If you have guard mounts on the frame then SKS Cromoplastics are the best option.

you appear to have posted a sad face in error, that looks very much 😀 to me

I have been inelegantly banging a set of B54s into rocks for about a year now and they still seem quite happy, despite some gouges and a bent pin. The wet hasn’t bothered them at all and they’re still nice and smooth.

They’ve faired much better than the V8s that came before them anyway, lovely big grippy platform too.

Don’t like the look of those 142 things at all.

Thanks for the advice folks. Looking at the geometry again large might well be the better option.

Anyone else tried one with 130mm forks?

Drumlanrig is wonderful. Reminds me of being a kid in the woods on my Raleigh Mustang. Well worth a visit. Great cafe, bike shop and showers too.

Ae might be worth a go if you like your wheels off the ground. The Shredder and Omega Man are great fun with plenty of jumps and the downhill track is good too.

You could make it to Kielder or Newcastleton in around two hours I reckon. Either that or there’s the trails at Comrie croft near Crieff, never been but I’ve heard they’re good.

Mike Patton

Just back from my first full week of boarding, staying in Vallandry and exploring Les Arcs and La Plagne. Superb conditions, two lifts starting right next door to the accommodation and a wee bit of fresh snow falling throughout the week.

Probably the highest pain:progression ratio for anything I’ve ever tried to improve at, but overall I really enjoyed it and saw a definite jump in my ability by the end of the week.

Sea Eagles at Calgary on Mull, a tawny owl flying parallel for a hundred metres or so when out night riding in Moray, Golden Eagles soaring above Glen Feshie and dotterel on the shoulder of one of the hills in Glen Affric have been the best I’ve seen in the UK.

Outside Britain vultures in the north of Mallorca were pretty amazing and I always loved seeing Kea in New Zealand. Though fairly common, I liked the gallus Alpine parrot.

based around geekiness

What type of geekiness?

Bike geek, computer geek, car geek or even typography geek might all suggest something slightly different.

Wonderful. Not seen a video as inspiring since this one…

Looks great, I’ve ridden a bit in Culbin and Roseisle forests and always thought really fat tyres would open up lots more possibilities in there.

I take it that it was worth the wait for the 9:zero:7?

Not sure if anyone has posted anything about the fat lefty conversion[/url] yet, so I will.

Inkscape[/url] (for vectors) or The Gimp[/url] (for rasters) would be the best opensource packages to start with.

Nice, great photos and write up. Another reminder to get out and explore more.

There are many reasons to like Lithuania and the mayor of Vilnius is certainly one of them.

Saw this on here a while ago, but it’s most repostworthy for those who haven’t seen it.

Watched a stage of the tour de france in Ronde last year shortly after they opened. Good coffee, decent cake and a fair sized telly to watch it on, but as they say above, nae booze.

Tourmalet is a great pub, with some bits and bobs of cycling stuff dotted about and some tasty German bottled beers. Good mix of folk and friendly staff, but I’m not sure if they even have a TV. I heard they had some of the tour on last year… but shown on a laptop, which sounds terrible.

Ronde is probably the best option other than finding a pub and asking nicely if they’ll stick it on for you. Depending on what wendyball is on that day you may get told where tae go.

EDIT: When asking to get the cycling put on you may be told to piss off regardless of whether there is a match on.

Trumpetweed, in the Pentlands near Edinburgh

shhhh, that trail is supposed to be secret

A Raleigh Mustang was my first All Terrain Bike (as stated on the frame) and I loved it, although it was getting that which made me really want a Dawes Kickback a few years later.

It was a much lighter Reynolds tubed, Deore 400LX specced bike in purple/magenta and it made a 14-year-old debaser very happy.

lunatics > insane

Slayer – Criminally Insane

Partly as it’s Slayer, partly due to the fantastic fanmade animation.

Aside from learning to snowboard in New Zealand about 7 years ago and a couple of days out on hired gear in Scotland I’m pretty inexperienced.

Just booked to head out to Les Arc in March with my brother in law for my first trip to the Alps. 🙂

All set for gear aside from a jacket and would appreciate some advice. Options are…

Moah Selvedge £50 in TK Maxx and seems better built than some of the other stuff in there.

Trespass Encore DLX Again, £50 in my local TK Maxx. Just a shell, but with snowskirts, pass pocket and other snow niceties. Have a softshell and merino midlayers that would go underneath. I tend to overheat easily so I’m tempted by this option. Looks like a well made jacket for typically wet Scottish snawboarding/winter hillwalking too. Anyone else use shells and layers?

It’s either that or something a bit more expensive from my LBS (Local board shop)[/url] when I’m in to buy a board bag. That one’s a Westbeach Ridgerunner on sale for £135.

Yikes, I’ve typed a lot there. Any opinions on those options or advice for a beginnerish trip to Les Arc?

Looks like it Druidh…

John Maclean[/url] is making films now. I heard one of his shorts is up for a Bafta. The video for Magic Man is fantastic so I can see why he’s getting noticed in the world of film.

I saw Gordon Anderson playing as Lone Pigeon last year, which was simultaneously fantastic and odd. Not sure what he’s up to these days.

Can’t see any more Aliens material/gigs in the foreseeable future, although if you like them, you might be interested in Django Django…

oh, off the booze…

in that case, probably not 😀

8GB 6th generation iPod Nano arrived in the post this morning 😀

It’s a shame the rockbox[/url] firmware I had on the old one doesn’t work on the new generation, but I really can’t complain.

Anyone have a recommendation for the best current opensource/free software for putting on music without iTunes?

Thanks Trout, my light arrived just before Christmas and it’s a superb upgrade. Lovely work.

Have been away from a decent web connection for a couple of weeks so haven’t had a chance to say thanks… out having fun testing it out instead 😀

[pedant]Winter solstice is tomorrow actually[/pedant]

soon enough for me anyway, and well worthy of posting some minty goodness 😀

octopodes have many tentacles and need wide bars.

either that or the multiple positions offered by drops.

Some inspiring stuff in here, a reminder that there’s a lot of great riding out there.

It doesn’t feel like I’ve ridden enough this year, although looking back there have been some good ones. From snowy bothy rides in the borders at the start of the year to a few incredible days in Torridon in the summer.

There was a great wee autumnal tour of the Cairngorms [Blair Atholl – Gaick Pass – Glen Tromie – Inshriach for cake – overnight in Glen Feshie – Geldie – Tilt] and a superb ride on a hired boingy bike from Soller into the Sierra Tramuntana on Mallorca.

The best was probably escaping work on a Wednesday evening, heading out around the sunny Pentlands with a few folk off here and finishing off in the Spylaw Tavern for a couple of beers and a blether.

Ach, there’s still a fortnights worth of the year left and I plan to head to the highlands with a bicycle for that 🙂

Lovely photos and write up, looking forward to day two.

oops, I was referring to the 100mm version.

Have made a innertube boot with zipties like chunkyMTB to keep the crud out. Not pretty, but effective so far.

It still makes a bit of a squelchy racket when compressed and I needed to increase the pressure a touch to get it to fully extend properly. Only other negative was the crazy amount of torque I needed to put into the saddle rail clamp to get it to stay put.

100mm is fine for most stuff but 125mm would be even better.

Mogwai

Sons & Daughters

Sluts of Trust

Alestorm 😀

more Biffy

Fickle Public

some more BoC

(it’s not rock, but they do)

Aliens

Yeah, the 5.10 exum guides are good, but not quite perfect on the bike I have find.

Bought them mainly for walking/scrambling (which is something they are very good at) but the sole isn’t quite flat enough for my liking when I have tried them on the bike.

Will probably stick to soggy freeriders and woolly/waterproof socks for now. It’s that or switch to cleats/MT90s which sometimes happens over the winter.

Be interested to see what the manufacturers come up with.

Could be wrong but i thought the Hilo came with the remote as standard and the lever is in the box to make it non remote?

Yup, that’s how mine came. Had both remote/lever in the box for the all black 27.2 version I got from Merlin anyway.

Nice 🙂

That one looks far too shiny to be mine, but I hope (EDIT – damn the accidental pun) it’s getting the Trout inside sticker too.

Have emailed you an address to send it to and I’m hoping the postie will bring it to me in time for a winter solstice ride.

Ladypart Plantation NT 498 496

Pandas are nearly unstoppable and, when hungry, also breathe fire.

and we’re ‘borrowing’ these dangerous creatures for our zoos! 😯

He’s been at it – consistently and tediously – for over a decade.

WARNING: It is probably impossible to understand my web page, if you own a car.
Or a mountain bike.

🙄

My work shut at lunchtime in Edinburgh due to police recommending no travel this afternoon. Thought it was overkill on both parties part, but now that I’ve been out in it, maybe not.

Ride home was interesting. Fortunately mainly a tailwind, which took me to some alarming speeds without pedalling. It was mostly well away from traffic too.

At one point my route is prone to crosswinds even when it’s just breezy and it’s a farily busy road, so I got off and pushed. The wind lifted my (portly pig iron commuter) off the ground and I had to put in some effort to hang on/stay upright 😯

Now hiding indoors and hoping everybody who has to be outside makes it home unscathed.

Think I just topped 25mph, on the flat, without pedalling 😯