Oh god, I normally get lambasted for this one…

Blade runner…

*hides*

I’m going to have a go at this servicing lark myself. My floats went pop at the seals halfway round the HONC so I’ve now replaced them with Vanillas. The floats actually still work fine but I’m guessing there’s zero fluid in them after seeing what was pouring down the legs at 70km round.

My LBS is going to get the floats patched up and I can practice servicing them and run them on the SS before having a go at the vanillas in *checks watch* another 7 hours of riding time. :roll:

Hello Steve,

Come riding tonight you big fairy! :wink:

Gary, from what I can see, it achieves same thing. As I understand it, dropping the legs is purely a different way of doing the same job, for some reason

I think a lot of people were slipping and scratching the stanchions…

Best thing road biking did for me was get me out on those crappy winter days when I couldn’t face the trails but was gagging for a ride.

You should strip an rebuild the fork ever 15 hrs use according to fox.

I was under the impression that you only needed to do what Pete just did every 15 hours…

What Druidh says
If the road is too narrow for vehicles to overtake safely get out into the road so they can’t. Make obvious eye contact with the driver – stare right at them. Shout at them to alert tehm to your prescence. Sit up and stick your elbows out to look wider and if a vehicle pulls in while still alongside slap the side of it with the flat of your hand – it does no damage but makes one heck of a noise. Often makes them move away from you again. If the vehicle is close enough you can touch it it is too close.

When I am being overtaken I move out slightly before they overtake so if they come too close I have room to move in again.

Make sure you have an escape route at all times.

Defensive riding – ride as if everyone is out to kill you and are going to do the most stupid thing possible – that way you are never disappointed.

Above all else don’t get wound up – don’t let it spoil your day and if possible make sure it spoils their day more than yours. A nice cheery wave as you overtake them in the next jam, a interesting line in insults (thrombus) being my favorite

Really good advice but unfortunately nothing there prepares you for some of Bristol’s finest Bus drivers.

I needed to turn right into mud dock, turned, bus about 50 yards back, signalled and started to slow in the middle of the road, looked back again and saw the female bus driver waving her fist and heard the bus accelerate, with about 20 yards to impact I gestured and mouthed ‘slow the **** down’ – still accelerating and gesturing back. I ended up dropping the bike to the ground and dragging it along the ground as I ran to the pavement to get clear of this psycho!

Jesus!

I could get on board with this bike slush fund idea for sure! :D

Lootenant: contrary to what you think, consider your local roads, a proper road bike isn’t always the best way in. By the time I’m backpacked up, the road bike is tricker to ride effectively and the Bristol Roads are atrocious. For me, using the road bike is a necessary evil for days when I’m a) running late or b) my usual offroad route is wet/muddy.

Shame, I love riding it but the roads around here just leave me feeling battered all the time. Maybe a CX or a tourer might be better but I’m at my bike count quota set down by Mrs Lake (3).

I go almost every day but tend to bail once a week. My wife drives and I get dropped off with just a 1.5 mile walk. Luckily the walk is enough of a pain that 4 days out of 5, the cycle ride is actually more appealing.

You got to get into a routine though, when I started it was fun for one day and then I hated it…

I also prefer taking a backroad/offroad route and taking the MTB…

yeah split crown race seems to make sense but, there must be a reason that negates its use.

Well that was the first time I’d taken a peek in the headset since new (16 months old now), 2 winters without a single look or service and it was quite tidy in there so I’m not personally aware of the side effects.

I bought those Vanillas off CRC – schweet!! Much improved handling and feel over the Floats that I had on there before.

5 psi out of your tyres

Won’t make alu feel like steel… my Genesis has a nice bit of give in it but it also ‘rebounds’ in a way flatter tyres won’t. Maybe it’s in my head but it just makes it really fun to throw around…

Tree flip and tail whip side hop. But also the fact that he just strings so many moves, which would be impressive in their own right, seamlessly together…

Exception high roller fine here… I wouldn’t take it down anything silly but that’s more how skinny it is

Crunchy Nut Cornflakes before I leave, Bowl of Wheetos at my desk.

Don’t ask about Wheetos, we have communal cereal at work and the two web devs I work with are children when it comes to brekkie and tbh,I kinda like them.

Wow, grateful for the split crown race on my Hope. Removed with a gentle tap of a flat blade screwdriver and reinstalled by hand.

BIKES
PINK
SOZ

P7 doesn’t strike me as being a proper steel bike in the traditional sense. I mean they’re supposed to be fab at what they do but if you fancy a bit of ‘steel’ you might be looking at the wrong bike.

I’d personally be looking at Genesis Altitudes or building up a Cotic Soul… I’ve got an iO (a slot dropout SS Altitude) and that feels like a steel bike.

I know the P7 is steel but you know what I mean when people guff on about steel bikes…

Unless standover is an issue of course – I had to go shorter on my Genesis because I simply couldn’t stand over the 19″ without ‘contact’

Always longer top tube.

I’ve only done Llandegla once and while I did find it ‘easy’ I do agree that the speeds that it lets you pick definitely makes the penalty for crashing pretty high!

I know but not bad considering the only thing I forgot to pack was my razor – I had to use hair clippers on ‘0’ :-X

Woah, thread sinking…

Serious darksiding…

Finding out how grippy Nevegals really are…

Pedal!!!

Not so posh…

Gert posh!

Soap and water but also periodic spray of febreeze or even shoe deoderizer works a treat on stinky lids!

I am one half but having ridden for 14 years and her 1, naturally we’re on different levels so we don’t always ride together.

That said, I only have minimal issues but these are usually just frustrations and I’m the only target :D – We survived a twisted ankle and a 2 mile walk back at Afan in the p*ssing rain so we’re doing alright.

My bike is better but only because she refused to spend any more than we did in case she didn’t enjoy it… Sort of wish we’d gone for the Safire (Stumpy) not the Myka (FSR) but it would have only been money well spent with hindsight… I’d have happily plonked her on a Five Diva but that really wouldn’t have been ‘over-biking’ at this stage…

Graphic designer? Does that mean you make these little buggers:

No.

Just out interest – was it the russian girl in fur that caused the offence?

Irun a Hope 2 on the bars,Light&motion Stella on the helmet well impressed granted it’s over £300 worth but i don’t have to carry extra batteries & hold up my mate’s every hr to change batterie’s

If you were a bit quicker you’d already be waiting for your mates to catch up while you change your battery?

(Tongue firmly in cheek)

I’ve not ridden the lakes but I’d wager 50km of proper MTBing in the lakes is pre-requisite enough for 100km HONC…

Alana Blanchard – Pro Surfer

If I’m honest though, I really wouldn’t stop at five bikes and there would be some serious doubling up in terms of purpose too.

Orange Five – Bling out my current five – bread and butter bike, I know it works. Fancy a tracer but meh…
Lynsky M230 – Fancy a bit of Ti…
Cotic Single – Got to have a bit of niche content in there.
Orange Blood – dunno, just looks like it’d be real fun to ride the tits off it!
Orange 224 – if had the omey I’d be gving DHing a go and I’d probably lack the imagination to go beyond the old halifax faithful.

Well quite, I did a computer science degree (even though I’m a graphic designer now, go figure) so I can fully relate to BBT… :)

BBT is awesome but I think you need to be a certain degree of geek to get it…

My wife asked me whether boys were really like that at school – tbh, I had plenty of ‘friends’ like Neil and Jay… :roll:

I actually think that stating which side you’re going to pass on is good etiquette, you just need to make sure you’ve already made the pass and put the rider in the bushes when you do this…

(Actually happened to me at Bristol Bike Fest ’08 LOL)

Assuming this is a xc race rather than enduro/marathon – don’t start near the front and don’t try to keep up with the sprint at the start. Just find your own pace and get round.

Definite case of needing to

This is pretty lazy I know but has anyone got any links to info on what you can and can’t ride? I’ve just moved out into the country a bit more and am looking for some ‘from the doorstep’ riding…

Have some bloke advice…

Is he actually making you feel guilty or do you just feel guilty?

If he’s actually making active steps to make you feel guilty, chuck him, it’s not exactly how you want things to be going forward and just think what else he’ll try and make you feel guilty over – it’s a form of being controlling… nasty!

That said, you’ve mentioned he’s kind so maybe you need to just get over it and keep riding or accept that you need to give up some time for him…

Or tell him to man up and get out there on the bike!

Andy, nice mate – although I’d ditch the cheesy transition effects and maybe include a less helmet cam footage. It’s quite jarring when you go from pretty good quality stable shot to shaky poor quality headcam.

The music didn’t do it for me either but that’s a taste thing.

Overall though, liked it and been meaning to do a film of my own at some point…