I don’t get to go to Ambleside very often these days, but I remember Keith from the mid 90’s, soon after I became the proud owner of a silver Orange Clockwork. Keith kitted me out with some quality gear to go with it (still got some Pace shorts he sold me) and after I moved to Leeds even provided me with tickets to the store opening of Jigsaw menswear in Leeds. First time I’d ever been to a free bar and I don’t think I’ve ever been that drunk before or since! Cheers Keith :D

The 1.6Tdi Passat is 105bhp, but the more important figure is the torque at 184 lb/ft as that’s what really makes it move in normal driving. If I really try hard I can get high 50mpg’s and a tank normally takes me over 700 miles. Not too shabby for a big car :wink:

I’ve had one for over a year now as a company car and it’s alright actually, but coming from an Audi A4 2.0d it took a bit of getting used to.

It’s never going to be a fast car when it’s only got a 1.6 diesel engine, but once the turbo’s spinning it’s fine. Problem is, when it’s off boost, meaning less than 1,500 revs NOTHING HAPPENS, especially if you’re on any kind of uphill slope. That poor little engine just can’t cope without the turbo.

However, you quickly learn to drive around this and then it’s just as quick as you need it to be in normal driving. On motorways it’s fine, comfortable, reasonably refined & more than capable of cruising at over 80mph and returning over 50mpg at the same time. In my opinion the handling’s better than an Audi A4 too, so it’s easy to throw it round bends and have a bit of fun with it too.

If you get an SE spec you get bluetooth stereo/ hands free kit, iPod connector, cruise control, auto start/stop, auto hold handbrake, air con, auto lights & dimming mirrors. It’s also big enough to get 5 adults & 4 dogs inside too, or several bikes in the back if you fold the seats down.

There’s also the small matter of low emissions and therefore low road/ company car tax too. Gave me a huge company car tax saving over the A4 !! It’s never going to be the most desirable car on most peoples list, and given the budget and choice on the company car list I’d definately prefer a BMW 3 or 5 Touring, but overall I actually quite like it :-)

Certainly the most painful way of spending £15 I’ve found so far. Absolutely agonising at first, but I have got used to it… to a point.

I got it to try and sort out ITB too and while it helps, it hasn’t fixed it completely probably because I’m not disciplined enough to use it every day. Anyone else with ITB problems have particularly painful areas at the top & side of the thigh? Can’t seem to get rid of that area of soreness at all.

I should probably stretch more too, but always forget to do this when I’ve warmed up. I’ve read that you shouldn’t stretch when your muscles are cold, is this right?

I’m 41 and my only bike is a steel hardtail and I love it. Been riding with a few different people lately with a real mix of bikes and I haven’t been left standing by a full suss yet :-)

Each to their own, but I’m finding my hardtail so rewarding to ride at the moment that I keep thinking the full suss riders are missing out. Hard tail riders just seem to get more of a buzz out of riding trails & that’s really what it’s all about, isn’t it???

Dominant eyes don’t matter too much in shooting sports where it’s possible to shut one eye, but with shotguns you need to keep both eyes open & it’s important to have your dominant eye looking down the barrel. It’s even possible to get a heavily offset stock (customised) to allow you to shoot right handed, but have your left eye looking down the barrel!

Dominant eyes aren’t even consistent. For example my right eye is dominant when I’m firing a shotgun for the majority of targets, but if I get an overhead target (grouse or pheasant type clay target), my left eye takes over. Go figure!! Very frustrating & it took me years to figure out why I was struggling with this type of target, but now if I squint as the target’s coming towards me, my right eye takes over & I get on target quicker :)

Just out of interest, what lube do you use on your cables? GT85 type or a heavier “wet” chain lube instead?

Shimano MW81’s of course! Reasonably stiff & loverly & warm too :-)

Grass could do with a trim, but I guess it grows quickly in the rainforest of Borneo :wink:

Nice bike though. I’ve got the older Altitude version & love mine. Looks old school but can take on bigger full suss bikes if the mood takes you on the down hills. Excellent choice Sir !

What ever fits :wink:

My feet fit Shimano perfectly so I’m well chuffed with my MW81’s.

Rice pudding!!! Mmmmmmmmmmmmm :-)

We’ve got to get Seraquin every month for our dogs and the cheapest place we’ve found is Vet UK. Saved us a packet over the local vets :)

Vet UK[/url]

Bought a pair for the Mary Towneley Loop Challenge yesterday & they did a great job of keeping my bum dry for most of the ride, right up to the point where the rain came at us sideways, then I doubt that any product on the market would have kept me dry.

I’d definately recommend them. Very comfortable, didn’t get sweaty, didn’t snag on the seat & provided the waist adjusters are used, don’t drop down either but you can get braces to use with them if you want too.

I was running Bontrager XR4’s front & rear in yesterdays Mary Towneley Loop Challenge & I really couldn’t fault them.

The conditions were truly horrendous and I don’t think you could get much wetter, muddier conditions than that!

Just got myself a pair of the Altura Attack shorts too for this weekends Mary Towneley Loop Challenge.

BARGAIN at £37.99 from Chevin Cycles!!!

What’s to remember? Mate of mine is still running an original Dart 2.1 on the front of his bike 8)

Hmmm. Looks like things are not looking too rosey for Sunday anymore & our prayers for sunshine aren’t working :(

BBC are forecasting that “Sunday should be much windier with rain followed by clearer conditions and showers”. Might have to invest in a pair of waterproof shorts now. Don’t fancy a wet backside for 8 hours…

Yup, I’ll be there too and I’m really looking forward to it :-) . Been praying for no rain for weeks now and so far the weather forecast’s looking OK with only a chance of showers on Saturday. No need to thank me :wink:

Not done this event before and I’ve not ridden in that area either, so I’m not quite sure what to expect. It’s also been quite a while since I did a ride much over 30 miles, so I’m just hoping to get round OK. Think I’ll just take a sh*t load of soreen and hope for the best I reckon.

Solo rides in the woods really helps to bring out your paranoid side of your personality (there definately is someone watching you, I promise!!!)
Also, a spare pare of shorts is a good idea just in case a deer springs out of the bushes at the side of you… so I’m told :oops:

Love my Fox Launch Pro’s. Had them for over a year & still look good. Just make sure you fix the velcro in place before you wash them.

Excellent protection, comfy enough for longer rides (did a 6hr two weeks ago in mine) & are fairly discrete under my black Fox Sergeant shorts too. Can’t go wrong IMO.

Boba Fatt – Member

Used to feel the same about the Foo Fighters, but changed my opinion a year or two ago. Though not sure that counts for much, as my music taste is so eclectic.

Weirdly I went the other way. Loved them, aloved all their albums, then wen’t to see them at Milton keynes a couple of ears ago and the highlight for me was when Bob Mould came out on stage with them. Other than that It felt ver much like I was paying for their swimming pools.

Just goes to show how two people can experience the same event and come to different opinions. I went to the Milton Keynes gig too and came out absolutely blown away and a bigger fan than when I went in. (Bob Mould was pretty cool too though ;) )

Bands I just don’t get:
The Beatles
Cream
Beach Boys
The Cribs
I’m sure there are many others but nearly any R&B & rap artist would probably be on the list too.

My wife went gluten free earlier in the year and it has definatlely been a pain in the ar*se but we’ve found a few things that have made life easier.

Genius bread
Nakd cereal bars
Marks & Spencers :) very clearly labeled food for gluten content
Eating out? Go for an Indian :) Loads of good options!

Bontrager XR4??

Done a few rides with a Team Issue version on the front & it’s been really good on the rocks, roots & moors here in Yorkshire. Very confidence inspiring, so I’ve now bought a standard version for the rear too which is a bargain at £21.99.

Just watch out for the size though. I initially bought a 2.35″ and it barely fit inside my Reba’s. I swapped that for a 2.2 & even that it bigger than the 2.35 Panaracer Rampage I replaced it with.

Not sure it makes that much difference, but I’ll check with my mate this weekend. He’s still running a 12 year old Panaracer Dart on the front of his bike 8O

Fox Launch Pro’s have been great, forget they’re on:)

^^ this

Great fit, they stay put and every time I fall off it’s like ‘hey that didn’t hurt!’

Exactly what I was thinking too. Great pads :-)

+1 for CandBseen.

I got 2 x 1200 lumen lights last Christmas & they’ve been superb. Recommend the diffuser lens for the bar mounted light though as it takes away the spot effect nicely for better peripheral lighting on the trails.

+1 for Marks & Spencers :) They not only have a reasonable range of gluten free food, they also label all of their food very clearly so you can easily identify whether it contains gluten or other allergens too.

My wife was diagnosed with a gluten intolerance (less severe than Coeliac disease) about 4 months ago and we’ve found that it’s not only expensive but also makes life very difficult, especially when the rest of the family still wants to have non-gluten free foods. We’ve allocated a seperate cupboard for the gluten free food and have separate butter too. Thankfully we all love Indian food so that’s one night a week we can all eat the same thing together though.

I’ve tried to track down an SLX freehub recently and they simply aren’t in stock anywhere until December so I’ve bought a new hub to get the part from. Bike-discount.com was the cheapest place I could find by the way. Might be for your part too :wink:

I’ve got a similar problem with my SLX hub at the moment, but I’ve found that the problem is with the freehub. Are you sure this isn’t the problem with yours too? Tell tale sign is that the noise stops when you’re pedalling.

Incidentally I’ve got no choice other than to buy a donor hub as Madison can’t supply a new freehub until December!!! This will also give me the spares if I need to rebuild the cup & cones too though. Cheapest place I’ve found for a new hub is bike-discount.com.

Gave my 1993 Orange Clockwork to my dad a few years ago, but still love having a blast on it whenever I go to see my folks.

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IMAG0595[/url] by J[/url], on Flickr

It still surprises me how sharp and direct its handling is and how low it feels too! Modern bikes with suspension forks feel like they’re on stilts by comparison. Even though I used to ride it round the Peaks all the time I don’t think I’d want to ride it everyday now though. Those rigid forks are too punishing on Yorkshire rocks for me these days :wink:

Regarding the link between compulsary helmet use & decline in bike use, there are many other factors that could contribute to this effect in other countries that may not necessarily apply elsewhere such as:

The existing culture of bike and helmet use in the country prior to the legislation change.
The nature of the media coverage prior to & after the change is made.
The nature of penalties introduced for law breakers
Incentivisation given by government & other institutions when the law is introduced.
Methods of enforcement used after the law has been introduced.
Education campaigns used after the law change etc….

Believe me I’m the last person wanting to have legislation introduced for bike helmets, but I still think it’s naive to assume there is a direct correlation there and to assume the stats on their own tell the whole story.

Just for the record I’m pro helmet, anti-compulsion too.

To be honest, I’m stunned by a couple of the statements & assumptions made in this thread so far which to me are ludicrously illogical.

Firstly wearing helmets is not a black & white issue of death vs life, as the main factor to be considered is the reduction of injury, which is a very grey area. For example I’ve had a crash in which my head & helmet hit a rock, but (obviously)I didn’t die. However if I hadn’t been wearing a helmet I may have had a sore head/concussion/fractured skull or other undesirable medical phenomenon.
Surely the question to be asked is, would you be better or worse off wearing a helmet in the majority of cycling accidents, not will I live or die if I wear/ don’t wear a helmet? This type of question won’t appeal to the lovers of statistics as qualitative judgements like this won’t be consistently recorded by the NHS or other organisations around the world.

Secondly to suggest that the compulsary wearing of helmets would have a direct effect on the use of bikes is ridiculous. Why should one thing have a direct correlation on the other? A very tenuous assumption in my opinion especially when there are so many other strong influences on peoples decision to buy & ride bikes.

There’s been a number of threads about this over the last year or two and as usual it divides opinion, nearly as much as wheel sizes or tyre options. However I can only speak from experience on making similar changes to my 120mm hardtail.

Started off with 680mm bars and 85mm stem. Nice balance, but after a big crash I wanted to get a feeling of more control from my set up so I just changed the bars at first.

750mm bars on 85mm stem. Like you it didn’t feel right as it put slightly more weight forward than I’d had before and slowed the steering down too, so after a few months I changed the stem.

750mm bars on a 55mm stem. This really speeded the steering up which took some getting used to. My weight had certainly been moved back a bit, but something still wasn’t right so I lowered the stem by about 1cm by putting a spacer over the stem on the steerer.

This now feels about right. I’ve got a more aggressive, balanced stance on the bike for both decending and climbing. I’ve been outclimbing my mates with narrower bars on the steeper routes lately and it even feels like it’s given me more breathing room.

I thought this link might be useful and it seems about right given the changes I’ve made too.

Wide bars

Easton Havon’s lovely. Beautifully made & simple to setup with the Top Lock mechanism too.

40% off at Wiggle at the moment :)

Soooooo jealous!!!

+1 for avoiding LA. Absolutely the worst place in California IMO. I couldn’t wait to get out of there, but I guess it is one of those places you’ve got to tick off the list.

If you’re going to Zion, try the walk up Walters Wiggles. Bryce Canyon isn’t too far from there so you could do both in a day if you wanted.

Highly recommend camping when you’re out the cities. So many great places to stay just off the coastal roads & absolutely incredible when you’re in the national parks like Redwood, Zion, Joshua tree & near the Grand Canyon.

I’ve got an Altitude 30 & it’s been a great bike overall. Handling’s good & it’s got that classic “comfy” (for a hardtail), springy steel feeling about it and takes a good thrashing in its stride too.

The weak points for me have been the paint (which is wafer thin, chips easily) and the Genesis branded parts which from a practical point of view are fine, but look cheap. I’ve now swapped the bars & stem & would love to get rid of the seatpost next. Dropper post would be nice, but the seat tube size limits the choice a bit.

Oh now we’re talking! Hope Valley College ride provides a seductive combination of a Mountain Rescue charity causes with a ride over Jacobs Ladder and the Beast! Tremendous :D

Can’t see my colleagues turning that tempting offer down either!

The Mary Towneley Loop challenge sounds interesting, a great charity….and really tough!! 46 miles on the Pennine moors is not to be taken lightly I reckon, especially if it’s wet & windy.

Anyone out there done it before??

The climb up beside the garden centre in Guiseley. Think it’s called Fairy Dell.

I know exactly where you mean! It’s an absolute sod that continues to frustrate me too. On a good run I’ll make it over the steps but it’s that last 5 yards over the lip that’s proved impossible so far. The rocky section after that is usually a relief :wink:

I’m sure 90% of it’s a mind game though cause you’ve got all that time climbing the steep road section before it to think about all the different ways you could fail to ride it again. Just typing this now has guaranteed I won’t make it up there next time :(