Done.

A law like this already exists in Southwest Germany. Legally you can only ride trails at least 2 or 3m wide around there (basically fire roads). Really stupid. 🙄

Then again a “reasonable but not into MTB” friend suggested recently to me to have separate trails for bikes. He argued that walkers feel threatened by the big speed difference.

It would help if bikers would be a little more considerate more often.

I slow down and even dismount in doubt and it really helps. And as I don’t want to do that all the time I choose less busy areas/times.

If you noticed the bike first

you must have a huge screen! 🙂

the English stuff is pretty awesome!

@pease: great video! Thanks for sharing!

14 QUID for a frame when it probably costs pennies to make, youre paying for the name, and the image

Serious?
I am more than happy to pay 14 quid (or more) for that name and that image if I get that frame thrown in for free!

And I don’t care what the actual production costs are. Not a bit. Because what I am wearing on my nose is not a piece of “production cost” but a proper solution for my needs. I mean, I had more then 10 years perfect fit and performance! What more would I want? I don’t feel them nor see them when I wear them, they don’t fall off, they don’t slip down the nose, they rarely steam up, the Heater lenses are draught-free and give great protection.

So for me they are good value.

If others have better value and do a good job – great! Buy them!
I don’t have any reason to stray away. Customer loyalty, eh?!

Thanks a lot
sounds good to me
will contact Oakley UK!

Cheers! 8)

If you enjoyed the Orange video then watch TT 3D

second that and you don’t need to be into motorbikes to enjoy it!
Good action, good documentary, good portrait!

I always wonder whether Guy Martin is actually aware of his quirkiness, charming as it is.

I suspect it’s rarer than all your Indy, Moots etc.

nice frame, nice story, no need to bash’n’brash

OK then, Dialled paint better than Cotic paint better than On-One paint 🙂
Where’s Ragley in that row?
And best paint is any paint with heli tape?!

I’m not a big paint worrier anyway.
Wear your scars with pride!

What about all the guys I see all the time with the buckle closed but the strap still dangling loosely under the chin? Apart from slipping off in a crash it might as well strangle you in the process. I find that pretty daft, too.
And surprisingly common.

Very happy Soul owner here and Cotic as a company has a “small and smart” feel good factor in addition to their responsiveness and helpfulness.

I’d also reckon that the resale value (and resale speed) of a Cotic frame will always be pretty good while the paint quality will make it look good even after some years of use.

Isn’t it great to have such good choices for anyones budget and priorities?!
No experience with Ragley but the On-One I had was great, too. Sorted geometry, nice steel feel, mavericky image, easy to resell. Brittle paint and high-ish weight was OK as the price is low. It’s a honest package!

Happy choosing! 🙂

Great pics! Thanks!

Have none from our Sunday morning ride in North Norfolk but can second perfect conditions, a good work-out and nice handling training.

Virgin snow was still dry and powdery, neither icy nor slushy, giving good grip and this nice creaky noise, while providing the magic carpet ride feel and muted atmosphere that only fresh snow can provide.

It helps to know the trails but lower speed makes even snow-covered obstacles less of an issue while everything is cushioned anyway. And the bike stayed clean throughout the whole ride!

yummy white carbon frame:

hm, didn’t know either, just got it from a blog, was labelled “custom” there, did some research, went from one blog to the other and the closest I could find in terms of origins is this here:

”(…) designed and baked the carbon frame (…) Frank, Middelburg (Holland)”

so home-baked?! 😯

brant – Member
The new 29er steel inbred frames coming in a few weeks all have the same head angle. I slacked the larger sizes.

Geometry table given for new Inbred 29 Limited Edition SS looks as if you’ve still got the 71°/72° divide between 16″ and bigger. Copy-paste-typo?! 😕

slightest application of power left the back wheel spinning and this was on dry climbs

😯 are you running road tyre pressure?! 😉
anyway, sounds as if you are sorted with lower pressure in a good race tyre then

you’ll find ultimate grip with other tyres or a road bike on tarmac 🙂

In my experience thumb holes can get in the way with handlebar grips.
So what about arm warmers as an alternative?!

(I have a very good (warm, wicking, non-smelly, durable) icebreaker top with thumb holes. The arm sleeves are long enough for me and I have longish but not veeeeeeery looong arms. I never use the thumb holes while biking because they annoy me overlapping with the handlebar grips.)

we pushed someone up in a shopping trolley

long conga line seen passing through

great pictures in my mind now! 😀

Maybe a dumb question: if your ambulance or whatever stops you from driving through why don’t you just ultimately walk in? or do they serve drive-thru only at certain times?

early 90s 525 SPD pedals and XT thumbshifters here

so that’s roughly 20 years with (common pattern here?!) 10 years of less frequent use but mud and races and all before and now more or less again

SPDs never had any service until I found one being pretty loose recently, put new grease into both, didn’t look too shabby inside, run smooth again but now start having a problem clipping out (any cure for this?)

thumbies no service and work faultless with 8speed XTR and Gore Ride-ons

don’t know about your OEM version etc. but here’s another vote that Rocket Rons (mine are 2.25 evos from the LBS for the proper price) are not that grippy in any sort of positively raspy confidence inspiring way

and they are probably not meant to be, compromise, low rolling resistance etc., see above

while I can’t really fault them because they slide around in a fairly controlled way they just don’t feel like I can really trust them to “tell” me in advance when they let go

get grippier tyres if running low pressure doesn’t help, like:
– Maxxis Ardent
– Spec. The Captain

and finally a retro-hipster’s wet dream:

Vanguard BISCOTTI Messenger Bike

bike poarn on the beach

well… OK… maybe too OT but very… uhm… lascivious, isn’t she?!
and in any case true Poarnstar name: Dutchess

those thighs!

not to be forgotten the voluptuous variety of bike poarn:

strokes his thighs?!

I was amazed to see their range of non-bike specific stuff, e.g. military-tactical.
This one is probably OTT but still impressive: Urban Assault XL

Hydration Capacity: 70 oz (2 L), Cargo Volume: 2258 cu in (37 L)
“(…)5mm EVA foam padded laptop compartment (…) Enough internal volume for a quick overnight trip or taking work to and from the office.”
.
.
Strange enough they offer a full range of gloves for the military side of things but not for cyclists. Though some of them could work for non-armed cyclists, too: Hi-Tech Impact II CT…

“The perfect blend of finger control and flexible accordion knuckle protection keeps you ready for action at any range. Applications: Mechanic’s work, shooting, using weapons or driving in rough conditions.”

SWAWEEET!!! 😀
cool low-rider light and love the colour! looks like a real colour, not metallic, is it?!
though a bit too lusciously tyred for my liking

Thing is the whole niche hardtail thing is a bit “me too”…just do what you want rather than being influenced by the views of others.

🙁 I am confused now. If I really want a niche hardtail without having been influenced by the views of others… Wait a minute, is this possible? Not being influenced by other views at all? And is it desirable? Or would it be actually quite sad? Oh! Sorry! Where were we? Ah yes, so assuming that I am totally not influenced and still want a niche hardtail but it’s – as you say – currently a bit “me too” can I still have one or do I have to wait until it’s less “me too”? And should I – for the time being – buy something really ordinary just to be not “me too”? Or is ordinary by definition “me too”, too? 😕

Ah never mind 😉 let’s have some more of what I’d generously call bike poarn:

WTB Phoenix

yes, i understand, looks somewhat ordinary… but… I think it’s got perfect proportions! And it “looks” as if it rides great! So I think it’s tres jolie, indeed! 🙂

Thanks epicyclo!

38/17 installed, has a little too much slack to run without tensioner, but even with the weak down-push tensioner it doesn’t slip anymore.

And that’s most important because it means I can go for a ride! 🙂

I’ve discovered that googling bicycle porn is quite enlightening and definitely NSFW

what? 😯 that’s what I’d call selective perception then!

have a look here 🙂 as a mild example

or do what I do scroll through and just look at the pics and ignore all the silliness.

but where’s the fun in that? 😉

First of all: you lot here in the UK are just spoiled with choice! You have such a great variety of high quality and enthusiastic magazines for about any activity one could think of and then some! Plus the stuff from the US.

So please stop whinging. Just for a moment.
No? OK, fine, then at least accept that it’s whinging on a high level, will you? 😕

I leaf through most of the MTB mags every month and funny enough without any pre-conception I always end up buying WhatMTB and most of the time Singletrack Magazine. Can’t really explain why either. MBUK topics just don’t appeal to me, neither MBR. WhatMTB has always enough relevant things in there to make me want to read it in detail and I actually like their tonality/style. STM is more journalistic and inspiring and more pleasant to the eye. In simple terms: more sophisticated than WhatMTB while more hands-on than Privateer. Shame Mint Sauce is not featured in STM. Would be a perfect fit. If I could only have one mag (beware!) it would be STM anytime!

I have Privateer #1 and just bought the last 2 issues and really liked them again. Bought them mainly for the geometry articles but read through everything else with pleasure, too. Paper, layout, photography, essayistic writing and yes, also some lengthy self-pitying navel-gazing. I reckon one has to appreciate all of that to see the value.

My personal mag-o-meter: I guess I throw away WhatMTB and such-like after 1 year or so, STM after maybe 5 years (and then only after leafing through them again and still keeping some) and Privateer never. They are – as mentioned – more like a book.

Most disappointing bike mag recently? Mountain Bike Action! I had a subscription as a teen. Every issue was a celebration of new and exciting stuff, state-of-the-art action photography of my bike heroes and saucy editorials by Zapata Espinoza. It was there that I also fell in love with Missy Giove by the way! 😳
I bought a copy recently out of curiosity. 😐 It’s lame! Almost amateurish. And dated looks to go with it. They havn’t moved on since those days. Not a bit. Or maybe it’s just me.

Anyway: indulge in whatever you like to read! Even if it’s House and Hound.
And next month at the newsagent I will give this Alibinion-or-wozit mag a try… 🙂

As the any definition of biek porn, Shirley it can be nothing other than individual?
I mean one man’s Asianbabes is another man’s GILF weekly?

so what Al said!!!

There’s no accounting for taste, is there? Surely shouldn’t!
We could have enjoyed each others interpretation of what bike porn is, without starting to argue about it.
Then again we obviously couldn’t. 😐

Sometimes I think it’s all about therapy.
Yes, the internet forum culture is one big therapy of being allowed to argue for the arguments sake, being irrational, being provocative, even pretty dastardly 😯 without civilisation and other spoil sports being too much in the way… for once! What an insight! I’ve got to write a book about it!

Hope it works! The therapy, I mean. For a better tomorrow! 😀

Ride went OK, didn’t go for long though, as chain was still a bit too tight and it didn’t feel right to give it the full mud bath.

Found this great link meanwhile: FixMeUp!
According to this and based on my 16.5″ chainstay a 38×17 set-up with one chainlink more than currently will give me the right chain length to go without tensioner while providing a similar ratio to my current 36×16.

So I will get a 38T CR (have 17T cog already) and a suitable chain tomorrow.
And no tensioner no more – hooray! 😀

Thanks a lot for your support all!
Special thanks to bm0p700f for encouraging to go the magic and still muddy route.
I will complain here when it doesn’t work! 😉

for a change something nice to say here:
love that ’94 Dave Yates Swamp Donki!
Mighty proportions, wonder if it still rode well!?

Didn’t know it before, so that was worth reading through this thread alone.
Despite the fatuous feuds between the interesting posts.

Thanks! 🙂

Thanks, Sam and Mostly Balanced!
I will “steal” an old 8speed chain from one of my other bikes for tonight and try a fresh SS chain asap.

Many thanks, again!

Take Hex key out with you if it slip nip it up tight again.

Tension it for the tightest point

I apologise, maybe I wasn’t clear enough:
my (crappy) tensioner was at its max. tension. It still slipped.
I took the tensioner off today as soon as I realised that the chain minus one link is going to be very tight anyway. So it’s bordering on too tight (…?!) without singulator. No need to tighten it, in the contrary. And no means to tighten it either (-> Soul frame with normal geared drop-out).

And yes, there is a tighter spot when rotating the crank, but the difference is not massive in my case. I.e. no position allows for lifting the chain by more than about 5mm/0.2 inch but there’s also no position when it feels as if I am going to tear the chain apart. At least that’s what I reckon/hope. 😕

My bike store has a better, push-up tensioner on order which I could then run with plus 1 link again.
Or I have – by chance – found a chainring/cog combination that can be run without any tensioner at all despite the non-SS specific drop-outs.

So while it was suggested as a rule of thumb somewhere else in this forum that one should be able to lift the chain by an inch I can only lift it by half of that and thus the question is again:
does it – based on what I described – sound like I have too much tension on the chain and I run into severe risks of grinding away my chainring/cog in no time respectively over-stretch/split my chain
OR will it stretch in an OK way and it will be just fine after a ride or two?

Experience based advise very welcome as I desperately want to go for a (chain slip-free) ride tonight. 😛

And sorry again, if my initial post wasn’t clear.

EDIT: sorry missed a few posts while typing mine -> Thanks! Yes, I’d prefer the “magic combination”, too. I was just wandering how to tell whether the tension is too tense. Because when my current 36/16 is “magic” already – BINGO! If not and the forum wisdom reckons I am rather on the too tight side of things I will try 1 tooth less, i.e. 36/15.

(this) Serotta = pron
the Stumpi = beautiful (despite the dodgy stem)

take this

😯 😕

I saw recently one of those on the road:
😐