woody74

I disagree with the plastic cleat example as its impossible really not to walk on cleats at some time. How else do you get to your bike / get on and off your bike.

Metal cleats exist. If you don’t need race equipment, don’t buy race equipment then make the point that it’s not fit for something other than it’s intended purpose.

Intense frames are well known for being light. It’s one of their main selling points. If they used thicker tubing and/or thicker paint they wouldn’t be light, they’d just be expensive. They probably wouldn’t dent so easily, they wouldn’t crack as much either but they probably wouldn’t pass the all important shop floor lift test which we all know is the absolute critical determining factor when it comes to buying a bike.

I’m on the Amazon Prime trial at the minute. Mac user. No issues with streaming HD at all. A slight buffering delay on films, maybe 30 seconds or so. No more. On a film with lots of dark scenes you might notice some compression on transitions from light to dak but it’s not intrusive.

I’ve just watched 2 seasons of vikings, which was pretty dark and it didn’t detract from my enjoyment. Brighter scenes looked great.

isto
what I was (somewhat clumsily) trying to say is that when people claim that all new music is dire and that all old music to awesumz they just couldn’t be @rsed looking anymore.

Actually, no. It stands to reason that the majority of good music will have been produced in the past. If like me, you like hard rock/metal/heavy metal, a genre that’s been around since the mid sixties, then there’s about 50 years of stuff out there to listen to.

I don’t like electronic music. Pop/Dance/trance/house/urban/trance/jungle/garage/darkcore/ambient…..I find it all shit. It irritates me. So for me a lot of new music is awful.

That’s not to say that there’s no good new music, but the stuff I like is pretty derivative, generic , formulaic anyway. I am ok with that.

I love finding “new” bands to listen to but I’ll admit, I don’t put much effort into it. As a thirty something married father of two I have far more important things to do than dredge through mountains of shite to find a gem. If I was a full on muso, I could understand how you would be passionate at seeking out new stuff, but not me. I am not hip, cool, trendy etc and have no desire to try to be.

How do I get one of these unscrupulous companies to defraud me with a 600hp tyre smoking weapon and how much are they likely to charge? I fancy a trip to the Nurburgring.

Hertz are quoting £4200 a week.

How broke would be more relevant to me I think.

Congrats. Be excited, it’s great. It’s pretty natural to have some fear. I’d agree with everyone else when they say get plenty of riding in now, although I found for quite a while after the birth I managed to get out loads when mother and baby were sleeping/feeding/sleeping so long as I had everything in order.

The way she was throwing it about she’s lucky she didn’t put it through her leg. The wife wonders why I won’t let her split firewood (even now when I’m one armed), that pretty much sums it up.

new old music.

How do you find new music?

I find it terrible!!

I look at similar artist suggestions on youtube, spotify (when it was free) amazon etc. I almost never read or seek out reviews, the music press seems as bigger load of hype and b.s than bike mags. Very few current bands worth a shit, but there’s plenty of classic stuff out there to seek out.

Looking at those pictures, it seems the doctor described a grade 3 to me. Still resting, a bit of mobility has come back, but urgh.

Am I right to be concerned at buying such a long bike? Would you be worried?

Chainstay length? This will be important to how the bike feels mid corner and how easy it will be to get the front wheel up. Shorter will feel more lively and have more cornering snap on the exit of turns, it’ll also be easy to lift the nose. The downside will be you’ll have to get further over the front so would require a slightly more agrressive descending technique. You’ll also lose climbing grip.

Longer chainstays will give you more climbing grip, especially out of the saddle, but don’t corner as well for me. If you like to hang off the back when descending, or you don’t like to attack technical sections/jumps etc then longer chainstays migh suit you.

I wouldn’t be worried at overall wheelbase on it’s own, rather look at it in relation to the front and rear of the bike. The wheelbase you mention doesn’t strike me as massively long for a modern bike in a bigger size.

Bump for the midweek crowd.

Motor Trend (youtube channel) dyno’d an E63 S last year. It was supposed to produce 577bhp and 590lb ft. They weren’t exactly sure what it was producing at the crank but they guessed about 620bhp and 650lb ft of tourque. Totally insane. I’ve love a wagon version in brown.

Good for you.

Facebook, like most internet interaction has the effect of amplifying undesirable traits. If someone’s a bit of a bullshitter, then they will be insuferable on facebook. If they are bit thick, it’ll seem like they total brain dead idiots.

The other problem with Facebook is that for some people it’s their main experience, or only experience of interacting with people online. So they have no idea of what’s acceptable and what’s not. For a geek like me who’s been online for 20 years or so I can kind of moderate my internal extremist, others seem to want to accentuate theirs like a teenager on msn for the first time.

marky29er
I bin off people who spout limp wristed liberal/leftie/socialist/communist nonsense.

Does that mean your friends consist only of stiff wristed, right wing, authoritarian fascists? You sound like a real man. A real…internet hard man. Like Charles Bronson on a keyboard, man.

Slight hijack, I love Leffe Brune. Does anyone know of any cheaper alternatives? or the best places to buy it?

I tried a few other lovely belgian beers which were similar, the best of which was gulden draak, fantastic but bloody expensive. Mardesous was nice too. There’s bound to be others out there?

ninfan

This, compared with most of the Midwestern spams I know, that was a pretty major disagreement and Open airing of negative views, it’s like pulling teeth getting them to say something isn’t very good at all really.

I think it’s good to see people questioning stuff properly and not being afraid to veer from the party line

I must be missing the major disagreements.

roverpig
They are American (or Brits who’ve been over there long enough to become assimilated). That’s just how they talk

I don’t have any problem with their accents. I think it’s because they are acting, or pretending to have a debate, when really all they are doing is agreeing with each other. I’m not sure, it just seems….off.

Nice black pudding, absolutely lovely. There is some horrible stuff out there too though.

Sheppys Cider[/url]. Lovely stuff and available from Sainsburys. Henry Westons is nice too and can be got in Tesco.

angeldust

Yeah, only time I use down for anything strenuous is when trekking at high altitude where its been -20C or lower. In this situation the equivalent synthetic would have been much bulkier and heavier. Really depend how much warmth/insulation you require. If it’s cold enough I don’t really care how michelin I look. Perhaps you have never experienced conditions that extreme?
In the UK, I pretty much only use down for keep warm when static (camping etc) or dog walking when it’s really cold.

We are pretty much in agreement. I’ve experienced -20 in Austria, and a few winters here have hit -14 or -15. Of course you won’t be worried about how you look in those conditions. I wasn’t making a dig at you, I just find it amusing when I see people wearing arctic gear to the shops on a nice day. They generally have a pair of white oakleys on their head, probably drive an A4 avant……… :-)

I find for going in and out of shops, getting into cars, walking about, really doing anything active, down is just too much. And again it’s a headache when it rains. If you go for a walk in the woods you’re worried about brambles… So synthetic for me all the way.

scotroutes

And yet many folk will tell you that a Pertex shell is a softshell jacket. Packable, breathable, windproof, water-resistant….

I’ve got a Rab Spark with Pertex, I think a more accurate description of it would be soft touch hardshell. But there again you have the confusion. I think we can agree that softshell means different things to different people.

moshimonster

I agree, but you have to be careful with the fit. For example I have a Marmot Goretex Proshell climbing jacket, which is very waterproof, light and decent quality but I never use it for biking as the sleeves are simply too short while the body is too long.

I’m not familiar with your Marmot jacket but when I was recently out shopping for a new shell (and bought the spark) almost everything i tried on was long in the arm for climbing and fairly long on the body. I had to rule out a few jackets I really liked because they were just too long in the arm. So I suppose it depends on the brand.

angeldust

Down is still considerably warmer for a given weight imo.

I think in this climate it’s a moot point unless you’re an emaciated anemic woman who’s always cold. For me, a good down jacket is too warm for anything short of sitting outside on a freezing night. I can see how they might be great for a nice stroll at -20 but we don’t often see those conditions.

That extra ‘bulk’ i.e. loft, is what provides the additional warmth (to a degree, quality of fill also contributes).

Yes but that’s also what limits mobility and gives you that oh so fashoinable Michelin Man look.

cynic-al
Better synthetics (i.e. proper brands, £100+) seem to close the gap though yes?

Definitely synthetic. Good ones anyway. They are within spitting distance of down in terms of heat/insulation but none of the bulk or maintenance issues.

I’ve got a Mountain Equipment Bastion and it’s warm enough to be worn with just a t-shirt in nearly any conditions. I don’t have to worry about getting it wet (it’s still warm when wet) and it has the added benefit of not making look like I’m a polar explorer who got lost at the airport.

The problem is the term soft shell means nothing. It covers everything from £20 TK max specials to something like a £450 Arcteryx. Of course they are very different.

They were invented because climbers destroy hardshell jackets scrambling about on coarse rock faces, so softshell is a more durable alternative.

Personally I find “softshell” jackets too heavy, too hot and not packable should I want to take them off. Breathable, but not very windproof. They also generally have no inherent waterproofness to them at all, instead relying to dwr treatments to make them water repellent. If you use them off road dirt will get ingrained in them meaning they’ll need a proper wash, and before long they’ll not be water proof in the slightest. Once they do get saturated it’s like riding around with a wet duvet draped over you.

I prefer to layer up, light to heavy base layer and a light shell outer. Depending on what base layer I wear this covers me for everything down to minus 2 or 3, below which I don’t ride.

The other thing to be mindful of is that you pay a premium for ” bike specific” clothing. There’s nothing like the same range of products and fabric blends as there is in the climbing / hiking world.

I am curious about this, is it more psychological horror or is it that quiet, quiet BANG!! bullshit?

geoffj
Do you know anyone with an angle grinder?

That’s a really bad idea. At best I’d say he’ll end up ruining the profile, at worst taking the temper out of the bit and ruining it completely. A belt sander or similar would be ok if you know what you’re doing.

Yes, a touch up with a grinder is fine for something cheap and nasty if all you do it split kindling with it or something but the Husqvarna axes I know are hand forged high carbon steel with a very high rockwell. Too nice to be ruining, or indeed accepting in that condition. Even if it is just light work around the home/garden a well sharpened hatchet will be much nicer and safer to use than something crude or blunt.

Buy the best tools you can afford, look after them and they’ll look after you.

How far do you have to ride?

No, send it back. You could sharpen it but judging by the size of the chip you’ll have to do a fair bit of re-profiling to get it to where it should be.

Also, Husqvarna axes used to be Wetterlings seconds, so there’s a chance it was rejected for being too hard/brittle which might have caused it to chip so easily when presumably dropped in transit.

It’s not just about faster/further/more. It’s about how the machine reciprocates your inputs. For a lot of people riding an MTB on the road is a fairly uninspiring process, it’s drudgery really. Okay on shorter journeys, but the further you go, the more it’s flaws start to become apparent.

A road bike gives you back what you put in, in terms of speed. It’ll always have some performance in the tank if you do. On a very gentle downhill gradient on the road I can spin my mtb out with ease. Probably struggling to top 20mph. On the same stretch of road on the commuter, if I want to, I could get near 30mph and still have gears to go.

metcalt

I’ve had a play on a large in a shop car park and it felt OK, but I can’t seem to find anywhere with a built up medium for love nor money. Are there any owners out there a similar height, which size did you go for and how do you find it?

Any advice would be appreciated, thank you.

I’m 5’9 and had a medium 2013 Zesty/Spicy. My gut told me to go for a large, but stand over was an issue. So I bought the medium. It was twitchy, over damped and hopeless on high speed dh terrain. It did climb well but that was about it. Happily it snapped clean in half after about 6 weeks.

The newer bikes have revised geometry, but not enough imo as they were already pretty flawed.

More doomy I suppose but I’ve been listening to Horn of the Rhino.

Thanks guys, I appreciate all the comments and feel a lot more optimistic about the process now. Now for some serious placebo action.

jimjam – Member

…jumped

Euro – Member

There’s no learnin for some people

I know. My secret shame.

I’m in Belfast Steven, cheers.

Has anyone tried Oxygen therapy ? There’s a hyperbaric oxygen thingyamebob not far from me.

Thanks guys, that helps to hear.

Onzadog

What grade?

I think he said grade 2.

davehenryv

Shorter stem perhaps?

You’re gonna need one. I run a 50mm stem on my AMR which has about a 595mm tt. The Riot 48cm has a 610mm tt, which is about as long as I would personally like to go. Your other concern would be stand over clearance. The reason I can get away with a 48cm in the AMR+ is that it has a silly low bb height in real world terms. The riot seems to sit a bit higher. An offset bushing to drop the bb might be in order, but then you might be into issues with ghost’s needle bearing shock mounts. That’ll need changed to standard hardware.

I hmmm’d and ha’d about getting one, but the cost, coupled with may horrendous experience dealing with Ghost’s warranty system, and the fact that every carbon ghost I’d ever seen had cracked kind of put me off.

I’ve got a Ghost AMR+, it’s a 48cm, and I have ridden a size 44cm Riot a bit. I’m 5’9 and personally I would buy a 48cm Riot, but I will say I like a long, long tt. I had no problems riding the 44cm at all, and would probably get used to it. The guy I sold it to was about 5’7 – 5’8 and he absolutely loved it.

By the time you buy all the bits that you’d want for the sirius you are into joystick money.