thighs like Hoy.

Erm… http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoy

😉

There are those who say that a ‘normal’ 9sp / 10sp chain is the better choice for a Singlespeed. I certainly agree, and I’ve never had a cheapo SRAM 9sp chain break on my Singlespeed. They’re cheaper, easier to get hold of and you’ll have cross compatability with your riding buddies.

Have a good read of the Surly website, notably here and here.

Quote from Surly:

Multi-speed drivetrains is where the bucks are at, and chains that work on such drivetrains are where the manufacturers of chains showcase their innovations and developments in quality. The rollers are better, the plates are better, the pins are stronger, and the construction method (riveting procedure) is better on all multi-speed 3/32″ chains.

It’ll feel even better once you’ve removed those superfluous chainrings, shifters, mechs and stuff. Silent, light, efficient and reliable. And always the wrong gear…

Edited, as I misread the OP!

I’ve just discovered Opeth’s cover of ‘Soldier of Fortune’. Breathtaking.

Thanks for the ‘Stuka Pilot’ recommendation. That’s gone in my reading queue.

I can second the recommendations for ‘First Light’ and anything by Ranulph Feinnes, particularly ‘Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know’.

Also, if you’re up for a bit of adventure, try ‘Walking the Amazon’ by Ed Stafford.

Vote for whomever you like; we all know it’s going to Lewis Hamilton.

The Suunto Ambit range have barometric altimeters built in (except the 2R and 2S models), as does the Garmin Fenix. They are more expensive, but much more accurate for your climbing profiles than using GPS alone.

If you’d like to do some background reading, then grab yourself a brew and visit DC Rainmaker.

Curtesy of Radio 4 this evening:

‘There are 11 kinds of people in the world; those who can understand Roman Numerals, and those who can’t.’

Back issues of Privateer.

I’ve long since fancied something similar. I’ve always favoured the Sturmey Archer though. No reason why I should, I just do!

Time for both of us to move to houses with newer fridges

You do know that fridges can be changed independently of houses, don’t you? 😉

Obvious question; have you google’d the make and model? It may well be a known fault with a known remedy.

There is one very important reason we didn’t buy the Superb; the Octavia. Clearly not as plush, but it’s 90% of the size and about 60% of the price (when we got ours, the 170tdi Suberb was about 28k while our Octavia vRS 170tdi was 17k).

They are both lovely, but the Superb just couldn’t be justified for us.

As above, there’s a little riding available in Weston Woods, but it’s only really worth it if you happen to live there. There’s plenty of great riding in the Mendips, but it does suffer badly from the wet weather.

I concur with rob2 – the Quantocks is where it’s at. Follow the A39 until you reach Holford, and ride anywhere with ‘Coombe’ in the name. Some of the best natural riding you’ll find anywhere in the south, it holds up really well to the weather.

That doesn’t include brakes

On further inspection, you would appear to be correct! In my defense, including the brakes in the pictures is a little misleading…

I’d build it myself, no question. You’ll have warranties on individual parts, you can choose the spec you want (in the right colours, if you’re a tart!), you can experience the joy of building it yourself, and you’ll have a much better idea of how it all goes together (and consequently how to fix it, if needs be (assuming you’ve not built one from a bare frame before…))

Personally, if it were me, i’d get an XT groupset instead (currently £300 on Merlin Cycles, including brakes). Actually, if it really were me, i’d save myself about 2.5k and build a Singlespeed!

‘Magic ratio’ is when the chain is exactly the right length for a given chainring / sprocket / chainstay combination (either by coincidence or by design). These usually don’t work for very long as the chain will grow, and the magic ratio is then broken. [edit – beaten to it]

What was the frame? It could have been an Eccentric BB, which would look exactly as you describe.

It does get nippy over there of an evening.

For about a week. In the depth of winter.

I’ll be over that way myself as of Jan. A mere 6 months for me, though!

Riser bars?! I thought you said it was niche! 😉

Recently bought my two offspring a ‘Frog’ bike each. Lovely! Hope Miss Cloudnine enjoys it!

Interesting you should mention Simon the Sorcerer; that’s the first PC game I ever played. It came on 3 floppy discs initially (without speech) then later on something cutting edge called a ‘CD ROM’, which had speech (correctly identified above as Chris Barrie).

A couple of years ago I downloaded a programme, I think called called ‘ScummVM’, which enables you to play loads of those old point-and-click adventure games. That was on a Linux machine, but it might be worth investigating if anyone fancies it. Edit – Clicky Link.

Simon: ‘Hello, wizards’
Wizards: ‘What makes you think we are wizards?’
Simon: ‘Because when I move the mouse cursor over you, it says “Wizards”!’

Classic! 😀

The Duke of Weaseltown.

If you’re building a singlespeed from scratch, it’d be a shame to use adapted 9sp kit… I’d recommend the Hope Trials hub.

Disclaimer: I bought the Hope Trials hub, as it would have been a shame to use adapted 9sp kit when building my singlespeed from scratch!

If the universe really is infinite, then anything which could possibly happen, must happen.

So we should willingly decieve our children before they are intelligent enough to make their own choices? We should allow them to believe in stories which have no basis in evidence or rationality, yet are presented as facts?

After all, facts may not be important to them.

I have a set of Bose QC25s. Not wireless, and certainly not cheap, but they’re bloody good! They look so classy; people will imagine you’re listening to Mozart when you’re actually listening to Motorhead.

Neither has all the answers and both contain plenty of unknowns

The difference being that science knows it doesn’t know, and will change it’s views based purely on what’s ovserved.

If tomorrow someone proved the existence of some kind of higher power, then that knowledge would simply be incorporated into science. Would the reverse be true?

It’s rare to hear a woman fronting a decent rock outfit (please feel free to educate me if you know of any others

How heavy do you want to go? Look at Arch Enemy…

Do you have to have a premier account to add to the playlist.

Nope. Once you’ve ‘followed’ the playlist, you simply select any song and find your way to ‘Add to playlist’

This is the meme that always sticks in my mind when this subject comes up:

It was particularly poignant when i saw it at the time. (the version i saw didn’t have the ‘massive balls’ comment, which somewhat undermines this one)

There you go! I’ve made a start; i realise that Focus isn’t metal, and nor is Procupine Tree. But they’re both awesome! I’ve also put some Opeth and Dream Theatre on there to maintain the heavy balance.

Having trouble getting onto the playlist within spotify. Perhaps it’s becuase i’m on a tablet…

I need to get on there and fill it up with Prog!

Whilst i like some of what Anonymous achieves, notably stripping away the percived immunity offered by the Internet – the KKK thing being a fantastic example – i’d feel much more comfortable about it if they were more of a definable organisation. Without a mission statement, hiarichy or any stated aims, their membership ends up dicking about with this sort of thing.

I don’t know anything about the petrol engines, other than what i’ve read on t’internet. LR specialist Glencoyne Engineering seem to rate them quite highly:

For extensive off-road use with lots of short journeys, I would most probably recommend a diesel, but for some other applications the diesel’s noise, harshness, lack of power and short service intervals may count against it. I am particularly enthusiastic about the 2.5 petrol engine when converted to run on LPG. This engine produces about the same power as a 2.5 turbodiesel, it is smoother, quieter, easier to start in cold weather and, running on LPG, the fuel bills are about 15-20% lower than a diesel 110.

Sauce.

I’ve been keeping a keen eye on that petrol 90; with the exception of the engine it’s just the sort of thing i fancy. It’s not the right time for me to buy, unfortunately.

Let us know what happens!

its crazy season….

By contrast, I’ve seen some decent looking ones at seemingly reasonable prices on Gumtree recently; for example here and here. 90s seem to be a little cheaper than 110s at the minute.

The second one in particular looks very interesting. Dodgy petrol engine notwithstanding, you don’t often see them with a galved chassis for that price.

Peppa Pig is one of the better kids programmes. And it’s got Brian Blessed in it! What more could you need!?

That said, i do agree about the Ben and Holly thing.

I do love the idea of a Subaru, but i don’t know much about them. Is a cheap Impreza Turbo a good idea, or a disaster waiting to happen?

By all probability every soldier there was dead within the year

The British mortality rate for the whole of the Great War was a little over 10 percent. For context, the mortality rate for the RAF Bomber Command over World War 2 was more like 45 percent.

I’ll just leave this here.

Whilst i agree that the commercialisation thing is a little tasteless, i think we need to be careful; it would be very easy to build a counter agrument about Blackadder, ‘Allo ‘Allo, Dad’s Army or any other TV show / film related to war (clearly excepting those created purely for scholarity reasons). After all, TV shows and films are created to make money.

I’d recommend Superstar Components[/url] for brake pads. 4 sets for 20ish quid, and you’ll have some spares for the Camelback. I’ve been using them for years.

Don’t forget to bed them in though, or they’ll be ruined after one ride; especially in this weather.

Yeah, i forgot about the Bob Graham!

There are some ace books around on this subject; ‘Running and Stuff’, ‘Eat and Run’, ‘Feet in the Clouds’ ‘Survival of the Fittest’ and ‘Born to Run’ all spring to mind!