At a guess…

As you lower your forks you’ll weight your front tyre more, and as most bikes these days with travel adjust forks would be of the more AM variety, could it be that they are using fatter, stickier rubber on the front tyre, than they are on the back.

So, as you load the front tyre more, you are putting more weight through the stickier tyre, and so making it feel more draggy.

After all, changing tyres normally can make a difference.

CZ – that’ll explain why I’d not heard of it before then! :)

As has been said above, Natwest can give people a code to enter into a cashpoint to get at funds if you have lost your card. It’s a one off thing, and you can withdraw upto £300…

I never knew this existed until the other half lost her card and she was offered it when she phoned up to report it.

I’d imagine, like in previous years, that my Solitude will get loaded into the car for the journey, and then hardly get ridden for the entire weekend…

This mountain biking lark is great isn’t it! :D

Money sent for me and betterer half…

I’m going to be in such a world of pain… I’ve hardly touched a bike in 6 months, and not ridden the single speed for about a year!

But then again, at previous SSUK’s I’ve only just about crawled to the start, having a stupid hangover, and then wimped out after being practically last after the first lap… so I doubt that will change this time either!

I use some random combination of green chillies, garlic, gallangal(or ginger will do too) and lemon grass depending on how I am feeling when I am making it… and having just come back from Thailand, I now use about double what I did previously… they really do go in for using loads of paste over there!

You are then supposed to be able to split the thick part of the coconut cream in a frying pan, to seperate the oil and fry with that, but I can never manage that, so just use a small amount of oil to fry off the paste, then chuck in the coconut milk, followed by whatever else you fancy putting in there… those little baby aubergines work very well! Chuck in some kaffir lime leaves here if you have them…

Add palm sugar and fish sauce to taste…

Finish with thai basil and corriander, and a squeeze of lime…

Something like that anyway, I stopped using a proper recipe for this years ago.

If you really do want a recipe, see if you can find David Thompsons one online, if not, email me and I’ll see if I can copy it for you. His books are fantastic too btw.

They have the UST ones as well, the 2.2’s are the same price, with just the 2.4’s being slightly more expensive.

I’d disagree slightly there aracer, the Arduino was basically designed to allow this sort of project to be quickly and easily done without having to know huge amounts about programming and microprocessors/controllers.

For example, to get an Arduino flashing a single LED only takes a few lines of code, whereas it’s going to be somewhat more complex with the RPi, plus you’ll need an extension board.

They are both fantastic though, just good for different things, and this is very much Arduino territory.

Oh, and the range of Arduino boards runs from ones having only a couple of A/D channels and a few outputs, to the Mega which has 16 A/D channels and 50-odd outputs…

But for this project, I’d not expect more than 10 outputs for controlling the LEDs, plus maybe some A/D channels for sampling music etc

I think Okami is the best I can think of… fantastic game as well.

And don’t do your shoes up too tight, this restricts the blood flow to your feet, making them colder… this also tends to happen when you wear big thick socks in your normal shoes.

Oh, and Woolie Boolies for me too! But the thing that made the real difference was getting some good winter boots with enough room to easily wiggle my toes about.

When I rode around there on Friday, the Monkey was closed after the first section, with a diversion up the fireroad.

If you look on the Farnell website, you should be able to get them cheaper than that… depending on the size of LED of course!

You could always just use a shed load of serial-parallel shift registers.

If you use the 16-bit versions, which should still be easily available in through-hole packaging, you could arrange them in groups of 12. Each group would then be able to control 192 (12 * 16) LEDs.

If you then had 8 sets of these you would be able to address 1536 LEDs.

As they would only take up a single output from the uController per group, you would only need 8 outputs, plus a couple of control pins, to control the lot. You then just send serial data out of the relevant pin so that it clocks through all of the shift registers before clocking the data onto the outputs.

The great thing is, as you have 8 outputs, this corresponds to a byte, which is then easy to handle inside the uController.

The Arduino would be easily capable of doing this. You could then also have a number of analogue-to-digital channels which could be used to control the LEDs based on whatever you decide to hang off them.

The Arduino should also be fast enough to update the lot with at least a vague nod towards PWM, so you should be able to get some fading etc too.

Doing the multi-colour is harder… they usually have three inputs. But can still easily be done.

We got a work-experience lad at work to do a set of xmas tree lights using an Arduino, and that was pretty straightforward.

I’ve got a bum-bag type thing which I use to carry my phone… but then I also have to carry house keys, poo-bags for the dog, plus his lead.

Have looked at the armbands, but I’d be a little worried that I’d just soak it with sweat! Or it’ll let the phone get wet if it rains.

Blimey… Wiggle are quick these days.. ordered it yesterday and it was on my desk at work today!!

Anyway, been having a fiddle with it, and should the hub be rather notchy? Or is this something that is only noticable when it’s not built into a wheel?

Well… now I have you lot to thank for a big hole appearing in my bank account!!

:D

Thanks for all the responses..

No Al… I was just asking for some evidence for what you said about line-level signals and RF, or a clarification, if you didn’t express yourself very well in the first instance.

Oh, and making a bit of a joke… :wink: I know it’s hard to tell on here at times!

Cool.. thanks for the link, I’d not found that one in my searches…

And it’s certainly getting good things said about it.

So how does it do on the lower speed side of things.. if I’m wiggling in and out of trees a lot, does it still manage to get a decent light output?

That states that line level signals aren’t affected by RF? Any references you’d care to share with the class?

And damn… I’d best call of that order for optical cable for work if that’s the case! :wink:

IN THEORY a line level signal (2V) should not be affected by RF interference at all, no?

Which theory would that be then?

And what’s wrong with cloves? Although personally I prefer cinnamon!

Do you have a Paul Simon shop near you? I seem to remember they do everything from ready made to custom…

Oh, and it looks like they sell through t’internet these days too…

I thought you could just sideload Android apps onto the PB, and that a load of Android apps were available through the app store now.

Keep looking at the 64GB one, and am tempted, but I still am not fully convinced we actually need one as we both have laptops, and just use those if we need to sofa surf and the like…

But for 130 quid… am still tempted…

I lost my Montane smock at some point when we moved house… I’ve never found anything which comes even close to the warmth that this style of top gives.

But, unless it’s well below freezing they are probably overkill, but they are great for hanging around on the side of a Scottish mountain in winter!

For biking I tend to plump for my Paramo Velez and a merino shirt for the winter…

Oooh you jammy bugger!!

And yes, while I loved Crypto.. and like, but am still struggling through the Baroque Cycle, I’ve not really been much bothered by the stuff he has done since.

Just to add a weird twist into this, once I finished reading the cyber punk stuff back in the day, while on a quest to find something of a similar ilk, I stumbled across Jeff Noon. He sometimes gets lumped in with the cyber punk crowd, although the I don’t really see the crossover entirely myself, but he is one twisted puppy… I’d suggest Vurt if you haven’t come across him before.

I think my all time favourite was given to me in an old whisky bottle with a hand-written excise label on it… came to me via a friend who had dealings with the distillery. It came from the barrel which the workers put aside for themselves..

It was something around 18 years old Glenfarclas, although the age was a little debatable from the writing on the bottle, definitely cask strength, and had been matured in sherry casks.

Unfortunately i drunk most of it on the night i was given it… and have since finished the bottle.. never to find another one again.

Aside from that, Coal Isla is lovely, once i’ve have the first sip, and i do love the older Scapas.

And at the moment I am drinking a very palatable Sainsburys own brand Speyside… not bad for £20!

Was just about to say the exact same thing Ben…

Although I think my favourite of all the cyber-punk books is The Diamond Age by Stephenson… I can’t remember how many times I have read that.

As for Neuromancer… I read it god knows how many years ago, and loved it. Which reminds me, I really should read it again soon.

Goes on World Cup points for qualification and Liam is the only one who got sufficient points.

This is what I thought too… but during the commentary they said that the Germans had entered Robert Foerstemann, who is a track sprinter, into the race. How on earth was it possible for him to get any World Cup points? Or does it work on a country basis… so the country earns points and then gets to choose who goes?

Plus, don’t the Olympics host nation get an extra place or two in every event? Or does that only qualify if there is no-one who has qualified?

It’s been a while since I rode past the Derby one, but if I remember correctly then there is a place that you can lock your bike up right next to the BMX track, which is situated in a park, so I don’t think you’ll have any problems with that.

As to the track, there are some good pics of it about on the internet, although it’s quite a big one… they held the nationals there recently I think… at least there are signs for it up on the A6 at the moment!

There is a new track out at Clifton that got built last year I think, although I’ve never been to that one, and there is also a smaller track in Bulwell.

Not sure about pump tracks though… don’t think I have ever seen one around these parts…

The ones in Edale are pretty good… and dead close to the pubs too…

They can be a little busy over weekends though.

There’s a smaller one in Barber Booth which can be quite quiet, just up the road from Edale, but not as close to the pub!

Yep… the MoCo… and you compressed the fork while upside down a few times to get all the oil out?

If so, then I have no idea… I did a set of Rebas not long ago and the RS oil levels were spot on.. as were the Revs I did a month ago…

Did you fully cycle the forks several times when draining the oil? I’ve found that a good quantity can get held in the compression circuit which doesn’t get released until you have cycled the fork a few times. In fact, last time I did my forks, in a hurry, I managed to squirt large quantities of fork oil all over the conservatory!

Just in case anyone hadn’t heard, Alpkit are now making custom sized frame bags… after having a chat to them today at their yard sale, they are running them in batches, so if they say they are sold out on their website, then check back on the following monday as they only take as many orders as they can fulfil that week.

Is it actually the Beeb who provide the pictures though? Or do they just have to deal with what they are given?

It’s on Virgin channel 552 for HD, or 576 in normal… with no channel changes or interuptions…

Virgin seems to have a whole fist load of BBC HD and normal channels for the whole olympics… been watching a bit of judo this morning along with the road racing.

Oh, and that’ll be Kelly’s Heroes I believe…

GW… according to Chris Ball speaking on the vitalmtb photostream, it’s been re-interpreted that way since they had a number of incidents which put the rule into question.

And isn’t he the technical bod for gravity sports at the UCI, so would most likely have a hand in writing/changing these rules?

Well, a change from Ubuntu to Mint fixed the problem… although it didn’t change any of my Firefox settings.

So I am still none the wiser, but I do now have a very nice new desktop to play with!

:o)

Thanks for posting that… it looks like an amazing journey.

The only problem is that it makes me want to do something like that now!

Okay, it appears to be just the combined view of the Bike/Chat forums which produces the error, while the individual forums still appear to work on Firefox.

Very odd indeed…

Very strange then… I wonder what is going on…