Dumb question as I haven’t seen these before, do you not get issues with the chain sticking still at the bottom of the stroke? Like chain suck?

I think that’s a good question…I can’t remember ever getting chainsuck on a 32T chainring but maybe the tight fit of the teeth could exacerbate chainsuck in very muddy conditions?

Personally, I’m not convinced cable upgrades makes an audiable difference. However, if you want to ensure you’ve got the best sound possible, you can make your own high quality cable pretty cheaply using Cat 5 cable as detailed here:

http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/ffrc_e.html

XX1 looks great to me but are you willing to spend £300 every time you need a new cassette?

Sky Wizard….

Lovely! 😀

Surely not more BB angst?

Frame designers like it because that extra shell width that was taken up with external cups can now be incorporated into the BB shell to make the frame stiffer side to side.

Marketing guys like it because bullet points are their lifeblood and …
* 7.5% stiffer! means you can probably make it…
* 113g lighter too!

I think it makes some kind of sense on race bikes where gains in stiffness and weight loss might be worth the trade off. I think for the majority of bikes, however, a less esoteric system would probably be a better solution.

The thing that worries me is the interference fit between the BB bearings and the inner frame shell…if that gets damaged or worn at all, your whole frame is Kapput.

Sorry, that was me and I’m an idiot for not reading the classified rules.

Yes, was Ninja mod action – apologies mods!

(shifters are sold PPM)

Footslaps – I’m with you. I’d say I’ve found Virgin to be quite good. Not amazing but as Cupra said, most big companies are crap at some point.

Virgin would have to be pretty flipping bad to make me go back to BT though!

Though the reduced longevity annoys me, I’ll trade it for the ease of maintenance of HT2.

The real problem with HT2, though is that its backwards compatibility makes it a temporary solution for the industry anyway – Bearing cups added to the outside of the BB shell gives no benefit to frame stiffness. It’s only logical that bike designers look at HT2 and think: “Look at all the extra triangulation I could have on the seat and downtube if only I had that extra shell width to play with…” That led to PF30 / BB30 etc. but that’s another can of joyful worms for the OP to experience one day 😀

I sent two (light) folded tyres to a buyer on STW today in a small box…1200g £8.90!!!

Kiwijohn: A friend had one of those Axis TT’s in the 90’s. Brilliant bike – you get anywhere near the pedals and it would leap forwards.

AFAIK Hope bearings are stainless, Shimano are steel so the Hopes should last a lot longer. I get at least 18 months out of Hopes even riding through the winter porridge.

IMO no MTB sold in the UK should have ANY non stainless bearings.

PS: you aren’t jet washing them are you?……

I really like this one too:

Iranian Stealth Fighter Image Called Out as Photoshop Fake by Bloggers

Hacksaw, some masking tape to try and keep it straight, and use the landing section of a staircase to sit the forks on.
You can then sit on the top step next to them and cut away.

Good idea… I’m planning to kit out the shed with something incorporating a decent sized landing like this for steerer trimming:

Are you willing to go second hand? You could get a nice used Linn Sondek LP12 for that.

2nd hand can be a great option in the hifi world – audio perverts are incredibly fastidious about looking after their kit.

On an MTB trip years ago, we over-nighted at a gite in a very primative village, high up in the Atlas mountains in Morocco. Not only were the 3 abominably smelly stalls furnished with rough French style holes in the ground, they were also without electricity or water and pitch dark and there were chickens wondering in and out.

I had a quick scout around for an alternative location but we were in the middle of a village and, as you know, when you are on an urgent recce mission of that sort, people can tell…the locals see right through your scouting and pained expression and give you that “not around here you don’t, mate!” look…

So..the stalls of doom it is…small maglite braced between the teeth (don’t let anything touch the floor for God’s sake!)..the shorts come down and one adopts the classic “Franz Klammer” but!….the quads are not in a cooperative mood – they’ve been putting out the watts all day in the mountains and now they’re being asked to go beyond the call of duty for one last burn and with the pulled down lycra cutting off the oxygen, it’s a Zone 5 effort.

The large coffee tin with coat-hanger handle that you filled with water and brought in with you as a “flush” serves as a primative time limiter – it leaks, so if you aren’t pretty fast you aren’t getting a flush (or a hand wash). To compound the issue, anything that touches the floor (a part of your shorts maybe?) is getting soaked from the same leak and god knows what else that lurks out of the torch beam.

Properly character building that was – Going al-fresco behind a rock when wild camping the next night was a joy!

Only one place

Colorado.

That’s where I’d go! Boulder ideally.

yup, classifieds are great. Bought a couple of things in the last week. Very pleased. (thanks chaps!)

When I say remove the trees, I meant remove them from the path to clear it, not to collect. Sorry I should have been clearer on my original post.

Mate: this is Singletrackworld. I don’t think people will understand if you say you are picking up the wood and not putting it down on your woodpile. (you do have a woodpile, right?)

1) Man can’t cook or manage money.
2) Ramsay arrives, demands to see the testicles of man.
3) Man and Ramsay stare each other down. Ramsay break him like an egg!!!
4) Broken man is rebuilt – this time with proper testicles like they should be.
5) Production team drum up trade for the restaurant – Finally, there is money! – everyone is friendly & happy!
6) Now the best of friends, it is time for Ramsay to give a big man hug and move on, like that dog in “the littlest hobo“.

I presume you allowed to stop for a bit (for a pork pie, say) and then drive really, really fast?

I never found out whether mine was broken or sprained as they wouldn’t X-ray it. (it makes little difference anyway as treatment is the same – nothing!)

A&E doctor said: “it’s broken, don’t ride your bike for 6 weeks”. GP said: “It’s sprained, you can ride your bike as long as it doesn’t hurt too much”. So I decided that A&E guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about 😉

It was much better after 2 weeks and completely better after 6. Actually after 2 weeks it was pretty much fine except for lying down and sneezing (you sneeze a lot more with a broken rib, **** knows why!) No symptoms since.

2 tips: as above, they told me in A&E you mustn’t just take shallow breaths as you can get an infection. and if you think you’re going to sneeze, tuck your arms in to brace your rib cage and mutter: “oh crap!…”

Things like this make me dispair about the way we run our society. Let the poor bloke keep his house.

Yep, often have to resort to the drill on cleats and rotor bolts. I would try to hacksaw a slot into it first and undo it with a flathead screwdriver if you can, though. (works better on “proud” rotor bolts)

If you have to drill, a decent drill bit will make a world of difference.

I enjoyed the first 2/3. After that it goes a bit hammy horror for me.

I interviewed someone for a position as a 3D artist at our company recently. With a straight face, the candidate turned to me and asked: “So…what software are you rocking here?“

…Had me reaching for the button that drops them into the shark tank.

Bloke in front of me in Subway: “Can I get a 6″ tuna?“. I was really disappointed not to hear: “You stay where you are, mate! – I’m the one making the subs here“.

Put him in the sub oven!

That image puts it in perspective…He won the tour 7 times. – On drugs. He lied and he let a lot of people down. He’s still worth 100 Kim Kardeshian’s though.

I love all this medieval differerent coloured bonfires nonsense but they ought to model it more on the Archbish of Canterbury selection process…

Bishops fighting to the death

Bishops fighting to the death
26-09-12

BISHOPS wearing futuristic body suits are locked in deadly combat beneath Gloucester cathedral.

Dr Williams was handy with a large axe

Dr Rowan Williams’s retirement has triggered the traditional, violent archbishop selection battle known as the Game of God.

Under the strict conventions of the game, Bishops wearing tight-fitting overalls are released into the bewildering network of tunnels beneath Gloucester cathedral. The only rule is ‘no surrender’, with the coveted church boss title going to the last surviving senior cleric.

The initial phase is a race to find the weapons, food and crucifix-branded medical packs scattered throughout the tunnels. There is also a limited number of bibles, which can be used for spiritual sustenance or to hit other bishops over the head with.

The Bishop of Durham has already been shot through the liver with a crossbow, while the Bishop of Carlisle has been garrotted.

A C of E spokesman, watching the deadly game unfold via video cameras hidden in gargoyles, said: “The Bishop of London and the Bishop of Coventry have formed an alliance based on London having a box of protein biscuits and Coventry carrying a big crossbow.

“The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, is hiding in an alcove with a samurai sword. Unfortunately though he’s a bit wheezy, which is rather giving the game away.

“My money’s on the Bishop of Norwich, who has physical stamina, excellent tactics and a harpoon gun.

“Overall, this is a real tough bunch of bishops.”

The Bishops have 48 hours to kill each other, after which the catacombs begin to fill up with water and the focus switches to who has the best lung capacity.

The spokesman said: “It may seem old-fashioned to some, but they’re all here voluntarily. When you play the Game of God there can be only one winner.

DezB –

RUSH! Loads of fans on here, but I find their twiddly wee guitar wankery and lispy high pitched vocals the most puke-inducing load of tosh ever.

Are you my wife?

…Dez…I think we might have the same wife!?! (unless there’s more than one person who doesn’t like Geddy’s singing, which I find unlikely)

AL200:

Very hard to judge what kind of degree it is from the phrase ‘games tech’, but if he really wants a job programming games, he’d be much better advised to do a software engineering or computer science degree. Far more rigorous, and gives a much deeper understanding of computers and programming (and prepares you for jobs in *any* industry, not just games). If he really wants to do games, he can write them in his spare time – it’s what the vast majority of the best graduates that we interview have done.

This is very good advice in my experience. I work in the art side of games and generally we set far higher value on candidates with a Fine art / architecture / industrial design background than those with a “games degree”.

Also there really aren’t very many jobs in this industry compared to the number of graduates, so you need to really stand out above the competition if you want to be hired. I’m pretty sure that the graduate programmers we would be looking at in 3 or 4 years time (ie: the current 18 year olds) are already working their butts off on some personal coding projects in their spare time right now…

PS: THX – I think you are wrong about one thing, though – you really would hear the difference between a music system and a hifi…really they are both for different things…but sitting and listening to a well recorded album on a good hifi with a nice single malt is a very pleasant way to end the day 🙂

I think if you prefer sugar in espresso, you should put sugar in it 🙂

People on the telly are always on about how fish should only be cooked one way – just enough (“cuison” or something, I think it’s called) but I happen to like mine a bit burnt / barbequey…it tastes better to me like that, so that’s how I’m gonna eat it!

I would try to ignore any opinions that are too polarized either way, especially where Bose is concerned.

We have two music systems: a “proper” hifi (Linn Sondek, Exposure amp, AE speakers on stands) in the sitting room – that’s for sitting down and listening to music.

For just generally having music on in our main living area though, we have a laptop / amp / Bose setup. The Bose speakers (Acoustimass 5) are actually very good at what they do. No, they don’t sound as good as proper hifi speakers but then they are a fraction of the size and very discrete. The “sub” on the Bose is actually a pair of mid range drivers in a tuned enclosure. In practice you really can put it pretty much anywhere in the room (you can only start to hear sound coming from it when you’re about 2-3 feet away).

One thing to bear in mind with “proper” hifi speakers: placement is crucial – most “bookshelf” speakers (ironically) don’t sound good close to a wall.

If you’re looking for suggestions for your whole system, what we have now works really well. I didn’t see the point in an expensive music server setup when we already have a laptop handy. So we use Spotify / internet radio on the laptop, bluetooth to send the sound wirelessly to an amp (actually a really old Quad 33/303) and then into the Bose’s. Works great and is almost invisible. Honestly, if you’re not bothered about having a “proper hifi”, they sound fine.

“Its curved handle reminds classic umbrella in a poetic way“.

– The exquisitely honed prose can’t hide the fact that it’s just one of these pointed upwards…

JCL: The mechanic is probably a crackhead. When I was hooked on crack I used to forget everything.

Swap the white bacon buttie and omega 3 tablets for some mackerel on wholemeal toast. (Sainsbury’s, tinned, in spicy tomato sauce is lush)

3PM: banana and apple or orange. When you’ve done your fruit, THEN you may proceed to the biscuit tin.

If you got the reg its leaving the scene of an accident and the police will look into it.

“Only if there’s injury or damage to property will they look into it, and then without witnesses it’s only ever going to be a ‘your word v their word’ and very unlikely to get anywhere”.

I had a near miss last year due to a driver not watching where they were going. Phoned up the police with the reg and they actually took it very seriously (or at least appeared to) and said they would be having a word with the driver.

The boot is on the other foot in our house – My best half is currently making suspiciously encouraging noises about me getting a new singlespeed. I’m not daft though, I know as soon as I make the decision, she’ll just casually mention that she doesn’t have a carbon hardtail for racing…

No worries, I’ll stick them up on the classifieds (though they’re not exactly the tyre for this time of year)

good hunting

Hi Max,

These do have the EXO protection, so might not be what you want. Here’s a pic:

I checked the order and they were over £50 each from Just Riding Along (aye carumba! – that’s more than our car tyres!) so we’d be looking for somewhere around £65 + postage for the pair, as they are basically brand new.

cheers,

Jim