My 7 year old silver xt set look ok still…

I don’t see why xtr has any finish on it to be fair. If you go to the extent of using expensive titanium hardware to save a few g of weight, why not drop the finish too?

Would anyone else split it through the whole family?

I’d give 200k to parents, 100k to brother, 10k to each aunt and uncle (and leave it to them to split it between the kids), use a bit to get grandparents houses done up and more suitable for old age etc…

Probably make a donation to my local favourite charity too. 🙂

You do know without London you’d be in the shit up there in your woodburning room with a view, don’t you?

FFS, can we have an independent Yorkshire vote please? 😛

For the 30 second or so after finding out, there’d be a me shaped cloud of dust hovering over my chair as I move quicker than any human being ever has, straight out of the office door and back home, never to return again. 🙂

I’ve got a Vauxhall Agila. Its an ok car, does it’s job and is very cheap to run.

Can get a 29er full sus in the back just taking the front wheel off. Two bikes with all wheels off (still plenty of room for other kit too). You don’t need to remove or drop the seat posts either – it’s a tall car.

Cant go wrong if your after a cheap, 4 seat bike carrier to be honest. Mine was £1200 with FSH and 55k on the clock. Tax isn’t that cheap, but MPG is awesome. I think it looks quite funky too.

Thanks all, some excellent advice there. 🙂

I’m quite sure my shoulders are a bit weak, and my arse is just coping with a lot of weight on it. Loosing weight should help loads! I did ride for a road club about 6 years ago, and did a few 100mile rides. I’ve not rode much at all in the last 5 years and have put on a lot of weight. :(. I’ve still got some decent leg strength left, just need to build my cardio and endurance.. And loose some weight!

My bikes a superlight 29 with a short stem and wide bars, so it does put a lot of weight on my backside.

I do carry a small backpack, but its really comfy and not very heavy. Have to have a bladder in it as the superlight doesn’t have a bottle cage!

I’ll put some of the advise into action and see what’s what in a month or so. Still got 5 months to twentyfour12 to shed weight and get the rides in. :S

Cheers Greg,

Feel free to be rude I do deserve it I can assure you! Weight is my enemy at the moment, I’m currently, well, lets say very heavy! but 1 and 1/4 stone lighter than in December – the weight is dropping off now I commute every day and put in 5/6 hour rides at the weekend. If I can drop a few more stone by summer, I’ll be happy.

I do need some better shorts, currently on Decathlon top of the range stuff, that doesn’t fit me as well as good DHB stuff (my last pair of dhb fell to bits last year!). By Assos I meant the cream, don’t think I’d fit in any of their shorts! I usually cover the entire chamois in Vaseline too, which has helped reduced sores.

I’ve been backing off a bit when tired as I don’t want to over do it, but you point makes sense… riding tired will make you better at, riding tired!

Cheers for the other tips too. All taken on board.

Thanks for the tips.

Already on the Assos and lycra, think a bit of work on my shoulders (push ups) would help.

I’ve noticed my bike is considerably less comfy since I put the dropper on… So maybe that’s a good thing to change for longer rides?

I’m in for this, seems like a nice event.

Whats the time limit/sag wagon pace?

Just replaced the chainset on my commuter (Cannondale Badboy) due to the pedals being **** and stuck in the cranks.

The chain and cassette where 4 years old of almost every weekday commuting (8 miles each way), but the old chain meshed fine with the new chain rings.

Decided to replace the rusty old chain as it was in a bit of a state, and the new one skipped like mad on the old cassette. So now I have a new cassette too. Pretty cheap to fix and good value per mile (all 8 speed steel stuff).

The my MTB its all XT 9 speed, and I’ll run it until it’s all done for. One reason I’m not into sram 11 speed, you either spend a fortune on the cassettes, or on chains…

18 bikes. I think the set without the spider (and the direct mount rings) are available in a 2 to 3 days….

I would normally agree, but I’ve just forked out for some Hope cranks… nothing wrong with my XT chainset, but it is 6 years old and scratched up pretty bad.

Just felt like treating myself to some bling. 🙂

You need a bit of meccano! That what I used to bridge the gap between the steerer and the guard bracket.

Best wishes to you and the whole family. Hope he pulls through.

I was running a Storm Control on the back of my Superlight, it was ace for mud, but very draggy. Just switched to a ground control 2.1 on the rear, and a Purgatory 2.4 on the front. Seems to work well everywhere and is much faster.

Dark Souls, facing the Asylum Demon for the first time… and every other boss encounter after that.

Escaping Midgar in FF VII was also a high point for me, first time hitting an open world in an RPG.

The whole of Metro 2033 and Last Light – it was the most immersive game I’ve played in years.

Modern Teflon coated cables shouldn’t be greased/oiled at all, they’re designed to run dry…?

Bar ends on my commuter too. Really good on a rigid bike, not sure if they’d be as good on a fullsus, not that honking out of the saddle is ever good on a fullsus.

Isn’t the reducer a bit that goes on the fork crown, then the standard tapered race goes on the reducer?

Just take the race off the reducer and put it on the new forks.

Had an interesting 6 hour ride this week. My standard every ride backpack with allsorts in it really helped.

First, the ride was only meant to be a 2/3 hour ride to Langset and back, but I decided to tackle Cut Gate once I’d reached langset. The 2l bladder and bananas I took just in case where god send an hour away from home.

On Cutgate, I was very glad I had an extra buff and cheap coat in the bag, although even with a buff on my neck/face and one on my head, plus a breathable winter coat and a cheap plastic shell, I abandoned Cut Gate half way up. Horizontal sleet, ice cold wind that was freezing the water on the peak of my helmet and it looking like there was zero visibility up on the top, made me think better of going up there.

I cut over to the strines road instead. On a 25% decent, my rear pads failed (one pad came away from the backing plate). Luckily I had some pads in my bag, so I changed them and carried on.

For me, I’d rather carry too much and be prepared on any ride I expect to be more than an hour or so.

(I’ve now added a couple of energy gels too, as getting home was hard!)

really liking the look of the cranks.

Not sure the price is that high compared to Shimano top end stuff. People seem to be comparing CRC Shimano prices with Hope RRP… M980 chainsets RRP at £375..

If I was in your situation, I’d pay it off!

I’ve had a lot of (depression induced) debt in the past, and I’ve just cleared it after giving all my spare cash to the bank for for over 4 years!!.

I already feel much ‘lighter’ without any debt, but no mortgage on top of that would be amazing! after that, I’d just hammer the savings until I had a nice retirement fund.

Just the fact that if anything every goes wrong work wise, you have a home that is yours, would appeal massively to me.

The surly KM is an awesome bike!

I run mine with 2.4 conti race kings with 35/40psi. Seems to roll well and absorb a surprising amount of bumps for a rigid bike.

It would be fine for 100 miles if I didn’t have it set up SS.

I get the feeling some people just automatically pick up the rucksack or camelback to go biking with no real consideration to if they actually need it or not.

That’s me! I don’t want to have to check though my stuff and plan what I do or don’t need for that particular ride. I know my bag has what I need for long or medium rides, so I just take it.

Put clothes on, pick up bag, get bike, go ride.

BTW, I’d rather carry a bag than use those silly pockets on the back of jerseys.

Mine is a pig!

It’s the 26″, giant tyre, rigid, v-brake version. I almost went for the lefty 3-speed one (it is mega cool), but 3 speed would be useless in Sheffield.

I think it came with 2.2 fully slick tyres that where made just for that bike… Running some narrower touring tyres now, and it’s a bit faster.

I’ve got full guards and a rack on the back, so it’s ideal for commuting and the odd 30/40 mile road ride. I wouldn’t tour on it though, way too harsh.

It’s a very slow and harsh ride, though I’ve just improved mine a bit-

My chainset and pedals had rusted solid over the last two winters, so I replaced it with a cheap suntour chainset (£25) with MTB ratios instead of trekking ratios (I think 4 teeth down on every ring). I also dumped the long stem and narrow bar and fitted a crank brothers stem and flat bar I had laying around. It’s much nicer to ride now, but not that good.

A few years ago I found some old, quite light xc 26″ wheel in a skip (it was our skip, but someone else was using it, as you do). I replaced the bearings and put them on the badboy. Much lighter than the stock deep section things it came with.

Only reason I’m keeping it is because it’s cheap to keep running, and good training up the 150m hill I have to climb every night to get home.

I know they look cool, but I would advise looking elsewhere first…
A fork won’t help the harsh ride, the rigid, long frame and massive diameter seat post are the killers.

Jamcorse, I really like the look of the Tallboy, thinking of upgrading my Superlight frame to a carbon Tallboy later in the year, just trying to justify the expense!

Any chance you’ve ridden any single pivot SC’s and can compare them to the VPP bikes?

A bit shocking that… Glad he’s doing ok with it though.

Any MTB should do it really, I think the most important thing would be that it’s a bike you’ve ridden a lot and you are comfortable on it.

I’m planning to top 100miles on my SC Superlight later this year, with short stem, wide bars, dropper, 2.4 tyres, 120 forks and 2×9 gears. Not the best century bike on paper, but it’ll do it with no trouble.

Rider 500 is a friend of mine. It is a Kona Hardtail she is riding.

At 5.13 on the video? Deffo a Surly KM, and a beard!

I think everyone should be banned from the roads but me! 😉

Yes, I sell BMUs at work (Building Maintenance Units), but as classic BMW bike owner and forum user, as you could probably imagine I’ve sent out a few quotes for BMWs…

you can’t fix them when they go wrong,

ever tried fixing a modern cable gear shifter?

No, I’ve never had a broken one.

In terms of having it on my bikes, I like advancement in bike design but I don’t like electronics, you can’t fix them when they go wrong, and they are expensive. Gear cables work fine, so I’ll pass.

Does anyone know rider No 500?

I sold an almost new custom built Surly KM a year or so ago to someone who said they where using it for endurance events, and it looks very similar to the one on that vid.

Just wondering, would be nice to know it’s getting used well. 😀

Edit: Nice video!

What’s the thinking about leaving a dog at home all day while you’re at work?

I’d like a dog in the near future, we had a dog while I was growing up (a German shepherd guard dog, that was huge, but really friendly to me and my brother), but me and the mrs are out of the house 8 hours a day. The dog I grew up with spent 8 hours a day on her own after she retired from guarding, and she seemed fine.

I know modern thinking is that it’s not ok to leave a dog for the day, but does that go for all breeds? I’m guessing the sort of breed that will sit at home all day happily, won’t be the sort of breed to run 10 miles through the woods… (pug).

EDIT: BTW, some awesome looking dogs being posted. 🙂

Need to weigh my Surly KM, it’s rigid with full XT bits (crank, wheels, brakes etc..), set up as a SS.

Think it would be below 10kg, but the bars and stem aren’t the lightest, neither is the stainless surly tug nut.

Cleaning the bike and kit.

Someone should invent a dropper that can also be used as a pump. 😛

I really don’t notice I’m wearing the bag after 10 mins of riding, can’t say its massively better without it, except for when it’s really hot and then I’m glad to have the 2l bladder with me.

I’m just in the “rather not get stranded and don’t care about carrying and extra 300g of stuff” camp.

Each to their own like though.