Did C2C on my Inbred last year with panniers. Rack fitted fine, think it was a Topeak

My 3 bikes have a Spoon, Specialized Alias and a Specialized OEM BG thing that came on my FSR. The OEM Spec BG saddle is VERY similar to the Charge Spoon, almost to the point they they both look like rebranded versions of the same far eastern product. The Alias was expensive due to titanium rails, but is nice and comfy. Not noticeably more so than the others though. If I was buying again I'd just spend twenty odd quid on a Spoon.

No more numb plumz on any of these, unlike lots of other crap saddles I had before.

My experience is that if you buy 'bike grease' in a bike shop it will cost a fortune and last not very long. Apart from a couple of frivolous lbs grease purchases, I've always used one of those big tubs (Castrol/Halfords/whatever) of car grease. Usually lasts about 5 years*, costs about a fiver and is more than capable of standing up to the wear and tear that push bikes can dish out.

Generally goes on bearings (although lots of things are sealed these days), certain threads, metal on metal surfaces such as crank/bb, stem/steer, seatpost/frame, inner/outer cable, etc. Used to be great for elastomer forks and v-brake bosses too but no need these days.

Woburn is about 45 minutes up the M1 on a clear day. I could throw a few GPS files your way if interested – enough singletrack and fun trails to put a couple of hours of riding together.

Also plenty of riding round Wendover/Aylesbury area (near Aston Hill) which is a similar distance. I have GPS file somewhere for a nice ride that I did there a few years ago.

Loads of riding round Dorking too, not been there for a few years though.

And then there's Bracknell/Swinley…

i taught jase mk(from here) how easy it is to do last friday. it blew him away how simple it is.

Indeed! No pulling involved at all and it's amazing how quietly everything happens when you get it right. Proper revelation.

Ooooh, it's appeared now, ignore me.

I phoned for the Premier upgrade on Friday, and was told 24hrs! still waiting

Had three emails and one phonecall over the last month saying similar but still no joy here…

If you want to explore by yourself then there are about 3 main areas that are pretty much ringed off by roads, each about a mile or so square. So if you make a point of not crossing any tarmac roads then you can zig zag about discovering the trails without any fear of getting lost or ending up miles away.

Can't afford a decent set of lights and I think I'd kill myself riding in the dark. I'll get back into the odd mid-week ride once we get some light back in the evenings.

I'm currently running Kenda 2.35s on them, which come up bigger than Maxxis 2.35 by the looks of it. There's a bit of noticeable wallow at lower pressures but nothing major. I've got a set of Flow rims on order though so don't plan on running them like this long term but I'm quite happy that they're not going to explode and kill me.

You've gotta take tyre sizes with a pinch of salt really, I have some Specialized tyres that are either 2.1 or 2.2 (can't remember) that are bigger than the Kenda 2.35s.

Jase MK That was K with the xc full face and green tyres, I was on the attentionwhores mango IF with nae gears!

Ah ok, the bike with two top tubes. Think I was busy coughing my guts up each time you came past me.

Ayatollahofniche, I think I was chatting to you today, I recognise the helmet and green tyres. I was the guy with the orange bike from Milton Keynes.

Also today at Cwmcarn:
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First trail centre visit since Coed y Brenin in 1998

Seems BONUS-10GBP has expired. Are there any others running atm?

Not fashionable round these parts but I love my Specialized FSR XC Expert which cost about £1100 – can't fault it at all.

I also find them more reliable than than the Mono Mini. My rear mini is forever getting a sticky piston and not retracting as evenly as I'd like. The M4 I have at the front never has a problem – if it does get a slightly sticky piston I guess it has less of an effect as there is still another piston on the same side to sort things out, if that makes sense.

Been in MK for twenty something years now. It's not hard to see where's nice and where's not once you start having a little look around. Surrounding villages are pretty and quaint but the nice ones will cost you. Lots of new developments on the outskirts now which are nice.

In general though, getting around is easy, the roads are great, everything you could need is within 10-15 mins, some great riding 10 mins away at Woburn (Chilterns are half an hour away, loads more riding there), it's generally pretty clean and pleasant, endless parks and greenery to go for a walk/run if that's your sort of thing – Gets a big thumbs up from me.

Saw loads of people out today. At least 4 or 5 decent sized groups of bikers. Plenty walkers and horses too. And one woman with a horse hat, jodpurs, whip and no horse. Turns out she lost it. Half an hour and the help of about 8 MTBers finally managed to find the horse and reunite them, so that's a good tick in our box 😉

My S-Works

Also interested in Woburn conditions, might go for a ride tomorrow morning if it's not too wet.

edit:scrap that, I've just looked at the forecast

Not enough Summer Seasons in here.

Irony:

The platform from the other side:

Here you go, these should work. Shimano 505 I think. You could easily fit toe clips to the plastic pedal with a couple of holes and the whole shebang would unclip for SPD riding.

Regardless of whether it's a crap idea or not, how about someone try to answer the guys question…

My cheapo Shimano SPD pedals that came bundled with a bike came with a plastic platform that clips onto one side of the pedal for people with no SPD shoes. From memory it has reflectors on it so you could remove the reflector and use the holes (might have to drill them out a bit) to fit clips instead. Let me see if I can find a pic…

Can't remember exactly when I first started taking that Ridgeback offroad, but it must be about 20ish years now

Ridgeback 601 88/89ish ?
Marin Pine Mountain 90/91ish
Kona Lava Dome 92
GT Zaskar LE 95
Specialized S-Works M2 Team 98
Specialized FSR XC 09
One On Inbred 09
On One 456 Summer Season 09

Just the Ridgeback and the Kona that have gone, these rest are still kicking around in various family garages. Longest serving regular bike was the Zaskar for about 14 years.

vx220… like i said each to their own but if i was to do without cd player, carpets, heater etc i'd leave the doors and roof off as well and have a caterham

And get soaking wet on the way to work every day. Not a good look where I work unfortunately.

Do 661 do an equivalent elbow pad to the Kyle Strait knee pad? The chicken wings don't look the same and the Evos (I think that's what they're called) are well expensive.

Turbines in the nine zones could generate up to 32 gigawatts of power, a quarter of the UK's electricity needs.

Or 26 DeLorean time machines

My last three cars (VX220s) had no leccy windows, no air con, no power steering, no glove box etc. But then most people miss the point of those as well.

If you get it you get it, if you don't you don't, doesn't make either of you right or wrong.

I've used the Sigma HSM 70-200 F2.8 (or it might be 80-200, can't remember) a fair bit and it's a great lens for the money – around £500-600 compared to the Nikon equivalent which is getting on for a grand from memory.

It's worth also looking at a company called LensesForHire. You can hire most lenses from them for as little as a weekend for about £25, depending on the lens. It's a great way to see how you get on with a lens and their service is excellent. I rented a 10-20mm for a 4 week trip to NZ and OZ for about £60ish.

Thanks for sharing that ratadog, think I'll order a couple of rims from them then as they seem very cheap.

JRA work out very expensive on a custom build. Think I'll just go for the rims for now and build them onto my XT hubs myself – It's the rims that I really need/want as my 717s are a touch narrow for the tyres I like to run. Blingy hubs are just a nice-to-have which I can always get in 6 months time.

OK, no coloured hubs apart from a few special dealers in pairs, fair enough.

What about the Wheelies question, anyone used them? Or any other tips for cheap Flow rims?

OK, change of tack slightly. Another option is to just swap my rims out for Flows. Has anyone used a place/shop called Wheelies? (www.wheelies.co.uk) They have Flow rims for the bargain price of fifty quid each.

Any other bargains about? Most places seem to be around the £70 mark.

No 'shopping, I would even say that the picture doesn't do the brightness justice 😛

We had 8 pups at one point but have had two of them as family dogs, sadly both now passed away. A bit smaller and less mental than weimeraners and fine with kids if they grow up with them – my brother and I used to ride them around the house, wrestle them, etc as little kids. They did go nuts if left home alone though, opening cupboards, fridges and generally causing mayhem.

100mm MX Comps here, they work really well even when you're being a bit of a hooligan on steep stuff. I'm 5'11" and wouldn't want anything smaller than my 18" (with a shortish stem) as I have quite a lot of post out.

I just put a Hope QR on my seatpost recently. What's the advice then, are you saying be careful not to overtighten it?

Yep, 456 Summer Season. Works pretty well in the winter too 😉

Nipped out earlier for half an hour or so…

Luminous bike in the snow

Action shot:

Lovely:

I've done loads of adventure races at Pippingford Park – nothing very technical or amazing there but not boring either, would make an ideal enduro venue I would have thought. Might have a go at this myself actually…