If it’s anything like the 2003 that my mate got for his kids to learn to drive in it will go on forever. So much so that my mate the retired ex golf club captain has kept the Yaris and let his son take the Audi A4 after he’d passed his test and got a couple of years of ncd. Impossible to kill a Yaris, it’s still parked outside the house ready for it’s next round

Ouch. Sending healing vibes.
My lad did something similar when he was 11. At an end of summer term birthday party/bbq. Car packed for the drive down to the airport for the early flight in the morning. We said we would pop in for a drink and a burger and to say hi. There was a bouncy slide. Someone dared him to jump from top to bottom so he did. When he hit the bottom his knee connected with his face and gave him a joker style slit from mouth towards ear. So off we went to the hospital. “Bring him back in the morning we’ll do it under a general” they said… “ but we have a plane to catch…”

So he bravely had the inside and outside of his cheek put back together under local anaesthetic and probably a bit of midazolam. The Friday night on call max-fax sho did an amazing job and there’s now (11 years later) hardly a sign that it ever happened.

It wasn’t his last trip to a&e- some hockey playing finger injuries along the way, but definitely the most memorable!

They are so resilient at that age. Stuff like this just bounces off them!

Re hubs. Original pro2 requires an axle change to go 142×12. Pro2 evo is just end caps. The axle change is what makes a pro 2 into pro2 evo.

I’ve still got a blur 4x built up in the shed. 115 rear travel. Mine has uturn lyrics on and is best about 140 up front. 135qr rear end but wouldn’t want to have to source frame spares. You might find one cheap though.
Compared to bike with modern geometry it’s a death trap though! So unstable at any speed. I realise some might want mega playful but it’s no for me!

It was open a few weeks back I believe.

Undecided about arctic monkeys at hillsborough park. Daughter and her boyfriend going on the Saturday. The road signs are up warning of the chaos we will have to cope with that weekend if we are around. I was disappointed with them in 2018 at Sheffield arena. But it could be great. Quite a lot of now unwanted tickets coming up on local Facebook groups and a few on Twickets too so could go but not sure I’d enjoy it as much as the one at Lancashire county cricket ground with Amy winehouse as support. £90 a pop too… but as I’m going to have to let my pulp ticket go for Sheff arena on 14/7 in order to support daughter whose doing a sponsored walk that day, I can maybe justify it…. Will see pulp at latitude but would’ve been better on home turf.

Back to reality and looking further ahead pip blom next February at the fab crookes club looks like a good non valentines night out… and under £20

James can be fantastic live. Seen them many many times. From the moment I started uni in October 88 when the stripmine album was out- “what for” was the catchy single off that. This was before the stone roses had exploded and they were (I thought) going to take over where the smiths had left off and be the iconic jangly manc band of the time. Then Madchester happened and they had to come back with the “there’s always been a dance element in our music” remixes etc. I lapped it all up and saw them as often as I could 88-91. Went off them a bit after the third and fourth albums and didn’t see them again until the last 8-10 years at various different festivals. The most memorable James gig in recent years was in the botanical gardens in Sheffield in June 2016 in the rain, right down the front with Tim crowd surfing again.
Back of my head visible in one of these pics:

https://www.eventhestars.co.uk/2016/07/james-sherlocks-sheffield-botanical.html

so I’m hopeful that even with an orchestra at latitude on the Sunday they’ll be great again.

Raleigh Road Ace 531c.

oh yes! My mate Dave had one of those. Black with the stripes on the top tube. Same catalogue as the cream one I had but better bits. Mine was called a corsa or something similar Italian sounding. Or maybe that was its replacement.

Dave got into mtb before me not long after we’d been round wales together. He had more money. Had an early Marin. Prob 1990sh? Grey with pink forks?

There is an old photo of me in the family heirloom aged about 3 on a trike. Does that count?

If it must be 2 wheels I think it was a bsa racer. Probably 10 speed. Had bar top brake levers I recall. I’d have been about 8 or 9. I remember the cotter pins always falling out of the cranks. There’s a photo of me in it in cub uniform somewhere. Came secondhand from grandparents I think.

Then a series of skip find frames built up resprayed crashed and broken.
First new bike I bought with my own money was a Raleigh road bike. Lovely cream colour. 531 frame 501 forks. Bought with money earned one summer holiday when I was 14 or 15. Did 300 miles one week round welsh youth hostels when I was 16. Bar bag and rucksack. Got knicked within weeks of starting uni. Insurance replacement never gave me as much joy. Also a steel Raleigh road bike. Snapped at headtube down tube junction after too many drops off kerbs. Jejames got me a warranty replacement. Got ridden less and less until I got my first mtb after uni. Khs Montana comp from langsett cycles… didn’t ride drop bars again till I was 40!

edit- yeah just like those trike pics above!

Having owned a 94 khs Montana comp that had 1” steerer rigid forks etc but got nicked and then later a mid 2000s inbred built up SS rigid I can see the appeal aesthetically. Both those bikes were rubbish off road compared to modern bikes though.
I have a dialled PA in skinny red 853 which my son will bring back from uni next month. I bought it in 2012. It has 140 uturn pikes, dropper, slx 1×10 and discs, 2.35 tyres etc. the head tube is 34mm id and seat tube 27.2 and 135qr dropouts so the last remnants of old standards that prevent it being kept fully “up to date”. Lovely soft back end on fast smooth singletrack though.

Maybe back to rigid fork no dropper style would work for it…

What steel 140 travel corrected 26” straight steerer fork would people go for? (front wheel can be qr or 100×20 as it is now)

Started at the ox stones. So it will be a man made fire. We have lit the odd fire up there. On New Year’s Eve. Not when everywhere is tinder dry…

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cs5tbsANuoE/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Somebody posted on Ride Sheffield Facebook that it was the moorland along towards burbage rather than the woods. Wouldn’t be like the star to mis report it at all. Just copying social media feeds and pretending it’s journalism…

What fork is on there currently? Can you change the travel on it?

I mis-read the title as “anyone got a shotgun licence” and thought, what’s Rob up to now?!😳

I was also at bearded theory and enjoyed panic shack, the go team and undertones. Missed elvana as they were main stage and I was melting so went into a tent for shade. Also hugely enjoyed opus kink, the bug club (of course), echo and the bunnymen, and many other bands of all size. Did not enjoy 2 hours trapped in the car park yesterday.
Best performance of the weekend by far was the weather though.

Don’t know the answer. Suspect there’s a lot more to it than what’s reported. I think it’s a good thing that something tangible is being made in this country rather than people making money by moving money around and others being paid to make them coffee. But what do I know I have no experience!

I’ve a garmin vivoactive 3. Does everything you need and I paid about £140 for it 3y ago with a blue light card discount (so the same as stw member discount)

However… 3 years in and battery life is nowhere what it used to be. Used to last 6-7 days without gps now needs charging every 3. Gps use can empty it in 3 hours now.
Elevation data not reliable. As above correct it with strava. I recently learned there’s a port in the back that measures atmospheric pressure for the barometer and it was full of wrist gunk. Cleaned it out. Not sure it works any better.
No good for open water swimming. Have to set it to walk and then change activity type later.
I have been considering changing it due to the battery life issue. A couple of people I know use corus watches which are known to have really good battery life. I would miss the garmin app though I think. Reminds me to do 150 minutes a week. Especially now I’ve binned off paying for strava.
That instinct solar for £189 on sport pursuit looks like the one I’d get if I was buying one now.

freesat is going off anyway in probably 4/5 years

is this true? Sauce?

We like our freesat and most of my neighbours have a dish as the hills block freeview but not the view to the satellite. Don’t get me wrong internet tv is fine in fact I’m having full fibre installed tomorrow, just wondering where this assertion comes from

In fact right now there are 2 pairs of standing tickets for Coldplay at the etihad 3/6/23 at just £222 per ticket- face value plus Twickets fee.
You’ve no excuse not to go now. (If you hang on they may start accepting offers below face value…)

It’s a mugs game going to see these big gigs at enormodomes. I saw 9 bands on Saturday for £38.50…

However occasionally something comes up that you feel you can’t miss- eg pulp this summer. Tickets went on sale while I was at work and had sold out before I could get some. However my mate bagged 4 so we are going with them…. And then cos we didn’t get glasto tickets we bought latitude tickets instead so I’ll see them twice in 6 days…

Twickets is good for last minute tickets as they are fan to fan and never above face value. I doubt you’d find Coldplay tickets in there…

When snake pass was closed for 2 weeks a few years back, strava told me I hit 55mph on the descent to glossop. I remember was with another guy and wanted try and squeeze past him but didn’t feel safe to overtake, even using both sides of the road

Just seen joy hotel. They were magic. Problem was slight clash with melin melyn in room next door meant couldn’t get in to see them. Breather now for an hour before divorce next. Sun is shiny beer is flowing and there 50 bands playing in a half mile of each other. What’s not to like?!

Get together mini festival round kelham island in Sheffield later today. Looking forward to friendly fires, do nothing, melin melyn, Anthony szmeriek and loads more.
Probs still tickets left if anyone is interested

https://www.gettogetherfestival.com/

Surely a squatch is boost?

If you want to go really back in time, revert the hub back to 135qr and get a last fast forward if you can find one… although bb would be very low with 120 forks. A large with 140 forks has 64 HA 450 reach and seat tube. They have sliding dropouts with a 6mm offset so re-dish required to but opens up single speed silliness too.

My deore 4 pots bought last august started doing this a couple of weeks back. Howling and poor power at the start of a ride, fine after a few decent descents.
I bought them online from merlin, Will I have to return them to merlin or can any shimano dealer do warranty? (Actually it’s only the rear that’s doing it)

Just finished watching. Never really watched Xc before. That was great!

It was funny how Ric kept mentioning how in the past Xc was more of an endurance sport with not much tech skill, and Bart kept saying “yeah, but 26” wheels and, and…”!

Sounds like they would only be interested in the forks.

deserved recognition

Yeah I’d ask them.
A few years back I hired/demoed a hope bling machine. 2018 I think so the first one they did. HB160 was it? £1000 deposit left on credit card. Mostly to deter thieves I guess. £7.5k bike after all. I came back to the shop with blood all down shirt having had an off… slight scuff on the saddle and a chip/scratch on the top tube. The guy couldn’t really work out what to do about it. In the end as everything worked and they could clearly rent it out again they didn’t charge me anything. Thing is the bike didn’t belong to the shop so it wasn’t their loss, it would be going back to hope at some point and I think the guy in the shop thought it was hope’s problem…

I got the feeling if I’d brought it back needing a new wheel or something before it could be ridden again that I’d have been billed for it.

Fox 34 I suppose?

Some of those dampers have a lockout. I have an older rhythm model on my hardtail and it has the grip damper with lockout. Don’t use it very often though.
I’ve also got a pike ultimate rc2- 21 model. 140mm on my fs. Don’t miss the lockout but if I wanted to I could wind the hsc and lsc all the way up and it would be very firm.

My mate has Sids on his scandal and seems to love them. He does have a stumpy for the chunky stuff though.

edit.  Actually it’s a whippet he has I think

Still open. Three sets of lights.
not a new land slip just the inevitable crumbling of the existing ones whilst DCC twiddle their thumbs and pave over trails instead🙁

Yeah it’s definitely getting worse. Drove Sheff to manc and back on Monday and the big main collapse looks much more noticeable than I recall

This seems a fairly good resource…

https://www.wchc.nhs.uk/content/uploads/2020/03/AssessYourFitnessToDrive_V1.pdf

When I broke my wrist and had a cast for 6 weeks I asked the orthopaedic surgeon who k-wired it about driving. He said it was a “grey area”. I drove.

£39.99 for a year of GCN+. Just subscribed this week. In time for the giro too. The player is a bit shit on my Samsung tv. Randomly stops and restarts somewhere else you’ve already watched. Did it 350 metres from the end of the stage 6 highlights tonight. Most annoying. Hope it works better on live stuff.

But was it a shitlondonguiness?

https://instagram.com/shitlondonguinness?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

A mate was at that gig rone. I wasn’t sure about the whole orchestral bit so gave it a miss. They are performing it at latitude though so may catch it there.

Is that Star Wars  really happening?

Yeah pretty dull. If you’re used to modern gnarr type stuff. Only been once. Was with another couple who don’t really ride. Hired a couple of eebers. He loved it. My wife loved it. I was thoroughly bored and fed up of trying to keep up on the fire roads with very little fun in return.

Re the claim on your own insurance suggestion…Surely your insurers first question would be “is there another policy that specifically covers this?” To which the answer would be “yes” and their reply would be “claim on that policy then”

edit- I thought it true that you can’t insure the same thing twice?

That Ra looks lovely but are the chainstays really 410mm? And it’s a full 29er not a mullet?
I’m still riding the last fast forward I picked up for buttons in covid which has sliding dropouts that go from 424 to 444 I think. With them all the way forward you can’t get much tyre in.
It has a habit of eating drive side dropouts though due to the design (and recently the bolt on brake mount cracked too) so although spares are available I’m always vaguely looking at steel hardtails for when it’s time to replace it… that ra is definitely at or near the top of the “if money no object” pile.
Pink moxie looks ace.
But I think I’m the only person I’ve ever ridden with who’s never owned a cotic so I think that might be the answer.