro2 Trials hub for about 5 years now and it’s been bulletproof.
I had been using the old Jones-style 9 speed 17 – 34 XT carrier and that worked beautifully, but recently I came across a Sunrace 11-40 8 speed cassette, so with a new set of spacers, you can get 13-34 on 9 speed spacing.

Me and/ and I/ and yourselves……
I always understood it that if you took the other party out of the sentence, would it sound correct?
“Me (and dad) went to the shops”
“The shop assistant sold (dad and) I some bubblegum”
I’m not too sure about which order you should put each person in though.
And I remember once being told by a Theatre Studies lecturer that it was PEROGATIVE, not PREROGATIVE.

This is a very timely thread for me, as Mrs. Willies and I have started relationship therapy. We had come to a point after ten years where we didn’t have much time with or for each other and it was getting tricky.
We both wanted to do it, as we both believe that it will do us good, we both love each other and we want to stay together. I think the seriousness of Mrs. Willies’ depression and control issues run a lot deeper than we had both realised and it’s made me do a lot of thinking about where some of my own behaviours stem from. It’s not easy and I think we’re both a bit scared where the digging might lead, but I think for us, it’ll be worth it.
It does sound like depression can be a large part of others problems too. Having never had it, I do find it difficult to empathise with, as Mrs. Willies’ black dog doesn’t seem to cause sadness as such, but more anger. That then leads me to retreat somewhat, as I don’t know how else to handle it.

Sealant is such a persistant stain.

Is this what counts as a frankenbike now? But both wheels are the same size, it’s all from the same year and it doesn’t have a steerer extension or drop bars?

There are some excellent books about how the English language evolved.
The Adventure of English Bryson
The Stories of English by David Crystal
Mother Tongue by Melvyn Bragg

The Adventure of English is Melvyn Bragg too, unless Bryson did one as well?

With dippy soldiers?

The title got me all excited thinking it was a new ironic Hackney breakfast joint.

I don’t know what the breakdown is at Netflix on commissioned films vs bought in studio films that no-one else wanted cause they were shite.

I suspect the later will be the most common.

They have Robot-Jox AND Arena; two “gems” I last saw on the shelves of World of Video in 1991.

I watched it a couple of weeks ago, when Mrs.Willies said it was supposed to be very scary.
Not the worst film I’ve seen, but I just thought it was a run-of-the-mill zombie film.
I did wonder if it was about social media, as in “Don’t look at it, or it’ll kill you”……..
And Sandra Bullock is turning into Michael Jackson.

I find the worse things for me are beans (Baked and Kidney), beer and the worst culprit for me is coffee.

Crust Bikes make one, I’m sure. Could well be pricey though…..or could be well pricey.

Are we talking the new WNW Lancaster??

Lysander is a 1/32 scale.
My preferred scale. You can scratch build a good bit of stuff into them.
Here is revell’s Sopwith Camel. Rigging done with an elastic thread. Makes it a bit easier & less fragile.

Old 1/28 scale. Full of scratch detailing that cannot be seen.

That’s a really nice build; I’m currently doing the Revell Fokker DR1.
What’s the quality like of that kit? The Fokker is properly ropey, the moulds are from 1957!

Ah, I remember The New Science of Strong Materials (or why you don’t fall through the floor) from college.

Maybe on a different path, but Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a great read if you make or repair things.
Similarly, The Craftsman by Richard Sennet is a good read; not big, sexy projects, but both good at exploring the ways that technical people view objects and systems.
Also, Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla was very interesting, though could sometimes delve into the minutiae of his life too much, rather than the big ideas.

I had no idea this was still going…..We gave up halfway through series two I think.

The OM-Duro does look like a ton of fun, even if it makes Todd Lyons, who isn’t a small chap, look like an 8-year-old!

Also, I was going to say, that it all needs to be taken in context; a bike optimised for jumps, rigid or otherwise, perhaps isn’t going to be much fun on a long ride, which is where I think a dropper post can make all the difference (personally, I’ve never had much of a good time with QR seatpost clamps).

Nice smooth style there @frazchops the Stooge does look like a big BMX, moreso than some of the BMX inspired 29ers you can get.

I concur @rOcKeTdOg with Ice Cold In Alex. I watched it again last week and love the story and backdrop (and Sylvia Syms). Anthony Quinn’s acting on the other hand………

As others have said, jumping on a rigid bike is actually a lot easier, or at least the technique is different. Having rigid forks allows you to pump the lip (I can’t explain what this actually is; it just involves pushing the bike into the transition and pulling up out of the lip, sorta). I always found that any suspension would just suck any of that up. I only rode BMX’s up to about 28, so I never really got comfortable with suspension, finding it rather vague.
Big tyres do help, but they’re not a replacement for suspension, they just improve roll-over, so you do lose the precision as @legometeorology already said.

Norovirus or just a generic vom/poo combo delight.

@nealglover I used to be an altar boy, literally for my sins and I intimately know that smell. NOTHING smells quite like the charcoal tablets and that incense, certainly nothing you’d get down the local head shop. Having said that, I don’t get to say Thurible enough these days……

I love these threads! There was one a while ago, someone told a tale about a night ride past a school playground?
“I know, just keep pedalling” I think was the line that made me giggle like a 6 year old girl.

In the words of Most Haunted’s Stuart:
“That’s poltergeist activity, that is”.
Or Ken Dodd’s dad’s dog.

We had a few odd things happen when we moved into our new house, strangely centred around dogs.
It’s an extended bungalow and we were converting two bottom bedrooms into a kitchen/diner. There was a lot of dust, naturally, so one day I decided to mop the Lino flooring in the hallway. A little later, I noticed a set of what looked to me like wet dog pawprints tracked from the wet hallway, through the dining room and into one corner of the kitchen. Only in one direction though. And we didn’t have a dog.
Shortly after, as I was fitting the kitchen, we had a lot of boxes etc. in the dining area. I turned back around and our plaster Jack Russell (don’t ask) had been placed squarely in the middle of the dining table. I might have done that, but I’m still certain I didn’t.
Also, in the old house, we had a baby monitor in my daughters nursery when she was a baby. We had bare floorboards, so anything could be heard over the monitor. If her dummy dropped out, it was clear downstairs and we could go upstairs and give it back before she noticed it. One night we heard the familiar clatter and I went upstairs to give her back her dummy, only to find that she already had it.