I’d mostly agree with Hugo. Yang Sing was good when we visited and a nice atmosphere. I’d possibly say the food was marginally better in the Pacific, but the decor was pretty tired so maybe not the best if you’re looking for something a bit fancier. I’ve also heard good things about Wings, but not tried it yet. Rice Bowl and Little Yang Sing are pretty good, but I’ve mostly eaten there after a few beers so my recollection may be clouded!

Do I object to walkers runners using bike trails when there is no other option/they get lost? No. Do I object when they purposefully choose to walk on a bike trail when there are other options? Yes. They’re putting themselves in danger by being there – I can walk in the middle of the road if I want, but if I’m doing it when there’s a perfectly good footpath nearby then I’m a plonker.

That sucks, lovely looking bike that. Will keep an eye out round Philips Park tonight.

Had thought about that, but isn’t there a voluntary ban on riding Snowdon during the summer or something? Or are those routes not affected?

That sucks about your back, I hate feeling like I’m wasting a day riding!

Yeah, was leaning that way myself and have wanted to do Borrowdale for a while. Guess I’ll probably make the final decision based on the weather – what’s Borrowdale like in the rain? After cleaning all the Peak district crap off my bike after the last bank holiday ride I don’t really fancy doing it again!

Manchester. It’s about 2 to 2 1/2 hrs to either of them, so not much in it in terms of driving but don’t really want to do much more than 2 1/2 hrs. Don’t really fancy staying over the night before, but I’m usually up at 6.30 anyway so it’s probably 10ish by the time I get to the trails.

First weekend back on the bike after replacing the pivot and rebuilding the back wheel. Demoed 2 carbon framed bikes while it was out of commission, so we’ll see what it’s like to go back to metal!

Degla on Sat (as I left my pedals there last weekend), over to friends for some beers and food Sat night, Sunday off, and maybe the Peaks on Monday.

Can’t wait :D

As above, rides fine all through the winter so it’ll be fine tomorrow. Was fine last Saturday, I’m heading there again tomorrow as I left my pedals on the bike I was demoing last week :oops:

Thanks, I think the headset is probably a pretty good idea given that I’m running 160 mm forks.

Yeah, I’ve been considering that as well. Do the kits work well enough?

Life’s too short to not be riding the bike you enjoy.

Don’t get me wrong, I really like the Heckler. Unfortunately it ended up developing some play in the pivot and in trying to get the cover bolt off to tighten the internal bolt I managed to completely round the bolt as it was completely seized. Ended up having to use a screw extractor to get it out, so it had to go in to get the pivot bearing replaced. So I thought I might as well demo the bikes I’d heard good things about while it was in!

Yeah, I’m worried that if I try the Capra then I’ll definitely buy it! At least the price of the Nomad is a real sticking point.

I only got my Heckler last year :?

(which, of the 2, I went for the 5010, have you tried one OP? They’re really very excellent….)

No, the shop I was using only had the 2 SC options. I’d be tempted to try the 5010 if they had one available, but it seems a faff to get them to order one in for a demo when I’m leaning towards just upgrading the Heckler’s shock.

Having said that, the YT Capra CF Pro Race is very tempting at its current price :twisted:

which did you ride first?

The nomad. Was noticeably better than the heckler, and the bronson felt like a step down.

One important question is What are you going to be riding most of the time on it?

Bit of everything, trail centres, peak district, bike park wales. It’s mostly about the downhills for me, though there have been a few climbs in the peaks where i’d wished i had vpp!

I’d love to go for the nomad, but I think my wallet is telling me to go with just replacing the shock…

Demo’ed 2 bikes with XTs recently. Didn’t notice any difference vs the Deores on my current bike.

Sag was set at 20% and I had a fiddle with the rebound to see if i could tune it, but it didn’t seem to have much effect. Climbing seemed better with the VPP, but I just wasn’t blown away on the descents like I was on the Nomad.

Guess that depends on your definition of fun!

4 mm difference in ERD, the calculator is based on 14 mm nipples but spat out the right number for the current (broken) rim (274 mm).

Yeah, that’s what I figured (apart from the knocking one out). Newark airport is seriously cack though, it’s amazing how bad some of the US airports are compared with the European ones!

A friend does, quite unique stuff.

Lynne Maclachlan[/url]

I’ve had this problem too, drives me up the wall when I get a suddenly soggy arse halfway through a ride! I find if you’re very careful about how you screw the lid on it’s usually fine though. Might have to take the seal out, clean it, and re-seat it too.

Surprisingly good, they keep 90% of the crap off my face. Now no longer look like a plague victim after muddy rides!

Thanks all, I’m not too far from Cooksons so might give them a call.

This may be a stupid question, but what are the benefits of getting a professional full bike service (other than fork/shock)? I’m happy bleeding brakes, adjusting gears, truing wheels and doing general servicing myself (the quality of said servicing is probably open for debate though!), so is it worth paying a professional?

I moved to Manchester a few years back. The pros are:

Good riding within 1-2 hours drive (N Wales, Peaks, Lakes, Gisburn).
Good links to M6 if you need to travel a lot with work.
Reasonable house costs (if you avoid Didsbury/Chorlton).
Lots to do in the City socially.

The cons:

The traffic is murder, particularly the M60 at pretty much any time you’d want to drive on it.
The city isn’t much to look at.
Your car insurance will cost a lot more (mine doubled, but I was in Oxfordshire previously).
The tram system was good in the 1st year I moved here, but since then there has been so much work been going on that it’s become rubbish. The delays and changes to service have become so frequent that my exercise-averse girlfriend has taken up cycling to work to avoid them!

Overall I like living here, but I don’t love it. But then I’m Scottish so anywhere south of the border is probably not going to cut it!

well the OP suggests either the former and OP was oblivious to the fact or the latter in which case the “queuers” were daft to complain.

No indication that they were about to set off, they had watched me coming up the hill towards them for at least a minute and hadn’t moved.

I wasn’t suggesting this was normal behaviour btw, and I’ve only had someone have a go at me one time. It was just some comments in the Gnaarly enduro dood thread that reminded me of it!

Didn’t realise this was a thing. I just assume they’re having a breather or waiting for a mate to arrive and roll straight past.

That was what I thought until someone had a go at me!

Is it really required to shout if you want past? I’d have thought that if someone has caught up with you it’s fairly safe to assume they want through, so why not just let them? I’m not excusing him sitting right on your tail, but surely you’d both have enjoyed the rest of the run more if you’d let him past.

I have the raptor, it’s great. Apart from when you forget to do a leak test on the bladder before putting it in. Bloody thing is very temperamental about when it’ll seat properly (at least mine is) and I’ve ended up with quite a few soggy bottoms as a result!

Just sold my 09 Stumpy FSR Comp for £350 with nothing but the original spec on it, so I suspect you’d be able to get double that.

Thought as much, looks like I’m out. Usually in bed by 10 anyway so would have been pushing it :lol:

I’m interested in tagging along*, how light do the lights need to be? I have a set of these that I use for commuting, would they be alright? Will I die?

*Depending how sleepy I am after dinner…

Most has been said before but what works for me is:

1. Keep a food diary – one of the most eye-opening things you can do, scary how easily you can go way over your daily needs just by adding a few extra grams of pasta or an extra spoonful of olive oil

2. Cook as much as possible from scratch.

3. Eat little and often – small breakfast and lunch (~300 calories each) with fruity snacks in between results in fewer cravings IME.

3. Weighing yourself daily and getting an average is more accurate but weighing in weekly results in less obsessive/neurotic behaviour IME.

4. Commute by bike (if possible/you don’t already) – Lost 3 kg in 3 months since doing this without changing my diet at all.

Well, got the bike sold for the asking price without too much hassle. Guess I was just being paranoid!

If it’s COC how is it a scam?

Don’t know, as I said I’ve not really sold 2nd hand before so I’m just a bit wary! The speed of the responses just seems a bit suspect to me.

Good point codybrennan, I’d expect anyone who’s genuinely interested to have a few questions about it so the immediate offers are probably spam/scam.

Yeah, I’d mostly just like to get rid of it as it’s just taking up space. Priced it pretty competitively but willing to accept a lower offer so I’ll see how Gumtree pans out and re-advertise elsewhere if needed.

Thanks, first time selling 2nd hand so not got much experience with this stuff.

Maybe not so scary having seen the rankings!

Not interested in posting it though, is there anywhere worth selling it through for collection only?

Thought this was about a mis-spelled porn exhibition. Disappointed now :D