I prefer the XC at Inners, GT has become a victim of it’s own success and is looking a bit tired. The jumps on the red are looking a bit flat and could do with building up. The good thing about GT is you’re not tied to just do the Red or Black but you can mix in the Red, Black and Blue and not shorten your ride.

I’ve done plenty of them, they’re easy. Just sit down and pedal, when you can take the long way around the bends as this is the shallowest route. I never needed anything more than 41×21.

Alpe d’Huez
Col d’ Aubisque
Col de la Croix-de-Fer
Col du Galibier
Col du Glandon
Hautacam
Col de Joux-Plane
La Plagne
Col de la Madeleine
Col du Tourmalet

I spent four years racing and training in France

Old Age, take up playing the piano. I’ll take the Merida off your hands and tell you if my knees hurt.

How long is the extension lead you’ll be using?

LL – Let her do the repair 😉

More to the point, what are you doing shopping in Evans?*

*I’m probably a bike shop snob

**I’m not bitter after being rejected by Evans/Halfrauds because I was too knowledgeable about bikes 😉

Did you just shunt it forward or use the ‘bit of string and a spanner’ method?

Or does the wider Q factor just need a differet cleat angle?

Surely the float on the pedal would compensate. I’d be looking at something else. Saddle position, bent rail on the saddle

8″ 😉

Sorry wrong Prince Albert

Ahh HiteRite, I couldn’t remember the name of it.

Not many places sell Swan 😉 They fight back.

Bent pedal axle?

Which bike do you get the pain on?

Do you ride clipped in on all of them?

Anyone remember the spring thingy on two clips that went around the seat pin letting you drop and raise it while riding?

Are the cranks all the same length, I get sore knees swapping from 170’s to 175’s

In the end ICBA to swap the forks out on the Epic just for a weekend ride. But I may do it for the Trail Hunter I’ve got hanging around……..

Rear Mech or the Hanger?

I’ve had a set of Trek OCLV fork blades fail on me, just below the brake caliper. It wasn’t pretty.

Top them up first, then bleed them if you’ve still got the problem.

Or do people like to slam what they dont have

I’d love to have a host of carbon bikes but two things stop me, my riding style (or lack of) and money to replace them

I’ve seen two XTC carbon frames fail due to impact, once on a rock and the other was a small dog (both rock and dog were fine) It’s impact damage that is the concern and for me it’s the not being able to see the damage. If I stack on a metal frame I can see damage in the form of dents, not so on carbon.

Anyone remember the first Look TVT frames and the Spesh Epics from the 80’s if carbon had issues then we wouldn’t be using these days.

Simon Ralli – Member

Joxster

This is one thing I may be better than you at. When i went to Kirroughtree on my own, I managed to get lost. Maybe an hour in, you come down some singletrack onto a fireroad. The other side side of the fireroad you dip into some trees and the singletrack continues. But as it was on a junction with another fireroad, i went down the fireroad, then carried on into thick gorse and a hillock and then when I hit a farm wall with nowhere to go I decided I may have gone slightly awry. I was thinking that the singletrack wasnt well maintained and pretty hard at that point too [:-)]

However, I seem to get lost for no more than half to 3/4 of an hour at a time, so I am sure others have been lost for longer.

I got lost in the New Forest and ended up by Southampton docks 😕 The other one that springs to mind, I went out for a gentle warm up to get the legs going on the morning of a bigish event and ended up doing a five hour ride to get back to the start with about 15mins to spare.

There are less and less high end xc full sus bikes that aren’t carbon. Plus have you seen what some of the carbon road bikes look like after a crash?! Or the British teams bikes after a crash on the track? Not that mach of them left, certainly not enought to ride home on! George Hincapie’s carbon steerer didn’t do so well at the paris roubaix a few years ago either!

I know that the track bikes e.c.t are built on the limit but still

A stack on the track will have a greater effect on the frame, much like hitting a tree. A lot of the crashes on the track are at 55-65kph, I’ve totaled alloy and steel frames on the track. If you think about the stress put through a frame doing a standing start, if it was weak it would snap. I used to put out 2218 watts during a standing start, I know Chris Hoy and Craig Mclean put out a bit more. They only bike I hated using was the Lotus, it was so flexy. All the BC frames are built to the highest standard with strength, weight and aerodynamics taken into account.

I’m good at going round in circles and getting lost

Drill out the cable guides (or by pass with zip ties) and run full outer casing from the lever to the mech. It’s reasonable sealed and a bit cheaper than Gore.

dobo – Member

joxster thats just not true, also some chain tensioners wont work with bmx chains

Correct, d’oh I meant 1/8th. Need some more coffee

Nice Corky, Nice. But could the shock be rotated so the valve isn’t sticking out, I’d catch my quad on it and it would hurt.

What are the categories?

On somewhere like the Tress if there is a group of us of varying fitness levels, the fitter ones will do 2-3 loops of a climb so we all reach the top at a similar time and we try to judge it so the slower climbers are waiting for the fitter riders. Unless someone really annoys me on a climb, I’ll ride at a pace that is always 1mph quicker than the ‘show off’ until they crack. It’s more fun on a 6″ travel bike 😆

3/32 can be a PITA finding sprockets and chain rings, whereas a 3/16 will run on any combination

Went to Les Gets a couple of years back and we had a few moments of it looks rideable. Our guide was nuts, even the mountain goats thought we were f**king mad to attempt half of the stuff we did.

Down by law was good, but I struggled with Coffee and Cigarettes. Night on earth was one I really enjoyed and you got some Tom Waits to boot. I remember seeing it at the Cameo in Edinburgh, with a young filly that found it too arty and just wanted to play hide the sausage.

When I went to a bike demo day when I first got into biking I wore trackies and some people def looked at me funny because of it.

I get the same looks when wearing Lycra, I think it’s the sight of a beached whale in skinshorts causing fear.

I get 30ish mpg in a fully laden 9-5 Estate Auto (petrol) , I try not to be heavy footed…………. 😀

2hottie – How do you get involved with trail building?

Litter annoys me, I’ve yet to see anyone throw a wrapper away intentionally. I’ve never seen an innertube, I keep looking as I want to make a crud catcher and chainstay protector.

People walking their dog on at a trailcentre on the trail and not the walkers path.

I fall in the “all the gear, no idea” look and use it to my advantage 😉

People that don’t ride with helmets, I find that plain stupid.

Braking bumps on a nice fast flowing section.

Twitter and Faceache are a recipe for disaster 😉

3 for tenner in Oddbins?

When do you need it for, I’ll speak to some friends in the know (run a vintage wine bar)

I can really remember but I’ll try…….

1987 – Raleigh in a green colour made from reynolds 501 – Stolen
1988 – Raleigh Technium Chill – gave to an up and coming rider
1988-1995 – Cyclo Cross bikes for training
1996-2002 – did nothing apart from play golf
2003 – Merlin hard tail- didn’t feel right – eBayed
2004 – Giant XTC with an XT/Dura ace mix, hope minis and SID teams – Sold
2005-07 – Cove Hummer x 3 – broke 2, gave the remaining one to a friend
2007 – Stumpy – rode till it died
2008 – Another Stumpy Expert and an Epic Expert
2009 – Kona Coilair Supreme

What sort of wines does your friend like? Colour, grape, body and budget

I’ve used bar tape in the past.