lovely stuff. Ta.

I dont look good in a wetsuit though…

I took a trip up the local BMX track after watching "Dirtschool" 🙂 . Kept doing the same corner over and over and was amazed the difference between how fast I originally thought was safe and what actually was! It was all safe with lots of lovely long grass to fall on. (which didnt happen, incidentally)

Its a different matter with trees either side, of course, but I think my riding has definately improved because of it

Always get a pain in my lower right of my back. Sets in about 1hr in usually and irritates me for the rest of the ride. Only get it cycling…

I once saw Noel Edmunds at Orlando Airport. He was less than 100 yards away. beat that

Got wife and baby up and spectacularly failed to get up to the BMX track for a couple of hours(opting, instead to go back to bed). Took the dogs out and after that was done, I rode to work in Top gear to make up for the earlier fail(time for a singlespeed? ). On route to work, got the back right out on some wet leaves and almost hit an oncoming cyclist. When at work, avoided eating too much product and sent some emails. I am currently waiting to work on a machine, and when done it will be about 10.15 and I can ride hime in the P**sing rain without any waterproofs. Once home I will eat a pizza while surfing mountain bike forums.

What have I acheived?…struck off another day in my life

Commencal Meta 5.5.2 .

So far every new one has been a better one for me (3 bikes in the last 13 months)

Giant Boulder
(Landrover Corazon…nasty and weak)
Gt Agressor XC3
Giant NRS
Commencal Meta . (no it isnt cracked yet 🙂 )

I am Supposed to be doing a Annual type works thing in the FOD. Its gone a bit quiet on that front so if it is not going on Ill be there!

Ok to bring along another couple of Gloucester boys.?

I still dont wear one on the road

Trouble is that I am discovering more and more that some drivers love to make you brake hard in the wet hen you are on skinny tyres. At least on the trail there is a good chance of a soft landing 🙂

I have been doing this over a year and try to get out once a week for a few hours. In under 60 times out I have hit my head twice and have fallen off countless times so ovbiously I must wear a helmet; likelyhood of an accident is High … Waiting in casualty for hours for a few stiches is just a pain in the arse that we can all do without…

nb I dont wear a helmet for walking as for the last 30 years I have walked every day and never hit my head. the risk of an accident is low

Oh and for the poster who made the point that there is nowhere for your helmet light…well that makes the most sense of all. Good on you sir.

I have had a couple of headbangers one of which cracked the helmet through. Did it save my life? Probably not but it undoubtedly avoided a few eggs and maybe some stitches.

NB the lesser crash was outside my house after riding home with SPDs for the first time…Toppled over while shouting **** and headbutted the next door neighbour's wall

Thats enough for me to carry on wearing one

I had a Seat Leon TDi110 but sold that to get an estate. Seat dont do one so bought the Passat. (Nb Its the 1.8T sport so it is really thirsty 🙁 )

Already had 120000 miles on the clock but only problem so far is Blower packed in.

NB My Mass air meter failed on the Seat.
(Oh and backsteet garage did Air con service, didnt put the Filter cover back together properly and footwell flooded every time it rained because of it)

Mine was never as bright as my mate's from day one. (His MED was my high!)

Anywhoo, I removed the annoying 3 mode driver (found swarf, bare cables and hardly any heatsink compound inside) and fiited an external DX 2800ma one/ switch. Looks horrible, but now proper brightness and a simple on/ off 🙂

also had prob with the battery. it gets wet and the IC on the balance circuit gets wet; this means it shows charged when it isnt.

Super brightness though and still hasnt really cost anything. Just bought a 1×18650 powered p7 torch to decorate my helmet

How can you?? serious question, if there labelled as 900, the box says so, surely you cant just make a light and put any old output on them?

I think the Leds themselves are "up to 900 lumen" (at 2.8A I think). If you look at the Dx web, even the single 18650 torches are quoted as "up to 900 lumen"

My driver, for example though, puts out about 2.2A so i guess I wont be getting the magic 900 figure. I tried a simple driver tonight actually (a 1.8 ohm power resistor) Got 2.5A but chickened out when resistor quickly climbed to 130 deg! To hot an inefficiant to be practical.

Not me unless I can buy a few hours 🙁

Wednesday Night was ok, if not a little on the sloppy side. mud can be a different kind of fun though! Almost went over the bars at the bottom of the racetrack bombhole though; front wheel kind of dug in and stopped!

Popping out tonight if weather is good..about 8.00pm before work. Starting at Royal W if anyone wants to tag along

Actually it is closed for the winter. On reflection, Im not sure I fancy the prospect of loads of 14 Yr olds making me look like a fat, talentless baby anyway

NB Taking the heat away can be a prob. I improvised a nice sink inside the unit and applied loads of compound but body needs some fins to up the surface area as it gets jolly hot when static…

add a few quid for connectors and a swicch plus 8 quid for the original tescos light…Plus a helmet mount..

wish I hadnt worked this out.looking more like 40 quid now!

I have a 18650 dual charger you can have if you cant wait 🙂

Ended up soldering mine into a 4 pack

I modded a tesco Torch with DX 2800ma Constant current P7 driver , a P7 LED and 4 unprotected 18650s soldered into a 4 pack. Used my DX cycle light charger. The batteries arnt balanced so may not last long and light pattern is a bit horrid.

Driver
LED
Cells

All that for about 20 quid so If you get a cheap lense solution and some lind of balace/ protection circuit for the cells you can have a nice bright light. (2 to 3 hours run)

NB I do wish I just bought another "DX cycle light"

Dont buy a SH frame and try and build up a nice bike. Dont tot up how much you have actually spent and realise you could have twice the bike for the money ready made

Dont be sad when you sell 6 months later for a 1/4 of that you spent.

Do buy the Meta though; its ace 🙂

Got a Springer and a Cocker and wil always have Spaniels

forgot add my vote for crate training. Unless you want sh*t everywhere its a no brainer.

Agreed. Worked fantastically well with my cocker (not one accident) but honestly thought the Springer would do himself an injury. Gave up and yep took a ruined carpet and many many weeks to train

how is Springer on the lead

TERRIBLE but that is our fault. In every other respect brilliant though.

Nb For those who have had experiences with chewing, then your dog might be bored/ under stimulated?..I work shifts and my Wife is PT so the dogs never have more than 4 hours alone and get good off lead walks every day. (Wouldn't have got them otherwise)

si_progressivebikes – Member
anyone listen to george lamb?

+1 for Lamb, but it took m a while to get it (VERY annoying at first but you start to get it

Moyles just annoying. who does bloody parody songs these days? AND THAT SONG AT THE START OF EVERY SHOW!!

Adam and Joe are ace

I downloaded MM euro edition free trial and then Bought £50 worth of 1:25000 credits. With this I select "Activate visiable map area" to use as little credit as poss. Currently only downloaded for my local area so I have loads of credit left. GPS features and Mobile features also activated) (hope main prog is permanent!)

Not sure how economical this method is when you get beyond a certain coverage.

I love the night riding bit, but get a bit tetchy loading the bike back onto the car in a pitch black deserted car park with imaginary muggers hiding in the shadows…

Did you get the battery pack wet?

I had the same issue; Plugged into the charger and it showed green even though battery was down .

I took the heat shrink off the battery and found the Balancing circuit board damp. Dried it out, and taped back up with insulating tape and now it is all good.

I got my Meta from Merlin; couldnt find it any cheaper anywhere else.

Delivery was good and well packaged and the bike arrived in good nick in good enough time. (about a week i think)

No awards for bedside manner but everything arrived as it should!

I destroyed the coating on my Specs lenses on the first morning of a very wet Afan from constantly wiping (with a sandy rag ) After having the rest of the W/E tarnished by cloudy vision I decided there and then to get into disposable contacts just for riding. Had an initial consultation in the high street but now I order online through Optic Rosmus; seems reasonable enough.

NB I have Non toric in One eye and Toric in the other. The Non-toric is easier to get inside out and can jump out of your eye if you have it wrong. Have no issues with the toric. Once you have had some practice it is all good.

Dont go out on my bike without contacts, now. (its also nice not seeing the rim of your specs when you look hard down/. left/ right)

nb Havnt had any mud in the eye yet…

nb

, cost £20 a month get them through the post

do you mind if i ask where from?

The only problem I have with mine is the Rear skewer undoing itself or if not that the bearing cones adjusting themseves out.

Since I put a dual lever skewer on, that has stayed sound but I have still had the locknuts coming loose , (even though they were done up f-tight ) Think it is down to the twisting action of that long swingarm and my 95kg/ lots of braking! (or pushing on the pedals)

one chap suggests that the only way he could fix his was to fit pro 2 and maxle.

the bike is ace, mind you 🙂

quote]Avoid the Fox's. The potential for internal damage is just too high[/quote]

Totally agree; had my fingers burnt before doing any research. Ended up replacing lowers ( S/Hand with good bushes) and lowering travel so worse of stantion wear was below top bush! There are probably some good ones out there, but you should insist on seeing them stripped?

blog here[/url][

NB I have also bought old Marz bombers in the past; looked like the owner had never put air in let alone serviced them. Put a new seal kit in and they were as good as new 🙂

I have to be a bit precious about my latest bike, as it's carbon – to the extent of protecting the downtube with some rubber….

If you believe what you read, my Meta frame will snap at some point and Ill have a new warranty replacement 🙂 …NB there is something intensely sexy about a Carbon SWorks frame….and Braided brake hoses? PERVERT!

Dancake the next time you service your forks why not take your lowers off with th bike upsidedown removing the basenuts, so no need to damage the lower levering the seals up.

Indeed!

TBH though, you should be able to do a lift/ clean/ squirt job without too much damage! I probably wasnt as careful as I claimed originally and I had had a few beers (Hence the silly Stantion/ lower naming faux pas)

Never mind; a few dents in the paint is a small price to pay if the payoff is increasing the life of your forks…(although as I said it was clean as a whistle under there and the foam was still wet from storing the bike upside down…)

Erm, that's your lowers. Stanchions are the bits that slide in and out.

you got me there, dude.

Lets change the subject. This morning I found a dead bird AND a dead mouse in the kitchen.

oh.. and what forks have painted stanchions or levers that can scratch them?

They are Fox Float 140. Paint is so soft you could bite them and leave teeth marks 🙁

The bike must have been stolen; Meta 5 owners are squeeky clean 🙂

Every forum has them; I used to be a member of a quad bike forum that was particularly viscous.

I left in the end because the know-alls were in the majority. One particularly annoying git had a Saved "Use the search button etc etc etc" post and then would post about 10 links that he supposed answered your question (but never quite did.

I still want to punch the self-satisfied little c**t in the face even now.

I bought one of the P7 "Cycle light" kits. Turns out it is half as bright as my Mate's and I should have sent it back.

I didnt, of course so I have bought 2 constant current driver boards and 1 new LED (24 dollars) so hopefully I can fix the DX cycle light and Mod my butchered tesco head torch. Worth doing as the light is awsome at proper brightness.

*Build quality of my DX light was shocking, BTW but hey-ho

Update.

The fancy skewer worked well for the first ride.

Out tonight, noticed gears were not engaging well. Checked rear wheel and guess what? Lots of play AGAIN. Somehow, properly adjusted, locked and threadlocked cones have come LOOSE (skewer is nice and tight though)

will ring supllier tomorrow.( although whats the chances of commencal having a fix?) Should have done it in the first place but at the time I didnt want to loose the use of my bike for ages for the sake of a simple wheel adjustment 🙁

Someone might be able to help me with this one. early on when I started out, we found a lovely trail near the Shrine which was a tight twisty/ turny affair. Quite flat if I remember but some tight squeezes through some close-together trees. Fun but all doable

Sorry- terrible description

Any updates?

Am going up around 8.00 Wednesday Night; will note any unpleasant surprises 🙂