Just read a few of the one star amazon reviews.

I can’t help finding it ironic that most of those that don’t like it feel insulted by the simplistic style of it. According to my understanding of the book this would be a typical “chimp” reaction.

It is pretty patronising though. I assumed it was deliberately written in a style that would make it accessible to anyone.

I could have written that self same OP.

I bought it a couple of years back and gave up after a few pages because I thought it was a bit patronising (overly simplistic, lots of pointless pictures etc.) but after reading O’Sullivan’s recent book I gave it another go. I reckon I got quite a bit from it, and certainly feel happier, calmer, more in control. Will give it another read in a couple of months, just so that it will hopefully stick.

Recommended it to one mate whom I thought might get something from it. He was pretty dismissive and I was a little embarrassed so I didn’t really push it. I’m not really into “self-help” either, so I don’t blame him.

There’s some nice countryside to the south of Cambridge, and it’s covered in bridleways (and footpaths.) You might even find some hills/singletrack within cycling distance of the city if you look hard enough. It’s not the peak district or Wales, but it’s not all bad.

Apart from that, there’s the places that everyone else has mentioned.
Epping forest isn’t too far either.

The Mrs always does uncle ben’s if she cooks.

I’m tight and insist on having a sack of value-for-money dry stuff to cook the hard way.

I cook basmati on the hob in excess water from cold, boiling for 3-4 minutes till almost cooked. Drain then put the colander in the pan (off the heat) with the lid over the top to let it finish cooking in the residual heat.

Perfect fluffy rice every time. Can’t imagine microwaving would be any easier than that (except uncle ben’s of course.)

I thought this was pretty standard practice. My wife is on maternity leave and only got a pro rata bonus for last year.

Same would happen if off sick for a significant amount of time at my place.

Wisteria I’d say.

The inner post is indeed bent. It’s out by about 2mm over the length of it. I don’t remember doing anything that could have caused that.

Better see about a replacement part(and check if they have a rider weight limit while I’m at it.) I’m not exactly a biffer, I wouldn’t expect that I should be able to bend one of these through normal use.

Well it’s nice to know that they can last that long!

That’s good to hear, thanks. Was that for a routine service?

I remain convinced that mine needs repair (or replacement parts) rather than service. I looked at the above video and that is exactly what I did to it last night, with no improvement.

He must have got the wrong end of the stick then.

A mate of mine doesn’t have his extension signed off yet since he’ll have to pay more council tax once it is. I don’t think he’s in much of a hurry.

Thanks, I might have to give them a try.

I’m not sure that we have much of a grasp on how huge the world is or how many people inhabit it, and hence on the miniscule likelihood that we could have been that old couple that were beaten up, or that soldier that was beheaded or on that plane that disappeared.

We see all this bad stuff in the news in a concentrated and sensationalised form and we think it’s going on all the time.

IMHO It’s good to keep an eye on what’s going on in the world, but you have to stay grounded. How many people do (did) you know that have been murdered? I don’t know of any.

The worst for me is news of all the cyclists that get knocked down on the roads. Keeps me off the roads if i can help it.

you know they have an importer now?

I did not. Just found them on Google though, thanks.

Did you speak to them direct about your service?

I suppose you’ve tried it with the clamp slackened off anyway?

Yeah, it still sticks when out of the frame.

I Ache – It’s stripped down at the minute so not a problem. Funny enough I thought of the ruler thing last night, when it dawned on me that it might be bent. Not had chance to look at it yet though.

Incidentally, it sticks whilst stripped down too.

I guess it’s not looking good though, what with KS’s lack of availabilty of spares or repairs in the UK. Better start saving my pocket money for a reverb.

Yes, a thin(ish) vertical line it is. So whatever is causing it to stick is rubbing at that point.

I figured that could be a symptom of several issues though…

Will have a look at the vid, thanks.

Andy – Do you have any experience of a tight seatpost clamp causing similar? It wasn’t something that had crossed my mind, and I can’t imagine it is likely but I’m not going to rule it out.

A mate of mine had some kind of advanced driving training tailored to his job, and was told that if you are carrying anything in the boot of your car you should have the back seats up and ideally have the back seatbelts clicked in too, in case you smash into anything.

Anything in the main part of your car is likely to be pretty dangerous should you roll your car.

Not sure about the law though.

I took my fatty to Norfolk, and rode it around on the beach.
It’s not flowy or swoopy but it was great riding along the surfline.

That was the only time i’ve felt justified in owning a fat bike.

pigeon landed in the tree above it

They tend to swoop rather than pounce, I reckon the pigeon was taunting it.

A sparrowhawk was inches from swooping into my face at a huge rate of knots a couple of weeks back. Awesome reactions from the bird to avoid a collision. Lucky really, because the bird was long gone before I even registered it.

Thanks, will bear that in mind.

Thanks chaps.

Hammerite sprung to my mind at first. Perhaps I’ve been over thinking it. I thought perhaps there was a a special paint that the tank makers used, since they are all the same horrible green…

I saw FLC a few years back. Huey was talking a lot in between tracks and someone in the crowd heckled him about it. He made out like he was gonna go down there and sort him out, but deliberatley waited till one of the security guys came up to stop him. It was all quite sad. I did like their music though.

I had a fairly inexpensive week in Kaprun/Zell am See earlier this year. Ryanair flights were about £50 each way, return transfer on the train was about 30 euro and b&b (with just me in the room) was 30 euro per night.

Lift passes aren’t cheap but you get a LOT of lifts on a area pass.

Food and drink in Austria aren’t expensive either.
I like France too, but would say that Austria would be better value of the two.

That said, I’ve never been to Scotland. For all the reasons stated above.

I’ve been to see Jedi, and had a great day.

Would like to go see Ed Oxley (Great Rock) too.

Mk5 Astra.

robinlaidlaw, cheers. fingers crossed then.

Hmmm, never thought about something being shoved in the window seal.
I assumed they had some highly technical way of opening the door.

Cheers guys.

hammyuk, not sure what you mean by dated the wiring?

ell_tell, thanks, but I don’t think that is it. the fob still works on the other doors.

I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a beetroot rosti with a warm smoked mackerel fillet and horseradish. Not tried it yet though.

According to the on-one website the standover is the same for all sizes.

top tube length varies though.

I’m 6’5″ and find mine to be very comfortable.
(large frame, not sure about exact size though.)

Drilling the rims took a couple of hours, and I don’t know if it was worth it purely from a saving weight point of view (when the rest of the bike is so heavy) but I do like the look, and I felt a bit of a noob with undrilled rims.

IMHO.

thepurist I think you owe it to us all to try that recipe.

Didn’t fearnley-whittingstall cook up some woodlouse fritters in his early days on TV?

You might find you get less visitors in the summer due to greater availability of natural food.

(House) Sparrows tend to live around people though, so they will always be around. That said, they can be bullies.

Edit: what he said ^^^

Man, they are FAST 🙂

Seriously though, it looks great.
Hope to get down there some time.

Inspired by this thread…

On to the back one now.

Don’t get me wrong, I had a spell a while back where I prefered the fatty. I think that it’s just that the trails are dry and fast at the moment and the fatty just isn’t as agile. It is still great fun though.

All IMO of course, YMMV etc.

Looks like a nice job!

If I rode one, would I ever want to ride my Scandal again…

I have one, but prefer my BFe at the moment.

Brant tweeted a video of how to drill the rims, quite a while back. Anyone know where that could be found?
Edit: Found it. should have googled first…

I love Epping, there are some (IMO) great trails there.

But I ride with locals that know the place inside out, and although I’ve been there countless times I still don’t think I’d be able to find my way round on my own.

I do always see loads of trails all over the place though, so I reckon you could have a good day as long as you weren’t to worried about finding your way back to your car!

Looks like a Vulture

Yep.