I don’t want to get a framebag made for a frame I’m not 100% happy with

Fair enough. The frame bag is going to be for a Scandal then?

29’er I’m 5ft 11 so not tall enough

I’m 5’10″…

I can sort you out with some 29er tyres for free. Pick up some wheels second hand.
Forks – with a 29er wheel, the On-one carbons are lovely, IMO. For long rides in mid Wales, I’d say a 29er wheel is a must if you go rigid.
Brakes – BB7’s over here – luv ’em.

what flatfish said in his second post 😉

On-one site looks quite borked to me too.

Thanks Simon. Hadn’t seen the oversize Mary’s, but unless they’ve changed the angle the bars take from the stem clamp, it’s probably not going to help me.
Extra width on the carnegies sounds good, which would mean the back sweep might not need to be quite so much and I could run a shorter stem (currently 100mm). Hmm.

Along similar lines, why do fork steerers not have a grove in them to correspond with an extra bit on the inside of a stem so that the stem is always on straight. I mean, how often do you want to ride with your stem crooked?

My 29er experience turned into a love affair… We’ve been together for over two years now 😉

Nice one chaps – well done. Sorry not to have made this one – will have to head out another time.

Not always 😐

Bit of a commute from Cardiff, don’t you think?

Rode yesterday in Talybont Forest – was very hard going. 27 miles in about 4 hours. Snow is still very powdery where it hasn’t been packed down by feet/ sheep/ vehicles. This was half way up five mile climb, about 3 miles in – very hard work indeed:
[/url]
P1030566[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr

However, according to this, it’ll probably all be gone by the 28th December anyway.

Neilc1881:
More landscape than riding, but that’s what you get when you’ve got no mates

I reckon I saw your tracks today – we should ride together more often 😉

[/url]
P1030570[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr

[/url]
P1030562[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr

[/url]
P1030566[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr

insulated covers for the pipes but they only add a couple of degrees

I used one of those insulated covers for the first time today – kept everything unfrozen for 4 hours in minus 5 conditions, so I was quite pleased with that.

Don’t you know all the cool kids are on yr.no?

Yep 8)

There’s a good layer of snow here in Brecon now, and more on the way…
Will be an interesting trip for sure 😉

…back then though it was just us two, and we’d ridden 30 mins each to get to the meeting point.

Many years ago, I used ride out to a place to meet Molgrips (of this parish) for an MTB ride. Every time I would wait for anything up to half an hour for him to turn up, in the days before mobile phones. One day, I said we’d meet at 10am when I had no intention of being there myself before 10.30am. Molgrips was early that day.

W is a vowel you numbskulls

Not in English it isn’t

Is Welsh allowed?

Llanymddyfri has 8 consonants in a row.

edit: damn, seen your post ^^

I used a Hunka on the recent STW winter bivvy expedition to a far away place in the middle of nowhere. Worked a treat – no condensation, but mainly because it was minus 5… For the money, I think they’re exceptional value. Hope you get good use from yours.

help justify the amount of gear I buy

Has your new frame turned up yet?

Where are all the STW hardcore?

Scared of bears, obviously…

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I suppose.

All intrested parties make yourself known below

Oh, go on then… 😉

I’ll recce a decent bivvy spot this weekend.

Ah, well it’s a no-brainer then surely?

I know your feelings toward permanent jobs, but the recent contract hasn’t exactly been easy when you consider impact on/to family life, no?

Is it going to take all weekend to clean the house? 😯

Specialized Hardrock…£300 or so for a proper offroad capable bike.

Was my first bike, back in 1991. Shimano 200GS groupset with 21 gears, don’t you know 😉

Hehe, you’ve not spent much time down here have you?

I venture into England once in a while, but not much down that way except to travel to races and such. Never seemed that bad to me. I imagine there’s more traffic than Wales, but there must be somewhere close to good off road and amenities, or is the whole of the SE a write off?

Plus I didn’t say I wanted to live in Cardiff, just Wales

No, I know, but if you’re faced with a permie job that’s a long commute from where you currently live, it seems odd to me to move to a place where the a long commute time isn’t reduced…

//you out for a ride this weekend at all?

I want to live in Wales

Given that you live in the most populated part of Wales albeit with reasonable access to countryside, how would living in a medium sized town in proximity to, for example, South/ North Downs be significantly different?

Not wanting to get rid of you, just curious 😉

You mean 11 speed?

Yes, edited.

Here’s a few of my predictions:

Belt drive and internal hub gears will all be more refined, cheaper and more expensive depending on whether you go for the XTR or Deore version.

Fat-bikes will become the new niche when 29er’s become mainstream.

Someone will change the headset standard, circa 2016-17

Current 11 sprocket road cassette technology will make it to MTB

We’ll still be building wheels using conventional spokes, but carbons rims will be more common/ stronger/ more durable and cheaper.

I’ll still be riding a titanium bike.

nickf – Member
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mint_Sauce_(cartoon_strip)

Seems like news of Jo’s glacial pace has made it outside STW

The crucial line: “though Jo Burt’s busy workload means that delivery times for these can be protracted.” appears to have been added at 18:18 on 9 December 2010 🙄

Are UN7x square taper BB’s still available?

I’ve got UN53 on three bikes, haven’t touched them is ages and they still run much smoother than a new HT2 BB ever did.

Some great pictures there IanB.

Looks like you guys had a great time.

Thanks Stu. It was one of the best weekends on the bike I’ve had in ages. Great company and a good laugh too. Everyone turned out very well prepared and no-one was cold overnight either. Whilst it probably seems like a mad thing to have done, the cold focuses the mind a bit and you gear up accordingly. There was nothing in the gear that I carried that I would change, and I still had a spare warm layer I didn’t use that would have allowed me to cope with it being a bit colder still.

Ian

I’ve had success with Conti Race King, Maxxis Ignitor and Maxxis Ardent. Only the latter was I able to inflate without a CO2 canister, but once inflated, they all held their pressure well enough.

The fantastic, brave and heroic six (one of whom had to take the photo):
[/url]
P1030403[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr

Was barmy warm on saturday:
[/url]
P1030414[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr

Pseudo middle-class party food:
[/url]
P1030436[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr

There was a frost overnight:
[/url]
P1030456[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr

A home from home in them there trees:
[/url]
P1030465[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr

Bear tracks:
[/url]
P1030481[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr

Long descent through the forest:
[/url]
P1030490[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr

Valleydaddy riding out of the forest:
[/url]
P1030506[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr

The End:
[/url]
P1030514[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr

The rest of the pics are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/15512491@N08/sets/72157625544015990/

Can’t believe flatfish forgot to bring his bear bell…

Ambrose – not sure where you’re based, but if travel is a problem but you could get as far as Brecon, you can get a lift with me.

Cool, cheers. I’ve got room for it somewhere…

Bara brith looks good Tiger.

Did you bring the Hunka? I may yet use it this weekend…

Weather is going to be barmy tomorrow. Can’t remember the last time it was a high as 4 degrees…
Though I’m sure we can compensate by going to a higher elevation 😉

Bara brith – surely the perfect accompaniment to a Welsh bivvy trip?
I’m sure I could find room for a slice (or two) somewhere in my bag 😀

@flatfish – pity Si can’t make it – Beth wanted to see all three bags lined up side by side 😉

@Blackhound – sorry you won’t be making it over. Will be in touch via email next week.

So, does the list of the hardened few look something like this:

still s8tannorm
flatfish
IanB
valleydaddy
Stevemorg2
Tiger6791
Ambrose

Anyone else?