Yes I have one on two of my bikes, both running 3 x 9. My other bike is 1 x 10.

Why do you dislike them?

so is a bonus sprocket at the back that’s bigger than one of my road chainrings!

Agreed, this and finding myself looking at a 1×11 system and nearly spending the cost of a holiday on one made me write the original post. Had to do a double take at what I was going to spend. Realised I’d been suckered by marketing!

I’d go for a 4-5 ring crank

Would love to see this… bloody hilarious suggestion.

Before the authors time (feasible mtb memory anyway) I’m afraid. Born in 1982.

Not in my alternative reality story they didn’t. ;-)

To be continued…

What do all you other teachers teach, and in what council?

I’m Maths in Nottinghamshire County

Re- Dobbiejessmo

Maybe some people aren’t happy with their level of skill and realise improving will help them enjoy their riding even more… duh!

I’m not trolling when I ask this… what size wheels was he using?

Winston,

Funny you find it hard to believe when you have multiple sources above talking about their partners and the long hours (evenings and weekends) that they have witnessed them working… those posts aren’t coming from teachers, they are coming from people who have witnessed first hand other people putting in long hours.

Can I just say a huge thank you to everyone here who isn’t a teacher and has been positive about standing up for us.

I’ve come back to this thread thinking it would be people being very negative and verbally bashing us, and actually it seems to be a minority of misinformed individuals being negative and seems like there is a large number of people recognising that there are a lot of political reasons and media slurs that have caused a bit of “bleating” to happen in the last couple of years.

So thanks for this, made my day… (alongside Winston Dog’s claiming to earn twice what a head teacher does (200k+ then) with 20 weeks off a year when he left school with no qualifications)

Anyone read this?

Do you not see the news. Gove just failed to re-new the contract of the chief of Ofsted (labour one coincidently)and stuck a Tory one in power instead!

Outrageous!

On a side note… all the teachers on here should bod up for a ride in the summer :-)

It’s changed dramatically in the last 5 years and is still changing at an alarming rate.

I’m not going to be drawn into this discussion fully as some of the posts are misinformed and just inflammatory…

However, Mike… what you don’t realise is that even with applying every lean method there is, there still isn’t enough time in the day to do what is expected of you as a teacher.

I worked 70 hours last week (smart hours too), still behind where I wanted to be and have got up this morning to start planning for next week.

BUT… I will accept we get exceptionally good holidays, we do work in them but we do get a decent amount of time away (although you can’t afford to go anywhere as all the prices are hiked up).

An easy way of looking at it is that 40 x 50 is the same as 50 x 40, so a teacher who works on average 50 hours a week with the holidays probably puts in a similar amount of hours across a year to people who work 40 hour weeks and only have a few weeks off. Its just a lot more intense when you are in work. But good teachers put more than 50 hours a week into the job so difficult to compare. It is a lifestyle rather than just a profession. Those 13 “weeks off” are needed to balance the long hours in term times, to catch up on work that there just wasn’t time to do and to catch up on lost sleep that accumulates.

I spent 5 years as a design engineer and a bit of time in engineering management before leaving for teaching… The work load and stress levels are incomparable. But that’s why I’m still doing it, it’s intense and challenging and I never get bored now, my career before was dull and slow paced and that’s why despite it being very difficult I love my job now. you won;t hear me moaning, but you also will get a reaction hence the long post… unless you’ve done it you don’t understand how draining it is, which is why you do get a lot of teachers “bleating on”, they wouldn’t anywhere near as much though if Michael Gove stopped attacking working conditions and pay/pensions etc.

Paul

(Head of maths in a challenging secondary school)

P.S. Looks like I did get drawn in after all. Troll 1 : Teacher 0 :-(

Listen to Adam@bikeworks and scardypants.

All mountain soft tails

I’ve been thinking about setting up a firm making these, but haven’t got the capital/resources or the ability to drop my income and take a risk… so there’s a free idea here for any firm wanting to build this

Frames that are light with about 3-4″ of travel at the rear, pedal well (like an xc race full sus) but they have a geometry set up for a slack 6″ forked front end.

(Kind of like the harcore hardtails that are about but with a bit of give at the rear)…

Next bandwagon to jump on… it’s one of the few gaps in the market that I can see in what frames are available that could be marketed as new.

Prob best in 650b flavour too.

P.S. If anyone takes this idea and makes some money off it, send me a medium frame please :-)

What the hell is going on with the seat tube?

All the ones above are either the old Van Nichols or Lynskey ones not the evo ti. If you could show me a picture of an evo ti in 18″ I would appreciate it.

True point about my requirements… but I was on the fence of the two frames anyway.

You don’t need access 24/7 to take a photo, just access at some point or contact with someone who does.

I’d also bet if there was someone wanting a photo of a £600 stock item you sold you ould go out of the way to send them a photo of what one looked like to inform their purchase? Or would you say no too?

I don’t need to ask Cotic the same question, there is pictures of their bikes in different sizes all over the internet.

Besides that regardless of where their stock is, it shouldn’t be impossible to get a photo of what an 18″ one looks like. Might take a few internal emails… but that’s what customer service should be. Not a “you won’t see the difference in a photo anyway”. If that’s the regards they have for a potential customer, god knows what they would be like to deal with if/when a warranty issue happens. I’ve dealt with Cotic customer service before (bought a Bfe for the wife in XS) and that was excellent service. Hence it swaying the choice with that response.

Well I’ve made a decision on this… going for a Soul.

I actually nearly pulled the trigger on a 456ti but the customer service from On-One leaves a lot to be desired. The pictures on the website are of the 16″ and so I emailed asking if they’d send me a picture of an 18″ one so I can see what the angles look like (aesthetics are important for a purchase) and they responded with

“Thank you for your email

We are unable to get a photo of that size bike.

The difference in size would not really show up on a photo. “

What a load of crock, won’t show up on a photo… the top of the seat stay will look completely different!

Dissapointed to say the least!

They learn it to death in a foam pit, then transfer skills to the dirt landing. Hence: Success>Death

It’s a lot bigger than that pic seems to make it look!

Les Gets kona bike park circa 2008

Hora, which 1% can’t be ridden on a cyclo cross bike? I’m pretty sure there is nothing there that can’t?

But then again, CX bikes aren’t 26″ wheels so we are probably agreeing with the OP :-)

Ah nice, they do different anodised ones too… but $30 + postage stuff that!!!! I’ll dig out some washers.

Just ordered a shimano one for £7 off of ebay. I’ll go and buy some beers with the change from $35

Cheers for this guys, will do this if I have to… but I need to order a mount whether it be 180mm or a 185 one anyway so holding out for the possibility that someone makes one?.. does anyone know if there is a 185 mount that will fit?

Will buy a 180mm and use washers if not.

Argos racing cycles will do a top job, you’ll need to send it off but the quality is second to none.

Home

I’ve never noticed it before last week, then realised I’ve been predominantly on the same bike for half a year or so, in the past they’ve all been used fairly equally so I guess legs have never been so predisposed to a certain plane/position of motion.

Very good point Al… might I jut point out you spend all your time on here so your legs are probably at their most efficient in a seating position akin to a sofa… hence you not noticing this phenomina when on any of your bikes. ;-)

Summer season

Anyone know the difference between an evo and an evo 2? Presume the Ti evo is the same as the original steel evo in geometry?

That’d be awesome. yes please!

I’m fitting a new bushing kit to my Spitfire this week, when it’s done could bod up for a ride and swap for a mile or two?

Thanks everyone for all the useful advice over the last few posts. Steel one isn’t an option as I’m wanting to lose a bit of weight out of it too.

Interesting the number of people saying the Soul might not be best suited to a 140mm fork.

Bampot… could you explain front end flex? Not really sure what that is?

Petty savings advice

I’d really like to know which is the more compliant read end of the two, my ss is a bit too harsh at the back and I’m keen to have a frame take the sting out of the ride. My other bikes a Banshee Spitfire which is used for rides like brenin and Jacobs ladder etc so this will get more groomed trail centres and longer scenic peak rides etc.

The Kitchiner is the red, so as above.

If his looks like this, then it is an old Lynskey made ti 456. Different frames completely to the evo ti’s they currently sell.

Just to clarify my current frame is an inbred summer season, not sure if that makes it different to a 456 ss

Seriously, perfect putting lenses in… it’s a doddle after you’ve done it 30 or so times and you will do it easily. Get someone you know who wears them to help you with technique and then practice.

I ride in contact lenses. Been using them for over a decade and they are very much worth persevering with. Put them in every day and after a month you will be able to do it as easily as putting your socks on.

I was dreadful for the first two to three weeks of putting them in, then it clicked and it’s now a 5 second job per eye.

Dailies are thinner and much more comfortable.

I’d have said around the £650 mark as complete.