Is it supposed to say “trail centre”? I can understand asking for people to write guides to their local/favourite rides, but trail centres are surely the last thing you need a guide for.

I’m moving to Germany in July, a bit early to make it look like I’m leaving because of the Tory government, but that’s what I’ll tell people.

I’ve been going in there occasionally for years, I’ve bought one or two things there. I’ve never found any of the staff friendly – nobody’s ever said hello or anything.

I suppose it depends what you’re used to and whether you’re bothered about that kind of thing,my LBS is very friendly and it makes me want to buy things there.

Don’t know how much MTB stuff that NQ place. I saw it one night while on the beer, before it had properly opened. I went in to say hello and the guy offered me a like new spangly sram cassette with the red lockring for £20. Unfortunately I had no cash and forgot to go back. Damn.

I’m looking at spending that kind of money on a VW/Vito. I’ve been keeping an eye out for the last 3 months, and for 3 grand I reckon you’d get a 00/01 VW transporter with about 120K-160K miles on it. Higher mileage if you wanted a caravelle/kombi type van, lower if you were happy with a straightforward panel van. Vitos are a bit cheaper.

That’s based on ebay/and autotrader.

Oh, and my greatest find of 2008,Jens Lekman! Swedish tweecore!
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=W_JayWrkqDI

I guess I missed your deadline, but if you like neil young, you might like Blitzen Trapper’s Wild Mountain Nation. psychadelic alt country-indie-folk. You can get a taster here for nowt…
http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Blitzen_Trapper/download/Wild_Mountain_Nation

I got food poisoning from the place on the ground floor in Urbis, so sadly I can’t recommend it. The food was nice, like, just a bit too poisonous.

Go for it, you won’t regret it. I love this bike.

Depends what you’re used to, but really it’s still pretty light built up with Marz AM forks and the coil shock, though it’s not really tight to pedal. When I switched from my hardtail it felt like I’d put on a stone.

porno heckler pics here[/url]

The frame definitely is. I have mine built up with a coil DHX5 and 150mm coil fork and I like the laid back, plush ride. I had a brief ride on someone else’s that was built up with an RP23 and Revs and I was horrified. It felt totally different, probably a bit nippier than mine uphill.

I wear mine to ride down the local dirt jumps so I don’t get laughed at by the kids. In fact now I am cooler than all of them, in their garish motocross getup. It’s a 3 mile ride there, and my arse gets wet from the grit/spray off my back wheel when it’s raining. They do shed water very well but I’m not sure they have much of a “hydrostatic head”, to use the parlance of our times. So if they have a layer of snow sat on them I don’t know how waterproof they’d be.

Sizing wise, I am a bit fat now @ 5’10” and 13st, and just about squeeze into a 32. The legs are quite wide and flappy, so for cycling I don’t think they’d be much fun without a bash. Means I can get my Kyle Straits on underneath without any fuss though.

Last year I bought my first pair of bins with all the “special coatings”, including anti-glare and anti-scratch. Within six months the lenses were virtually opaque. On doing a bit of research I found that the coating responds badly to steam, sweat etc, so wearing them out biking, wiping the sweat off them with grit covered gloves then leaving them on the sink while I have a shower probably wasn’t a smart move. So where they had got tiny scratches from wear, the coating was bubbling and peeling off all over.

Just my experience, there may be other, more durable coatings available.

What size do you wear in Met or Giro? I wear a Med Giro, and I found l/xl fox flux was best. Of course it will depend on the shape of your head, and I only tried it on, didn’t ride with it. I thought they looked a lot more tacky and plastic in the flesh than they do in pics.

Hiya,
I’ve never been to the bike park, but I’ve been to Tenerife lots. I’m sure it’s worth a look, but the rest of the island looks like it would make an ideal DH destination.

Just having a quick google and came across this

I will definitely be taking my bike next time I go, though with dive gear and downhill gear the missus might have to forego some luxuries – clothes, toiletries etc

If you’re interested I’m selling a Cycleops fluid 2 with front wheel block and trainer tyre for £110. I don’t know how quiet it is as I don’t have anything to compare it to, but it’s a fluid one, so it should be relatively quiet. In Manchester area.
Cheers

By the sound of it you do. I would avoid roller under the ring type things (blackspire stinger etc), because I think this is the chain bouncing off the top (ie when there is no tension between top of chain ring and top of sprocket). That was my experience with my bike anyway (admittedly a full suss). Fixed by getting a triple, so much for simplicity. You can get a chain cage thing from DMR which acts a bit like a front mech.