jaymoid –

Good video.. it does not look too bad in the video if you don’t know the route – but when your hangover the edge ready to go with a 50mph cross wind its a good’un !

Aah I can’t take credit for that video, I just found it on YT to show the fun-ness. Totally agree, GoPros never really show the severity of several things like angle of slope, scale of obstacles (they tend to get flattened), degree of hangover, and yorkshire weather! 😀

When we were descending down from stoodley pike last time, a few of us were waiting for the others at the bottom discussing how much fun it was. Only to see a mate ambling down the steep hill chasing after his back wheel, it was well ‘Last of the Summer Wine’.

Ah thanks Matt, that could well be an option. If only they were open saturdays, I’ve got a day off soon though so may sort it then. Thanks for all your suggestions!

Perfect thanks, I pass bingley quite a lot so is probably most convenient. Now all I have to decide is the colour. Black like the rest of the bike or red like the extra bits (pedals, grips etc)?!

Cool edit, liked the bail at the beginning, particularly tricky gradient there or something?! Excellent modesty and self deprecation too, that was some fast and fluid riding. I liked that you had no music on it and it captured the happy woops and laughs. Looks like you had an ace time.

Ah I’ve not done the Gorple road one. I’ll add that to my list, right after we ride Hebden Bridge again this weekend 😀

^ Yup do that, pretty sure they have that book too if you wanted it.

I’ve got this, it has some good routes on, a ride up to stoodley pike is worth it for the ride down again.

+1 for Keepass: *cough* 256 bits encryption too. More bits innit, gotta be better.

I love Lee Quarry. This is great news.

I have also got lost/gone the wrong way on the trails, partly due to lack of signage, and partly due to me being all kinds of dumb.

Interesting to get some perspective there, may have to give sleepless a go. If you can sum it up, what’s better about it Vinny?

Whilst it’s the same venue I’m not sure it will be the same track. I hope they keep the good bits and re route those big steep climbs, it would make it more enjoyable and also a bit of a surprise. We spoke to Vin Cox (the course designer) after the event as he was heading out for a lap, he was keen to see how the course was riding after it, compared to to before. Hopefully he will have realised how unridable some sections got (steep garlic corner climb!). I’m sure they got lots of feedback about it too. Still there were some very fast lap times, some amazing riders there, for me it was good to see and ride on the same track as them.

I enjoyed it, although it was my first event of this type. The first lap for me was the hardest as the rain had turned the course into a slippy but also claggy mud bath. My bike was clogged and I finished the lap with one gear. After that it dried up and got faster. I think with that many people riding around the same course, it is going to get muddy, no real way of avoiding it. There were some tough climbs and I generally saw most people pushing up them. Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable weekend and deffo back next year. I made a short video for the editing competition, although there’s not much general lap riding, I just tried to capture the atmosphere.

+1 for audacity

Bit of feedback…

Hi All,

Thanks to your support, I’m happy to say that the Open Data Institute (ODI) picked our project as one of three that they will be providing help to.

This help both gives me the connections and expertise I need to get this data publically released (available to anyone to use) and a grant to help cover costs associated with doing this.

The project is now working and checking commercial bike registers at checkthatbike.co.uk, there is no charge for this service (and never will be) and I’m continuing to improve it during any spare time I get.

The fight isn’t over yet though, I still haven’t got a police force to allow me to check against them and I’m waiting on the Home Office to get back to me on where they are with the Met.

Thank you again for your support, this petition remains an important tool in getting people to take bike crime seriously.

Kind Regards,
John Moss

Are richmtbarse and bikeind actually the same person?

The longer you spend thinking and typing about your favourite mtb mag, the more time he has to steal your KOMs. You wouldn’t have a chance anyway, he’s in the bike industry don’t you know.

I don’t think either really represent good value for money, e.g. avid mechanical brakes on the unit. I might be tempted to look at the on-one inbred ss, and the carbon fork.

One thing that puts me off the charge is the eccentric bottom bracket. Apparently they require a bit more maintenance, and look quite complex which I think goes against the simple ethos of the rigid/ss, so I think I would prefer horizontal drop outs. I do however have a cooker and really like it (but it’s not SS but looking to make it rigid!)

That’s a pretty pathetic reason.

If only there was something that could be done in between eating the KFC and using the computer, to prevent grease from the hands being transferred onto the computer?!?! hmmm … *think* *think* *cogs whirring* *think* *think* *think* … hmmm nope, not a clue – BAN ALL GREASY FOODS.

I remember when a company I used to work for banned us from using plastic beakers (instead of the disposable plastic cups) with the water cooler because they used up too much water. Pathetic. I think they hated the environment or oil or something.

oh and sorry, I don’t know the answer.

Kind of, if you have a few k sitting around in your account (for the interest) and have high monthly bills. I get about £3 a month profit, but I don’t have much money and my bills are low.

If you go via topcashback you can get some money when you sign up.

I made more cash from my halifax reward account, which pays £5 a month which I kept for a comparison. If you can be bothered, open both, pay your wage into halifax, transfer at least 1k a month to santander 123, and have all but two Direct debits in your santander account, and have two DDs on the halifax. Of course you’d have to be as tight as me to do that.

Thanks for your interest, yes I’d hope it was implemented in a secure manner.

The chap who started the petition is presenting the idea tomorrow, in order to get backing/help from the Open Data institute so the more signatures it gets in the next few vital hours the better!

Seriously though, I like it and would definitely ride it. My Raliegh Activator was purple.

If you feel strongly though, why not strip it down and powdercoat it?

I’ve had no problems with the Wheels one, no creaking or anything (it’s been in about 5 months with occassional weekend rides so still time yet). It certainly was a very snug fit in my whyte and I needed a headset press to push it in place. I would have guessed that the aluminium cups are more precisely engineered than the SRAM plastic cups so hopefully could be a better fit for you. I also don’t like the idea of glueing things in place on a bike, just seems like it’d make it harder to service/maintain/replace, however glue does seem to be a very common answer/solution.

Wow, like chucking a chipolata round the Albert Hall.

Is there any play when you assemble everything?

I’ve used a Wheels Manufacturing PF30 (it has aluminium cups), so might provide a more snug fit. I beleive Hope are designing a PF30 to come out soon that is threaded, which may help hold it together, but I guess none of these address the fact that it seemed to slip in too easily. Interested to see how this goes, I have a PF30, not a massive fan but kinda stuck with it.

Paceman – Member

Jaymoid, I run my Charge Cooker 29er fully rigid and it’s great for blasting round the woods. Being rigid it keeps you on your toes but also benefits your riding skills no end. I’ve found it’s best run with a big high volume tyre on the front such as a 2.4 Ardent or Chunky Monkey if you need more grip. I’ve also ditched the front mech and chainrings to run it 1×9 which makes for a fantastic winter bike with loads of mud clearance and little maintenance to worry about.

Yeah – I saw your cooker, looks lovely! What fork do you have? I have thought about running 1×10 but the big ring is very handy for the road bit of the commute.

Here’s my charge cooker. I use it exclusively for the (largely off-road) commute so pardon the reflectors and lights.

I’ve been considering swapping out the fork for a rigid one because that fork is next to pretty useless. Does anyone have any cheap steel recommendations please?

Based on one persons rant on a website?

Apologies, I forgot to surround that bit in sarcasm tags.

can I have one of those chocolate octopus (octopi?) please.

The word ‘octopus’ originates from the Greek word okt?pous, and as such the plural is ‘octopodes’, rather than applying the rules for some Latin plurals.

The modern plural in English is ‘octopuses’, although ‘octopodes’ sounds so much cooler.

“Who ate all my anotomically-incorrect chocolate octopedes?!”

I have some superstar flats, sintered pads, and grips. However I won’t be buying anything else from them now I know that the owner is a bit of a ming.