What MrNutt said +1 (I’m often having to stop and wait for him to catch up at Croft woods..)

Brechfa green and blue are ace too.

You need a more conspicuous car. Be safe be seen init.

We looked at doing the same but ended up buying a fairly shonky L reg T4 which had been fully converted inside for 1800 quid. We’ve been to fort bill for the world cup in it two years running (driven from Wales each time) and it’s been ace.

It’ll be going back on ebay soon and hopefully we won’t have lost too much on it.

Oh, it’s 09 btw. So not the year when they came in leafy green.

Yeah it’s a black one. I’ll get some pics over but it won’t be till fairly late tonight.

I’ve got a surge (large) and it’s really long and low. It’s probably a bit big for me and I’m 5″10 so I’d say it’d fit you fine.

It’s currently decorating MrNutt’s living room as wall art so you’re welcome to make me an offer, can send you some pics later if you like.

Apart from racing the odd roadie I usually can’t be arsed and just go straight to home/work. My commute is only a few miles and it’s all flat.

Probably cos I’m lazy and it’s a lot less fun now I’m on the road bike than on the mountain bike where every flight of steps, speed bump or embankment was an oppourtunity for gnar!

It’s a programme about people in essex. I tuned in at optimum vajazzling moment!

I take it no one watched “Essex” on ITV the other day then?

Yeah, I was looking at j_me’s complete bike but it’s sold on ebay for £1170 which seemed like a good deal.

Coming from my patriot I’d be wanting to keep it fairly burly (I’ve got some 160mm uturn domains I could slap on there) and keep a chunky-ish wheelset. Sounds like an 08 is the way forward, shame I just missed one on the classifieds :(

Cheers for the links, I’ll have a read through them later.

I rode a heckler in Morzine for 2 weeks this year and absoutely loved it. Came back and demo’d one and didn’t get on with it at all, I found it climbed horribly. Again it could be down to setup and might be worth another go on one.

Yeah I had a look on the Orange site but couldn’t find much. I was interested to know if a 2011 bike is going to ride massively differently to a 07/08 bike? I know the kit is gonna make a huge difference too.

Tredz do demo bikes (they’re in Cardiff) donno if they have any DH specifics but worth a try. I’ve had Demo’s off them in the past and they were really flexible about hours/dropping them off etc..

Could also give Don Skene a call, also in Cardiff, they’re pretty DH focussed.

I was waiting for something in the Francois Baud bike shop in Morzine and a family walked in spending gazillions of Euro’s on overpriced pads n stuff. The woman had a field day selling them each one of these power bands and did the same tests mentioned above, balancing on one leg and having people pull on their arms and stuff.

To be fair they all seemed to be better with the band on but it’s got to be more placebo than anything else surely?

We did what you’re planning (Brechfa Saturday, Afan Sunday) a couple of of weekends ago. It’s about an hour and a half drive. We went the “scenic route” on the way back up to Llangadog over the mountain down to Neath which is a nice drive but if you’re in a rush the M4 is quicker.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com is good for this kinda stuff, they have a premium bonds vs savings account calculator too.

http://www.parcelmonkey.com

Nice one, thanks MrNutt.

Works cycle sheds are swipe card, but if someone turns up on a bike then most people will hold the gate open for them. There’s around 1000+ people at work so it’s not as safe as it sounds.

My bet is on kids from the local college as they use it as a short cut. Trying to get hold of the old bill again…

There are logs of swipe card access (I work in the IT dept, suprise suprise) but it won’t go back that far now.

Paging MrNutt, he’s your man for west woods.

You got that job at McDonalds? Woot, free food :)

Which part of the m4? Im on my way to afan for a weekend of glorious sunshine and riding and we’re about to hit the m4.

On the M4 westbound between junctions J12 and J15, there are currently delays of 1 hour caused by congestion due to an earlier incident. Normal traffic conditions expected from 2:00 pm. Highways agency

And to add the rain, the M4 is closed cos someones threating to jump off a bridge. Brilliant.

Or entertain myself by making sock puppets out of them.

Serves me right for wearing headphones on my commute and not hearing the keys fall out of my hoodie.

MrNutt did ensure I took a spare pair of socks though, bless him.

I’ve had my galaxy s about a week. Seems alright, it’s pretty big though and would probably have preferred an iphone 4 but it’s a hell of a lot cheaper and does all the same stuff.

GPS doesn’t work at all on mine which sucks but is allegedly fixed soon.

We were surrounded by a herd of cows on the isle of arran whilst biking. Luckily the missus is a farmers daughter and told the cows the bugger off in a west country accent which seemed to do the trick.

I can never be arsed adjusting the uturn on my pikes or domains.

My 150mm bombers don’t have any uturn type shizzle and can’t say I miss it.

Stickers turned up this morning, thanks.

I’m gonna cover MrNutt’s subzero in them when he’s not looking

Burts suggestion looks a lot better than mine :)

I’ve just this minute finished syncing my galaxy s (android) with itunes.

I used these instructions[/url] can’t see why the same won’t work for your phone.

Tidy, 4 hours sounds fine. Staying at Afan in the evening so just wanted to know we’d have enough time to finish both before it got dark and drive back – sounds like it’ll be plenty.

Thanks all.

FM transmitters are crap +1

Get a stereo with made for ipod/usb/aux socket.

Brechfa tomorrow, Afan Sunday.

And I did a lap around the woods behind nationwide on the way to work this morning :)

You could get a smartphone second hand then a get a month rolling contract on something like tesco mobile, £15 for 750 minutes, unlimited txts and data (500MB). Well that’s what I’ve just done anyway.

EarlofBarnet: I didn’t take the heckler intentionally but my bike broke and that was our groups ‘spare frame’ kicking around in the van. I had a hoot on it anyway :)

Didn’t get any video of it on the hill, but here’s some car park shinnanigans in Morzine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRf9Xq7iKxQ#t=5m20s

I spent two weeks in Morzine riding DH on a heckler with 140mm pikes, wasn’t the best tool for the job but coped really well. Should be fine for XC?AM duties.

As above, they don’t allow private uplifts :(

Firstly – from experience – I find hauling a big bike up a fire road in the granny ring, breathing out your arse, is actually much less frustrating than being held back from warp factor 9 on an awesome rocky, techy singletrack downhill on a more nervouse, flimsy bike.

Couldn't agree more, just want to make it a bit easier if possible.

I've only just serviced the 66's and they're super plush now so I think I'll stick with them for a bit and see how I get on.

Wheelset sounds like a winner though, any pointers on a durable but lightish set?

MrNutt: Yeah, losing the belly will help but there is no way I am doing spinning classes ever again. Don't rush back from Cornwall, your flat is covered in pizza boxes and coke cans ;)

Good point on the tyres, the rear is a schwalbe fat albert 2.35 which seems to roll ok. The front is some wtb timberwolf thing I got given in Morzine and haven't taken off, I doubt this is helping.