I can’t understand why you would do that?

I didn’t – that was stock/what it was shipped with. Just not got around to changing it.

Having no mech to worry about bashing on rocks is a nice thing to have too.

Now I think about it, I’m starting to think the shifting is actually better than a regular shifter and mech – I have to move my hand slightly to shift but it’s no more effort than moving my thumb or finger away from the grip.

Agree with this too.

And comment on noise – so nice! Especially when bike is caked in mud and still running quiet. Actually find myself looking forward to muddy slop rides.

What sprockets do you have on yours? With the massive range

24t front 30t rear – never get below 3rd gear. 1st is ridiculous.

Great write up!

I’ve had the privilege of owning one for a few weeks now and love it. Your comment re gravel bike and second set of tyres is exactly what I’ve done – bought some xc wheels and discs and light xc tyres and the drive train makes it a 10 minute job to swap over.

I feel no drag from the gearbox in dry and as it doesn’t get mucky it feels more efficient in the mud.

I find the gearing a little low on the stock bike but easy to fix that.

Struggling to think of a major negative really. I guess there’s not much out there in terms of trouble shooting advice in case you do have a problem.

sounds good thanks

You know i think hes still waiting to get fixed! Will send him this thread.

Pair of Conti 4 seasons 25mm bnib – £50 posted 🙂

Been meaning to sell for 3 months this post reminded me.

No complaints here – I’m in hossegor on a surf trip happy days (Except for when/if it passes over. That’ll be a duvet day)

Seriously? I mean really?

Can you get lessons on how to ride a 29er properly so’s i don’t get them punctures?

LB?

thanks – it says on their website you can get with an xx1 freehub body…

Anyone tried the superstars?

No idea whats special about it, but mountaintrax said its a special order item. I checked and they are fulcrum redzone wheels if that means anything?

The archers theme tune?

Ipod will cure this

The man wants an automatic you philistines!

I have a ccdb tuned and setup for a nomad and weigh about the same as you. I was thinking of selling it and live near Swinley so if you’re interested my email is in profile.

Interestingly i just bought one of those seiko kinetics too -wearing it now – i liked the idea that it would charge up and potentially last for months but didn’t realise i would have to wear it quite so much to keep it charged (i like to change watches day to day). Had a skx007 previously which got nicked but really loved that and looked good on a bond strap. I do like the look of that spork to. But this caught my eye recently which i really like the look of Clicky

Agree had a1.9cdti. And was very unreliable. Seemd to develop a new fault every 6months. Mostly dpf related and also alternator failed. Started to go wrong regularly at about 3 yrs old. Glad i got shot of it after reading above.

Perhaps another dog? A doggelganger maybe?

I have a 335d touring m sport 57 plate. Not unusual for strangers to randomly start conversations with me about it out the blue – seems to be a bit of a cult car. Had it for 2 years with noissues. 30-40 mpg depending on town or motorway driving. And thats not driving like a saint. Its bloomin’ brill! Get one.

Try the goatshed. Lovely people run it and you can stay there without guiding.

I find merino tops itchy :-/

I also have BB Bold on its second battery in 12 months having replaced the battery first time around thinking it was faulty. It seems it wasn’t and battery life is just terrible. Lucky to make it from a fresh charge to the end of the day.

What is wrong with nestle?

i am obviously a standard stw pillock…..

Queue a riposte about there being 2 sides to the story blah blah 🙄

Or a Lavazza a modo mio. Slightly less politically incorrect, same ease of use and the pods are (a bit) cheaper and more widely available.

When time becomes a loop, when time becomes a loop, When time becomes a loop (and repeat)

Soundtrack to my yoof that was.

You’ve just described being a consultant

Or a project manager working in a consulting/professional services organisation fits the bill also. Good pm’s are as rare asrocking horse poo – and thats not something thats so easy to offshore (altough i have seen some businesses try and near shore).

Everyone is so down on management but middle management can be a deeply unpleasant no win place to be. That said – to paraphrase something someone else once told me – when someone in a technical team gets promoted to the management team, the average IQ of both groups goes up 🙂

Are you looking for a 9-5 office job with your own desk or do you like to be out and about?
Project work or something a little more predictable?
Do you mind travel?
Why do you want to leave your current job? What do you dislike about your current job?
Why not sales?
How much does money motivate you?

Umm by rights i’d be mad to given current personal circumstances but still….

So tell me how you intend to build up your fireline? I keep wandering what forks and wheels i would get. Not that i will buy one. Definitely not. Probably. Possibly. I’ll give it a week. Or so.

xt. not had good experiences with SRAM. Or Avid for that matter.

I think I have already broken rule number 18 and 34, 35 .

Stuey01 – I’m bang on 6ft.

My LBS kindly lent me a road bike to try out – an alloy Cannondale Synapse which I used for commute home last night.

Couple of observations:

1) It felt really fast. But according to Endomondo I was on average only 1 mph faster than on my Anthem X. Now there are a couple of reasons for this I think. Although the Anthem X is full sus – it is very efficient and quick. Also it took me a while to get used to the roadbike – it took most of the ride home to get used to the gears, and whereas on the mountain bike I probably feel more confident passing stopped or slow moving traffic etc I just didn’t feel confident to do that to the same extent on the road bike so I lost time there.
2) It was blowing a gale and the roads were wet and covered in wet leaves and I have no idea where the limits of grip are on the skinny tyres and wasn’t keen to find out either so I was taking it easy in places where on the mountain bike I perhaps wouldn’t have to the same extent.

Also I woke up this morning to discover the front tyre on the road bike has a puncture – it had the tiniest slither of what looked like plastic embedded in the tyre and work through in to the inner tube causing a slow puncture. Not sure if I was unlucky, but it doesn’t bode well for reliability. What are others experiences of road tyres and puncture per mile rates?

that ribble configurator thingy is a addictive isn’t it?

Winston. I’m sorry but its all about the bike.i’ll bike to work in my pyjamas if its the difference between an upgrade groupset or a carbon frame. Actually i got loads of good kit however I’ will be the one looking a bit confused on the carbon race bike with baggy shorts. Don’t need luggage….yet. Can store at work and i got enoughforward facing lights for las vegas. Need rear lights tho.

Its cos of those aero bars i need to start riding more!

Think i’d like some gears…..

That decathlon looks good. Usual situation while checking the website out – for only 200 quid more theres that white one in the nicer colour (serously thats the only way i can differentiate). And for 200 more thn that theres that cyclocross thingy.

Whats a compact?

So 17 miles each way. I’ve been driving in the morning with all my kit, leaving all my stuff in the car, biking home and back in in the morning.

Showers at work so all good on that front.

That decahlon bike looks like a good shout. If anyone spots any other bargains out there in the classifieds etc let me know please. Thanks!

For all those with the marins – i was lusting after one. Any marin would do. My mate had one as well as a catalogue featuring all the top of the line marin mtb’s and i lusted after every single on of them.

In the meantime i was hitting the swinley and old dean common fireroads on my knackered saracen tufftrax. Must have been circa 1988 vintage a bit like this one (same colour anyway):

So given the law of diminishing returns, whats the SLX equivalent of speaker cable?