As a parent of a toddler – no helmet for the kiddy is an epic fail.

When nipper is on the bike the test is would i wear one for that ride. If yes we both wear, if not he gets to choose!

I don’t know enough about climbing to assess whether the situation she’s in is unacceptably risky.

Flite ti railed saddle c 1996 – do they still make them ?
San marco Rolls on the road bike c. 1992 but hardly usedvin recent years

My shopping/utiliy bike is a c1990 muddy fox hybrid which sees regular use

Our son is now nearly 3 and there’s plenty of growing room left. Been using it from around 9 or 10 months.

The other thing i should have said was stick it on something sturdy. Mine used to be on a gas tubing hybrid and the weight of seat and son used to whip the rear triangle. After being tossed into some railings I bought the 456 frame.

Got a topeak one that goes on a bolt on rack (disc and non disc rack options).

Oddly the non disc rack fits my disc equipped 456 whereascthe disc one does not (its due to rack eyes being really close to the dropout but you need slim brakes to make it work – although i still manage 180 out back).

Can’t fault it so far.

This is very common down south. As a relatively minority sport I thnk thete’s always a temptation for a raised hand or hi but not everyone feels the same. I’d rather be blanked than get the mouthful of abuse thevroup i ride with got off a mountainbiker whose way we didn’t get out of quite fast enough. A couple of us thought it was one of our group stopped for a mechanical only to get a load of F this and C that!

Thanks. Think it might be s downs then. I had fancied LW but sounds like a trip into soton might not be the way to go if its all sloppy.

New crash helmet for the nipper
crank bros bars
no name 70mm stem to try for size
bar end plugs
2 sets of short chainring bolts
32t single ring and 17t sprocket for the ss i’m building

some of which are waiting for the postie!

^^^

No just means they’re extra opinionated. :wink:

Back on topic, it’ll be fine (assuming the cassette’s not worn or is being changed)

Read the whole lot a couple of times.

If you are of an impatient mindset then it’s no good at all. I can enjoy something slower moving from time to time so it suits well.

While it isn’t the best thing ever written there is (to my mind) a point about it being so long. If it was 250 pages long you wouldn’t really get the same concept of time passing for Frodo and Sam and the length and arduousness of their quest. It’s not supposed to be a day’s forced march it is months and months of slow frightened slog and a short book wouldn’t have done it.

Whether you care or not or that appeals to you is quite another matter.

colournoise

Where is that? Not round Alton Water is it by any chance? If so that’s properly laughable.

Shimano
Specialized (shoes and helmets – noone else’s fit)
Mavic historically but tempted by Stans next time round

Beyond that it’s buy for a job based on what’s around that seems to do it for the right money.

I like to buy British where its up to the job and available from the LBS.

how does the top of the front wheel of a car move first? TJ. Id look where I was going rather than at a wheel.

It’s most noticeable at the top (I think) because there’s no “squashing of tyre” and it is higher up so you’re not staring at the road surface.

Looking at where you’re going isn’t enough you need to also be looking for other clues / hazards etc. This is what you’d expect a car driver to do. When I’m driving or riding I’m constantly looking at and for dozens of different things:

-angles of wheels
-indicators
-angle of drivers head
-pedestrians on pavement
-push buttons on pedestrian crossings
-brake lights
-changes in the pitch/angle of a vehicle front to back (acceleration and braking clues)
-whether the driver is on the phone
-whether a car has tinted windows or kids shades in the back
-is the driver 100 years old or 17 years old?
-what is in the other driver’s line of vision that might stop them seeing me
-potholes / surface changes
etc
etc
the list is practically endless.

I think I learnt because I have quite poor reactions, which I knew, but had to cover a lot of business miles and had to improve my road safety by relying on something else than my reactions. The answer was don’t get in a position where you need to rely on them.

I apply the same thing on the bike but I’m hopeless on trails that have restricted forward visibility!

I’m not sure I’d mix (sure my old Mono4’s manual says not to mix).

If you’re switching then I would purge the system of the old.

If I remember rightly from when I used to have a trackday car and looked at the relative merits Dot 4 normally has a lower boiling point but is less hydrophilic (absorbs less moisture) – hence why most normal road cars were (at the time) on Dot4 as it lasts longer SO LONG AS YOU DON’T REGULARLY BOIL IT.

There used to be a couple of higher quality and high boiling point Dot 4’s available that were better than the cheaper Dot5.1 so best of both but more £££.

FWIW

1) Use lights when it gets dark
2) Don’t ride a dark bike in dark clothes with a dark hat especially at night! It’s tough enough getting someone to see you WITHOUT making yourself and the bike blend into the tarmac (besides its dull).
3) If you’re only going to have a little bit of colour put it on something that moves.
4) Don’t under/overtake on the rare occasions someone actually bothers to use their indicators – this is really really dumb and to be fair it might make them wonder why they bothered!
5) Remember cars have blind spots and particularly rubbish places to ride while keeping pace with a car are:
(i) Anywhere close to the rear corners (my old Golf could practically hide a transit van behind the rear pillar)
(ii) just behind the B (middle) pillars
6) Do all the things in terms of observing, planning and thinking that we all wish the majority of drivers did.
7) Be assertive not aggressive
8) I’m not sure if you should fold out the wing mirrors of those who’ve managed to drive the last 20 miles with them folded in. They won’t notice, thank you or use them (otherwise they’d have noticed they were folded up) but while they’re folded in you have a warning signal that the driver is unlikely to bother with any kind of observation before manoeuvring.

Got given 1001 books to read before you die last year.

So far I have read two that I hadn’t before. The first was the picture of Dorian Gray. Plot good, Wildes writing annoying.

To kill a mocking bird far better.

I like Stephen King and James Herbert for day to day stuff.

For something proper creepy try Desparation (king) or The Dark or The Others (herbert). Something a bit less creepy but still supernaturally try Fluke or Once

Would not pay it all upfront. What is it that is so critical you can’t buy stock set up? No offence intended just seems like a lot of hassle and risk to take.

Thats no small boot thats bad packing! Shed loads of space in there. Guess you don’t have young kids. That’ll teach you to pack a car properly full.

Get someone to look underneath properly. Dented alloys, damaged tyres or bent arms/ suspension parts is a POSSIBILTY not a certainty and good prospect of knocking your tracking out would be what i would be checking on.

Steel 456 frame. Find something so versatile and good to ride thats cheaper.

Original ti railed flite saddle. Bought cheap in 1997 and still in use, albeit looking a bit tired!

Is this a board with loads of evenly spaced holes in it? If so i have a selection of fittings that are in excess of my needs. Fit boards about 3mm thick. Yours for postage / price of a pint.

Cool thanks. Finally decided to try ss after getting sick of winter bike cleaning and starting to feel fit after riding more regularly again for the last year.

Eastandlower, you were fine right up to the audi unless you have the only one without a magnetic front bumper :P

Night ride most weeks. Hampshire wildlife more dogging than dog soldiers in my experience. Seems from the poster above we are not alone in conducting nocturnal disturbances!

For the OP do try not to take it too seriously on here. My experience is great advice and great banter rarely can you find one without the other in internet land.

Oh and if you don’t do 15000+ miles a year consider a petrol one. Our petrol mondeo hatch is much lighter and nicer to drive than the diesel estate although it lacks the mid range shove. Better round town too, clutch is lighter and our petrol hatch averages 33mpg on mostly urban and sub 20 mile trips and 35 on a run. 04 diesel est gets about 45 on 40mile round trip commute plus longervruns

Mondeo was our winner on this debate 4 years ago. 65k later and I can’t conceive of changing it even though we could afford something newer and german. Just had a bill for dmf and clutch at 103k and i didnt even mindthat much!

As for L200 i would avoid. Ultimately its a commercial vehicle and not a car.

Thanks all its the slx one and i bought it a year ago but didnt get round to fitting it. Call to the friendly LBS tomorrow to see if they can help if not then i will order something less fugly instead!

Sorry maybe wasn’t very clear the heads of the bolts are too small in diameter for the holes in the bash ring so i can’t get the bash ring to stay on…. The bolts basically fall through the bolt holes. The bolt length is fine i think assuming that it is just supposed to bolt on in place of the outer.

Took my 2 year old son out for a ride on the back of the 456 today. Afyer he’s been bogged down with a rotten cold for a week and in a foul mood. Smiles all the way, high fives every few minutes and even the closed playground didnt phase him. Now that’s a gteat ride.

Hadnt thought about that. Havent tried floaters yet. Maybe next time.

Our dogs had collar and short and long lead each.

Nappy bags fine for poo BUT go one quality above the value ranges. Our german shepherd cross had collitis and we soon learned that some value bags were slightly porous and also not abrasion resistsnt when scraping up the runnier or softer ones!

Ours had cheap fleecy beds from the lcal fabric shop or cheap multifolded double duvet and covers.

No reason they shouldn’t work. I mix all sorts of rotors in my brakes. Just make sure they arent noticeably thicker before fitting.

Had a nice little explore round there on Friday pm . First time i had been up there in years. Had a good ride but was mincing a bit as kept losing my bearing.

Read the cars manual. Auto version of my Mondeo the manual says leave in D and holdthe footbrake on. Cant imagine a new torque converter is more than a new clutch and dmf!

Professionally? That’ll be powder coat not enamel and i’ m not convinced you wont be risking harm to the frame by abrasives or chemicals.

Tetley tea! Get yourself a box of assam tea then try and tell me Tetley is good tea!

Off line shop of choice is Solent Cycles for exceptionally helpful staff and convenience. Hargroves is good for stock but service more variable. Last 3 complete bikes from there and great workshop service.

Steel 456. At 16 stone you won’t notice the weight. I have a 24lb racey hardtail and a steel 456 and ride both regularly and its never the weight difference that affects which one i choose to ride. Or get ugly carbon one.

Of course! Great for short rides. Racks also ok (but unbolted when not on trips with nipper to watch the boats).

Another one for the impact approach.

2×4, lump hammer etc. Don’t tap – WHACK!

Try and make the impact as close to central on the wheel as you can or alternate right at the edges (top, bottiom, left & right).

What’s brown and sounds like a bell

Dung

(from a Monty Python sketch I believe)

I got pulled over for speeding on the way here.

I was only doing about 85 and when the traffic cop asked me whether I thought it was safe I replied that it was a clear road with good visibility so was probably not the crime of the century.

He then asked me what I’d have done if mister fog had come down.

Patronising G1t I thought so I replied

“I’d probably have used mister brake”

His response – “Very funny sir what I actually said was what if mist or fog had come down”.

IGMC

I also know another traffic policeman one but it’s much ruder and is to do with stretching.

For the avoidance of doubt I have nothing against traffic policemen (or women) they do a very good and valuable job (actually a few more round here wouldn’t go amiss) but they do make a good source of joke material.