I’d get a 175 mm LEV if my 150 mm LEV ever dies 😈

Swapped out, you say? You’ll be lucky if you make it to the garage, the STW pedants might come and burn your S-Max down first 😉

… like new… first time I’ve ridden in heavy mud…. closer/tighter fit of the chain on the teeth…

Nailed it. It’ll wear in. I had a wee bit of a similar issue (just grinding a chain sucking) with my KMC on an on-one ring, was gone within a week of riding.

/edit – maybe try giving the chain a good degreasing (if you have any of the sticky factory grease still on it) and fresh lube & wipe. Might help stop grit/clart sticking and jamming it up.

br, that sounds ideal. It’s not far from gt over to Peebles so I’ll see you there

Nice one, sent you an email.

Anyone else around?

Everyone’s ideas of what & why is a Stag Do vary. Life rich tapestry of shite and all that. I wanted to gather most of my mates in a location for a weekend of share experiences and talking bollox. It was great. They are the ones who will support me through difficult times in the future and enjoy the great times to come. Any idea that this was my last hurrah before marriage would have had me running for the hills instead of walking down the aisle.

For another POV – My stag we rode bikes on one day and paintball on the other. Some of my friends/relatives went on a road ride instead of joining us on the MTBs, they had a great time and contributed to the weekend. An e-bike would have been a great leveller to help my little bro join us on the MTBs, but I don’t think you could hire them at Grizedale either then or now.

I believe the costs were also massaged to make it affordable for the student/s.

scud – sounds like you’ve dodged a bullet there. Reckon it’ll be a load of middle aged frustrated guys having their one weekend off a year ‘avin’ it laaaaaaarge.

Thanks all, so… crank brothers… really worth avoiding?

Yes, you’re the only person who keeps asking about them. Are they the only thing your LBS sell or something? The rule of thumb is never to a buy a crank brothers product with moving parts.

I’m enjoying my Flow mk3 rims (wide, light and unassuming), although similar to SOAP above – I was experimenting with silly low pressures (15 psi) and flat spotted on my 1st or 2nd ride. Might be worth getting some huck norris if you want see how low you can go.

and unless I’m mistaken (I can’t find any evidence on tinterweb) the Flow EX is the Flow Mk2. There is no Flow EX Mk3.

I got a rug from Orgiva.

I’m doing it this year with the Father-in-Law. Sounds like it’ll be a good laugh!

Fergburger for an experience of a burger, but the best burger I has was in DeVille’s in Nelson.

Tongoriro Corssing for an amazing 1-day trek. May not be passable in Winter/Spring conditions in regular kit, but if it’s winter conditions companies will hire gear and guide.

Kayak Abel Tasman, but be flexible to get a weather window to really enjoy it.

FYI the ChCh bike park is running now but has a smattering of tracks open. Most of them we used to ride before the park 😀 🙁

If we’re discussing slimming down your wallet in general – is there a way/app to scan and store your club cards etc. on your phone? I never carry my B&Q card with me and end up scanning the code from an email instead.

Studded tyres on for the winter, never looked back. I reckoned I’d only need one crash and I’d be wishing I’d spent the £40 it cost for the tyres…

Yes they’re a bit slower and noisy…. but….

Woolie Boolie 2 6″ cuff. Mega warm, comfy and last forever. £12 a pair but worth it.

Do your eyes water up due to the wind & cold? Try riding with some safety glasses or goggles.

Never had any issues with my Lev, nor the Mrs’. Soe cold temperatures, but nothing silly like < -10.

It’s a simple misuse/misunderstanding of what ghetto tubeless is.

Sounds like the OP is just using tape to seal some non-tubeless rims.

I’m at work so can’t spend much time on this, but couple of points-

How old is your daughter/how large is the load?

The force from the hub is now cantilevered instead of being simply supported at both ends – the axle has to be much harder. An old 20 mm though hub might be up to is with a steel axle. The clevis for the axle to fit in to would have to be quite wide to carry the moment from the axle. How wide is the mount for a Lefty?

The disc would be susceptible to contamination from oil on the chain.

You want a simple sliding/swinging dropout – there’s loads of these around to copy take inspiration from.

Are you so dead set on a SWB that you will sacrifice the living area inside? Depends on you want a ‘camper’ or a ‘bike van with bed’

Where are the signs? At the top of Flat White or on the access road? I read a few weeks ago that forestry work was impacting on Lone Wolf and trails out that direction…

http://blog.artscyclery.com/science-behind-the-magic/wider-and-stiffer-but-necessary-boost-148-explained/

has some useful info, there’s no point in me re-typing anything out 😀

I’ve solved this for myself, but with a Rockguardz.

Locate the old hole for the cable-tie, drill a new hole approx 8 mm away and use a knife to cut a slot between the two. Then I can use some of the double sided velcro from a long-dead Mucky Nutz.

Works great, 30 seconds faff to remove the mudguard and the bike can go back in my wee car.

I could try and do pics later if that’s not clear.

Splash out on some Huck Norris?

That’s a cracking ride Rich. I was up around the tops today and kept on thinking I wouldn’t have fancied biking in the fells today given the staggering number of small ice patches ready to have you off!

What’s that? People are copy and pasting isolated fragments of research papers, insinuating that the research validates ones own viewpoint! You lot could make government ministers!

Originally posted by stwhannah
My kids think I am the most evil mother ever. Their advent calendar appeared (little wooden houses). Lots of excitement. Until they opened them. No chocolates, no sweets. Just tasks, like ‘tidy your room’, ‘ring Grandma and tell her about your day’, ‘draw a picture’, and ‘put away all your clean clothes’. There are some treats mixed in, but mostly it’s chores. There was a stage where they were refusing to open their advent calendar. I quite like watching their reaction as they try to hide their disgust (back chat would result in a telling off). To be fair, I probably am evil

Yes I would take it up with Evans and would be attempting to persuade them to make good (i.e. new hanger, mech and spokes put in the wheel).

I have this issue too, and can not stop it

It’s not you with the issue, it’s someone with you in their email address book who has the issue and is spamming their contact list with your details.

Cough and plegm isn’t really man flu. Sounds like a cold.

Proper flu will have you in bed for 5 days.

Man flu is bad… you won’t think of even going for a ride. You’ll feel bad, but it’s not flu.

Here’s the game.

Do a flat white at No. 1, do a flat white on the hill. Repeat until your heart gives in or you reach nirvana.

I didn’t understand the title either.

It’s not 5 mm longer, it;s a full 25 mm longer than the current longest Lev. And reckon they’re changing the internals at all? Just lengthening it so that the extra leverage is dealt with?

colournoise – most of the information is in here
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/522756/converting-a-vehicle-into-a-motorhome.pdf

mine’s a very standard conversion – sink with tap, 2 gas rings, rock n roll bed, pop top, fridge, storage….

just use the template letter as a guide and supply clear photos, bingo!

We got our van (similar to yours, not a camper van on the V5C) insured through One-Call. they said they would be happy to insure it through a specialist policy as a camper regardless of what the V5C says. I had no NCD to lose anyway, having just returned to the UK. It’s ~£350 for 2 drivers with a low (5K?) mileage limit as it’s not a daily driver.

I’ve just this week completed the re-classification as a MOTOR CARAVAN on the V5C, which should give me more ability to shop around for a better deal next time.

Also has increased the speed limits from 50/60/70 that it was stuck to as a PANEL VAN

If you’re going to make a frame that ugly, at least redeem it by putting a gearbox or something in there.

/except I guess, Rob Metz already did a high pivot, handmade carbon fibre FS with gearbox and it didn’t look like a 90’s A-level design project.

kayla – I know TJ and his partner have raced a bit on their tandem. I also have friends in NZ who race a fair bit on their home-made FS. I know I’ve posted this link before but it won’t hurt to link it again 😀

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/two-by-craigieburn-new-zealand-tandem-video-2014.html

So I’m enjoying the Planet Earth II viewing

but

Am I the only one who thinks that the use of Farenheit, feet (and I presume at some point Firkins and Furlongs) is archaic and out of place?

In the first handful of episodes the over dramatic score (thank you John Williams) and the incredibly OTT sound effects that have been added in were spoiling it for me 😥

Sorry to be so negative, just needed to get that off my chest.

Oh similar to maccyb, I had my DSLR on a Peak Designs clip, which gave a good secure quick release rucksack strap mount.

Glad you’re looking forward to it! FWIW I bought new chargers for both camera battery types (one compact, one DSLR) that would connect to a micro USB o didn’t cost much and reduced the amount of kit we were taking further.

The singletrack from Larkya High Camp to Manang is sublime.

An now, for the three days you spend hiking up, all you’ll be able to think about is how amazing it must be to be riding your bike the other way 😉

What he said 😉

So hindsight reveals that you might have been able to play it differently, but you helped out when others wouldn’t, you read that she was maybe feeling a bit uncomfortable and didn’t force her to have you looking after her.

Well done.

I have some experience from last year – just before and just after the quake. Feel free to email me for specific advice or anything.

We (wife & I) trekked Manaslu Circuit in late March then Biked Annapurna Circuit backwards in May.

General – take TP and alcohol gel. We found it was great to have a solar panel and battery pack to keep the camera batteries topped up. We would have coped with less but it meant we never had to leave phones or cameras unattended. We took Kindles loaded up with books. We coped pretty OK with altitude sickness but we did do lots of trips of increasing altitude all the time we were in Nepal so had prepared ideally.

March – might be a lot of snow. Have a gap at the end of your trek before you fly home, so you have time to wait out bad weather. You might spend time waiting acclimatising as well so you want down jacket and wam kit for days in the cold doing short walks. We had proper waterproof boots, gaiters and trekking poles with powder baskets, which were all invaluable. Even the Mrs, who hates trekking poles, was grateful for them on the days we had to cross snow fields and were repeatedly falling through the crusty top layers.

By May, there were fewer snow fields left to cross on the Annapurna circuit and we were wearing Five:Tens. The only price to pay was the wet feel from snow getting in the top.

Larkya La (5200 m) in March

Thorong La (5400 m) in May