I am a UK manufacturer. Orders are up, factory is busy, but everyday is a nightmare as the legacy of two bad previous years hangs over us

Yep Gaz is still there. Have taken LaPierre on for this year too.

Thats good to know, like I say its a shop thats always given me good service and advice. Seems like everyone wants a bit of the LaPierre action at the moment. Its definately the brand of the moment as I see it.

So how far is Alf Jones' in Wrexham from you then h?

Alf Jones, is about the same for me as Frodsham would be, not much in it really. I have bought a few bits and bobs from them in the past, mainly road stuff though, including my first Cannondale road bike from Gaz there many years ago (not sure if hes still there, but I have ridden a few road races against him since :)
Alf Jones, is a shop I like a lot, good stock, always very helpful and friendly. I'd by a bike from them again without hesitation, just thought they were Cannondale, giant and trek dealers, but maybe wrong.

Best of luck in the new shop. I am a zesty owner and a real Lapierre fan, so will be glad to have a dealer within 40 miles for spares etc.

As you mentioned "Whisky" as opposed to "Scotch", may I humbly recommend Penderyn, which is as smooth as it comes IMHO

My mate has a 2010 714, we ride all sorts here in North Wales, very technical wilderness routes, trail centres, XC ish stuff he bought on the strength of being totally impressed by my more modest 09 314. Now everytime he rides his 714, he just says the words "phenomenal bike" over, and over again, Nuff said, I think !

Got some Ritchey WCS carbons myself and put specialized lock ons on, specifically because the lock on is only on one side, and not at tteh fragile ends of the bars

+1 for that Honey Badger, just watched that you tube clip, proper beast ! wait till all the chavvies see that, theyll be ditching their staffies and start walking (or be dragged around by one of them) in their tracksuits. (the chav in the tracksuit not the honey badger) mind you the chavvies round are way are that thick no doubt the odd one will be seen trying to walk a box jellyfish on a lead

First of all, you need to go and get your Max HR lab tested for anything to be relevent, I did some guineau pig work at a sports performance lab, so went through the whole gubbins i.e Lactate tests, threshold tests, Vo2 max, and maximal HR testing etc. Its violently unpleasant, but until you know your own body properly then dont even begin to assess the relevance of HR on your training. Your numbers can be so different to another person of equivalent ability and achieve the same result.

BTW, 220 less your age is so innacurate its unbelievable, I am 37, the 220 theory would make my max 183, my actual max is 204.

Me and a mate have provisionally planned to do it. Bit clueless of the organisation of the event to be honest though, havent really addressed getting travel or accomodation etc sorted, would appreciate advice from anyone who's done it before

Haven't you just put on a bit of weight pudding

Ha Ha, you know me too well mate, first thing I checked ! Jumped straight on the bathrom scales, phew, nope still the same !

Shock feels super smooth actually, I am suprised a simple air sleeve service could make that much difference, and it was nice and clean inside as well

Cool weve all learned something today, thanks. Can the air only pass when then shock is in the extended position ?

Just wondering which is right ?

Nope. No transfer port in a rear shock. When air leaks from +ve to -ve then the shock becomes "stuck down".
Some shocks don't have a -ve chamber, like the cheaper RockShox ones, and some have an elastomer -ve spring, like DT ones.

Now I really am confused ! I just pulled this from the FOX shox website

At FOX Racing Shox we have a unique way of charging the negative air chamber in the FLOAT rear shocks and the FOX FORX TALAS system. A transfer port allows air to pass from the positive air chamber to the negative chamber at the beginning of each movement of the shaft stroke. This Patented transfer port system automatically balances the pressure for the perfect negative spring for any pressure setting.

The -ve air chamber is charged when you assemble the air sleeve. It makes it quite an effort to put on.

Chances are that it had leaked all it's air out before

I thought that the +ve and -ve chambers equalized with air passing through an air transfer port between the 2 chambers , which I am guessing only opens and allows air to pass from one chamber to another when the shock is fully extended. Common sense tells me that the transfer port must close whilst the shock is compressing or else the air spring compression wouldnt work.
Please correct me if I am wrong about this.

Cool, so the consesus is that its probably working better and not worse since the service, result :D

Ah ok, perhaps it is just that its friction is reduced, its definately about approx 10 psi more required, the action seems ok, and there has been no air loss from it. just wondering whether the air is creeping past the main piston airseal and allowing it to sink down. But would this not happen

Ok, I was just wondering if it was easy to dislodge the seals when you reassemble it, which may lead to problems ?

134 here, looking forward to it.

What the heck do chemists use it for ?

Thanks for the info
My nearest Maplins is 20 miles away, but Halfords is just round the corner so will pop there for some of the electrical contact cleaner spray, which seems to be the right stuff.

I'd ask them to stretch to the Blackberry Bold I think its model no 9700. Its an all round more solid looking unit, and is not too much bigger, I had the curve for a while and sent it back, I didnt like the Trackball thingy but that may be only on the 8900, its seemed like something just waiting to break, if you ever use someones blackberry with a trackball which is over 9 months old It just doesnt seem to work like a new one IMHO. I plumped for the touchscreen STORM 2, I like it, its bigger and weighs a lot more than the non touchscreen versions though. I like the Blackberrys purely because I dont want to join the iphone "look at this app" type pub bores.
Agree with Timmo on battery life, expect 2-3 days for a normal user, and a day and a half for a heavy user.

I have a claim active at the moment as I was hit off by a **** opening his van door.I have been off the bike for 4 weeks and lost work so hopefully I will win through my no win no fee solicitor .Then I can buy a new bike

Then you have a genuine claim, and I have no issue or problem with that, it was clearly the other persons fault and not yours and its cost you time and money through no fault of your own and you should be fair and reasonably compensated for that. No question, I would expect the same if it was me.
When the claim starts getting padded out with Flashbacks, mental problems, insomnia, depression , trouble communicating and fear of being with other people and becoming introverted, thus leading to having to quit your job.
With requests to be compensated for all of these things then it starts to take the p*** !

hughjengin what do you do?

We manufacture small amusement park rides for children and adults. We still manufacture in the UK. with UK staff which is getting trickier year on year, but have a policy to keep it that way so we can keep a grip on our manufacturing and design standards, as we are highly regulated. But unfortunately that makes us easy targets for the bottom feeding claims brigade.

Anyone involved in the "No win, no win fee" claims industry. I help run a family business which has been going for 30 years, which does an honest decent job in giving the holidaying public an affordable fun activity, we spend a lot of time and money making it as safe and enjoyable as possible, we make a living at it, but its not a fortune by any means. And these so called "claims experts" seem hell bent on bringing us to the point of jacking it all in and closing the business. I got randomly accosted in the street, in my home town by a street salesman asking me if I had anything I could remember that had happened to me recently that I fancied claiming for, he got it both barrels thats for sure :D

The link just above the previous posting with the big B/w photo is excellent, having read it, it describes the exact same route that we take. Bur we live nearer the Trefriw end than the Capel Curig end so it makes sense for us to go this way, but I still think its the best. The bits it doesnt describe so well is a. Where you get off the byway running along the A5 (which is at the campsite), and do not underestimate how tricky it is to navigate from where you turn off the A5 to getting up to the bridleway to Cowlyd, we still dont get it right now ! But if you take an OS map you'll get up there by hook or by crook

Righto, I have ordered the kit, will get it done, any seals that dont need changing, or just do em all ?

JUST DO IT, OK!!!!

Consider me told :wink:

How tight do I need to do the aircan back up ?

I was looking forward to watching rightous kill tonight ! Will have to think again

Nice one Paul, enjoyed reading your blog about the event. Did you drive it last year ? We (me and the mate who are planning to go) had initially discussed a road trip. But had decided that the distance involved in the driving made it a non starter, but your write suggests its quite do-able in a car from the UK

Thomas Voeckler, just for the never say die spirit of the man.

Cowlyd routes a toughy …feels good after it's done!

Feels good, after you get back into the car, and check everything on your body is still working ok :wink:

Sorry for rubbing that in, me and Whytey had a cracking ride. I tried to help him with some fitness advice etc, and he tried to help me in how to get down a hill quickly without killing myself, so a win win

Have you replaced both the bush and the eyelet insert or just the bush?

Just the eyelet

Rode Penmachno this morning with a mate, it really is a superb trail. not to be missed

We always do it from Trefriw (near Llanrwst) then go straight up the road to Llyn Crafnant, along along the Bridleway keeping Crafnant on your left. At the end of the lake turn left over the little bridge and up through the obvious gap in the mountains at Crimpau mountain. (its a super steep little technical climb). That leads you onto the brill descent into Capel Curig which is the real highlight. Then follow the byway from Capel Curig which goes alongside the A5 toward Tryfan mountain (goes on a bit this bit) at the campsite, turn right back onto the A5. Then go back on the A5 in the direction that you have just come from for about 1km then follow the bridleway signs left off the A5 follow this (tricky navigational part) and eventually you will hit the spectacular looking Llyn Cowlyd, follow the technical path keeping the resevoir on your right (give this section some respect, its technical and hard work) when you eventually reach the end of Cowlyd you will see the huge overground pipeline that takes the water from Cowlyd. Follow this onto a mountain road which is very steep but quite well surfaced and when you reach the summit, all thats left to do is enjoy the rollercoaster descent on the road to Trefriw

Also one single late payment even by one day, and they have great pleasure in nulling the 0% rate and putting it straight back onto your APR

One of the key things in doing that, is to make sure that you dont have any outstanding balance on the card that you transfer to. Credit Card companies all apply the rule that the lowest interest rate balance gets paid off first. (i.e in your case the 0%) therefore you will pay interest on any outstanding balance until the amount that you transfered is paid off. I may be wrong about this last point but, I think some of them put the 3% fee for the balance transfer as a purchase on your card and I think that will be at your standard APR, and therefore will be the last to pay off and you will pay interest on that.

Yep, I am one of the owners that Whytetrash mentions, I have my road bike setup on a Tacx I-magic with the steering frame as well. I still think you have to have the turbo training mentallity to use it, I doubt anyone is going to completely change, if they are someone who detests using the turbo its doubtful it'll make the difference. TBH I quite enjoyed battering myself on a regular trainer before I got this one. But it certainly helps ease the boredom. The real-life videos in Ergo mode are probably the best (i.e Rabobank training, Training with the Schleck brothers etc)

Sounds good, never did the old with being a no compromise roadie, but having discovered the joys of the MTB, I'd be up for that

miraculously a copper on a police bike passed a minute later and I flagged him down

:lol: @ whytetrash

when exactly was this ? In Victorian times ? Holy crap, how old are you ? you dont look that old in real life ! Did the bobby have a whistle too ? Hope he caught the rascal, did he grab the scallywag by the ear ?