"night and day" is a bit extreme…maybe night and late afternoon or dusk.

Is the XT better then the SLX ? ..It's dearer so it must be eh?

It was nicely put together but the story was a bit poor when you think about it… I think this is good example of the fact that if the BBC put a drama on I will watch it ( even if the plot is a bit gash) just because there is really nothing else on the TV worth watching.

I can't see there being the sleet, high winds and knee deep mud that featured in HTN1. 😆

As above the black stuff is just longer. I personally found it more interesting to do a couple of reds rather than a black route thats just longer for the sake of being longer.

Companies with "saver" or "express" in the name shold be used to buy food and booze and not trusted with expensive things…like your eyesight IMO 😛

I've found with them that if the sag is set correctly they are harsh and only use 1/2 their travel but if the sag is increased they cope better with big bumps but are too soft in the first part of their stroke

+1

Fenwicks is really good stuff. It seriously reduces the amount of effort needed to clean a bike. Even when diluted it cleans the chain and cassette very easily.

I bought a crank off them a couple of years back from ebay..took a couple of weeks to get to me. I wouldn't bother again.

I walked past Jeremy Beadle in the street twice in one week…first in the south of France and then later the same week in Manchester. 😕

F100s or F120s I would say for general XC stuff. The price difference between FOX and RS is not so big nowadays so that may not be relevant. However, having both REBAs and F100s I have observed that it can be difficult to get all of the travel out of the F100 unless they are run with lots of sag.

I would probably go for a dual air RS with floodgate rather than FOX to be honest.

SLX I reckon

FAO Filthy

The 09 TCX2 is now really cheap if you are "lucky" enough (like me) to take a size small frame.

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Giant-TCX-2-2009-Road-Bike_20234.htm

I have a TCX2 and it's a great bike. You will see reviews on the web that says the TCX does not have mounts for mud guards but mine does.

I got it last year and it ended up being the bike I use most but the enjoyment is really about the speeds you can get up to offroad..if I wanted to pootle around at low speed I would probably get a flat barred bike.

I am sometimes undergeared on the road but to be honest my legs would struggle to push a big dinner plate chainring so I would not change it. I got mine new for £600, it was without doubt a bargain.

A very recent edition of What mountain bike magazine had a feature on off road riding over there. The route went North from Soller to Polenca IIRC

I am off out there in a few weeks and will probably just get a road bike with a compact for a couple of days.

a shorter stem could make climbing worse. You may just need to bend your arms more with elbows down, lean forward more and shuffle forward onto the nose of your saddle on the steep stuff to keep the front end down.

the word "organic" when used to describe a bike component….yeeeuch !

Full specs here for the Deore M590

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/News.aspx?NewsID=614

..says it's hollowtech.

456s have the cables routed on TOP of the top tube. Other Inbreds have it underneath

standard inbred here….with the cables routed on top of the top tube…

The Myka is good for the shorter lady and well worth upgrading. My other half is pleased with hers. She got one thats around £350 and we stuck some better kit onto it. She's 5ft2 and went for the 15" frame.

I found the amount of hassle you get in the streets to buy tat/boat trips/food very annoying. I could rather sweepingly describe it as a less polished version of Greece. It was very VERY hot when we went.

We had a major fall out with bath store when they felt it was acceptable to deliver half a shower cubicle with the second bit being delivered a couple of months afterwards. The staff seemed to be interested in sales but not happy to provide customer service.

We had to argue like mad to get them to take half of the shower cubicle back and get a refund. Screwfix have been more reliable and cheaper.

optilabs ones go 95% clear and are fine at night

Small block 8 35s on my CX bike. Good in the dry. Bad in the mud.

put your old pads back into the brakes and hammer a wedge between em. I have done this in the past on J5s and it will destroy the pads but will get the pistons to retract.

Don't bin them just yet.

we had beech in the old house..one bit ended up like a ramp at the skate park where the kettle sat… considering it was so thick it warped quite impressively 😀

http://www.elcorteingles.es/informatica/producto/producto.asp?referencia=28617647582

I like the idea of 2×10 but don't like the idea of forking out for all that kit to discover I would really like a granny ring… I'm not sure I see the point of 30 gears so would want to go double crank or nothing.. I think.

Try lifting the bike by the back of the saddle and dropping it a few inches to the ground, if you feel a knock like this when the suspension linkage isn't moving it is likely to be the DU bush on the shock. They only need to be worn a little bit to make a difference. Not too expensive to replace but makes a big difference.

O2, better and cheaper than most. IMO

Aren't on-ones a bit long in the top tube for a lady of shorter stature ?

Tioga power studs (ahem.. shame about the name) I use these when my bike has flat bars on it.

How about that place in Cheadle on Roscoe's Roundabout off the M60…Forget the name…lots of kit crammed into it…

I stopped watching flash forward when I came to the conclusion that you could watch only the first 3 minutes and the last 3 minutes and not miss a thing. The middle was pretty much content free. I get the feeling the "plot" is not exactly nailed down by the writers.

…and Caprica…well not sure where that's going…but something needs to happen soon. The pilot was good but the series has been pretty slow IMO.

"Was that at last February's event Mr Eggbox? This year's course is 80% different."

My view is based on the preview ride of this year's course.

pros and cons for CX or HT on that course… I would say if you have decent grippy tyres and brakes on the cx then go with that. I got round it easily on my cx but a couple of the longer descents when muddy will have you losing too much time if you are having to dismount….That said I bet a CX rider wins it again 🙂

one with lockout 😀

waits for biters

I think you have 14 days to back out. I may be wrong.

I would get rid of the BT broadband while you still can and go with O2 who have been excellent and even manage to pump the internet down my phone line faster than BT ever did. BT were a lot more expensive too.

If you can't find anyone local, I think citizen have a service centre that you can send it to…details are on some where their website.

excellent thanks ski