True Detective, Orphan Black, American Horror Story, Sons of Anarchy, Hannibal.
All great shows with True Detective probably being my favourite.

Had a 306 (1.4 petrol) for ~20,000 miles and only needed consumables. Aircon didn’t work (vaguely remember it being something to do with the pipes begin low down at the front of the car so they corrode badly, a common fault), but apart from that everything else worked, even the electric heated/moving mirrors! It was comfy and drove nicely but the engine was gutless and slow – bought for the cheap insurance due to age. Was written off by my brother putting it through a hedge.

Now in a Citroën Xsara estate (not the Picasso), which is mechanically identical to a 306 just a lot uglier. It has the 2.0 Hdi with 110hp (not an option with the 306 – only has the 90hp without the intercooler). Drives very nicely, economically and can easily chuck bikes in the back. It’s on 170,000 now and hopefully will do over 200k. Cost £520 and most electrical things work.. Favourite fault is that the brake pedal also activates the rear wiper motor! But can’t complain for the price.

About 3 years ago, somehow the only photo I have with me and a bike.

Not sure if it’s teaching you to suck eggs, but the left pedal is reverse threaded. It undoes clockwise.

Edit – too slow..

Nothing wrong with a blue BFe with white rims. 11 speed XT drivetrain, heftier tyres and a reverb now, but it’s my main bike and way more capable than I am.

It would be interesting to try a longer, slacker version of this though, to see how much better it might be.

Another vote for the Mynd, fantastic place to ride and holds up well in the wet, if a bit exposed.

Alpkit Gourdon has been great, used pretty much daily for four years no. It’s just about had it but at £25 it’s a bargain. Cheap, light, comfortable, simple and pretty much waterproof.

Built a Selway Fisher canoe (13ft – Waterman maybe?) with my dad a few years back. Seem to remember it taking a few weeks worth of evenings and being really enjoyable. We made it in the garage and it was fairly straight-forward, though my dad has a reasonable amount of wood working experience.

The plans were great and the stitch and glue construction fairly simple too. We built it in the summer, you might struggle to get epoxy to cure in the winter if it’s being made outside/in an unheated shed/garage.

Lime and soda too if I’m driving, not too sweet so far nicer than coke/lemonade/etc

Felt the two bangs in Leeds, sounded like an explosion, loud enough to make me get up and look out of the window.

They’ll be fine, no risk of damaging the frame. I ran the 473mm versions on my 29er Inbred with no problems. Similar spacing between the top of the tyre and the crown too.

Sort out the miles of stem spacers though!! :wink:

I live very close to Stretton when I’m at home.

All of those hills are worth doing. I’d probably do Hope Bowdler hill first and the drop down to Caradoc. Then over to Lawley and then back over Caradoc. There’s a really steep techy descent off the south end of Caradoc that I love. Quite a few of the tracks are cheeky footpaths though.

Heavy hail/almost snow in Leeds earlier today.

Another vote for the Montane Prism, wouldn’t want to cycle in it (too warm), but for general loafing around it’s great. I think it was ~£80 at Go Outdoors.

Starting to think my Bfe with a 68.3 degree head angle is not slack enough..

I suspect I’m a lot younger than the majority at 21 but even I feel younger than that, maybe the age you feel never catches up with the age you are?

Prawns

Edit: and gherkins, could happily eat a whole jar in a go now

On One Chunky Monkey 2.4 front/Smorgasbord 2.25 rear. Grippy, sticky and cheap as chips.

95% out on my own, it’s a chance to have a bit of time to myself and go at my own pace. It’s nice to ride with others once in a while though.

ooh, very nice!! Meteorology student here.

I’ve just bought myself a dirt cheap Citroen Xsara estate for well below your budget (£500). Although it looks crap it’s got heaps of space for bikes, drives nicely and is economical. The Peugeot/Citroen 2.0 110 Hdi is supposedly a decent engine for reliability so I’m hoping that I’ll get a couple of years out of it (on 166k now). I’ve actually been pleasantly surprised by how good it is for the price.
Although some of the electrics are a little odd, the brake pedal also activates the rear wiper (but only with the lights off!!). That would explain why the previous owner had removed the wiper arm..

I’ve got the On One carbon monocoque ones on my inbred and they’ve been great. Picked them up for £100 in one of their never ending sales. Plenty stiff and strong and light too (650g).

Following 11-12-14 down is reasonably gentle. 9 is great though, probably my favourite descent on the Mynd. It’s an absolutely beautiful place, my favourite place to be.

I’ve always called 9 Callow Hill.

I found it was cheaper to have insurance in my name with my parents as named drivers, rather than the other way round when I had just passed my test.

winner! i used to love getting up around there on my bike, er, before you were born by the looks of your username! haha!

(still ride the same bike )

It’s such a great place for riding, to live within pedaling distance of the Long Mynd/Hopton/Eastridge/The Clees/Mortimers Forest is fantastic. It was only when I moved to Leeds for uni that I realised how lucky I am with the riding straight out of the door at home (although Leeds ain’t bad).
You’re assuming right about my age too, I’m really not too old.

@doris5000 – is that Volvo going up Wyle Cop in Shrewsbury?
certainly is

you another shropshire monner?

Around Stretton and the Long Mynd when I’m not up at uni.

@doris5000 – is that Volvo going up Wyle Cop in Shrewsbury?

Skye – Summer 2014

Not the sandiest but very nice!

Just bought a Citroen Xsara estate with the 2.0 Hdi 110 engine on 166k. Hoping to easily take it over 200k in the next couple of years. It’s pig ugly and looks like a proper old giffer car but drives nicely, has heaps of room for bikes, does 55mpg and only cost £500. Some of the electrics are a bit dodgy but mechanically it’s sound.

Mud – what single speeds are made for.

Another vote for 5:10 Freerider Elements, mine are great. Just wear thick wool socks and accept your feet are going to get wet and then wack them on the radiator when you get back home.

I’m young enough that foot and mouth wasn’t something I was aware of/bothered about 15 years ago. Just how much did it scare people? How much did it effect access to the countryside while it was an issue?

I’m aware that a lot of cattle were culled and that my parent’s didn’t feed me beef as a kid, but that’s about it.

Thanks for the explanation Pondo! I’m going to read up on counter steering and ultimately put it down to sorcery.

I thought this was a thread about some particularly expensive (but fantastic) CAD software..

Just buy it.

To cycle anywhere without a decent cycling infrastructure means you have to be reasonably confident with cycling on the road and mixing it with traffic. I’m happy to do that, be it to do my weekly shop or to bike into uni (I’ll admit in part this is due to necessity as I don’t have access to a car, but I make it work), as I am sure the majority of people on this forum would be. The issue is making it a sufficiently comfortable experience for people who aren’t as confident on a bike, through building a decent infrastructure. Sadly I can’t see that happening soon, it’s just too easy for people to get in their cars and use them instead. There isn’t enough pressure to change things.

The previous Surly fork (either KM or Ogre, can’t remember) rode nicely and had loads of braze-ons, but was very heavy. About 1.2kg if I remember correctly. The new On-One moncoque fork is ~650g, so a big weight saving. I payed £100 for them so not much more than the CroMoto ones mentioned above.

As said above a regular wheelset + spacers is a good bet. Any crank will do, SLX are nice and not hugely expensive new (can also be picked up second hand at a reasonable price). If you’re getting a chaintug don’t get the On-One one, I bought one and it doesn’t actually work with my Inbred – the adjuster screws aren’t long enough. Saying that, with a decent Shimano rear qr done up tightly I haven’t needed one.

I love my SS Inbred – great fun and cheap! I did have a steel Surly fork, but recently swapped it for an On-One carbon moncoque one – much lighter.

Before the new fork.

If you’re happy with 160f+r why not stick with it? I use 180f/160r at 80kg without gear etc and have never had a problem with brake fade on +300m vertical descents – and that’s without floaty rotors.

Black for me too, before today they’ve always been grey.