It’ll only cost you fuel +tolls from St Malo. Cheap, but if you don’t share driving it’s a killer. Dad has driven the VW T4 a couple of times and the Vivaro once and it’s knackered him because I haven’t been old enough to share the insurance and driving. Cheaper than going to Santander though.

I’ve taken the ferry to St Malo with my Dad and then driven to the Pyrenees a few times. It’s a very long drive though (~600 miles/16hours). Takes the toll roads, the ease of driving is worth the 60/70 Euros.

Kinda feel like she’s more than a ‘friend’

of the dog that is. Not the missus

I’m not sure you’re allowed to post without pics..

Cheers all.

Akira – YGM

Velo Solo make really good quality stuff, they have spacers and cogs. The stainless cog on my ss is still in great condition.

Very nice – just watched the first one

Almost always talking about it, even to strangers on the Internet helps. Just sharing and getting it off your chest can be beneficial and you’ve done the right thing in posting.

I find one of the worst symptoms for me is the complete lack of motivation to do anything when I’m having a bad day. It’s sucks because it stops me from doing stuff that I know if I actually go and do (seeing friends/going for a ride et.) will make a difference and help me feel better. But I just can’t make myself do them.

It’s normal (if you’re suffering from depression) to have good days and bad days and the bad days are often not even caused by anything. You can just wake up feeling shitty and that’s just how it goes.

Depression and other mental illnesses are horrible, but they seem to be carrying less of a stigma and are being talked about more freely now than ever before which is a step in the right ddirection.

Good to know it’ll be back, I guess it might take a while though.

^

Hannibal is also worth a watch. Different angle to the films, it’s really very good.

+1 to:

True Detective
Orphan Black
Walking Dead

Taking a look at completed listings on eBay for a general idea.

I’m a size 10 normal shoe/trainer and went for size 10 freerider elements and they fit perfectly.

Newest Deore brakes and Zee shifter. The shifter goes stem side, no way the tiny brake lever would reach if it went the other way round.

Gratuitous photo from a piss wet through bivi ride a couple of years ago. Promptly changed the 2.2 X-King for a 2.4 MK afterwards, a big improvement (god awful standard slippy Continental compounds aside).

As has been said above a high volume front tyre at low pressure makes a massive difference. I use a 2.4 MK on the front of my Inbred and that’s fine. You need to adopt a different riding style as well, you can’t just smash through stuff like you can with suspension, you need to think about your line and pick out the smooth bits. I’m kind of the opinion that there isn’t much that you can’t ride on a rigid (large jumps aside), it just needs to be taken a little slower and with a bit more thought. I managed Snowdon on the rigid ss when I knackered the forks on my BFe, great fun but admittedly my arms were aching afterwards.

Brilliant film, visually beautiful.

Get with it. Glasses are far too mmainstream.

I have a practically new On One chaintug that didn’t fit my Inbred that someone could have, if they’d have a use for it? I’ll pay postage.

I swear I’ve read that somewhere on reddit..

Edit: yeah, that one that mikewsmith linked.

Don’t overdo it once it starts tightening (especially if you use a driver), I managed to snap off the stud on the bottom of the air side of some 36 Talas by being ham fisted. An expensive mistake..

I wouldn’t discount a 306. I drive a 1.4 petrol one, it cost £550 and insurance was ~£600 (I’m 19 as well). It’s not fast by any stretch of the imagination but it’s cheap, gets reasonable mpg and it’s comfortable and nice to drive. It’s easy to fit a couple of bikes in the back as well, I can even fit the mtb in with both wheels on if the back seats are down, and that’s just the hatchback.

I’d park in the Co-op car park if you drive, it’s right in the centre of the town and handy for getting up onto the Mynd. if you need a bike shop for any reason then Plush Hill Cycles in the market square are excellent.

I’d cycle to Church Stretton from Westhope, it’s only about 6 miles miles. And then any of the descents on the Long Mynd are great. If you look at the Long Mynd Mountain bike map number 9 and 11>12>14 are my favourites. Although 8 (Minton Batch) is also worth doing if you have time. It takes about an hour to go up to the top from Stretton and back down again so it’s fairly easy to figure out how many runs you’ve got time for.

my thoughts are with you and your son, depression is an awful thing, i truly hope he pulls through this

I keep my Mtb in my room in halls in Leeds (also a very small room), there’s no way I’d leave it in the ‘secure’ storage the residence provides. There are built in draws under the bed so it just lives propped up with a sheet thrown over it. I leave a crappy commuter in the shed with a d-lock and chain though. It’s just not worth the risk of leaving a decent bike anywhere.

Bringewood
Mortimers Forest
Clee Hill (Brown + Titterstone)
Caradoc/Hope Bowdler Hill/Lawley/Ragleth
Stiperstones

Most of that is natural stuff but you’ll find plenty of old downhill tracks around Ludlow (Mortimers/Bringewood) from all the Pearce Cycle events

If you’re in the Midlands try Pearce Cycles Gravity Stages at Hopton. I’m not sure what dates it’s on in 2015 but it was sometime in March this year and was a really well organised and friendly event. I think it’s over a weekend with practice on Saturday then camping and the race on Sunday. I’m really not that good at all but had a brilliant time (it was the first enduro I’ve done).

I’ve got the flat ones on the ss and the Bfe and haven’t had any problems with them, they’re a steal for £20 if you get the timing of offers right.

I’m riding a bfe and it’s definitely the best bike I’ve had. I have 160mm Fox 36s on it and even going down serious stuff it feels like it could do so much more. It’s heavy but so capable. And a considerable amount cheaper. I’ve had a Soul too and it didn’t have the indestructible feeling that the Bfe does.

Thanks everyone, I’ve just called the Police and had it logged, they won’t be taking any action and that’s not what I was after anyway. I’ll call BT on Monday and get the bike sorted through them, hopefully it’ll be relatively easy to get some money for the bike to be fixed.

I won’t be going to A&E, I didn’t hit my head and it would just end up being a waste of time for everyone. I fell off off-road last week with similar injury results and they are still a little sore but healing fine.

(Iainc – I mixed up my words, the van was on my right)

Excellent! Thanks for all the suggestions, that was exactly what I was looking for. I’ll join the club when I’m there. Currently wedged in the the car next to a Cotic Bfe which will be living under the bed.

I’ve got some rigid steel forks on my ss 29er Inbred that I use for bikepacking/as a winter bike. I believe they came from a Surly Ogre and as such have about 1000 different attachments for guards/racks/bottles which is useful and they were cheap second hand. However they really are rather heavy.

So..
1- Steel – Cheap and tough
2- Not sure of a-c length but they feel good on the Inbred which I believe is designed around 100mm forks.
3- No idea.
4- Qr and they do the job.
5- Not tried anything else I’m afraid.
6- 2.4 Mountain King and plenty for space for something bigger. It’s plenty of squish for me (although it’d be good to try 29+). I’ve been up and down Snowdon on them and although it was a bit rough it was still manageable and fun! I’m constantly surprised by just how capable and tough the rigid bike is.
7- Nice wide rims even if you don’t go 29+.

Hope this is helpful.

Try Ingenie, they’re a black box insurance company specifically for young drivers that were easily the cheapest for me. I’m 19 now and paid £1170 for my first year in a Peugeot 106 1.0 when I was 18. I’ve just renewed last month (with 1 years no claims) with Admiral (no black box) for £390 for the next year.

Get the first year out of the way and chose a car that’s got a small engine/not a typical boy racer (Corsa/Saxo etc.) and that’ll be the cheapest way of doing it. Add parents as named drivers to reduce premium cost as well. One thing you can’t help is postcode unfortunately, I think that it makes quite a big difference. I live in the middle of nowhere which helps.

As an aside, the black box encouraged me to drive safely and made me very aware of sticking to all speed limits. (no speeding fines and better fuel economy!)

As far as I am aware they can only be 100mm unfortunately.

A bit cheeky but I have a set of white Recon Silvers (100mm) in good condition that you can have for £60+postage if you’re interested?
Cheers

Email sent!

I’ll take it into the bike shop then and see if they can do anything with it. If the stud can be replaced then that would be good as apposed to the whole Talas cartridge. Thanks for the offer banks but these are 140/120/100 forks.