We had a nice chat with him after his talk in Brighton a couple of years ago. Just a really nice guy and completely inspiring. So sad to hear this news.

I use mine quite a bit for this. As said, you are just following a line, so it can get tricky if there are multiple options or a fork in the trail with routes close together. If I’m feeling keen I put a make a small stub in the gpx track i make so I can see “not that one” when I’m on the trail.

A garmin 1000/800 or whatever with an actual map display is, of course, better for navigation, but I like using the watch and you do get used to using it like that.

http://www.jimification.com/Kerala-India/i-c9M98dm

Some pics from our biking trip with mountain bike Kerala a couple of years ago. Fantastic time 🙂 (We went back for Singalilla later the same year)

Yet another big recommendation for them and Mike is indeed a top bloke – seems completely chilled and relaxed on the surface but very well organised behind the scenes. As Munge said, if you have a few days free there it’s worth giving him a shout anyway as he’s a great fixer.

..and the food in Kerala is bloomin’ fantastic.

I just presumed he was something to do with football – Ron Pickering sounds like a Paul Whitehouse character or something..

on and on: Thanks for the info.

Mk2 steerer (£15 from Qwerty) fixes the front end creak (in my experience, at least).

Cannondale OPI Steerer STD KH078/STD

why aren’t CSG Europe taking the same action “in the interest of consumers to conduct a voluntary recall of the part

I would think they’ll have no choice now they’ve done it in the states – would go pretty badly for them if a steerer failiure caused injury at a time when CSG Europe were undeniably aware of the US recall

Yes, I’d like to know this too please. Web page says sign on by 10:45am, rider briefing at 2pm. Doesn’t mention a later sign-in for the 3pm starters.

Depends how big the screen is and how far away it is. If you want a big screen and it’s relatively close then it might be worth it. (watch the bandwidth on 4k downloads etc. though!)

Personally I think it’s all a bit of a red herring to sell more tele’s now that everyone has a flat tele that doesn’t break down. I find once the picture quality is “good enough” the quality of acting / production / screenplay / Ratboy’s riding is about 1 million times more important than whether you can see the pixels or not. It’s like watching subtitles – I only notice them for the first 5 minutes then you forget you’re even watching a foreign production.

We don’t have a tele – either watch on a 15″ laptop or a projector with a 90″ screen. The projector looks fantastic for the first 5 minutes but again, you kind of forget you’re watching it after a while (the big screen is great when there are lots of people though)

I do like higher res computer screens though but then you’re sat much closer to those and often viewing text.

OP: a combi would save you £250 a year? How much is your yearly gas bill, if you don’t mind me asking? That would be about 50% of ours (drafty victorian 3 bed semi)

Financial recoup aside, given their relatively short lifespan (our previous combi lasted 6.5 years, replaced with a Valiant and were told it should last 10 years if we were lucky… parents conventional style boilers still going fine after 25!) does the increased energy efficiency of a combi actually outweigh the embodied energy required to create, transport and install one every few years?

Single front ring.

My guess would be that if you *really* want to learn it then you will but it will take a LOT of practice. The Wii is fine for fun (you should get a PC/ Mac setup with a tablet if you want to take the digital side further) but draw from life with physical media as much as you can. Practice, study the great masters and you will get better. Study simple objects first so you get to understand how form, light and shade interact before you tackle more complex scenes. Good luck!

Interesting. I think I may have felt this “flat tyre” effect but not sure with all the variables of tires, pressure, tubeless, tubed, frame flex etc. I think Stevet1’s question is a good one.

The XC 29er rims certainly seem stiff to me in unbuilt form, not rigid but pretty solid for the weight and I can’t see any reason why they’d behave any differently under tension.

Perhaps it’s opposite side deflection that you’re noticing? I’m always surprised how much you can pull any rim / wheel to one side if you grab the rim and chainstay and squeeze.

I like the elegant simplicity of a particularly savage climb near us: “Absolute bastard“.

Amazing achievement and huge props to you Rob!

Can’t believe how chirpy you were when the four of us accosted you just before Ditchling Beacon (3/4 way through leg 3) – looked like you’d just popped down to the shops and back!

Well done!

Yes. I found they went up with a track pump when new but very difficult when stretched a bit (2015 29er RoRo SS 2.25’s) I loosely wrapped a couple of extra turns of electrical tape over the Stans yellow and pulled the beads out and that seemed to do the trick but they’re right on the edge of not going up without a compressor / ghetto.

DezB: As I’m sure you well realise, you’re not paying $30 to be able to wheelie (if only!) You’re paying for a very skilled rider and teacher to break down and explain to you, as comprehensively as they can, all the individual components that make up that skill.

…and don’t call me Shirley.

Yeah, I just joined it. Perhaps it comes very easy to some people but I would say I’m reasonable at picking up physical skills but have still found learning to wheelie surprisingly elusive.

The lessons and tutorials in the challenge are very thorough and well thought out. Ryan also gives frequent helpful replies on a comments thread for each of the 30 stages to anyone having trouble with that component (even analysing video footage people post of their progress). IMO it’s a very well executed course.

Ivor: Great to hear it’s helping you. I’m only on day 3 but really enjoying it so far.

Read a few reviews of Rockshox’s new RS1. It’s a good illustration of varied journalistic practice, I think – either it’s hard to reach a consensus or some are bigging up a bit more than they should.

Even if the review process was unbiased, I still find it a bit strange. From what I’ve read, there are relatively few bike designers working for the big bike companies and they are generally very experienced and extremely accomplished at what they do. For sure they have many constraints in what they can actually get to market but I still find it rather odd that someone will hop on a bike and claim they know better.

Have had two leftys done at TF Tuned recently and was very pleased with the communication, helpfulness and work carried out (big props to Greg at TFT!). The collection / delivery service makes it so much less hassle as well. Very impressed.

Out of interest, how long do you guys get out of 240 bearings? I have two bikes with 240s rear hubs, both around 5 years old with a lot of use. I periodically check the axle for play / smooth rotation (expecting to have to replace the odd bearing) but to my surprise they always seem fine…

In terms of pressure on that part of your hand, I’d be surprised if different brands of carbon bars make *that* much difference. I’d look at:

Suspension setup
Tyre size
Tyre pressure
Grips (ESI chunkys you have are probably as good as anything)
Padded palmed gloves
…and then bars

I’d get an ernie: http://qwertycycles.co.uk/products/cannondale-lefty-stem-steerer-install-removal-tool-ernie-kt020

You can get away without but I mashed up an opi stem thread doing that so would only use an Ernie now.

Also worth checking you have the latest steerer, as they fixed the creaking issue on older flashes / F29’s / scalpels by adding a shoulder to it. This is the new one: http://qwertycycles.co.uk/products/cannondale-opi-steerer-std-kh078-std

Ha ha yes, rode past you guys at the pylon last Thurs. At a guess there were 30+ riders! Aren’t you just constantly stopping for breaks / food / mechanicals / punctures with that many riders? Good on your for organising it all though. Splitting seems sensible if you can get more leaders.

While I’m here, watch out for trail sabotage – someone has broken up on side of the earth /log rollovers on the big dog side (by the bluebells) and if you approach them from the east you won’t see it until it’s too late. They’d dragged a couple of trees across the trail further up too but at least you can see those coming.

Your garden looks very green. Did you put Astroturf on your dirt jumps?

I’ve been using a Suunto Ambit 3 peak for 6 months (running,biking and as a watch). I love it. Accurate GPS, very reliable and very good battery life. It even works well for navigating a preset route (though obviously a bike mounted GPS with large map display is much better)

Not fanless but 18 months ago I built an i7 pc with “bequiet” (http://www.bequiet.com/en) fans and they have been incredibly quiet. Pretty close to silent unless you put your ear right up to the case.

I used a graphics card with 2 very large fans on it, better as they spin more slowly, so less noise.

The worst fans for noise IMO are the really small ones as they spin at very high rpm. I disabled the two on my motherboard as there was plenty of cooling across it anyway (and temperature sensors everywhere to check)

It’s amazing how much nicer a silent pc is – definitely worth doing.

I’ve been using a 30T with 11-36 on a 29er for a year or so. I find I start wanting a higher gear than the 30/11 at around 20mph and it’s invariably on long roads / tracks with a slight downslope. Though actually, it’s surprising how few of those there actually are (around us in the SE, at least)

Unless you have a lot of those “slight downslope” tracks near you, I’d expect you will appreciate a lower gear more than you’ll miss the high one.

I remember Frischknecht describing his test ride around that course to Warner a couple of years ago and saying that he nearly wet himself when he got to that bit.

Same course:

I think this gives a good perspective:
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Marco-Fontana-Interview-2013.html

The UK north vs south hills one-upmanship must be quite amusing to those from countries with actual mountains.

I read an article recently about how roads and tracks were formally used by everybody as public space and the first cars were something of an intrusion on those. Soon after, heavy motor industry lobbying and paid journalism changed the public subconscious to: “roads belong to cars” and any other users began to be thought of as “guests” on the roads or somehow in the way of motorists. Quite sad really.

I’ve only bought 2 sets of rims and built them up myself so can’t comment on their build quality (rims are awesome though). I’d be fine ordering built wheels from them though. I expect others will disagree but IMO there’s a lot of unnecessary “black art” mystique attached to wheelbuilding. It’s really not that hard. If you’re worried, order them then get a local wheelbuilder to give them a once-over for a few quid.

Just had them service my Lefty for the first time. They made the whole process very easy from collection, helpful conversation with the guy doing the service then comprehensive notes and advice on what he’d done on return. Very impressed.

I only rarely ride a few select road routes that I think are reasonably safe, otherwise I stick to off road. I’m pretty keen on bikes and have a nice road bike, so I think that says something about public confidence in road cycling in Britain.

The UK (or at least the SE) is the worst place for road cycling from all of the countries I’ve ever ridden in. Probably not the most statistically dangerous but the least respect from motorists and the least attention paid by drivers to vulnerable road users.

The wide LB rims are great but I really wouldn’t bother ditching 4 spokes – Minimal weight saving for a weaker, bendier wheel, especially with a really stiff rim like that, I seem to remember reading that the effect is actually worse than with a bendier rim because of additional deflection on the opposite side (of the hub) to the load.

Some good stuff on Sheldon Brown on spokes, paraphrasing him from memory 36 to 32 was a marketing gimic and we really should have stuck at 36 and taken weight off the rim instead.

From the Nox site: what makes a stiff wheel in order of importance:-
1)The rim stiffness
2)The number of spokes
3)The spoke bracing angle
4)The gauge of the spokes
5)The lacing pattern

So if it was me I’d use thinner spokes rather than fewer spokes but that said, there are plenty of decent 28 spoke wheels around (Enve are 28 hole 2 cross, I think)

Eh? Don’t all suit jackets have that hankie thing? (or have I been wearing cycling specific suits all these years?)

Love the careful shot of the back wheel: “oh yes…you ride a fixie”

Brass are best but if you want to save weight or add colour than Ali. To give an idea of weight saving, 64 brass nips are 64g, 64 Ali nips about 20g. Up to you if that’s worth it or not…

If you do go for Ali nips though, I’d stick with decent ones like DT. Avoid Halo etc.

When you start off, fretting is the more difficult task, so yes, initially it would make more sense to use your dominant hand. However, once you get more advanced, the fretting hand will pretty much just do what it needs to and it’s the picking side of things that becomes the most demanding.

We have a few Exp lights: joystick, 2x Maxx D’s, diabolo, equinox and a few old enduros.

They need to make the bar clamp quick release I think, as the allen key fixing is too slow and too fiddly. Chargers can be a bit flaky too (though we have some pretty old chargers). Other than that they are great lights. Backup is very good and race support is a godsend (thanks chaps!)

We do a fair amount of night riding in groups and those bloody chinese lights are a pain – always someone with one conking out mid-ride.

PS: mboy: Didn’t I buy a MaxxD off you at mayhem a couple of years ago? (or was it someone else?) – if so it’s still working great, ta! 🙂

Not intested in the article’s 29er debate again but the “where you put the weight” angle is kind of interesting….I can’t see / am too lazy to look up the hub details but….

Weight shifting?:

32 x DT comp 294mm = 208g (typcial 29er length)
32 x DT comp 264mm = 191g (typcial 26er length)

Weight difference = 17g. That would need a pretty big hub flange to make up the length difference, I expect it would weigh more than 17g extra, so be a heavier wheel overall. Even if it was the same, you moved a TINY bit of the weight a BIT nearer to the axle. Irrelevant compared with variations in tyre weight or 5ml more stans in your tyre…

The only real benefit of an enlarged hub flange that I can see would be a stronger / stiffer wheel.