Decent lead. When should the declaration come? Plenty of time left and if the bowling's remotely up to yesterday's standards then it could be worth going to 400. But not too much more…. arggh. Thank frig I don't have to make the decision.

MrGenerous… if you're not emailed out yet I'd like a copy too. Cheers 🙂

is that unreasonable?

I can sympathise with your position but surely that would mean you've not paid for the warranty yet either?

Fair points from Mark but, tbh, I wouldn't lose sleep.

we want to give you amazing content

Then I await the second issue with anticipation but the first was a bit…. unamazing. One lengthy interview in which Martyn Ashton mentions Diamondback enough for me to notice it. I then couldn't help but notice the Diamondback/Raleigh ads. It also seems quite Surrey/Freeborn (again, I kept wondering what was going to be featured in ish 2: South Downs or Chilterns?) focussed. The reviews? Insipid. 'Skills section'? Soul-destroyingly unoriginal. It didn't really stand out as a mag with any clear personality or point.

Fair enough it's free but it was very… <shrugs> meh.

All there buns are sesame, so it's a no go

I think i've missed something. What's up with sesame?

ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD !!!

I can't think why.

x y interface.

Yep, i was there yesterday too 🙂

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You might be lucky and have a magic ratio meaning

Although most vertical dropouts allow enough variation in wheel insertion to find good tension pretty easily. As the chain etc wears you just drop the wheel a little further in. Disc brakes soon let you know if you've got the wheel in straight and it'll let you know if it's not in far enough by falling out. Doing this I quite happily SS'd* a Soul, E8, Inbred (geared one), Armadillo, Merlin, Pastey, 456, Rock Lobster and Prince Albert. You really should use a non-ramped cog and chainwheel tho.

*Having said that I've been back on the gears for a couple of years now.

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One from earlier today.

Not sure at the moment – depending on work email tomorrow morning it could be tomorrow (so all totally last minute) or Thursday. If it's Thursday I'll give you a shout to the email in your profile.

ROFL, that's exactly the sort of things. Cheers 🙂

It's steel – it'll bend back good as new.

LT hardtail with not very LT forks; bit of an experiment and it's going pretty well at the moment – nowt scary going down, very easy going up.

a 43 mile 7000 ft + Lakeland trip

Hell's teeth! After that you won't even notice the third and fourth climbs up the Mynd 🙂

All's well that ends well 🙂

Born York; grew up IOW and Northumberland, ten years in La-di-da-ndon now in Derby soon (well 2 yrs from now) to move up Belper-ish way.

Riding nowhere this weekend but getting a train to Church Stretton on Tuesday, staying 2 nights in All Stretton and having some time to explore Long Mynd.

They don't care what the proletariate would like, we're here to be told what we can have and what it's going to cost us

I'm not sure the proletariat can afford either mountain bikes or train travel (although having said that I've been buying supercheap train tickets recently by splitting the journey etc).

Yeah. I agree with those who expressing a glimmer of optimism; he seems new to eBay and may have heard horror stories about Paypal or just misunderstood. You can trace a cheque to a paying account more easily than via Paypal and you have to send it to his address. As pointed out above he sounds like he knows what he's talking about when it comes to bikes.

As to the provenance of the frame? I wonder if he did buy it in the earlier auction: it was from a shop owner (?) the frame is marked up as 'shop proto 15'. It may all hang together.

Also, so far no one has piped up saying it looks the same as a Carrera Cockrocket with Orange stickers on it or anything 🙂

Memory Map – only covers key areas at 1:25000 – bad point

Nope, I have all of GB at 1:25K in MM. I have also tried TL and ended up with MM as I found TL more expensive and messier onscreen. I've also tried Anquet which I preferred over both but I can't recall why exactly. MM tends to be the default choice.

trying to get some Conti tyres on my rims

To be honest, I only looked at this thread to confirm my guess that this was about Conti tyres. I was right. I stopped buying them years ago and I've never had a problem since.

Cheers Muddypuddle – it's a bit out of my way (I'm getting to Church Stretton by train ) but I'll be driving before the end of the year and will revisit the area once I'm on four wheels.

CM – ygm 🙂

ST article??
did i miss one on LM?

Yeah, it was in issue 37 (I keep trying to access theMag Archive but there's some kind of problem); the first paragraph starts, "Shropshire has the best riding in the UK. There, I've said it." And continues from there 🙂 I can't scan it in right now but if you fancy a copy of it then send me an email and i could get it done in a fortnight or so.

the flat tyres route that fozzy mentions comes recommended

Yeah, it looks good. I think shares a final descent with the way that I've adapted the ST one – down here which is how I'll be ending my day 🙂

on Caer Caradoc etc

I'm doing a bit round there the day before my full day on Long Mynd – just enough to stretch my legs without making the day after Hellish. Is that where you mean by the East Ridge – I don't really know the area so I'm not sure where you mean.

Mail me if you're interested.

I surely will, thanks 🙂

It's some kind of Victorian machine for inducing premature labour I think.

😆

Cheers fozzy – I've got that marked out on Memory map but, to be honest, the enthusiasm of the ST article elevated that into my preferred route 🙂

Personality? Wiggo definitely.

Last: Sram 951 chain
Next: New cranks? Service my forks? Maybe a SDG Bel Air.

Uh… none.
Mind you, having three children has convinced us this might have to change so we might have a Ford Focus or similar before the year is out (provided tests get passed etc).

What have you got in your bottles?

It's not so much my bottles as what I'll be slipping in my children's drinks to calm them down and keep them quiet for the duration 😈

I don't WANT to spend my time away from my children. I want to get home as soon as I can after work, I want to feed and bathe them and watch them fall asleep in my arms. I can't do that when out riding my bike

Very, very true.

Yes, money can become an issue if you let it. You seem to be being sensible and not feeling the urge to splurge on over-priced tat. Well, not regarding baby things anyway.
No sex? We had 5 weeks 'off' (last week of pregnancy, first four weeks after birth) and then.. well, we enjoyed ourselves again.
No sleep? Suck it up! The first two weeks are a hideous shock to the system; the first six months will leave you crawling. BUT your child is magical and you can only forgive them. You have to take exhaustion into account with your missus and ignore/forgive her crankiness; the chances are that half the time it's your own exhaustion that's leading you to perceive it. Oh, and you're probably being a dick through sleep deprivation anyway. After that it's all plain sailing.

The first six months are tough going if you get involved; if you don't then you're missing out so forget bikes for a little while. They'll still be there when things calm down a bit.

And congratulations; enjoy it! 🙂 It is truly the best thing that can happen to you.

http://twitter.com/FaunyFergus

£1.30 for chips, christ do you get shares in the shop with that.

Lol. No, but you get enough for 2 and a couple of little 'uns 🙂

A fine quartet indeed but hey led me off down some unusual paths in my later teen years heh.

Mud was my other fave at the time, but I was only 10!

Inner City Unit (feat. one Nik Turner of Hawkwind fame) combined 'Tiger Feet' into one of the songs they did live (memory fails me) but I'm sure it's amongst them at the Salford gig here.

(btw, Christ, the Album was re-issued today)

Is it worth getting again? (- Any new tracks/ remastered or owt?

I love 'em from the acoustic stuff onwards.

Mind, from my teens the four square corners of my musical initiation were: Hawkwind, Crass, The Cramps, and the 13th Floor Elevators.

Saxon. Very lol 🙂 but… Stryper, in a good way?!!

The chippy across the road does the best chips. £1.30, generous portions with small bits of batter mingled in with them. It is the the chippacle of chipness.

You mess with the platonic ideal of chips and you get faux chips. Probably for £7.75 a pop.

Is this really what it has come to after 12 years of a socialist government – the polite classes are forced to consume 'chips' ?

I suspect it's just the arrivistes who can't rid themselves of the habits of their forebears but hate them enough to try and posh 'em up. Y'know, NuLab type peoples.

Lolzer. Fools, money etc.

Further thoughts: Susan Greenwood writes very well (and shares a name with the author of the very good The Nature of Magic : an anthropology of consciousness). Mike Ferrentino is good at whinging amusingly but the same schtick can wear thin after a while.

Oh! And I feel truly indebted to the mag for telling me about Ogilby's Britannia.

Just looked through the contents (mostly interesting, entertaining and enlightening) page and editorial (yep, that's what i've been planning for the last couple of days) and am about to get comfy on the sofa. My missus is making me a coffee. Heady times in the run-up to lunch.