We have one near us that took off last weekend and had all the neighbours running out going "ooohhhhh!"

Bombers ???

BTW I have no kids so am overly qualified to comment on this ……..

I <cough> take pictures of the sheep I meet on my travels. There is a large variation in different breeds. Saw some today that were quite cute in a "totally legal" way.

It's too "posh" where I live for an Aldi 🙁

But has he failed a drug test? No.

Stratford (as in Shakespeare not London)

Best – wherever you go for a weekend's riding away you know the trails are better then here and you'll have a great time. Near Leamington or Redditch if you want a "fun" night out. Two hours from a lot of decent riding. Good lbs.

Worst – most knarly trail is riding off a kerb. Try to get a value for money tradesman? That's if they'll even turn up. Friday/Saturday nights are full of stuck up locals* or "outsiders" looking for trouble. Day times are full of tourists.

* these locals are people who've moved here and think they're better than anyone else 'cos they're "posh".

Forgot to say. Eat at the Drop off cafe after riding the bike not before 'cos the portions are "man size"

IMO Penhydd is more like Penmancho/Marin. Whytes/Wall are rockier/bumpier and Skyline is a lot of fire road. All good fun though.

Oh, and sleep with your bikes ….

I was once like you are now, and I know that it's not easy, to be calm when you've found something going on. But take your time, think a lot, why, think of everything you've got. For you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not.

used JRA milk with no effect on the tyres but a couple of times recently it's coagulated after being put in so forming a blob inside the tyre 😳

Got the flood with 2*2.6Ah batteries. Bought for 24 hour solo riding and allows me to run one battery under the stem and then change after @ 4 hours of racing. Lighter weight and if I choose in the future I can get a head unit and run that off the second battery.

Really like the use of the system – press up to go brighter, press down to do opposite. Don't find the boost much better than high but is a nice feature as you can select boost for three minutes and then it automatically drops back to high. Also like the fact that is slowly dulls in brightness when dropping down a power setting rather than an abrupt change.

No problem with the flood – only time I would have liked a spot was the last descents at Mayhem but even then the flood was OK.

Commuting power level is only good for the road but your battery will last ages before it needs recharging. Not sure about the battery level indicator – a little LED flashes to show the power level and then the battery level but the colours to indicate the charge are the same as to indicate the power level so a flashing green/red is much the same as flashing red/green!!!!

All that and upgradeable LED's, can buy other batteries to fit and their legendary support.

Sat – maybe Black Mountains*
Sun – foraging and then watching bike racing in Warwick town centre

* depending on whether I buy some cheap cider from the Co-op later on….

7000 miles on a pair of Shimano wheels for me, road and light off road. Had to replace the freehub once, and the bearings were replaced as part of a grease/service. Still prefer cartridge bearings on other bikes though.

In the Cotswolds they sanitised one of the bridleways with a nice smooth surface laid over the top. Until the rains came that is – washed out the substrata, smooth top surface cracked up and fell apart making it far more dangerous that it had originally been.

Go Shimano.

Ayatollahofniche – Standard on 7 out of 9

Well if you can't break them then I see no reason to go oversize 😀

Personally don't feel the need to change all the bars/stems on the bikes as well as light and gps mounts I've got.

For external BB's then yes I'd get them faced – had one bike were the BB was tightened up and the bearings weren't parallel until the frame was faced.

If buying a new bike the lbs should do it for free. If buying a BB off the lbs they should face/fit it for free. If you walk in having just bought a BB off CRC then I would expect them to charge.

With the king bb is the installation device dif to one used on shimano HT II?

The Shimano one is tightened by hand and you have to guess the torque, the CK one, I believe, allows you to use a torque wrench.

Bought mine from Staples to help with my "declutter" via Ebay.

Run 100mm Reba SL's on my Simple and they're fine.

Urm in 140 rides this year I've ridden with others on 12 of them – and half of those were races. Guess I'm more of a solo rider than a club one !!!! But would be nice to ride with people a little bit faster/better than me as that would help me to improve my riding.

Went with them to Kazakhstan in 2006. Superb. You might pay a little bit more than other operators but you know that the trip will be well put together / organised and if anything goes wrong they sort it out. My manager at work has led a number of walking trips for different companies (not KE) and says that you can't go wrong with KE.

661 Kyle Straits again. Tried a few different makes / sizes on in the shop and some fitted OK whilst others didn't. My advice is to try before you buy. ie the Kyle Strait ones fit me great whilst the 661 Evo's didn't and I thought they weren't made as well.

For 24 solo – Cube AMS100 full suss as main bike, Simple SS set up for mud duties.

Went for FS mainly for comfort as I was having trouble with legs/back but is also forgiving after many hours in the saddle. Cube has been superbly reliable and willing to put up with the extra weight – sub 12kg without XTR and too much carbon.

Went for SS to keep going in the mud rather than having to stop all the time.

Named must your fear be before banish it you can.

Then do, or do not. There is no 'try'……

They're really good. Done both days and they manage to give you personal tuition to improve your riding even though the group is riding the same terrain, if that makes sense. I learnt loads about how I could be riding better. Just have to put it all together in one coherent riding style !!!

There are different types of trespass, of which civil has been mentioned. Others I know of are aggravated trespass (criminal, point 68 in link below), think specific Bye laws for the National Trust (£25 fine??), other local bye laws/orders and on MOD land (they might shoot you??).

Bottom line is Maggie bought in a load of laws to criminalise things as she didn't like people demonstrating against her policies or having fun.

IMO if you're stopped on a path (not pavement) don't tell anyone your name / address and if the Police did ever turn up before I'm long gone I'd ask them what criminal act I was committing as opposed to civil.

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/Acts/acts1994/ukpga_19940033_en_8

dont waste your money. as with many insurances you have been blackmailed into believing that you NEED it. in all likelihood you will not.

Insurance works by a lot of people putting money in a pot and then a few people make claims. e.g. 10 people pay £100 in (£1,000) and two make claims of £450. So a lot of time you won't need to claim but if you need to it's saves you from a potentially large bill. If you're lucky / careful then you may never claim on your insurance. It doesn't mean it's been a waste of money though.

Apart from compulsory insurance (eg car and employers liability) it's up to individuals to think if they want insurance or not – they should balance the risk versus costs. So for white goods I don't take out insurance as I'm happy to take the risk of it breaking down (agree some shops try to "blackmail" you into taking it). I haven't got the cat insured as I can pay out for any op if needed and I'll take the risk. For buildings/contents I have insurance as the sums involved are potentially large for the premium involved. Also have AA cover (insurance) to save the cost and hassle if I break down.

From my off road angle.
1) upgradeable LED's if I want to in the future
2) doesn't use a proprietary battery so I can replace it easily/cheaply when it fails without having to buy off the manufacturer
3) don't mind if the battery is integral or not so long as point 2 is followed and any external battery can sit under the stem
4) run time = 4 hours on high, meaning on two batteries I can get 8 hours minimum but more if switching between high / low
5) high and lower power levels. Not bothered with flashing. Max power has to fit in with points 3, 4 and 6
6) lightweight
7) battery uses standard charger
8 ) flood for bars, spot for helmet
9) good customer service / support
10) battery "power left gauge" though not sure how useful this really is

So for me that was a Lumicycle LED3 with 2* 2.6ah hour batteries. Allows me to run through the night at 24 hour races using the two batteries. I'm now looking for a cheaper head unit which will run off one of the batteries so I can use two light systems all running off the same type of battery/charger.

Commuting – cheap, small, compact, integral so easy to take off and store.

Agree that you have to see both and see what needs to be fixed and factor this into the price of both and what is the actual history re where serviced, how many owners etc. Also how long are you keeping it for / expected mileage as that might affect the resale value – most people will go for the lower mileage example. Also when are any cam belts etc. to be changed?

Don't know the ins and outs of pet insurance but I think that some will only pay for the condition until the end of your policy period and then exclude it when you renew. Of course, if you were to then transfer to another company they would also exclude it as a pre-existing condition!! Other more enlightened companies don't do this but you're right the premiums will reflect what's happened. So read the small print and don't just go on price.

No idea if this will meet your need but worth calling / popping into your local branch for a chat…. NFU Mutual. BTW I'm not "recommending" as I work for the company but not in the sales area but should be worth a call to talk it through.

Loads of youth hostels round there and some are doing breakfast included (e.g. Llanberis). Price is not dirt cheap but not extortionate either. Some are better set up for biking than others but all will have a drying room and self catering kitchen. From Capel Curig you can ride to the Marin trail / Penmancho, LLanneris or Snowdon Ranger you can ride Snowdon.

Ti29er – fit a cycle computer and do not use the auto stop / start. When the race starts set it going. It will then record the elapsed time including stops and the distance covered. To get to the cut offs you need to average …

cut off 1 55 miles / 7.5 hours – 7.3 mph
cut off 2 65 miles / 10 hours – 6.5 mph
end of race 100 miles / 13.5 hours – 7.4 mph (assuming there is a cut off or you can still keep going till midnight once you get past cut off 2 ??)

Hour upon hour if you're above these then you should make it assuming the course isn't one massive up followed by one descent. You could make it more accurate by getting a profile of the route and working out average speed over terrain of course.

Was about to post "make sure you test it for setting" before putting it into jars otherwise you'll have to boil it again* but as you've done it …….

* speaking from experience.

Irrespective of the warranty / guarantee you can expect something you buy to last a reasonable time under the Sale of Goods act. Can't find the specifics with a quick google but you might with a bit more time.

But as with all these things the shop will wriggle like mad to get out of paying anything. Good luck.

EDIT – I bought an expensive designer jacket eight months ago and it's falling apart

Maybe accidental glass breakages mean less profit so plastic is cheaper. But then again, people are more likely to break plastic ones just 'cos they're plastic and not look after them.

And that's 105.769 people attacked every week in England and Wales alone. Wonder what the figures would be like if you included Scotland ??

DaveGr – if that is the kind of mileage you're getting out of them i'd suggest there is something wrong with your set up or your frame.

Trouble is I also get a similar short lifespan on the other bike with a HTII BB.

There's a good chance some of you are over tightening the end caps and wrecking the bearings yourselves.

I thought that but in my case the BB gets full of water / dirt before the bearings themselves get worn and am now careful to not over tighten.

Just looking at mileages for other bikes / BB's
– Kinesis not got figures for '07 but probably half of what I did in '08 which was 800 miles / 61 rides and the square taper BB was still fine when I stripped the bike.
– road / light off road bike – 7000 miles and only just getting round to replacing the 2nd Octalink BB as there's a slight clicking noise.

Not a fan of the HTII design irrespective of specific makes.

Re dismantling Shimano cups – just did a set and one side is easy to knock out as you have good access to the inner race so can use a drift but on the other cup it's designed to not give the same access to use the drift but managed to tap it out. So apart from the one cup being slightly awkward they're the same as Hope for replacing the bearings.

I would love to know why some fail and others don't but I don't expect the manufacturers to look into it as they make lots of money from replacement sales.

The IBIS used to allow you to cancel without charge upto 24 hours before. Might be worth looking into if you need to book something but can then keep an eye open for a bargain.

Had a great time there when I went. Went mid week and when waiting to come back on Friday the stream of hen and stage parties off the British planes was amusing.

Descenders should give way / change their line as it's easier for them to get going again.

Got a new bike this year and got 20 rides and 569 miles out of the Shimano XT it came with. Could (maybe should?) have cleaned it out but replaced it with a Hope ceramic and got 5 rides / 183 miles before that got to the same state. Same cleaning routine (ie no pressure washer).

Trying a Chris King next (if / when it arrives) but wouldn't touch Hope again. Even ignoring the figures above, looking at the design I personally think the Shimano is better than the Hope but I expect to get flamed for that 😉