There is definitely enough space on the Roadrat to stick CX tyres, upto 38c I believe. Or you can run 26" wheels with 1.9" tyres…

And have taken mine along a few bridleways… felt okay, certainly as good as my Pompino offroad.

tron – Member

I agree if they were more servile to their masters they would be more "helpful".

Aye. The Germans are strike pretty rarely, and employers are queuing to shaft them.

Oh hang on a minute… They've gotten a hell of a lot further than our unions have.

Don't you mean that their unions have got a hell of a lot further than our unions have?

I think you'll find that the reason they have such strong labour laws is due to the strength of their unions. It certainly wouldn't be due to the philanthropy of the employers!

I believe some part of it goes live on 5th October… but I've not heard a great deal more than that.

EDIT: Oh, and it looks like you can register for more info on the T-Mobile website..

Sounds about right to me!

Zulu… but weren't all of those rights only given to the workers due to the effect of the unions?

Also, for the vast majority of people, companies can and do all of those things to their employees, and they seem to get away with it in a lot of cases just because the employees do not know their rights.

racing_ralph… is it really that hard to just do a search on ebay?

I thought with PM that you had a standard caliper shape, and then the rotor size was then defined by the fork. So, for a Thor or a Pike/Rev the post mounts are setup for a minimum 180mm front disc, whereas other forks will have the post mounts set for a 160mm front disc.

To then mount a larger disc requires an adaptor.

This is not the same as how it was done with the IS stanard, which had the disc tabs placed in a specific place, and depending on the brake manufacturer you had different implementations of the caliper. So, for example, some Hope brakes are 180mm IS, while others are 160mm IS. Some other manufacturers just made PM brakes and supplied with an IS adaptor, eg Magura, Shimano.

So, in the end it really will depend on what brakes you currently have, how they are currently fitted and what fork you buy.

In general, it's a bit of a mare!

Not an insulated bidon, but you can get insulation for hydration pack tubes, which does help a little, but if it's really cold it'll still freeze up!

Who else but us Brits could really moan about there being too much summer?

:oD

Spring/Autumn are my favourite riding times, but then as said above, those bright, cold, crisp days in the middle of winter when there is frost on the trees and everything sparkles are just magical, whether on the bike or not.

Mike… come up to visit? I think I might have to. I'll bring my lights too… ;o)

I tried the defrosters on last year, and didn't really like them that much, although I seem to be getting on okay with a pair of their normal mountain bike shoes at the moment, so may have to try them on again.

But then again, when those Lakes cost £170 I think I might just have to get used to cold feet!

psychle.. have you seen an MX140 in the flesh? There really is very little to them. It's just a neoprene sock with like a plastic sandal around the outside. I'd imagine good for wet summer rides, but not so hot in the middle of winter.

After many winters, my Answer Kashmirs are pretty much shot, and am looking about as well. I think the Lakes mxz302 would be my first bet, although I am a little peaved they don't have the wide fittings over here! Then it would be the Northwave… although I am tempted by the cheapish Diadora boots on sale on Ebay at the moment…

EDIT: although saying that, I have just found that All Terrain cycles seem to have the wide ones in stock…

See if you have a local optician who stocks Rudy Project frames… there are a number of their frames that you can get glazed with prescription lenses.

I bought mine about a year ago and they are fantastic… but, like the Oakleys, they are not cheap.. I think mine were about £260, but I can pretty much see perfectly through the entire wrap of the lens.

Oh, and you can also get Adidas Evil Eyes glazed, but I think they were more pricey than the Rudys/Oakleys..

To be fair TJ, it might be a warranty claim, depending on the terms and conditions in the warranty. After all, the warranty is laid over and above those rights guarenteed in the Sale of Goods act.

Aidan, you need to have a look through the warranty terms and find out if there is anything in there which states what will void the warranty. You also need to check how long the warranty lasts for, and whether this runs from the date of purchase of the original bike, or from the point they gave you the new frame etc…

Only if it looks like the warranty won't stand do you need to then look at moving down the route of the Sale of Goods act.

I got a free mug back when I signed up many years ago… not quite as impressive as the hip flask.

The impressive thing is that my girlfriend hasn't yet managed to break it!!

The Bonty XR4 TLR seems to get a good write-up, and will most likely be my next tyre purchase.

It's all perception…

If you don't believe that, get a camera and take two photographs, one when the moon in close to the horizon, and one when it is high in the sky, and then measure the size of the moon in each picture and compare.

Why? No punctures…

Live anywhere with hawthorn hedges that farmers like to trim with those massive hedge trimmers, and you'll know the pure joy of having to fix puncture after puncture…

Since moving the tubeless, ghetto in my case, I've had none.

As for the tear in a sidewall… well, in that case it leaves you in exactly the same position as a rider of tubed tyres. So just stick a tube in and away you go. But then, as I have never slashed a sidewall it's not something I worry about too much! I do still carry 2 spare tubes though, which is exactly the same as I used to carry previously.

As for slime tubes, they do work, but are very heavy even compared with downhill tubes, but I do use them on the bikes without tubeless through the winter.

We used to include the Bulwell BMX track on night rides every now and again. There was no-one ever there apart from us at 9pm on a cold, wet, windswept Thursday night!

It's a little further away, but there is also the BMX track in Alvaston in Derby…

Well, in VFM terms I'd say the Surly chainring is probably the best, as while it might be about £30, it is made of stainless and they seem to last forever!

I've got one on my SS and it's been running on there for about 4 years now with only slight signs of some wear…

I'd say that's pretty good value for money to me!

konabunny – Member

It is designed to be provocative. It's also completely legal, as it should be… (cut)

[pedant]
They were saying on the radio last night that while it might be legal to burn books, it's against a Florida State ordinance to have a bonfire on open ground…

So, technically what they are doing would be illegal…
[/pedant]

:o)

cynic-al – Member

tiger_roach – Member
Once it's failed you can only drive it when taking it to be re-tested. Also, insurance wouldn't cover a car with a failed MOT.

And driving without insurance is an offence, is it not.

You don't get done for driving without insurance if you are done for driving without a valid MOT. It happened to a friend of mine back in the mists of time at uni…

I think that's because you still technically have insurance even if you are driving without an MOT, it's just that the insurance company might not pay out to you, but I believe they will pay out on 3rd party claims.

I'd have thought that if it's failed an MOT, but you have done the remedial work to fix those issues, and it's still got time on a valid MOT, then the car would technically be roadworthy… would it not?

Montane also make a waterproof which packs down to pretty much the same size as the pertex top… it's the Featherlite Velo H2O Jacket.

While the track down the Burbage valley would make a very handy piece of trail to use as a link, it is very much a footpath, and because of the popularity of the crags around there, it's often got rangers and the like around the area. So, in general it's not a good idea to be riding it…

It's pretty much the same for the route along the top of Stanage from Burbage as well…

Pfffft… SS can't be that hard…

Even I managed to do finish the Dyfi on one and I'm a lardy git!

Can't you just make a press out of wood/mdf/something? I'd imagine that if you made it with 4 bits of threaded bar in each corner, and then just slowly wind a nut onto each you'd get something half decent…

You'd just need to then chop up the apples and lob them in a muslin/hessian sack and squash'em.

Well yes, SKF are generally thought of as being one of the better bearing manufacturers, but am not sure there is a great deal in it at that end of the market between SKF and the budget ones on that page.

As Elf says, am not sure that Hope would use anything but the basic ones, and mine are lasting just fine. I have about 4 sets of XC hubs and I think I have changed 2 bearings in all the time I have had those…

martyc… they are the wrong size, the OP is after bearings for an XC hub! But the second set is correct, and expensive!

IHN… any of those on that page will be fine. You may find them cheaper at a local bearing supplier though. You just need 6001 2RS bearings… they are a standard size.

When I was talking to Vodafone earlier this year about upgrading they really didn't seem all the interested in trying to keep me. It was just before the Desire was launched and they hadn't even heard if Android, let alone the Desire, and pretty much said that they couldn't help me.

I hope you have better luck than me!

Ooooh… tempting…

Obviously I'll need to check with the boss that I am not otherwise engaged.

Glad to see I'm not the strange one then… it had never occurred to me to wear pants, so having it questioned by someone who has been riding longer than I have kinda got me questioning whether I was a out of step, afterall it's not the usual thing to discuss!

Oh and Mike, she was definitely flagging at the end… I reckon one more hill would have done it… :o)

Rob.. there's a shop just down the road from me that sells fresh yeast if you are interested in giving that a go.

The other option is to go with a sourdough, which I have been playing with, and just not bother with adding any extra yeast at all.

So it's best not to admit on here to being overtaken downhill by a number of fell runners then?

In my defence, it was rather steep and rooty and they looked like they were just throwing themselves down it in a vaguely controlled manner… me on the other hand was trying to ride down it in an uncontrolled manner! Noodly 85mm forks just didn't cut it!

This was the final drop off from the side of the golf course on the Chevin near Belper for anyone who knows it…

But do you actually do all the administration of the mountain biking courses from your home? This is probably what they are getting at…

Don't you have to notify the council if you start running any business from your house as it changes it from being a purely domestic dwelling?

Also, if you are complying with all the requisite regulations for the B&B, wouldn't the council know about that? So why are they writing to you about that bit?

I saw Avatar and thought the 3D was a bit crap really… I really didn't think it actually added anything to the film, and if anything I found it annoying. Oh, and it gave me a headache!

Kuco… I don't think they will deal with you at the same time you are getting private medical care, but once you aren't getting private care any more they will.

Something to bare in mind as well is that you generally only have a limited pot of money for outpatient consultations/tests with a private policy and once that is used up you are back on the NHS again…

I used to get it through work and paid for my other half as well, and she went to see a cardiologist about a blood pressure problem. It only took 2 visits to see him and about 3 sets of tests before the money had run out and she was back on the NHS list.

So, while you will get seen faster, the policy might not cover you for the whole of your testing/treatment for outpatient stuff. I don't think there was any limit on inpatient stuff, but it's worth checking the details to find out.

I know it's a silly question, but you haven't got it in gear have you?

U31… if that's the case I am sure there are places that he could go to get it re-coded for a lot less than £1300!

Can't you just find a scrappy with that model of car in it and go and get one from there?