OP – i found going back to the basics, riding a rigid ss bike on local/fun trails really helped me brush up my bike handling skills. not necessarily trying to go faster, but trying to improve line choice, momentum and ejoying the ride. maybe you ride a rigid ss bike anyway, maybe not. but even doing this definitely helped me on my full susser for bigger/more tech stuff. if you have a hardtail/hack/commuter already this would do. no need to buy anything new

grippy ones

most people i meet who are into bikes do bear some resemblence to this fella, albeit a bit more rotund

this is the future, after all the 1xbollocks hype has died down everyone will use one! :lol:

LINK

nothing beats a squashed ham, cheese and pickle sandwich imo

What not to do is drink copious amounts of wine and beer the night before the race…and then start off the day with a bacon buttie. Won’t be doing that again at Dyfi.

worked for me for the last 7 years! :mrgreen:

on a serious note, ride lots. even more if you want to do well

i have one on a bike and it slots into the dropout with a hole for the axle to go in so i imagine it just refers to the width of the dropout/axle diameter as you mention (as opposed to say a 14mm bmx dropout or 12mm DH axle)

remember they have every right to use those paths as much as you do. use a bell and ring it with plenty of warning when approaching – most of the time people either get a fright and/or react negatively when cyclists appear silently in my experience. you may or may not feel a dick with a bell on your bike but who cares really? note: does not work for walkers/inferior cyclists/joggers with earphones

i use a pair of these on my CX bike which occasionally sees tarmac

couldn’t give less of a toss if that bothers anyone

The “R&D” work on N-W rings was done by SRAM (not in the UK)
A CNC macine needs very little opperator input, that’s what they’re there for.
All he’s done is copy an idea and have a CAD/CNC file developed for it.

does this apply to hope/works components too?

seems to be developing into the usual superstar slagging thread. yawn

i’d say most horse riders/horses i meet are absolutely fine, however i’ve seen what can happen when they loose control and it’s seriously not worth it for the rider (i’ve worked with people who had to give up horses due to being thrown off badly, one had a broken back :( ) also after the only and ever time i’ve ridden a full size horse i would not want to be on a spooked one!

over at chopwell a few months ago i was riding up one of the fireroads that link between trails, there was a lad riding a horse on another fireroad coming up a junction with the one i was one. he saw me at distance, i slowed to walking pace and shouted ‘alright’ to him as i approached the junction and he shouted ‘alreet’ back, then the horse clocked me, reared up with the lad going off the back, horse turned and stood on the poor lads stomach with a front leg :? 8O made my stomach wretch! he still had hold of the reins and managed to jump up and control the horse, i dumped the bike, ran over and checked he was ok and he was pretty startled. turned out it was the first time the horse had been out of a field and it didn’t even have a saddle on! up close with the horse it was cool, so we reckoned it just doesn’t like bikes and went off our own ways

however a couple of times i’ve seen utter dicks (actually women/girls in small groups) riding horses on the Derwent Walk and Tanfield Railway multi use paths, galloping at speed round blind corners and past walkers/cyclists (including me!). yeah going fast and not giving people space on a bike is one thing, but doing that on a horse is beyond stupid!!! does anyone know what the law is with galloping/speed of horses on bridleways? do they have STRAW-VA?

cheers buddy got a zee drivetrain sorted :)

it’s rubbish, don’t bother, in fact it’s so crap it sells out in record time each year, crashes the servers, with organizers going to the effort of getting insurance sorted for the unexpected 200+ more entries made on the system that weren’t supposed to, a free bar on the course, evening/day/course entertainment, a beer tent & cafe, free camping, great relaxed atmosphere, music/DJ’s, not to mention bringing a whole community together unlike any other mtb race in the uk i can think of. in fact don’t enter, leave your space for me and my mates next year :wink:

basically it’s like marmite – you either love it, or hate it. luckily me and my mates are all of the disposition of loving it

Saracen’s Head at Symond’s Yat.

we stopped in for a pint, ended up camping in the site over the road, getting a bit friendly with the locals and canoeing down the wye – awesome!

ship at low newton is great (and as are others listed by drac – we go up to northumberland coast a fair bit)

ty coch @ morfa nefyn is great too – trying to ride along the rocky beach from our digs wasn’t the best idea mind!

http://www.tycoch.co.uk/index.php/view-the-webcam

this one looks awesome and just like the ones we played in when we were kids!

joking aside these guys can build you a ‘natural’ one if that’s your thing and very good too :)

http://www.infiniteplaygrounds.co.uk/%5B/url%5D

why don’t you meet him for a local ride beforehand if possible?

i’d give the guy a chance though, for all you know he could be a xc pro/strava jockey/DH superstar or then again just another joe bloggs on a halfords bike. FYI my mate didn’t know how much travel his nomad had, but still he’s **** fast downhill

i’ll be at the back competing for the unnofficial sweep position and sweating out copious amounts of beer, cheese, port and whisky. looking forward to it especially the new bar!

new challenges always help – i went through a few years of mainly riding trail centres, every weekend, with occasional DH day thrown in for a few years as that was what my bunch of mates did. the riding got like groundhog day tbh, and whilst thats ok for some the predictability got pretty tedious for me, and i found i was losing motivation. last year i went the whole year without riding a single trail centre, but did more rides, covered more miles and rode more new/challenging stuff than any year previously, also met some good folk too (and some randoms!). this year i’m intending to ride more local and get involved with more local clubs/trailbuilding too although a new house we’re doing up and baby is kinda holding that up. already paying off found some pretty good natural/BW/cheeky stuff within a few miles of home already

this is how my mate did it for a mud guard so it moved easily when taking the wheel out – maybe could do something similar link[/url]

alternatively racks are available which mount onto the axle/QR

newish commuter – 2 months old stands me £1 per mile, so over the next 10months should go down a fair bit even bearing in mind maintenance costs

2 year old el guapo, well from strava logged rides that sits me at £1 per mile off road action plus all the non logged rides and racing it’ll be more like 50p

rigid 29er, again exactly £1 per mile from that as i’ve mainly use it for short local rides, but as i sold the alfine 11 its actually more like 60p a mile in its new ss mode! :)

downhill bike – reckon i’ll be at around £50 per mile on that bad boy. saying that stuck a 32t front ring and 34t cassette and mashed a lot of climbs in spain on it last february so it saved a packet on guides/uplifts for a few extra days after a week with switchbacks :D

is that a root or a snake? :lol:

seems perfectly reasonable if you dont chose to live a million miles from work.

or choose to work a million miles from home

i’m with them too for our camper. so far been the best insurance company i’ve used – very welcoming when i dumped a subaru engine in it :D

i’d be careful of parking in dodgy car parks/beaches/poor surveillance streets etc. someone i know had his camper broken into round there and the guys we bought our camper from also had an attempted break in further south towards malagab i think (to our van when they had it, luckily no damage even though its 1986 technology!)

saying that i left a hire car with 2 bikes in for a few days/nights in tarifa and didn’t have a problem

Paula from the agency adds, “basically if you look like you wouldn’t be out of place at the Tour de France, I could book you in for some days’ filming at the Emmerdale village in Harewood.”

that immediately rules out half the STW crowd…

mate at work is looking at one of the flat bar hybrid boardmans, this makes it £413, with avid dics and sram x5 gearing, bargain! cheers :)

get the smallest/lightest 2 man tent you can afford – the extra space is a godsend. 1 man tents are a royal PITA for doing anything other than lying down and i found bivying isn’t great in the wet. tarp helps a lot – plenty of space but no good for midges!

i take a little pocket radio and a small book for evenings, or just gaze at the map at where i’m planning to go the next day. if i’m lucky i’ll camp near a pub which always kills a few hours…

as for taking a dump, well on a previous mission me and a pal had to talk a mate through his first wild poo. utterly hilarious it was like having a toddler with us. i’d suggest leaning against a tree if your legs are knacked, wet wipes help too, and dig a hole with a stick. or bake it till you find civilisation

love the buzz of setting of on an adventure and not knowing where i’ll be sleeping/who i’ll meet etc, probably means i brush over the rougher edged bits if bike/backpacking. enjoy!

on a morning:

– nearly getting knocked off by a large male deer running straight across my front wheel on a bridleway. gave me a right fright!
– various animals/birds eating each other
– car drivers being courteous when overtaking cyclists

on an evening:

– medieval combat re-enactment in the woods i was riding through (strange!)
– man crapping in the middle of a footpath
– rode into a bat surveying net pulled across a path at night (the surveying people were hiding round the corner and weren’t happy)
– people riding with small dogs in front wicker baskets

used to be able to fit my dh bike in my old DHB bag from wiggle with the back wheel in – and that thing was LONG*

*comically small 26inch wheels though might count for that ;)

grum the northern downhill enduro used a few of the lesser used dh tracks – plenty of people using am bikes. the main dh lines are great too and imo ok for mid travel bikes. pretty much all in tree cover so mostly rooty with a fair few rock gardens and drop offs thrown in

the newly revamped/dumbed down (depending on your trail preference/opinion) pikes teeth is open, so as far as i know all the red/black trails are open. some of the off piste stuff was boggy a few weeks ago but looks like it’ll be drying out now. enjoy!

ouch – did this to mine too :oops: am going to drill the bolt out from the back side of the replaceable dropout with a pillar drill

scratchbikes did it in newcastle. i used them quite a lot when i lived in town, but they pulled them last year and now i live further out can’t see me using them again anyway. shame really not sure of the exact reason why

na you’ll be alright. we’ll be tagging along at the back taking in the scenery and recovering from whisky induced hangovers so say hello :)

i’ve just eaten a custard tart i found in the fridge :mrgreen:

we once ate out at a decent looking place in vienna whilst on a trip. unfortunately my ‘chefs special’ turned out to be funny shaped pasta mixed with baked beans, hot dog sausages, meatballs, chopped up PEK tinned pork and wierd squirmy things (mushrooms???) all lathered up in a red coloured syrup (possibly tomato but can’t be sure). at the time i wish i’d had the same as my girlfriend – schnitzel which looked like dried up roadkill!

i’d be up for giving them a go, especially in winter. theres a new indoor dirt jump/skatepark in sunderland i’ll probably head over to soon. dirt jumps look a little too full on for me, but it would be nice to ride dry dirt when everything outside is soaked. would be good if there were some more lines to suit a middle aged man on a full susser (mamoafs?)

oh and i’d be happy to pay for it. i don’t expect people to put hard graft into providing a facility/service for nothing…

one of mine worked its way loose and leaked, it bunged up with more sealant but a proper tyre off and patch repair was needed as it started to leak again during a ride. as for my other worms hanging out in my tyres if they’re not leaking i’m gambling they will hold fine

i run a 2.4 chunky monkey on the front of my fortitude, pure awesomeness! :D going to try ghetto tubeless when i get round to it. riding on my previous local trails (mainly flat rooty natural stuff) was really good fun, certainly polished up my previously lazy riding style

OK but seriously, if I was Lightbicycle or similiar I’d be making a deep section 650b rim with the same ERD as whatever the most popular 26 inch equivalent is, instant upgrade!

what you need is inch longer nipples for your out of date spokes, then it would work with any 650b-iatch rim :P