Pat McQuaid’s grasp on reality really is quite amazing isn’t ?

Does he really believe he has respect from the IOC ? First of all he was banned for life from competing due to racing (under a false name) in South Africa.

More recently he tried with all his power to block the USADA investigation into Armstrong. The fact that he was far too close to LA is obvious, the details of his involvement are slowly trickling out, but anyone with an ounce of integrity would have resigned long ago.

Does he really beleive that his rule-bending is good for the image of a tarnished sport ?

Not sure how much easier it could be to adjust the seat angle? Slacken the bolt, move seat, tighten bolt.

Yep, easy to change, but a pain to get at the right angle as it’s difficult to do small adjustments – the rail holders on each side have to be moved the same amount. Lubing them up helped, but that may increase the risk of them slipping again. Admittedly I do like to have my saddle as far back as possible, which obviously makes it more prone to tipping up, but try to avoid saddles with a single bolt adjustment.

Thanks for the advice on stopping the screeching – will give it a go when I’m able to get back on the bike !

Looking through the comments on Wiggle and a lot of people have sent them back. Screeching noise is a common problem.

Another problem I would add is that saddle is held by a single bolt, making it difficult to adjust to your desired angle. I also had it slip on me on one ride

I’ve been very unimpressed with my Hilo, but only had it for a week before I had a bit of a crash so haven’t had chance to cheek it out properly

It slips down of it’s own accord, so every 20 mins or so you have to hit the release button to get it back up to full height.

Plus when you do want to drop it, it’s slow and makes a scrapping noise

I’m guessing it might need more air and lubrication, but it’s a disappointment compared to the reverb on my other bike

Everyone names their bikes don’t they?

Ivor, Arthur and Tammy

But my friends seem to think I’m odd

I was under the impression that I needed one tool to extract the old one and something like a headset press to fit them, which when I costed it up a year ago came to around £150.

Admittedly I was struggling to find any info on them so I don’t know whether these are really required to change one – I don’t have a headset press as I’ve never had a problem changing the bearing units with a hammer!

Would this single feature be enough to put you off buying a bike with PF92?

Yes

been very unimpressed with the press-fit bottom brackets on my Trek – don’t last very long. Ok I do have a fondness for riding through fords, but it’s hard to avoid one where I live. However there is no logic in a £25 part that takes £150 worth of tolls to change.

My intention is to put in a Hope one next and see how it lasts

I’ve got droppers on both my full-suss and my hardtail, and use both for what I regard as XC. Firstly it’s great to be able to drop your saddle with interrupting your ride and so breaking the flow. Secondly it means you can have you saddle a bit higher than you might do normally, knowing that you can drop it a bit when things get tricky.

As others have said, it makes more sense for XC than DH

Been wondering the same myself – might drop Hope an email

I don’t reckon Sherwood Pines is quite as bad as some people make out – yep it’s not very challenging, but does flow and twist quite nicely. Fun and fast on a hardtail, and almost entirely singletrack. If you want to get some easy distance, follow the NCN up to Clumber and then over to Creswell crags – very scenic.

Wharncliffe and Greno Woods are a complete contrast – mostly downhill routes ranging from the challenging to the downright ridiculous – much of it can be done on a hardtail, but body armour, DH rigs and pushing uphill are pretty common. There is a red run in Wharncliffe, but it’s very hard to follow and much of it is a boggy mess

It won’t last long, don’t worry. Get out there in the rain and do some skids

Therein lies the problem – when these narrow tracks like the chute get sanitised you tend to end up with a layer of loose gravel on the top. As they are natural watercourses anyway it quickly gets washed away in the centre leaving a unrideable rut. The situation is often made worse because the tracks are overgrown. Derbyshire CC could do with putting in more effort on the vegetation, and less on the surface.

DCC and the PDNPA seem very keen on cycling at the moment – which is great – but it seems entirely focused on “family/leisure cycling”. And whilst I’m all for the attempts to link up the Monsal, High Peak and Tissington trails, I wish they would remember that there’s more to cycling than just that.

Look at the Fairholmes/LadyBower area for example – loads of potential for new and exciting trails, well away from the busy honeypots and the main walking and climbing areas. But all DCC want people to do is pootle around the lake and queue up at the little kiosk for a cup of tea.

Any thoughts on Furious Fred ?

Yep, the worms are be poked in without removing the tyre – you thread them onto a needle, poke it in the hole and then trim it. Feels a bit odd putting a needle in your tyre, but it is very quick

Have you tried furry worms ?

Sealant works on the small thorn pricks, as long as they are in the middle of the tyre, but is less effective on bigger cuts, or anything on the sidewall

something like this link

350 miles of mountain biking, 40 hours, 40,000ft of ascent

Have you ridden around Macclesfield ?

Only an hour from Sheff, but had completely escaped my attention until I went there a few months back and was gobsmacked. Did a 38 mile loop with a hefty amount of technical singletrack.

Swaledale is lovely if you want to drive further, but I wouldn’t do it as a day trip

I don’t think it’s too bad – good but not too difficult singletrack at the start and throughout the second half, but too much fire road in the middle.

As everyone points out, if you get hold of the map you’ll find there is a network of excellent and challenging bridleways with several of the best descents in the Lake district. The only problem is that some bits are getting overgrown because not enough people are riding them.

Apologies to Rutland Cycling – it looks the order has gone through

Got mine today. Maybe they only had one left. Sorry about that.

Waaaaaah, not fair, just cos you spotted it first.

Actually that is fair, but still pissed off with the pretty shoddy service from Rutland.

Did anyone else place an order yesterday, only to get an email today saying “order has failed to complete and has therefore been cancelled” ?

Paypal account debited, no reply to my email, can’t get through on phone….

Had great fun in the Sheffield floods a few years back

It should only be legal if you are wearing the appropriate attire
Liege

How easy is it to remove the bearings ? Do you need specific tools ?

it will be a grand ride. Troutbeck to top of Garburn is easy enough now that they’re graded the trail – it is easily ridable now, bottom to top!

Has this been done recently ? I rode it in January and had to push in quite a few places – that might be down to me though !

I wasn’t sure last year but it’s pretty clear from today’s stage that Froome could have destroyed Wiggins in the mountains last year.

You seem to forget that Froome’s preparation was severely disrupted by his illness, so wasn’t as fit as he is this year. and that not only was Wiggins in top form, but he had earned the right to lead Sky by his results earlier in the year. and that the course suited a time-trialller like Wiggins rather than a climber like Froome

At the end of a very long day that included High Street, Kirkstone pass and a lot of pushing

Can’t work out why my pic won’t work

Pic

According to sticky bottle, everyone on the “inside” on Cycling Ireland, the board and the various commissions, voted for him – about 32 votes. various conclusions can be drawn from that, but the guy is clearly not as incompetent at the political side as he is at the rest of the job. if he does get the swiss nomination, i still feel he has the ability to win the election, by all means neccessary, and may take his revenge on British Cycling

A sealant that can’t be used with CO2 – that’s a serious limitation.

Thanks for the warning

And don’t forget that if your chain gets too stretched you can simply take a link out…

I’ve been running 3 chains for a couple of years and will stick with it
Change every 200 miles, easy with powerlinks, give then a good clean and light lube before storing.

All chains are now worn well past the 1% mark, so it’s now too late to save the cassette anyway, but both bikes seem to going OK. In fact I had far more problems with chain suck when the chains were new.

I have a note from somewhere that tells me 220psi, with rebound 3 clicks out – thats for a Fox RP23 on a 29er, and I’m a similar weight

I actually set it that for my last ride (it had been about 150 and was way too bouncy), but reckon it was maybe a tad too firm

Try 200 and see how it feels ?

Yes, but only when dry/frozen and quiet, and in small groups, and with the utmost courtesy.

The law predates the development of mountain biking by at least 10 years and putting MTBs in the same category as horses is absurb – very differant impact and requirements. And all we are doing is committing the same offence as Benny Goodman and his band up on Kinder.

However it is also worth remembering that many walkers, especially older ones, have a very genuine fear of being struck by a bike. I know I can stop, but they don’t. And I have a lovely scar on the back of my leg from where an MTBer who crashed into me on a footpath, almost followed by his 5 mates.

I thought this thread was going to about how soon you could safely ride after a haircut.

Thanks for the reminder to get a haircut at lunchtime – I think I’ll be safe to ride by 6 !

And thanks for all the suggestions

Been without my Reverb for the last 2 weeks having sent it off to SRAM to be serviced

I miss it so much !!!!

Admittedly I only dropped my saddle once on my ride yesterday, but would have done about 3 or 4 times had I had my reverb on

Thanks for all the replies – even the non-serious ones – but I’m afraid I’m struggling to understand things.

By “Grippier” are people refering to knobbles or the compound or both. Actually I wasn’t that aware that compound made much difference – I just thought it was a lame excuse my mate once made for having to push his bike along a road at the end of ride.

And why have more grip on the front than the back – surely you need more traction on the back to stop the wheel spinning ?

No – I made one out of an old duvet !

Did it as part of a loop from Sheffield a couple of weeks back – actually I spent most of the day in Greno and Wharncliffe and then finish off the day by going along the TPT and back over Cutgate. It took a bit longer than I expected and got home just before 10pm !

I wonder if the fact that a Brit is running will swing things in McQuaid’s favour at the Irish EGM ?

Suppose he is not British enough for some cos of his Kenyan and South African upbringing.

And is resident in Monaco

Michelle Cound, not adverse to starting a few rumours herself, has just tweeted “complete & utter rubbish, he signed a 3-year contract following the Vuelta in 2011”