I want to like Orange, y’know UK bike and all that, I have an older 26in bike that looks a lot better than any of these new models and rides great and still hasn’t cracked, I’m a fan of single pivot bikes. But, I get the impression in their factory they only have a metal guillotine and a flat sheet bender, they need to invest in a tube bender and some rollers so their bikes don’t have multiple small folded flat sheets of metal welded together all over the place that look like a GCSE DT project.

I suffered with this for years. Simplist thing would make it go pop, picking something up off the floor, cleaning my teeth (leaning forward), doing up my shoelaces, sneezing.

My Dr and latest physio think it all goes back to a slipped disc many years ago, so what happened for years was that my back muscles tensed up to support my lower back, and remained like it. This made my lower back stiff and inflexible which kind of made it worse, it also led to my upper back and shoulders being tensed all the time. But, what I didn’t realise, and this is where my latest physio really helped, is that my core had switched off. I was going through the exercises previous physios had given me to do when she noticed my stomach was poking out – she noticed it when I was doing a dead bug. basically I had a ‘diastasis recti’, more common with pregnant women, but basically my core had become so weak it had sort of separated so if I tried to do any core work like dead bugs, planks, crunches etc my back muscles were taking over and pushing my internal organs out through the weak core muscles, not good. Had to stop doing any of those exercises as it would make things worse and had to do what was called deep core muscles exercises, a lot of tensing of the core muscles – like sucking in your stomach, pulling the belly button towards your back, on all fours. Laying on my back, lower back towards the floor then try to lift the hips off the ground by squeezing/crunching the abs together and some others. I did those exercises for just over a year, then progressed on doing more core work.

I no longer have the stomach sticking out when I do dead bugs, planks, leg raises etc and haven’t had a back spasm for a couple of years now. I get the odd twinge but that’s it and it doesn’t get worse. So my core strength has improved a lot and with it the back has also improved, I no longer have the permanently stiff back and my flexibility and movement has improved. So it might not be great to just go into doing planks and other core exercises with out first making sure you have a decent deep core strength, as riders we do tend to end up with weak cores. I’d suggest seeing a good physio though who can assess you and go through any exercises properly.

That’s  clearly nonsense as I’d be riding 860 wide bars. Surely it should be related to shoulder width and that doesn’t vary with height.

You must be about 6 1/2 feet tall then? Anyway, this is the article, for me it works out about 780mm which is about the same as when I do that old press up test thing as well, and works out to be about the most comfortable for bars for me anyway.

Quick and easy way to find your ideal MTB handlebar width

Also, most of us probably have weak or bad neck/shoulders from sitting slouched at pc’s or driving so when you ride it’ll aggrivate it, it’s a good idea to do some stretching and strenghthening in those areas before and after rides.

I read, or was it watched a video, recently about most of us are riding bars that are too wide, a lot of manufacturers put on wide bars cos it’s look cool, but no one ever thinks to cut them dowm – cos it looks cool, right? Basically, if your bars are too wide for your body/height it changes the muscle group that you use, you end up using your traps more so you get back and neck aches leading to headaches as well. There’s supposed to be an ideal way to measure it which is your height in cm x 4.40 and it’s better to go smaller than that measurement if you need to. But, people probably won’t think about this as, y’know, my bike won’t look cool!

Any tax on vehicles (I think) should be based on mileage and use regardless of what you drive, can’t be that difficult to work out considering most of us have to have an MOT every year that records mileage. If you use it a lot you pay more, simple. Rich Santa Cruz owners in their 3 ton EV monster trucks breaking up the roads doing 30k miles a year should pay more than the old lady in her old Nissan Micra at £250 a year in a village in Kent going to Tescos once a week.

I did the Exodus ‘Cycling in Mongolia’ trip

https://www.exodus.co.uk/trips/mongolia-holidays/cycling/cycling-in-mongolia/mcm

That’s not much more than it cost me back in 2016. I’ve done a few trips with Exodus and they are just brilliant – Thailand/Cambodia/Vietnam and Atlas Mountains in Morocco twice, it was that good. Done other trips with Red Spokes and KE Adventure and they’re all great.

I went in July/August and we had some really hot weather the first week, no shade, my tent was like a sauna until the sun went down on some days. Last half of the second week we had a lot of rain. Got to see that nadaam festival stuff, not in Ulaanbaatar but on the outskirts, seeing hundreds of horsemen racing accross the desert is something. We had those old Russian 4×4 vans as backup, I was amazed the places they could go.

Best thing I took was a good quality inflatible mattress, a Thermarest one.

Yeah, I did a quick search and found that you can upload from pc but that option doesn’t come up for me – guessed it’s just for full members, looks like I have to use a hosting site but I don’t do that anyway as you don’t need to on places like facebook and other forums, so it just seems like a right faff.

I used to use photobucket years ago before they started charging, I did sign up to something else but can’t even remember what it was as I haven’t needed to use it for many years. Don’t think I can even put photos into messages on here either, I did have a look but seems to be text only?

I’d put up some photos but how you do that baffles me, if I click on the ‘insert/edit image’ icon all I get is a box with ‘scource’, how does that work? Why can’t I just copy paste images?

I’ve got a few orders processing, it’s the most I’ve purchased in a few years, but for me the heyday was back in the 2000’s and early 2010s. I remember ordering something in the afternoon and it was in my hands by 7.30am the next day, I remember taking the package to work to open – that’s when the post used to come early as well, would’ve been about 2008. I remember the MBUK ads from the 90s, they’ve basically kept me going through the 90s until now. Without the bargain prices I’d not been able to upgrade my bikes over the years, but I think it was easier about 15 years ago as almost everything you could get would fit any bike you have. 1 1/8th headsets and steerers, wheels were pretty much the same unless you had a 20mm bolt through, casettes were all the same fitment, you’re purchases were based more on what quality of part you could afford – LX or XT cassette, FSA or Hope headset. I don’t upgrade my newer bikes like I did back then as standards and fit are all over the place and after trying to figure out what fits I just think the part I’ve got will do fine! Quite sad to see them go, I wonder what they will become? Everytime they had a big sale I’d be on the phone to friends saying ‘what have you found?’ Remember the flood sale too, didn’t they add things every now and then?

I did a trip with Exodus back in 2016, 2 weeks I think, expensive but it did include flights, food, transfers, everything really. Only stayed in a hotel at the start and end otherwise it was in tents and the occasional yurt as it’s really in the middle of nowhere. One of the best trips I’ve done, amazing scenery, good food, well organised. Not gnarly, just long days off road, a few steep climbs, a river to cross, really great trails. Not a great deal of culture once your away from the capital, there were times when we saw no body or came accross any towns and villages for a few days.

It’s not the mud that’s that bad, it’s the 2 feet of water on top of it!

I’ve been off of bikes for a while due to a bad back and at the start of this year I was determined to get back into it but the weather’s beaten me, it’s the worst I’ve seen my local trails in 30+ years. I know where the dry-ish trails are in the winter but not anymore, it’s all bad, had enough now, just want some dry weather as my fitness is already useless and I’m not going on the local roads, I’ve seen what people drive like on them.

I thought this was about some video that was doing the rounds on the internet a few years ago … yes, it’s weird.

Thanks all, some places to look at there. Forgot to mention I am East Sussex, near Friston Forest, but haven’t ridden much for about 5 years or more and trying to get back into it so it’s been a while since I’ve had a good look around Friston. Happy to travel to places once my fitness improves, years away from biking really makes it hard to get fitness back. It was a big discision to go to the Alps this year as it was a worry that my back wouldn’t cope but it was ok, my back has improved a lot in the last year with deep core and mobility exercises. You wouldn’t believe how good it is to get out on a bike again!

Thanks, useful – I did try a search but it just seemed to come up with lots of websites selling shoes? I think I had some of those older Vaude Moabs too and they were good … also doubled in price!  Found some Ride Concepts too but struggling to find them in my size.

Wow, I’m surprised this is still a problem. I’ve been off the bikes for a couple of years due to a bad back but getting back into it now, my old M615s that replaced my other leaking calipers are fine after all this time, I think it might be something to do with the pistons being a different material. My Hope’s are just brilliant (when correctly bled and lubed) I’d happily have them on all my bikes but cost is a factor at the moment.

Also, not been on here for ages, I’d forgotten just how awful this site is to use with all the pop-ups and ads taking over the page!

I’ve just had a quick look at the outdooractive app on playstore, reviews don’t look good at all! What the hell have you done ViewRanger!!

I haven’t used VR for a while, not done much in the way of riding due to injury in the last year or more, but it’s been great for planning routes and tracking my rides. I’ve been very happy with it and was using it a looong time ago. I paid for lifetime UK OS mapping when they used to offer that option. Didn’t realise they were going to close it down so I email VR and this is the reply:

There will be an announcement soon, but yes, Outdooractive intend to close ViewRanger at the end of February.

When you first connected they gave you a year of Pro+, which includes all the maps they offer. That runs until September. Beyond that you’ll have access to the whole GB at both 1:25,000 and 1:50,00 scale – details of that are being finalised now.

But my main question was if my mapping is still going to be there, I don’t want to find that I’m suddenly have to pay a subscription for something I’ve already paid for, hopfully it will but they didn’t really answer that one so I’ve asked again.

Also, wanted to know what will be on my phone when it does close, will we have to have a new app, really like the VR app, it works, it’ll be annoying if we have to have some new interface that’s crap!

edward2000 – thanks for that link, interesting stuff there, especially the first one: fix back pain by doing this. I think I’m guilty of bending forward wrongly all my life and it’s caught up with me now.

BigJohn, I don’t know how you look at someone’s posting history now, it all changed a while ago and nothing seems to come up, but that’s sounds scary.

Actually got out on the (e)bike this morning, 8 mile gentle off road up onto the South Downs, really good to be out in the sunshine and open space and my back feels ok at the moment. Coming on here, reading other posts and the responses on here have given me a bit of encouragement and motivation.

Good stuff! Thanks again. Kettle bell swings, pilates, gym ball, more things to consider. I tried doing some deadlifts this morning after my other exercises, no weights just going through the motions. Could definately feel it later. Need some good core exercises now.

p7eaven – I can walk but not far, I have bad and good days, sometimes I just start to seize up and have to stretch then carry on but nothing like I used to do last year. When I got the bad spasm at xmas I could hardly do anything, get dressed, get in and out of bed, sit on the toilet, walk, get in a car, all painful and I’d get mini spasms or shocks going through my back. I’ve come a long way since then but now have constant achey pain and sometimes just lock up, through tension I think.

Interesting about the posterior chain, I’m basically tight from my heels up to my neck, hamstrings have become very tight but that’s because of lack of activity due to a bad back, that whole area is taken a long time to loosen up again to the sort of level I had last year.

Deadlifts, seen those mentioned before when I’ve looked at other threads about bad backs in the past, never thought about doing those so I’ll give them a go, just watched a few youtube videos, this one looks like it’ll be doable for me Dead Lifts others had a much more horizontal back starting position.

I’ll look into a recommendation for a physio as well. Didn’t get out on the bike today, did some gardening and ended up feeling tired … fingers crossed for tomorrow 🙂

Ride a few bikes, mainly full suss, older Heckler, Superlight 29er but I got a Trek ebike hardtail 29er just over a year ago which has helped with taking the strain off, but none of them are old school racer positions, I try to find my ideal then make all the bikes similar. I always used to have the saddle at optimum height and was wondering if I should lower it a bit. I always tended to go for it – in a push hard xc kind of way, or long rides, but I think I need to slow down a bit as I get older, brain is still thinking like a 30 year old.

Thanks for all the replies, it does help, gives me a bit of hope, gets me thinking about riding again. With the great weather we’ve got at the moment I just look outside and want to be on the bike.

I’ve had physio through my doctor, luckily it was arranged quite quickly, it’s helped but it’s taking a long time to get better, but maybe I should look into private physio as I’ve been told it would probably be better and more thorogh. At first I couldn’t put my socks and pants and trousers on, I have a thing that helps with the socks but pants and trousers I can do now … just being able to do that was a revelation, something you just take for granted all your life.

That book – Treat Your Own Back – looks interesting so I’ll look into that.

The hospital refused the xray and mri simply because the person making the decision in the hospital didn’t think I was bad enough. My doctor got frustrated with the hospital as the person making the decision doesn’t even see me or talk to me, it’s not because of covid. I said to my doctor wouldn’t it be better to get it looked at now when there might be a chance that something could be done rather than in 5 years time when it’s so bad nothing can be done and he agreed, he said there was a time that he could just send to for an xray and they would do it, now someone that you don’t see makes the decision. Anyway, I might get back onto them and see what we can do next. An xray or mri might not actually show anything but then at least it rules things out.

Stress levels have been high – a few years ago I had problems at work but I changed job, my wife thinks that I could still be suffering stress from that time, a sort of ptsd thing, my ‘manbrain’ thinks ‘nah’ but she could be right. I do find myself in a vicious circle – get back pain, tense up, get stiffer, gets more painful, tense up more, then I don’t want to move. It’s amazing how the mind can work in a negative way on your body. If I go for a walk or ride I’m tense before I go as I think something’s going to happen. That one ride I did I found it quite hard to relax the body, riding was ok as it was just along quiet roads and our seafront, but I suffered later in the day.

Hot water bottle and tens machine have helped a lot, trying to stay of medication but I’ve never taken so much paracetamol long term – taking a lot less now as good and bad days.

I was doing some yoga, swimming and light gym stuff as well as riding before covid hit, then it was just riding. I was furloughed for quite a while but still active at home, but talking to the physio it’s amazing how many people now have back problems, even losing the simple act of getting in and out your car to go to work and daily routines can have a massive impact on your physical (and mental) health.

Sorry for going on a bit … I’m going to try to get out on the bike today, even if it’s just a few slow miles, it’s a start! 🙂

rony – more pics and info please – I have an older Superlight and Heckler so interested how you achieved this.

It’s about 8% knocked off. It’s not an expensive car, a bit above private prices but great condition and history. I looked into what to look for and what might need doing to it and it’s basically all been done.

Well, just spoken to them, managed to knock £200 quid off and they say they will honor anything within 30 days, so looks good. I get what some have said about warranties being useless but just want to make sure I’ve got some kind of comeback if the engine blows up in 2 weeks time. Although this car has an amazing service history so should be good.

Thanks all. I have a Sainsburys local so will try the ‘isn’t bacon’ if they have some. Tescos is 10 miles away. We are going on a 40 mile round journey tomorrow so plan to pop into any supermarkets on the way and stock up if poss, otherwise we’re looking into bulk buying some!

We tried Sainburys delivery and Tescos and both came up with no stock for any that will deliver to us … bizarre, it seems to have disappeared in our area – East Sussex.

I was working with a chemistry teacher recently who worked in industry before becoming a teacher and most of the flavourings and tastes in our food and drinks comes from mixing the right chemicals so shouldn’t be a problem recreating most tastes. I had some shredded fake duck today that was rather good!

That Drayton stuff looks interesting – can you also set times for on and off or temperature for different rooms with the smart valves? So that in a room at 9pm the temp in that room will go from say 20 to 15 degrees?

I had no idea what this thread was about so had to google ‘TRX’, some straps and handles!

Not sure I’d want to anchor any of this stuff to the doors in my house without sending the footage to you’ve been framed.

Just got myself a Samsung A51, I’m happy. I was ideally looking for something about the same size as my old Phone – about 140 x 75mm and looked at getting a rugged Chinese phone but they all seemed to have mixed reviews that put me off so went for the A51 and a rugged case/protector, it’s about 20mm longer than my old one. As mentioned, on the Samsung website you can get a £75 trade in on any phone, can be a 20 year old broken phone and claim the Harmon Kardon speaker, apparently worth £180! Check the terms and conditions with the trade in though as if you say it’s working there’s all sorts of requirements, broken and it doesn’t matter.

I have that on vinyl with a BBC label on the plain white cardboard sleeve

jamj1974 – How did you manage to get that? I thought there wasn’t anything released? I got bootleg mp3 of it years ago.

Maybe I’ll try some of their latest stuff. I found after Achtung Baby I’d like maybe a few tracks on the albums, anything before that I could happily listen to the whole album. Of course these days I can just make my own playlists with favourites back then you had to press buttons to skip tracks on your CD player.

Bit late to the party, but … early stuff was great, Under a Blood Red Sky was the one that got me into them and lost interest around about Achtung Baby – a friend and I were really into them and then we got Achtung Baby and just looked at each other and thought ‘something’s missing’. Still listen to everything else before that. If you like early raw stuff listen to the ‘U2 Hammersmith Palais 1982’ concert that was recorded for Radio 1, can find it on youtube, it’s like Under a Blood Red Sky on caffiene, I’ve got it on MP3 and I swear when I listen to that on a mtb ride I go a lot faster and feel 20 years old again!

slight thread hijack, anyone know why i seem unable to view embedded youtube videos from this forum? either on PC or on phone….

Same, I’ve had this for ages, doesn’t matter if on phone, firefox or chrome, most of the videos I click on just makes the video disappear leaving a white space, sometimes I just get audio?

Didn’t think of looking at Motorola, I have an old one which was brilliant, very solid but old os so became difficult to use – bit annoying when you can’t update an existing phone.

Thanks for the link, Ulefone was one brand I was looking at.

Maybe right to look at spec and just get a decent case, more research needed.

The Cubot Kingkong mini is quite small, 4″ screen, how do you find the phone, any good, miss having a bigger screen?

Ahhhhhhhhh, ok, thanks. Didn’t even think of looking there,

The very last of the Mk1 had 1.5 steerers, all the Mk2 had 1.5 steerers. You just need something like an older Rockshox Lyrik with a tapered steerer – this is what’s on my Mk2. Can’t remember the exact headset but I think it’s a Cane Creek but can look when I get home, bottom takes the 1.5 and the top is in inset headset to take the 1 1/8th top of the steerer. You can also fit Totems as the frame takes up to 180mm forks. I had some 1.5in straight Totems on mine for the Alps and just changed the top headset – I think Nuke Proof do a 1.5in external headset. If you get some straight steerer Lyriks you can use the hope 1.5in adaptor. Stealth ad – I have some NOS 1.5 straight steerer Lyriks, if interested message me.

Also, check the bearings, especially the lower short link that connects the frame to the rear swing arm, they can all be expensive to replace. The Mk2 has adjustable/angle bearings that need to be checked now and then. The lower link has grease nipples but not everyone will regularly grease them.

Yep, I’m doing the donkey kick things too due to weak glutes, and my physio said the same thing about the hip misalignment due to tight hams, quads, hips and weak core etc.

It seems that just riding a bike for the last 10 years or so isn’t so good for me – used to do a bit of gym and swimming before that.

twinw4ll – also interested if you’ve got a link, photos to that just to make sure I’d be doing the right thing?

I’m not an expert but ….

From what I’ve been told, by physios, if you have lower back pain it’s likely the muscles above and below that are tight. Ham strings, quads, hip flexors, middle and upper back. Look for exercises/stretches that work on those areas, be careful following some of the online videos that may work or stress the back and put more tension in that area. I’d say it’s important to relax (the meditation bit) a bit at the end, it helps to relax the muscles before you start moving as you have just stressed them, just a few minutes helps.

I’m suffering a lot at the moment with all of the above but I’m 53 so maybe I should consider myself lucky as some have said they’re suffering in their 30s and 40s! I was in tears this morning with it, just really fed up with it rather than the pain. Riding has become difficult as I seem to be in a catch 22 thing at the moment, if I ride my muscles get tight the next day which leads to back pain which means I can’t ride, that’s even with a lot of stretching. I tend to go for it when I ride and it’s hard to keep it slow as my head is riding like a 30 year old but my body is reacting like a 70 year old.

Just got back from a trip to Dieppe, no social distancing with the public whatsover. I’m not surprised the infections are going up. People just walk straight at you, no intention of moving, we had to keep going into the road or change direction to keep distance from people. We also went onto the beach and a couple came and set up right next to us. I sat on a small bench by myself and thought no one would come and sit next to me … yep, 2 people came and sat on the same bench busy talking into their phones. Most shops and some bars and restaurants were on the case but the public no, you wouldn’t think anything had changed. Large groups of people gathering on the beach, there’s a fair on a large green opposite the beach and that’s full of people all interacting. I get the impression that the French are just carrying on their normal social lives as if nothing has happened.

I’ve never understood why ebikes don’t have a drop in power as you get faster? I’d like the limit to be 20mph but so that over 15mph the assist would drop to the lowest setting, eco or whatever, and then cut off at 20mph,no one really needs more than 20mph but to get a sudden cut off at a lower speed then most people can do on a normal bike seems odd. Surely it would be easy to set up the firmware to work like this as we can manually adjust the power anyway and the limit is governed by speed. Idiots ride normal bikes too!