Good stuff Casey, I was aware of your videos but not of your blog.

For those of you that are in to bikepacking but never leave this forum: 😛

Bear Bones Bikepacking
Bikepacking.net
MTBR – Bikepacking[/url]

have a read of this ‘Ass Grease’

I’m sat here crying with laughter at that link! 😆

Really??? No offence but she looks like a middle-aged house wife in that first pic. 😕
I think I might be forgetting the average age of the folk who frequent STW though!

he’s always been first at the bar

This used to make me mad! I’ve lent small amounts of money to my ‘old’ mates, they’d be out on the ale a week later but they’d say they couldn’t afford to pay me for a week or two! Tossers! If you owe money, you stay in and don’t waste money on the stuff you don’t need!

Teng, not too expensive and good quality

+1 , I have a couple of sets of their normal, long-handled ones…I have other tools that take bits and Y-handled ones that I never use due to accessibility issues! I don’t think you can beat normal allen keys.

Swindale

The most godforsaken place on earth! I once did a ride taking in High Street and Swindale. It was quite a hard day and took us much longer than expected, about 9 hours I think! The bit along Swindale beck was just boggy enough that it wasn’t worthwhile trying to ride it. The rain was coming at us sideways, all we could do was look at each other and laugh. If we hadn’t of, we would have been crying!
In the dry it could possibly be a whole different experience, it looks like one of those places that might never dry up though.

I’ve done a ride that takes in the ‘Withnail and I’ cottage too, most of the riding was on open moorland. I won’t bother doing it again with such good riding nearby.

jekkyl – Member

After my experiences with uni I think uni’s only right for proper professions like Dr, lawyer, accountant etc or if there is a clear career path or a very specific degree which will lead to a very specific job eg trading standards officer. Otherwise I’d be worried he’ll be wasting time & money & end up no better than when he started. For a lot of people, myself included uni is just a way to shirk having to get a job for a few years.
I disagree with this, I think that only applies to students with a certain kind of attitude. I’m currently a student and will have finished my first year in a couple of months…I can’t believe the contacts I’ve already made and the doors it’s already starting to open.

Cinema? Try Zeffirellis in Ambleside. Chester’s cafe at Skelwith Bridge is nice for coffee and cake too.

“if I can take a 40lb DH bike on a plane”

Don’t you put anything else in with it? Shoes, Camelbak, tools, etc? My bike weighs 28lbs…once it’s in my bag with the other bits and pieces, it’s close to the limit. My suitcase is always the same too, in fact the last two times I’ve been away it was over.

Couple? Family?

I don’t think you’d be allowed to take 2 pieces of oversized baggage either. Even if you can, it would be an absolute nightmare if you had another bag with your kit in too. If you hadn’t realised this, I take it you haven’t taken a bike abroad before?

If you really did need two bikes, I think I’d just take one and pay to hire another once there. I realise that’s not always an option though.

The biggest problem you would have if there was such a bag, would be the shear size and weight of it. You would struggle to get it in the back of a car…I struggle with the one just for my mountain bike. The weight issue too, whether you can lift it or not, it would easily exceed the maximum weight allowance for most airlines (BA will take any weight as long as it’s a bike without an engine, don’t think they’d be happy with two in one box though).

It’s bad trying to sell on there too…idiots offering you half of what you want or haven’t even read the ad.

Yeah, they send you a cheque.

I think that’s more or less it.

Jack Daniel’s Honey…it goes down too easy though!

oliverd1981 – Member

I like to stick with BT for my phoneline – call me old fashioned but they do seem like the easiest people to speak to if you have a technical issue with your line.
Do you work for BT? 😮

I definitely have too much time on my hands…

piemonster – Member

Have you tried talking to BT, our deal improved hugely just through a “your too expensive” phone call.
Even so, I bet it’s still not as cheap as many other providers. My BT bill was always over a £100 per quarter, sometimes quite a bit more as I didn’t have unlimited downloads. My TalkTalk bill is £18.20pm (£54.60pq), that will go up to £21 in a few months but the current deal would be that price for 12 months.

jonny rocky mountain – Member

Is it easy to change over to other company’s ? Coss i’am useless with technology
I just made my order online and then they did the rest. I didn’t even have to cancel my contract with BT, I just got an automated call from them saying they were sorry I was leaving.

😀

Unless you go to your local hardware store, have you thought of trying a shop that sells Specialized?

I changed from BT to TalkTalk…now my download speed is twice as fast and I pay half as much as I did before! I think they’re currently doing a deal where you get the broadband for £3.25 a month for 12 months! Oh, it’s more or less unlimited too!

Has no one looked for ‘lol shock’ yet? 😈

Is this any good:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GO-PRO-ROLL-CAGE-1-3-4-GOPRO-HERO-HD-CAMERA-ROLL-BAR-MOUNTS-CNC-NEW-/170998261772?pt=US_Camera_Straps_Hand_Grips&hash=item27d04a680c
If not, have a look for a GoPro tripod mount and then buy a camera handlebar mount…you’ll have a lot more choice then.

lol shock is something you don’t want to look into! 😀 😯 😮 🙁

Hmmm, I use a mix of a few different programs.

Memory Map for drawing my own routes (rare), but the detail is there and I was using it before there were the all the online choices.
GPSies.com is good for drawing and converting routes…in fact the conversion part is very good. It has other folks’ rides on there too.
I also use Bikeroutetoaster.com, although that is only for drawing routes so I tend to use MM more.

EDIT: Mis-read your post and now realise you’re looking for maps to put in the GPS. Do you really need to look at them when out riding? If so, you’d have been better off with a Satmap or one of the bigger Garmin’s.

I think there was a guide to beach-proofing bikes over on Coastkids website.

Oh dear, someone told me to look on a site that has links to all the weird or disgusting sites with just the one video on them. It had something to do with the abbreviation for what you do if you find a post funny and what you get if you touch electricity! 😯

I was dubious about using carbon cranks too…the ones I use have plastic caps on the ends though and these seem to pick up most of the scrapes. Apart from rocks flying up and hitting them, I think the pedals and chainring/bash are more likely to contact rocks first.

fit good quality resin pads

I’m sorry but I can’t agree with this. I remember when I first got my R1’s which came with resin pads…everything seemed good until I rode in the wet, then they were lethal! Sintered pads soon cured this though.

EDIT: R1 x’s don’t work as well as R1’s either.

Don’t just buy them because they’re cheap…I’ve done that a few times and have always gone back to what I was using before.

Funnily enough I’ve had Burmese chicken, made using a recipe someone once posted on here. Way healthier and probably nicer than the “£$%^ most of you lot are having! 😛

It will be specific to your frame, not the shock.

Either two Maxxis Minion 2.35 DHF’s or a DHF front and a 2.35 High Roller rear.

Acetone – dissolves them! You can buy it from Boots or similar.

Most of the ones close to me are good to be honest.

4play cycles in Cockermouth will always do you a good turn if they can.
Cyclewise at Whinlatter are good for being so organized and getting stuff done when they say they will.
KMB in Keswick…I’ve known them open up when closed to sort things out for folk and they once dropped a bolt off for my mate (14miles away) who was racing the next day.
Biketreks in Ambleside for tracking stuff down where others have failed.
They’re all helpful when needing info/advice on routes too.

Good to hear BikeSeven (Longtown) mentioned, wish I passed there more often…called in on my way back from Scotland once and ended up being in there for a few hours! They had lots of interesting maintenance stuff you don’t see anywhere else. Owner seemed a top bloke.

Thanks to them all for putting up with my incoherent mutterings, especially when I don’t spend as much as I should in them. 😀

I have a sleeping bag and down vest of theirs. I love both and they should last a long time as I only use them for bikepacking. Beware if you want anything in a hurry though…I had to wait a month and then had to change the vest for a smaller size, so another few weeks wait. Maybe they have a stockpile of some of the sale stuff though?

Mushroom stamping. 😐

technical stuff

??? Where at?