Mind your credit cards near those magnets though…!

Check this out though: http://sugru.com/magnet-kit

@NoTeeth – The StopBRT2 Facebook page just quoted your communication with the Post… nice one!

Drop Ash at Trans-Provence a line, he’ll probably know someone. He does off-road guiding in the area himself, absolutely fantastic riding down there.

Defy Mini for £30? where from? I can only find them around the £65 – £80 mark online

No, they’re both around this sort of price SIM-Free from what I can see. You can get the Galaxy Y for £30 on a PAYG contract from Carphone Warehouse.

Looking to get a dynamo and/or external battery charging solution rocking at some point, so cases with a power lead option are a plus, hence my going for the UltimateAddons solution.

@ir_bandito – sorry, late to the party as usual.

I’ve been using an UltimateAddons rugged handlebar case for my Galaxy S3 to run OruxMaps for a few months now, charging from an external USB battery pack. This works very well, other than the total lack of strain relief on the UltimateAddons USB charge cable, a problem I solved using Sugru.

Always interested in other solutions though, especially ones which might work when I’ve moved on from the S3… work’s phone, so won’t be with me forever.

The Galaxy Y is (I think) smaller and more expensive than the Defy Mini SIM-free at the moment, but there’s not much in it. I’d be inclined to go with a Defy Mini for the modicum of weatherproofing it has.

The only issue being weather tightness, but that’s easily enough overcome…

What tips do folks have for weatherproofing normal Android phones? Anyone got a weatherproof charging solution going?

Only one way to find out…! Might be better to use it to spread the load when using a small bolt to hold things together. However, it does have a small amount of inherent flexibility which could prove an advantage where there’s a lot of vibration…

Sugru FTW when it comes to bodging handlebar mounts, surely?

Seven-and-a-half hours of riding in blazing sunshine from Gréolières-les-Neiges to Cannes in the south of France. Biggest ride I’ve done in a decade, with a three-hour climb in the middle. Bonkers.

So you’re saying there’s a killing to be made buying a vanload of sundries cheap from CRC, then driving around the resorts selling out of the back cheaper than the shops? Repeat on a weekly basis or just get the stuff shipped out there? Hmmm…

If you can go down to 140mm travel, try these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150505641306

Thanks! Got the Lamina 45 as I wanted a left-hand zip and probably won’t be doing much when it’s too cold…

I thought the chocolate block path was going to remain intact?

I am and will probably always remain a two-finger braker #oldschool

White spirit is a petroleum distillate and should not be disposed of down drains. Take it to the tip and put it with the used oil if you must use it, I think it’s horrible stuff.

I use janitorial citrus degreaser concentrate, about £15 for 5 litres, and can be diluted up to 100 times for general cleaning purposes.

I soak chains in it after every winter ride, then rinse with hot water until the water runs clear. WD-40 or air dry then relube.

If you don’t clean your chain properly, the micro-grit it picks up as you ride stays in the crevices and acts as lapping compound, wearing your chain faster.

Interesting, but two words: no standlight.

@ir_banditio – Do you mean the M172N?

http://www.kemo-electronic.de/en/House/Home/M172N-Bicycle-Power-Charge-Controller-USB.php

@richpips – it’s certainly possible. One of the issues is charging a Li-Ion or LiPo battery from the dynamo. The output from the dynamo can vary widely in voltage and frequency, so there’s some power management to be sorted out there.

One of the things a dynamo can’t do is power a helmet light directly, but charging a battery pack during the day could be one way around that. However, you might lose gadget charging, and unless the battery is pretty large or the days are a lot longer than the nights, you’d be unlikely to get ‘all night’ burn time from the helmet light. But then, you gotta sleep sometime…

It’s also possible to run multiple dynamos by using a bottle dynamo in conjunction with a hub dynamo. You could also use solar charging during the day if the climate is suitable. Modern bottle dynamos are streets ahead of the kind of thing that was around when I was a kid, and are possibly the only way to get a dynamo onto a Jones or fatbike, e.g.

http://www.dutchbikebits.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=65

For a simple USB charging solution, use this circuit:

http://pages.citebite.com/d2f2p1r7t4dcn

…with this regulator:

http://uk.farnell.com/tracopower/tsr-1-2450/converter-dc-dc-5v-1a-sip/dp/1696320

Make D1 a 30V zener with a nice beefy power rating, or else a transient voltage suppression diode.

I have not tested this and it might Blow Sh!t Up, so proceed with caution. At the very least, check with a voltmeter that the output voltage doesn’t go (much)above 5.2V at the fastest speed you’re ever likely to reach.

Beware the Kemo: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/reviews/board/message/?thread_id=213301&page=1

I cut my MTB teeth not far from there. Some of the best of a very sparse bunch of trails are probably in Cademan Woods near Thringstone. You can just about put together a route on the Charnwood forest between Leicester and Loughborough, but as I say, slim pickings.

Back in ’88 I was largely being very cheeky indeed…

22 mile and one pint loop around Bristol Airport. Lush, dry trails, almost all of them new to me.

http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?lnk=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1279811/AirportLoop.gpx

Consultation has opened concerning the new routes, you can respond on-line and have until 14th August: http://www.travelwest.info/metrobus

If you have an Android phone, the OruxMaps app will let you cache OS maps from the web when you’re at home. You can then overlay a GPX file and you should be set.

Wot no stupidly sunny photos from the weekend? I was camping with the family on the Gower and thinking what a fantastic weekend it would have been for a bivvy…!

What happens in another few years when a second or two is gleened from another “new thing” ? That could be say a 3 second advantage over winning or losing, one things for sure if the riders train as they do throughout the winter for the start of the race season and are putting in their all I for one would want to see them pushing the boundaries even if it was a second !

This is not ‘a second or two’. 0.35% is around 60 yards over 10 miles, that’s a pretty conclusive win.

Chocolate path survives on the Cumberland Road plans, but I’m guessing there will be conflict up near Goal Ferry Bridge around the new bus stops. The pavement / cycle path up there is to be narrowed too.

About time the chocolate block path was re-surfaced, mind, it’s treacherous after frost…

My friend has spend £12k of his own money on treatment over the last 2 years, as he reckons the NHS dont really understand the disease

I have a friend in the same position, it has ruined her life. NHS diagnosis and treatment of Lyme’s is diabolical. Perhaps it will take a critical mass of cases for Something To Be Done, but with the NHS seemingly being privatised, I somehow can’t see that happening…

I picked up a tiny one the size of a poppy seed in Leigh Woods on Sunday, but I’d spent half and hour with secateurs on a section of off-piste trail, so it’s hardly surprising. Too small for a tick twister, I pulled it off with tweezers and it hadn’t even got down to the blood, thankfully.

Someone was putting fresh notices up around 0815 this morning. I woke this morning to find a link to this in my Twitter feed

http://www.travelwest.info/ashton_bridge

with the quote: “the bridge will stay open for peds/cyclists. They’ll have a wider, smoother, safer and separate path”.

Much as I don’t want buses on the bridge, it does appear to be going to rack and ruin, and refurbishment seems unlikely to be funded any other way in the current climate.

This might be of interest for those in the area: http://librairie.vtopo.fr/vtt-savoie-tome-2.html

@noteeth – Hang around overnight and confront / video them?

XT FC-M730 crank on my Inbred. Would also still be using an XC Pro bottom bracket if the axle were long enough / the chainstays didn’t stick out so much. You can take my square taper cranks from my cold, dead feet.

SunTour XC Pro rear mech on the commuter, which is itself a 1991 Saracen Traverse Hydrotech with original Magura Hydrostop front brake.

Alpkit Numo?

Yep, if it’s fast flowing, above human habitation and doesn’t have a dead sheep in it, it’ll probably be okay – especially if you’re boiling the water anyway.

There is a school of thought which says that if the baggage handlers can see that it’s a bike, they’ll treat it as such and it’s less likely to get damaged. If your airline then insists that you must have a bag, you could try the CTC Plastic Bag approach:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ctc-plastic-bike-bag/

These also have the added advantage of being easier (possible?) to carry or forward to your destination if you’re doing a point-to-point ride or won’t have a fixed base for the holiday.

Cotic Hemlock build in progress…

http://a-to-b.info/tag/type-off-road/

I used to have a Rough-Stuff Fellowship magazine with a reproduction of an article from the 50s or 60s. It detailed the journey of a chap who did something like 10-15 of the major Lake District passes in a single weekend (or was it 24 hour period?) riding a fixie. He also rode to and from the lakes from Lancaster or further and was back at work on the Monday morning.

They don’t make ’em like that any more. Would be interesting to see if his record could be beaten on a modern mountain bike.