Interesting thread but it has to depend to an extent on the individual. Out of curiosity I tried out 29 and 650b enduro’s earlier this year and went back asking why they bothered making the 650b because for me the 29er was a far better ride (and better than the Whyte and Trek 29er’s I also looked at).

None were any faster on the same trails than my 26″ strive according to strava but the 29 enduro was as much fun and left me wanting more. It’s all just riding bikes at the end of the day

That is really nice.
The empty the toilet tip is essential, never ever live to regret it.
Small spirit level
Never trust sat nav and have a map to check the route. You need to remember it thinks you are driving a small run around at the best of times and that you won’t have any issues with 10 miles of single lane country tracks to cut out 2 minutes driving on normal roads.
Empty the water pump properly before winter if it’s to be stored outside.
Shower – wet yourself, turn the water off, soap up then rinse. 7 to 10 litres of hot water doesn’t last long esp it you faff trying to get the temperature right.
Sleep in it. If the beds are hard you might want a duvet under you as well as on top. After two weeks of aching body in the alps this matters.

Yes.
One of the best things I ever did.
But like Northwind says being able to do this and ride push bikes is a tough call – in my case MTB’s won.
I miss having a motorbike but it would sit waiting to be used for weeks at a time if I still had one.
Try it though, unlikely you will regret it.

Personal experience of Lynskey was good. Ti456 cracked at the headtube / downtube junction. On one said it was a fail and not my less than subtle style of riding – sent it back and it took a while but it came back with slightly different shaped tubing, still going strong – touch wood! One one were helpful when we realised how long the delay might be and did me a deal on a steel evo to keep me going. Understood that the frame has a lifetime (10yr) warranty.
BTW I have cracked 3 alloy frames so don’t have an issue with Ti

Contacts and cycling glasses for me or an old pair of 2nd pair specsavers that turned out to be quite good.
I used adidas evil eyes with a lens insert for a while but the frame and lenses of the insert glasses was small and rubbed the lenses. Oakleys are ok but they will be expensive and the curve on some brings the ground up towards you – weird to wear and take some getting used to.
Search ‘prescription cycling glasses’ and there’s loads of options out there nowadays.

Cheers.

Cheers. It was dalby or llandegla and the ice at the latter makes it not worth the drive tomorrow.

Only been Sept so can’t comment on May but I would guess it will be ok, start your rides early to avoid the worst of the heat.
Rent a condo or house depending on people going.
Car hire – get a big SUV – easily fits 3 and 3 bikes plus bags
Bike hire in Moab is expensive
All trails are easy to navigate with a map – you don’t need a guide.
You can use the shops for their shuttle service for the harder to get to rides (Whole Enchilada. Use your own cars and a fit person to get to others and to fetch them back at the end of the ride.
If you fly to Denver stop off at Fruita on the way for a day or two, if the snow has receded enough on the way back try doing some of the divide route from Breckenridge on the return.
If there’s still snow in the mountains the Colorado will be good for rafting
You have got to spend time in Canyonlands national park and watch the sun set across it.
Milkshakes at Milts on the way back from the Slickrock trail
Gelato from Moab Brewery (Raspberry & balsamic)after all other rides
Beer from Moab brewery :)

HTH

You need to be asking chipster. No one has a bigger head, not even your brother. :D

Switch hubs and 29er crests here – nice and true but spoke tension was non existent. Not worth sending back so LBS sorted them out for £10 a wheel. Still miles cheaper than elsewhere – just inconvenient.

Canyon strive is 30lbs but as I’ve put on over a stone recently it hardly matters. FWIW I don’t think that it’s much better than the 33lbs meta 5 it replaced.

Topeak mountain morph if you don’t like pi**ing around with small pumps and want the job done quickly.

As said above it looks like your payment has not gone to your council tax account. Find out why and where it is.
Summons to court is normally a computer generated document – the computer sees that you have been sent a bill plus at least one reminder but have not paid.
If the money went elsewhere because you made a mistake then it’s unlikely that costs will be removed. If you paid the money and it ended up with the council but not allocated to your account then speaking to someone will normally sort the issue and get the costs removed. If you don’t quote the reference number with your payment they can’t trace where it needs to go.

I found 29er crests to be a bugger with all the tyres I tried but after getting advice on here using stans yellow rim strip solved the problem. All the other rim strips were too thick. When I got an Ardent on with the stans rim strip the tyre edge firmly in the middle of the wheel it set up nicely tubeless – Granted I had the benefit of a compressor. Since then the tyre seems to have stretched and I have no problem taking it on & off – same for a bonty xr4. It has been worth persevering with.

What’s the worst that could happen?
It breaks, you are in the are in the Alps in a valley miles away from the nearest lifts back to where you are staying.
You take a drop and it crumples beneath you stopping your bike but leaving you flying like superman and eating alpine dirt.
Then you are left having to pay twice the going rate (assuming its France you are going to) for a wheel you wish you had bought in the UK. Also it’s on your mind all the time so you don’t hammer the trails and enjoy them like you should.
For peace of mind I would be getting a new wheel/rim

Nidderdale will be fine for your cx bike apart from the descent to scar house res which is only a small part of the ride. The parking right by the tea rooms is all day and the food is ok.
The butchers on the main road coming down into town does great pork pies, I recommend the ones with stilton or black pudding. If you plan starting after 10am buy your pies first – there is nothing like the disappointment getting there post ride and finding they have sold out:(

Crosstrax in Leeds, I just rang up and ordered a couple of each last year.

Tomaso – cheers for pointing her in the right direction.
Thanks for the photo as well.

I was there not riding just eating and drinking. The OH did the long route, number 418 – Sam if you have any photos she would love a copy. Said there were people with punctures everywhere and really happy I set her up tubeless. Bonus was she came in first woman despite having to wait and ask the way a couple of times.

Been a couple of times on the way over from Denver to Moab and done 18 road trails and Kessel trail etc. IMO it’s ok for a stop off but much prefer Moab, La Sal trails, Breckenridge. Much more to do in Moab as well and lots of microbrewery beer. Hire a SUV at the airport and do a road trip – Auto Europe were cheapest last time I went.

I’m lucky in having both options but think that it’s too quick a judgement to do one ride on a £500 HT to dismiss HT as an option all together. If I have ridden the FS for a while and go back to the HT it takes me a week or so to get used to it again and to get the best out of it (or it to get the best out of me). It’s more involving on the trails and that way more fun & if I’m riding it right it’s not at all uncomfortable. When I look at the mileage at the end of the year it’s normally done twice that of the FS.

Personal experience (different wheels)is perfectly true wheels but not enough tension to the spokes. Took them to the LBS where £20 sorted it – and said they had seen this before. Far too much hassle to return. Been great otherwise.

I have some links but far prefer 5.10 impacts for grip. As boxxer says links are better made and more comfy – I would add that links dry a hell of a lot faster and are less chunky. I use them as a trainer and now I have some new black ones on order. Cheers.

Also considering getting some impact soles put on the link uppers when the soles run out.

On one 456 (evo) or inbred in 14″?

Dogtag will do annual insurance inc winter sports cover for not much more if you intend to go anywhere else I the next 12 months. Works out ok, even better if you need couples insurance.

Removed mine a while back for fettling, it was a really tight fit and took some getting out. Looked like no grease had been used when putting it in.

Calgary and the west has just had it’s worst (coldest) winter for years, great if you are into winter sports but not so great for biking. Spoke to my brother who lives there last week, temperature was a sweltering 3 degrees. It relies on Chinook winds in winter to warm it up and basically they have not been coming over.

If you want warmer weather with good trails and can get away the Okenagan valley is a medium drive (in Canadian terms away)- about 7 hrs. It doesn’t get the cold of the mountains or wet of the coastline.

+1 for Camping International. Nice site, Dutch owned I seem to remember, pool, pizza, beer. Supermarket 100m down the road, you can ride along a path by the river from the campsite down into Aosta to the lift. Can’t say I was keen on the bike park but the freeride trail was excellent. If you get the chance drive up the road to La Thuile and ride that.

Anyone tried to use non UST tyres and had problems with pinprick holes in the sidewalls not sealing when trying to set them up?

I’m struggling to get a Conti protection tyre to seal up with Stan’s so thinking of trying try another (thicker) sealant or some form of glue on the inside of the tyre. Any better ideas? Thanks

No it’s not. Nothing that much wrong with it but nothing special plus look at google maps – a lot of it is pretty close to the M1 and the noise carries.

Bernard / mark – see http://badbrainsmbc.com/ for regular night rides. There’s a BB few lurkers on STW.

Kiki – there’s two mainly Asian areas Agbrigg and just outside the town centre. As for local authority housing there’s loads everywhere around the city but two small estates in Walton and Portobello is just before you get to Sandal going out on the A61.

Thanks for the replies everyone,some interesting info in there. I can’t say I remember much about the crash but it was at speed and was not straight on, I went down at my side so the MIPS system may have helped.

Prices will be cheaper due to less demand – everyone wants to live somewhere else and good luck to them.

Sandal and Walton are nice places to live, close to countryside and walks, though a lot of it is flattish, not ideal for MTB. You need to make the best of what you have and there are some ok trails about – a lot of it is cheeky though.

As for commuting I wouldn’t want to be driving North into Leeds on the M1 after 7.30am – slow traffic normally back past J39. You can get trains in from Agbrigg though. *Avoid anything described as ‘lower Sandal’ – it’s Agbrigg.

As for the city centre – I don’t think it’s as bad as has been made out but you need to make that judgement for yourself.

Grum makes a great point about local riding though.

Wife bought a bike from them. Sale was sound. Couple of months later and the rear shock was losing pressure and it turned out to be the upper bushing had been machined off centre. They replaced the shock no problems. Very good service IMO.

I had a similar problem a few years ago, alloy frame and seat post. Ended up using the cutting with hacksaw method but had to do 4 cuts down the full length of the post then got an old chisel to carefully separate the frame and each section of post. Found that the one cut method and taking it out like a bushing didn’t work, nor did 2 cuts.

It took about 6hrs in total and was a bitch of a job, especially cutting evenly down the post and through it all – and making sure it was only post I was cutting. It won’t happen again. On the plus side the bike still gets ridden regularly so it was worth the effort.

Casco viper for a trail helmet with a removable chin guard. Saw a few of these on Passportes a few years ago. Wife was impressed enough to buy one.

Old un here.

The Abominable Dr. Phibes

No benefit fraud here, his offence is not paying you your rent charge with his benefit.

Get in contact immediately with your local HB section and tell them that he is more than 8 weeks in arrears – the law says that they have to stop any further payment until they establish who to pay.

If over 8 weeks in arrears payment must be the landlord (unless deemed not fit and proper to receive payment – i.e. you have been convicted of fraud). Establish if a payment has just been issued and ask them to stop it if they can – then send in a formal request for payment to you with evidence of the rent arrears.

If nothing else it will get you some payment. He’ll probably then do a bunk and you wont know about it leaving an overpayment from the date he moves up to the date he’s paid up to which you will be asked to repay. If he fails to tell the HB section and you argue that you didn’t know – as long as he didn’t tell them either he should be asked to repay for failure to report a change

Food in the Tontine is good, try the Bistro.

Agree with comments about the Indian, never had a good meal there out of 3 – 4 visits + expensive. That said it could have changed as havn’t been for years.

Chip shop as above deep fry most things. Italian is small and can be hard to get a table but the food is ok.

Brian Lopes. Mastering Mountain Bike Skills is a good book (IMO)to get started and understanding how to jump (and a lot more). I like the way it’s written – some don’t.