Am I missing something?

You have a raw aluminium frame and want black forks? What about them not matching are you concerned about? the forks might not be the exact amount of sheen (gloss-satin-matte) but I wouldn’t worry about that. Lots of people have shiny glossy frames and matte forks and you’ll not rally notice.

It might work, it’ll be a pain if you raise/lower your seat post often.

What material are they made from? If it’s a soft alloy, it’ll wear the entire drivetrain quickly. They’ll likely claim to be 7075 Alu, even if they’re not. If the tooth width isn’t spot on, it’ll drop the chain more or you’ll get chainsuck.

Pretty easy to get right though, I’d be tempted to take a punt for a significant £££ saving.

be aware that the amazon sellers bribe reviewers: “give us a 5-star review and we’ll send you a free battery”

I let a load of air out as they were pumped up pretty hard

Yeah, after some slipping around on roots around I checked with my gague and their pumps over read by about 4 psi.

Rich – no, I was fiddling with my glasses having just come through the gate at SD 30714 92608

I planned to ride around and back up Bletherbarrow Ln from Nibthwaite but I missed the turning, thought I’d head around the long way past Hill Park Farm bu then lost the bridleway in the forestry roads.

should have turned around and ridden back up.

Muggo- I rode the Stumpjumper Comp (carbon, 150 mm travel, SLX kit) and it was nice. I didn’t notice the reduction in travel from my Pivot and the suspension was very respectable. Certainly the Fox 34’s (Rhythm model??) was much improved over my early Fit 34’s.

The tyres were poor though, incredibly slippery on the roots of the off-piste tracks I took it on. Did anyone notice if they (the tyres in general on the demo bikes)  were the basic compound of the “Gripton”??

We had loads of fun, I think I nearly rode in to Rich while I was heading down Parkamoor.

I haven’t spotted anyone I know yet.. We’re in the red van with the prayer flags, middle of the field. Say hi if we’re around.

Tested a Stumpy this morning. Very nice   probably needed to be on a L though, which is surprising.

I met a one-legged cyclist on the Dun Mountain Trail many years back. He used an SPD on his leg, rode a FS and might have even had a suspension seatpost too.

I’ve given it a miss this year, having done it the last two. It’s gonna be mint, my favourite stage from the first year is back plus a new one.

Rich, me and the Mrs will be there with the little one. Are you camping out or going home?

Hoping to be there on Friday evening in time to get some coaching or demo bike spots.

For economy and efficiency, go the combined route. For flexibility go separates.

When I used my BiL’s combined pump/accumulator (can’t remember the manufacturer) it was really frustrating to add a couple of psi to a slightly flat tyre as once you connected the pump to the tyre and connect the valve, your tyre deflates as the pressure in the tyre and chamber equalise. :-|

I did a complete Chrome clearance, I was logged out of everything and still can’t get in to STW. I’ll track down this solitary elusive STW cookie then and eat it.

My Alfine 8 is fine, hasn’t dies yet (I’m the second owner and ridden it about 5 years).

Drop bar STI shifters and disk brakes with the Versa 8 shifters and BB7’s. OK, the BB7’s aren’t as good as my shimano hydros, but are good enough, just. I don’t know anything about the TRPs.

I’m not sure I’d like the bar end shifters, maybe plan to upgrade those if you can find any Versa 8s.

Have a look at building up your own setup using a suitable frame or standard frame and tensioner too.

I’ve used Freesole with good results on 5:10s

you could try reddit r/whatisthisthing (might not be exactly the right sub)

Try it with the clutch on and off as well.

I got the 29er, I wanted the extra length for storing wheels, forks, detritus and crap in.

I have had 5 bikes in, including a road bike disassembled and one mtb with wheels off.

We normally have 1 commuter and 3 mtbs in but to make it easy to get bikes in, the one at the back has the bars turned. With wide MTB bars it can be tricky to get them all in.

The covers over the locks seem fine, I cant remember what the difference was for the Police version but I do love the extra space and the bikes haven’t been nicked yet.

Agree, if you could make the entire forum look like an Excel sheet that would be great.

I went solo with them many moons ago. Met some lovely characters and had a great time. I was on a hardcore hardtail and it pushed me to the limits, I’ve been keen to go back ever since.

The days stared slightly later than I’d have liked (loading bikes in the van at 9:30 or 10?) but I really enjoyed living in Bubion for a week sampling the beers, tapas and local restaurants.

Their Facebook page (if you do that sort of thing) is generally very active with pre-event chat and threads to do swaps etc, I’d try there.

I got my boys a wee Opinel knife, engraved with their initials. Mostly because I wanted one for myself. Also pretty good value for money, no way was I spending £100 p/p.

Is the chain too tight? My Alfine grumbles (more than usual) if the chain is tight.

Other than that, a tablet, the internet and IMDB amkes this game too easy…

Well yes, but i’m asking when this has actually happened in real life.

I had actually already had him down as someone that I didn’t really notice in films – but I mean that in the best possible way – like you said, it means he has a really different persona in his different roles.

Exactly, and that’s I think a testament to be a decent actor. some “good” actors you’ll notice far more than the character they’re playing and it can pull you out of the zone when watching a film. It’s impossible to see Tom Hanks in a film without noticing, “oh, that’s Tom Hanks”.

Another one would be John Goodman. I absolutely missed that he was Walter in The Big Lebowski :-)

My FiL used Vanscape. the quality was decent but he was belittled, verbally abused and made to feel miniscule when he pointed out obvious problems, it was very distressing.

Mud Cycles in are worth a look. Not the handiest for Khandallah but very handy for the good riding in Karori. Mt Vic is worth a blast for short cheeky runs.

In QT if you have e-bikes then that makes things like Skippers Canyon much more attractive, the climb back out (on a gravel road) puts off some folk. Links in well to Coronet Peak tracks, Rude Rock, Zoot, etc.

The bike park will do rentals, probably including a few e-bikes. Otherwise the big chain is Torpedo7 (formerly R&R sports). They have outlets in every major town so might be able to move bikes to hire to suit…

GL&HF.

I’ve found SKS Shockboards don’t survove very many crashes before being sent to the bin.

Both my MTBs now have Mudhugger/Rockguardz on, and may have a Marshguard on for the summer instead.

you can force twist the end of the valve core off so that you can give it a right good clean out but then when undoing the vakve core in future you risk twisting the nut off the end.

+1 for swapping the valve cores out once they become problematic. I also carry one on the trail, have saved a friend’s ride as he had burped his tyre and couldn’t get it up with his little pump.

;-D

I’m running A Flow Mk3 Front with an Arch Mk3 on the rear, so that’s 29 mm F, 25 mm R. Seems ok but I preferred the tyre profile of the Minion 2.5 on the Flow. AS the Arch is only 25 g or so lighter I figured I wasn’t sacrificing much, if any strength. In reality, I did this because the Arch was £30 cheaper.

I could say my M4/3 20 mm f1.4, which is pretty close to the nifty fifty, but in reality it’s my Samsung Galaxy S7, because I always have it with me.

I don’t want to know…

Salsa Bend/Bend2? They might have a little bit of rise though.

I’d post it myself, bt someone needs to post the PC Zone review of the Sims 2: H&M expansion pack for some timeless gold.

Wow that’s quite a rude response. I’m trying to be helpful!

We get that, thanks!

I’m pointing out a few facts.

So are others. Some are providing sources. The problem is, unless you have a claim to be an authority then noone knows why we should believe what you say versus what Joe Bloggs up there said.

Had it occurred to you that I may be qualified in this area?

Please do tell! Although we understand that you may not want to identify yourself too much and don’t want to attract attention/questions/begging.

But you do understand why the nuance of who and what to believe on the internet is a difficult one? :-)

You take your car to work

I’ll take my board

and when you’re out of fuel

I’m still afloat

Amélie Poulain aime.

We leafleted 200 houses we likes and got more of a result from that than from the EA’s

That’s really interesting. Did you get many offers/invitations from your ~200 letters? There’s one estate we’re interested in, the location and lots of other features are ideal for us. Some friends suggested dropping leaflets through letterboxes, maybe I’ll go and buy a ream of paper…

Thanks for the info and anecdotes all.

(based on this sample of STW’ers) basically, the ‘network’ of clients in the Agents’ book is much less important than they would make out.

I still have to decide whether a good agent will net us more £££ than another. I think we need an agent to do viewings as we both work.

My desktop is generally a pic of me/wife/family so I’ll not be sharing that.

My long-on screen (at home and at work) is a rather special place in the Marlborough Sounds.

johndoh – brus the snow of or actually scrape the ice/snow off completely? :-p

re: kettles…. when in NZ, ice scrapers and de-icer didn’t seem to exist. I used to boil half a kettle, top up the rest with cold water and pour that carefully over and around to defrost the windows. TBH I can’t help but think that that’s a lot better for the worth than buying disposable aerosol cans or spray bottles of chemicals…