mboy – Member

Thanks. I'll ask her what she's willing to spend.

What kind of riding is she likely to be doing?

She's just getting into it but I think she would be quite adventurous as she does a bit of freestyle snowboarding too.

Yeah she is quite tall (about 5' 10/11" maybe not sure) and leggy too. I suppose something quite light. I'm thinking maybe aluminium frame and air forks but so many brands to choose from.

😆

Today I learnt that a bicycle frame can be made almost entirely out of wood. I don't know if this helps performance or if it just seemed like a good idea at the time. You certainly meet some characters in my local bike shop.

Yeah great trail and should be ridden flat out. If you have to stop for any reason on a dedicated MTB trail then get out of the way or warn approaching cyclists if someone's come a cropper.

His behaviour sounds totally out of order to me. If I thought I was going to get sworn at when I went out on my bike I wouldn't go at all. If you're going to race at a trail centre you should expect to find crowds surely. Sounds like this guy has the wrong hobby. Chill.

the 140s down hill are far more relaxed

Bit of an update on my recent fork upgrade. Got Pike coil u turns on it now. It's made a huge difference. A heavier fork but adjustability and extra plushness makes the bike climb and descend a lot faster. Even more fun to ride now.

I suppose it's all about 'reasonable force'. If someone attacks you it's ok to use reasonable force to protect yourself but if you rip their head off and s**t down their neck then the authorities aren't going to be too impressed. I think this rule probably applies to getting attacked by dogs too. I've certainly raised a foot in my time when cycling. Are people seriously saying they would rather loose a leg than give a dog a small kick?

I once had a lucky escape when I was chased by a Collie. It decided to bite my back tyre as I desperately cyled away. I turned around to see a yelping dog sailing through the air. Luckily the dog wasn't badly injured.

Cycling away quickly is more likely to end badly I think. If it happened again I would try to slow down and face the attacker with the boot ready if needed.

I don't know why bike companies don't get more creative with paint jobs than they do. It seems daft spending all that time and money building something that handles like a dream only to paint it up all boring like.

There's some great 'Kranked' videos on youtube including an amazing one about a guy who only has 20% vision and follows a guide about on his mtb over jumps and stuff.

The dude in the softshell picture appears to have a singlespeed downhill bike with only a front brake.

Wow yeah that's hardcore!

I might get some of this stuff but I'll give that ultralight jacket a miss I think!

Nice one. I got some fairly good cycling gloves in there before. They were a bit chunky but perfect for the winter. So that's Thursday all over the UK is it?

I was thinking of upgrading to 717's after reading many many good reviews but was told by an experienced mtb'r not too bother because they would just break for the kind of riding I do. Lots of the reviews said they were very strong but maybe that's for XC. I do a bit of all mountain too so maybe not suitable for that. What do you think?

I thought you said you were gay? Or is 'wife' just a euphemism for the more effeminate member of your relationship.

lol

Just leave it on there and wait for it to wear out.

I think we worry too much about weight. All the bike companies and magazines go on about it all the time because it's another way for them to sell their stuff. I recently put heavier forks on my bike and was worried about the weight penalty because everyone seems to think it's so important to shave off grams here and there. This fork upgrade has made my bike much faster uphill and down. A heavier bike may affect handling a bit but I rate strength and functionality more highly.

I like Eastern Europeans. They're amuzing and the women have really sexy accents and asses.

When I was about 8 me and my mates were on our bikes with pea shooters. My mates dad was a plumber and my mate had made extra long pea shooters out of copper pipe. We used to fire chewed up paper out of them and splat it on stuff. I very stupidly did this to a passing motorcyclist and 'achieved' a direct hit to his visor totally obscuring his view. He skidded to a stop while me a my mates legged it onto a big garden. We climbed into a thick hedge and hid there while the biker searched the garden for us. We could hear him crunching about below us cursing. I think it was quite a lucky escape for him and us. Not my proudest moment obviously but it was one hell of a shot.

Go on google maps. Type in queen elizabeth country park

Thanks but that park is at the opposite end of the country. Resin 42 is on about Queen Elizabeth Forest near Aberfoyle in Scotland.

There's some really nice stuff around Aberfoyle. Here is the link to another thread where I describe a really nice route I did which has a bit of everything:

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/biking-in-queen-elizabeth-park

Techy singletrack can be found up behind David Marshall Lodge (DML). There's at least 2 downhill type trails there and rumour has it that there's more such stuff in this area. There's meant to be some really steep trails on the opposite side of the valley from DML.

Go to the main visitor centre. Go past it on the road on the right. Eventually there is a field on your left, go left on the road just before that field, a trail starts on the left. Follow it.

Where exactly? Thanks

Thanks. Matt did get in touch about it. My Giant shock is getting sent away so I'll need to see what's up with it. I'm a bit skint at the moment so I'll probably hang on to the Giant shock if it's a cheap fix. Thanks again.

My old Helle Hansen smells like a wet dog, maybe I'll try it on a hotter wash.

The trail centres are great but I'd recommend doing some of the natural stuff too if you can get someone to show you around.

Push'd? Pushed? Forgive my ignorance. What's that?

It's basically the upgrade that TFTuned can do for you. They are suspension specialists and you can send them your forks or shock and they do things to it.

I'm toying with the idea of getting a Van R but my bike has strange eye to eye and stroke length. Does anyone know if you can get them custom made and if it costs much?

Hi Rickos. If you don't want peteimpreza's firm spring can I have it? I have an xfirm I can swap with him. Second hand firm's seem to be like gold dust. Here is the info you need:

http://www.sram.com/_media/pdf/service/coil_spring_chart.pdf

worth remembering that it won't be yours to sell

Yeah true. I'll just have to save my pennies i think!

Ok thanks I'll look into it more. Maybe I'll get a new bike and harvest the bits off it and sell the frame or something. Or maybe I'll just save the money I would have been spending and upgrade like that.

It's brilliant fun for so many reasons. Today I had one of the best bike rides ever in the Ochils. It was a bit scary at times but I took my riding to new levels and was buzzing my t**s off when I got to the bottom.

Thanks goldenwonder that's really helpful. I phoned them up today and they still have it and I said that you'd been in touch on here. They're going to check it over and get back to me with a price. I'm taking my leaky Giant shock to my LBS tomorrow so I'll need to wait and see if it gets fixed under warranty or not. I might be tempted to upgrade to the RP23 but I'll have to see. Do you think it would improve performance much?

Yeah I reckon u could get a new one. I lost the rebound adjuster on my forks and they cost £20 !

I'm not sure it's as straight forward as it might be on some other bikes.

Hi thanks for the info. Apparently the Trance X has a rare eye to eye length so I don't know how easy it'll be to find one.

Or can anyone recommend a good shock for my Trance X? I do mostly XC and light downhill. I would like something plush. Thanks.

medium/red spring on ebay

Yeah I've seen that spring too in my hunt for a firm. My XFirm seems to have a bit of black paint on the spring it self near the top but it's not that obvious. You can remove the spring quite easily without losing oil. Here is the link:

http://www.tftunedshox.com/info/rockshox_spring_fitting.aspx

I found that I had to hit the bottom a bit harder than I was expecting to release it. Are yours 351's? I was wondering if TFT add the compression dampening bits if you get them tuned up by them?

I recently purchased some Pike 351's which were originally attached to a large '08 Pitch Comp. They have an xfirm spring inside but I don't know if it came with it. I'm almost happy with the spring (I'm about 76 kg) but it's slightly too firm because it won't bottom out. Apparently it takes a little while to break the springs in so it might be worth persisting with the one you've got to see what happens.

http://www.sram.com/_media/pdf/service/coil_spring_chart.pdf

The above link will take you to a chart with Pike spring colours and weights. I'm looking for a Firm (blue) spring if anyone has one?

Ok thanks a lot.

Come along to GMBC in Milngavie (www.gmbc.org.uk) on a Wednesday night

Sanny. I think you might know my mate Myles who sometimes goes to Milngavie on a Weds night. I'll hopefully come along sometime this summer.

Thanks.

If someone can reassure me that it's not remotely annoying and full of s*** as facebook I might give it a go.

I don't know but it won't be muddy. Hasn't rained here for days and everywhere's drying up nicely.

I don't think I'd get on with it but I like the idea of simplifying things. My FS will soon have only 2 chain rings on the front. The front gear changer on my hardtail broke this week and I've been managing OK just using the middle chainring since.

Is this anywhere near Mid Somer?