It is annoying, there is nowhere in Belper you can get bike bits. Closest thing is cheap inner tubes in Wilkos, but if you need a chain or a tyre or something else specialised, you have to mail order. There are tons of riders around there, so it is a bit odd.

Joe

I don't know for certain, but almost certainly not.

Today – offroad to work, 20 miles. That was fun, if a bit tiring.

Usually, most days I ride the road bike (either to work, or down to the shops or something if I'm working at home or it is a weekend). Probably 2 or 3 times I ride offroad.

Joe

Being able to ride up and down kerbs seems to be a major worry for people looking at on road bikes. Where are all these kerbs (I assume we're not riding on the pavement then) that are too high for a wee bunnyhop?

And why is everyone riding up and down kerbs anyway? Ride on the road, like a car, it's faster 99% of the time than taking all the dodgy shortcuts.

The other thing that confuses me is people saying they prefer flat bars for weaving in and out of traffic. Flat bars are a nightmare in traffic, a nice narrow set of drop bars is what you want – so you're no wider than your shoulders – you can squeeze through on the overtaking much better, and I really don't understand not being able to turn tight enough – I can't remember any situation where I've wanted to do a turn I couldn't do on a road bike, if anything they are a bit more nimble at turning surely? I reckon most of it is just not being used to drop bars.

I've commuted for years, in Surrey, Central London, Nottingham, and now across Derbyshire, none of those times have I thought, aha, what I want now is a wider set of bars without the comfy drops for going fast on?

Joe

I was about to say that one on the classifieds – I have a 1200, and it is great for exactly what they want, that 1500 is a whole lot better specced than mine, especially with upgrades.

Joe

Belper. Obviously.

It is on the (busy) A6. You get hundreds of road bikers going past every day (and more on the weekends), it has mountain bike riding right nearby, and it doesn't have a bike shop at all. It is also dead cheap to rent shops in, especially on the A6 itself. The nearest shops would be Fearns (in Matlock), and Samways (in Derby).

Plus it'd be very convenient for me.

Joe

It is probably dead easy if you have the vaguest idea of how to solder. I would use a bit of heatshrink wrap too, that can make the bodgiest of soldering jobs strong enough to stay together. If you're joining up cables, make sure you get the wires connected to the right one in the other cable, or else your battery / light might blow.

If it's actually inside the light rather than just bodging something in the cable, that might be a little harder.

If you don't already have a soldering iron, personally I'd recommend just finding a mate who solders and giving it to them. It'll take you an hour of faffing around, not to mention buying a soldering iron, whereas someone experienced can probably do it in a couple of minutes (or at least that's my experience of being a not very good solderer).

Joe

Don't you cycle commuters get sick of bikes? You can't possibly want to ride for fun after riding in traffic in all weathers can you?

I find it quite the opposite. If I haven't been commuting much, I don't fancy other rides as much, as I feel really slow and unfit. Commuting makes all the other riding way more fun than if you're just a once or twice a week rider.

Joe

Electron backupz? My one seems to work okay, and it appears to be sealed in some way – haven't tried it in a downpour yet though.

Joe

I've got one from photobox – very good quality. You can turn off their colour correction, which makes for better prints if what you send them is the right colour already.

Having said that, I got it done absolutely ages back, maybe 4 years back, so things might have changed. blurb.com does look like a nice interface.

Joe

has anyone got/or used a hope LED1 adventure light?

i like the idea of it taking AA batteries. i realise to get a useful batterylife, they will need to be expensive high power AAs, but i think i prefer this idea, as i reckon the light will go for long periods of not being used, and probably misuse of the battery.
AAs are much easier to replace than inbuilt LiIon i think.

Isn't the Hope basically a very very expensive version of the £10 torches that you buy from dealextreme? Which conveniently run off AA batteries, and are an all in one package.

If you want to spend that much, you'd be better off buying a much brighter lithium-ion based system. If you want cheap replacement batteries, the batteries for the dealextreme.com torches cost £5 for a set of 2, and the P7 torches will be a lot brighter than an AA based torch.

They even say about it that it isn't bright enough for running, which is crazy – £80 for a light that is only good enough for road biking and walking?

For technical off road biking and running and for competative orienteering you may want the higher light outputs of either the Vision 2 or Vision 4, see related items below.

Joe

It is a pretty small place (at least the bits that you'd come there to visit are) – I never bothered with a bike when I lived there. I'd just get the train there and walk places – the train station is close enough to the centre to not need a bike.

Punting is okay, but only worth it with a group of people.

You should be okay to go in colleges, as it isn't exam term. If you are young looking, you can probably just walk straight in (and some of the smaller colleges – i.e. not St Johns, Kings, Trinity, you can go round without paying anyway).

There is an art gallery called Kettles Yard, which sometimes has good stuff on (although sometimes it is terrible – don't say I didn't warn you!)

Joe

The original storm was supposed to be the worst phone ever – the only person I know with one absolutely hates theirs. Personally I'd get something with a proper web browser that isn't a bit rubbish (which probably means either Apple or something Android) unless you're a complete email fiend.

With your N96, it is worth running nokia software updater on it if you haven't already – as it is much much more stable with the latest software.

Also, if you do get a new phone, don't forget to ebay your N96. If you have the bits that come with it, they go for about £200 nowadays (if you have the box, you might get slightly more, same if it is unlocked).

Joe

Madison say that you can take it to any of their dealers (if you didn't buy it locally for example). You might have an argument at the shop though.

Joe

Aldi ones are good for if you want something to learn on that will probably break.

For one that might last a bit longer, try one of the ones from http://www.unicycle.co.uk

You probably want a 20" if you just want to learn to ride it on the flat. If you want to learn to do interesting things, there are also trials unicycles and mountain unicycles available from there. It is worth phoning them up for a chat – they are very good and know their stuff.

Joe (I have to admit I have been sponsored by unicycle.com for a few races, but I'd say the same even if I hadn't)

The traffic light game is fun in foreign countries, where they have different red and green men to the UK. In some places they have loads of different ones depending on age (I think Berlin has several for obvious reasons).

Joe

Cheers! Apparently the problem lies in that I have 'broadcast' the film o fthe event on the internet, so they are saying that I should have got their consent????

They're talking bollocks. Otherwise there would be no BBC news. It is completely obvious when you think about it, which I imagine they haven't.

Joe

Looking at the link above, it's clearly journalism, at a public event, you're not invading someone's privacy by showing that they won a race, and no-one would ever win that argument. Unless the race is something embarrassing like a singlespeed championships and they don't want their mates to know that they are of that persuasion.

Joe

No.

They're talking bollocks. You don't need permission to film people doing things in public. You need the okay from whoever is permitting you onto the land to be legally able to film whilst you are on private land (which you got from the organisers), but not from people you film.

It might be less hassle and/or polite to take footage out if they are being a pain, and it is easy to do but you are fully within your rights just to tell them to go away, and that may well be the right thing to do.

You could even make money out of the video if you want, as long as you didn't misrepresent the people in it as being anything more than people who happened to be riding the face, ie. you stuck to just factual stuff. The only thing you couldn't do is sell it for advertising / stock use, because they tend to want image releases from people, as they will use the footage in a way that implies the person in the footage supports a particular product, which may be misrepresenting them.

Joe

Aus & NZ driving is very similar. A bit scary, but never had any problems with it. On the south island at least there isn't so much traffic that it's a worry.

Watch out for the funny right turn rule (if you're turning right, you have priority over people going straight on on the other side I think it is), that can catch you out if you don't know it.

Be aware that on the west coast of the south island it rains an awful lot. It is lovely, but it is basically a rainforest climate. Maybe try hostelling rather than camping.

Joe

Saucony Jazz seem to last me quite long. I've run up mountains with them, but they are not as pure off road as fell shoes.

Joe

I love the way people let science get in the way of common sense. What a load of pretentious bollocks, just because you know a few theories, doesn't change the way gravity works and as for the high altitude thing, if you were correct, then people would adjust to cope with it.

Bloody scientists with their 'theories' and 'facts' and 'measurements'!

Is all this stuff about weighing more when you're higher up on the bike and at high altitude a piss take of the audio cable threads or something that I am missing?

Joe

Flashing LEDs are dead simple, and you can get some that are vaguely bright. There are even some that work off 12V without a resistor at maplin, they would be dead easy to stick in a lighting circuit (and I think are pretty resilient in terms of voltage ranges). Cost about a quid.

Not as good as doing it properly with your existing LEDs mind. The best proper way would be to change your driver for one with built in flashing support (like a TaskLED driver).

Joe

'tat' maybe a little harsh, but the UI on all the touch screen LGs and HTCs that I've played with has been very poor.

The newer (android) ones? Very different from the old ones – Android user interface is alright, not as flashy effects wise as the iPhone, but pretty usable.

Personally I'd avoid blackberry since playing with the Storm – it is horrible, I can't believe they released such a piece of junk. Guy at work has one bought for him by work, and keeps trying to accidentally drop it in the hope that it will break (the only good thing about it is that it is very robust).

Joe

Talking to my father in law about a few things last night and don't remember how it came up, but he said that in New Zealand they stopped the policy of giving council housing to teenage girls with kids and the amount of teenage pregnancies dropped overnight.

Are you sure that isn't a silly urban myth spread by people pushing a particular right wing agenda? Studies elsewhere have found no evidence of teenage girls getting pregnant deliberately to get council housing, and you'd think if there was such a striking correlation out there in real life, it would be pretty well publicised, as it'd show all these loony left wingers the error of their ways?

Joe

They are both very nice. Everyone I know who has the HTC G2 (is that the Hero isn't it) loves it. Same for the iPhone. They both have good user interfaces now. Neither of them are unusable Korean tat or pointless coffee shop poser toys.

If you're a programmer / technology nerd, who likes modifying stuff, writing your own software or whatever, then I would get the HTC unless you're already a die hard mac user (iPhone is a pain to develop for, you need mac, and to do a lot of the interesting stuff you need to jailbreak it, which is also a pain). If you want a few more applications available, and you don't care about power-user things like running multiple applications at once, leaving things running in the background, or just running applications that Apple wouldn't like you using, then Apple it is. Apple is probably a slightly nicer mp3 player if that makes a difference, and also it depends a bit on whether you get on with iTunes, as you're locked into it with the Apple.

Joe

Dynamos are 6V 0.5A (3W) max

No they're not, they're only limited to 0.5a, the voltage can go as high as you like. I've run 6W of lights off mine no problems, and there are triple LED lights that are available that use more than that.

I don't think you can run the p7 torches off them easily, as they are wired up for 2.8A, you'd get rubbish power at 0.5A current.

I do have a plan at some point to make up a light using the Cree MC-E LED (similar to the P7), with half the LED run forward, half run backwards, and just powered directly off the dynamo current – I reckon it would almost certainly work okay, and it'd give a tiny, very bright LED light (it could be a bit smaller than the head of the P7 torch alone), which could actually be pretty efficient, more so than rectifying the current properly.

Joe

I subsidise your kids thru may taxes,

This is a funny thing to say – yes, right now, you subsidise their kids. Just as many people subsidised you when you were a kid. And will subsidise you when you are old. If no-one had kids, then there'd be no-one working, so your pension would be worth nothing, as there'd be no-one to pay for it, or to do the work to support the companies that are on the stock market investments that back it up.

Joe

I do like this descent which starts about here and that's pretty easy to include in most loops round there.

Having said that I'd gladly hear of any others. Also any pointers to the sort of path you caould enjoy walking down and thinking, "Gosh, I wish it was legal to ride down here," in the area would be appreciated

Yeah, nice isn't it. A good big challenge climb too – that's why I bunged it in that route both ways round.

There is a lovely track from the top of Black Rocks that I have very much enjoyed walking down, but obviously have never ridden down. It is maybe not a weekend path though, it gets a bit busy up there. It is a bit hard to describe where it is also.

Bonsall to Cromford which is a moral bridleway (it suddenly stops being a bridleway for about the last 250m, just changes into a footpath in the middle of nowhere for no good reason).

I particularly like Fallinge -> Copy Wood -> Northwood too. Legal.

Oh and the golf course descent into Bakewell (the bridleway not the crazy and not really very fun footpath one)

Does anyone know if the track marked in Manners Wood near Bakewell, going all the way along from Lees Moor Wood, is rideable, that'd make up a nice loop, up from Edensor, along Manners Wood all the way, down to Bakewell, up the hill again and back to Edensor.

Oh also, a bit less far into the Peak (if you're coming from the Derby end of the A6, probably not what the original poster is looking for, but this route is nice. I may be biased as it starts 200m from my house, but the descent on Longwalls Lane (which I believe is legally still a road!) starts as a fast singletrack, then degenerates into fantastic rocky stuff with big things to fall into / ride over, whereas the Chevin is a fantastic long fast track, with a mix of easy stuff with a few rocks chucked in, finishing off with a nice little rocky and rooty descent.

http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=24048

A couple of lovely descents and a jolly nice pub. Not really a day out route like the Bakewell / Darley Dale ones are, but for anyone needing to pop out for a quick ride and coming from the Derby area, it is well worth it. Nice pubs at Milford too – Strutt Arms for cheapish pub food, King William for real ale, Holly Bush at Makeney for meat pies and pickled onions plus some real ale too.

Joe

the Cromford loop, which is ok but no great shakes

They suggest that you walk the best bit too (to be fair it's a footpath, but even so)!

The Bear is a nice pub, but have you been there for lunch with muddy mountainbikers in winter? It is perhaps a bit restauranty for that, no? Depending on group size, you might need to book there also, it gets dead busy at weekends. There is a bunch of nice riding in that area / Cromford area, but it is a)very hard to describe and b)some of it is pretty blatantly naughty stuff.

Personally I'd do something around Darley Dale way:

this is a quick 15 miler I knocked up a bit back – there are a few obvious bridleways you can add on from Beeley towards Bakewell – most of the bridleways on those hills that look nice on the map are quite nice in reality too.

http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=20299

I don't know the pubs though. Jolly good tearoom at the water mill in Rowsley (nice cake, nice freshly cooked food, although it may be vegetarian if you don't like that, I can't quite remember). Also a nice in a very English way tearoom in Edensor, which might be a good place to stop with a foreigner, the cake isn't so good, and it is pricier, but it is much more of a really English experience than the slightly hippy mill at Rowsley (and it sells things with meat in if veggie food is a problem for you guys).

Oh yeah, that is some of the 5 dales loop, but doubling back to get in a really good descent at the end, and also skipping some of what I think are the less good bits, although I know others disagree.

Joe

Personally something like Gmap / Mapmyrubn that overlays onto OS maps (Like Streetmap) would be ideal.

Like bikehike.co.uk you mean?

http://bikehike.co.uk for measuring distances on the web, on Ordnance Survey maps, for free.

Or one of the garmin things for GPS.

Nokia, iPhone and Android phones all have applications for measuring the distance you run too. The Nokia and iPhone ones give quite unreliable distance measures. The Android one, at least on the T-mobile G1 has a much better GPS which gives far more accurate distances, as good as one of the newer garmins.

Joe

woolie bollies

wool socks, which will stay warm when wet

The solution. Simpler, often cheaper, and more comfortable.

Joe

It's like soft porn / strip clubs, but for posh people who don't want to admit they'd do anything so vulgar isn't it?

At least having been to Lost Vagueness burlesque shows*, that's basically what it appears to be. Embarrassing in the same way as when people try to take you to strip clubs.

But having said that, fair enough if people want to go, and to be fair to them, some of them do have quite high production values, good singing and whatever, but when it comes down to it, it's just glorified stripping, why bother pretending it is anything much more?

Joe

*it was work so I had to be there.

Drop bars. Both because everyone knows thieves nick flat bar bikes first, and also way better in traffic both from a safety and speed point of view. Unless you want to ride it down mountains that is.

I had an old ladies Raleigh. It was okay, but even with slick tyres it was dead slow.

Right now I have two bikes used about town, because of where we live though, about town tends to be either a couple of miles at most, or more like 10. The second one is also my commuter.

a)Mountain unicycle – good for popping down the shops & very short trips. Most of the time, if I'm local, there's no need to lock it up. Even if someone did nick it, I'm guessing it'd get back to me pretty quick, everyone knows who it belongs to, and it isn't like anyone could ride off on it.

b)Trek 1200 with a big Carradice seatpost bag. Always has a lock on it, dynamo hub & f+r lights, so no worries about darkness, can carry a decent amount of luggage, mudguards so it doesn't suck in the rain. 23mm (puncture resistant but not heavy) tyres, cos it's worth the compromise of looking where you're going if you get there 10 minutes earlier.

Joe

I think the big catch is not in the technology, but more in the software / digital rights side of things:

The first thing to worry about is that there are several e-book formats. If you buy things in one format, it won't work on a different reader. For example, whilst it should be perfect for educational resources, at the moment, the 'e-book' system that many UK universities and large publishers have been suckered into (ebrary), doesn't work on any portable devices – and it doesn't even let you print out more than 10 pages, meaning that for many books in university libraries now, the only way to read them is at a computer.

With the commercial systems, if you buy a book on kindle, you can't use it on the sony e-book reader or vice-versa.

You also can't lend them to your mates, they don't work for libraries, you can't sell them on second hand. Which for a stingy bugger like me is a real problem, I think I've read at least 40-50 books so far this year, and I've bought maybe 2 new books.

Joe

10psi – you sure ??? you'd notice before you started wouldn't you ?

That's why I got it pumped up in the shop. With their track pump, hence I know the rough amount of air in it.

Joe

I picked up my ride to work bike at halfords, the thought of letting them build it never entered my head.

I had to get it from Halfords to mine, choices were a)have a built up bike, b)pay money to get it sent by courier (with the hassle of staying in at home), c)take a 14kg bike box on two buses.

Joe

Also to the OP-did you sign the PDI forms? I would complain as it could have been injury and it's the only way they will learn.

PDI forms?

Credit card machine, a big receipt, and that was it. You'll be saying there should have been a user manual with the bike next?

Joe

My advice would be to take the customer copy of that form(should be in the owners manual wallet) back for a pre arranged meeting with the manager of the store, have a think about what you would consider as compensation for the poor service, and stick to your guns – if no luck then pursue through their head office.

Owners manual wallet? I got a receipt, and nothing else. I think they save money by not printing manuals any more.

I dunno if I can be arsed going into the shop – it isn't like I want to let their mechanics anywhere near it ever again or anything.

Joe