I have had best success by combining your point 3 with points 4 and 7.

Liberally apply penetrating oil, wait, apply more, repeat till bored, remove saddle, hold seat-post in vice (say goodbye to seat-post), apply brute force using frame as lever, twist and pull at same time. (Of course I hold no responsibility for you bending the frame either).

Al, I should be at Ratho on Wednesday night too, hopefully see you there.

I should be along this evening, see you all at Lochrin Basin.

I did the same loop in a day a few years back as a longest day ride. Its a big day out, well worth it though, lots of great riding and stunning views. Pretty sure we did over 100k in total.

So, let us out of suspense, tell us what this bike you think is an investment actually is.

I struggle to see a bike being a worthwhile financial investment though.

Ill always happily give someone a tube or repair a puncture for them.

Not so long ago I was unloading bikes from the car outside the house and a couple of guys asked to borrow a tube as they had punctured near my house. I gave them a tube, fitted it for them and sent them on their way. The balance of Karma was returned when one of them turned up on my doorstep later that evening with a couple of beers. Just the way it should be :)

Thanks for the replies. Emails sent to Chris & Jon.

Cheers.

I’m truly shocked by the disparity in global staircase deaths. Lithuania has 360% higher staircase death rate per capita than the UK. Can we not see how desperately these people need our help both in providing education in the safe use of staircases and helping providing for staircases where they are missing. Please donate any unneeded staircases to http://www.helpstopstaircasedeaths.lt now!

I have to say I really like these new steel Saracens. Pity they seem to be pricy though.

Does anybody know whats happening with the GT wallride?

Its amazing what gets stolen. I can remember driving to a windfarm construction site in SE Scotland to find that a metal bridge on the access road had been stolen overnight, stopping all access to the site till a temporary bridge was brought in.

She’s only 5 1/2

My daughter (5) made a card for a boy in her class and got a card from him. Apparently she is going to marry him. Im worried.

And I came in a tranny

Its not often you hear someone admit to that!

What is the Stw trail centre stereotype?

I think Urban Dictionary sums it up pretty well:-

Singletrackworld

Did you fit the STW stereotype?

Probably better than I did HH.

I ended up in the undergrowth after getting too cocky and launching off the two wee drops at speed (I assume this is the bit you mean) then having a bit of a ‘moment’ when I realised I was landing on sheet ice on a corner at speed. Still, I came to rest nicely in the bushes.

Brilliant pressie. My Dad made me a bike workstand this year which incorporated a drill vice I machined as an apprentice piece over 25 years ago. It had been buried at the back of his garage for years, brought back a whole heap of great memories when I realised what it was :)

Pressie of the day was a bike workstand my dad made me. The locking mechanism incorporated drill vice that I had machined as an apprentice piece about 25 years ago and had been hiding in his garage ever since. Took me a while to twig when he told me that I had made a part the workstand, brought back a heap of memories :) . Its now sitting in the workshop holding the christmas holiday build in place :)

The majority of my riding is from the front door but have no problem with driving big distances for days in the mountains/weekends way with mates etc.

Biggest drive for a weekend away this year was Edinburgh to Llanberis on friday night, Snowdon in morning, drive to Dolgellau, Cadair Idris in afternoon, over to Shrewsbury Sat night to visit some friends, back home Sunday. A lot of driving for a days riding but well worth it.

I dont think I would have been so keen on the sport for such a long time if I had to drive for all of my riding as a lot of people seem to though.

leffeboy – Member
Iirc it was actually Arthur Philips who had the business there first but it wasn’t until the hub that it really took off as a centre. Maybe the same will be true again and it could grow even further

Gosh, theres a blast from the past. Arthur was also responsible for waymarking the original trails at GT/tweed valley. I wonder what happened to him. Interestingly I doubt many people will remember him and his place in GT development, but he was certainly responsible for prompting the FC to start to develop the GT MTB trails.

Jemima, yep Im Edinburgh based. I work for Aquamarine Power. I dont know you do I?

Jemima, do you work for a wave power developer? If so me too :)

Recently watched Precious by Lee Daniels. I doubt anyone could watch it without crying. Incredibly emotive film dealing with very difficult subject matter.

Im using DX thumbshfters in friction mode with a 9 speed block on my commuter (1×9), works just fine.

Was pretty white at the top of GT black today with a fairly light dusting of snow, quite a bit of ice on the trails too.

I have a warm glow of good Karma tonight. Unloading the car after riding today I was stopped by a couple of Polish guys who had punctured near my house, they had no spare tubes or repair kit so I was happy to oblige by replacing the tube with a new one and sent them on their way.

A couple of hours later the doorbell rang and one of the guys had brought round a couple of tins of polish beer for me :) Now enjoying some beer induced its nice to be nice happiness.

Last night I watched Precious. Definately not Action/Comedy/Adventure and firmly in the etc. category. Its one the the most powerful and moving films I have seen for a long time. Just be prepared to be in tears for a significant proportion of the film.

Being in the strange situation of having an iPhone 3GS, a Samsumg galaxy and an HTC desire I would suggest you get whatever one you can get on the cheapest deal. They all do the same job and they all do it very well.

3 of 3 running, (Road/FS/Commuter) but do have two spare frames, numerous spare wheels & tyres, a couple of sets of spare forks, a couple of spare rear shocks, a couple of spare sets of bars, seatposts and stems, a spare saddle and a box of spare drivetrain bits so maybe its more like 3 of 5.

Thanks pete. Im not sure if your description puts me off or makes me more keen.

I found the following description of Eagles Fall on t'internet which sounds interesting, 'The route took me up the dank, claustrophobic ravine leading to the Eagle's Fall, the floor of the defile a slimy, slithery obstacle course. Exit from the depths was an adventure in itself. That few people pass this way was obvious – yet what an unearthly, eerie underworld this was, quite unique in the southern Highlands.'

Hang yourself with them for wasting the earths precious resources and for bein a lazy sod

Just to put your mind at rest Junkyard I probably will at some point spend an evening fixing tubes, full marks for your extremist eco-warrior attitude though. :-)

give them to me – I'll fix 'em!

Very kind of you to offer TJ. If I dropped them off tonight could you have them fixed for me by the weekend? ;)

Al, probably towards the end of the month, Sunday 26th is the next free day I have or the following Sunday. You free then? Ill start a thread on mtbscotland nearer the time.

Monk, I suspect that is a popular spot to photograph, its about 3/4 of the way up the first climb after the cruise down Glen Kinglass, the point where you realise that the last few k along the Loch are going to hurt and a wee stop is due.

Sanny, I did it over two days, Day 1 was Inveronan/Glen Kinglass/Connell. Day 2 was Connel/Bonawe/Track Along North Shore of Etive/Kingshouse for Lunch/WHW to Inveronan. The track along the north shore is all good going apart from a couple of very short pushes up steep/loose parts of the track and a short bogggy/rocky section as you near the end of the Loch.

Camera is a Pentax Optio WS80 waterproof. Pictures are only good in good light, or underwater, but its pretty robust and obviously doesnt mind the scottish weather. It's also nice rinsing the camera under the tap if it gets caked in mud.

Cheers monk. Took your advice on the north shore of Loch Etive, probably better than 95% rideable with only a few short sections of pushing. It was a stunning couple of days I had too.

From the end of Glen Kinglass
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Morning
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From the North shore
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I'll take that as a no then.

I will report back once I have dragged myself out of the bog :)

Of course instead of botching a connection with electrical tape you could stretch to the princely sum of £3.29 and use one of these which are less likely to kill you.

Picture mail is email with pictures embedded/attached, so the free picture mail does not come out of your data usage. A bit of a con really as you probably get unlimited (at least until you reach your limit!) internet access anyway.

The only video I have made:

Playing in the snow :)[/url]