Airbus UK Broughton FC has a very romantic feel to it.

Cheers all.
Now I look a bit closer the left finger will not move quite as far backwards as the others, but only a few degrees.
I’ll keep an eye on it.

Thanks to this thread I think I have figured out what the lumps I have had for a couple years are ?
Both hands and both the same place, no finger bending yet.
Worth seeing a doctor just yet?

I’ve done pretty much all the loops and add-ons and to me the classic loop is the best.

For a big day classic loop and round the back of Coire mhic nobuil. You will struggle to hold onto your bars on the last descent ?

A quick one at Drumtochty forest yesterday and a big one in the hills today.

Tarfside, over Mount Keen, down to Aboyne and then back to Tarfside. 35 miles and about 6000ft of climbing. Legs are tender now.

Airdrop Edit MX seems to fit the bill.

I’m with benpinnick.

I gave up on Crank Brothers pedals a while back as I was getting sick of the constant rebuilds.

After reading a review of the Hope GC’s on Loamwolf I thought I’d give them a punt and I’m glad I did. They are exactly as the reviewer says.

Not Shimano 12spd I’ll guess, I believe SRAM cassettes are one piece?

Yes, Shimano 12 speed and easy enough to change. Undo the lock it, clamp the cassette between your thumbs and fingers, slide it off the freehub and slide it onto the other, pre-aligned, freehub. Opposable thumbs for the win.

V interested in the wheels/tyres you are running & where/why?

My most used set of wheels are DT240’s with XM481 rims, rimpacts, Continental Kryptotal enduro fronts. This is for riding the enduro stuff in Aberdeenshire

The other set of wheels are DT350’s with XM481 rims, no inserts, Continental trail  Kryptotal and xynotal. These are for when I ride trail centres or more chilled rides.

Both sets of wheels have discs fitted so it is just a cassette change.

Effectively yes, as I really only use one.

Scott Scale xc hardtail. Not used for at least 18 months.

Road bike. Only used when my car is being fixed.

Privateer 141 (Ohlins set up). Used for all my mountain biking. I’ve got a couple of sets of wheels to make it more versatile.

I have just had the joy of doing this to my 18 month old 240 exp’s

Nothing worked at home. Heat, off the shelf penetrant, tool in a vice (trashed a pattern tool), snapped a 3/8” breaker bar, etc.

In the end I gave up and took it to work (we overhaul gas turbines).

It got a good soaking in Ardrox penetrant.

Battery powered impact driver with maybe 250Nm, nothing.

Air powered impact driver with 773Nm, nothing.

6 foot pole and one of the fitter hanging off it, nothing.

It finally broke free with the tool in a big vice and three of us turning the wheel.

A quick, by Scottish standards, trip over to Torridon to ride the Achnashellach descent a couple of times. It is a deceptively big loop and was a bit of a struggle in 20 degree heat, especially when you have been used to the cold and rain for the last eight months.

My Crank Brothers shoes work fine with the Hope pedals. It’s a bit of a faff to get them set up with shim height and pin height, but once set up they feel good.

I have up on them about 6 months ago. Rebuilds every 6 months and cleats about the same starts to get expensive.

I am trying Hope GC’s at the moment. I can’t say how they are for longevity, but I definitely like they way they feel and work.

I rode at Pitfichie for the first time in a while and my god it has gotten rough. I was really struggling to keep any flow going and was beginning to think I’d forgotten how to ride. From this year’s times on Strava it looks like everyone is struggling 😀.

No photos as the uploader won’t work with my phone any more and the photos ain’t worth going on Flickr 🤷‍♂️

No pictures for me as today’s ride at Pitmedden was cut short by my mates forks giving up on him. Second week on the trot his bike has failed him ☹️.

A shame as Pitmedden was running really well.

Maybe next weekend 🤞

Merlin for me. I have rather a lot of loyalty vouchers to spend with them (I didn’t know they were a thing and I’ve spent a lot of money with them over the last 15 years or so 😳).

After them it’ll be places that stock odd stuff I use like Galfer pads (Rush Cycles) or whoever is cheapest for the stuff that I use.

Used to do this all the time. Drive to trail centre, kip in back of the Berlingo get up dead early at first light and enjoy some empty trails. Don’t over think it.

As above.

I used to do this a fair bit, in people carriers and estate cars. A length of foam to sleep on, a window just about open and a bottle to piss into. The only creature comfort I would take would be a decent pillow.
I tried making brews in the morning but soon realised that I couldn’t be bothered with the faff. Get up, get dressed and get going!

She will be fine.

I took a guy from work, who had never ridden a mountain bike, to Tarland 2 and he was fine, well, until he got tired and started to crash 😀.

I’ve tried a few clipless systems and finally settled on Mallets a good while back. Last year I gave up on them as I was getting frustrated with how much maintenance I was doing.

I decided to try the Hope gravity pedals after reading Robert Johnson’s review on Loamwolf (possibly your mates room mate). They are exactly as he described, a bit of a faff to get the pin and shim set up well, but after that they feel very secure but also very positive and easy to release.

I would definitely recommend them.

I feel absolutely no different to 2020 and before.

Similar to irc up there it probably helped that I had to work as normal through every lockdown (workshop environment), carried on riding my mountain bike at multiple locations on my route to and from work, only caught Covid in 2023 and don’t know anyone who it affected badly. To be honest, I enjoyed a lot about the lockdowns.

I got out for a very chilled cruise out to the bottom of Mount Keen and back on Friday. The weather was perfect.
Easy turbo session today as I had a few too many glasses of wine last night.

A wee bimble around Glen Tanar and Birse today. It was windy up high, enough that it was taking my breath away from me. I also came close to losing a derailleur and wheel after hooking a large branch.

A wee cruise above Aboyne on various Landy tracks.
It was absolutely glorious, blue skies, sub-zero and not a breath of wind, so I didn’t fancy doing the winch and plummet thing in the woods.

I started with 20wt Fox in mine (Fox 36 Rhythm) and found that anything more than two clicks from fully open on the HBO felt I was was hitting a brick wall.

I went down to 10wt after a while and this put me roughly half way between open and closed, and any adjustments that I made felt less like an on/off switch.

Three hours of Zone 2 on the turbo trainer on Friday as there was just too much snow up in Aberdeenshire.

Out at Drumtochty today and all of the snow has gone. It was cold, wet, muddy and windy, but still better than the turbo 😀

Grilled until crisp on the outside then top with cheese and a bit of pepper and grill it.

Edit: Most of the time, just butter.

I post this Ancillotti every time this thread comes up. It is still my favourite looking bike. It also has pull shock written on it 😀

Ruptured appendix and kidney stones. 

The appendix was a few days of feeling particularly shit and then excruciating pain. 

The kidney stones was just instant wtf is going on.

A snowy ride at Drumtochty. Everything was nice and grippy except the odd root hidden under the snow. Rebound needed tweaking as it was running a little slow in the cold.

IMO, chainstays are too short on them and the balance is all out, rear wheel feels like its under you and the front wheel is miles out in front.

This is what I thought about mine (S3 and I’m 5’9″). Riding anything steep down it was fun, anything else it wasn’t very good. I could never get it up the hardest technical climbs I could make it up on other bikes and on shallower descents it felt unstable.
I now ride a Privateer 141 which is better at just about everything.

Drumtochty forest on Friday and today. I was like a drowned rat on Friday and it was glorious today. 🤷‍♂️

I’ve been running Continental Argotal on the front and a Kryptotal front on the back for a few rides and it feels like cheating, so much grip.

It also means going somewhere or doing something in a broader sense. “Weez tah getten agait?” – “ah’s bin t’pitchers.”

My Father and his late Father, both originally  from New Bury 😳 near Bolton, use the phrase ‘let’s get agait’ to mean get going.

For me it is still the descent down to Achnashellach in Torridon (short version). It has been the same answer for a long time and can’t see it changing. Stunning views, grippy rock, loose gravel, high speed straights, low speed awkwardness…etc.

Heartbreak Ridge is my go to local ride but has become a victim of its own success and is very blown out nowadays. I’m sure that I will have a heart attack on it at some point, 10 minutes of maximum heart rate can’t be good for a man in his 50’s 😀.

@fathomer    Final destination is south off the top of Culblean Hill.

The stuff we measure ranges from +/- a few tenths to +/- a couple of thou* (aeroderivative gas turbines). I think that they pay for Mitutoyo because they are reliably accurate and precise. I’ve never used any other brand but I believe they feel rough in use which is gonna give you less precision. I’m not sure at what point they get binned, but I imagine the tolerance is low.

* I would only use the digital calipers for anything at the very top of this range and would always prefer to use a micrometer.

My 12 year old Starrett 6″ digital calipers have just been replaced by the calibration department at work with a set of Mitutoyos, and having never considered the cost of them this thread has made me have a look…..they ain’t cheap are they 😳

I wonder if they still teach people how to read these or its all gone digital at university now? I spent a lot of time 20 odd years ago teaching students how to read vernier scales

I’m an inspector on gas turbines and use analogue measuring equipment every day. 

…..and only one person so far has given it its proper name…….a ‘very near’. 😀

I finally gave up on Mallets recently as I’d had enough of buying new cleats and refresh kits.
I decided to get a set of the Hope GC pedals after reading the review on Loamwolf’s website. I got them for £140 which is expensive but hopefully cheaper than Mallets in the long run. So for I would agree with Loamwolf’s review that after a bit of trial and error when setting them up they feel simultaneously secure but also easy to get into and out.

Run Crank Brothers cleats, they’ll wear out before they’ve had chance to seize.

With flats, it’s my calfs that get more scrapes than my shins. Maybe I’m doing it wrong, wouldn’t be the first time

This is why I gave up on flats after a year of ‘giving them a go’. The muscle memory of lifting the rear foot on technical climbs would not leave me.

For the OP, the Hope Union GC feels like a good pedal. I’m only a couple of rides in but I  liking the feel of them so far.