Been carrying bikes on the back for 7 years. Current design is slightly different but in principle the same. Since 1998 cars have to be type approved with a tow bar so illegal to fit one to a Mk2 or 2.5, not sure about the mk 3.

Downsides – removing/fitting the boot rack (not bike rack part) is a bit of a pain so leave it on. Carrying the bikes over the boot does mark the boot over time – mud dropping off, small marks just taking them on /off. You can open the boot with a bike on but it does put a lot of weight on the boot lid when open. Locking the front fork to the carrier invalidates some fork warranties (pace and DT Swiss).

And still get 38mpg on a run to Wales with a bike on the back and the hood down 🙂

Shimano – they all work and you can go from cheap/Deore to expensive/XTR.

It’s going to be bone dry and the ground rock hard so semi slicks are where it’s at.

or maybe trailrakers

or perhaps something in between.

Veggie pizza
Perry – or “pear cider” as it’s now called by the marketing types
AC/DC – Highway to Hell

On a similar style of glasses I’ve eased the lens out in the middle first by pressing down and forwards. The final bit to come out is the outer bit that sits in the frame. Sort of peeling the lens out from the frame. Fitting I start by sitting the outer edges in the frame and then easing back into the groove so that the centre is the last to go in.

But I have no idea if that’ll work on these ones !!!

I’m SO glad I didn’t know how “dangerous” the ramp and bombhole were going to be before doing the race. Once the ramp was fixed I rode up/down each time unless a person in front stalled. And the bombhole was fine if you took it at a decent speed. Still rode it on lap 14 😀

Spectating on Sunday was funny – a Torq* rider had a hissy fit when not allowed to by pass the bridge while another Torq* rider didn’t even attempt the bomb hole – they got off and stumbled downwards. Everyone else at least tried to ride it.

* please note there are other nutritional products available…..

If you get to a steep bit don’t you just shift to a lower gear?

Oh I forgot, you can’t 😀

I have one of these in black and it’s great. Excellent kit as standard though I’ve changed a fair amount of stuff as I tend to run common components across all my bikes (brakes/wheels/saddles). The finishing is top class – I’ve ridden mine a lot in the last six months and the anodised frame has stood up well – their carbon frames are also engineered OTT from what I’ve seen. Mine came with “narrow” 635mm bars/105 mm stem but I prefer this to the current fashion of wide bars/short stem – I ran it with 90 and 95 mm stems which was OK but I prefer a stretched out position. All their range look to be well put together and well thought out.

I bought off Cycle Studio[/url] who are very helpful.

Cube bikes are good VFM and well specced. This one is reviewed in What MTB this month and got a 9 – and only £50 above budget but cheaper options are available.

Cube LTD Race 2009

The Cycle Studio[/url] in Stratford are a Cube dealer if you’re nearby and better than buying off the web.

Bought two ceramic ones as they were cheap – well reduced. First one lasted 3 days in Malham, Mayhem then Hit the North before needing to be stripped/cleaned. Ok’ish since then. Just put the second one in a bike – will see how long that one lasts. Overall better than the cheaper BB’s but no great advantage over other similar ceramic BB’s. A certain Chris King one where you can flush the bearings looks good though.

Lower pressures, no pinch flats, no punctures – have run ghetto for 9 months with no problems. Cheap – inner tube £3, DT Swiss kit £30 ish.

I’ve managed to inflate ghetto with track pump first time. Soapy water on the rim/bead. On DT Swiss kit and Stans rims I have to use a CO2 canister to seat it originally and then use a track pump. Go for Schwalbe tubes and you can remove the valve core which makes adding sealant easier than removing 6 inches of the tyre.

Wouldn’t this work?

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=21525

You can’t run a 160mm IS caliper/rotor set up on a PM fork. You have to up that to 180mm.

As above, if you can download the route for the website then GPS Babel converts between various different formats and is free.

http://www.gpsbabel.org/%5B/url%5D

our team @ Mayhem are planning on a cheese and wine party!

Surely real singlespeeders would have a beer and a spit roast …..

They said there hasn’t been any wild beavers in the UK since the 16th century. Obviously haven’t been to Redditch on a Saturday night 🙄

Is training at altitude in the Alps taking the preparation for Mayhem a bit too serious ??

Did the “trials to trails” weekend and found it very good – relaxed weekend in Ambleside with some good tips picked up. Have also used AQR who are very good and cheaper. Their day one session is particularly good and overall I say try AQR first then Cycleactive though I’d recommend both as I’ve learnt where I’ve been going wrong all these years!!! Just have to put it all into practice.

Rims are £80 each, rear hub £120 and front hub £50 so without spokes and labour charge that’s £330 !!!!! Bargain price.

NFU Mutual won’t insure a bike on it’s own. You have to take out some form of contents insurance. See NFU Mutual web site for your local branch…. they’ll be able to advise you. They don’t sell over the web but do have a call centre though we are rolling out a new product which the call centre won’t have for about another month so best to call or pop into your local branch.

Cover is usually new for old up to two years old and excludes racing/competitions (though I think this can be added at a cost).

Re discounts – they give a discount if you agree to renew for three or five years (there are T&C’s which means you don’t have to renew in certain circumstances) plus as a Mutual they don’t give money to shareholders so instead give the money back to the policy holders as a discount when they renew …. Bonus

BTW I work for the company but am not giving advice as I’m not a licensed seller !!!

Urm, thinking about nights out in Leamington. Earlier this year I spent a pleasant evening in the Clarendon surrounded by @ 40 girls from Warwick Uni on a “Britney Spears lookalike” night out.

They made a bald, middle aged man very happy 😀

And sorry, didn’t have a camera with me 😥

Interesting how a £40 million cap would affect the end of the season.

Team A is winning but has blown all it’s £40 million. Frugal team B still has money left, develops the car and starts beating team A. Now team A has no more money to spend and so can’t develop the car and can’t compete. Or maybe team A will sack a load of people and spend the wages on the car to make it competitive again. Then re-employ the workers at the end of the season.

Seems like this is another Max/Bernie ploy to stir things up so they keep the reins of power.

So no Ferrari or British Grand Prix and a championship decided on medals. How soon before there is only one GP in Europe as the Max/Bernie show chase the new money in the Far East/China?

more mature and refined drinkers tend to stay in the oasis of calm that is Warwick

I’ve spent too many evenings in Redditch so Leamingtion is refined after that 😯

This is the second post in a few weeks about people coming to the Warwick/Stratford area and asking about the riding. What have you lot done to deserve this? Fiddled your expenses and been banished to the bad lands of dullness and muddy, ploughed fields??

The only decent thing about the riding is that wherever you go for a day/weekend away then you’re guaranteed that the riding will be better than what’s on offer round here.

Oh, and if you want a decent night out in Warwick then go to Leamington instead. I’ve <cough> heard that Rios (Leamington’s premier night spot) is the place to go if you want an enjoyable evening.

Three days in the Lakes 😀

Avoiding Wales in case I see the Spork and hurt my eyes 😉

OS Explore is undergoing “essential maintenance”

Miele – mine is excellent and has latest years. Then again I don’t use it that often!!!

The three highlights of riding in Stratford are ….

1) The Greenway on a sunny day. Flat but it gets you to/from the Cotswolds and also has the occasional yummy mummy out and about. Though this year they have been a bit scarce.

2) 100m of singletrack but it’s a local track for locals 😉

3) urm struggling on this one. Probably manualling off a kerb ??

Basically you can get to the Cotswolds, Wales, FoD or the Peaks easily but locally it’s dullsville. Drop me an email and I’ll try and point out some of the more interesting bits.

Oh, The Cycle Studio[/url] is a great lbs and Ashton MTB[/url] ride the Cotswolds – if you’re lucky you’ll get to see Sheldon’s new multi tubed bike 😀

Thought it was about to be an exciting finish but then everyone seemed to settle for position or maybe just couldn’t overtake ? No one seemed prepared to give it a go when I thought Trulli could have pushed for a win if he managed to overtake and Barrichello had to overtake to make his 3 lap strategy work.

And does anyone know if this is Ferraris worst ever start to a season? They keep saying they’ve scored three championship points but as the points scoring is different now to in the past the actual 2009 finishing position may be worse.

Really enjoyed the course today despite suffering a bit of a lull in the middle due to some iffy sports drink. Even the fast riders (with one exception) were courteous !!!! And the weatherproofing seems to have improved things. Oh and ran tubeless so no punctures. Only problem with the bike was having to lube the chain after 4 hours due to the dry and dusty conditions 😯

Looks rubbish. Glad I went to the theatre instead to see “The Snow Queen”.

Also had chain suck on my soul – only thing I didn’t change was the lube – purple extreme – but I’ve since moved on to Fenwicks in the last month so when I ride the Soul again I’m trying that as it’s been fine on my full susser.

Get on the internet dating thing – they will be falling over you. Presentable men of your sort of age are in short supply. They either have kids or are cads or both

You’d have thought so. But from personal experience on line and in the dating scene I’ve found that women prefer (or at least choose) the cads / married / insolvent / one night stand types etc. over someone like me (40’s, veggie, don’t smoke, drink rarely but people at work do think I’m strange ‘cos I dress up in lycra and ride my bike thru the woods at night, on my own in the middle of winter!!!

Still, being single means I’ve bought two new bikes this year and can ride them whenever and wherever I like 😀

three day ticket on the tube/buses. You can then hop on/off and go wherever you like. From the airport you can get a ticket from a kiosk to get to the end of the metro and then buy the three day ticket. OK, so 20 of you will probably get taxis in from the airport but it’ll cost a lot of money that could better be spent on beer.

http://www.bkv.hu/english/home/index.html

Tommy the cat has done a few silent but deadly ones over the years, usually while sitting on my lap and then looks at me as though implying it was me !!

Hope adaptor

This one has been fine. It’s the other way – IS caliper to PM fork – that you need to up the rotor size by 20mm

If you’re good looking / confident / find chatting to women easy then …. internet*, bar, club, hobbies, evening school etc. etc.

If you’re not then try solo night riding – you meet the same number of women but you enjoy yourself !!! Trust me, I speak from experience 😉

* OK so I met a few of the internet fruit cakes – you’re the third or fourth bloke they’ve met this week and you haven’t made the top five.

You might also save money by going through cash back sites instead of taking the renewal quote. BTW, insuring thru the company I work for the renewal quote is always less than new business as we give a discount based on how long you’ve insured with us.

Also use Acronis – for backup of the whole machine. Never had to restore whole machine but have restored certain files OK.

None for "one", three for "two". Unless it’s a real "man’s two" in which case I’ll stretch to five sheets.

Oh, and I try to always go at work so as to use there’s not mine.

Friend has just bought a Miele with 10 year guarantee and thinks it’s great – even has a light inside the drum to illuminate you clothes!!!!!

Personally I’d buy one with a 5 year guarantee and wash things half as much….