It would be a waste of money just for a 4 mile commute…but if used for other stuff then well worth it.

A CX bike needs to be ridden fast to be fun though IMO. If you want to potter then stick with the MTB, but don’t get me wrong, I think CX bikes are ace.

Yeah, done it myself, was fine.

afternoon bump

Kevster, I booked a slot with one of the techies in the shop

OR £120 for another 3GS from Apple as an out of warranty replacement. I took this option and I was not even the original owner.

The bits that flow nicely are good fun up there, but the “overbuilt” parts like at (2 minutes) just leave me cold and make me wonder who actually enjoys riding on it. Overall good fun though.

+1 for using Paypal with CRC…. I was never happy with their response when it all went t1t5 up last time.

I ride from Urmston to Birchwood 3 days a week which is about 10 miles. I use the locks at Irlam to cross the ship canal, A57, then farm tracks. You could use a similar route if you go from Sale out of the back of Ashton on Mersey.

It’s a pretty stress free ride on my CX bike with 28mm commute tyres. The only thing that stopped me in the winter was the odd day when the farm roads turned to sheets of ice.

Fair enough, but they need a bit of token tape IMO. Even if it gets ripped down and ends up flapping in the wind it would provide some indication of the fact that they are closed.

After I had been over I googled to see what was happening and found literally nothing (even with the prior knowledge that IMBA were involved).

I don’t condone it but I’m not surprised that they are being used TBH.

Ah OK cheers. Good to know they are still working on them.

No sign of any diggers, tape or barriers anywhere though which made me wonder if they had just abandoned it.

lunch time bump.

I went from rigid MTBs to HTs, to 5″ FS, to 100mm FS, back to HTs and then to CX over the course of 20 years. Now I own a HT and a CX

So I’ve really gone full circle 🙂

The places I ride didn’t change, but my bikes did. My purchases were not driven by the trails, but by fashion IMHO.

” have you been to the olympics ?”
” do you not fancy doing that tour de france?”

I have actually been asked both of these by bike users…. 😀

Easy Jet are OK. Ryanair were happy to start take off despite my baby son not having a seat belt (I had asked for one but got treated like I was being unreasonable). I was once told by the Ryanair ground staff that they weren’t sure which plane I needed to board at Liverpool, I had to ask the other passangers when I got on…. They are indeed cr@p.

Those countdown groupies will do anything for Nick from the apprentice

5ft 8″ here. I also had a 17.5″ fuel and a 16″ inbred..both fitted fine.

In terms of CX bikes I ride a Giant TCX in small and a Boardman CX team in Small, again both fit fine.

I am a fan of carbon posts and recently put an FSA one on my cross bike, it was comfy but it creaked(a lot), So much so that I could not put up with it and went back to an alloy one which is silent.

IMO the comfort of either material depends on the design and the diamater.

I’d actually be more annoyed if I’d paid £400+ for an Ipad3 that does little more than my phone. Enjoy your new toy 😀

I have a fire sale HP TouchPad that cost me £120 or something like that..

Let me put it this way. If I had paid £450 for it I would think it was a total waste of money, but as a convenient internet browser it’s alright. Doesn’t work properly for all sites but I can live with it.

I would need to have a really good reason to splash the cash on an Ipad. I already have an Iphone so don’t really see the point tbh. (flame me if you like) 😀

Cheers for the feedback fellas. I am under no illusions that this process will be pleasant and am strangely not bothered if my sight improves..I just want to avoid the day when my eye goes pop and dribbles down my shirt 🙂

I am encouraged that I have heard about 3 people just from our relatively small community in a similar situation, so it makes me feel a bit better.

I think the thing I don’t trust about other sources on the internet is that if I ask about cycling people will think about 10 minute pootles down the canal. I saw a reply to a similar question elsewhere and it said ” yeah you are fine to cycle…just don’t think about doing any king of the mountain competitions”…and I just thought…erm thats actually similar to what I want to be able to do….. I realise that recovery is slow and I am happy to try and avoid getting cr@p in my eye, but thats as far as I want it to limit me in the long term. Hopefully my expectations are OK.

Thanks for that JGG ! I am in Manchester so will be having it done at Manchester Royal.

Sorry Stylish…my email used to be in my profile…but it’s isn’t there anymore ! No idea where it went.

Anyway it’s eggbox@hotmaildotcodotuk (with normal dots obviously)

ta Ewan

I will comply with the request to stay of the WIP trails. Thats fair enough.

But I would say that having ridden regularly down there for over 20 years that lots of people have always ridden there well before the recent stuff was introduced. In all the time I have ridden there I have never seen or experienced cross words with any pedestrian or park worker (never even seen one).

I don’t think it’s in anyone’s interest to start pointing fingers. I accept there will be dogs not on leads, idiots on MX bikes, burnt out cars, fly tipping and doggers in the car park. I accept that because much of the park is poluted wasteland, used by a really small percentage of the population…and thats the way I like it. 🙂

Nice one, cheers for that.

I have the same condition and also need the right eye doing. Mine needs doing because it’s got so thin it could burst…so I was told to get it done. I have actually got used to not seeing through it so would not have bothered if I didn’t have to..

Anyway it’s encouraging to know that you are back on the bike 8 weeks later, I could live with that. Did you use a heart rate monitor to determine how hard you were exercising at first or just instinct ?

If you can be bothered let me know how you get on with it. My email is in my profile. I’d appreciate any more experience or advice you have as time passes.

Cheers
Ewan

bump for the evening myopics 8)

Sadly my experience has been that new shoes are the best route… I have had no success with the last two sets…but to be fair the shoes were knackered. Good luck !!

If you are technically inclined and are happy to tinker with your bike then I am sure they are great value (Halfords are a car spares shop not a high end bike shop IMO). I have a Boardman CX team and its way ahead of everything else in the same price point.

You need to be careful about whether the Hamax will be OK if the seat tube is lightweight alloy.

I have just transferred an FSA outer ring marked 9S to my 10 speed and it works fine. The teeth seem a little bit thinner on the 10 speed but it works just the same…saved myself a lot of cash.

If you can get to Warburton Bridge then you can join the A57 for a bit on the cycle path up to Irlam locks.

At Irlam locks you can get onto the path at the side of the ship canal that takes you up past the back of new salford reds stadium and under Barton bridge which is a crazy urban stretch but more interesting than tow paths. Then you come out again at Eccles swing bridge.

I’ve never gone any further towards Salford after that.

Do you mean the crown(the winder)? The bezel is the bit around the outside of the face that turns. The Bezel does not lock, it just turns.

If you mean the crown I don’t think Seiko 5s actually have screw in crowns. Your watch looks like a SNZF17K. If you google you should be able to find the specs.

BTW great value watches 🙂

I liked that. Very funny 😀

Make sure the child seat bit is slid forward as far as possible and if your heels clip their feet you can slide the foot bits upwards. This makes a big difference.

As said above stay seated and tbh don’t ride on anything bumpy 😀 Once you are moving it’s fine but things get worse when you slow down….They are a bit cr@p but do the job.

300 😯 yikes

I have one on my 16″ inbred and it really makes the bike handle a lot worse, but you get used to it. I have stuck with my inbred purely because I was concerned about attaching the seat to anything “decent”.

If I had to buy again i would not get a cantilever design one. When you go over “swoopy” bumps the seat will hit the tyre and cause much concern in your toddler 🙂

If the buyer wanted a warranty maybe the high street or buying “new” would have been a better idea than Ebay.

Some buyers on Ebay have very strange expectations. Tell him to log an ebay case if he grumbles. It will get laughed at.

Place du petit sablon is nice for antique type shops and places to eat in the daytime. Most touristy bars are around the Grand Place but still worth a look. Expensive shops etc on Avenue Louise. Around the Gare du Nord is the red light area so maybe avoid (depending on tastes)..

posted in a bag marked “SWAG” ? ….goodness me.

Beware of some the vintage items on ebay (especially from sellers in places like the Ukraine) There are loads of pilot style watches that are fabricated out of very average old pocket watches but with new dials and lugs. The descriptions are often misleading and would make you think they are the real deal.

If you like IWC definitely look at Steinhart, Stowa or Archimede as mentioned above.

Really spectacular stuff. “Vegas lite”

I hear they had white Siberian Tigers on show at the Railway and Nat.

It actually uses less energy ( Edit : and can be quicker) to “run/crawl” across the field and up that hill than it does riding it.

It makes me chuckle when people see the pics and video and say it looks easy. Ride round it for 2 hours and if you feel the same come back and ask “why they aren’t riding”. 🙂

What annoys me about CRC is that fact that they do not use any tracking on the mail unless you pay extra for it.

I had some tyres missing for 2 weeks before CRC would acknowledge the issue. So my order was basically in limbo for a given period before I could be refunded or it was acknowledged that there was a problem.

I will not use them again ( even though I was once that guy that got everything next day )