Tell that to Cambridge Analytica.

The (modern, corporate) internet is all about ‘engagement’ and echo chambers are great for that (left or right of centre).

As ever money is the root of all evil, or is that a bit lefty?

@cookee, I agree. The point is that more engagement can be made not by siloing people, but by exposing them to views they despise in contexts where no common ground will be found, and let the arguing begin

It’s absolutely a thing and is driven by people seeking news from social media instead of traditional sources. Thus being fed click baity, echo chamber nonsense by the algorithms or their mate who has ‘done his own research’ based on some **** YouTubers output.

I watched something recently that suggested this is backwards, actually, although the outcome is the same.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuFlMtZmvY0

I short, iirrc, online, people are constantly bombarded by views totally opposed to their own, but in such short and unproductive exchanges that it causes people to double down on their own beliefs rather than find common ground.

I have always been confused by the echo-chamber theory of the internet tbh, as I encounter a far larger diversity of people and views on the internet than I ever do in real life and I figured that must be the same for most people.

Prob OK. That Nukeproof cup is very deep — 14.8mm according to the specs.

The equivalent Hope lower cup is only 9.5mm deep, so after your surgery yours should be basically the same.

For the sorts of mtb rides I do at the moment — at a guess, an equal amount of road, rough gravel, and moderate tech singletrack — I’d say 100km equals 100 miles of road riding, given an equal amount of climbing and assuming trail conditions are OK.

Overall, I’d say, assuming the same elevation change:

the easiest mtb rides are about 1.5 times harder than road riding assuming good trail conditions. Decently surfaced forestry roads — i.e. literal gravel riding — is somewhere between 1 and 1.5 but aren’t really mtb;

really steep and techy stuff and/or bad conditions like constant bogs or deep snow, and mtb can probably get to a limit of about 4 times harder than road riding. I say limit as, if you are averaging less than 3-4mph — i.e. a fourth of a reasonable speed on the roads over a long ride — then it’s probably more of a walk than a ride.

So a range of 1.5-4 seems reasonable to me.

@ernielynch, you can judge for yourself here. They don’t seem to be as bad on climate as on cycling, but you can make up your own mind here

FYI I’m a climate change researcher, so I probably have a lower bar than most for what I consider anti-climate

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/recreational-cycling/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/climate-change/

Edit: I worked out that their website is stupid. If you press escape after the article has loaded but before the paywall has come up, then you can block the latter (at least, a lot of the time this seems to work for me).

I don’t think it’s paranoid. I’m not claiming I’m definitely correct on this, but I think a level of skepticism about the Telegraph’s motives is justified.

I think it’s pretty reasonable to say that newspapers have their particular political alliances, ideologies, and themes, which editors aim to keep too while maximising engagement from their audience, whether that be through positive or negative emotional reactions; largely feeding the audience things that fit with their worldview. All this is probably as true for the Guardian as it is for the Telegraph.

I also think it’s pretty uncontroversial to say that the Telegraph is anti-cyclist and anti-climate, and that most of their discourse around slavery is about painting contemporary discussions as a woke waste of time. They also have some critical articles about modern slavery and the role of Western consumers in there, but extremely diluted amongst the rest.

So given all that, it’s perfectly reasonable to ask why they are interested in modern slavery in the cycling sector? Does this fit into their typical political alignment and audience engagement, or not? If so, how? And if not — which is what I think your argument that I’m being paranoid implies — then why?

Seems like you think the real victims in this story are cyclists!

Nope. What I think is the Telegraph don’t give a sh*t about modern slavery, and hence the point of them publishing an article like this is not to tackle slavery, but to add to their anti-cyclist, pro-motorist, and generally anti-climate agenda. The main victims of which are not cyclists.

If they cared about slavery, then their slavery page wouldn’t be dominated by anti-woke articles downplaying Britains role in slavery, and they wouldn’t have been called out by actual anti-modern slavery organistions for misusing modern slavery statistics in smear attacks on asylum seekers.

Crudely put, I’d say their implicit proposal to deal with Shimano’s modern slavery is drive more; I’d suggest keep on riding but click on the classified link above when you need to replace something.

3) the comment piece you linked to is supportive of efforts to prevent modern slavery. But it’s not really about modern slavery at all, its an immigration moan.

Exactly, it misuses modern slavery statistics to have a go an immigrants; of course they condone modern slavery, who wouldn’t? The other thing I linked is an NGO working to end modern slavery calling out the Telegraph for their misinformation. So I think it quite reasonable to be sceptical about the Telegraph’s motives for reporting on Shimano.

I mean, just look at their front pages on slavery and (recreational) cycling. There are obvious trends, let’s say.

I don’t think the Telegraph have a vendetta against Shimano, only against cyclists.

As for modern slavery, they seem more bothered about highlighting it as a immigration ‘loophole’ — and thus using this to smear asylum seekers — than trying to actually tackle modern slavery (while getting their facts wrong in the process)

Have they spearheaded many other investigations into modern slavery (and recently)? If Shimano is one among many, I’d admit to overreacting here.

Oh so the Telegraph give a crap about modern slavery now?

Didn’t realise they’d had a change of heart

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/08/16/end-scourge-bogus-modern-slavery-claims/

Shimano need to short their s**t out, like most other large globalised companies

However, I don’t think for a minute that the Telegraph have good intentions here

Hu, yep seems they have. Hopefully they’ll be some sort of takeover though according to the below.

https://www.swisscycles.com/the-kindernay-14-speed-gear-hub-is-no-longer-they-went-bankrupt/

FYI, for anyone following this thread, I now have this advertised in the classifieds

(and I’d also consider a swap/part-x for 650b wheels or a road bike)

The Service Course and Isen Bikes to build a lightweight STEEL hill climb bike. The frame was a shade over 1kg

How is that possible with steel??

Analogue bikes are for riding in circles

Pick a route with good wide roads and lines of sight

Im sometimes happier on a busy a road as its wider and has a clear view.

I think the busy vs. not busy road thing is a bit more complicated.

My favorite roads are without doubt the quiet middle-of-nowhere ones in places like the Dales. But closer to Leeds, the busier roads can sometimes feel the safest — i.e., the main roads that are single lane, but easily wide enough for cars to pass with a couple of meters of space, without crossing the central line. Those I don’t mind at all and I find them the most relaxed way to get out of town to the moors or whatever. They are probably also a good place to get used to riding in traffic.

I also don’t really mind my rush hour commute, despite the amount of cars, as there are cycle lanes, the traffic is slow moving, and the ratio of courteous to non-couteous drivers is really high.

In contrast, the worse driving I’ve experienced recently was on extremely quite (and normally really nice) single-track country roads, on which two drivers very nearly knocked me off, one seemingly deliberately. I actually never experienced that kind of aggression cycling in the city. It took me a couple of months to get over the shock of these incidents — quitting facebook also helped.

I’m normally trying to fill two types of riding with one bike, plus I’m chronically indecisive, so versatility is quite near the top of my list. Like, the space for the biggest tyres I can imagine wanting even if not straight away; my Soma Wolverine gravel/road bike can clear 29″ x 2.0″, but it’s only running 32mm at the moment. I also converted it to Rohloff recently, so I’m glad that I made sure to buy something with sliding droputs, even though I didn’t use them for the first year or so.

I’m generally also after simplicity, mechanically and asthetically, so almost always go for steel frames with minimal logos or ones that are easily covered/removed. For the mtb, this means a hardtail with both rigid fork and single speed compatibility (currently a Pipedream Sirius).

All that said, I always try to go secondhand, so I’m stuck with what’s about.

This did not require the starting of a thread

Find me a thread that did.

I give you

Buying a microwave – what do you need to know?

@dangeourbrain, thanks, I feel a little better now

Top one is flare and bottom one is outsweep.

Ah, there’s prob some different terminology going on then, as Ritchey call them both flare

Anyway, yes, I think what you want may not exist. You could check out whatbars.com though, just incase

There’s two types of flare — the whole drops being angled outwards but remaining roughly parallel (like Ritchey Beacon) and the ends of the drops being rotated outwards (Salsa Woodchipper)

If you want something flared with narrow drops, I’m not sure how that works? Or what type of flare you want at the hoods?

If you mix tyre brands and leave the logos, then you are a deviant of the highest order and should be removed from society to ensure that your genes are no longer available in the pool

Don’t worry I’m doing that voluntarilly and fortuantely my wife has no problem with that

maxxis do a tan wall DHf 29×2.6

Yea, I think that may do tbh, or the Dissector

I’ve no idea why I started this thread, I’m slightly disappointed with myself

Tyre from mixed brands? Seriously, why would you.

Essentially I just want a tanwall 29 plus tyre to go with my existing Maxxis — Teravail prob the only option. This did not require the starting of a thread

I’m calling BS on your self diagnosis of OCD. You wouldn’t even consider mixing tyre brands if you were OCD.

First time I’ve considered it for years. I will have to consider the logo design carefully as well; I’ll start another thread for that, of course.

I don’t know how you sleep at night…

I don’t.

Mountain bike or gravel bike? I ask as a chap I have ridden with has tan walls on his gravel bike but then felt the need to match the bar tape to the sidewalls.

Mountain. I’m not that bad as your friend, and I take some comfort in the fact that I’m not as bad as one of the many roadies I see that has matched their entire outfit, socks and all, to the colour scheme of their bike.

There is SOOOO much wrong with this thread!

I think I’ve spent too long on the Radavist looking at things like… Oh dear god, this is what I’ve just found when looking for a pic to post here… Now I only have myself to blame for this thread

I had a 29 x 3.0″ Minion on the front of my old Stooge and it was fine on a 30mm internal width rim. With a Rimpact insert, I had the pressure down to about 12 psi with no punctures and no tyre stability problems (I weight 77-78kg ish)

I sold a pair of Hope 20fives as I just couldn’t get a good seal, absolute nightmare

I also tried some Effeto rim strips and the spoke holes cut through them

I think the unit also got significantly longer and slacker in 2020(?), and the seat angle got steep at the time — 65 deg or something, which is quite steep for a rigid bike

So a super short stem with the saddle moved back could help

Dynaplugs are pretty awesome. I wish they weren’t so damned expensive though.

ditto

What’s people’s definition of an Alt bar if it doesn’t include Kyote’s and Mary’s?!

For 10-20 deg sweep:

Soma Odin

Salsa Bend 17

Stooge Moto

Planet X/Fairweather Bullmoose thing

On One Fleegle if you can track some down

Check this out if you haven’t

https://whatbars.com/

Thanks all for the advice anyway. This is kind of what I expected. Will have to see if I have space for a 4th bike whenever I end up living…

Stop dreaming of floating over fresh snow it doesn’t work You can plow through fres up to 4 inches deep and a fat bike makes that a lot less fall prone then a normal bike.

I’m taking my dreams with a pinch of salt tbh. I’d say that most of my previous snow rides have been not good, and a couple horrendous. I’ve only really enjoyed it when there’s been just 2-3 inches or so of fresh snow.

I think perhaps the biggest difference will be changing to flats. Spd’s in the snow are soul destroying.

@bikesandboots, I think that Trek fork would seriously mess with the geometry of a Unit

40mm longer, plus another 10mm or so as I think you’d need a new lower headset to accomodate the tapered steerer. So that’d probably slacken the HA by 2.5 degrees and raise the BB about 20mm or something.

Surely with the Unit X fork, you could get a different guard and fit a 29 x 2.6″ or even 2.8″ tyre? The Unit fork clearance is good even with a 29 x 3.0″ in there if I remember rightly

These pedals, cause they’re lighter than XTR but much cheaper, and I can use my mtb shoes

https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/product/component/ultegra-r8000/PD-ES600.html

Dales is superb for road riding if you’re into it, just make sure to get off the main-ish roads (happy to add details if you want)

Loads of big epic moorland stuff in the Dales too, a lot of which is fine on a gravel bike but, despite the lack of technicality, is imo far better on an mtb (rigid or short travel XC hardtail both perfect)

The Dales bike centre prob the place to go if you want something more enduro — I’ve never been though

As @timf said, surely some sus forks would be best to try first?

And perhaps some larger fast rolling tyres in 29 x 2.6-2.8″? Mezcals, Rekons, Teravail Coronado?

You could also try a suspension seatpost as well or instead of the bigger tyres, assuming you aren’t running a dropper

Be a shame to get rid of that Fargo

26 psi sounds pretty high to me for a front wheel on XC rides. With a 2.2″ tyre I’d be in the low 20’s, and I weigh ~7kg more than you

With an insert in there you could go even lower — Rimpact are much cheaper and lighter than a Cushcore. I assume you’re running tubeless? What tyre? And what internal width of rim?

The other thing would be getting some massive silicon grips. I have Wolf Tooth Fat Paw — they dwarf even larger rubber lock on’s, and with my hand problems I likely couldn’t ride without them

Are you using an oval ring? Can be nice on climbs

Minor update on this: I still really like it, and continue to see the slow engagement as the main issue on techy trails. On the road, the noise of the higher gears is prob the biggest concern, although this should settle down in time

The shifters, however, are a nightmare to bleed

To be fair, I was warned by the UK dealer. What I have now learnt, however, is that I don’t have the skills to do this myself, having never even bled a brake over the 3 decades I’ve been riding. It’s the type of fiddly, patience-requiring task I’m simply not good (I guess also why at school I was good at chemistry theory, but terrible in the lab). So my bike is out of action until I can get the lbs to have a look.

Given my inability to sort the shifters myself, I’m having second thoughts about taking this thing to Switzerland with me when I move this month. (I’m also having second thoughts about moving to Switzerland, which is the reason I abandoned single speed.)

So on to the steath(less) ad: if anyone is speculatively interested in this, drop me a message

Stooge has entered the chat

Hmm, I wonder if they are all that old — the Dev doesn’t say 2014?

KS LEV DX Seatpost – 150mm

That is damn cheap in any case — as cheap as the Brand X currently is, perhaps cheaper

On the route from @daverhp, you could also drop down into the Langstrothdale forest for a little more distance, and to see the only big forest in the Dales (much of which has unfortunately been clearcut…)

Most of the forest tracks in there are bridleways, even though they aren’t marked as such on OS maps (signposted when there)

Couple of pics from around there:

SLX cranks come in at 530g…..and cost at least a third of anything coming in at 400ish.

Yea even XTR doesn’t knock off much weight by the looks of it (~470g). And either would be durable enough for me.

I went back from the nexl sls which of course broke, to some ancient XTRs. They can’t take a direct mount ring obvious which is a bummer but all-in they only weighed something like 40g more than the Raceface, and they’re basically indestructible.

Is that def true @Northwind? Race Face Next SL are stupid light — like 25% lighter than current XTR