If you installed a bootloader already it should be possible to go in via that and flash a ROM. If not you should be able to do it using the command line-type control thing via your computer, I’ve forgotten what it’s called. I would imagine that will fix the problem.

If you’re downloading the developer’s tools for your computer anyway, you might be able to find the home app in the package of android apps that’s included and just reinstall that.

This.

Pretty much every museum in Paris, the first Sunday of each month entry is free. Also under a euro for delicious bread. Almost makes up for the ridiculous beer prices. Almost.

My 21st, while living in California, should have been a celebration of getting back to drinking after a couple of months of sneaking around not touching a drop.

Except my crazy (and now ex-) girlfriend turned up as a surprise with tickets to Disneyland. Spent my 21st with Mickey and co, followed by a huge fight with her and eating on my own in macdonalds on the night as she slept off her jet lag.

I started losing mine at 17 and took the lot off straight away. I now do a grade 0 every couple of weeks. There’s no point prolonging the balding process, once it’s going it’s going so get rid of it.

Don’t skimp on clippers, buy a decent set straight away as not only are you saving on the barbers, but you’ll save on clippers in the long run. Ceramic or self-sharpening steel are the ones to get, built-in battery so you can charge and then use wireless. I got a nice £50 pair of phillips ones on offer at £35 about 5 years ago and they’re still going strong.

Other top tips: get a small hand mirror to check the back of your head in the main mirror. Failing this, take selfies of the back of your head on your phone (a handy skill to acquire), but remember to turn wifi off if you have auto-upload, or expect 50 odd photos of the back of your head to accumulate on there.

Final tip: Sun cream.

EDIT: Always thought the circular type clippers sc-xc linked to were a bit of a gimmick, but could be worth a go if they’re that good.

maico – the lower specced wicked 650b also has a pike at 2100 euros http://www.yt-industries.com/shop/en/Bikes/Trail/Wicked-650B

Xiphon, that is the story Hora linked to at the end of page one. His link gives the full description.

The biker didn’t die, but he has a paralysed right arm and will never work again.

The driver got 12 months for dangerous driving.

You only need one ride

Actually I find that if there’s one thing n+1 applies to, it’s this…

A bit off topic but something to note: when you pay by card in Colombia they ask when you want to pay, so you can delay payment, effectively using you debit card as a store credit card. To avoid interest and just pay debit you have to select 0 or 1 (sometimes 0 isn’t an option, 1 just means end of the month as that’s how their debit cards work). I’ve forgotten what they call this or how they ask you because I was with a colombian who dealt with it.

Also be prepared for some weird questions, address, phone number, passport number etc to pay even relatively small amounts by card as their anti-laundering regulations are understandably pretty strong.

Pony timeteam?

Actually there are plenty of public toilets. Saw a guy having a pee in my street about 10 metres from the local one just the other day.

+1 for Montmartre though, just draw an imaginary line along the metro line, and in a straight line between Anvers metro and Sacre Coeur basilica, and stay away from that line to avoid wee smell, scammers and tat shops. Other parts around Montmartre are nice, my favourite resto is L’été en Pente Douce near the basilica.

The main thing I would disagree with in glabalti’s post is the coffee. It’s terrible if you’re a fan of espresso. Whatever the stuff the French call “expresso” is, it’s not espresso.

If you get bored of the tourist trail, you could do worse than to seek out the mayflower on rue mouffetard, quality belgian beers for 6 euros a pint until 9.30.

Last thing: google maps cache, it should be the very bottom option if you click on the search bar on the smartphone app and then scroll down without typing. Do it at home to have maps straight away when you arrive.

I’ve got a big bike, a HT 29er and an old gas pipe french touring road bike, and if I had to get rid of one the road bike would be gone straight away. I probably commute as often on the 29er as on the road bike to hit the trails near work in the evening, and tbh it’s just as quick on conti x-kings as the road bike is on slicks. The only reason I don’t get rid of the road bike is because a set of mud guards and slicks for the 29er would cost me more than the road bike cost to buy.

IMO if you’re restricted to two bikes get a 29er and ride it on the road when you have to, low profile knobblies will be fine on and off road in anything but the muddiest weather.

Not much point is there? As far as I’m aware they released a stock android for the google play edition S4 that you can flash fairly easily. If it works in the same way as the htc one play edition it should work seamlessly and get OTA android updates at the same time as nexus devices.

The only time I’ve used knee-shins before buying my knee-only pads were a borrowed pair off a mate in the alps. They slipped down, I fell off and ended up getting stitches in the exposed top of my knee. I now only wear the aforementioned bulky 661s, although the 2014 rage I now have aren’t as bulky as the old ones.

If you’re dead set on a pair then read a lot of reviews and make absolutely sure you’re getting the right size. IMO they will always slip down a bit more than knee-only pads because they aren’t fastened as securely under the knee. If you’re just looking at them as protection against pedal strikes there’s always thin soft shin pads you can put on with separate knee pads.

Mavic have already released a pair, as well as a few niche companies, but they always get terrible reviews. The problem is they just don’t hold the foot firmly enough to stop it sliding off the pedal, especially when muddy. If they were firm enough they’d be impossible to unclip, or at least harder than mechanical systems.

As far as I know the only pro that rides with magnetic pedals is BMX rider Kurt Yaeger, but that’s because he lost a leg in an accident and can’t use normal flats with his prosthetic leg.

People will come up with pretty much any other explanation they can find to avoid admitting that this is the real reason behind it.

Cazadores añejo 😉

If you want a full carbon Ultegra 6700 bike the planet x pro carbon would be much cheaper, Shirley?

I think one zip-tie would work as long as it was narrow enough. Because of how the link works it needs to pass through two narrow links. The only problem I could think of with mine was that you need two hands to pull the string, so you rely on the link falling apart if you’re on your own. The zip tie would solve this, but I think so would a knot in the string, one one end in your teeth…

Mineral oil is a very generic term, but Shimano mineral oil should be red. It’s true that many colours and types of mineral oil exist, but that doesn’t neccesarily mean it’s OK to put in your brakes. Magura Royal Blood blue mineral oil will definitely knacker Shimano brakes just as quickly as DOT fluid for example.

My guess would be if you’ve got clear fluid in them but haven’t had any massive problems, it may be because Shimano don’t bother putting the red colour in their factory oil and these brakes have never been bled since.

EDIT: sauce http://www.bikerumor.com/2013/04/11/tech-speak-brake-fluid-break-down-and-implications-for-road-disc-updated/

Take in the stark industrial beauty of Heysham 1 & 2 nuclear power stations. There’s a visitors’ centre.

It’s worked for years in Lyon, then Paris. Lyon is about the size of Birmingham, so no reason it wouldn’t work there, or in other smaller cities. They just have to budget in that some will get stolen, destroyed etc, and include a deposit in the sign-up.

It doesn’t seem to work so well in DC from what I saw when I was there, and tbh even as an experienced cyclist I wouldn’t have wanted to cycle on their roads, so it also depends on cycle lane provision and driver attitudes. It also depends on how keen the police are on pulling people over for cycling on the pavement, because they have to turn a blind eye to this to a certain extent to get the less confident riding.

What did the cheese say when it saw itself in the mirror? Halloumi

How do you cut cheese in Wales? Caerphilly

What do you call a man with 50 raincoats on his head? Max

What do you call a man with 50 raincoats on his head standing in a cemetary? Max Bygraves

4. Casual sexism

Calm down love…

This probably isn’t going to help much, but are you 100% sure the air leak isn’t somewhere in the bleed kit? Could be a bad seal between the plastic tube and the metal screw-in attachment.

I only suggest this because I had the same issue myself 😳

Also sweepstake entry in early: I think 7 people will tell you to get Shimanos.

On-one sent me the wrong colour saddle. Just got an email saying they agree with me that sending free matching bar tape is easier and cheaper than me returning the saddle for replacement 😀

For good food for reasonable money there’s a restaurant called “L’été en pente douce” here, which is worth going to if you’re visiting Sacre Coeur anyway.

For beer etc shop around, don’t sit down at the first bar out of the metro station because it will be 10€ a pint, but keep an eye out for happy hours and you shouldn’t have to pay more than 5€ a pint. You generally won’t have to queue for a drink except in busy bars later on in the evening, as with anywhere. Also, most brasserie/bistro type places will have table service anyway.

To avoid queues: Don’t go to the Louvre, Notre Dame or expect to get up the Eiffel tower. The tower is still worth going to look at, but take a picnic or some beers and just sit on the grass and take photos. If you really want to go to the top, get up very early. Similarly for notre dame the area around, particularly to the south over the river, is lovely and there’s no need to go in.

Final thing, the metro is the way to go, as the velibs (parisian boris bikes) can be funny with foreign cards.

I’ve ordered the 100mmx355mm one, anyone recieved a stealth one of these? I’m hoping mine won’t turn out to be stealth because of the size, do they even make the stealth in those dimensions?

Put his stapler in jelly.

Arrived home to find a letter from work detailing my bonus…

Just need to find somewhere in Paris to get my frame reamed before the reverb arrives now 😳

Looking at a dirt cheap selco saddle for the commuter and possibly a short stem with ancho bars.

Has anyone used the “World Tour MTB” bib shorts? I can’t really see how they can be MTB specific, but I’m after some for MTB use if anyone could shed some light…

I’m looking at the Canyon Spectral AL and the YT Capra. The Capra is slightly over your budget on current exchange rate at 3300€, works out about £2700. There’s a well-specced 2700€ Spectral, but both bikes are hard to get a test on without going to Germany or a bike show.

http://www.bike-discount.de/en/shop/seatposts-adjustable-369/brand-gravity_dropper

A bit cheaper than CRC but sometimes have better deals if you’re willing to wait.

Got the train down to St Remy les Chevreuse just south of Paris Saturday morning with a couple of mates. Lots of climbing, ended up walking a couple of climbs towards the end, got home massively dehydrated and got 10 hours’ sleep that night. Great fun, need to work on my fitness, but first dry trails for months were a blast. No clean bike though unfortunately due to some boggy bits still in the shadiest areas.

I think your second post is too oversimplified. I can see what you’re trying to do in trying to find which terms are proportional to each other, but I think the first equation mgh=Fs is far too simplistic a view. In reality, a suspension shock will slow the descent of a rider upon landing a drop, but it will also absorb a certain amount of energy in the fluid and reduce the impulse on the rider.

A smaller rider will have a weaker spring/less air, but could also have different “tune” on the suspension in other ways affecting how the energy is absorbed.

I agree that the larger rider will have accumulated more momentum when he reaches the bottom of the drop, but the set up of his shock will be such that it absorbs more energy, so the impulse on the two riders is reduced by similar amounts.

The shock will also use up its travel more slowly for the heavier rider, assuming the shocks are set up to use the same amount of travel for the same drop, so the momentum change will be spread over a longer period, resulting in similar forces being applied to the two riders.

Carmageddon. I think it’s about £4 but it’s a classic.

Living in Lyon for 2 years and only doing one Alps uplift day.

Decathlon have a flat bar road bike type thing for £250:

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/fit-3-road-bike-grey-id_8239797.html

What do you mean slightly bigger than normal?

Can’t be 650B, it doesn’t have 650B in huge letters anywhere on the frame, rims or tyres…

EDIT: Lovely bike by the way.