Yep kind of confirms what I’m thinking anyway, should have just done it, fix some road wheels to my XC racer.

You’ll have to explain in the real world rather than online, help is always more forthcoming there.

I don’t know what happened in the past, but like many new businesses, they are experiencing growing pains I imagine, when suddenly the entire world spots you have a unique product, that does tend to put pressure on the best of companies. Lots of the brands we have represented here over the years have had problems behind the scenes that never leaked into the public domain, because certain steps were taken to prevent that happening.

So, our plan is to have the necessary back up before the problems arise, how do we know what they are likely to be? Because we’re a company that use the stuff we sell ourselves, are in regular discussion with other riders that push the envelope with the kit we sell, and often break stuff before our customers do, it’s part of how you survive for thirty odd years selling hardware to extreme riders of all manner of sports.

Not saying we’re prefect, but we do at least understand your pain of being off the trail through equipment failure. Now the guy that’s heading up the sharp end of the BOS operation is also a really good rider and will spot problems before they arrive, so will hopefully have a decent stock and supply of what you need, so yes we hope that as the new distributor we will make a difference and yes they are better for all sorts of reasons than other forks on the market, if they weren’t we wouldn’t be selling them, there are plenty of other suspension brands and OEM builders we could have chosen if we just wanted to sell ‘another fork brand’.

And as a backstop, there is always me, if anything really is going pear shaped, I’m around to help email is in the profile, but better to ring in.

Nothing necessarily ‘rubbish’ about the product, it’s the brand name that is imv not something I’d like to be seen riding on, they used to be a purveyor of rubbish mopeds, a bit like Peugeot, another name I wouldn’t have gracing my dark place, I am and have always been a brand whore/victim delete applicable, so I don’t like certain brands. Volvo in cars, Gun in windsurfing, Best in Kiteboarding, Salamon in Snow, so however good the bike may be the name writ on it ruins it for me.

In all seriousness the only reason I’m even considering the activity is because that Wiggins bloke has cleaned up its image, anyone who can win over the French, be a fan of Paul Weller, yet not mind being associated with a load of lycra clad butt chasers and not have to do drugs (other than the requisite post ride hetracil)is a fine example to me. That and the bloody trails all being unrideable around me.

So what other than the tyres and brakes separates the road and a cross bike, I guess they must have different geometry, can a cross bike stay with a pack of club riders should the rider normally stay with them on a roadie?

Jesus, that Triban thing is a bit outrageous, typical bloody decathlon.

That’s put me right off now, wish I hadn’t started this thread, and I’ve ‘done’ football thanks, a long time ago when we used to win World Cups then go back to work on the monday.

Edit; I bet that statue cost more than the whole bloody team got for winning in 66.

druidh – Member
Ah – so all this is just another stupid **** troll?

It started off well intentioned, genuinely a bit confused by road bike sizing having spent most of the early part of this evening trawling through ebay looking for them, then realising I really wouldn’t have the first idea what size. So that question is now happily answered, so all the rest of the thread, yeah i guess it’s headed that way now I’ve been ‘spotted’ by a user of some other forum..

As to spending £450 quid on an alleged ‘mountain bike’ then using it on a proper mountain, I’d feel a lot more comfortable spending £150 for a Road Bike to use on the road as it’s less likely to kill me.

No it wasn’t, not even the first one years ago, but then riding off road, there’s a logic to pay for quality kit that aint going to fold on you, even more so when chucking yourself down mountains, but riding on the road? What is the point? More for less, seriously it’s mostly marketing bollox.

I have no ‘friends’ not that I would speak to if they ever took it up. 😉

I haven’t done it yet, I’m just thinking about it, I just want to give it a quick go, not something you can exactly rent a ride on is it, everyone round here has gone over, think I’m the last man standing, it’s just getting so claustrophobic, all the rides are clagged in and it’s lame riding an ATB along canal tow paths which is about all that’s going right now.

Anyway thanks for the attitude correction, I feel much better now, time for a hetracet tablet before bed and more chain suck tomorrow.

Edit: Rick Perkins? Exactly the sort of person who would ride road bikes, I bet he’s really into it let’s hope he doesn’t do a Si Reynolds, having said that everyone thinks he’s become a really nice guy since he hit his head..

Sorry, can’t buy anything from Decathlon on principle, hate the bastards, it’s complicated don’t ask.

Bianchi – No, sorry can’t ride that either – that’s half the problem, with those of whome you cannot speak their name, so many brands try and fail.

So 53.5 is that the top tube bit, don’t they measure the down tube like we do? Sorry haven’t clicked that fit link, I shall do that right now and look stupid.

Second hand means finding someone my size no? And those new ones are so cheap and for some reason size 54’s seam cheap are they like XS’s and don’t sell lots.

And ‘just starting off’ behave, I’ve been riding bikes all my life, don’t need some surly youf half my age bullshitting for africa trying to clear some slow moving stock.

aP – Member
Do you not understand why they ask those apparently stupid questions?
They’re not as thick as you are.

Yes I understand why they ask those questions, it doesn’t make them any less ridiculous, like me asking you if you are a complete and total idiot, you will of course answer in the negative, neither gives any of it any point, even to one as ‘thick’ as you might regard me to be.

What else would you expect, they haven’t forgiven him for shooting down their Blackhawk, it was obvious he was one of those that did it, either that or he’s a Pirate, he’s from Somalia after all.

Obvious from a country that expects you to fill out a form on entry and actually asks you if you’re a terrorist which of course you are going to answer positively if you have terror intentions on your stay there, Mo probably ticked the wrong box.

It’s just that time of year and it is stupid muddy, even managed to bugger up my hammerschmidt into giving me chain suck sensation, it’s the chain itself, the links stop rotating the way they should because of the damned mud.

I’m so done with this bloody weather, it is so waterlogged round here even the flat bits have little traction and there is soo much mud, my Hammershmidt jammed up, felt like chain suck only there wasn’t any, totally wierd, have given it a bit of a blast but it’s making not right noises now, think I may have to give it a bit of a strip down..

Today we’ve actually had half a day without rain , but it is ef off windy, I hate riding in the wind, there is no chance wind and gloopy mud, dare I think it, but it could be retire to roadbikeworld for a bit..

i mean what do you think you could do better if you was taller?

Ride a 29er?

I tried one, spent more time out of the saddle than in, it’s bloody stupid round here right now, never ever in thirty years of riding off road have I known it this stupid muddy, at times so slippy I couldn’t even push it up some bits, when is it ever going to stop raining?

For my Off Road delectation I’m going to build a Transition Carbon Covert, fitted with Hammerschmidt, reverb & BOS Deville 160’s, and then I’m going to fit the SRAM electric drive that they currently put on an Electra Townie, to a Strait 8 as my Road commute device, you may eat your hearts out starting now.

Carbon Covert[/url]

It’s still Christmas isn’t it?

So what about all us small men without big salaries how are we supposed to feel?

Honestly heightism is worse than homophobia, we can’t choose wether to be benders or not.. 😕

Then again, there are other kinds of road bike..

You will end up brain dead after breathing in all those diesel and petrol fumes, then develop an unnatural attraction toward other men, like Paul Weller, then you’ll grow sideburns, learn to speak French, engage in long trips in the Mountains, win gold medals, have bloody media chasing you everywhere..

Dude Where’s My Car.

Where did all the hot chicks go after the big chick exploded?

I’ve got a great basket that would fit to those forks..

OK, imagine this, you’ve lost your job and the only way you can survive is by buying your companies product cheap then selling it on to new people.

Could you make enough money to live.

The answer to that question defines wether you take the new job or not.

Sales, and field sales is all about confidence in the product you are selling, and yourself, the best decription I heard about sales guys is that they are like comedians, only as good as their last joke and in constant need of audience approval.

I always think salesmen are born that way you can either do it or not and if you can, then you’re made for life.

Cool.

+1 to what Alan said, the girls bought me one for my birthday so i could use it myself and show them stuff, always having had an interest dating back to boy scout astronomy badge, but they are very disappointing and once you’v done the moon, mars etc everything Alan says is true, plus light polution these days is so much worse than when I was younger.

Maybe I’ll donate some bibles – they’ll go down well – nothing teachers love more than religion – not.

It’s restored back to the 12th but missing the message I needed about a deal I was trying to close, whatever it’ll either happen or it won’t, I’m over that now.

I think I shall just do nothing.

Then maybe go up there v early one morning with some wire clippers and deal with the fence the old fashioned way.

OK, done it just about and found another revelation, a female email address keeps popping up after the restore which is obviously that of the lass that must have found it, also explains why it took so long for it to be handed in. Girls can never make up their minds and get racked with guilt then do both things wrong.

So all that leaves is should I or shouldn’t I follow through with the reward.

Co-incidently I hate the school at the moment because they’ve fenced off a bit of my regular ride, they say it’s to do with health and safety we know they don’t like dog exercisers on their extensive and under utilised playing fields so the fence keeps loads of the villagers from entering the top field which is usually my exit on the way to the pub on a Friday and a route used regularly by cross country runners. There was no consultation and the route has been used for the last thirty years that I know of, so giving anything to the school would stick in the craw, so I’m wondering about chancing a little note to the mail address that keeps popping up.

Er has Captain Flasheart lost his mind?

I deliberately haven’t upgraded to the latest software because i didn’t want to loose Google maps, and my last bloody back up was 23.11.11.

I can’t back it up, because it’s locked, I’m having another try without downloading the new software.

Yep I tried a Bandit 29er, thought it was pants, I’m not even going to look at a Covert 29er even though every one seems to be going mental for it, it’s just wrong, 29ers are wrong The End.

Anyone waiting for one I think they’re in by the way, oh and what’s wrong with you? 😉

Clover – Member
what good is pissing around on the margins of currency transactions doing the world? It is kind of fiddling while Rome (in the wake of Athens) burns.

And all they all do is force the price of everything higher as we all have to protect ourselves with an extra margin to hedge against bloody currency traders.

I’ve traded currency for years, but with the problem that i always have to return to my base currency which is sterling, a notoriously fickle and weak currency with which to deal. To do it successfully you kind of need to use something safe, like the USD which is where everyone runs to when things get stupid, or be fluid enough to move about, tbh doing it small time chasing pips, without the benefit of trading intel, is very risky.

The thing you have to ask yourselves is what is a mother of two doing owning such a collection and answer the question why? What pleasure, security sense, or logic dictated that she have them in her home.

So it’s not just the technical feature of the instrument, it is the glorification of it’s use.
A lot of us are probably watching movies in which they feature right now.

So we educate ourselves and our kids from the word go that they (guns) are exciting, give pleasure/thrill/satisfy various human senses, so until we stop doing that as a race, it is never going to end.

Yes, almost certainly movie and video game violence warp the perception of the weak minded, it warps the perception of some stronger minds, were it not the case movies like Rambo, Die Hard, Bond etc wouldn’t be the cash earners that they are.

So you either eradicate all that, or accept what we have, risk assess and put more safeguards in place, like armed security in schools.

The US is the home of violent movies and the glamourisation of death and violence, it’s actually surprising there are not more incidents like this.

Zulu-Eleven – Member
Ooh, watching the video on C4 now!

its really not looking good for plod is it?

No, not at all and watching that video of him leaving he didn’t appear to be ranting in the way I might have if they’d made me walk around and I was something to do with the cabinet, I’d have demanded they be shot at the very least. Coppers, I hate every last one of them.

Been to quite a few bike shows now, the first couple of years when it was at Earls Court and full of thousand yard stares all looking for a deal, so the first year of the combined bike/boat show was refreshing in the quality of the visitor, this obviously from one who would peddle his wares.
So when I say quality, I mean they were interested in cycling and taking it up or buying a bike and or wondering at the displays that were there, rather than milling around mildly disinterested as had been the case of typical cycle shows.

People that define themselves as cyclists are a really weird bunch, humans that cycle or mountain bike amongst other (action) sports are not, you get more of the latter at the London Bike/Boat show.

So is it worth going to, yes most definitely.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be a ltd company, you can claim those expenses if you are self employed.

Think they’re 501’s all I know is I’m having to constantly sew them up, both pairs, split above the knee..
I’m sure riding in them wears them out at the knee. Just when they’re beginning to look cool and faded..

ooh while I’m on, I read somewhere about some special weatherproof jean things, anyone heard of or tried them?

CaptainFlashheart – Member
If “It’s a wonderful life” isn’t on, buy it anyway.

It’s always Christmas in Bedford Falls….

+1, the girls bought me a copy, so it goes on after the Queens Speech and if there’s a Sinbad film on in the morning then that’s Christmas heaven.

Love that kodak yellow tracer 2.