i like my new 456 alot..even though its not a surly :o
it climbs,descends and goes along the flat stuff fine…and its nice and cheap…oh it has 140 coil pikeys

this is 29" outside diameter so can post too… :o
beach…

and winter…left outside at a friends overnight… it was -23C :mrgreen:

I can neither grow a beard or drink odd named ales concocted in sheds but ride a single speed – also not made in a magical shed

plenty more like you i know and there normal blokes :o

nope… i ride 29er but also a surly pugsley (very very neiche) and only 5ft11" and growing a gut (cider-not beer) and dont want a beard so your wrong in opinions im afraid..

who cares what someone rides and wether you have to breath in for a picture or not…as long as you the person is happy then that is all that matters… :o

man cave needs a new wood burning stove for winter as the old one in it leaks a bit… still to find a laithe and welder and then complete…has a wash bay and soon a outside bench for grinding and polishing, and where the cider press will go…oh yeah free booze soon :wink:
roll on the next wife that chucks me out..i will be better off :o

epicsteve- you win a cookie- "we will go into hiding in penicuik…no one will find us in penicuik" :o
aye great fun for the money….

GW – Member

The Human League, Excellent!!
showing my age now :o

do you have the hennessy flatfish?, been impressed so far with it…got the snakeskins for it which keep it nice and tidy,

i use both..not together though :o
alpkit bivi with sleeping bag with no mat- heather,sand,soft grass,ideal 1-2 nights roughing it, nice and minimum to carry…
hennessy hammock if gonna be near woods (nearly always for me) it is real comfy and when inside you can turn on your side or front easy with out it rocking or spinning like a garden hammock,you can sit and get changed in it its that stable..dont think its better or worse than a tent…just an alternative and less restrictive where it can be pitched,
for example…staggered out the clachaig inn at glencoe,walked a few yards along road,cut up steep wood out of site and hung the hammock,no need for level ground & midge free in morning,i take both and decide what to use depending where i end up that evening,can sit under the hennessy aswell in wet weather to cook-as long as the rain is coming straight down :o

living in scotland and having a right to roam has opened up all the old poshy estates :wink:
been riding around here over 20 years now yet i found this here in east lothian on my door step in winter
then found this on on my local hills in springtime
both made by sheep or cows…
the county of berwickshire just down the road is full of trails which never have mtb tracks which i used to ride alot on motorcycle…still loads new stuff to discover :o

paul that sounds like another hill running route!///not two in one week…my lungs couldnt take it! :o

will be along with paul (stanfree) again,do some trackside filming this week :o

another option folk may want to consider is a semi fat 29er…
if you arnt riding sand/snow in winter (every 40 years…)
i have 37mm wide halo rims with 2.5 WTBs on my KM which are quite good but going to price a set of these 50mm una rims from speedway cycles in alaska..

they look like the kris holm uni cycle rims but are lighter and 32 spoke…get a half way house between the pugsley and a regular mtb
this would be good for peaty trails with a bit road work between :o

nickegg – Member

Are tandem components suitable for MTB's?

yep…alaskan bike manufacturers have been using hadley and phil wood tandam hubs for snow bikes for a few years…speedway cycles now do there own cheaper hubs…165mm rear(5mm spacers on 160mm hubs) 135mm front…

also phil wood 100mm BBs…my surly has one,some tandams used these wider BBs..

i talk to tscheezy on the mtbr fatbike forum alot… his films are edited on a mac pc which imovie maker has an image stabilizer overlay which smooths out the picture, there is supposed to be a software package of this available for windows but aint found it yet,it will be a telescopic walking pole with cam mout attached he will be using for the hieght shots..neat movies he does :o

yep!…pugsley floats
and i wiegh over 14 stone :o

maybe this pugsley film will show you why these bikes are so much fun and how you wont regret buying one :o

i ride with my karrimor backpack which carrys the water and change of clothing/usually merino long sleeve/leggings for sleeping aswell as paclight waterproofs…and it also has the usual tools,
i guess this is why erics frame bags aint cheap as he makes them exactly to fit your frame..if he hasnt done one before you send him a triangle template…
how ever for someone doing a run of bags themselves or by someone a one size half bag that should fit most hardtails makes sense… :o

paul i think i waited around 4-5 weeks,
a proper sewing machinest would measure my bag then work out how much extra for seams etc… they would also have access to suppliers of materials,zips,velcro etc…
it seems a shame to kind of take erics idea but it would be nice if he had an importer with piles of his stuff here for sale in the UK!,
there is certainly a small (part time) opening here for someone to strt manufacturing here in the UK :o

bruce

hi paul,ian was a top hill runner with my brother a long time ago… he too did the cullins race and the imfamous larig gru race the year my brother was 4th (1987/88?),
yesterday he just kept going up the hills and i ground to hault!,
yep pick you up tomorrow for inners, drop me a text :o

my epic frame bag and large gas tank was around £180 including import duty… its great for storage…worth every penny…

it is made for a 18" surly pugsley but it also fits my 18" karate monkey 29er and hopefully a 18" on-one 456 frame which will arrive next week so my guess is that a design in that size for all medium hardtail frames would be a good starting point…
im making my own front and rear bags using 15 ltr dry bags…
will post them once finished and tested in a weeks time…
im thinking of finding a (sewing) machinest who could do a run of medium frame bags and gastank bags, but they need to be tough…built as good as the epic designs…
there priceless for bivviy trips,store all your food and stove,cooking kit, then sleeping bag on bar bag, bivvy,matress,tent,hammock etc… on seat bag
i see bivi trips becoming more popular in mountainbiking as you just ride-then camp whenever/where ever :o

i did a ride with my brother inlaw yesterday,me cycling ,him running..some ball breaker climbs that had me off pushing a few times :oops:, booze the night before didnt help… :lol:
i didnt find puke hill that hard last wednesday evening but these buckled me, the heat didnt help where out the breeze,
up northside of Castlelaw Hill,
up fenceline to Allermuir Hill,
the mentioned east climb onto Capelaw Hill,
then a bit of the rutted landy track climb from the stone pumphouse back to Castle law hillfort carpark,
i did a write up with some pics and stats which if you run aswell as cycle may be of interest :o
pentlands cycle/hill run

birly-shirly i go riding with houshusband and co who are on mtb scotland forum often,next time i organise a ride with that lot around east lothian come along and i will take the pugsley,were often near the coast,
last time they had a bit shot of it on the beach,lots of big grins :o
on some regular trails its great-like sandy rooty stuff,esp roots when wet esp as the tyre just seems to bend around stuff sticking up…on descents of the black route at GT it would get a bit out of control on real rocky stuff,most ridgid bikes do though…
traction on loose gravel is really good-again from the spread of the tyres,
i think they are better sand bikes than snow bikes as has to be the right snow, (powder), but a hoot on the beach,
i can ride down murder hill sand dune at gullane beach!,the dune that was on the episode of coast…but there people magnets and it gets a bit tiring explaining to folk what it is…, oh they float too :lol:

i like that chest mount view epicsteve showing the bars etc… :o

kennyp – Member

If you go over the gate at the bottom there's a lovely, rooty descent through the trees. Turn right as you come out the trees and there's a nice bit of singletrack with a few wee tricky bits that brings you out eventually near the bottom of Puke Hill.
is that the part we rode at the end of the film from wednesday?
TBC Wednesday Night Ride Pt2
good point about lambing season by druidh, should take care everywhere on any hillground at that time of year,

it is alot faster in real life than on the film!, rob says it can be ridden off the brakes!, think next wednesdays ride are all heading to ride it…see you there if going :o

you can see the difference here…about half the depth of imprint :o

thanks birly-shirly :o
i would reckon apart from sand/snow that also soft grassy peaty trails esp when wet are better-like the cheviots/pentlands,lammermuir hills,and up in the highlands..certainly alot less erosion caused which can only be a good thing,
think quad bike versus landrover…float rather than dig in…
the big tyres are awful on clay where it just sticks to them which rules out alot of areas in the UK but i also think that like 29ers it just adds another different bike riding experiance…
these bikes bend the rule book a bit as there heavyish (the surlys) but ride like a real light bike on soft terrian- wierd!…but fun!
if your ever up at edinburgh get in touch and have a shot here on the beaches… :o

you can get a pugsley "non offset fork" nearly all bike shops deal with ISIN, the surly importers so can get you this,around £89 i think?,
with this fork you can run a regular 100mm front hub and centreline rim,29er wheel will go in too,
only once you want to go fat out back you will have chainline clearance issues with a regular BB,the 100mm BB cures this,
it can be proberly done with the regular BB if you made it a long tail cargo bike due to the chain lenght being twice as long,
for those with time scroll through the USA mtbr fatbike forum
for threads on home built beasts… :o
proberly one of the most fun bikes ive owned :o

rob, im thinking next time riding alongside riders there using the cannon compact to video the riding,and heading down the trails before to film riders passing,mixed up with helmet cam stuff should be good to watch,

TandemJeremy – Member

next week – the good the bad and the ugly?

this tune?- class film… :o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOKhQ8ObQ7E
needs an ending with riders heading down a dusty track into a big sunset!
(heads for itunes….)

+1 Bodgetastic!, proper "built in the shed"…loved the chickens picture :o
well done

ive got the two-tone arm tan from this good weather :o
i didnt catch the faller`s name-it was the same guy who flatted too…
the rear facing camera was set too high and just filmed sky and pine branches!, so will have that sorted for next week…
yeah… "the lone ranger?" paul…lol :lol:
requests for next weeks film tunes?, thinking some deep purple :twisted:

50mm is usable with surly tyres,kris holm does a 47mm unicycle rim but only in 36 spoke, regular 2.5 DH tubes are fine,what i use…
the rims to get are from speedway cycles in alaska, there 70mm wide una rims… drilled like a trials/kris holm rim but lighter yet still strong, infact everything made by speedway cycles is lighter and stronger!,
here is there titanium "fatback" will be my next bike…

165 rear hub,135 front, non offset wheels to allow 29ers too…
two bikes in one when you add a suspension fork..looks heavy?, 29 lbs easy with these bikes,my pugsley wieghs 35+ lbs so the fatbacks fly like there owners say,aint cheap though,around 4K with a 29er wheelset,

THE THE, matt johnstone lyrics and vocals :lol:
many folk dont know that jules holland did the piano on his soul mining album…
heres a film of where you can go on fat rubber :o
where normal bikes fear to tread..endocam…
endocam 2

will fit the BB for you in the car park before the ride round inners on monday paul,better than your crank falling out flat out down caddonbank :lol:

just waiting on youtube uploading then post some movie action… :o

thanks colin, and kit for link :o

great evening ride…nice to put some names to faces too… :o
thanks for a great nights riding guys…
all my pics are on face book (bruce mathieson), i need you to ID the trail names for me before i upload films, thanks… :o







all my pics here…
flickr pictures[/url]]flickr page[/url]
get films uploaded tomorrow evening…

just off up to pentlands bash with paul(stanfree)
got a pug and love it!,
have a read through this lot,catch you later :o

my pugsley (reviews)