Schwalbe come up large. I haven’t compared them side-by-side but a 2.35 Muddy Mary is bloody tight in a pair of forks I used to run 2.5 Minions in with plenty of space.

I still can’t get my head around Schwalbes branding but mine are Freeride which I think means the casing type. They’re pretty light and pliable, nothing like a dual ply Maxxis for sure.

Only 24s and 26s here btw..

I’ve never had one, never needed one and I’m certainly not getting one just for the hell of it.

Mind you I’ve never had a loan of any sort or ever bought anything on credit. I’m sure the day will come however..

Some are easy, some are fiddly as hell. Either way there could well be tea in places that won’t dry without opening it up. Be careful getting it too hot, some laptops have pretty shoddy soldering and it doesn’t take much to upset them.

I once spilt beer on mine and instantly whipped the battery out and took the keyboard off to dry it and check underneath for wasted ale. Luckily it hadn’t got in but the keyboard was pretty crunchy for a few weeks..

My first thought is a lower headset cup with a really deep bit-that-goes-into-the-headtube and use a spacer to hold the whole cup out from the frame a little.

EDIT: Assuming it’s an external headset.

Supposed to have light snow on Dartmoor tonight and between 3-5 degrees tomorrow… So naturally we’re meeting at 8am for an early ride.

Yes! I’ll be out in that if it falls. Not sure where to start off but it will be heading towards a pub!

Won’t be at 8am mind..

Can you get someone else to drive and you ride shotgun with the dog on your lap to comfort him? It may get him used to relaxing in the van again.

Or you sit in there with him and get someone else to to chuck a couple of buckets of water at the windscreen.. Sounds mad but maybe it would replicate the bow wave closely enough to convince him it couldn’t hurt him and everything’s ok?

I’m no expert in this sort of thing but I found with my GSD puppy I could get him to cope with stuff that initially scared him by demonstrating that it wasn’t going to hurt me. Like shaking hands with people he was sketchy about or sitting on the air compressor after it fired up automatically and made him wee a little..

Use lock on grips and have them hanging off the ends by 20mm each?

I’ve always thought that being quick on a hardtail prepares you to be quick on a full sus. I see people that I know have only ever had suspension and seem to use it mostly to make landings etc. that would otherwise have them on their arse, or face.

Yeah there are better bikes now than only a few years ago. That doesn’t mean your Cotic is not as as good as it ever was. I say ride it and nail those mad skillz, man. When the Cotic is actually holding you back then look at something else.

That’s a fair point. It is very different in many ways but I think it does do all the things the OP mentioned without needing to relearn everything.

Though I wouldn’t call myself a computer enthusiast in any way shape or form and I got the hang of Lubuntu and Mint pretty quickly.

I used to take mushrooms to ground myself, seriously.
When all the shat piled up and started to drown me a quiet trip or two would give me the bigger picture of what I saw as my existence.
Of course the mushrooms didn’t sort the problems out but they gave me the perspective to dismiss the niggly, inconsequential ones and sort the big ones myself.

I’m not suggesting you take class A’s obviously but whatever gets you there. If you do jump in the car don’t forget the shit roll.

Why do people still bang on about Linux! Its been going on for nearly 20 years, and its still just a nerdy niche product, it will never be mainstream.

If the popularity of your computers filing system bothers you then you’re probably the nerd.

BTW the LHC, Waymo and the International Space Station use it..

There are several Linux distributions that are much less demanding than Windows. Unless you absolutely need Microsoft then it’s worth looking into as you can get the same performance from a lower spec machine.

I’m running Lubuntu on a low end laptop from 2006 and it streams in HD or plays Youtube full screen etc with two browsers running with several tabs open on each quite happily.

I always found climbing the least knackering part of the job to be honest.

Doing the groundwork side is full on physical. Lowering limbs on ropes, clearing up before the next big piece comes down to save yourself more hassle etc. Where it really gets hectic is on a partial road closure with lights, you need eyes in the back of your head. I actually had a troupe of roadies riding up the hill we were on inside the cones, in the work area. I told them to piss off and the leader gave me a load of lip about how we were endangering them by making them ride in the road with the traffic! FFS if you don’t like traffic get a mountain bike instead.

Yeah you have more to go wrong up the tree but it’s much more relaxing.

I’ve known good operators hurt themselves with saws but very few won’t acknowledge that they were doing something wrong at the time. They are dangerous but if you’re careful you’ll have a good chance of being just fine. Put it this way, I know I was in more danger in the Transit on the way home.

And a number plate has to be lit at night.

Very true.

Ha ha, I’ve spoken to other tree surgeons who thought they were too good for mere hedge cutting or garden maintenance.

Funny thing is most of them worked for a big firm who have a base nearby and the regional bosses subbed us to do the tricky/dangerous jobs ‘cos they didn’t trust their people to do them.

Garden jobs were great as fillers between big ones and yes, the rest was nice.

Tow bar itself should be easy enough. You may even find ready threaded mounts under the floor but it’s more likely to need holes drilling.

I’d be inclined to try a bar, bike rack and bike first and see if it obscures any lights or the numberplate. If it doesn’t then I’d not bother with the electrics at all. If it covers only the plate then you can get a spare one made for a tenner at most factors(you have to take your V5 in with you nowadays).

If you do need a light board then assuming the car doesn’t have can-bus or some other weird wiring layout (my car needs a relay box despite not being can-bus) you could get a wiring diagram for it and splice the trailer socket wire into the lighting loom in the boot. Just don’t use those bloody blue scotch lock connectors, they’re rubbish. Even choc blocks and tape would be better.

I used to do it and absolutely loved it. When money “got a bit tight” about 8 years ago we really struggled for work and I ended up going in a different direction.

I still miss the work but the self-employed nature of it and all the tickets and red tape was frustrating.

One of my favourite types of job was actually dealing with fallen trees. I really liked working out where and when to cut.

Riding round Haldon forest the other week for the first we dropped down into a clearing by the black section and stopped to yarn to some other riders. It suddenly dawned on me that this was where one the last free parties I went to was.

“Yeah and just over there’s where my mate buried his shorts after he shat himself” I said, the looks were not entirely approving, boring fuppers.

Cripes! Sorry to hear that, hope you make make a good recovery and all that.

I can amuse people in person but in writing it all comes out a bit wrong and I end up putting my foot in it… see.

I’m sure perchy will be along soon to take the piss more effectively.

A bit off OT maybe? I’ve never had any Endura kit but these gloves are flippin awesome for under £4 delivered;
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Thanks. I’ve got a few of them and never had the elastic snap but the dog did chew it out of one pair..

PS. I use para-cord for shoelaces nowadays, it’s good stuff.

To those cutting down MVP trousers; Do you use the elasticated or fitted waist type?

I have a very sturdy bike and yes it’s, well, sturdy.. Flex might be worrying if you are inclined to worry about things but it doesn’t really matter in the real world.

Jr-ts are a bit different though – they’re effectively triple clamp bombers aren’t they?

This is true, a triple clamp version of the original Z1. They still move about a bit though.

Infact what is the point of 32mm legs unless you weigh the same as a child.

My XC bike’s got SIDs with 26mm stanchions, they seem to deal with all 17 stone of me pretty well.

I was clearing 10 foot doubles on our local downhill track earlier today with my 1998, quick release, 30mm legged Jr T’s. Yes they flex, and?

I’ve got 1998/9 Saracen Frenzy in the garage as it’s just too short for me. About 3.5″ of travel was not a lot of pay off for lugging the thing around either. I still rode it for years mind.

I get that full sus frame get outdated more than most things what with the constant design developments but some of the bikes being mentioned here sound pretty damn modern to me!

I’ve an old Marin Quake in the shed along with a PRST1 (I’ll never sell or get rid of) and a RM Element frame. Tried selling the RM and the Marin but zero interest so to free up some space I’m seriously considering cutting the Head stock off both of them and mounting them on a nice piece of wood and hanging them on the wall.

I’d be interested in the Marin for sure quite possibly.

That’s cool.

Chili
Rum
Viking Skull

My door opens outwards, it’s proved useful in the past.

“Reasonable force” can be used.

I always do. We don’t get really get any time wasters like that, it’s usually deliveries.

Did have a Jehovah’s Witness couple come by over three years back now and they still come by once a month. We yarn for a fair bit and rarely about religion, I’m sure they must know by now that I’m not joining..

They could try looking for “SNES No Intro”.

Whats hot cool?

Not Veet from the sound of it..

https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R3GDDEL1SC1QQ5

I really can’t decide whether you already had that photo of yourself tenderly holding an Asda slipper in your collection, or you took it especially for this thread.

I already had it, carefully filed under “footwear” so it was easy to find.

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£12 at Asda. Fur lined and pretty warm on my drafty floor. Just make sure you buy the size that feel too small, they stretch in a couple of days. These ones felt right but are now too big.

A nice dismount he did.

Try this site for picture hosting, it seems reliable.

http://postimages.org/

Years back me and a mate had security following us round Tragos for ages so we pretended to change price labels on several items (they stock check off internal department codes on the label not bar codes).

Having paid we got collared by the same security looking pretty damn smug. She didn’t look so smug when all the prices and codes tallied.. The mixture of fury and embarrassment on her face was almost beautiful.

It’s tension that will have you off on those narrow bits. I used to ride motorbike trials and they scare the hell out of me.

Ooh I like the Nukeproof, especially the back mudguard.

Thanks for all the input. I was 9/10 that they weren’t what I’d been told they were within seconds of opening the box. I just wanted to be sure before getting hold of the seller.

Surely a troll.

Eh?

Don’t worry he’s got another one with a missing back link.

“cut oit of back link as shown in second picture, have another frame in green also, could cut that to make back link.”

Cut n shut carbon frame anybody?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/planet-x-pro-carbon/253219048174?hash=item3af5080aee:g:TyMAAOSwXrdZ6wxL

“Someone” likes building big ladder drops and such out of old pallets down my local place and half the time they leave them unfinished. Now that I’m not cool with. It looks shit, leaves wood full of nails laying about and isn’t even rideable. I have told him if I get a nail in the foot I will not be happy.

Most of the rest of us take some pride in making a tidy trail that’s no wider or bigger than needed. They certainly make less impact on the ground than the tracks at any trail centre I’ve been to.

Natural riding? Yeah it’s great but rarely that natural. A ride on the moors is actually almost invariably on old mining tracks, paths etc. Ok, we didn’t take or leave anything then but someone did, it was just a long, long time ago.

Our local spot, not me.
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